Mad Racing 2008 Video Compendium

Shhhhhhh......! Keep the noise down!

If you need to reduce your tailpipe noise from 107 dB to 100.82 dB, first you'll need a frozen apple pie. Remove the pie from the foil tray, discard the apple pie but punch three 6mm holes in the tray........

Watch Des At Snetterton (Race 2)

3rd Overall!

Okay, so by reading the blog, you know, where we came during our individual races during the 2008 series, but now all races have been completed. How did we do overall?

 Here are the stats:

Position	Name	Points
1st	Andy Hiley	192
2nd	Steve Taylor	119
3rd	Mad Racing Combined	108
3rd	Jim Goodwin	108
4th	Stephen Bell	77
5th	Colin Benham	54
6th	Anton Landon	45
7th	Guy Hussey	44.5
8th	Michael Coomber	44
9th	Stephen Lansley	42
10th	Erik Fairbairn	35
11th	Alex Jullien	31
12th	Rob Johnston	29
13th	Paul Cooper	29
14th	Adrian Cooper	27
15th	Chris Scopes	26
16th	Jason Stirzaker	25
17th	Andrew Ward	24.5
18th	Brian Smith	24
19th	David Aspden	22
20th	Matt Jones	14
21st	Tony Southgate	9
22nd	Robert Horton	6
23rd	Martin Tyman	1

So in the individual drivers championship  for 2008,

• Our leading man was Uncle Mike.
  
• In silver position we have Des,
  
• and stood on the podium in third, we hve Big Al

Perhaps more importantly, however if we combine each of our race results we have come third overall - not bad for our first season in the championship!

 We should all be very chuffed with ourselves!

 Watch out next year, everybody……. 

Des Wraps up the year in style at Snetterton

It seems like only a couple of weeks ago, that we were picking up our snot green kit car from its previous owner, and yet here we are today packing all the gear into the galaxy for the final race of the season at Snetterton.

The staff of the matter racing technical centre had been very busy over the past couple weeks, so we had to key changes to test on our car. Firstly Big Al had fitted some smaller master cylinders in an attempt to increase my confidence in the brake pedal, and secondly JB had made it a diffuser for the rear of the car especially for Snetterton as it is the highest speed circuit which we go to during the year.

For the Friday test, it was just the original racing team of me and Big Al in attendance. Big Al had a very busy week, and I was suffering from an acute bout of man flu, so we were hoping for a very easy day out. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite like that. Instead of us testing the car, the car spend the entire day testing us!

First off, as we try to put the car on the trailer at the technical centre and Big Al noticed that the exhaust pipe snapped, and so instead of setting off plenty of time. We had to strip down the left-hand side of the car, weld up the exhaust pipe, create a new bracket and fit it all back on. All in all, it took us about two hours, and despite some swift towing, we arrived at the circuit just as our first test session was going out.

After all the pre-driving checks, signing on, noise testing etc had all been completed. There was still about 20 minutes of the session remaining, so with a gulp of lemsip, and a hearty shove from Big Al, I sped out onto the circuit. After less than a lap, I had to come back into the practice as the new diffuser was rubbing on the rear tyres - a quick fine adjustment with a hammer by Big Al, and I was back out onto the circuit, only to be met by a red flag. The first session was a complete write-off. I think we only completed three laps all of which were on cold tyres.

At least we now had a couple of hours to get the car ready for the final session of the afternoon. The final session was much better. The new master cylinders had improved the brake pedal enormously. I'd even go as far as to say it is the single biggest improvement we have made to the car this season. I could now nail my breakpoints with plenty of confidence and hold the car on the point of locking its wheels without too much problem. Hopefully this would now be like attack into the bends, whereas at Oulton Park I was finding that difficult.

Another small problem, or to send after 20 minutes, but a quick fix was always by Big Al and I was out for another 10 minutes at the end of the session. Not the best testing session is ever had, but at least all the problems happened in testing so hopefully the car would be hundred percent reliable for racing.

We parked my car next to the Cherrington team home, and set off back to the Cogg.

A quick snooze later, and JB and Big Al knocked on my door at 5:45. We were off racing!

Because he had a doubleheader, we were first into scrutiny in, and first practice session. As I have been testing the day before, I was keen to get out early in the practice session and have a clear track. The boys did a fabulous job and I was in the assembly area first. Ready for art session. But mostly we had a long wait as the morning mist had failed to lift from Snetterton, and we had to wait for 90 minutes until the track cleared sufficiently to allow racing to commence. 

I shut out of the pit and started my first lap practice, taking each of the corners gently breaking nice and early to get some heat into the tyres. The second lap, I started putting a little harder just to get the tyres up to full racing temperature, everything was feeling good as I rounded Coram and braked nice and early for Russell, however, halfway through my braking zone. The front wheel suddenly locked, followed by the rear is before I had time to react, and I was spinning off onto the grass. Someone must have dropped some oil in the braking zone as two more cars followed me off in a synchronised spin. I was really annoyed at myself at first, as I was out at the front of practice and had an entirely clear circuit, which is exactly what you want to set a fast time, although in retrospect, it would be difficult for me to predict that someone had dropped oil. That wasn’t there the previous lap! Anyway, I was now at the back of the chain of cars, and hence would find it difficult to get a clear lap. I pull out the remainder of the lap as slowly as possible in order to find as much track space as I could before getting my foot down and try to set a time.

I think it's fair to say that it wasn't my finest hour. I didn't make any howling mistakes, but my brain felt a bit fuzzy, and not once did I get that lovely feeling when you know you have absolutely nailed corner. The entire lap timer confirmed my feelings, by the end of the session. I was a full second slower than it had been in practice the previous day.

I came in and shared the bad news with the guys. The team is always brilliant at times like this, they always have encouraging words to say and spend an hour with the car, pretending to find things, which would explain your crap performance, but at the end of the day, you know that all the boys have spent hours getting the car ready, and you feel bad for not doing your bit as driver by getting the maximum out of the car.

The results sheet came out, and I was a rather disappointing 12th and 8th in class some three seconds off the pace.

I had a quick snooze in the tent, and before I knew it was wheel spinning my way to the line ready for race one. 

30 seconds, five seconds, red lights, go! I got an awesome start, collecting a couple of places off the line, only to throw it all away by missing second gear, and breaking way too early into turn one. It took the usual first lap to settle down, but after that. I quickly got into a nice rhythm and was really enjoying myself. A quick check of my lap timer confirmed that not only was having fun, but I was flying round the circuit two seconds quicker than I had in practice – excellent! Snetterton is not my favourite circuit, but it does give exciting racing due to the length of the Straights and hence the importance of getting a slipstream from the car in front. Through a combination of nifty overtakes, and a couple of retirements. I found myself in a similar place to Oulton Park, in the midst of an epic battle between Rob Johnson and Jim Goodwin. The places were changing, each lap, but as the race went on. It appeared that robs car was going off, allowing myself and Rob to nip through and pull out a bit of a gap. We stopped places at a number of times by slipstream each other down the back straight, but, from my Locost days . I knew the way to beat him was to make sure I was behind him as he started the final lap, and hence could get the slipstream down the back straight, block him at the bomb whole and be in the lead at the finish line, and that is exactly how it happened! In fact, as I crossed the line. I was only a few tenths behind Guy in his red Silva striker, so I knew for race two, he was the target!

