AdamR Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Race 1: The rain had been stopped for a little while, so the track was drying due to the wind and other cars whizzing round. Again I was really calm, no nerves or adrenaline flowing which was sort of surreal... I was snoozing a bit on the start and let the revs drop, got away ok but Chris on my right was ahead and Mark came from the row behind to pass me up the inside of the first corner. However - Ian managed to mess up, turns out he shifted 1st to 2nd, then 5th and then back to 2nd, which locked the rear wheels mid corner, sending him sideways into Jeremy. In avoiding that lot Mark went onto the grass and spun, so I was quite lucky I hadn't got a good start or I'd have been tied up in the incident! I cut across the inside of the first corner, two wheels over the grass, and back onto the black stuff - phew. This, however, put me on the outside for The Banking and Rolf in a Mk3 had the inside line. I knew he was there so kept it wide and waited for him to come through, then cut back and got alongside, but didn't have the power to get past so dropped back in behind him for Church. Chris in the Orange Mk1 was ahead of us at this point, but I saw him getting a bit squirmy mid way through Church... He went off to the inside, and while Rolf lifted I knew exactly where Chris would end up so kept the power on and got past - after a bit of sideways action exactly where Chris had lost it! Close call. It was a real shame Chris fell off to be honest, as our lap times looked to be pretty similar, and we'd have pushed each other all the way if we'd have been closer on track. After that, I followed John for a bit until Jeremy and Ian came past me (recovering from the 1st corner) and they kinda pushed John along, so I lost sight of this group gradually. This left about 2/3 of the race on my own, so I just concentrated on keeping it smooth and consistent, as I knew I'd end up with a 2nd place as long as I didn't fall off. The end of the race came and I felt a bit... weird. I can't really explain it. I had expected, and had been told to get ready for, a huge adrenaline rush but because I'd been on my own for nearly 15 mins it just felt like a track day. A trophy, but gained by default, with not a chance of being 1st. Never mind, this will be different tomorrow eh? Again we grabbed some timing sheets, had a look at videos of the start, and Chris inspected the damage. Qualifying 2: The track had been drying all afternoon, and by the time we'd been held in the assembly area for about 3 hours (felt like it anyway - I nearly fell asleep a couple of times) there was definitely a dry line. Lap times were coming down and the cars were much less twitchy than earlier. Felt like I was going ok but the car didn't quite feel 'there', I am not sure why but have a feeling it might be the front camber. My other Mk1 is at 2 degrees, Chris' is a 2 degrees but mine is on max and still 1.7. Anyway, 0.3 degrees might not make any difference, who knows... Racing driver excuse #435,697 right there... So, lap 5 I think, coming up to Rocket and shifting down from 4th, to 3rd, to 2nd, my engine made a weird noise. Then it started rattling and clattering. I carried on at full beans for a few corners thinking it might clear, but no joy. Missed the pit entrance so had to continue for another lap, coasting round out of the way of everyone Pulled it back into the paddock and waited for the session to finish. Rodders came over and asked me to fire it up - I had feared it was a new engine job and he confirmed it sounded very much like a knackered bottom end bearing. Some idiot (me) didn't check his oil level before the session, and it was completely off the bottom of the stick. The stick is about 1 litre top to bottom, and the total capacity is 4 litres so the poor thing had no chance. Lesson learned. No point staying for the Sunday, so the car goes back on the trailer and tent gets packed up, in time for heading down to the meal Rodders had arranged for us all. Had a good laugh chatting with the guys, decent food and then it was time to tackle the trip home. It's about 2.5 hours and I left the track about 11. I was really struggling so had to keep pulling in at services, ended up falling asleep at one point and I think I had about half an hour, haha. Got home just after 3 and flopped into bed. Head was still very busy though, I felt disappointed with my lack of pace and how stupid I'd been with the oil. In all honesty if it wasn't for the social side of things, I wouldn't have enjoyed it at all. I could have had the same driving experience (but a lot more bum in seat time, and for a lot less money) doing a track day. But, the group of guys made the weekend worth it. Rodders has offered to let me take the car over to his to get the engine swapped, and I've already sourced a bottom end to put in it. Today I've been looking at buying a van, because doing a race weekend (especially a wet one!) from a car was a bit tricky, too much stuff and nowhere to get changed! So - hoping to get a van and the new engine sorted before the Blyton Bash in 2 weekends. Got a video exporting now which I'll upload overnight and stick up in the morning. Again, if you read all that, I owe you a sugary treat! Adam ----------------- And a video... ---------------- Thanks a lot for the comments and support gents! I think the reason I was disappointed is because I set myself a pretty high standard in everything I do, and didn't meet my targets. I knew the car was capable of winning (mk1 class) and I was nowhere near that pace. However, it's clear I just need more time in the car and to learn how to drive