Sunday 21st Oct: A beautiful autumnal sunny day
and what a better way to spend such a wonderful day than driving 260 miles to
collect the new steed ready for next seasons racing.
That’s right….collection day of the new ‘edsco’ mobile.Myself, Beckie and Mollie dog set off up
north to Bingley to collect the motor.Nice family day out all in all.Arrived at around midday and Steve’s first comment before even getting
out the car…….’Cuppa?’.‘Yes please….’.
Walked into Steve’s garage to find a massive pile of spare
parts for the car, documents, history logs, development logs, more spare parts,
and a winners garland….well it will look nice in the garage!
With the boot loaded full, it was time to load the car onto
trailer.Note to self for future loading
/ unloading requirements.Jack up the
jockey wheel….!Helps a lot with car
ground clearance.All strapped down we
were ready for the long journey home…..oh not forgetting handing over wads of
dollar.
Got home at 17:00ish, which was good, as it meant the Mrs
was happy as she still had time to get out riding the ‘orse before it got
dark.Tick in box for me ;-)
With the car stowed safe and sound back home and tucked up
in garage, it was time to start thinking about modifications and improvements
for next season.
What a blinder of weekend! A little taster video before we get started.
It has to be said, from my point of view, Mallory Park
Circuit is not the most exciting of race tracks out there, but it certainly led
to some exciting exploits.
I arrived at the circuit 17:00ish on the Saturday evening to
find the Paddock almost empty.I was a
little surprised by this as usually I am normally one of the last few to arrive
and end up having to find a space to squeeze into with the van.But this time I had a blank canvas of free
choice.
Team Spire along with Tim Gray Motorsport were there already
having tested all day Saturday along with Arthur Rogerson who had just acquired
Matt Higginson Spire GTR only a few weeks prior.First thing Arthur said was….’this car is
just magical!’.He was comparing it to
his old car, and at the end of his test day had a smile from ear to ear.Great stuff….i thought.I no longer have him to overtake.Damn it?!
Saturday night circa 30 of us headed off into the near by
village to the pub to have our fill.Very nice it was too!The
shoulder of lamb was fantastic.If I
could remember the name of the pub I would recommend it, but I can’t, so I won’t.Got back to the circuit about 23:30 and just
before I headed back to the camper van I saw Rew Chapelle struggling to
assembly a number of camp beds for his kids in the dark.I offered a hand but he was adamant it was
all under control so promptly left him to it.Poor kids, camping on evening such as it was, I am sure they must have
been freezing cold.I was cold in the
camper and I had the gas heating on!
Sunday morning arrives and bloody hell it was cold.Ice on the windscreen of the camper I was
praying the sun would make a prompt appearance and help me thaw out.
Tris turn up with the Fury about 07:15 at the circuit to
which I had a phone call….’Hi…I am at the gate of the circuit….where are
you?’.I replied ‘In bed still……’.At that point I thought it was time I got up
and got the bacon and eggs on the go.
Time ticked by, did the driver briefing (unlike some who
were fined £160 for not doing so.Won’t
mention names.Arthur your secret is
safe with me), then got the car down to scrutineering.No dramas to be found there, so started about
prepping for qually.
Lining up for qually, the dreaded noise check was
first.To be fair I never know what to
rev the car to exactly.¾ revs?Well I did 7,500rpm which was just shy of ¾
but was miles under the DB linit.101.6
decibels.At that point, I wasn’t sure
if that was okay.Turns out 105 DB was
the limit, but was waved on into the holding area.
QUALLY
Not the most fantastic of qualifications.Having never driven the circuit the 15 mins
qually for me was all about learning the circuit.More importantly learning ‘Gerrads’.How much speed should I take into the corner?
Which gear?Should I be bouncing off the
limiter?All things I have to phathom
out in my 15 mins qually.Turns out I
qualified 21st out of 24 runners with 52:45 best lap.Although it wasn’t a great performance, at
least I wasn’t last.
Once thing I did notice in qually was the unevenness of by
brake balance.Obviously front to rear
balance is easily solvable by adjusting the bias…..but right to left?I found going into the hairpin I was consistently
locking one wheel and getting hardly any braking from the other front.It was causing the car to be really unstable
under heavy braking resulting in a lot of ‘Wobble’.
