Quick summary from Oulton Park as I am traveling.
Turned up to the most rain I have seen all year, the paddock area was flooded and lots of reports of treacherous conditions during the Friday practice. Saturday morning dawned with the pause in the rain, although the surrounding area seemed to get rain all day.
The qualify session was wet although it was not actually raining and the car felt good although not very predictable at the rear. Well actually it was ok but the throttle sensitivity means its hard to invoke a slight slide in the wet or to control a slide to a small angle, it it either sideways or not which means its hard to feel the changes in grip level. All was going well until about half way through the session when I slided more under braking and turn in to Druids than I had expected and had a fun session of traveling on the grass and over the gravel trap. In fact I though it was ok once I held the slide over the grass but it was quite a wake up to realise I needed to accelerate, whilst off the track, to be able to clear the gravel and rejoin. From then onwards I did to push hard enough which mean I did not make use of the increased grip that was evident by the other improved times int he last couple of laps. This left me 5th in the first race (and behind Steve) and 4thin the second race. My worst qualify for over a year I think.
The first race went well for me, I just about missed Martin who stalled on the grid, got to 4th on the run down the cascades, 2nd after the straight and chased Steve for the rest of the lap. Steve was experiencing some brake issues and therefore lifted early for the entry to the first corner of lap 2, which I slipped past and pulled out a good lead. That is where it finished and although Oulton is a great track, it was a very quiet race for me.
The second race, at the end of the day, looked like it could be effected by the rain and therefore we decided to run the wet weather types to cope with any sudden down-poor. As it was the race was completely dry. I had a great start and drove around the outside of the 3 class C cars in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place which gave me the lead after the first corner. From there I took it easy and concentrated on the race win for the championship points.
So 2 race wins and fastest laps have given me 26 points from the weekend. Paul in class B and my closed rival for the overall Championship had a 2nd and 1st in a reduced points round and John in class C did not convert the weekend into 2 wins so the points are looking good.
Interesting results with brakes as well.
At silverstone, the newly supplied brake discs from Hispec failed after just 1 qualify session.
The much smaller spare for the rear, when fitted as a replacement at the front, lasted a full race.
The spare disc, supplied originally from Hispec to BDN Sportscars, ran for the qualify and 2 races at Oulton faultlessly.
Interesting dilemma for Hispec, original manufactured discs work fine, smaller spare by them worked fine, newly manufactures replacements (and there were 2 remember) both failed first time out! What to do then Hispec?
Derek
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Silverstone: DONE, Oulton Park: BRING IT ON!
Silverstone Summary
As I mentioned in the rather brief summary of Silverstone, it was quite a successful day but also frustrating.
We went out in qualifying with the new discs, straight from HiSpec. I took it easy for the first couple of laps, let the brakes get hot and then cool and then put my foot down. Something like 7 of the laps in qualifying would have put me on pole in last years race and we were substantially under the lap record although I don't think I was driving brilliantly. Rather too many missed apex's and messy exits.
Once we came in from the session, we did a normal check over the car and were astounded to find the near side from discs to be cracked in two after just one session!. We checked the other side and found hairline cracks emanating from every mounting hole. Wow what Qualify Control.
We reverted the car back to running the original front disc on the near side and the spare from the rear (quite a bit smaller) on the off side, as per Donington and prep'd the car for the race.
In the race, I wanted to be nice and easy on the brakes so that firstly I did not overheat the small front discs and secondly did not have any issues with the potential imbalance of running two different specification of disc. My start was not amazing and I arrive into turn 1 with Steve ahead on my left and Doug beside me on the right.
I held station, tentatively hit the brakes and slotted in behind Steve. Turn 2, both of us missed the apex. In my case I was trying to use engine braking up to the apex to save the brakes and this just helped the rear around a little more than I had expected. I was quite happy to sit behind Steve as I learnt new ways to drive the car with plenty of engine braking and to get a feel for the brakes but that was short lived when I had a good exit from the last corner on the start finish straight right at the time that Steve had a bad exit. 
