This one is quite small, engine was making a strange sound after free practice. The owner of the car decided to continue with the weekends plans but, before the first lap of qualifying the engine had frozen, new engine required.
Weekend in the heat, so evening/night trackday
Off to the anual pilgrimage to Cartagena circuit in Murcia, Spain.
We have set off from Malaga at 9:15am and hope to be there around 14:00, so off to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours.
At the circuit for 18:00 start of the evening track time, then a quick bit of food before the night track session starts at 22:00.
Tomorrow we have the racing starting early in the morning to ensure we have finished the qualifying and two races by 14:00 so we can start the long trip back home.
Look out for the race report tomorrow.
Price increases for loggers.
Racelogic and Race Technology have both not changed there prices for a few years, but with the Brexit and current exchange rates, both manufacturers have decided that they can not absorbe the increases longer.
To avoid these prices rises order your Race Technology loggers and pets before the 1st of July. For Racelogic products you have one month longer order before the 1st of August. Don’t leave it too late order before the price increases.
If you have any needs in the logging departments want to improve your times around the track, contact us and we can offer free advice, and help you chose the best product to improve your position on the starting grid.
Hyundai at almeria.
So we had a packed one day at Almeria, where the regulations had changed to ONU allow Toyo r888 tyres too try and equal the field a little as before the tyre choice was free, and most used slicks.
Qualifying went well, we got the third fastest time so that put us in good stead for the first race.
After three laps on the first race we were in third position but then the car did not come around anymore. Where was it? What had happened? After the race had finished Hans Peter was towed back to the garage where it was obvious to the driver that the clutch had gone. But what was up with it?
A quick check indicated hydrolic failure due to no fluid in the system. We borrowed some fluid from another racer and put a little in, pumped the fluid and saw that it was coming out of a solid pipe near the slave cylinder. We could not get a new pipe (all others had swapped to a braided goodridge type hose) so proceeded to take off the broken pipe, and make a new flared end with a center punch and hammer. The hastily repaired (bodged) pipe was refitted and the clutch blead, it kept the fluid in so 3 mins to spare we were on the grid, in pole position (reverse grid and due to us not finishing)
Second race Hans held on to first for a lap but went back to third, but by the end of the race he got back to second.
No podium this weekend due to the first race dnf, but a solid set of points from the second race. We can drop two races over the year for the final standings.
Next stop Cartagena on July 9th.
Redbull Ring with the GT4 northern series
So after constant problems at Brands Hatch the team headed to Austria for the third round at the Redbull Ring. We managed to set the fastest times in both free practices, with the Pro drover Andy Merick. Stephen Patrick was hot on his heals and gaining speed with each outing.
In qualifying we managed to pick up a penalty of ‘drop 3 places on the grid’ due to missing a stop go after we had entered the pits and stoped running. So we did not start from pole, (fastest time) but forth on the grid. Andy did pick up a new watch from the new sponsor for getting the fastest time.
For the first race Andy started and managed to get ahead of the pack and was leading the class for a while, after the driver change we got a stop go penalty (just under a second too quick leaving the pitlane) when Steve had served this we were back in about 12th Steve battled through the field getting to 3rd in class. Only to be disappointed a few hours later due to a technical infringement which meant the car was too low so we got disqualified.
Putting the disqualification behind us, we were starting near the back of the field due to a 5 place grid drop for injuring a mechanic at brands (me). Steve started the stint and was quickly making up places from 27th to 18th then a mistake on track dropped him back to 21st he again climbed back up the order and when we changed drivers this time, Andy was ready to take on the challenge of the deficit to p1 in class of 30 seconds. Andy battled heroicly through the field and managed to get to second in class with about 4 minutes of the session left. The decision was made to hold station there as we may be able to catch first in class, but with the time left not be able to pass, so we managed to bring the car home in second place in class and a very happy team.
Next race for the McLaren is the Slovak ring in July, though next week we are out at Almería for the Hyundai copa.