Got back to the paddock area and notice the smell of burning
oil.Whipped the bonnet off…….’OH
*&~@!!’The entire engine bay was
coated in oil.Thinking the worst i.e. I
had blown the engine in a big way, the cause of the Exxon Valdez oil spill was
down to the oil filler cap not being present.
Not wanting to cause an issue over this, but it wasn’t me who checked
the oil level.That was down to Tris to
which in my honest opinion I believe he didn’t screw the filler cap back in
after topping up the level, but of course this is all denied.
After 4-5 kitchen rolls later the worst of the oil was
mopped up.I suggested checking the data
logger to ensure we had done damage to the engine, but oil pressure was just
maintained throughout qually.I think if
I did one more lap it would have been curtains that’s for sure.
‘Would car #21 RGB please report to the Clerk of the
Course’. Hey?That’s me…What have I done wrong?I nipped over to see them, explained who I
was wondering what the issue was.‘Some
of the marshalls radioed in and think you may have an oil leak.We thought you should know’.I burst out laughing….’yeah you are not
kidding’.Not knowing if the engine was
okay at this point, I said it could possibly mean an early bath for us due to
the issue.
Got back to the van, went through the data logger to find
all was well.Thank god!Bring on the RACING!!
RACE #1
I really need to improve my starts.FACT!The
Reds go out….and I stalled.FFS!Calmly restarted, but my clutch control had
regressed to something like when I first started to learn to drive when I was
17.Incredibly jerky!I just couldn’t get it right.Sod it….i thought.Just floor it.Promptly lit up the rear wheels and left the
biggest number ‘11’ on the grid.The car
skewing sideways, bit of opposite lock and I was away.At least it got some heat in the tyres.
I caught the pack up going the ‘Esses’ and proceeded to
start racing.
Not many laps into the race I came through the hair pin to
be confronted with what looked like a war zone.Car debris everywhere.30 yards
later I clocked Dave Watsons MNR parked up with the right front hanging
off.Not one for rubber necking, I
pushed on and lap by lap the circuit was slowly cleared of debris with the
marshalls doing an excellent job keeping the race going.
This video shows what happened with photo below showing Dave
driving over Austen Greenways Fury.Doesn’t have much luck does Austen.The incident does make a very good case to having a full roll cage….that
is for sure.
I saw the race to the end doing my obligatory eyeballing of
the rear view mirrors to check for the leaders lapping me.Had a butt clenching experience going round
Gerrads when Derek Jones and John Cutmore decided to simultaneously over take
me sandwiching me effectively doing close to 105mph.Luckily Class R cars have far superior grip
so they got round no problem.I just
focussed on holding my line.
Race complete it was time to go through Post Race Scrutineering.Up till this point in the season I never
really paid a great deal of attention to the whole thing, until now.Mallory weekend they decided to check weight
limits and min ride heights.The queue
of cars started going through, but I was left a little baffled as to why some
disappeared off to the left and some off to the right…slightly puzzled, so when
I drove onto the weigh bridge, as they checked the car I ask…’why have some
cars gone one way and others being held over there?’.The reply I received was, ‘Turn left sir out
of here please’.‘Why not turn
right?’Left if youhave been good, right if you have been
naughty.It would appear a large number
of my fellow competitors have been….how can I put this…..CHEATING!!!Ride heights is part of the rules and regs
with a minimum ride height of 75mm imposed.It would seem that rule by passed some people.
Not really worried all that much I didn’t hang about after
given the all clear.Toe down and away I
went back to Paddock.
Race Result: Race #1
Started 21st out of 24.
Finished 14thMy best result to date!We won’t
mention all the disqualifications.
Best lap time: 52.15 secs…quicker than Qually
RACE #2
This was quite an entertaining 20 mins of my life.No sarcasm intended.Again a really poor start (must work on my
starts).But Race 2 worked out to be a
game of 2 halves.After 5-6 laps out
comes the red flag.Race Stopped.‘Oh no…I was just looking forward to the part
when I get lapped…and its not going to happen….boo hoo’.Putting my disappointment to one side I
continued round to the starting grid where everyone had gathered waiting for
restart.What I found a little unfair
however, I had actually made up a couple places on the initial out laps but I was
duly shepherded to the back of the grid behind those I had over taken.Not fair!Guess rules are rules.
