Why did the reverse gearbox not work?

In investigating this failure and solving it, thanks need to go to John. A single pin on the selector shaft had failed meaning that where there was no pressure to stop the cog from being spat back out when it was engaged. Obviously failed or was vibrated out during the race and hence it worked before and failed in post race scrutineering. Oh well, easy to engineer a more robust solution I guess and should have it sorted in time for Cadwell Park.
When we refitted the reverse mechanism with its new pin, we noticed that the angle bracket that locates the front also has a centre hole that was too large for the bolt. This opens up the potential for the front (i.e. cog engagement end) to drop down if that one bolt loosens slightly. Another potential point of failure, so duly fixed, thanks to John.

Whilst I am talking about things under the car. Here is a picture of the scrapes to the undertray from when I came off the track during the first race at Snetterton. Nice angle don't you think (front of the car closest to camera location)

Snetterton Weekend Summary

The whole weekend was full of an amazing range of emotions; excitement before each stage coupled with nerves and true exhilaration during the driving. Jubilation followed qualification and disappointment (with a smile) after the spin during race 1. Wonderment at the end of race 2, especially as Tim and I congratulated each other after race 2, when neither of us knew who had been in front at the chequered flag and obviously un-aware of future events. A little emptiness at the disqualification but an awesome feeling, looking back at the weekend. But this was only put into perspective when I traveled up to Spring Harvest and later that evening was standing amongst a thousand people worshiping God. The racing is fun, in fact it's awesome, especially with the friendly paddock but there is nothing like standing, praising God in the middle of a thousand piece live concert!

Snetterton Race 2 - Championship round Three

Constantly off line is the tag line for this post!
Every time through the bombhole I was protecting the inside line
I actually found that there is a drain cover on the apex of the bomb hole, never seen that before but you notice it when you put a wheel over it!
Had a nice dust shower courtesy of Tim as he cut the inside of Corum
During the qualifying I concentrated on finding the limit through Corum. In the race I had to learn how to find and reach that limit and then cope with altering the line or even worst lift and even brake in the middle of Corum as my speed was dictated by the other cars around! I don’t think I have ever been as sideways at that sort of speed before – great fun!
Each lap in traffic during the second race, I really struggled to get the exit of Russells sorted, meaning that I was a little slower than Tim as we started the run up the front straight towards the start/finish line most times.

As were went down the back straight on the last lap, I even considered backing off a little to let Tim through so that I could control better my exit at Russells later in that lap and use the slipstream tow up the straight to get the lead just at the last point. The trouble with that is knowing if you would actually make the pass before the line as its quite early on the straight. IN the end I just concentrated on the exit and we went up the straight leading to the chequered flag side by side. From the cockpit it looked like we were literally next to each other, his wheel within inches of mine! We actually crossed the line completely un-aware of who had won. The cool down lap comprised of Tim and I shrugging at each other, interspersed with lots of thumbs up. That was indeed lots of fun.

We spent lots of time waiting for scrutineering after the race, still unsure of the finishing results as the scrutineers decided to test everybody for working brake lights and reverse gearboxes. A few failed on the former and 4 of use failed on the later. The reverse gearbox failures for Tim, Henry, Oliver and I meant that we were later disqualified from the race results.

Snetterton Race 1 - Championship round Two

Friday pm
Still tail wind down the back straight meaning we will be hitting 130mph before braking for the 50mph Essess corner. Yet again I made quite a poor start, letting Mike Field, Tim Gray, John Goodwin and Chris Seaman through (check on video).
Getting past was going to be hard as Mike is good at blocking and Chris, Tim and I were all quicker than him. Close – very close racing with lots of slip streaming down the straight. In fact it was quite like the cycle racers do on the tour de france!
Managed to get past John and Chris and then follow Tim for a little while.
Into T2, Tim goes for the inside on Mike and I follow him through. Gather up a rather large slide on the exit and head for the slipstream.
At this point I should have sat behind Tim and enabled us to pull out a lead on the rest of the pack but instead I decided I was quicker than him so I pulled to the outside for a pass into the Essess. Oh dear, not a good move! Got the outside rear on some dirty part of the track and by the time I had collected up the slide, I had run out of road and spun off on the outside of the right hander. By the time I had rejoined the track, I was down in 5th and with some rather dirty tyres. The next two corners, the bomb hole and corum were lots of run due to the dirty tyres and by then Paul R had managed to catch me up. Paul just pulled past me at the end of the start/finish straight. I had held the inside line so I just dived into the corner, rather faster than normal and retook the position, only to have Pauls power advantage do exactly the same down the back straight. Paul was in front as we headed into and through the essess when we found the red flag being frantically waved and Phil Alcock’s car stranded in the middle of the bomb hole. Due to the red flag, the race was rewound back to the start of that lap, meaning I had a 5th place result.