I'm so busy in my little race. I did not actually know where I finished overall, so wasn't until the results sheet came out. I discovered I had come out forth in class - not bad, given my ropey qualifying!

Another snooze, and some more tempering with the cars by the boys trying to get rid of some turn in oversteer, which was causing me a little bit of grief, and I was on the grid for race two.

I got another demon start, and this time didn't miss any gears, and before long, was again battling with Guy and Jim for third and fourth and fifth. It was a great battle, with Guy having a little more performance out of the bends, but with our car catching as the speed got higher, however, I couldn't make the overtake stick on the back straight . As our car hit the rev limiter in top gear about 300 m before the end of the straight just when I needed an extra couple of miles an hour to nip past under the bridge. 

After a few laps of trying, I finally got in under the breaks into turn one, I missed my apex, but Guy managed the situation perfectly, and although we were both rather wide, we shot through the corner, the exiting with me in the lead. My glory was short lived, however, as Guy outbreaked me into Sear and took back the position – bugger!

I got alongside Guy on the main straight couple more times but each time was scuppered by hitting the rev limit - I was sure I was very slightly quicker than Guy over a whole lap, but just couldn't make the pass. On the last but one lap, I turned in to aggressively into Sear and lost the back end, the resulting slide, meaning I was slow on to the back straight, allowing Jim to get alongside and passed.

The last lap board was out, and I got an excellent exit from Sear this time write-up on to the bumper of Jim and Guy, but again, my red limiter meant I could not get past, but I noticed both of them had gone into the corner at the end of the straights to quickly and hence made a big mess of the following right-hander - I had a quick look into the bomb hole, but it wasn't on. - only one chance left - the exit from Russell. I braked a little earlier, in order to leave a tiny bit of space on the hope that one of them would make a small mistake, and true to my dreams, Jim got a big slide on allowing me to out drag him to the finish line - it was a photo finish, but the results sheet showed me ahead by 100th of a second, to take another fourth-place!

It was a great race, and especially given my qualifying position, I was made up with a fourth-place. I'm sure that third place was on the cards in both races , with a couple of tweaks to the car, but even so, fourth-place having started dating class is still a result!

As always, special thanks must go to the rest of the team and of course, the extended mad racing support network: Uncle Mike, Suzie Sue, JB, Big Al, Jo, and of course The Little “O”

See you all next year.

Des's bid for a trophy at Oulton....

Better late than never Des's report from Outlon :

It has been four years since I last pedalled a race car round Oulton Park in Cheshire, and it was a skeleton team who headed up to Oulton Park of the penultimate round of the kit car championship

 As we arrived at circuit on Friday morning, it was quite clear that we were in for one of the wettest days racing that we have ever done. We quickly decided that would be an extremely miserable day, unless we have a garage, so quickly found one of the RGB Raith and negotiated a garage share deal to keep is dry. JB did his usual fantastic job, running round getting the car ready whilst I took the liberty of a track walk around the 2.6 mile Oulton Park International circuit. From the track walk. It was clear it was going to be a tricky day testing. There were rivers running across the track, and deep puddles around many of the corners. After four years away from all Park, it was quite surprising how much I had forgotten about the circuit during my track walk, I had mainly forgotten how much of the circuit has a camber to it, both negative and positive, and indeed, what an awesome track it is!

 As I lined up for my first test session. The rain was coming down really strongly, and going out onto the circuit. It was like, you sometimes see on the Formula One -- where all you can see of the car in front of the dim glow of their rear light. I managed about three laps tiptoeing around the circuit, discovering quite how little grip. Our car has in the rain. If that is not a lack of grip, which is the problem, but our semi-slick racing tyres’ inability to clear the water - indeed, I think it was the first I can remember that I was not willing to hold the accelerator open all the way down the straights. The car was spinning up its wheels in each of the first four gears.

 The first session was cut very short, lasting only about 15 minutes.

 A quick check over the car, and we are out for session 2. The conditions were no better. I did a couple of laps in traffic, and then came through the pit lane in order to get myself some clear space. It was a good idea in principle, however, it didn't really work out as, the first time I went into cascades braking hard downhill. I managed to lock the rear wheels spinning myself backwards off into the gravel and ending the session – oops…..

 Third and final session was again a complete washout with the car aquaplaning all over the shop, and survival being the name of the game. It really was impossible to learn anything useful! My lap times were in the region of  2:45 versus a good dry time of under 2:00.

 After the final session, the Mad Racing catering department (my Dad) supplied us with a cup of tea and a slice of cake before we loaded the tools into the back of the galaxy and headed off to our respective homes to warm up. Overall it was the end of a fairly miserable day testing!

 

As I hung my overalls over the radiator at home, and having seen the weather forecast. I was fully expecting the racing to be cancelled on Saturday………

 When Saturday, arrived it was still damp outside, but the skys were looking brighter - a good sign. When we got to the circuit with extremely pleased to find that our car was still in the garage where we left it and hence we had a roof over our heads for the rest of the day.

 The car sailed through scrutineering and before I knew it I was lined up ready to go out the practice. It was shared practice with Kit  Cars and SR GTs. The track was still damp, in places, although a dry line was starting to form. I trundled out onto my out lap and  just started to feel the amount of grip - there was loads more grip than on Friday, and importantly, almost no standing water. My investigations into the grip however, were short lived, as on the out lap one of the SR GT cars took out the tyres at Knickerbrook, and red flagged the session. As I sat in the same rating for the session to restart, I chatted to JB, and we looked at the stopwatch and concluded that we probably would only get our minimum required in the practice - that meant. When the session restarted and would have the out lap, and then two flying laps with which to set a time.

 But this in mind, I did an extremely slow out lap in order to give myself as much room as possible, and as I came out of Lodge I floored accelerator and headed into my first hot lap really, not knowing how much grip there was. I had no break markers , worked out, as the track conditions were so different to the test day, and hence was driving on feel and guesswork, yet I was quietly pleased with my first few corners of the lap - perhaps this was going to work out quite nicely! My confidence, however, was short lived, as I exited Knickerbrook . I caught up with a chain of perhaps five slow-moving cars - a disaster to my hot lap. I knew there was no way I could overtake or five of them before the start of the next lap, and hence the only option was to abort this lap, slow right down, and use my second and only remaining hot lap to set the time.

 I pulled off the racing line, and slow down, in order to create as much space as possible. As I exited the final corner, I put my foot down and headed into my one remaining hot lap. Again, I was very pleased with the first few corners, but to my frustration, I caught a slow-moving car again on the way into Knickerbrook. I went for the overtake, but can only assume the other car had not seen me as he moved across effectively to block my overtake, I tried two more times, but each time I attempt was blocked, in fact, it wasn't until Druids when I was able to fight the inside under braking, and resume the lap. It was a disaster I guess that I had lost five seconds behind the slow-moving car and on my only hot lap……

 I went back into the garage is slightly disillusioned - I hadn't achieved anything like my potential lap time during qualifying, and having driven a Oulton Park numerous times before. I was really hoping to get a good grid slot.

 When the results finally came out, I was pleasant surprised – was 4^th on the grid! It seems that everyone else had had similar problems finding space on the track.