I decided to hit the fan override switch on as I was
eyeballing the latent heat billowing out the back of all the cars in front
me.Not wanting to tempt fate with any
engine related dramas, I sat there patiently waiting for the restart.MUST IMPROVE ON MY STARTS…..GOD DAMN IT!!
We were off.Past Rew
going into Gerrads then queued up behind Arthur and Ian Kempson whilst I watched
on as they did battle.There wasn’t a
lot I could do about overtaking them as they had much quicker cars and I was
scrabbling about trying to catch up in the corners.
Arthur, went for it on the exit of Gerrads and passed Ian
without any drama then it was my go.Lap
by lap I had the new MK in my sights.Reeling him in the corners but loosing out on the straights.That MK is very wide!Couple of times I poked the car down the
inside at the hairpin but a damp track and Ian closing the door on me I just couldn’t
get the manoeuvre to stick.AB later
said in the paddock….’I would have been tempted to trade some paintwork if I were
you Ed’.That was definitely one
possible outcome, but what with it being my last race in the Fury with buyers
lined up for the bodywork, chassis etc I really didn’t want to damage it.
I kept pushing and pushing.The more I pushed the more the MK responded, but with almost disastrous
consequences.I couldn’t help but think
at the time, under heavy braking the MK at the rear was all over the
place.Brake and the car lept out to the
left.Going through Gerrads the car
snatched quite violently (you can see in the video if you watch closely) and
almost had Ian off the circuit digging potatoes.I was a little concerned I may end up
collecting him on my way past if he had an incident.This was case almost in Race 1 exiting the
Hairpin into Devils Elbow where the MK just swapped ends, into the tyres then
back across the track.I was left with a
50/50 choice….left or right. Left or right?
Post race I went over to see Ian and congratulated him on being
able to keep the car on the track.He
duly thanked me for providing a bit of exciting racing in the dying moments of
the day.
Unfortunately for Arthur in his newly acquired Spire GTR, he
wasn’t able to finish the race as he decided to place the car neatly in the
tyre wall through the Esses.Not had
much luck as previously that day he had to have his exhaust weld up with the
added help of a baked bean can to help resolve a rather noisy exhaust system.
All in all…..Bloody good fun!
Race 2 Video - post restart
Race Result:Race #2
Started 21st
out of 24
Finished 12th
THIS IS MY BEST RESULT TO DATE.
Best Lap time :52.38, marginally slower than race 1.
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Now i have caught up on the posts....
....the next report will be post Mallory Park on the 14th Oct 2012. It will be a sad day, as it will be the last couple of races of the season and it will be the last race in the Fury. I have decided to moved to Class R within the same series (RGB) but go from front engine to rear engine. There are many reasons for this decision, but ultimately it will mean faster racing!!
Here it is in the hands of the STIG!....err sorry i meant Steve ;-) I decided to buy Steve Robinson's Genesis RR as he has decided to sell up and maybe do the odd arrive and drive from time to time. The car itself has had a varied history, what with various engines over time, but last year saw the car under go a complete rebuild and saw the arrival of CBR1000RR power slotted in the back....oh yes! The bodywork has been modified somewhat to reduce frontal area and hence reduce drag etc and the best thing about it is....the weight that it is, will mean when i place my lardy arse in it, it will only just be over the minimum weight limit for the class. Something i haven't had this year i.e. a good power to weight ratio and when every gram saving counts....its very important to achieve as high as you can get. Once Mallory is out the way...i will embark on stripping more weight out the car (within the regs of course) and generally tinkering with it over the winter months, with odd the track day for good measure hopefully. Watch this space!
It was touch
and go if we would make Donington due to the Muffet ‘Muppet’ diff expiring on
us at Anglesey at the previous round.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, I wasn’t keen on NOT competing,
so I went to great length and cost to get us sorted. One Freelander diff check! One Quaife LSD, check! One Ken Greenway, to fit LSD, check! We were sorted.
Many hours
(thanks to Tris) cutting and welding and quite literally rebuilding the back
end of the chassis to accommodate the diff and we were done.Well almost.It appears the drives don’t fit and require some custom ones made
up.After a lot of time pondering and
measuring up we finally got the lengths sorted and Tris delivered the old
shafts up to Bailey Morris to have them adjusted etc.
