Nothing much happening recently as its cold outside, but the car got its xmas present today of a new clutch, just need to fit it now.
We have some provisional dates for 2010…
Currently these dates are provisional and could change.
| Dates | Circuit |
|---|---|
| Sat 17th & Sun 18th April | Brands Hatch (Double Header) |
| Sat 8th & Sun 9th May | Silverstone (Double Header) |
| Sun 16th May | Mallory (Non championship) But On TV |
| Sat 5th & Sun 6th June | Zandvoort (Double Header) |
| Sat 3rd & Sun 4th Jul | Croft (Double Header) |
| Sat 31st Jul & Sun 1st Aug | Snetterton (Double Header) |
| Sat 11th & Sun 12th Sept | Rockingham (Double Header) |
| Sat 25th Sept | Oulton Park (Double Header) |
| Sun 17th Oct | Thruxton (Double Header) |
We could be on tv…
LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION: CLUB MOTORSPORT ENTERS THE LIVE TV ERA
A new concept in televised motorsport action is to be pioneered in Britain next season, with viewers across Europe set to enjoy a five-hour feast of national race action live from Mallory Park.
The Mallory meeting – a pilot event for a planned quartet of live-TV meetings in 2010, ahead of a full season of such meetings the following year – will feature a 16-race programme of 10-minute races for saloons, sports cars and single-seaters with the emphasis squarely on entertainment.
“The aim is to provide the most exciting spectacle that British club racing can offer,” says event director Magnus Laird, “and to bring back some of the appeal which has been eroded in recent years for spectators, competitors and sponsors alike.
“The combination of full grids, short races and live television, combined with slick organisation and presentation, should prove a winning formula.”
Behind the cameras at the Sunday 16 May event will be the technicians of HayFisher, the country’s leading motorsport TV production company. The action will be beamed via HayFisher’s unique wireless camera system and a satellite uplink truck from rural Leicestershire to the Paris HQ of Motors TV, from where it will be broadcast to homes Europe-wide.
Eight championships are scheduled to appear and take part in double-header races at Mallory, including Kent-engined Formula Fords, Caterham Graduates, 2CVs, the Kumho BMW Championship, BARC Dunlop Motorsport News Saloons, BARC Intermarque League, Sports 2000 and the BARC Tin Tops Championship.
Organisers are pegging entry fees for competitors at £300 per car, to include a 10-minute qualifying session and two 10-minute races, with test sessions available at Mallory on the Saturday at just £30 for 25 minutes of track time. All competitors will receive a free DVD of the Motors TV programme and free in-paddock catering is planned.
The Mallory live TV raceday is being designed to appeal not only to armchair viewers and competitors but also to circuit-goers. Paddock entertainment will include between-race autotests against the clock, which all the race winners will be invited to contest, and there will be professional commentary and a 40-metre TV screen broadcasting the action.
Thruxton – a tail of two wheels…
Thruxton was a single day of racing with the qualifying in the morning after the ‘Church break’ and then the two races in the afternoon, with the last race being at 17:45, so this one would be interesting as the light could be fading. The next interesting factor was the weather, as it was forecast to be raining at the end of qualifying, and during the first race.
First thing in the morning Sean and myself walked the circuit, this was more to get an idea of where we would be going, and as we had time, it was a nice 45 minute walk.
The circuit was looking to be very fast with one small slow part the chicane, so out we went at 11:00 to qualify on the currently dry track, I got a couple of good laps in and was surprised when I got the times, I had actually qualified second out of the class ‘D’ cars. At the end of the session it had started to rain, and was getting slippy.
The first race was not until 14:30 and during this time (between qualifying and the first race) it was raining constantly, so as it looked I was going out for my first wet race. Accordingly I pumped up the tyre pressure so I could get the heat in them quicker, this worked well and I had a very close race with John Brabin and we traded placed a few times over the duration of the race, the only issue was when he attempted to pass me at the chicane he touched my rear wheel on the passenger side (this put me sideways across the track) lucky for me the car was still moving forward and I was able to save the slide, and continue with the race, about a couple of laps later (I had re-taken the second place) he did it again, but the other side, so I was sliding again. Again I saved the slide, and proceeded to chase him down and looked to overtake him again, although the race finished one lap later and I think I could of passed him if only I had one more lap.