By the time we reached the start / finish line we were side by side and I just slipped in front at the turn-in for the corner. From there I was able to steadily pull away without putting much strain on the car and ended the race with a decent margin. It was quite an interesting exercise and definitely concentrated your mind on carrying apex speed and maintaining pace even if you cant get the lines perfect due to a compromised entry to a corner. We even managed to get under the existing lap record, set by a Radical S
R4 2 years ago, all be it considerably slower than we managed in the qualify session. I may have over done the gently gently approach!
Oulton Park
The car is now all ready for our next round at Oulton Park this coming Saturday.
At the Oulton Park trackday, we noticed a little liquid around the near side front but could not identify where it came from. Once the car had been sat in the garage for a couple of days it was obvious that the near side front brake caliper had a small leak. The internal seals had once again failed, good these HiSpec brakes! So last we fitted some new seals and made a few other alterations to the brakes to try to give them an easier time and minimise any potential issues with these.
The car is also in wet weather settings, ready for what is forecast to be a rather damp weekend.
As Hispec have been incapable to admitting there are a problem with the discs they supplied last time let along deliver any replacements, it was a fantastic to hear that Brian has found another spare pair of new front and rear discs that we can use this weekend.
As we lead up to the Oulton Park double header, here is a short in car lap of the Oulton circuit. I wonder if we will see if like this at the weekend or whether it will more closely resemble a pond!
As I mentioned in the rather brief summary of Silverstone, it was quite a successful day but also frustrating.We went out in qualifying with the new discs, straight from HiSpec. I took it easy for the first couple of laps, let the brakes get hot and then cool and then put my foot down. Something like 7 of the laps in qualifying would have put me on pole in last years race and we were substantially under the lap record although I don't think I was driving brilliantly. Rather too many missed apex's and messy exits.
Once we came in from the session, we did a normal check over the car and were astounded to find the near side from discs to be cracked in two after just one session!. We checked the other side and found hairline cracks emanating from every mounting hole. Wow what Qualify Control.
We reverted the car back to running the original front disc on the near side and the spare from the rear (quite a bit smaller) on the off side, as per Donington and prep'd the car for the race.In the race, I wanted to be nice and easy on the brakes so that firstly I did not overheat the small front discs and secondly did not have any issues with the potential imbalance of running two different specification of disc. My start was not amazing and I arrive into turn 1 with Steve ahead on my left and Doug beside me on the right.
I held station, tentatively hit the brakes and slotted in behind Steve. Turn 2, both of us missed the apex. In my case I was trying to use engine braking up to the apex to save the brakes and this just helped the rear around a little more than I had expected. I was quite happy to sit behind Steve as I learnt new ways to drive the car with plenty of engine braking and to get a feel for the brakes but that was short lived when I had a good exit from the last corner on the start finish straight right at the time that Steve had a bad exit. 
By the time we reached the start / finish line we were side by side and I just slipped in front at the turn-in for the corner. From there I was able to steadily pull away without putting much strain on the car and ended the race with a decent margin. It was quite an interesting exercise and definitely concentrated your mind on carrying apex speed and maintaining pace even if you cant get the lines perfect due to a compromised entry to a corner. We even managed to get under the existing lap record, set by a Radical S
R4 2 years ago, all be it considerably slower than we managed in the qualify session. I may have over done the gently gently approach!Oulton Park
The car is now all ready for our next round at Oulton Park this coming Saturday.
At the Oulton Park trackday, we noticed a little liquid around the near side front but could not identify where it came from. Once the car had been sat in the garage for a couple of days it was obvious that the near side front brake caliper had a small leak. The internal seals had once again failed, good these HiSpec brakes! So last we fitted some new seals and made a few other alterations to the brakes to try to give them an easier time and minimise any potential issues with these.
The car is also in wet weather settings, ready for what is forecast to be a rather damp weekend.
As Hispec have been incapable to admitting there are a problem with the discs they supplied last time let along deliver any replacements, it was a fantastic to hear that Brian has found another spare pair of new front and rear discs that we can use this weekend.
As we lead up to the Oulton Park double header, here is a short in car lap of the Oulton circuit. I wonder if we will see if like this at the weekend or whether it will more closely resemble a pond!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Silverstone summary
Summary for today:
Pole position
Both brand new discs cracked !