Gt4 – Brands Hatch, not the best outcome
So, the second round of the northern gt4 series was held at Brands Hatch and for once the rain held off (expectation was to have a wet weekend)
It was a condensed weekend as there was no running allowed on the Friday so free practice and qualifying was held on Saturday with Sunday hosting both races.
On the free practice the car started to get an issue with the gearbox selection, sometimes it would give a box of nothing, other times it would change up at innopportune monents (mid corner for example)
Overnight McLaren supplied a new gearbox loom and a new yaw sensor, for the first race we swapped just the yaw sensor, but Steve still had issues with gears when he was 3/4 through his stint.
The pit stop is where it went wrong for me, I got caught by the front wheel and taken out by the front splitter running over my lower right leg. So my race weekend was over I was whisked to hospital with a suspected broken ankle, x-ray showed it to be a fracture of the lower tibia, so out of action for at least 6 weeks.
The driver change was competed with me sitting on the side lines, but the car had to retire later due to the same gearbox issue.
Second race was started by Andy after the rest of the team managed with the assistance of McLaren to change the gearbox loom, but Andy retired due to the issue still been present and it was not safe to continue to race for him, or others around him.
Next race will be at the redbull ring in Austria, which there is a very high probability that I won’t be there.
Second round of andalucia copa
So the next round of the Hyundai Accent championship was to be held on the new Andalucía circuit (opened last year) its right next to the existing Almería circuit and ad Hans Peter had done the golf racing here last year we felt we had a slight advantage.
At the precious round we had some Michelin slicks, for this round we had the hard compound left, and some new Dunlop slicks that we were going to test with and possibly run in the race with.
First practice went well Hans Peter was lighting up all the sectors green and putting in great times, we decided that half way through the second test session we would switch to the Dunlops. That’s when tragedy struck, Hand Peter stoped on track, initial thoughts were no fuel left, so we put in fuel after he had been towed back but the car would not start. Standard tests fuel, air and spark were carried out and we had no spark, we tried new leads, crank shaft sensors, cam sensors, all to no avail. At the last minute we checked the main circuit cutoff and noticed a wire on one of the ignition switches was loose, reconnected this better and the car fired up, just intime to get Hans Peter out on the track for the last part of qualifying.
The car qualified good and there was good battles in the first race, and we took second position. Due to the championship regulations the next race is a reverse grid, so we started second to last. Hans Peter did a sterling job and waited for the right opportunities and found himself at the front of the pack. We managed to finish this race first, and due to the fact another competitor has got the same results over the weekend (a first and a second place) it went down to lap times to see who had clinched the first place for the weekend, great news we had managed to get a faster lap time than the other competitor so we finished first for the weekend. Next race at the same location (but the other track) on the 17th of June.
Heading home
After a very eventful weekend with the Bullitt Racing McLaren GT4 at Misano in Italy it’s home time. Due to contact in the first race we needed to change a lot of the panels at the front and rear of the car, and some front steering parts, but also straighten the exhaust as it was off center and no spare available, luckily the McLaren support truck was available and we had spares available for the other parts that was needed. We managed to get the car back together for the second race, there was contact again but the car finished the race and next race will be Brands Hatch.
No copa golf this year.
Well we were asked by one of the MRDC to look after there golf this year, but due to lack of entries he went and brought an Hyundai Accent copa car, and the first time he drove it (first time on slicks also)
So on the weekend of the 25/26th of march we headed up to Guadix for the first race of the season. We tested hard on the 25th so he could learn what the car would do, and also to understand the difference in handling a car running slicks is compared to the normal track day semi slicks he was used to. He managed a 2nd place in the first race, we only managed 5th in the second race due to contact made. The car behaved faultless but there is a list of jobs needed as is always with a new car.
Another thing for 2017
So as well as helping out with some golfs for the 2017 copa de andalucia.
We will also be helping out Bullitt Racing in the 2017 GT4 northern series.