The second race was at 17:45 and although the rain had stoped, the track was very greasy and slippy, on the first lap one of the other competitors, Ralph spun in-front of me, and was on the grass, so I was taking it easier as my car was moving about a lot more than in the first race (I had forgotten to lower the tyre pressure back down) so the ones in front of me started to pull away, but I was not confident in the conditions that we had, and I did not feel like breaking the car on the last outing. As the race finished I was in forth position, as Ralph had recovered and passed me a couple of laps earlier.
Overall I have finished the first season of my racing in forth position out of the 7 people that were out racing in class ‘D’ although for most races there was only 4 or 5 of us on the track.
The whole year has been an immense challenge, and very enjoyable. I am hoping to continue improving the car over the winter months by changing the rubber bushes to either poly bushes or solid bushes, and I will be looking at working with a couple of other companies that will be able to assist me in either supplying parts, services or knowledge to enable my car to be competitive next year.
Thruxton is the last race
Thruxton is the last race on this years calendar and its on the 11th of October, the points are very close for the class ‘D’ second position the first place has already been won at Oulton Park by Tim Sweet in car 75. The second place is currently between, Sean Foley, John Brabbin and myself. In order for me to finish second I need 5 more points than John, and to finish ahead of Sean on both races.
Oulton park race report…
This was the first circuit that I had some testing on the day before the race, I had been around the Brands hatch circuit for my ‘ARDS’ test, but this circuit had a reputation for being difficult with adverse cambers and an undulating surface.
We did the largest of the 3 possible circuits, and at over 2.6 miles long it takes over 2 minutes for me to get round in the 318, the M3’s do it in about 1 minute 55 seconds, I was happy to get under 2 minutes 20 seconds.
The other strange item for this weekend was we had qualifying for each race, normally we line up on the second race in the order that we finished the first race, but this time we had two qualifying sessions, one for each race (also meant more track time, which is a welcome bonus)
Just before we got out on our first qualifying session, the circuit had a power cut, it was not just the circuit, but the surrounding area also was blacked out, this meant that the first session was nearly not timed, but they managed to get the timing gear up and running just before we went out on to the circuit. One of the other class ‘D’ cars pulled off the circuit on the 3rd or 4th lap just after the ‘shell oil’ corner. Apart from that qualifying went well, I stayed on the black stuff. We did not get any times though as the printer was still out of action from the power cut, also I had to put in my fuel, and could not refill the container, as the onsite filling station also was without power. When we were all back the car that had stopped on the circuit was returned and we gathered round to see what was wrong, it turned out that the driver had turned off the fuel pump, and without this the car would not start or idle. We also all got weighed when we came off the circuit, and my car had gone down to a better weight of 1160kg (it was 1207kg at Croft earlier this year).
The second qualifying went down well and all the cars made it back to the pits in one piece, the next time we were out on the circuit it was for the first race.
Whilst we were waiting on the grid for the first race to start, there was quite a wait as they had to still recover a car from the previous race that had crashed, when the lights came on and went out, I got a good start and made up a place or two, but noticed waved yellow flags, this meant a car in front of us had not left the grid, and I had to avoid this (it slowed me down a little) this was actually a good thing, as going into the first corner, three of the front runners came together and this caused a ripple effect throughout the rest of the cars, with one of the class ‘D’ cars getting a rear wheel onto the grass and spinning into another class ‘D’ car, they both recovered and continued, as the race went on I had a couple of battles with other class ‘D’ drivers, one of which I passed twice, but they kept spinning due to damage inflicted on the first corner, and this let me past both times. The race was stopped on lap 5, as the leading car blew its engine and came to rest on the ‘Shell oil’ corner and spilt oil around the area, so we came back round and lined up on the grid, I noticed one of the class ‘D’ cars went off down the pit lane, and my petrol level was getting low.
When we restarted we had just 4 laps to go, at this stage I was third in class ‘D’, but there was a quicker driver behind me, that I thought would dive into the first corner, so I took note that if he made up ground on the start not to block his charge, as it could end my race. The car that went into the pits came out after we restarted (he also was low on fuel and was suffering fuel starvation around some corners), I had a good close race for the next 3 laps, and was running in forth position until I was passed, then I could not take the position back as we were on the last lap, and its a difficult circuit to pass people on. So I finished the first race in fifth.
