Al gets a mention in Motorsport News!

Cadwell Long 12th July 2009 - 2nd place!

Big Al bags a 3rd in class in the first race, then a second in class, 2nd overall and a fastest lap - all in the second race, Kermit’s best results to date. Read all about it below!

Des and I snuck up to Cadwell on the Friday beforehand for a cheeky test, which allowed us plenty of time for de-bugging and fine tuning the car. By the end of the day, we had smashed my previous lap time and set some times that would put me into real contention for Class C.

So, soon enough we were lined up ready to go for practice. We had made a beeline to get out for practice first and were successful, which allowed me to get some really clear laps, and post some great times, not quite as good as testing, but good enough it would seem – we qualified 2nd place for both, behind only Gary Goodyear who is in Class B. Great! Time for a rest – prior to Race 1.

So Race 1, I lined up on the front row of the grid but on the outside. Red lights on, then out. Got a fantastic start and straight into pole position! Great, all to plan so far!! Flying round, I could see that the other guys were all packed up tightly and clearing fighting each other hard. I hoped that they would all slow each other down enough that I could make a break, not to be – Gary was soon looming in my rear view mirror and then charged past on the way into Park, so down to 2nd – Bum. Very soon Hileymeister was on my tail and made a late braking manoeuvre into the mountain and snuck through too. Andy soon got past Gary and was now leading the race, but with both Gary and myself hot on his heels. Couple of laps past in this formation, then Andy outbraked himself into Mansfield and went sliding off onto the grass. Gary and I dived through, now 1st and 2nd respectively. All was going great until I was going down the start-finish straight overtaking a backmarker and the RHS rear of the car came round, very very odd feeling and I was convinced something major on the car’s suspension had just broken and was about to completely fail, given this I backed off and tried to assess what the hell was wrong with the car – in the process letting through both MAW, Andy and Guy. I was about to pull into the pits – convinced that the axle was hanging off. Instead (and in true racing spirit) thought it best to carry on and take the risk. I was able to catch up with Guy, but could not quite get past. So, finished the race 3rd in class and 5thoverall. Great result, but could have been better if I hadn’t worried about the car’s handling for a lap. So, what caused the dodgey handling? Well only by chatting with the guys afterwards did I discover that one of the Ward cars had expired on the start-finish line and dumped all of it’s oil in the process – all that had happened was I had hit the oil at full beans and it had quite unsettled it.

Race 2
Again on P2 on the grid, got a great start in 1st, then missed my change to 2nd and lost ground to Gary and Andy and I so instantly got relegated to P3. I had an immediate threat from Mathew (MNR V8) and Mark (Toyota 1600) into Coppice but was able to hold the position. Mark had a look up the outside into Park, but again I held the position – Mark lost time out of Park allowing me to create a gap and re-chase Andy & Gary. Initially Gary pulled a gap from Andy, and I fully expected that was the finish line-up – Gary, Andy then me, however not to be……Initially Gary open up a good lead from both of us, after about 4laps we had closed this gap, enough for Andy to try an overtake down the outside of Park straight, he didn’t make it stick though, but was hot on heels of Gary in front. Another few laps, and we met a backmarker at the gooseneck, Andy pounced and got alongside Gary on the inside on the way into Mansfield – he was through. I saw Gary offline and had a look for unable to get the power down enough to get alongside so tucked in behind.



Gary was not at all quick through the mountain section and was actually holding me up, allowing Andy to pull a good gap. Following Gary, I could see that he was faster on the straights, but not in some of the bends, here I hatched my cunning plan. Heading into Coppice (uphill lefthander after start-finish straight), I was right on Gary’s tail, literally bumper-to-bumper. Then on the entrance to Charlie’s 1 Gary lifted and stayed wide, leaving the inside open. I was straight on it, nitro-boosters on max, I charged up the inside and got alongside comfortably for Charlies 2 – now up to 2nd place – Hoooraay!! See photo compilation.



