August 2023
31Aug
Tyres
I ran the new set of Avon HC3's on Saturday, and the track was quite green on the first run, and I purposely didnt push the tyres too hard so as not to damage them. On the next run I went quicker, and qualified fastest, and then on the next run I came first in the run off, and the tyres were working really well. I swapped to the year old Pirelli's for the next run off, which I won again. On Sunday, I started again on the Avons, the first practice and timed runs went well, there was a little understeer, but I was 2.3s ahead of the pack, so I decided to keep them on for the next run, which was the first run off. As soon as I arrived at Hamiltons (the first corner) the front understeered quite badly, and I then struggled for grip on the remainder of left hand bends. Despite going quicker than my best time the day before, the car wouldnt stick and when I got back to the paddock, I could see why. The offside front was ruined. This is what's called cold shear. Its when the tyre understeers because its not up to temperature. When understeering, the surface temperature rises, the pressure in the tyre rises, and then the tyre bulges, which as the tyre is sliding, causes the rubber to tear. It cant be repaired, I have tried with the heat gun, but there is too much damage to even hope that it provides the grip I need. So I've replaced it with a new tyre, and at Pembrey I will have to be more cautious when running on the practice and qualifying runs, and swap to the Pirelli's for the run offs.I did speak to BMTR and they gave me some advice on how to warm the tyres up, which I will put in to practice at Pembrey (weather permitting).
30Aug
On-boards
Saturdays FTD runSundays T1 qualifying run
The battery wouldnt charge in the Kodak camera over night, so I only had enough charge for the first two runs on Sunday, which means you dont get to see me spin off in the wet 😜
29Aug
An incredible weekend
Saturday
Saturday at Snetterton went rather well, we had perfect weather, and I topped the time sheets on every single run. I won both run offs, and scored a bonus point for lowering the 1600T class record, which netted me 51 points. Everything worked perfectly, and I won my first run off #onavons, and the seond run off on the year old Pirellis. Not only did I win the National A FTD, but I also won the BARC members FTD award, as I'm a member of BARC. More of that later.The round 24 results are here
I didnt take a spanner to the car all day, I made some good improvements to my lines, and had a plan for Sunday to go even quicker; sadly the weather had other ideas.
Sunday
On a cooler, but dry day, before lunch I was easily the fastest on the qualifier, taking Hamiltons in fifth was a far better approach, apexing at aroud 96mph, the car felt great and I could really feel the g forces. I beat Goulding by over 2.3 seconds, so that bode well for the first of two back to back runoffs after lunch. We were only doing one practice and three timed runs both days, so we dropped the second quailifier and that became our second run off.As soon as I set off on the first run off on Avons, and threw the car in to Hamiltons, the front end just washed out and I knew the offside front tyre had cried enough! After that I just couldnt get the apex on either trip around Palmers, so I wasnt on the power as early as I needed to be, and that cost me the two tenths that I was beaten by, putting me third overall :(
Oh well, I had another chance, and I would be on the Pirellis for the next and final run, where I would certainly take FTD. But sitting in the car ready to go, the heavens opened, and I quickly jumped out and fitted the Avon wets, and drove to the line in the rain.
I set off, a great launch, working up to fourth gear with full throttle, and no issues, lifted for Hamiltons which I took at 70mph, then back on the throttle when the car was pointing in a straight line, and the car just rotated with a full 360 on the grass. I rejoined the track and drove back to the paddock. Next Pete Goulding had a spin at Palmers on his second lap, and stalled the car, and unable to restart it he needed the recovery vehicle for assistance which caused a 5-10 minute delay. While Pete was on his second lap, Stephen Miles had set off and did the exact same thing as me, in the same spot, and span a second time coming out of the hairpin. So none of the top three drivers in the BSC could even complete a lap!
With the weather deteriorating all the time, thunder, lightning, torrential rain and hail, the organisers deciced to cancel the final timed runs for all competitors, and we all loaded up to go home, getting absolutely drenched in the process. I was especially pleased with the decision to cancel the final round, as it meant I could keep my 100% finishing record :D
The round 26 results are here
At the awards I collected the BARC members FTD award, which was consolation for missing out on the National A FTD and another record breaking run. One driver challenged the organisers that they had in fact won the BARC FTD, as they were quicker than me, and an embarassing delay of a few minutes took place while they tried to persuade the BARC chairman of their mistake. I said to the driver that they had to be a member of BARC, and not just registered for the Championship, but they wouldnt listen. After the awards presentation had finished, I walked off with my trophy, leaving the conversation to resume at the awards table. Quite unnecessary, and when you consider everyone is a volunteer, and they're also looking forward to getting home to a change of clothes and some hot food, you do have to question the motives of some individuals.