 After more tea and cake from Mad Catering, and elongated celebration from JB and I as we manage to repair something electrical on the car in the absence of Big Al, I lined up on the grid,

 The top four places on the grid are always special, as due to the staggered nature of the grid you get a clear view of the track in front of you - it felt great, and reminiscent of the good old days in Lowcost-ing. The red lights came on and after a couple of seconds extinguished - we were go. I tried a new technique to get a side which had been recommended to me by Big Al and as a result of that got a great start zooming straight up to second place. Gary in his more powerful B class car got ahead of me before turn one, and Rob carefully placed his car up the inside into a whole, forcing it to lift a mix it and conceded another place - back to fourth…… I was quite tentative round cascades for the first time for and was overtaken by the yellow Cambridge transformers car on the exit – down to fifth…. This was no good, being overtaken is no fun at all!

 I held my position for a couple of laps, by which time I had got a good feel of the track and started to push harder. Rob was in front of me in fourth, and I'm sure slower, however, everytime I got close to him I made a small mistake dropped back - damn that consistency thing! Then on, the next lap into Lodge, I was quite close behind Rob, and saw him get a really big oversteer on mid-bend - but I was too close to make the most of it, I had to lift off, and during Robert in some synchronised sliding - fun, but ultimately slow. And I dropped another place due to my poor exit speed. Despite this, I was  still convinced I could overtake Rob, and got straight on to attacking again. I tried three times to out break him into depends, but each time Rob had more confidence on the brakes and I did and I couldn't make the pass stick. If I couldn't get him under braking, the only choice was to get a faster corner exit and overtake him on one of the straights,

 I lined, the manoeuvre up into Cascades, and despite a very gentle tap (sorry Rob) got on the power earlier and overtook him on the way down to Island.

 The next target was Jim in his Grey Phoenix. Jim was a good way ahead of me, and after a couple of laps I realised I wasn't making much headway on him. Perhaps fifth was as good as I was going to get today. I've just about to resign myself to the idea of coming fifth. When I noticed a couple of spots of rain on my visor. This could affect the thought of myself. I had spent all yesterday afternoon driving round the track in the rain, and knew that Jim had not practised yesterday - surely I would have an advantage here. Over a couple minutes, a few spots of rain turned into a good old British shower, and before I knew it I was right on the back bumper of Jim. The rain was coming down quite hard now, and I watched as Jim went really wide in Druids - here's my chance, I thought. However, I was about to discover quite by Jim had gone so wide – Druids was like an ice rink - it was my second some synchronised sliding, but whereas Jim just put a wheel in the gravel, I managed to gather up my slide is still on the circuit and make the overtake stick!

 I was in the clear space, and drove in a ridiculously tentative manner to the finish line! I was fourth on track, but because one of the cars in front of me was a class B. I had got it in class and hence won a trophy! Something which was very important to me, as both Mike and Big Al have got trophies this year, and I was  beginning to feel like a lemon as the only driver without one!

 I drove back our garage, and jumped out to rapturous applause from the support team:

Dad, JB, Mel, Liz, Graham, Jan, Bill, Laura - it was a fantastic feeling - so a special thank you to all the supporters!

 The celebrations did not stop there, as JB’s parents had offered to make tea for, not just Mel and I, but also our Parents. We all piled round to their house, where they made a special fuss of me by setting up a podium complete with union Jack flag and the national anthem, before we eat and drunk the evening away.

 I had only come third, but everyone made me feel like a king – it was fantastic!!!!!!

 We do it all again on 27^th September at Snetterton…. See you there. 

Snetterton - Last race of 2008 season

This Saturday (26th September) sees the final two races of the 2008 season with Des behind the wheel.

Here is the schedule:-

Scrut: 0745 (nope we're not kidding, that really does say 0745!)
Prac: 0900
Race 1: 1300
Race 2: 1620

The car now has it's nitro fitted (JB's suggestion), rocket boosters are loaded into the sidepods, Des has been weight training, and so everything is ready to rumble....roll on Saturday.

On a serious note, there are a few cheeky changes to the car prior to the event that we're hoping for big things from....roll on Saturday.

Big Al

Note: The team will be mostly snoozing between 0900-1300...

Oulton Park Timetable

Friday 5th September:

Practice - All Afternoon

Saturday 6th September:

Scruitineering - 9:55

Practice - 10:55

Race - 14:40

Sixth at Silverstone

For two thirds of the season, I have been watching uncle Mike and Big Al zoom round the various circuits of the UK, chalking up impressive results at the wheel of the MAD-Racing Phoenix. By saving my races until the end of the season I of course had the benefit of a more developed car, but obviously the additional challenge of remaining patient whilst Mike and Big Al had all the fun!

So this weekend, I finally got my chance to race our car. How would it compare to Locost racing? How rusty would my racecraft be? How would I get on at a circuit I had never driven before?

The weekend started on Thursday night as Jo, Oliver and I set off for the Midlands, where Big Al's parents live. After a two-hour drive and a few hours sleep, the alarm went off, signalling the start of the test day. It was back to the old Des and Al Racing days in many ways, as just myself and Big Al set off for Silverstone. I had done a bit of swatting up from some video footage I found on the Internet, but Big Al made things really easy for me by insisting that I didn't touch the car and instead spent an hour wandering round the track on foot getting some idea of where all the braking and turn in points would be. So, track map in hand, I lined up in the pitlane ready for my first session at Silverstone. Quick pep talk from Big Al, and I was off. The first couple of laps were just finding my way round the circuit, and all was going swimmingly when I noticed the rear panel of the bodywork was flapping in the breeze. A quick visit to the pits for a couple of fasteners to be reattached and I was back out on to the track.

The Silverstone circuit is all about power, there are really only three braking points. The first is the fairly awesome Copse Corner which you approach at 125 miles an hour, hit the brakes a whisker before the 50m board, and turn in towards a blind apex at 85 miles an hour, pulling roughly 1.3 G. As you head off towards the entrance to Maggots, reaching about 115 miles an hour before having to brake in a left-hand bend and head into the 60 mile an hour right-hand kink. The exit from this corner is absolutely critical, as it leads you on to the back straight. You snatch fifth gear for just a few seconds before again braking from 115 miles an hour down to 65 miles an hour in a straight line, and then still decelerating as you head into the late apex left-hander of the complex. The briefest squirt on the power before you brake and turn in to the unfeasibly long Luffield corner - at this point it feels like you have almost slowed to a crawl, although the data log shows that you still doing around 50 miles an hour. This final corner is all about balancing the car, and trying to get the power down as early as possible, without running wide.

In my first session, I managed a fairly encouraging 1:06.48, and survived one of the longest racing slides I can remember, as I put a wheel on the astroturf exiting Copse - note to self astroturf is slippy!

Once the session was finished, Big Al ran around checking of the car and, in what seems like no time I was out again - I tried a few modifications to my lines, and was more aggressive into the bends, but did not manage to go any quicker than in my first session. A quick, Conflab with Big Al in between, session 2 and 3, and I was out for my final session of the test day - I felt I had really improved my exit from Maggots, and was getting braver into Copse, but a combination of small mistakes and traffic meant that, again, I did not improve on my first session time. I was a little frustrated as I felt sure I could get our car into the 1:05.xx’s but had not quite managed it.

The afternoon was spent taking Oliver to a local kids activity farm with Al’s family, before hitting the pub for tea, and then getting in a good early nights sleep.