The tail wind meant that we were hitting good top speeds and the oil temp was quite high but due to the close running we were never near the lap times from the practice session.
My mistake for the spin, otherwise I would have been in 2nd place. Never mind, something I can learn from and take with me into the second race! I really enjoyed the close racing at the top, all are excellent racers, very close and clean. Perfect!

The practicing for T1 definitely paid off for me and I was well impressed with Paul’s run from the mid pack up to the front. I think self preservation of is body work came into play when he passed me and let me back through at T1!

Snetterton Qualify Session

Practice for the double header at Snetterton was run in good weather conditions on the Friday morning of the Easter weekend. I had the car all ready the night before so it was just a matter of driving a sum total of 10 miles down the road, parking, unloading and chatting with the other drivers. Feels strange not having to do any last minute alterations and to be honest it felt good as well. Scrutineering went fine if a little slow and just resulting in me needing to put some cable ties around the fire extinguisher straps. Simple.
Aim for Qualify was to run at a steady pace, concentrating on Turns 1 and 2 and then build up, using the new DD2 lap times to help me improve. I knew I could do very low 1:20's so was looking for a mid to low 1:19 to put me near the front.

Well I started by clocking in some banker laps and found some clear track which I have not found too hard so far. There are some other drivers who have stated this to be a problem.
The weather was really quite good, cool which is good for the engines, sunny and with a tail wind down the back straight. The tail wind meant that I was on the rev-limiter @ the end before hitting the brakes for the Esses.
First session with the DD2 showing lap times (thanks for Alistair for the new sensor) and more importantly showing sectors times as well. I was very surprised to see a 1min 18 lap show up on the display and it crossed my mind that I might have something still wrong with the configuration. I had expected to get into the 1min 19's but not the 18's!
I did a slightly cooler lap to help the oil temp go down a little and then went for another fast lap. Bam, another 1min 18 :) Time for one final lap before the end of the session but I got held up with a backmarkers and was not decisive enough with my pass and lost some time. That lap had started with some improved sector times before I aborted so there is definitely more speed to come there.

anyway that meant 2 laps in the 1:18's which was fantastic and resulting in pole for class for both races and more surprisingly by almost 1 second over the other competitors. Only thing between me and a good position then will be my starts which I need to work on. I have only done 1 race start before and it was only just OK.

Hopefully class A cars will all clear off and leave a nice clean track in front. Unfortunately Paul has a gear linkage cable problem and only had his banker laps recorded so he is going to have some fun climbing up through the pack during the races, the second one on Saturday in particular.

Final Bits for Snetterton and aims for the race

It always amazes me, the number of things there are to do before a race even when you don't have anything that needs doing!

Spent this evening re-fitting the roundal and number to the front and giving the car a clean. Fitted a new cockpit fit extinguisher pull, replaced the nuts on the newly re-fitted undertray with nylocks so they don't vibrate loose, backed off the front brakes and checked for pad wear. Filled it with Petrol and filled the Jerry cans with more of the same. Packed the car up. Loaded the trailer. I also fitted the new timing beacon receiver for the DD2, thanks to Alistair so that's on and I will enjoy seeing lap times appear:)

Anyway, on the race itself tomorrow. I had a thought about my aims for the qualify and race, in light of the rather suprissing result at Brands for one and then also in light of my experiences in my the first race.

