Snetterton Race Report - WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

On the startline for the race I had a nice clear view in front. Just 3 class A cars would start in front of me. I got a goodish start, holding my position in class but Paul Haynes (class A) had a really good start from behind me and was in front before the first corner. I kept on his tail for the first 2 laps, making use of his tow but being held up through the corners. My car seems to be really good now on the start of the each race. I think I need to analyse that a little, maybe adding in a little compromise to aid pace towards the end.


Paul Rogers overtook at the back straight on lap 3 and we ran together for just over a lap until he missed a gear on the down changes into the Esses and I passed between there and the bomb hole as he was in 4th not 2nd. That short time with Paul actually seemed much longer, I had to look at the final results listing to see the positions on each lap, strange. Dad has an excellent picture of me and Paul running very close through Corum, Paul slightly off the apex by just over a cars width. I will upload this later but for now here is a low quality version from my camera. We are traveling at over 100mph and fully committed (a way of describing being at or more likely just over the limit of grip in an unstable state of control without freaking out loved ones!) From the picture you can see that I had a clear view though the corner on the inside of Paul and I actually looked at going up the inside but the thought of taking Paul out and the wrath of his wife made me air on the side of sensible for once. After Paul slipped back John Cutmore was less than half a second behind me, making good use of the slipstream, a very good engine and longer gearing to just walk up to my tail and two laps later he was past on the back straight. For the next four laps we ran nice and close, again with me dropping back a little on the straight (I was on the limiter for a good 4 or 5 seconds at the end of the back straight as John pulled away) and then I just about managed to reduce the subsequence gap back up through the corners. In fact on lap 7 I managed a 1:18.09, my fastest lap at Snetterton ever with the aid of some concentration to keep it smooth and a nice tow from John. Coming around Corum and into Russells on lap 9, John and I found Judi mid corner running at a rather slower pace. John headed for the inside of the corner, flying over the off track dirt and I just had to wait for Judi to get on the power as she was right on the second apex as I arrived. This knocked a good 1.5seconds off our lap and John Goodwin made the most of it. Our slower run out onto the start/finish straight meant that John could just drive straight past John Cutmore and I into turn 1.


And then there were three. For the next four laps we ran in a pack having lots of fun. Not quite as manic as the race here earlier in the season when there were five of us and it was very hard for me to run in front for any length due to running out of revs each lap. I decided to sit behind the two Johns and wait till later in the race for my attack. I learnt back in April when we first came to Snetterton that you just need to be in the front pack and then it all comes down to the last lap. In fact by this time and probably because I had put in some very quick laps tucked in behind John Cutmore, my engine was rather hot. All I could see on the main display of the DigiDash was the warning for Oil temperature, in fact the water temp was close to the warning point as well. The fact that I had to keep in the slipstream to keep up with the two Johns was not helping much but I did reduce the temperature a bit by short-shifting. Looking back at the race I think it was more physiological for me though as the telemetry does not show much of a drop off in the revs! Lap 13 and it was getting rather heated between the two Johns, there was tyre smoke, dust and some rather interesting lines / slides. Sometimes you just get the impression something strange this way comes. Low and behold going into Turn 1, John Goodwin is on the inside and gets the first Apex, while John Cutmore ran on the outside at what looks like an unaltered pace for which you need to be on the right line. John C gets a slide as he continues to brake into the corner and heads nose first towards the apex of the corner, 90degs to the direction of travel and straight into the side of Mr Goodwin. They both at this point head out of view of my in-car video as they fly across the grass on the inside. John Goodwin getting some serious air man.

His landing unfortunately makes a real mess of his bonnet and ends his race whilst John Cutmore continues on. At this point with waved Yellows everywhere I think to myself, can I pass John as he recovers or not? So I wait for him to get back up to speed and anticipating his lack of grip after being off track, I just let him spin on the next corner and off I go. Unfortunately by this time I had lost almost 4 seconds. So 2 laps to go and there is less than a second back to a fast charging Chris Seaman. Oh did I mention my front tyres were well past it and giving me understeer through the bomb-hole and Corum? I really should have swapped onto the other set before the race. So with Chris catching up quickly I need a little lift on entry for Corum each lap to setup the cars attitude to reduce understeer, not normal behavior for such a fast corner. Penultimate lap was not too bad but by the end of the last lap I was in need of some defending so I went in careful and slow to the last run through Russells to make sure that Chris could not get back on the throttle before I did and it was then just a straight drag race up to the line. After 21 and a half minutes I had won my 2nd official race of 2006. Yeeee Haaaaa.