Race day arrived with the normal bleep of the alarm clock, and within a few minutes Big Al and I were in the Galaxy heading back to Silverstone. Al got to work prepping the car for scrutineering, as I swatted up on my track map. Bang on time Uncle Mike and JB arrived and took the car to be scruitineered whilst Big Al and I reviewed yesterday's video footage.

I donned my race overalls one more time and headed out into practice, with just one thought in my mind - get the car round Silverstone in less than one minutes six seconds! In the event, it took me six laps before the lap time showed the magic number of 1:05.98 - objective achieved! The rest of practice was reasonably uneventful, with me in plenty of clean air, and although I managed a number of laps in the very low 1:06.xx’s I couldn't beat my lap six time.

When the results came out, I can't deny a little disappointment at being 11th on the grid, and 7th in class - I really felt I had driven the wheels off our car, but still had only achieved 7th fastest! The leaders were 0.6 of a second quicker than me, and I really had no idea where to find that additional time!

Once the adrenaline had worn off, and another look at the video footage with Al, which showed a couple of areas where I could improve my lines, particularly on the way into some of the fast corners, nothing major, but every 0.1s counts!

Uncle Mike, JB, Big Al, and I celebrated a successful practice by hitting the canteen for our lunch. Three Chilie’s and a Lasagne later, we found ourselves back in pit garage, wondering what to do next. It was at that point that the largest support team I can ever remember at a Mad-Racing event arrived! We had Liz, Mel, Jo, Suzie Sue, Oliver, Polly, Jon, Tom, Cheryl, David, Lindsay, Pippa, and Vicky - all coming along to cheer for yours truly.

In no time at all I was strapped back into our car heading out on to the grid for my first race start in five years. 30 seconds, car into gear, five seconds, revs up, red lights, go! I got a bit too much wheel spin off the line and lost the place I think, but moved right to protect my inside line into Copse. As I grabbed second year, I saw the rear panel fly off the car in front, and wedge itself underneath our car - I gave the steering a quick wiggle, and could feel nothing wrong, so carried on regardless. As we entered Copse, I had Big Al's final pep talk words, ringing loud in my ears - take it easy on the first lap! I was glad of his advice as the car in front, disappeared in a cloud of tyre smoke, and I think another car span off in front of me - the mayhem continued as we headed into Maggots, I only just managed to slow the car down on its cold tyres, and another car span right into my path! I have to confess that I don't really remember too much about the remainder of the lap! My recollection comes back a couple of laps later, when have found myself in a reasonable gap with Steve in one of the Procomp cars a couple of seconds ahead of me, as a monitored the situation. I could see I was catching the car, but twice in succession I ran wide at Copse losing all the time I had made up ground the rest of the lap. I finally caught the car heading into the complex. I considered the overtake under braking, but decided I was a little too far back, and backed out early, leaving what I thought was plenty of room, however Steve chose to Apex really early, presumably to protect his line - something which I did not expect him to do, and unfortunately I just tapped his rear left with my front right - nothing serious, but just enough to spin me through 90°….. I quickly recovered and didn't lose a place, and as I checked my lap time had only lost four seconds - an annoying error on my part, but one which could have been avoided if Steve had given me just one more inch of room.

A couple of laps later, there was yet more fun at the same corner, as the number 11 car came up behind me on the straight, I moved left to protect the inside line, forcing him to go round the outside into the complex, I left my braking absolutely as late as I dared, and to my amazement, the number 11 car sailed past me for another 20 odd metres before hitting the brakes - surely he couldn't make the corner, breaking there? - indeed he couldn't, and after watching his valiant fight for control, I had a front row seat as the car disappeared into the grasps of the gravel trap!

After those two events, the rest of the race was relatively uneventful - I got overtaken by one of the class B cars, but apart from that was very much on my own holding position. I eventually took the flag, 6th in class.

All in all, it was an awesome couple of days racing, and although my target was to finish in the top five, I was quite happy with sixth place. If I'm honest, I had forgotten quite how hectic racing wheel to wheel really is, and how different the skill set required is compared to just putting in a fast lap on your own! I'm really looking forward to sharpening up my race craft over the next couple of races!

Special thanks as always to Big Al, Uncle Mike, and JB for doing such an excellent job setting up and maintaining the car. And a second mention for the enormous cheerleading crew - it really is awesome to have so many people coming along to cheer me a lot - so a heartfelt thank you to you all!

The next race is at Oulton Park on the 6th of September - see you there!

Silverstone Times - Saturday 23rd August

0925 Scrutineering
1030 Practice
1510 Race

Go Des!!!!

Des takes the baton:

Okay, we'll it seems like a long time in the making, but finally it is my turn to take the wheel of the mad racing wagon!

Having watched both Mike and Al flying round the various circuits of the UK in our car, it's fair to say that I have been chomping at the bit on the get a seat in the car. In many ways, it's probably fair to say I'm the lucky one - the car has come on in leaps and bounds since we first bought it back in February, and of course I have had none of the donkey work developing it into the lean mean racing which it is today!

I have not bothered to count exactly how long it been since I last took to circuit in a race car, but somewhere in the region of five years, so I was expecting to be a little rusty. I took the liberty of studying Al’s race footage from Brands Hatch in order to get me up to speed - so as soon as I got into the car I had a good idea of where to brake, when to turn in, and where to change gear etc.

Within what seemed like seconds of arriving at the circuit, JB was hoiking down the shoulder straps on the harness, and I was off.

The first three laps were behind the course car a ducks and Drakes introduction, and boy did I need it - by the time I had done three laps, I still haven't been above 4000 revs or use more than half throttle.

The first 10 laps were just me getting used to the car - it felt great, but at the same time quite an alien place to be - I certainly haven't felt a car cornering with such g force for a while!

A quick pit stop, just to collect my thoughts, grab a bit of fuel and I was out again - I was starting to get used to the car and explore the potential - it is one quick machine!

The middle session went really without note, I was just starting to build up speed and get a feel for what the car does on the limit - it wasn't really until the third session that the fun really started.

By the third session I started to feel everything was coming back - sure, my driving still left a little bit to be desired in terms of track position and consistency, but my confidence in sliding the car round, moving it into understeer and oversteer was coming back -- mainly due to the incredibly friendly nature of car for a race car. It really is quite amusing how gently it moves into oversteer!

The one thing you really notice on a track day is the speed of properly set up most versus everybody else there - our car is like a rocket ship – F355 challenge car on slicks? Easy! 911 turbo? Get outta my way! A slight flipside is that it is also quite frightening! Pinning the throttle to the metal all the way through fourth gear and into fifth before braking hard for paddock hill bend has to be one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life so far! – awesome!
My other highlight is our car's ability to drive the whole of clearways with no lock on, just using the throttle to steer the car - not always the fastest way round the bend, but awesome fun!

I must also dedicate a paragraph to the team - Big Al and JB were fantastic! I felt like I was part of an arrive and drive team. I swanned round in my fancy overalls, did no work on the cars and just came in complain about the understeer. The boys worked tirelessly to make the whole evening a resounding success! Ta Lads!

All in all, I had a fantastic evening, our little race car is brilliant! And I can't wait for my next go at Silverstone in a couple of weeks - hopefully see some of you there!

A few key notes:
The driving position is great - thanks for the spacer Dad!

The car sucks on cold tyres!