Reverted to spares
Race win
Fastest lap (whilst hardly using brakes)
New lap record
Quick advert for the new drivers forum
http://rgb-racing.org.uk
Pole position
Both brand new discs cracked !
Reverted to spares
Race win
Fastest lap (whilst hardly using brakes)
New lap record
Quick advert for the new drivers forum
http://rgb-racing.org.uk
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Suspension and Brake refit prior to Silverstone
As of last night the car is back together and almost ready to roll for the Silverstone round this coming Saturday.
Replacement Front Discs
The discs finally arrived from HiSpec after lots and lots of chasing but to give them their credit, they are a perfect fit. Here you can see the new front disc reattached to the near side front wheels where we had the failure at Donington.
Here you can see the comparison between the old front and new front discs, as I have chosen to run both fronts on the new discs to keep them even.
The original disc from the offside will become the spare to sit along side the spare rear disc we already have which we used temporarily on the front.
Crack Testing of Suspension
The result of the crack testing was that we saw some small cracks in both of the top wishbones on the near side suspensions. I took these over to Steve at Concept Designs and he has re-Tig welded these points. In fact once the plating had been removed, he could not see any cracks in the welds themselves so it looks like it was just plating deep. Anyway he has added another weld on top to be certain and these are now back on the car.
Last night I refitted these suspension back on the car. All we have to do before our Friday evening run over to Silverstone is to check the geometry and add some fuel.
Replacement Front Discs
The discs finally arrived from HiSpec after lots and lots of chasing but to give them their credit, they are a perfect fit. Here you can see the new front disc reattached to the near side front wheels where we had the failure at Donington.
Here you can see the comparison between the old front and new front discs, as I have chosen to run both fronts on the new discs to keep them even.
The original disc from the offside will become the spare to sit along side the spare rear disc we already have which we used temporarily on the front.Crack Testing of Suspension
The result of the crack testing was that we saw some small cracks in both of the top wishbones on the near side suspensions. I took these over to Steve at Concept Designs and he has re-Tig welded these points. In fact once the plating had been removed, he could not see any cracks in the welds themselves so it looks like it was just plating deep. Anyway he has added another weld on top to be certain and these are now back on the car.
Last night I refitted these suspension back on the car. All we have to do before our Friday evening run over to Silverstone is to check the geometry and add some fuel.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Crack Testing
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the nearside rear.
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the offside rear.
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the nearside front.
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the offside front.
 |
| Crack Testing - Near Side Rear |
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the offside rear.
 |
| Crack Testing - Off Side Rear |
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the nearside front.
 |
| Crack Testing - near side front |
Click on the image below to see the crack testing images for the offside front.
 |
| Crack Testing - Off side front |
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
4 wheels back on my wagon!
Cool drifting video here - its from Silverstone where we race next. I enjoy sliding sideways a lot but I am not sure I can get the BDN quite this sideways. Worth a try maybe! Great editing.
DRIFT SILVERSTONE 2008 HD from Clashproduction on Vimeo.
Quick update on the racing front. Last night we refitted the rear suspension. Well when I say we, I actually mean John did. Paul and I just stood around talking about what to do next year! So the car is now back in running order. We are still waiting for the new discs from HiSpec so it wouldn't be at full speed but if we completely ran out of time it would be serviceable. They are supposed to be complete by now but not sure when we should expect them. This disc replacement is a very quick job so no worried there. Next on the list is a crack test, we have all of the chemicals needed, now we just need to knowledge!
DRIFT SILVERSTONE 2008 HD from Clashproduction on Vimeo.
Quick update on the racing front. Last night we refitted the rear suspension. Well when I say we, I actually mean John did. Paul and I just stood around talking about what to do next year! So the car is now back in running order. We are still waiting for the new discs from HiSpec so it wouldn't be at full speed but if we completely ran out of time it would be serviceable. They are supposed to be complete by now but not sure when we should expect them. This disc replacement is a very quick job so no worried there. Next on the list is a crack test, we have all of the chemicals needed, now we just need to knowledge!
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