What I had not mentioned before was that I just needed to get 2nd place or higher finished in the race to get third place in class C in the championship. Now that was not part of the plan for the year I can tell you. Just as much a surprise to me was that I also came away with 4th place overall in the championship.

Sorry for the length of this post but I am writing it sat on a 10hour transatlantic flight so there is plenty of time! Its actually been quite a good flight, what with the opportunity to sit back and think about an excellent way to finish the season, my first season. I have also enjoyed some good music, ranging from TBC, though Spring Harvest 2000, a few podcasts, The Kaiser Chiefs and even some of Joaquin Phoenix from the Soundtrack ‘Walk the Line’. Interspersed of course with some articles from Evo and Car magazine, of specific interest are the reviews of the new Lotus Europa and many thanks from Paul over the road for the opportunity to see the car in the flesh (or should that be Ali and GRP) just before it was delivered to Mr Clarkson! I also had the chance to start reading Rob Lacey’s ‘the Liberator’; a paraphrased modern language of Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels version in the style of a novel with some ‘Don’t Like This?” commentary and chat show type interviews with key people. I’m only a few chapters in but if you have never read the bible before, read it so many times it has become a little dry for you or just don’t ‘get’ the language then give this a go, you won’t regret it.

Season Finale : Snetterton Qualify

A home race for the last of the season. A track that I know very well although every time I go there I come away thinking I need to improve through Russells and this would be no exception. Last time out I managed pole in class for both races, a 5th after a spin trying to get the lead and in the second race a win which was to be disallowed after the reverse gearbox failed to work. My aid for this race, well that’s simple, repeat of the last time (well qualify and 2nd race anyway!) without being disqualified. My racing has definitely improved since we were at Snetterton last, which amazing to think back now was only my 2nd and 3rd ever race. Unfortunately I have not had a successful test at Snetterton since then, with a couple of aborted ones due to mechanical issues or work commitments. In addition to that the rest of the top drivers have improved and the car at Donington was definitely not on the pace of the others. I think I had sorted out the top end with the refitting of the airbox seals but with no opportunity to test it, all would become evident in qualifying.

We turned up to Snetterton with an OK’ish forecast (you can see the sky in the phot at the top of this post) and a few missing from the normal front group. Mike would not be running due to the rather large accident with Paul Haynes at Donington and Tim would sit out the race as he tried to sell his car which was sporting a very shiny new skin of purple. A welcome return however would be Chris Seaman, back from his model jet flying, and ready to put us under pressure if last years end to the season would show us.

I decided to run the normal set of fronts just in case the race turned wet, kept the suspension as per normal (have not changed this since Pembrey last I think!) and headed out right behind Paul. As per my normal style, straight on it and passed a few on the first lap. A couple of laps later and I had some clear space and worked on refreshing my mind on the lines and understanding the current grip levels, oh and tweaking the brake bias to suite the heavy breaking into the Essess. I like that corner! Balance felt good, as long as I got the drain for the bombhole and I was able to run a nice tight line, full throttle in 5th through Corum. The first couple of laps focused my attention a little through there as the exit strip appeared a little quicker than I remembered but after a while you learn to focus on the entrance to Russells and no the edge of the track. In the race this is even easier as you just focus through the corner and to the inside of any other cars, that way hiding the left edge of the circuit completely. Self preservation comes in many themes, denial being one of them! Oh and some added pressure in the form of my parents watching. No big accidents today please Derek.
As I said, the car was feeling good and although it was much much better than Donington, it was still not pulling the top end of 6th cleanly and I was a fail few mph down on my previous. Anyway I put in some very low 1:20’s which was at least somewhere near the front but then I always do my fast laps right at the end so I was not too worried. Then a very interesting and nice surprise happened when Paul caught me up and power past. Excellent I thought so I grabbed into the tow and off we went, Pauls lines improved a little as the laps went on, or more like as his confidence grew and the times came down. Paul was obviously quicker down the straight and I was a little quicker through the corners so the gap grew down the straight, although I kept most the slipstreaming effect and then I reduced the gap through the corners. I have to say at this point that I was very impressed and loved every minute of running nose to tail with Paul. He is the main reason why I went race this year, well maybe not reason but more the main reason why I did not say to myself this is a stupid, expensive idea that I will not be any good at. He won’t like me saying this in public I am sure but he has a very smooth style just lacks that lunatic side I have for running over the limit all the time! With some new found confidence in the car balance after running stiffer spring he is now making big strides in performance. Excellent fun as I said. Penultimate lap of qualifying, 1:19.44 and the last, well a 1:18.56 to take pole in class and 6th overall.