Qualifying Aims

1. Do 3 banker laps (so that I can actually race. I attempted this at Brands but by lap3 I was 'fully on it' as they say and if not I would have been in the large pack of angry cars!
2. Concentration on smoothness, especially the exit on the main straight at Sears. This corner is easy to get sideways at and it's great fun but not the quickest.
3. Corner entry for turn 1 Riches - not too early and carry more speed into the corner. I know I can do this, it's just persuading myself to do it on track!
4. Use the correct amount (i.e. lots) of curb on the exit of Russel's chicane. Get the car weight onto the drivers side and you can take lots of curb. Compromise entry to benefit exit leading onto the straight as they say.
5. Pick a memorable braking point for Riches!

Race Aims

1. START! Concentrate on the light going out. (my biggest mistake at Brands!)
2. Entry to the first corner, don't leave the door open or get blocked
3. Exit from the second corner, concentrate on T2 exit on the back straight as most overtaking on lap 1 is into the Esses at the end of the straight
4. Pick a food braking point into Riches - both on and off racing line.

That is probably enough for now - lets see how it all goes tomorrow!

Preparation for Snetterton

So this coming bank holiday weekend sees us head to Snetterton, my local track, for the second round in the championship. I wonder if I can carry over the success from Brands to my home circuit? I know I have put in some good lap times at Snetterton in the past, something that I can improve upon with my new found experience with the car. The question I have of myself is more around my ability to race at the circuit due to the long straights. I guess I will have fun learning the art of drafting down the straights and nailing the two hardest corners of the circuit which follow both straights.

Car preparation wise, very little to do this week. I have completed a quick check over, I have a spanner check to do on the prop and engine mounts etc.
If I get a chance and come up with a workable solution, I will attempt to mount the rear undertray. Partly to aid the aero, something which might make a difference in the high speed runs at Snetterton and partly to add a bit of weight. I was quite close to the minimum at Brands and that was with a lower fuel consumption due to the track and weather. At snetterton I will try to add the undertray which brings the weight up a bit and more importantly adds in low down in the car. A better solution I think than just adding more lead to the passenger seat area or adding more fuel!

Maybe a quick polish will help the airflow a little and I need to relocate the MDS Battery sticker so that it fits the strange curves of the bonnet a bit better. For the race I will try an external mic on the camcorder to see if I can get a nice 'blade' 11,000 rpm sound track. The only major change, other than the undertray, will be the use of a new lap trigger sensor for the DigiDash2. The old one, carried over from the DD1 has not been working at all so far, which means I was running blind for a lap timing perspective. I am looking forward to have lap times on the dash during the qualify and maybe more importantly during the race so that I am aim at improving every lap of the race, irrespective of whether I am gaining on another car or not.

Photos of the Brands Race

Some excellent pictures of the Race at Brands, all photographed by Tony Sissons. More excellent photos can be found on his website, of racing, kit cars and scenery. Prints available tpo purchase as well! Thanks to Tony for permission to use this in the blog. - http://www.fullframephoto.co.uk/

In the pack at the start


At the bottom of paddock hill


Coming up to the hairpin


Entering the hairpin


Catching John and Mike


Ahead of John and Mike


From behind


Coming up to lap Peter Rope


Sideways exiting the hairpin

Reflective thoughts after my first race

A few reflections after the weekend race meeting adventure.

1. There is more to getting a good qualify time than just being fast. It is highly dependent upon traffic and ability to build up to your time.
2. There is more to going well in a race than just being fast. It's dependent upon your start and the first few corners. Not just due to the position but who you will be racing against. Time spent overtaking or defending (although both of these are amazingly good fun) when others in front are not, means you drop back.
3. Even when on your own, there is an art to adapting to changing conditions.
4. Knowing where you are time-wise and position-wise can make a big difference to how you run your race - how aggressive you are for example.
5. Slipping into a 'keep it safe and get to the end' mode can be dangerous unless you UP your concentration level at the same time.
6. Personally; pushing to catch is more focusing and leads to more consistent laps than defensive and 'get home' style driving.
7. There is 'lets aim for 100%' during qualifying and then there is 'lets go for 105%' during qualifying! That last bit over 100% in the RGB races can make a 3 or 4 place difference! Maybe there is a 106%, 107% and even a 108% but hey it was my first every qualify session.
8. In Ross Bentleys 'Speed Secrets' book he describes driving over the grip limit and therefore always sliding a car in the wet so you can feel grip changes and so that you don't get caught out by a slide creeping up on you. This does actually work in practice!
9. I love sliding a car in the wet!