Neither of
us was able to collect the shafts from Bailey until the Friday before the
race.I eventually got back to the workshop
just after 4pm Friday, the afternoon before the race weekend.One gallant effort to reassemble the car
later, we were ready for the off up to Donington about 10pm.
We arrive
quite late or early rather Saturday morning.Parked up and decided to just get our heads down and worry about the car
and final adjustments in the morning.
Saturday
morning:All hell breaks loose…..’what
do you mean the car won’t start?!!!’.The
engine has been so reliable up to this point, it kind of took us by surprise.To replace the diff the fuel tank had to come
out, so initially thought it was an air lock in the fuel line or maybe dirt had
managed to get in somehow. Nope…that’s all good.Fuel pressure? Off came the fuel line to the engine
to check pressure.Definitely not that
as we managed to squirt fuel halfway across the paddock.Injectors….all 8 of them.Nope they are fine.What could it be.
Several
frantic calls to Andy Bates of AB Performance, as he was still driving over to
the circuit, and I think AB was running out of ideas too at this point.The issue was; the engine would turn over
momentarily start then die.Very
confusing.
WHAT COULD
IT BE!!!!!!!!??????About 25 mins before
qualifying AB turns up eventually and gets over to see us to try help.We tried everything, to no avail.Time ticked by and it was looking like the
weekend could be over before it even got started.
10 mins before
qually I ask…’do you think its even worth getting changed into my race suit?’.I was feeling really quite despondent at this
point.Andy simply turned round and said…’if
we somehow get this working 30 seconds before qually and you are not sat in the
car ready to go….you are going to feel like a bit of a *#&!’.Fair point I thought, so promptly got
changed.As I was getting changed
literally few mins before qually the car burst into life……woooohoooo!!I thought….GAME ON!
‘What was
the issue?’….’ECU sensor is fooked’ was the reply.Basically, to gewt the car started, unplug
the sensor start the engine, then plug the sensor back in.Puzzling it through my head….how does the
engine run or start even with it being unplugged.Not having time to dwell I jumped into the
car and away I go….with the last words I hear…’don’t switch the engine off or
stall it as it will not start again without having to take bonnet off’.Not a problem I thought.I’ll be in the holding area for a few minutes
then away we go.No chance!Locost was out qualifying before us and there
was a several chaps that needed assistance off the track so meant we had to
stay put.Not wanting to switch the car
off….i soon became concerned about engine temps (oil and water etc).Temps were rising and rising.This was a battle of who’s going to crack
first.Me i.e. switch it off and bottle
it to stop the engine overheating, OR, pray we got going very soon.BING!Idea popped into my head…why not turn the sodding fan override switch
on?Bosch…!Job done. Temps started to fall quickly and I
was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Eventually, we
were away.Not wanting to perform any
Dukes of Hazard spins on the first lap (unlike some, see photo) of qually I decided to take it
relatively easy, get the tyres up to temp and then put in a few quick
laps.
All was going well until I started
to hear a grinding noise coming from back end of car.‘What’s that?’.Knowing I had to complete a minimum of 3 laps
to qualify I got these under my belt then came back to the paddock to inspect
the noise.The car felt fine, but couldn’t
help but think, what with a fresh diff in there something was not right.
Turn right, not left!
Some
investigation later and the help of Ken Greenway checking various bits, nothing
lept out as being the culprit for the noise, so we put the issue to one side
and proceeded to prepare for the race.
RACE #1
Race 1 was
quite a lonesome affair.Because of my
poor qualifying position, I started inevitably at the back of the grid.Qually time was 1:26.16.#26th on grid out of 26.Wasn’t best pleased, but still nonetheless,
please to be racing.
Not much
drama in the race until lap 8.As the
front runners were starting to lap the stranglers at the back…..whoooosh, there
goes Tim Gray in his inevitable style.Its
only a matter of time before the likes of John Cutmore will be wanting to
pass.After eyeballing my mirrors the
road was clear behind and what with McLeans corner fast approaching, took my
line and headed for the apex.As the
race progressed I was getting faster and faster, so at this point I knew if I didn’t
make the apex I would be digging potatoes on the exit of the corners that’s for
sure.