Understeer, understeer, understeer! Turn in, mid-corner and exit!
It is possible to move the car into oversteer, using the throttle, but the native balance is towards the understeer. That said, I can't deny that the understeer gave me an awful lot of confidence through paddock hill, but a bit less would be good. I wonder if compliance in the bushes is causing the front wheel to lose camber control under heavy load???? Perhaps we can set up a video camera to investigate this?

Rear wheel spinning up: it is only really a problem if either you hit a kerb, or the car is in oversteer before you hit the throttle.

Brakes: the brake balance is very far forward, meaning you can do a crazy amount of Trail braking - this helps the turning, but of course as soon as you come off the brakes, The understeer returns.

The brakes seem to lack bite, the power is there, but whatever reason it seemed to take me a long time to build the car up to full braking potential - I think with more confidence in the brake pedal. I could break a lot later for both paddock hill, and the hairpin.

Forgiving nature: I'm not sure from losing the plot here, but I'm sure race cars shouldn't be as forgiving as our car is - we know, the car is really soft, and perhaps this is part of it, but I really remember our locost being a much edgier drive. That said, maybe i'll feel differently when there are 20 other kit cars heading for the same bit of track!

Desy F takes to the racecar wheel.....for the first time in 4 years!

Desy F, aka "F" took to the wheel of "Mike Wizowsky" for the first time yesterday.
All went well and the car behaved like a beauty (well what would you expect with JB and Al spannering)!

Some photos can be found at the link below:-

Photies from Brands

Bruce's (Northern Mad-Racing TC Guru) custom steering boss is a work of art, and something to be admired!

Des' report to follow.....when time permits.

Al

Mallory Majesty – Well Yes, really!

One practice, two races, a 3rd place, a 4th place, whatever next?

A fine sprinkling of rain greeted us at Mallory on Sunday 3rd August for Al’s final two races of the season. The car had undergone a bunch of fairly major changes prior to Mallory, and although the calculations showed the car should be infinitely better, the lack of a test day meant that the car was unproven with the new set-up……..eek.

Practice came and went, and was uneventful, but somehow busy, meaning that I didn’t get a clear lap. Every time I thought “this is the one”, something would happen to scupper it – yellow flag, backmarker, spinner, damn! The car handled brilliantly throughout, and is now a real weapon, so that was great news.

Practice results were out, I had qualified 11th out of ~20 cars. Not my best, not my worst!

So onto the 1st race, I got a great initial start, but failed to engage 2nd gear straightaway and so lost two places. There a few words that describe the frustration of missing a gear, but none that are publishable here! I slotted into the pack going into Gerard’s and held my position. Had a good battle with Steve Bell (Sylva Striker) & another Striker style, white car and jostling for places for a few laps, then managed to pull a gap and found some free space. Not too much happened for the rest of the race, and brought the car home 3rd in class and 6th overall. A very nice result!

2nd race came around soon enough. Going round to form-up I felt the tyres were really “cold” and were low in grip levels, so some enthusiastic weaving and practice starts to try and get some warmth into the tyres. Lined up on the start, and away we went! Hooked up a great start (got 2nd gear this time!!), both Rob Johnston and I got past the two cars in front of us (Jim Goodwin and Mark Alexander Williams), and slotted in for Gerard’s (probably up to 3rd place here?) Jim was able to sneak through on the way around Gerard’s and I held Mark off until John Cooper Esses where he slipped past on the outside - a very good move, but I shouldn’t have let him through! Flying up into the hairpin, hard on the brakes, something peculiar happened (!!) that saw me steering left to avoid the cars in front and taking to the grass. A couple of seconds off-roading (my argument was that I was trying out the new dampers!) and I was back onto the circuit. What a muppet, that oversight cost me valuable seconds and places. I can only conclude that the tyres were not fully heated and that I had outbraked myself…Damn, damn, damn. I started my charge to try and catch back up with the front runners, but it was going to be tough – very tough. Caught and jostled with Nigel Brown for a couple of laps, then got past on the way into Gerards, in the distance I could see Rob Johnstone, and was catching, but slowly – we were clearly both lapping at about the same pace. So this was the order in which we were to finish, I finished up 4th in Class for race 2, however I am sure that barring any disasters and had I not gone on the grass on the 1st lap, this could have been a 3rd place, and perhaps even a challenge for 2nd place. Nevermind, it was a great days racing, the car is a huge improvement from before, a 3rd and a 4th place is excellent and I had a great final meeting of the season. So all in all a huge success and very enjoyable.

Massive thanks go to JB and Des for their spannering all day at Mallory – all I had to do was drive, which takes a huge amount of pressure off me. Of course, the whole team need a mention for their support of me throughout the 2008 season, so a big round of applause to Des, JB, Jo, Oliver, Bob2, Mel, Liz, Mike and Suz for all their support, help, food, drink & encouragement throughout!

Next event is Silverstone on 23rd August...

Al

Farewell at Donington

It's almost uunbelievable, as my first race seemed only yesterday, but Donington was to be my last scheduled race of the season for me in the Kit Car Championship, but a great venue with which to do it.

The immediate lead up to the Donington race was not quite as smooth as we had perhaps hoped. There were still lots of things to adjust and fix the day before the race with no real room for error. So when at 9.30pm Al noticed that the bottom hose was collapsing when the engine was being revved, effectively closing off the coolant flow to the radiator, things were not looking too good. With no spare parts at the Mad Racing Technical Centre to fix the weak hose, we had no choice but to leave it to chance that we could find the parts we needed at the circuit the next morning, through a process of begging, stealing and/or borrowing.

As Suz and Des unpacked the car from the trailer, I got myself signed-on and went looking for some helpful types who could perhaps supply some hose. Fortunately for us, Ian Kempson came up trumps (a huge thanks to you) and we were quickly able to fix the problem with the parts he lent us. After we had the rear tyres swapped for some more legal-looking items, it was all to quickly out to practice.

There had been lots and lots of changes to the car since its last outing at Brands, with a new steering rack, new radiator, new oil cooler ducting, modified radiator ducting, spring changes all round, new rear brake pads and a different driver. I wasn't imediately comfortable in the car and consequently my qualifying time was some way off the pace (1:23.13 vs. pole on 1:18.77) and only good enough for 13th on the grid (8th in class). After reviewing the on-board footage with my race engineer (Des), it became apparent that I was just being a big girl's blouse around the circuit and should have been attacking the corners with much more conviction. I obviously had to make a change to the car as well, to make it look as though it was the car's fault, so I went about reducing the rear dampers by the smallest amount I could - that'll make the difference then!

So the time quickly came around for the race. My grid slot had me positioned on the inside of the track for the first corner. My starts had always been fairly good in this car, and when the red lights went out, I managed to make up a few places even before the Craner Curves, so a good start again. After getting close enough to gain from a good tow down the Dunlop straight, I overtook again heading into Goddards and that put me up to 8th place by the end of the first lap. For the next few laps I held position until I was passed, heading towards Goddards. I was then able to out-manoeuvre and pass another car coming out of Redgate on the following lap which put me up to 7th place.

A fairly hairy moment occurred on the next lap when I managed to get the car extremely sideways turning into the Old Hairpin but just about kept it pointing in almost the right direction. I was then passed by a recovering front runner and then held onto 8th place right up until the last lap, where the car I had passed coming out of Redgate got a tow down the Dunlop straight and squeezed passed me on the inside going into Goddards, the last corner of the last lap! So in the end I finished 9th (6th in class) which, considering my less than spectacular qualifying session, I was quite happy with.