I left around 4pm, with my three FTD awards safely stored in the van, and was back in Leicester for 6.30pm.
Following the event, the organisers reduced the number of scoring rounds from 20 to 18, due to the cancelled round, and that closes the gap to just seven points, and definitely works to my advantage. 20 rounds was far too many in my opinion.
Monday
The next day, as I was taking the van and trailer back to storage, I received a phone call from the BARC Chairman, to congratulate me on the weekend, and to confirm that I was the winner of the award, and that the matter had been dealt with. We had a chat about what happened, and hopefully the misunderstanding will not reoccur.After washing all the mud and grass off the race car, I then made some more changes to the ECU for Pembrey, after I sent an onboard video to my tuner to review, which will hopefully release a few more hp for the next time I drive it. I will also review the wet TC settings, because although I know it works 100% in the dry, its still not reacting fast enough in the wet, so it does need a few tweaks.
24Aug
Knockhill entries have opened
But good grief, £200 for five runs on the clockwise circuit! If we get more than two runs, as the regulations only mention a 'minimum of one practice and two timed runs'. I've entered anyway, I love the venue and the track is such good fun to drive on. Hopefully no trips in to the gravel trap at the chicane this year. Weirdly the event is open for Sprint Leaders entries, and its definitely not in the Sprint Leaders calendar.The garage bookings for Pembrey have also opened, and I've booked one. Thats another £100, but at least all the electricity is included.
I checked the car over yesterday, and cleaned it, the car was filthy from the wet it was driven in at Kirkistown. I found no faults, and its now ready to be loaded in to the trailer for the trip to Snetterton this Friday.
20Aug
Dive tank refilled
I headed over to Stoney Cove on Saturday, to get the dive tank refilled. The price hasn't changed, its a nice spot to explore while waiting, watching the divers get ready for a spell in the deep waters at the cove. I'm always amazed how much gear they have to wear, and walking around the diving shop, the prices of wet suits, regulators, bottles, masks, you could easily spend upwards of £3000. It makes motorsport look quite cheap in comparison.Since Kirkistown, I've been doing some modifications to the car, with some more changes to the calibration. It'll be interesting to see the effects, I'm hoping to unlock a few more percent of extra horse power, which as I'm aiming to get in to the 77's, I'll need.
There are just 11 of us running in Nat A. which is again a very poor turnout :(
18Aug
New tyres
I made a quick trip over to BMTR this week. The year old Avon HC3's have been replaced with a fresh set, and I've also fitted the fresh Ultrasoft rears on to the wide rims. We're at Snetterton next weekend, and last year there were eight runs on the one-day event, eight! There are only 75 or so entries, so its looking like we'll get similar track time again this year. The fresh tyres will help, and my PB of 78.88s needs to be lowered if I want to win the run offs on both days.16Aug
Revolution appearance
Always nice to get a photo and a mention in the Motorsport UK Revolution Magazine .
Click the picture to download the latest issue.
14Aug
Busy weekend
On Saturday I spent the day at Mallory Park at the Quick 60 Challenge, supporting Simon Bainbridge. Simon won first prize of £500, beating Damien Bradley in the process. There were some great cars there, and I managed to sit in Dr Ian Rowlances' Colin McRae Metro 6R4. What a stunning car!And then on Sunday I was glued to the live youtube stream from Shelsley Walsh, of the BHC championship round.
The Top 12 run off at the British Hillclimb meeting yesterday, was high drama all the way.
Click here to watch it if you havent already.
9Aug
Wet run off two, finishing second
I can only apologise for the dreadful sound on this video, the rain must have got in to the microphone. Note to self, move the microphone.
So this is 375bhp and full launch control, in the wet. I was very impressed. The 0 to 60 time was less than a second slower than the dry time. The 64ft time was 2.76s, compared to 3.05 for Gouldings time on the same run.