In between the qualify session and the race, which was to be a 18min and thankfully we remembered to add some fuel to the normal amounts, I swapped over to an ECU specific to the RRV I now have installed. It would seem that there was a chance between the RRV and the RRW that I was running before and Andy prediction was that this might have a different top end map to better the suite the changes that Mr Honda made in the different models. We would see.

Top Speed Fixed? Plus prep for Snetterton tomorrow

A short spell in the garage last night was all that was needed to diagnose and fix the straight line speed drop off experienced in the last race. The airbox had moved a small amount and caused the seals to come loose that join the airbox onto the top of the throttle bodies. Only slightly though so not immediately obvious. I think also what happened is that as the speeds increased the air pressure and aero effect widened the gap and therefore made it worse on the back straight compared to down the craner curvers or the slower start/finish straight. Good news though as its easy to fix. There seems to have been some sort of sealant used before which I might try and replicate to help the seal but for now it should be OK. It would seem that my bonnet moves around quite a bit when it gets the opportunity to. Helped in this case by losing one of the bonnet catches from a loving kiss of the chicane marker posts during the previous race!
In prep for tomorrow we have moved the transponder forward to a better position, bled the brakes, cleaned out the discs (the fronts had lost of dirt in the vents, including singed tissue!) and checked the oil levels.

Derek Fantasy Track

As we draw near to the end of the 06 season I have been thinking about all of the tracks and my favorite corners. My fantasy UK track would have Copse from Silverstone, Craner Curves from Donington, the Mountain section from Cadwell, Coppice and the straight from Donington leading into Paddock hill bend from Brands. Dibeni from Pembrey and then to complete the lap the Bomb Hole, Corum and Russells from Snetterton. Now that would work well for club racing, extended to include Spa for longer races and then 24hour challenges on the old Nurburgring Nordschleife!

Donington Race 2 Report

The second race was after lunch and this time I had a 4th place in class grid position behind Tim, Mike and John.

For the first couple of laps it was Tim out front with John and I chasing for the remaining podium positions until John would go straight on at the old hairpin when he hit the throttle as well as the brakes. By this time Tim had pulled away, making the most of a clear track and the many laps of experience he has at this track. I reminded myself that I had only completed about 20 laps of the circuit and concentrated on refining my lines and keeping the car in shape to minimize mistakes. After a few laps though I noticed that my lap times were not reducing much. Definitely not as much as I would expect with the tyres coming up to temperature and the fuel loads reducing.

Even more evident when I had some clear space. In fact over the next couple of laps I could see Mike catching me up, especially down the back straight. The car did not seem to be pulling 6th well at all so I changed the dash to show revs and speed rather than lap sector times and saw just 115 – 118mph for a peak speed as compared to 125mph or so in the first race and qualification. Hmm this did not bode well.

By lap 6 Mike had caught me up but more significantly he came in the tow of Paul Haynes who was making the most of his 30 or 40bhp advantage.


Paul caught me on the back straight unsurprisingly and in the processed of him overtaking enabled Mike to come right up close. The next few corners of that lap Paul was concentrating on defending his position where I was quite happy for him to just run off in the distance so I could keep in front of Mike. Paul’s defending slowed us down and Mike found it easy to pass my down the craners.

Up front Rob was doing an excellent job keeping with Gordon and Jonathon. Great improvement in speed this year and just a pitty we did not have separate races so I could watch the close running

We ran close up the other side and as we came around the last left to straighten up before the next right hand turn Paul span. Mike, a cars length ahead of me went high and I braked in the straight line to give myself some more time. By the time I needed to make a decision of what direction to go, I had scrubbed of most of my speed and Paul had completed his rotations and was traveling backwards towards the outside of the track, in fact exactly where Mike had gone! There was a very interesting impact, unfortunately just out of view of my camera, sending Mike skywards and ending the race for both. In fact as they were the gravel on the outside of that corner the race was red flagged and rolled back to the last complete lap excluding Mike and Paul so that left me with another second place! Very unfortunate for an RGB race to be red flagged especially because of an accident but both Paul and Mike were uninjured and it saved me form being easy pickings for people like John and Mike Atkinson as my top speed deteriorated.