Brands Race 2nd April 2006

Off the line.

Wait for the red lights to go out, wait for them to go out. Hey, they have gone out! Opps I am supposed to be going now! Chris Seaman behind gets a great start and goes ahead before I am even out of first gear.
Into Paddock hill as turn one and I am trying to make sure I don't cause a turn 1 accident in my first race! Due to the cautious entry, Mike Field (who started next to me but must not have had a fantastic get away) and Mike Atkinson in the new Stuart Taylor Phasar (from 12th) come either side of me!

Turn two - all very close, I try an inside move on Mike Field but he closes the door. I keep with him down to Graham Hill bend and get a better run out and pull along side on the inside and past him at the chicane and the rain started to come down very heavily. From then on it was just sliding all the time :)

Lap 2 and pull up to the back of John Goodwin on the start/finish straight and into Paddock Hill bend. I tried an outside move on John at the hairpin, he gets sideways on the exit and I make a dive for the inside into Graham Hill bend, run a little deep but get good traction and hold on to 9th place. Entering into the next corners at the chicane, I get some massive understeer and enjoy a nice adventure over the grass while John retakes 9th.


Entering Lap 3 and I get a good run on John down the start/finish straight, keep with him up to the hairpin and watch as he does a pirouette on the exit of Graham Hill, handing 8th back to me.

Lap 4 and I am now behind Paul Haynes in the Class B R1 engined Stuart Taylor Phoenix who is close on the tail of Mike Atkinson in the new Stuart Taylor Phasar. By this stage the track is getting wetter and from the exit at Clearways all the way down the straight is full of wheelspin!

Lap 5 and Paul makes a dive down the inside of Mike unsuccessfully and I make up some distance on him, enough infact to get down the inside into the hairpin and then in the next corner Mike does a very artistic slide and I snatch 7th. So that means as we head into lap 6 that I am 3rd in class C with just Chris Seaman in front of me with Tim Gray out in the lead. Of course at this point I did no realise that but I knew I was making good progress for a rookie!

Unfortunately I was not making amazing progress in pulling out a large lead over Paul Haynes who had passed Mike and was on my tail. The changing conditions meant a few mistakes along the way in the next couple of laps and I had to start doing some defending into the slower corners. Thankfully the online racing I have done in the past definitely helped in where to position the car to stop being past but a small mistake on a couple of laps meant that Paul would sneak past at the hairpin and I would regain the position into Graham Hill bend that follows.

Within a few laps we were lapping other cars and the weather started to clear up a little, more fun in trying to work out the new grip levels with Paul on my tail as usual. In fact as the weather improved, he was able to use more of the R1's grunt.

Just after half distance in the race, Paul overtakes me at the end of the straight but then runs wide into Paddock hill and I re-take the place. I really did enjoy the close and fair racing we had throughout the meeting.

At this stage I was talking to myself and trying to get my head down to build out a lead so I could concentrate on the cars in front rather than behind. By lap 14, I was under the 1min lap time and pulling away from Paul Haynes each lap. In fact 4 out of my last 6 laps were in the 59's and not far off Tim's time ahead of me but not fast enough to make up any distance on him.


Lap 15 and I come up behind Pete Rope to lap him and run a little wide in Paddock hill so he un-laps himself but leaves the door open in to the hairpin. Just as I dive for the inside, he locks the rears under braking and slews sideways into the passenger side of my car which woke me up a little!

You can see on the picture at the bottom of the page, the tyre markes on my race number sticker. Oh and the trophy as well :)

As I entered lap 19 I could see the time to go was indicating this could be the last lap and towards the end of the lap I started to see Martin Brooks Phasar, lights ablaze heading my way. Just as I neared the start finish line, I backed off to let him lap me and save doing another lap. I was not going to catch Tim in that one lap and I thought the highest risk was going off so better to end it there on a rather high note! Cool down lap was fun, being right bend the winner, would have got some good coverage for the sponsors had I had any!

So third place in my first RGB race - not to bad, actually a lot better than I had imaged. I must admit to being rather chuffed, I wonder if I can keep it up at Snetterton in 2 weeks?