8Aug
Run off winner for Round 19
64ft time of 2.25s
0-60 in 3.2s
0-100 in 5.7s
0-138 in 11.2s
7Aug
Kirkistown August 5th and 6th 2023
The five hour trip up to the A75 lay-by at Creetown in Dumfries, Scotland on Thursday was uneventful, and I slept in the front seat of the van OK, waking up to seeing Heron's and all manner of wildlife on the water as the tide went out. I left for Cairnryan at around 8.30am, and arrived at 9:30 to go through security checks where they check the trailer for full jerry cans etc. I then drove to the check-in, and was told I'd booked the wrong crossing! I'd originally booked Cairnryan to Belfast and the return, to be told there was a discount code. So I'd spoken to Stena and they cancelled that booking, and I re-booked with the code, and saved over £40. Great. I'd even printed the booking paperwork out but didnt look at it, and was shocked to be told I'd somehow booked Belfast-Cairnryan! And the 11.30 ferry was full, as was the 15:30, so I was told to turn the van and trailer around, and park to one side, and if they could squeeze me on, they would. At 11:00 they effective closed the gates to late arrivals, yet the HGV's were still arriving. They then allowed eight more HGV's to drive on, that had been parked up also waiting for spaces, and I thought there goes my space. But no, I was waived forwards, given a boarding pass, and told to drive on to the ferry, and I couldnt have been any closer to the back of the boat. But I was on, and very relieved, and I quickly downed some food, and spent the majority of the journey on deck, as it was such a beautiful day, and I love sailing, so I photograped the porpoises and seals, and soaked in some sun.
As luck would have it, my lane was first off the boat, leaving behind the others who were still stuck in their lanes, and I was soon at the circuit, parking next to Simon Bainbridge, as we were both sharing garage five. It was £120 for the weekend so I was glad to split the costs. Other drivers who didnt share had a bit of a shock when given the bill.
Storm Antoni was due to hit N.Ireland in the next 24 hours, the forecast was gale force winds and torrential rain, so the banter was all about what the weather was going to do. After I unloaded, I settled in for a good nights sleep, and didnt really mind what the weather had instore for us. I was just relieved to be at the circuit. After speaking with Bainbridge, it turned out he had made the exact same mistake with his booking, but noticed it on Thursday night, so departed from Stokesly that night to make the 7:30 crossing Friday morning, where he knew there would be spaces, which is why he'd arrived that circuit ahead of everyone else.
Saturday
Following the near miss from the eye of storm Antoni, and very heavy overnight rain, the track was awash in places with very large puddles, yet the forecast for Saturday was further rain. The rain stayed away though, and the organisers delayed the start time from 9:30 to around 10:15 to allow the track to dry further, and instruced the first batches of cars to try and clear the water.I was already in full wet setup, with the car mechanically adapted, and on the Avon wets. Just before we went out a few drivers swapped to slicks, however as I lined up a short shower dropped, and on my lap, I was red flagged due to a car ahead on slicks, sliding off the track and rejoining.
For T1 and the remaining runs, it remained dry, and I changed the setup back to dry, and fitted the avon fronts and the wide rear pirelli qualifying tyres, leaving the avon rears in the trailer. I put in a decent time of 116.0s, which was just over 3s off my PB, but it was my first proper dry lap.
For T2 which was run off one, I fitted my best year old Pirelli tyres, and lowered the front and rear wings to reduce drag, and put in a blistering 112.22s lap, which was a new PB, and enough to win the run off. Second was Goulding, with Miles third. Goulding was in a right flap, no way was he three seconds slower he said, and Miles told him he'd had a 5 second time penalty for hitting a cone. That put me on the back foot a little, no way could he have just done a record breaking 110s run, unless, unless he really was that much quicker than me. That played on my mind most of the day, and the footnote is that it transpired he had no penalty, and really was three seconds slower than me. Anyway, I jumped for joy when I saw that I'd won, and punched the air, and the icing on the cake was that I'd now drawn level in the Championship, tying in first place overall. Yes. :D
For the third timed run, back on the Avon fronts / 300mm wide Pirelli rears, we'd had some more rain fall as we were lined up, and I carefully drove around on slicks on the damp track, recording a 135s run. No need in falling off, there were just seven of us at the track, so getting in to the top 12 was just a formality. Goulding had put a stickered set of brand new Avons on the car, and put in a reasonable time, taking the release agent off the tyres. This didnt bode well.
For the final timed run, which took place at 5:45pm, I was back on my one year old Pirellis, and I pushed really hard to record another 112, this time a 112.79. However Goulding took the win on his brand new Avons, with a 112.06s, which was still a second slower than his 2022 class record. This elevated him back in to first place overall, we were seperated by just one point.
The reason for the late finish, was the frequency of drivers losing oil around the track, which took often half an hour to clean up, and a local driver had a big crash on the final chicane, which fortunately didnt injure the driver, but took over 45 minutes to recover the car and clear the mess up. For the final run, we found the pitlane obliterated in cement dust following an Escort losing its oil filter, and driving to the line to take the final run meant driving over cement and then launching on it too.