So overall a very successful racing weekend and I have come away with a real regard for the circuit. Its even more of a challenge than I remember and then is immediately obvious form a spectators point of view. Cycling around the circuit goes part way to highlighting the fun of the undulations but until you are heading down the craner curves, car sliding whilst being flat in 6th at over 120mph or turning into Coppice, blind and over a crest in 4th the reason for Donington’s high regard by many racers is not apparent

Donington Race 1 Report

Race one call to the assembly area at the bottom of the Melbourne loop, we were directed up the wrong direction and then around a 180deg turn to the chicane before the grip linup. I put a lot of effort into warming the tyres and brakes on that short run up the Melbourne loop with the thought of the first lap run into Redgate and even more importantly the fast run down the craner curves and into the old hairpin. The thought of that with cold tyres and even worse with cold brakes did not fill me with excitement! We sat on the grid for quite a while for Paul Haynes to form on the grid after he had instigated a made rush back to the STM factory to get a replacement damper for his new Phasar R1

In fact Paul was to line up just behind me and run close by for the start of the race. As the lights went out I got a good run off the line, arriving in the middle of the track right beside Tim on my right and Paul, who had made a great start, on my left. For the first lap or so the car felt really good, I was able to keep up with Paul Haynes in his twitchy but powerful R1 in front and almost hang on to Tim ahead of him whilst pull out a small gap to Mike and John behind.
The Racing was nice and close and in fact it would seem that Paul and I touched at some point on the 3rd or 4th lap when he started to experience fuel starvation problems. I did not notice it from in the car and its not obvious from the in car video either but anyway. So Paul dropped back and would later retire, leaving me clear in 2nd place.

. By mid race Tim would also retire with his exhaust fouling his rear wheel leaving me in first place but being caught by Mike and John. The last third of the race would see a really exciting battle between the three of us with lots of overtaking through out each lap. Donington is one of those circuits where defending costs lots of time and the two of the three at the front would be caught by the third as soon as defending was needed and then the process would just repeat itself.

Great racing and nice and clean. I was very conscious not getting too close to John as we had had contact back at Silverstone and his is in the hunt for the championship. Nevertheless I made an assertive overtake into Coppice on what would turn out to be the last lap and managed to get 2nd place.

Donington Race 2 Telemetry

I know I have not posted a report of the races yet but in prep for Snetterton I need to try and work out why my car was not pulling well at the top end of the back straight. In all but the first lap of the second race I was about 10mph down on my normal speeds on the back straight.
strangely the peek speeds elsewhere on the laps were fine, 122 down the craners for example but it would seem to be just what happens when I get into 6th at the end of the lap.
When we get around to lap 5 the problem is even worse.

Donnington Qualify

From the trackguide, the cycle around the circuit the night before with Paul and some distance recollection from trackdays years past I know that Donington was more complex than most we race on and therefore went out with the aim of pushing quite hard from lap 1. The idea was to get a feel for the grip levels even before getting the lines right. That way once I had completed a few laps I should be able to put in some good lap times and spend the rest of the session refining. It would not quite work out that way however.
Looking at the in car video for lap 2, I actually got the run through Coppice (blind entry over a brow, double apex corner that leads onto the long back straight) almost dead on. The video is something I should be able to share, as we did not have to sign any of the normal non-publishing forms, except for the fact that I have packed up the computer with the Firewire connector in preparation for my house move. Opps
After the session I had some comments from spectators that I was pushing hard right from the start, mainly spotted as I was locking my front inside wheel going into Redgate (Turn1) on both lap 1 and lap 2 ☺