it properly. When you have people like Rodders and Little Onion on the same track, and these guys have years and years of race experience, you are always going to have a lot to learn... Anyway, I popped (I say popped, the weather and traffic was crap so it took ages) over to Sheffield on Friday after Rodders had very kindly offered to help me get the engine sorted. As most of you will no doubt know, he runs Roddisons Motorsport and is the man for MX-5 race tuning, setup, advice etc. Junk Yard Dog (John) had dropped a long nose bottom end off with Rodders on Thursday (which Rodders paid John for on my behalf - I wasn't expecting that, so thank you once again!), and I'd pulled off some of the ancillaries before setting off, so when I arrived about half 8 it was all systems go. Tom (jellybean's son) was there and helped out through the day too - thanks again mate, see you at Blyton! Having the lift was an absolute godsend, making it nice and easy to get all the bellhousing and starter motor bolts out. The forklift was also rather handy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Engine out! New bottom end going in... And in, cleaned up ready for new head gasket - the existing head has a bit of work, so was worth re-using. Building it all up. Was amazed at how easy the cambelt was to replace once you have good access to it. Burping the cooling system - missed re-connecting the temp sensor at first, oops! Took a while for the thermostat to open, seemed to be an air lock right by it... Must have been something to do with the high-spec motorsport-specific CATS (Cardboard And Tiger Seal) gaskets we used Still, everything was done by about 3pm, the job had gone very smoothly indeed Even got treated to a quick session on the rolling road at Autotronix Developments - huge thanks to Clive for squeezing me in at the end of the day and Rodders for taking me down in his truck. Previously the car had been 129bhp... first run was 122, so Clive tweaked the timing and it was back up to 129 again Immediately afterwards there was a power cut so I have no print-out, haha, but at least we know it's running sweet. So, once again, a MASSIVE thanks to Rodders for all his help - I understand how much of a draw on resources it is to have to 'hold the hand' of someone for most of a working day, I owe you big time. Thanks to Tom for his help, John for the new bottom end (and for delivering it to Rodders' too), and Clive for the RR session. To be honest I'm pretty amazed at how everyone has pulled together and got the car up and running again, I really didn't expect this level of 'support'. Can't wait to get bum back in seat this weekend at Blyton - see you there! Adam PS: Oil-related p***-taking welcomed, I'm becoming accustomed to it already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onliest Smeg David Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Thanks Adam I brill interesting read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Pretty good for your 1st w/e racing, keeping on track, in a race when it's wet, top marks Adam. Now waiting for race w/e no.2 Report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevip6 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Great read, looks like some nice tidy driving and well done for avoiding the trouble on the first lap! Keep the updates coming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 The latest update in my blog comes from Snetterton, August Bank Holiday weekend. We were on the 300 circuit and shared the weekend with the 24hr 2CV race, truck racing and others which were a good watch! I had to go to a family do down in Kent on Saturday night, which meant a relatively early start Sunday to make sure I was at the track in time for our briefing at 12. I arrived about 10ish and said hello to everyone, then spotted Mark doing some cheeky weight-saving (yes, the sills were pretty full!). Decent weather, woohoo! After mingling with the paddock for a bit, we decided it was time to watch the last half hour of the 2CV race. They had been at it since 11am the previous day, had a red flag overnight due to flooding on the track and in the pits, but everyone was in great spirits and there was an amazing atmosphere about the place. One of the cars came in about 20 mins from the end with what looked like a pretty terminal problem, smoke billowing from the exhaust. He was sent back out on the track (albeit VERY slowly) and came back round to the pit straight after what seemed like about 10 minutes, smoke still pouring from the exhaust. He was given a huge cheer by everyone on the pit wall and pushed over the line by a fellow competitor - amazing stuff The finish of the race ended up pretty close from what I can gather, with only a few seconds in it! All the cars were met as they cruised down the pit lane at the end of the race, a great sight. After that excitement, it was time to turn my attentions to our weekend. First up was our new driver briefing (you have to go to this if you haven't raced at the curcuit before). I went to Race Control to check the time and place of the briefing... 