All in all, we were quite lucky with the weather considering the catastrophising from the Met Office, and I was very pleased to win a run off, and draw level for the championship lead. I never took a spanner to the car all day, and just kept lowering the front and rear wings to reduce drag, which made a very big difference to the performance. The heave spring worked really well, no pushrod damage today, and I had a very enjoyable and trouble free day.
Sunday, it rained, a lot
I had the entire morning to clean eight tyres and refuel the car with 9.5 litres of fuel, and when I filled the air bottle on the car on Thursday I knew I didnt have much pressure left in the dive tank. So on Sunday I found had just enough pressure left to replenish the air, and made a mental note to myself to get the dive tank refilled at Stoney Cove when I returned home. Although we had a dry start to the day, the skies looked threatening, and we knew the rain was due to return at some point. The start time of 12:30 soon arrived, and we had a dry practice run.With just 30 cars running on the Sunday, it was soon the first timed qualifier run, again on slicks, and though it did start raining, I didnt think it wasnt heavy enough to make much difference to the grip. Until I arrived at the final chicane, when I locked a front and almost missed it altogether.
For the first qualifier run, after heavy rain, and with the Avon wets fitted, I was motioned by the marshal to head down the pit lane, when I suddenly remembered I hadnt put the wings back to maximum angles for the wet, so with my crash helmet on, I went round and quickly adjusted everything, and then drove to the start line. All the cement powder had been washed away, and I carefully tried launch control for the first time in the wet, but bottled it and came out the throttle to keep things safe. I then explored the track, trying to find the grip, and it was there, in abundance, so my second lap was quicker than the first. The Avon wets were really working very well. As ever, the aim was to finish and not miss any of the chicanes out, and I was soon back in the garage as the heavens really opened.
Thirty minutes later we were back out for the run off, where I finished in third place, behind Goulding and Bainbridge, with Smiles not having qualified due to a missed chicane on the first timed run. It wasn't a quick run for me, I'm lacking experience driving in the rain, but I relaxed and enjoyed it, and the traction control behaved perfectly under full throttle, and I recorded a 133s run.
For the next qualifier, again 35 minutes later, it was raining heavily and I went for a full launch in the wet, and shouldnt have worried. The car set off in a straight line, and automatically selected second then third gear under full throttle, and was actually accelerating really well with no dramas. However with the heavy rain falling, I discovered I'd driven around slower to record a 135s time, whilst trying to find grip and being careful not to miss the chicanes.
Twenty minutes later we were back out for the final run off. It had stopped raining for 10 minutes, and the water on the track was draining very quickly. The running order all weekend was me first, followed by Goulding and Miles; however the pitlane marshal told me to wait in my garage until I was told to go, and we sat waiting to be called. Eventually Simon Bainbridge looked down the pit lane and spotted the back of Miles' car parked near the start line, so I drove down to find that Goulding and Miles had both jumped the queue, clearly intending to benefit from the rapidly drying track. But there was a very black cloud rapidly approaching, and more rain was threatening. I motioned to the pit lane marshal that I should be at the head of the queue, and he pushed Miles' car back, leaving Goulding to run out of turn at the front. However, due to a few problems ahead, including Pete stalling his car again, and needing the jump start battery each time to restart it, his advantage rapidly disappeared when the heavens opened. When I set off, the rain was very heavy, and I drove my best all day, and was overjoyed to find that I had beaten both him and Miles :D
The running order is there for a reason, and yet, with rain threatening, its surprising how many people forget all about it.
On the video you will see the yellow cloth that I keep on top of the GPS board ahead of the steering wheel, to keep it dry, decided to jump out and land on top of the steering wheel as I'd approached the hairpin on the first lap, so whilst trying to take the corner, I had to grab it, throw it down between my legs, and then change down and take the corner! I could have been another second quicker, had I not had that distraction. Lesson learnt.
So then it was time to make a phone call to Stena, and re-arrange the return ferry crossing from the 23:30 time, to the earlier 19:30 crossing, because it was only 3:30pm and we were all done. I've never been to a sprint before that has completed all practice and timed runs in just 3 hours!
After packing up, I left at 4:45pm and easily made the crossing, having refuelled the van in Newtownards on the way to the ferry terminal, and once the 19:30 crossing arrived in Cairnryan, I drove half an hour back to the A75 lay-by at Creetown, and bedded down for the night. I woke around 4am, and left at 5.30am, to get back to Leicester around 11:15am, having covered 698 miles in my van.
I've got so much video and data to trawl through, I'll do what I can over the next few days to post some runs.
1Aug
