At Silverstone we had the addition of a small new front splitter and the bikesports race had been opened up to include RGB which gave us a good opportunity to do some setup testing. I used the Bikesports qualify session to get used to the track and check the balance of the car ready for the RGB qualify which netted us Pole. For the Bikesports race itself, we added some rake to the car to give better front end grip and I played around with the front ARB a little to get a good balance ready for the RGB race. I also had a little bit of fun running with the leading bikesports drivers and then backed off to save the car and so that I did not get in the way of their race.
For the RGB race itself, starting from pole, I managed an average get away from the line, keeping in front of Paul who was second on the grid but dropped behind the ever fast starting Steve as he came up the inside. Steve entered the first turn a little too hot and I was able to get a better exit and past him before turn 2.
I thought I was a little hot entering second turn myself, only to see Paul coming flying past the entry to the corner behind me. Further back in the pack there was a coming together of a number of cars which brought out the red flags. On the re-start it was obvious the this had included David in the BDN S2 which was a big disappointment as he had been showing good pace. The restart was better and I had a clean run for the first lap in the lead. As I came around for the end of the second lap, I could see that Paul had pulled off before he had past the start/finish line for the first time. After a handful of laps I could see a decent lap back to Steve in 2nd place, put in a quick spurt to try for a lap record and then settled into looking after the car, keeping it smooth and seeing if the new additions to the car were making much difference.The rest of the race was uneventful, returning yet another race win with fastest lap and a new lap record.
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Snetterton
For Snetterton we had a newly designed front splitter.
The data logging showed that we were not getting an increase in front downforce from the splitter design at Silverstone. It would seem that the improved front end grip at Silverstone was resulting from the rake increase we dialed in. This makes sense as its only the first corner at Silverstone that is at any decent speed and I needed to pitch the car in whilst the weight was on the front and the increased rake enabled the weight to stay there long enough for me to get to the apex and hit the power. All of the other corners are either slow or entered under braking and therefore hiding any lift from the front body design.
Again we used the Bikesports race to do some setup with the new front splitter, mainly to test a reduction in rake. We had a good battle until the 3rd place Bikesports driver was taking a few too many risks for me to want to stay close. I then dropped back and pulled in early so we were ready for the RGB Race.In the race itself, which was televised, I had a good start, lead into the first corner and concentrated on a good first lap to pull out a lead. By the end of the back straight, Paul had passed Steve for second place and from then on all I could see if Paul behind. The gap back to Paul gradually increased from around 2 seconds on lap 3 to nearly 5 by lap 10. We then came up to lap Phil who was dropping oil.
As I came down towards Russels behind a Neil Palmer, we both slid on the oil, with Neil missed the chicane and went over the grass.
I lifted to let Neil re-join the track ahead of me to reduce the risk of being hit, letting Paul reduce the gap down to less than 2 seconds. The last lap was uneventful and I crossed the line for another win, fastest lap and lap record.
The new BDN S3 has been very impressive since its Launch in June.
We go into the last race of the season with an unexpected chance to get the Class A championship. So far with this new car we have completed 7 races with 100% reliability, 6 race wins (1 spin caused by me!) and 4 new lap records! As long as we stay ahead of Steve at Mallory, we can get the Class A championship despite the non finish at Brands and not entering the 2nd Brands race or the two races at Cadwell.
Following Mallory next weekend the car will morph into a new configuration for 2010, more of that later.