Qualify : Season opener at Brands Hatch April 2nd

So down to Qualifying. The weather looked menacing but stayed dry and was even a little sunny during the 15min session. I took it nice and easy for first 3 laps as I need to have 3 banker laps to get into the race. All went to plan, I followed Colin Chapman for the first couple of laps and then overtook down the main straight. All to plan that is until I ran a little wide at the exit of Paddock hill bend and found myself straddling the rumble strip on lap 2 - hmm so much for taking it easy!

So after calming myself down a little, I set about knocking in some smooth laps. Amazingly there was almost no problem with traffic, despite the small track. I had a few laps behind Doug Carter in his Pell Genesis with flames coming out the rear on overrun but overtook him into the hairpin. I then ran a little wide in the next corner and used a little more track than normal!

Quite a few cars went out either through mechanical problems or spins and the session was red flagged a few mins from the end with a car stopped out on track. So we came in and waited in the pit lane for it to be cleared

Back out with just 3 mins of the session remaining and no idea how well I had done so far. So peddle down and focus was the aim. A little jockeying around for some clear space and then on for a couple of quick laps.

Fastest lap = 3rd place

Really high into Paddock hill, slightly twitchy through corner, nice drift through 1st part of the hairpin and out to the rumble strip on exit. Shoot down to Graham Hill bend, using all the track and just touching the curb on the exit, snatching fourth and with a slight lift into the chicane. Used both curbs through the chicane and tried to be nice and smooth on turn in to Clearways. On the throttle early and held a nice slide on the exit to remove any understeer and then just watch for the shift lights for each gear change to the line. The penultimate lap ended up being my fastest at 53.41 The last lap was almost a quick but I made a slight mistake and then hesitated a little when 2 cars span off the track in front of me. Both heading in different directions, quite impressive actually and fun to watch - thanks Tim!

I actually ended up with 5 laps in the 54's and 3 in the 53's so that looked good for the race. The car felt good with out any need for setup changes and after spending some time today reviewing the video, I can see a few places to improve the times as well. That's good because we are doing another two races at Brands on June 10th :)

So the 53.41 put me in 8th place for the joint class A, B and C race and 3rd overall in class which was rather better than I was expecting. In fact a lot better than I was expecting in my first ever RGB Qualify Session.

Test Summary

Well the testing day went really well, I was able to learn the track and get used to bouncing off the curbs at the chicane!
Tried so may different lines around clears and gradually went higher and turned in later to Paddock Hill bend, a bend which is quite scary when you first try the circuit with some really amazing compression G forced at the end.
Have a really good time following or being in a pack with the other RGB racers which taught me a lot as far a spacial awareness and where to block / overtake.

Had a little too much oversteer in the first session which mean I could not get on the power early enough so after checking the tyre temps and pressures, I dropped the rear pressures down a little. I also added one click to the front dampers.
Next session was much improved, great turn in as I was able to push on the front tyres a little more and take a later entry o the corner. That then enabled me to get on the throttle a little earlier. Tyre pressures and temps were really even after that which is great. Setup sheets can in very helpful here. No timing unfortunately as my lap trigger device for the digidash was not working.

As we headed to the end of the afternoon, there was one more session to go. A few other RGB racers had decided to stop early after some good running and I was not sure whether to do the same and make sure I did not do something stupid or whether to continue and gain from more experience in the car and at Brands. As I sat in the holding area it began to rain and my concern grew until I realized I had not driven the circuit at all the car to a great extent in wet conditions and you never know what it might be like for qualifying or the race at the weekend. So I went out and had some slidey fun! The session was cut short as I braked and changed down from 6th to 5th for the entry to paddock hill bend and found the clutch peddle stayed depressed. I coasted to the side near the hairpin and spent the last 10 mins chatting with the marshal (sidecar racers are mad btw) and watch the different lines taken by the other racers in that corner.
When I got home that evening to fix the clutch problem, John noticed that a screw had come loose from the transmission tunnel panel and lodged itself under the clutch pedal impeding its return. Simple fix to a simple problem is always the best. Needless to say, that screw is now threadlocked in and has some gaffer tape over the top!

Really good testing day, meet my goals and what a laugh it is to run close to other cars at high speed. I'm hooked!