12 at Tyrrells resaurant - sorted. The chap started by introducing himself as having run the first truck race in the UK in 1983, and mentioning that we had to be careful of black smoke, so would be flagged and allowed to adjust the mixture in the pits if it was too smoky. He also mentioned that a couple of the corners on the track didn't have much camber, so we needed to be careful of toppling over. Very odd... At this point Sam (yellow number 11 car - his first time driving the car and his first race, more on that later) came over and dragged me away. It all seemed a bit weird but I was just going along with it... haha. I was at the truck briefing! Oops. Anyway, luckily the 'correct' briefing was running a bit late, so managed to get to that. By the time we'd finished it was about 12:30, so still had some time to prep the car (yes, I checked the oil, twice in fact!!) before scrutineering at 1 and qualifying at 2:20pm. Scrutineering went fairly well, only thing the guy seemed a bit iffy about was the fire retardant foam between the boot and the cockpit (the cockpit has to be sealed from fluids - especially fuel!). They always seem to pull me up on that. I blagged my way through it, but might bang some fibreglass over it at some point. The car weighed in at 909kg with about half a tank of fuel - we need to make 970kg with driver and 3 litres of fuel at the end of a session / race. With my 85kg in there too, I knew I'd be plenty safe. So - qualifying. I was pretty comfortable with the track as I'd been there about a month earlier in my other Mk1 to check it out. I had been lapping about 2:34 with a passenger, so was hoping to go a bit quicker this time... Managed to get out onto the track in some clear air, but I had made some relatively major geo changes and not driven the car since it's last outing, so spent a couple of laps getting used to how the car was feeling before pressing on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Now, there are two very important corners at Snetterton, one is Williams and the other is Murrays. Both are before very long straights, and Senna Straight (between Murrays and Riches) is uphill, too. You have to get good exits from both of these corners to get a good lap time, as obviously that extra speed carries all the way down the straight. I'll refer back to this track map a few times later on... Turns out my quickest lap was on lap 5 (out of 8) - a 2:30.397 - I think I was maybe pushing a bit too much towards the end of the session. Watching the video back carefully would confirm, but it proves that smooth is usually fast! Once back off the track we were shepherded through Parc Ferme and into the scrutineering bay for weighing. We don't get weighed every time, so this was a new experience for me. I'd done some quick calcs after scrutineering and was pretty sure weight would be no issue, but was nervous anyway..! 982kg, phew. That means I'd used 12kg of fuel (a smidge under 17 litres) in an 8-lap, 20 minute session. That's about 7mpg, if you include the warm down lap, eek. Either way, this was good knowledge for both later in the day and in future... We headed off to grab some timing sheets and found I'd qualified second, just pipped at the post by Sam in the bright yellow #11 car as he'd busted out a very quick 2:30.1 lap right at the death - a bl**dy great result considering he'd never driven Snetterton OR the car before! (Why is it that ex-karters are always bl**dy fast?) Unfortunately though, at the weigh in, Sam's slender figure and dry-cell battery (which had been fitted as a safety measure rather than for weight-saving, and isn't against the series regs) meant the car came in underweight, so he would have to start at the back. That would give me a better chance for the race, and also Sam would have a great time getting through the field, but it was a shame his efforts were in vain. Our next action wouldn't be until the next day, so the cars were covered up and we went to watch some of the other racing. The trucks were kicking out rather a lot of black smoke, but watching their 6 tons lapping at under 2:30 was quite a sight! The evening was pretty chilled - had some sausage buns, chocolate doughnuts and chocolate buttons with Chris (cheers for letting me borrow your stove again!), grabbed a pint of coke (and something stronger) with Paul, Jo, Mark, Tom and Chris, then went for a saunter round the track. Main straight (Senna)... long and uphill. Bentley straight... also very long. There was lots of chat of best lines, inspecting kerbs, etc, and the odd silly pose. We (Tom, Chris and I) popped back to the bar for another coke, checked out the TSL Timing website for the quali times, and decided on our strategy for the race (get ahead of the other cars and stay there). Then it was bed time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Got a pretty good sleep, woken by the bin lorries coming round about half 6... 1100 litre steel wheelie bins are not quiet when they are being chucked around! View from my boudoir (back of the van) in the morning - sunny! Everyone else was still tucked up at this point... But it wasn't long before we were all up and about, grabbing breakfast etc. Sam and Barry prepping and adding weights to the car - doing lots of fuel weight calculations to make sure they were over the weight limit for the races. Neither of them had raced before, and it was Sam's first time driving the car too. Both thoroughly nice chaps and very quick drivers, so we hope to see you again in the future! Sam with torque wrench in hand - maybe not so inexperienced after all! Jeremy, Joe, Paul and Ian chatting. The Chilcott camp - great setup they have there! Final pre-race checks, Rodders and Tom on the left, Chris in the middle, and Paul on the right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 So - onto the first race. We were guided into the holding area and it appeared the marshalls had been given a grid list that hadn't been fully updated - Sam was put on pole with me in 2nd. Not a problem really, the #11 car now had plenty of weight in it, and this would just make the race more exciting hopefully! I had an 'ok' start, with Chris in the orange #15 car passing me around the outside on the