Lap 4 had a handful of mistakes but the line was better overall. Lap 5 was much better, getting me into the 1:21’s but still had a couple of small mistakes, mainly redgate and then into the old hairpin. Lap 6 was better still and the sectors times were much improved but when I got onto the back straight I could see a lot of traffic ahead, so I backed off to get some space. Bad mistake because as I came down the cranner curves on lap 7 the car got very out of shape and tried to spit me off on the infield whilst flat in 6th gear! As I gathered up the slide I saw in the distance that Matt had gone straight on at the old hairpin and was having some fun running through the gravel trap. At this point alarm bells started to ring. I kept the car over to the right of the track, instead of heading left to rejoin the track, which meant I could brake in a straight line and check out the state of the track. From there you could see a lovely neat oil slick exactly on the racing line, all the way through the old hairpin and up the hill. This continued all the way around the track and meant almost everyone’s fastest times were to be in those 5 or 6 initial laps. Boy, do I wish I had not backed off at the end of lap 6.
Anyway that would turn out to give me a 3rd place and 4th place in class on the grid for the following two races. Not to shabby bearing in mind the last time I was on track here must have been nearly 3 years ago at a trackday. I spent the rest of the session avoiding the oil and trying different lines, mainly overtaking and defending lines for the key corners. It was also a good time to try out the curbing that we had cycled over the night before. Thinking about this after the event it was also a good learning experience as I don’t think I have even driven hard on a circuit covered in oil before. It’s similar but still quite unique to driving on patchy ice. In icy conditions on the road you tend to, and rightly so I guess, slow it all right down and treat the whole road as if its icy. On the track you are pushing all the time looking for clean track. When it is clean you are getting very good grip levels like normal and then all of a sudden there is absolutely nothing at all. Quite a different experience. Fun though, in an out of control type of way!

Donington is definitely one of the more technical circuits that we race on. Although not as complex as a whole when compared to Cadwell, each point in the circuit is more critical due to the higher speeds and wider track. In the RGB cars with somewhat limited straight-line speed it is imperative to maintain good momentum as one mistake at the hairpin for example hampers you all the way up the hill, through 2 to coppice and then onto the back straight. In the race this is even more apparent as it is reasonable easy to pass due to the width. This means a small mistake can mean loosing places in addition to a loss in lap times. At Cadwell in comparison you can loose some time but its fairly easy to defend, collect yourself and get back into the grove.

Donnington Prep

Well in preparation for Donnington this coming Sunday and in light of the contact and brake issue at Silverstone quite a number of things have been worked on in the last week or so.
Firstly there was the matter of the electric reverse mechanism that was bodged in the first place. We sort of worked on it a few months back but really it just needed scrapping and replacing with a decent mount.
So Johns engineering skills came the forefront in a completely new base plate and mounting method which firstly holds the motor in place and secondly does not flex at all.
We also fed it power with a much better cable to help reduce any power loss.
In the pictures here you can see the old (black) bodged bracket which actually held the motor at the wrong angle! and the John special bracket with the motor attached.

And would you believe it - last night the Fury reversed up the gravel drive and over the lip into the garage, under its own steam, three times in a row !!!


Other items on the list to do were to rebond the rear tub to the lower panels at the passenger side rear after contact with John Goodwin pulled it away. Never syringed resin before but it was fun and effective. Next I made up a new ali bracket to hold the front of the sidepod onto the chassis and repaired the rear wheel splat. More difficult than all of these was the process of removing Johns paint and tyre marks on the paintwork!

Earlier in the week I had repaired the brake line pipe to the rear drivers side brake drum. In the slight touch with Mike into the first corner of the first start it cracked the end off the pipe and broke the seal. It was a simple process of borrowing the correct tool from Paul and re-inserting. I also checked out the other pipes for fractures but they look in good condition.

And wow, this car is much easier to bleed the brakes on than the Westy. Rears I actually did on my own and last night as a finishing touch, John and I did the fronts to push through some of the more heavily used front liquid. Pedal pressure good ;) 

Silverstone Race

By the time the race came around the track was dry and the weather looking much brighter. We had a joint A,B, and C race so lots of cars on the grid with Mike and I heading up class C being on the 4th row back in the overall lineup. I was just hoping the many straights at Silverstone would mean the class A cars would power off into the distance and leave us to our own class race.

In the first start I got a really good run off the line and through the first few corners, being able to stay with Mike and keep clear of the rest without any great effort. Deciding to hold station and see how the race panned out. Unbenounced by us there was a some coming together as you say in the mid pack which meant the race was red flagged as we came under the bridge heading towards Brooklands. We were in a close pack at this stage all racing down the straight and the first thing I noticed was Rob Baldwin with his arm up. I thought to myself that he must have a problem and that was a shame for Rob. As it turned out he had seen the red flag in the distance before he had in the following pack. Shortly afterwards we all spotted the red lights on the bridge gantry and slammed on the anchors. The slight delay meant we were all very close it was a good test of outright braking abilities!