So that's it for me for this season in the Kit Car Championship. Over way too quickly but very enjoyable. I plan to be out for the Birkett relay however. It'll be a long wait. Thanks to Al for helping get the car ready until late on Saturday (and for the loan of the Galaxy) and to Des and Suz (and my mum, dad and Kristi) for support on race day.

Can you tell what it is yet?

What the hell are you? After a long evening's work, here is the result



Is it a:-

Muppet show
Boeing 747 air conditioning system
Suz' artwork
Cold air feed to the oil cooler

We'll leave this one with you....

Next race - Uncle Mike, Donington, Sunday 20th July

Well all, Uncle Mike's last turn at racing in the 750mc Kitcat challenge is upon us, here are the details of this weekend's racing activities:-



Sunday 20th July
0920:- Scrutineering
1020:- Practice
1625:- Race 1

Uncle Mike has put in a very solid performance this year, so no pressure UM!

Mike, Mike, Mike!!

Mr and Mrs Barnet

A key event ocurred in the MAD-Racing as JB pulled off the scam of the century by persuading the very beautiful Liz to marry him! No one is quite sure how he managed it, but it now means that the entire team have successfully snared lovely wifes (oliver excepted - he is still a bit young....)!

JB is excused from racing dutys for a couple of weeks as he is on Honeymoon, but is expected to return with his normal excess of commentry and banter once he lands back on UK soil.

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Barnet, have a great honeymoon, and we all look forward to your return!

Brands Videos

Race 1 - 0.15 of a lap - Short lived..


Race 2 - All 15 minutes - The real deal!

Brands Bonaza

Brands – 21st June 2008, Big Al at the wheel

Double header at Brands where Al qualifies 6th for his first race, 5th for his second race, gets up to 3rd place off the start-line, and brings home a 3rd in class trophy in his second race. A very busy day, action packed, read below to find out more.



With no time for a pre-race track or test day, the team rolled up at Brands at 8am on the Saturday morning in-time for a track walk, to re-assess the brake points, turn-in points, and get a general feel for the rises and falls that Brands Hatch Indy circuit offers. The morning flew by in no time, quickly arriving at our 10:30 practice slot. Due to low grid sizes, we were out on track practising with Hot Hatch, with us onto circuit first. Practice went very well, with the track walk paying huge dividends.

I could see from our lap timer, that I hadn’t broken any lap records, but that my times should be competitive.

Times were soon out, and I had secured 6th place overall on the grid for my 1st race, and 5th place for my 2nd race. In terms of our Class-C, I had qualified 4th in class and 3rd in class respectively. So, very pleased, and the team set about a few minor changes to try and improve the handling of the car.

The first of our many supporters arrived, Jason, Tina and young Joshua King. Shortly followed by Nigel Seeds, then Ben, Catherine, Ewan and Finlay Barry. Next were Suz, Ste and Sarah, bringing with them a welcome dose of food, muffins and other assorted naughties! Last but not least, Nick Clark and son James.

So, onto my first race, 6th place means 3rd row of the grid and on the outside of the track. I got a fantastic start, and literally catapulted myself into 3rd place by the time we were at Paddock – the first bend. Going into Druids (hairpin at the top of the hill) I saw in my mirror that someone was making a move up the inside, actually I could see tyre smoke and front wheels locked up! So, I kept out wide and saw Jim Goodwin fly up the inside, shortly followed by Mark Alexander Williams who had also locked up and collided with my front RHS and sent us both into the gravel. I kept the car moving, and with a bit of creative driving was able to get back out of the gravel, in the end had to reverse out, slightly unconventional!!

With that I was last in the race, and by quite some margin. The car felt ok, so I started pushing on, in an attempt to re-capture the pack. Just as I came past the pit entry, I saw red flags and so immediately eased off and parked up on the grid. Knowing that the other cars had to complete a full lap of the circuit, I jumped out of the car to check the damage from the impact. The brand new steering rack was bent and we were not going to be joining the re-start. With that, we took the car back to the pits. The next two hours were spent franticly repairing the rack, a hug team effort enabling us to repair the car in time* - Nigel and Steve rebuilt the bodywork, me, Des and Mike repairing the rack, Big thanks for Glen Boyer (aka the Carrot Cruncher) and the Cherrington’s for all of their help with spares, and a vice!
*in –time – We actually got to the forming area with a whole 30 seconds to spare. I literally had to throw the tools, umbrella and water from the car before heading out onto the track.

So, the second race was on with me in P5, still on the 3rd row of the grid, but this time on the inside. Again, got a great start and got up to 3rd place again! This time kept the door firmly shut on the way into Druids. Next few laps were pretty busy, seeing me lose two places down to 5th, then regain one and into 4th, managing to get past the V8 Dax on the way into Surtees. I seemed to be gaining on P3 car in some places, and losing out in others. Clearways was particularly difficult and quite frustrating - I just could not get the power down, the rear inside was just spinning up and for up to 100m on some bends! Anyway, on about Lap 10, I missed my turn-in for the Surtees and as a result went in completely off line. Resulting in a rather spectacular spin. I rejoined the circuit, and held my position. After my visit to the grass, I knew that there was no chance to catch P3 car, and so settled in to a more gentle rhythym and fiunished the race 4th overall and 3rd in class.

So, overall a pretty damn fine result, only marred by the fact that I was not able to complete Race 1. Practice and Race 2 had gone extremely well, and so overall a great days racing.
I’d like to thank all my supporters for the day (as mentioned above) for their help and support through the day and in getting the car repaired. We were also top tip for a couple of racing fans who had travelled from Colchester and who had been rallying for us all day – Big thanks!!

Check all the photos from the day here:-
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ajullie2/BrandsBonaza

Next event is Donington on Sunday 20th July, where Uncle Mike takes the wheel one more time.

Cheers, Al

Exciting news

The team are spashing out on a new mirror....Check it at Brands!

Racing for Girls

Last weekend saw yet another trip to support the boys and their toy car. Fortunately after 7 years of racing, the girls of Mad racing have now learnt how to give the boys the support they need.............

Last weekend saw Mel, Suz and Liz travelling to North Wales, Jo was doing her bit by helping Al calm his nerves Whilst he lay on his sunbed in the Mediterranean sunshine.

After spending a lovely romantic night at a little B&B in the Brecon Beacons with Des, we [Damn it - I never even noticed Liz and Suz at the B+B - Ed (Des)] drove up through Wales via snowdon (in the mist and rain) to arrive Thursday night at Mum and Dad's caravan in AberConwy (its 6 star..don't you know!!!) The evening was spent listening to romantic music in the cosy ambient atmosphere of the luxury static home enjoying a lovely glass of wine.....Then in burst Uncle Mike, JB and Liz, the time was 2am.

The boys left early whilst Liz and I thought about what to do over a leisurely breakfast overlooking the Snowdonia national park. Racing or stroll along the beach? Racing or stroll along the beach? It was a difficult decision but we felt that if we went racing, we would have been a distraction for the boys and that really wasn't fair so a gentle stroll along the beach it was. We had a lovely lunch in the marina watching the world go by with a beer in hand and then did some window shopping in the boutiques of Conwy. Prior to the stroll we did attempt to climb a mountain but as we were in sandals and Liz was getting married in 4 weeks we felt the risks were too great.