Just before
apex……BANG! The car went flying into spin and as I spun round saw John facing
me.Eh?!The car continued to spin and the offside rear slammed into Johns
car.‘Oh f***!’Before I even blinked, John managed to stay
on the black stuff and zoomed off.Not wanting
to waste time, the car was still running I got back on it.Straight away I knew the grinding noise I could
hear before was 10x worse.Everything
still worked however so proceeded to complete the race.
Finished 20th
out of 26 starters with best lap time of 1:20.51.Marked improvement on qually.
Post race, I
went to speak with John, more really to find out what happened.I saw the damage to his side pod and it had definitely
seen better days.My car however, there
was some rubber scuffs marks but initial inspection showed the incident to have
caused no damaged at all……OR SO WE THOUGHT. To be concluded later.However John was (thankfully) okay about the
situation, mainly because the incident hadn’t caused him to loosea place and incident was duly forgotten.
RACE #2
Cars queued up waiting for Race 2 to commence Waiting patiently at the back, sharing a few jokes. Aurther leaning on the car hoping it will add weight somehow!
Again
starting from the back in 26th everything seemed fine, until the
Green Flag lap.Crunching and lots of
grinding later (as per video shows) the noise was terrible.
The race
went by without incident.I really
thought I was doing well however.Managed to keep up with the Class F pack really giving Rob Grant a run
for his money.Really enjoyed hunting
him down.Going into McLeans presented
an overtaking opportunity, but under heavy breaking I knew the car wouldn’t turn
in so I stayed on the (straight line) scrubbing speed which gave the corner
back to Rob and from that point I got distracted by the front runners coming
round t lap me so spent the race of race avoiding them as they came through.
Really enjoyable
raceall in all.
Result: 22nd
out of 26 starters with a new best lap time of 1:19.56.So was pretty chuffed with that.The new diff had certainly helped.With the old one the car was topping out
about 112mph.New diff saw this rise to
over 120mph consistently.Hitting 126mph
down the main drag, so well worth the investment.
Race 2 Video
POST RACE
INSPECTION (several days later)
Turns out
the rear bearing were shot, so Tris thought this could have contributed to the initial
grinding noise.Closer inspection revealed
the rear upright was crack badly as a result of mine and Johns coming together
at McLeans (Definition of ‘coming together’, someone later described this as a
Touring Car nudge’).Also the suspension
pick up points had crack away from the chassis.So Tris had his work cut out once again to repair the damage.
NEXT RACE:
MALLORY PARK 14th Oct 2012 – the finale of the season.
How do you
describe Anglesey Circuit? Well, its bit
like Cadwell Park, it has something for everyone. Fast straights, slow technical, long sweeping
bends, hilly and not to forget a lot of hairpins. In my view it has to be up there with the
best of them in terms of pure entertainment value.
When we
arrived at the circuit it was late at night.
It’s a long old haul up to Anglesey from Milton Keynes area, but I am
not complaining, but by the fact all (most) other fellow RGBers were already
there I did think maybe I should have taken Friday off work to try get up there
in a decent time. (Note to self: arrive
earlier next time).
So, Saturday
arrives and there is no time wasted, but to get the car ready and get it down
to scrutineering. Scrutineering is I am
sure everyone who may read this can appreciate is there for your own safety. It ensures cars are up to standard in terms
of build construction and safety and also to ensure that no one has decided to
modify their cars unfairly, outside of the regs, to give an unfair
advantage. From that perspective, I full
heartedly support its intentions. What
really cheeses me off is the amount of time it takes to get through the whole
process. We were queuing for over an
hour to go through scrutineering this time round. Long enough for a couple of the drivers to
return back to their motorhomes cook breakfast and come back with piping hot
flasks of coffee. It crazy how long
things take, but let’s look on bright side.
At least the weather was nice ;-)
I guess what made the whole waiting experience more painful was the fact
I had literally just done my back in lifting and carry a generator about 50
yards earlier on. What with having an incredibly
weak back anyway due to past rugby injuries and operations, lifting the genny
sent my back into excruciating back spasms , and whilst I hunched over the roll
cage waiting for the queue to move I was considering pulling out the race.
Finally, got
through scrutineering. So proceeded to
hobble back to the paddock area. To which
I decided to lie down and try to relax my back.