So back on to the grid for a while whilst the glass fibre explosion was cleared up and ready for the second off.

In the restart I had too much wheel spin, some of which may have be a result of leaking brake fluid on the rear tyres and a resulting missed 2nd gear change meant I had lost places to John and Mike Atkinson into Copse. I had a good run from there into Maggots right behind John. He had a bumpy time over the apex curbing and got a little out of shape and we came out of the corner almost side by side. As I got back on the throttle the car snapped sideways very unexpectedly and our cars touched. As we were interlocked we both headed to the outside of the track and separated. By the time we were back on track of course the field had departed and we had a mammoth task of catching everyone up.

 
It was only as the race progressed and as I made my way through the field that I realized the braking on the Fury was disappearing. For the 2nd third of the race onwards I had almost no braking at all. A join in the rear brake line where it meets the drivers side rear drum had sprung a leak and by that point in the race all of the rear cylinders brake fluid had been squeezed out. The brake bias bar then does not have anything to push against and you loose almost the entire front braking as well. It’s amazing how fast you can go without braking much. My tactic was to run into the corner loaded up on the front with some understeer to scrub off speed, chuck it at the apex and do all of the gear changes (could not heal and toe during the ‘braking’ areas as the brake pedal was so far towards the bulkhead that I could not get to the throttle with my right foot) and then get back on the racing line and fire out of the corners.

It ended up being a lot of fun, coming from the complete back of the field through up to 6th place on the last lap. John managed to recover back to 5th, in fact we kept in step with each other most of the race, with maybe 1 or 2 cars between us as we both headed through the field. Here you can see John getting past Henry on the 2nd to last lap, something I duplicated on the second from last corner of the final lap!

Silverstone Qualify

Friday Night

In preparation for the race at Silverstone, I had an engine installation to do. I decided to get a spare from Andy at AB Performance to aid change over if anything else happens with engine or gearbox. As the car had not run much since then I was going to have to take it easy in the first few laps of qualifying.

The evening before the race, I headed down to the circuit and after some good socializing set about checking the ride height, fluids and pressures before the race day. As it turned out the engine position is slightly different and this causes problems with the already bad reverse mechanism support. We ended up spending quite a bit of time, what I mean is up until midnight, trying to get reverse gearbox to alight properly – very very very many thanks go out to help from Paul, Andy, Tim and Adrian for their persistence. They actually seemed to quite enjoy being under the car!

Saturday Morning
The morning started out wet and seemed to take ages for the track to dry off.  
I elected to change over to my wet set of tires from the front just in case it started to rain whilst we were out. They have quite a bit more tread than the older front set I had on. In the end it was almost dry by the time we went out just, sort of a TopGear Mildly Moist type of track! I took the first few laps quite easy as the engine had only just been installed and I was trying to get used to the change in feel for the paddle shift and concentrate on heel-and-toe again.
Before going out I had the aim of getting into the mid 1.06’s. Firstly that was the fastest sort of time form last year and the figure most in practice had been striving for. A few had reporting dipping into the 1.05’s but I thought that would be unlikely in the short qualify time especially as the track had been well drenched overnight.
No real problems with track space here at Silverstone as its so wide, you can pass slower cars with ease. By lap 5 I was down into the 1:08 and the car generally felt really good. At this pace, the car was starting to slide around a bit but as I kept on pushing through the slip angles the time kept coming down. I managed a couple of laps in the 1.07 but had some other traffic near by which compromised my exits to some of the import corners. The next lap was then aborted as Gordon spun on the exit of Luffields causing waved yellow flags. Second from last lap the path was clear, with just Mike in front and I guessed he was heading for a good lap as well so I got my head down and concentrated on the lines and braking. The result of which was a 1:05.95 and then followed that up with a 1:06.27, which would also have been in the 1:06’s had it not been for traffic on one corner.
Car performed very well during the session, only item needing attention before the race was to replace a lost magnet for the DD2 which meant I did not have speed or more importantly a gear indicator in the later half of the qualify session. We had a lunch delay in knowing the results of qualifying due to some incidents needing review from the clerk of the course but I was very pleased indeed to find I had 2nd on the grid, after just 10 laps of running around the track. In fact I missed pole but just half a tenth of a second to Mike! I knew it was going to be an interesting race as I had Mike so close in time and right beside me on the grid with John Goodwin, less than half a second slower, and Mike Atkinson, just point 7 of a second slower than me, just behind on the 2nd row.