In the evening, the boys arrived back looking sweaty and smelling of engine oil. They were ushered immediately into the hot steamy clean shower to freshen up [not all at the same time - Ed]. Liz and I had gone to the effort of pampering ourselves in the spa so we felt it was only fair that the boys should make the effort as well.

We though about cooking a lovely meal for everyone but after our hard day we were just too tired. Suz arrived just in time to join us for a nice pub dinner in the snowdonia hills. We all were tucked up in our soft cosy horizontal beds fairly early that night as we all had had a very busy day.

Saturday morning was spent snoozing and lazing around enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside. We made lunch and headed up to the race track to offer our support for U. Mike. After watching 1 race. (well done U. Mike) we ate cake and went to explore the local beach, just far enough away to hear the gentle rumble of engines. Our fine tuned ears were able to tell which was Mike's engine and so we were still able to support in spirit.

After sunning ourselves and paddling in the sea we headed back to the race track to check on the boys. The seemed OK so we felt that our presence was again causing distractions and the spa was calling, so we headed back to the caravan to spend the afternoon in the comfort of the spa. We did think about making dinner but unfortunately for the boys the bar was in the way of the caravan so we had to pop in and have a few beers. The boys arrived back, joined us for more few beers and then went off to buy us fish and chips. We spent the evening relaxing in front of the box and had an early night.

Sunday was a more active day for Liz and I, we hiked up the mountain, walked into Conwy and sunbathed on the beach.

Once again, thank you Mike for racing, I had a great weekend and looking forward the the next one (especially if it involves, luxury accommodation, sun sea and sand!)

Mel (Sole member of Des's fan club)

Brands times

Brands Hatch times are out, and are as follows:-

Sat June 21st

Scrut: 9.25
Practice: 10.35
Race 1: 14.55
Race 2: 17.10

Big Al at the wheel....see you there.

Anglesey covers all the angles

Well, what a weekend that was! Not 5 minutes after the car had been readied for the journey North and we found ourselves driving up the M1, onto the M6 and then west-ward bound towards Anglesey. Weather in Anglesey is unpredictable at best, wet and windy at worst and so it was with great anticipation that we awoke on the Friday test morning to a glorious day. Des and JB headed off early from the very comfortable caravan in which we were staying (a big thanks to Mel's mum and dad) to put the final finishing touches on the car before I arrived, chauffeured by Mel a little later on. We had four 25-minute sessions in which to check out the car after the mammoth amount of work that had just been completed, to learn the circuit which I had never been to before and finally to set the car up to get the best out of it for the racing.

The first session revealed arm-fulls amount of understeer and the engine running slightly hot. So whilst JB set to enlarging the ducting exit from the bonnet with various drills and files, Des tweeked the front dampers to try to dial out the understeer. The second session showed the understeer still present and so spring changes were the order of the day. We quickly realised though that a new set of spings were required from Demon Tweeks which Suzanne picked up on her way across. By the end of the day, my lap times had just dipped below 1m 18s.

After some nosh in a local pub and a couple of drinks, we were quickly off to sleep with the promise of a great day's racing the next day.

Saturday was to be another glorious day weather-wise, with hardly a cloud in the sky. A minor wiring issue had to be fixed before we were allowed through scrutineering which then quickly led to qualifying. I managed to settle in pretty quickly in practice, with the new rear springs having sorted the handling and wheel-spin better than I'd hoped for. I found some good space in which to set some fast lap times and when the grid was published, I had qualified 4th in class (6th on the grid) for both races 1 and 3. Race 2 was the Lydden re-run and I was 8th on the grid for that.

I made a great start in the first race, and quickly made it up to 5th place, then back down to 6th but the red flags were shown after about 6 laps. So back to the grid for the re-start. Following another good start I then lost a couple of places and found myself back in 8th overall. I had a close race with the two cars in front but just could not find a way through and so by the end of the race, I was in 8th place, which was 5th in class. Not too bad.

The 2nd race was the Lydden re-run (after it was snowed-off in April). It turned out to be basically a re-run of the first race (but no red flag), with more close racing and so after an exhausting 20 minutes of racing, I finished in 7th place (4th in class).

A good night's sleep on the Saturday and a review of the video with my coach a.k.a. Des allowed me to fully concentrate on where I needed to improve on my lines and race craft for my third and final race. A quick check over of the car showed no issues and so to the grid for the race. After a green flag lap it was quickly to the countdown and away again. Another good start saw me battling with cars from the two classes above, with lots of hussling for position and my lap times had improved again. After another hot and tiring 20 minutes bumper to bumper racing, I again finished 5th in class (8th overall).

The whole weekend had been a great success with fantastic reliability from the car and great support from Des and JB in keeping the car running and for Suz, Mel, Liz and Des' mum and dad for their encouragement and more along the way. The circuit turned out to be quite challenging with a tricky fast section leading to a heavy braking zone and into a twisty hilly section. Great fun in a fantastic setting.

Next out in our car is Al on Saturday June 21st for a double-header at Brands Hatch. Hope to see you there.

Mike Makes the Most of Anglsey

Mike again showed his class with a fabulous hall of points over a packed weekend of racing in North Wales. A full days testing, followed by a practice, and then 3 races. Mike rewarded the team's reacent massive efforts rebuilding the car, and put the happenings from Cadwell behind us with a two 4th places and a 5th - and importantly no damage to the car - A brilliant result! Mike's full race report to follow......

Live update from Anglesey Test - 6th June

11.30 Update

Just had a quick call from the team at Anglesey, the car is running and behaving on it's test day.

Issues with understeer (perhaps we should set the dampers next time) and running at a steady 103degrees C, so some quick fettling to fix these issues ready for the next session and away.

1635 Update

All still going well.
Understeer is better, but now have rear wheelspin back again. The lads are trying another spring change to kerb this problem...
Cooling, ~5 degree drop in coolant temp thanks to some drastic bonnet modifications.
All going well thus far, full report later on.

Highs and Lows..

The team have had a busy couple of weeks trying to get the car ready for Anglesey, procuring new parts, designing new custom made widgets, and of course a fairly hefty chassis repair to boot. Everything was coming together nicely, such that this weekend (30th May & 1st June) it was planned that whilst the girls were all in France for Liz’ hen do, that the lads including young Oliver would camp out at Mad-racing TC to re-assemble the car, so that it would be spangley and new ready, for it’s outing at Anglesey on the 6th, 7th&8th June.
All was going well until mid-afternoon Saturday, when JB mentioned something about momentous occasion and re-starting the engine after the front half of car rebuild. I wondered what he was making such a song and dance about, the engine always started and in my head, always would. The only thing was that it didn’t. Not a cough, wheeze or a pop. Attention suddenly turned from paintwork, fettling and finalising to – re-think, we don’t have an engine.
Satuday afternoon was spent trying to fault diagnose the problem, but with no success. And ended up with us retiring for the evening to scratch our heads, and try to figure out what the problem was. Sometime around midday Sunday, Mike found the problem, a shorted pair of wires that go to the crank position sensor. Without this signal, the EEK didn’t know if the engine was turning or not, and therefore when to send a spark. Consequently, the engine was dead.
After a neat repair, the shorted wires were no more, and the engine instantly leapt into life.
Thank god…we now have a fighting chance of making Anglesey. Huge thanks to Des, Mike JB & Will for all their hard work this weekend, between us all something like 100man-hours this weekend alone, the car is taking great shape, so thankyou guys.