What happened between lying down and the race, well I have no way of
knowing as I was fast asleep, so not much to report.
Race #1
Qualified 23rd
out of 27th with a 1:18.67.
Not blisteringly quick compared to the likes of John Cutmore in the
Spire GT3 having done a 1:11.10, but not too shabby considering the performance
differential between cars.
Start of the
race and I was a bit surprised to see Tim Gray in his Spire GT3 lining up
behind me on the grid. For those who
know, Tim has won every race this season leading from the front, so to find him
behind me was very surprising. I learnt
later on he didn’t get a qualification time and therefore started from the
back.
Lights out
and away we go. A much smoother start
than the usual jerky affair. Applied the
power heading off down the main straight.
Before I had even gone 50 yards, Tim had already passed me. How is that possible!? The guy is a machine!
Approaching
the first corner it was time to slam the anchors on. An almighty pile up was unfolding in front of
me. Not sure who or what caused the
incident, but it managed to gather up 5-6 cars.
As I swerved to avoid it, I managed
to over take Tim but before I even got to the 2nd corner he had
repassed me…..’Bugger!’. But to be fair
if it wasnt that corner it would have been the next one.
The race
unfolded to be quite a good competitive race for me and the car. Managed to keep with the Class F pack. Loosing them through the corners, but gaining
lots on the straights. Church going up
into Rocket saw the car reel them. Few
more laps and a bigger pair of balls I think I would have been there but to be
fair I was just ecstatic to have been up there with them as the cars setup has
never really had any scientific input/setup to this point. It was all what we had learnt from other
drivers and making changes after my feedback, but I think its fair to say, most
of set up was guess work at this point, but at least we were heading in the
right direction.
Race #1
Results
Finished 18th
out of 27 starters….not bad!
Best lap
time, 1:17.92….quicker than qually.
6th
in Class…but we shall ignore the fact that a number of cars were taken out on
the first corner.
Above selection of photos courtesy of 'Afhgan Dan'
Race #2
Again
starting at back of grid, with Tim Gray behind me, this time I was determined
to keep him behind me. LOL LOL…not a
chance. Lights out….I blinked and Tim
was off in the distance….FFS!
Race 2 was
very short lived. Just starting lap 2
and disaster. Engine revs went off the
chart. ‘What the?!’ Thought I had selected neutral momentarily so
went through the gears, but I had lost drive in every gear. I cruised round the circuit and park up next
to the marshals hut, got out and proceeded to watch the rest of the race.
Watching
from the side-lines isn’t ideal, but is quite entertaining esp when you have
the marshals radio giving updates to what is happening elsewhere on track. The rest of the race, it seemed as though everyone
had taken leave of their senses. Carnage
was ensuing on every part of the circuit.
Cars catching fire (Austen Greenway), diffs blowing up (Matt Higginson),
bodywork flying off, Dave Masters being shunted off the track and required
medical attention (was fine I might add), Arthur Rogerson struggling to keep
his Class A Spire in straight line and me to name but a few of the incidents.
Eventually a
recovery truck came over to tow me back to the paddock.
Tris waiting
with bated breath. ‘What happened?’ ‘Diff
is knackered’ I said. This was followed by a longish pause and
reply of….’well, it wasn’t a case of if it blew up, but more a question of when
it blew it’.
Thankfully,
Tris wasn’t too concerned about the whole thing and we proceeded to push the
car back to the van.
Realisation
started to set in on the way home………what with a knackered diff, is this going
to put a halt on the rest of the season.
I hope not. We have only just got
started. Tris then laid out 3 options.
1.Get the Muffet diff repaired for a 2nd
time this season for £300 ish
2.Or, get a £50 Freelander Diff in the car, job
done, but would require a lot of chassis mods to get it in.
3.Get a Freelander Diff, buy a Quaiffe LSD and get
Ken Greenway to assemble.
4.Or…call it day
Not happy
calling it a day and balancing out what is the longevity of the car. I decided against getting the Muffet repaired
and opted for Freelander Diff route.
Whilst the diff was only £50, the Quaiffe LSD was £700. Ouch!
Realisation then set in we would need bespoke drive shafts for all this
so a trip to Bailey Morris saw another £330 spent. Which seems a lot of money, but if in the
grand scheme of things if it provided reliability and a quicker car due to
better gearing from the diff….money well spent I feel.