Mike FIELD - 1:05.90
Derek JONES - 1:05.95
John GOODWIN 1:06.42

Unfortunately due to a little incident following Gordon’s spin on track Paul had to start from the back of the grid but as it would turn out he had a good run through the pack and we would get to race, albeit just briefly, for once.

So this weekend we have the silverstone round, after a nice month and a bit break in the season. As I had gearbox issues at Pembrey I decided to sort the engine out and work on whatever might have been causing the issues in addition to any driving errors I did.
So the first action point was to remove the engine and get it down to Andy. Andy has sourced for me a replacement engine to run so that I can the original engine repaired and have a spare. So Tony very kindly helped in removing the old and refitting the new one.

In addition to the engine I have worked on trying to understand the issues that would cause the gearbox failures and put some work in trying to resolve these.

1.
The paddle shift mount has quite a bit of flex, well actually its the entire dash / steering collumn mount that moves. John has made me some bracing brakets to make this much more secure. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph this before putting the dash back on last night - next time I promise!

2.
Fuel starvation may be the problem. Well maybe because its hard to link up with the telemetry but it could so I might as well be proactive about it. I have installed a swirl pot post fuel pump which now means I have quite a bit of fuel in presurised state which should buffer any major starvation situations. I have also plumbed in a fuel pressure guage to run to the dash which I might get wired in before Silverstone.

3.
Air Filter. In the first race at pembrey the air filter was so clogged it was causing issues with the engine not pulling at low speeds. When the speeds increased their was enough ram air to help out. It was cleaned for the second race but still having an effect towards the end of the race and might have cuased the engine to drop revs quicker than normal in gear changes and stress the gearbox some. So replaced that with a new one.

 

Circuit Driver Photo Shoot

 
  

Mark Hales test RGB cars - part 2

Gordon describing the backing foil and cable ties in the back of his Mission
 
Post session discussions around Jons car
 
Magazine Photographer
 
Photo shoot up at Corum.
  

Mark Hales test RGB cars at Snetterton

Last week a few RGB stars arranged for Mark Hales or CircuitDriver and many other publications to have a test for some RGB cars which will lead to an article in the September edition of said magazine.
I was hoping to have my car down there for the test but illness the weekend before and the required engine replacement did not allow. So instead I went down to chat with all involved and make sure (with great assistance from Andy) that Pauls car was there and ready for Marks test, Paul being on holiday at the time.

Here are some pictures from the event.

Mark sitting in Pauls car, talking to Colin.


Mark sitting in Gordons car.


Mark driving Colins car


Mark driving Pauls car on track


Mark driving Jons car on track

Pembrey Saturday Qualify

The Saturday dawned nice and hot from the start. Had a good nights sleep in the tent and the paddock was buzzing early.
Qualifying went very well. I gradually worked my way up to some really good times. The first few laps had quite a bit of traffic but I managed to find some space on lap 3 to record my first banker lap in the 1:04’s. A couple of laps to cool things down and find some space and I banged in a 1:03.98 which was almost down to my fastest from the Friday testing session. I was quite happy with those times but guessed I would need something a little lower to be troubling the front of the field. Again a few laps to find some space and a little practice on a later turn into Honda and using more curb over the Esses. On lap 9 and 10 I had some space and recorded a 1:03.63 for the first race and a 1:03.73 for the second race. The question however was how well would Tim, Mike and John do?

So the line up for the two races.

• Well my 1:03.63 fastest lap would place me 3rd on the grid, just 1 hundredth of a second behind Mikes 2nd place time and 12 one hundredths of a second behind John Goodwin’s excellent pole position time!
• My 1:03.73 second fastest lap time would also give me a 3rd place for the second race. This time with Mike in Pole and John in 2nd.

Another interesting point was that there were only 2 class A cars ahead of us, meaning my class C 3rd place grid position was a 5th place start overall. It felt a little strange to have Rob behind me but it might work out well as Tim had to get past him and James’s Busa Fury before getting up to us!


Comparing my practice and qualify fastest times it would seem that was a little smother in the qualify session, which meant I was a touch slower but more consistent. The telemetry image shows I was less erratic but had slower peak and minimum speeds through Dibeni but most of that was compensated for by a better run into and out of the Brooklands Hairpin.

