May 2019
30May
Rear wing brackets resprayed
The rear wing brackets are resprayed after the first attempt failed miserably, with the paint flaking off by the time we got round to Blyton. I'm collecting the freshly machined rear anti-roll bar today, with its diameter reduced down from 20mm to make it more useful. The front wing brackets still havent arrived, fingers crossed they arrive today or tomorrow morning as I'm due to leave for Pembrey around lunch time Friday. The forecast is good for the weekend, and I'm hoping to put in a better performance than I have done so far this year. The pressure is certainly building, even if I'm just putting it on myself. My times at Blyton were disappointing, albeit I knocked time off my PB, I was no where near as competitive as I need to be. A lot of drivers had been to the Triple M school at Blyton though, so knew the correct corners to cut. Remember when I went last year, I had to retire after the front wing wobbled on the first few laps. I clearly need to go back to learn all the shortcuts, on the first corner alone I lost 1.5seconds.25May
Rear anti-roll bar fitted
The prep for Pembrey on June 1st is well underway. It's a relief not to have to heatgun the tyres though, they're looking very clean given they did 12 more runs from Blyton last weekend. The increased -ve camber on the near side front wasnt really tested as the majority of corners were left handers. Pembrey will show if the mod has really worked. I go well at Pembrey, theres really only two places where the brakes are used, so its very much a flowing and highspeed track. Unlike Anglesey, I hope to find some significant additional pace around the bends once the handling has been resolved.The 20mm anti-roll bar is still away being machined, but in the mean time I've fitted the 10mm ARB and brackets back on to make sure the Geartronics pneumatic solenoids both fit above the ARB which they do, that means I dont need to reroute any of the plastic air hoses, which is good. The Mk4 front wing drop brackets are now ready, and I'm just waiting for Plays-kool to post them to me so I can fit the brackets prior to the drive down to Wales on Friday.
21May
Another good points haul at Blyton
The Blyton weekend was not as successful as I'd hoped, with a very disappointing performance on Sunday. On Saturday I qualified 5th and finished 8th, and I relished the twisty Eastern circuit, and beat the track class record three times to score three bonus points. I reached 141mph on the approach to the final corner during my first run off, and outbraked myself recording 40bar brake pressure, but I still managed a respectable time. But on Sunday, again just like in 2018, I struggled to qualify for the Run Offs, and I only managed a pair of identical 59.52s runs to finish 11th, taking just one bonus point for breaking the class record on the previous second timed run. Even though we had a track walk with Alan Mugglestone on Saturday evening, I could only improve on last years’ time by 1 second, and failed to even put that in to effect in the run offs. I just didn’t capitalise on the advice, and I couldn’t get the car to turn left, which as it’s an anti-clockwise track, is a huge disadvantage. The extra power made the car very quick in a straight line, but that wasn’t enough, as the speeds in the corners were too low, and I just couldn’t carry sufficient speed to reduce my times.The immediate plan is to relocate the pneumatic solenoids from the top of the gearbox, and refit the rear anti-roll bar, since the neutral handling is no longer acceptable, and the car needs to turn in under throttle, which it clearly doesn’t want to at the moment. Neutral is safe, but I need grip, and I'll make the changes before Pembrey on June 1st. I did try an even steeper front wing angle for the runoffs. But I also increased the rear wing too, which unfortunately, just produced more drag rather than front end grip.
I've a 20mm Mygale ARB that will need turning down to a smaller diameter, and that will then be fitted on the rear of the car, leaving the 16mm ARB on the front.
The ECU mods were working well, with a 2.05s 64ft time, but the use of the calibration switch on Saturday to reduce launch rpm because of the dirty track, I hadn’t realised would also impact on the automatic 1-2 gear change at 6000rpm. The engine rpm basepoints that I created had an upper level set for 6050rpm / 45mph. The LC calibration switch was set to reduce the launch rpm by 100rpm and the manifold pressure by -100 bar. So by reducing the rpm by 100, the upper level also dropped to 5900, which prevented the rpm from reaching 6000, therefore the automatic gear change @6000rpm couldnt happen. I was having to pull 2nd gear manually, and the next issue was LC wasnt turning off, and the rpm limit still appeared to be preventing the revs in 2nd gear from also exceeding 5900. And that meant the shift-bleep at 6500rpm wasnt sounding in 2nd, to prompt me to pull 3rd because the engine wasnt revving high enough to trigger it. So I was having to short shift from 2nd to 3rd. There was a lot not going on, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, for the two final run off runs on Sunday, with the LC switch set back to 0rpm, I changed the upper base engine rpm to 6500, it all worked properly. I also ran with TC off for the first time, and the car still accelerated well, and it wasnt restricting power on the twisty bits. PIT/LAUNCH events had been occuring right up to 78.5mph, which indicated that LC wasnt turning off at 40mph like it was set to. But this was also cured on the final two runs, with PIT/LAUNCH disappearing at a fraction over 40mph.
15May
Good result at Croft
I was fastest overall at Croft, with my 2nd timed run my quickest, some 2.5s faster than the next car. I was testing various changes to the car and ECU, and with the increasing track temperatures during the day, the Ultrasoft tyres just didnt seem to produce the same grip they did in the morning, and try as I might I couldnt get in to the 79s bracket at all in the afternoon, with three 80s runs. If you consider a car racing 6 laps back to back, I'm sure they'd be in the same boat, with the occasional quick lap and the rest within a half second or so.The car was working really well, though the circuit was very bumpy, I tried as hard as I dare to push and was rewarded with a car that, as at Anglesey in the afternoon, just wanted to slide, despite the 33 degree front wing angle, an angle I've never run before. Anyway, a good day, a trophy, and I'm now ready for rounds 5 & 6 of the British Sprint Championship this weekend at Blyton.
9May
Ready for Croft
Just a few last minute jobs to do to the car, and I'm ready for Croft on Sunday. The weather forecast looks good too, so my old PB set in 2017 should be easily beatable. Over the weekend I fitted a WiFi facility to the car, using a TPlink device, which means I can now download the data and make changes to the calibration without having a cable connected between the car and tha laptop. I've set the AP up as a hidden SSID, with a secure password, so the connection is protected. I've tested it out in the garage and it works really well.Sadly the replacement front wing drop brackets, the Mk4's, wont be ready for this weekend. But as I've raised the FWEP's anyway, I'm going to try more front wing angle to see if it will combat the high speed corner understeer. Adding more wing is always the first thing to try, before diving in and changing geometry. If that doesnt help, I'll increase the camber of the near side front wheel. Over the course of the day I'm hoping to iron the problem out.