Mike has a test day on Friday, then over the course of Sat & Sun (7th & 8th June) he has 3 races…watch this space for his update early w/c 9th June.

Al

Cadwell Calamity

Well, after a leisurely start (actually setting off at 5am) we soon arrived at Cadwell Park ahead of scrutineering time of 0940, and practice time of 1040. Though forecasts had said rain showers, the sun was out and it was very hot...As well as Mike, Suz and Des - Dave & Angie soon arrived from the country retreat - somewhere near to Grimsby!

After no time at all, I was assembled in the forming up area ready for the off for practice session. Despite having been at Cadwell for a track day only a few days beforehand, it's amazing how the nerves get the better of you! Anyway out onto the track, and the car felt great. Very surefooted, and pulling very strongly. Given the distance we had travelled, the personal effort that the team had put into getting the car ready, the game plan was to get 3 steady laps in before starting to really push hard (you have to complete x3 laps to qualify for the race at all).

After my first lap, I got an oil pressure alarm, which I've not seen before and immediately panicked! Checking through the read-outs, I could see that the oil pressure was at around 25-30 psi round the bends, compared to our normal 60-70psi. However, based on experience 20+ psi should be ok. I kept an eye on it, and concluded that unless it got better I would need to come in after my 3 laps, as every corner where I went remotely quick the oil pressure dropped (due to surge) to this level. During one bend I saw 22psi and decided that was too low.....and on lap 5 pulled in to retire from my practice to sort the engine out.

The low oil pressure was due to........wait for it.........low oil level!! Despite having checked it in Wickford, then running the engine, then checking it again, then checking it at Cadwell (after 500miles of bouncing along on a trailer), somehow the oil had settled at min on the dipstick. So filled it up, and concluded that we had found the problem.

Completed a few cheeky checks, and went to watch some racing....in the build up to my race at 1630.

Given that I had only completed 4 laps, qualifying wasn't expected to be great and was ok. I had qualified 12th overall, and 6th in class C and would be starting on the outside of the grid.

Sat on the startline, with the 30sec board showing, the car in P9 (#71, Mark Alexander Williams) started waving his arms like a man possessed. Engine had obviously stalled and wouldn't re-start. The start line man was preparing to abort, when Mark got his engine going and gave the all clear signal. With that, and all of a sudden, the 5 sec board was up then the red lights on. I built up the revs and got them settled....The lights stayed on for an eternity, lots of cars creeping as they took up clutch, then back to a standstill, then the lights were out!
It was absolutely frantic.
In front of me, someone had got a cracking start, and was trying to weave in and out of the cars in front of me, there was some contact and loads of wheelspin from several cars...I had forgotten quite what the starts were like! Anyway everyone got away safely and the race was on. I had held back just a tiny bit, and as a result I think was down to 13th. I bedded in for the first lap, trying to keep a keen eye on where the cars in front and behind were faster and/or trying to overtake whilst defending my line. Our car was great on the brakes and in the bends but not as much power on the straights, though that's not surprising given that we are up against 2.0L engines and V8s!!

I managed an overtake on the Park straight, being able to benefit from a tow and then slingshot through on the approach to Park bend, getting up the inside. Got round another on Chris curve (the approach to Gooseneck). Then for a couple of laps, it was status quo, no real overtaking opportunity, but good fun & clean racing.

On the run to Coppice, I noticed I had the edge on the brakes and cornering speed. So, with that on the next lap, I set-up for overtake...Got a great run out of Barn, later braking and faster into Coppice. The guy in front, was out wide and me mid-track, so the overtake was on, but on the outside of Charlie's 1!! Quite a heart stopper....Anyway, I got through this ok, and got a great line for Charlie's 2 and bombed off down Park again....
My best position during the race was 8th, I think...
Then on lap 5, I was overtaken on the exit of the mountain, which is really in-excusable, but does happen! So down to 9th...Again, I noticed that I was later on the brakes and faster around Barn than the two guys in front, so went for an overtake on the next lap.
Braking went well, hit my apex well, and got the power down early, and was gaining on #75 (Matthew Lewis) in front of me, we were almost at the exit of the bend with me still gaining, both of us accelerating hard (3rd gear for us) when #75 suddenly stopped accelerating. I braked and steered inside, but caught the rear wheel arch of #75 and there was an almightly bang. My bonnet jumped up and Matthew span in front of me. My steering went very heavy and I brought the car to a standstill on the LHS of the circuit - neither of us were going to be continuing our race. I felt absolutely gutted.

We both got out of our cars, and to safety. The race was red-flagged -- our cars were right on the exit of a high speed and blind bend, so it was not at all safe to continue racing. Some minutes later, we were both checked over by the doctor, and the cars recovered to the pits. My car looked very sick, with a significant amount of damage to the bonnet, sidepod and front suspension components, and as we later found out a bent front LHS corner of the chassis. I am not sure on the condition of Matthew's car, but I hope it only has minor damage. Also, must apologise for the damage to his car, it was a genuine accident, but I can't help feeling guilty. Later on Matthew said that he had lost all power from his engine, which had caused him to stop accelerating suddenly.

So, Al's first raceday did not go at all to plan, only 4 laps of practice and a crash in the race itself, with some fairly hefty damage to the car to boot.

The team will now be beavering away in the hallowed MADRacingTC (Technical Centre) in an attempt to get the car back to it's former glory in time for Anglesey.....

Big thanks to all my supporters on the day, it was a horrible feeling having crashed the car, caused the red flag and damaging someone elses car. The supporters were very kind, and waited until at least 5 minutes after the incident before they started the ridicule.....

Al

Kermit recieves a black eye.......

Mmmm, some you win, some you crash.... Kermit was involved in a nasty incident while running 4th in class at Cadwell. Everyone is Ok, but we have a little additional work to do before Anglesea in a months time!

Full report to follow......

Pictures from Cadwell

Cadwell Race Details are out...

The important info is:-
Race day is Sunday 11th May
Practice time is 1040, duration ~20mins.
Race time is 1635, duration ~20mins.

The track is Cadwell Long - aka the mini Nurburgring...check it.

Big Al

P.s. Check the 750mc website for further details of what else will be racing on the day, there is a great line-up....

Cadwell Track Day Photos available

3 posts in one day, whatever next...
Check Dave's Cadwell photos here...

Team member of the week - Suzie Sue

In the first of a selection of articles on the MAD-Racing Team we are focusing our attention on Suzie Sue!

For the next few days the MAD-Racing website is a mini homage to Suzie Sue by way of thanks for how she has been looking after the boys and particularly their empty stomachs over the last few months!

Suzie Sue has been in charge of Catering at the MAD-Racing Technology Centre (which looks a bit like Mike & Suzie Sue’s Garage). Each night the team turn up to work on the car, the ever cheerful Suize Sue pops her head around the door, offers us coffee and cake, and then magically produces a slap up meal to keep the teams hunger at bay, and the team motivated!

Not only this, but we also keep finding a rouge tin containing freshly baked food stuffs in the MAD-Racing Motor Home (Al’s Car), sometimes carrot cake, sometimes blueberry muffins, sometimes cookies! We can only assume this is another example of Suzie Sue’s unrivalled hospitality!

So, as a team, we salute you Suzie Sue!