Comparing my 2 fastest qualify laps it would seem that the faster lap comprised of a better run on the straight from the lap before. A better run out of the first corner hairpin, due to less wheel spin and slide. A smoother run through Dibeni. A worse and slower line through the Brooklands hairpin and a slightly higher peak speed before entering Honda. These added together made a 10th of a second difference! Interest that 3 improvements were almost entirely rubbed out by a poor run through the hairpin leading to the main fast back section. The circuit guide was right, that is the more important corner for time.

Pembrey Race Weekend - Practice

Friday Practice
I headed down to Pembrey on the Thursday evening, stopping overnight with some friends near Swindon after a visit to Polley for some new rear tyres. The old ones were down to the wear markers and past their best after the heat of Brands.
On the Friday morning I completed the trip to Pembrey which is about as far as you can get diagonally across the country for me, ready for an afternoon test.

The first session after lunch was just a matter of learning the circuit and making sure the car was all sound. The track is really lots of fun, a great technical and slippy inner section and a lovely flowing fast back section. Just what I like! In fact Tim H made a comment that it’s a Derek kind of circuit. Indeed it is Tim! I am not sure of the lap times for the first test session as my lap blank was not long enough and I was picking up more than one transponder signal.

After the first session I decided to run a little more understeer to help me feel the grip on the first 2 parts of Dibeni and help with some stability through the very fast Honda curve. Oh and a little less rear brake to help with the brake whilst turning at the Brooklands hairpin. By lap 4 in the second session I saw a 1:04.51 come up on the dash which sounded about right from what I had heard from the paddock. I got a few more low 1:04s and then near the end clocked a nice 1:03.59.

The rumors were that Mike had been in the mid 1:03’s in the morning and after chatting with John G, it would seem that the afternoon session had been slower, more like very high 1:03s which meant I was in the right ball park at least. In fact modestly apart I was very happy to be around the fastest 4 after just a few short sessions on the track.

A good walk around the track that even resulting in a clearer picture of how I could improve my line through the Esses and also take a later line into the Honda curve.

The sign of a budding engineer or just crazy?

Now I would never call myself an engineer but all this work on the race car has defiantly taught me some things.
So today I had a problem to solve and used these newly obtained skills in finding the solutions. Or maybe I am just a bit crazy !

Problem.
Well I had some bedding that need to go out on the line to dry. Good idea as its nice and warm at the moment and should not take long. Problem was that we have thunderstorms forecast for today. Hmm what to do?

Solution.
So my solution was to put the bedding (sheets, duvet covers etc) on the drying line and to erect my garden parasol in the middle of the spinner so as to protect the drying items from any rain whilst still allowing the drying breeze to pass the items.
I even puts some weights on the base in case the wind picked up.
Here's a picture for your amusement!

Whilst I am posting, you can also see from this image what the bonnet side now looks like with the new fancy catches installed. Its nice to have a bonnet back on the car and even better for it to be secured correctly!

Prep for Pembrey

The weekend after next we are off to south wales for the Pembrey race meeting. A double header, includng a 30min race like Cadwell back in May and what I think will be a split grid. Its a long way down there but I heard some good things about the circuit and it would be silly to miss 2 races! Thankfully there are a few in car videos on the web of the circuit and the circuit guide looks comprehensive as usual. I have the Friday afternoon testing session booked as well to dial the car in and get comfortable with the layout. I will probably run a new set of rear tyres as they are nearly at the end of the life and probably got a fairly hard asault in the heat of Brands. Depending upon the level of improved rear gripi from new tyres, I may also try to run the rear a little bit softer.

Radiator Ducting
As I mentioned in the Brands report the relocation (closer to the water radiator) and then bottom splitter under the oil cooler seems to have made quite a difference. As I had the bonnet supporting frame which also happens to hold the oild cooler in place, off for repairs and a re-spray, I thought I would take a quick photo of it. You can also see the repaired frame, many many thanks to Tim Duncun for his expert welding. In addition to this support, I have added two side catches to replace the single item per side that it used to have. Now if there are any impacts on the bonnet it should not move about to the point of knocking the air box off. Probably just a glass fibre explosion!

Headlight replacement
Well I have the new headlight support installed, just need to get a replacement bulb and put some tape over the glass, then its ready to roll.