Getting the
parts organised seemed like an eternity, but we got there in the end with an
end result of a mad panic rush before the 2nd round at Donington
looming ahead in front of us.
Please bear in mind when reading this, I am attempting to write this update many months post the event as per all entries after this one up until Mallory Park, which forms the finale for the season.
Never driven at Donington before competitively, in fact i hadn't been and race on any circuit 'competitively'. With circuit steeped in Motorsport history i wasn't too sure what to expect.
We arrive in the van with trailer and car in tow at the circuit, only to find we arrive about an hour too late to get through the Paddock Gate entrance. So Tris decided to do a 3-4-5? point turn with trailer to turn us around. I have to be fair to him, it was a much better attempt of getting out of a tight spot compared to when we were on our way back from our pre season test session at Anglesey
Story - After a semi successful time at Anglesey circuit, heading home proved to be much more entertaining. Tris kindly suggested he drove home because I felt knackered. The executive decision was taken to not drive cross country through Wales, like we did on the way there, but to come back via Chester (M56) then drop onto the M6. Off we went. Soon the traffic starts to build and we decided to come off the motorway and cut cross country after all and went via 'Horseshoe Pass'. Tris was quite excited going via this part of Wales once again as he started to recant tales from yesteryear and how much fun he had etc etc..... He was so carried away in fact telling tales we got to Horseshoe Pass then he realised....'Oh cock'. 'Whats up?' i replied. 'How far can the van go when it goes into the red (fuel level)?'. 'Not far. 20 miles maybe with a good wind behind you. Why?' I said. 'Well we have been in the red for quite a while now. Llangollen (the nearest petrol station) in best part of 15 miles away and we have a massive mountain to get up with a trailer, I might add'. Oh dear, I thought. What's the worst that could happen.....run out of fuel? Probably! From that point on we proceeded to ascend into the mountains knowing full well what the possible outcome could end up being, to which neither of us really wanted to have to deal with. But having said that, i really could not be arsed to turn around to go back to find a petrol station. We pressed on and some how we managed to get to the top of the mountain on Horseshoe Pass. We made it i thought. Err no. Still miles left to go. However we were in a much better position we could use gravity to get us to Llangollen. Tris decided to free wheel a 3.5T van with trailer down a mountain round some hair pin bends all without using throttle or engine breaking, all in an effort to save fuel even though one or two corners were a little scary. I suggested turning the engine off altogether to make sure when we did arrive at the bottom the mountain we stood half a chance to get to the fuel station. I then realised, by switching off the engine, the likelihood in getting to the bottom would probably not be possible, what with powered steering.
To cut a long story short....we arrived in Llangollen and went straight to the fuel station; did not go past 'GO' to collect our £200, just straight there. I got out and duly filled up the van. Paid, got back in, then Tris decided to make the biggest hash of turning out of petrol station you have ever seen. I really thought at one point he had taken leave from his senses. Definately spatial awareness! No matter how hard he tried he could not manoeuvre the van and trailer off the forecourt. I suggested why he not use the reversing camera, because that's what it is there for after all......i then got the reply 'I am'. About a 23 point turn later and me marshalling the traffic on the road we managed to get on our way again. What should have been a 5 min stop turned into nearly 25 mins! Its fair to say, since his stressful ordeal, he hasn't much liked reversing trailers since!!
Back to Donington
Race weekend saw some much needed upgrades. We needed more down force on the front to help turn in. We were already running a splitter, but unless coupled with an Air Dam, splitters on their own do very little. Hence an air dam was fitted. The difference tiny piece of perspex can make to the handling of the car was quite unbelievable. We generated SOOO much down force i was getting over steer in straight line if that is possible. Qually turned out to be very entertaining. After exiting the track before Craner Curves, due aero imbalance, i knew we had to make changes for the race.
We set to adjusting damper rates, ride heights and actually managed to corner weigh it all in a few hours. The result...it made the car a lot more drivable. I was able to finish both Race 1 and 2. Although not vying for a podium spot i had plenty of fun battling it out at the back of the grid.
Race 2 Video
End of lap one through chicane saw some excellent Dukes of Hazard driving doing 360 spin. Why I spun? ....I have no idea!
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