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The last even at North Weald I left feeling a bit frustrated by the huge margin by which the others had beaten my by plus my struggle to actually put a clean lap in! I was hoping for more sun shine but the weather forecast was for rain all day, never having driven the Busa in the wet i knew this would be an interesting day should it rain. The morning was actually nice and dry for the cruise over to the event how ever as is typical 2mins before the 1st practice run the rain started... for some reason the marshals wouldn't let me drive round holding the brolly! Watching the other competitors slip and slide round the airfield it was with some trepidation that I lined up to the start line, especially with my braking troubles in the dry at the previous events. The track was incredibly slippery even in 5th gear i was unable to use full throttle as the rears would just spin up, but I made it round both practice laps without incident and only 1 second off the other guys in my class so was quite happy with that. Green Belt managed to fit in 1 timed run before lunch in order to try and get a lap in before the weather worsened, i took this as an opportunity to bank a clean lap in knocking 5 seconds off my best practice run however so did the other guys leaving me trailing by 1.2 seconds.Still I was happy with that performance in the challenging conditions so treated my self to a Greasy Cheese Burger from the catering van :-) After lunch the conditions hadn't really changed so some more slippery fun was in order, putting in my best lap of the day giving my 2nd in class 0.9 seconds ahead of 3rd place and 9th overall. The class winner was another westfield who was a whole 4 seconds faster... though my racing driver excuse is that he did have traction control which would have been handy in those conditions!!! Looking forwards to the next event Hethel 4th May
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- northweald
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First ever sprint in the Busa. I dont have a trailer for the Busa so i'm keeping the events I do fairly local in and around Essex, the 1st event of the year was at Northweald only 20 mins drive from home, as anyone who has raced there knows, has its own weather system but fortunately for all of us the weather was excellent. Except for giving it some welly in a straight line the Busa is so bl**dy fast that you really cant get anywhere near the limit on the road, so first practice run was really the first time i had ever been able to throw it around. Heart pounding on the start line waiting for the green light (no other sport gives you that sort of feeling) 4k rpm drop the clutch and wheel spin away from the line, 2nd gear, 3rd gear, wow this sequential box is awesome think I'll go for 4th gear, BRAKE, there's the corner why isn't this thing turning, both front wheels must be locked up as I sail straight past the corner, quick doughnut round and carry on round the rest of the lap locking up in almost every single braking zone. Not the best first lap but a still a huge amount of fun! The rest of the event was pretty much the same, I only managed to post one official time with the rest of my with me struggling to slow the thing down, mainly caused by myself not realising just how fast i'm going but also I think down to the Medium compound A048s on the front. Next event i'll have a set of soft compound A048s on the front to match the rears which should hopefully help me make up the huge 5 seconds deficit to the other guys in my class!!! Next event North Weald with Green Belt motor club 20th April
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Bit of back ground. I've been sprinting since around 2004 in a K-series S1 Elise then in a S2 111r Elise from about 2007, but in 2010 I became a dad and was getting married so the Elise had to go and sprinting was put on hold until funds and time would allow me to get out there again. Last year i managed to pursuade the wife that i should buy a new toy to get back to sprinting... after all we did now own a house with a garage and not having a car in there was obviously a crime! I knew i wanted something road legal as funds/wife wouldnt allow purchase of a trailer and tow car as well, but after having a go in my Dads Jedi mk4 single seater at one event i knew it had to be silly quick and a challenge to drive compared to the Elise which felt about as fast as a fiesta afterwards. After about 6 months of investigation and hunting through classifieds a Westfield Megabusa cropped up only 40mins away (huge bonus as most cars seemed to be 100s of miles away). The car was a little more expensive than I really wanted to pay, but it had everything I wanted from a road legal Sprint toy. 1300 hayabusa engine which shouldn't be under to much strain and has plenty of torque making road driving bearable, full fia roll cage and stupidly fast. So a deal was done and I collected the car late July... Perfect timing as the summer was glorious ideal for cruising around in my new toy. Unfortunately there were a few issues which needed sorting, a dodgy Speedo reading erratically and a vibration. Also before doing any event we'd need to give it a once overake sure everything was straight and safe. Good thing we did, the prop was missing a few bolts and the bolts which were there were only finger tight and not the right spec! Gulp! This explained the vibration and also the Speedo issue as the sensor had taken quite a few wacks. Every bolt we touched was loose on all corners of the car and the geo was all over the place. I think the car has just been a weekend toy for most previous owners so not maintained or checked over with the same vigour as a competition car. All this took time which meant i missed all the great weather, thankfully my retired dad was at hand to help out otherwise i'd probably still be putting it back together (Beesley sprint car automotive will open it's doors soon ha ha!)