The second race was missing a few of the class ‘A’ cars, so we were assisting the marshals, to ensure that we got out on the circuit as soon as we could. This race was uneventful, I got a good start and got in front of another class ‘D’ car and managed to stay in that position for the rest of the race, it was a tight battle, and a very enjoyable race for both of us, and I do like Oulton park as a circuit and hopefully all those with damage will get it repaired for the next race in two weeks in Thruxton for the final races of the season.
Oulton here we come…
Well I have booked a testing day at Oulton Park, the day before our race there, so I can for once learn a track, before the qualifying session. Will update on twitter on progress for the weekend.
Cat replacement pipe is on…
Well after I brought from ebay a cat replacement pipe for the car it was sitting in the front room (not a good idea) so today I started to put it on the car, there are a total of 7 nuts to remove to get the front part of the exhaust off the car, all but one was simple to release (ok, some needed a little heat and persuasion) but the last one, could not be moved, I tried all items penetrating spray, heat, and even brought a nut splitter but this also failed (actually broke the tool).
Whilst searching on the net I spotted a mobile mechanic, gave him a call and 2 hours later he was here, took him longer to take off his helmet than removing the nut. Literally 5 minute job, its easy when you have the correct tools.
So after that, another 1 hours work from me to put on the new pipe, and start it up, its defiantly louder now. We will have to wait till next weekend though to see how it runs.
Eggies…
A former Kumho racer has created this from a photo of the car, I think it looks really good.
Report from the rock…
Another fun filled racing weekend has passed, and there was a fair bit of anticipation on my behalf on visiting Rockingham speedway, as I have seen ‘Days of Thunder’ and when them cars hit the wall its over. We were not to do the oval track, but we did use the first turn on the banked circuit.
The first couple of laps of qualifying I used as sighting laps, so I knew where I was, there were others there that had been practicing the day before, and so knew where to turn left and rights and they just got on with it, when I had got an idea of where the circuit went, I started to increase speed, with a aim to put in a good qualifying time, although as I don’t have a lap timer, until qualifying is over I have no idea where I am in relation to the other class ‘D’ drivers.
When the results were out, I was last, but only 3 seconds adrift. In the race, I thought if I can keep on the tail of the others then I may be able to keep with them this time (improvements to the cars exhaust system), and when the red lights went out, I got a storming start and was up to second in class ‘D’ for the first corner, John Brabbin did fight back though and got me into the second corner, but I managed to keep Ralph behind me, as the race went on, the gap between myself and Ralph grew (he did have a electrical issue on the car that he solved during the race) but I managed to keep the distance between myself and Ralph and could still see John in the distance, until I got to the hairpin on lap 8 and there was a waved yellow flag, when I came round the corner I saw Johns car parked on the side, that was a shock, and I was thinking had he crashed, collided with another car? The next time past I checked the car out and could see no damage on it, but then realised this meant I was now second, if I finished the race. The race was over 2 laps later, and when we were in ‘parc ferme’, it became obvious John had suffered mechanical failure on his car, as his wife stated that it was smoking when they last saw him, but did not know what happened. Ralph filled me in on the electrical issue that he had during the start of the race.
Johns car was terminal, it was diagnosed as either head gasket failure (HGF) or broken piston rings, both of these diagnostics meant he would not be racing in the next race, fingers crossed he will be back at Oulton park in 3 weeks.
For the start of the next race I was behind Adrian Gilbert on the grid and I had Tim Sweet next to me, I did not get as good a start as the previous race, but I managed to keep Ralph behind me, and this was the case for the first 3 laps, and then Ralph got me going into the hairpin, a very good overtaking move from what I saw. For the rest of the race I stuck to him like glue, even when the leaders passed us, I was then able to close back up on him, and both of us broke into the 1:48 lap times (previous bests for us were in the 1:50’s) so being together and pushing each other helped us not to get lapped by Tim Sweet (a first for me in the race, not to get lapped by a fellow class ‘D’ car)
The second race was by far the most enjoyable race I have had though the championship to date.