first straight and into Riches. Sam was ahead of us both at this point, but I think he must have missed a gear as he dropped back between Chris and I. I got a bit sideways in the first corner and then stayed in 4th when I should have dropped a gear, so Sam came around the outside of me into Montreal and with a brief puff of smoke Chris' tyres he kept Sam at bay under braking - from 3rd to 1st in 2 corners, nice work mate! I had the inside line for Montreal, but Sam cruised round the outside and got on the power better than me to take 2nd. He and Chris looked to be pretty evenly matched, with plenty of jostling going on throughout the first lap, so I decided to hang back a bit and bide my time... My time came at the end of lap 1 - Sam got up the inside of Chris around Coram, but then had too much speed to stop the car! He went off on the outside of the track at the next corner, the tight left hander Murrays, with Chris getting some oversteer too and diving to the left of the track upon correcting it. I made sure I got a good exit to carry speed along the main straight, and cruised up behind both of the cars ahead. Gradually creeping to the left of the track, I held Chris there and drew Sam across, leaving space to jink right and take the inside line for the next turn. My first 'proper' overtake I reached the turn in point first and just needed to keep it steady to stay ahead - no dramas. Something my camera reveals but I missed at the time was Chris getting a bit drifty on the inside of the turn (at 85mph) and tagging Sam by accident, which made both of them get a fair bit out of shape. They both held it well, but it gave me a bit of breathing space. At the next bend, Montreal, a tight right hander, Sam got seriously oversteery and spun, causing Chris to take evasive action losing both of them a fair bit of time. From here, I was able to take it fairly steady and come home for my first win! After the race it turned out Chris had ended up with a bit more damage than I realised, so had his wing rubbing on his front tyre and had to retire Still, a bit of tugging, hammering and duct tape had him ready for Race 2! This time I started on pole, next to Jimmy in the Mission Motorsport car, with Barry (Sam's dad, in the yellow #11 car) starting at the back due to being a shared driver and not having completed a full qualifying. Chris started next to him due to his DNF - with two quick guys at the back they were sure to have some fun, and I had to make sure I got away cleanly to avoid being swallowed up... I got a decent start, and was in the lead into the first bend. I could see Mark (black and white #23 car) had made his usual storming start and was now in 2nd place. I was hoping I could make a bit of a dash and pull a gap while the others tussled with each other. This worked well, and by Lap 6 I'd got a bit bored of driving round on my own again. I decided to back off, let Barry (who was now in 2nd) catch me, and then I could hopefully back him into Chris (who was in 3rd) and give us an exciting finale! Once Barry was a reasonable distance back I got back on the pace - this was just before Agostini (2nd gear left hander). He made a really late dive on the brakes and tried to come up the inside! A very ballsy move - certainly woke me up, haha! I made sure to leave him a good car's width at the apex, but luckily I stayed ahead and the race was on! We spent the rest of the race dicing with each other, both of us doing our quickest laps within the last 2 laps of the race when we never separated by more than a few car lengths. It was awesome to be so close to another car - this was the feeling I had been waiting for! I had to take a few pretty defensive lines (mostly into Brundle and Murrays) to keep Barry behind me, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Big smiles all round on the podium, and another 1st place trophy for me! Full results are here: http://tsl-timing.com/barc/2012/123421max.pdf My video is uploading at the moment, and should be finished tonight - I will stick it up when done. Overall, a top weekend once again - even better than the last one obviously! Thanks to all the guys for making it so enjoyable. Next race is Mallory Park on 30th September, with the quali and both races crammed into the same day. Should be very exciting due to the track being short and tight! Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Northern bloke rambles on about his weekend and tells you about stuff you don't really care about in far too much detail'... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander72 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 well done - thats great!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 A great read - well done with the result as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander72 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I echo John - really enjoyed reading all of this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR Posted August 29, 2012 Author Share Posted August 29, 2012 Thanks chaps - glad it's not too much of a struggle to read! The pics go in to try and break up the text a bit haha Here's the vid I put together. Last 5 mins are a bit samey, but the rest is hopefully fairly interesting: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevip6 Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Fantastic, well done on the wins!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rory's Dad Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 Fantastic, well done on the wins!! +1 from me!! Rory's Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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