In fact I had a brief look up the inside of Andy too – not on though! I got a great pull-away from Gary and opened up a good gap. Now, there were only a few laps left – I needed to hold my position and keep this place! I defended a couple of times into Park, no real issue here. Then Gary started to make a move for the inside line of Druids, I moved over to cover the line and saw Gary run wide and take to the grass. This clearly created a big gap, I started chasing Andy and caught him up, but without a chance to overtake. So, finished 2nd place overall (awesome) behind Andy also in Class C and in front of Gary in Class B. Really excellent results, could’ve only been one place better! Just to finish the day off nicely, I got fastest lap for Class C which is a real achievement for our slightly heavy and not particularly aerodynamic car. A real result all round! Really, very, very chuffed. Top work to the team today, thanks to Des, JB, Mike and Suz – as is nice as driver, they prepped the car and I was left to drive!

Uncle Mike will be out at Silverstone in August – check it!






Report to follow, a few photos above to get you started:-

Brands Hatch Race 2

So, Race 2!

Not a perfect start - the car was rolling (grid is on the downhill at Brands) and as a result of going onto the footbrake to stop this, did not get the revs right for the start - so a poor reaction time & lots of wheelspin!! This cost me one place, as the Raw Striker Challenge car (driven by Daniel Fergusan) came flying past...Into Paddock I went, with cars three-a-breast in front - Daniel on the outside, Guy in the middle and Stephen Ward on the inside, following closely by me on the outside with Ian Kempson on the inside! My god, busy bend!!! Just reaching the apex, I saw that Mark Alexander Williams had something of a tank slapper...and finally span into the infield, this meant most of us slowed, and then charged for the race to Druids (hairpin)...I exited Druids in 7th, so made up 3places....good stuff! Cars were three-a-breats out of Graham Hill bend, good god, heart stopper!! Going down the start-finish straight, I heard the all too familiar sound of a V8 thumping up behind me

, zoom went Mathew as his power advantage showed it's merit!

I could see that Steve Taylor and Guy Hussey were pulling a gap from the following pack of 5cars that were jostled for position at every bend, Steve Bell snuck through on the exit of Graham Hill and gained 7th relagating me to 8th place - for now. Despite numerous changes to improve the situation, I was still struggling to get the power down out of Clearways, and a gap clearly opened up on each lap. However, diving late onto the brakes into Paddock, I was able to catch up lost time. Really close, and fair racing for a few laps. I had a look up the inside of Steve Bell on the way into Clearways, but it wasn't quite on - not on this lap anyway. Steve Bell was able to get past Andrew Ward on the way up to Druids, Andrew back past again into Graham Hill, then Steve back past again on the exit - tight stuff. I then got past Andrew on the run into Druids

, and should have had a go with Steve too, but didn't - so made up a place. Then Andrew back past into Graham Hill, whilst just in front and at the same time Steve got past Mathew!!!!! This was turning into some battle. Next lap, Steve made an attempt up the inside of Mathew on the way into Graham Hill which didn't stick and cost him speed, I hooked up behind Mathew and slungshot past Andrew. So, into 7th - I think. Andrew got through on entry to Graham Hill, but I got back past on the exit. Spot the trend, will it ever end????
It all got a little interesting on the 2nd from last lap, Daniel got past Andrew on the entry to Graham Hill but caused them both to slow as a result, with Mathew following hot on their heals and me just behind. Both Mathew and I got past Andrew, and Mathew wass able to just sneak through the inside of Surtees to get past Daniel, but was carrying a lot of speed through the bend and slid round the entry of Surtees - meaning that he was too fast and offline, I thought that Mathew had recovered it and was all set for a fast line through Clearways when he missed his apex and started a monster and unfortunately unrecoverable slide that took him into the gravel trap. Daniel had slowed, and here was my golden opportunity - up the inside I went full power, charging through to 5th place and with a real run on both Daniel and Andrew who were now both behind. Whist I could see Steve Bell in my sights, there was insufficient to catch him. I settled in to 98% race speed and brought the car home safe and sound and in 5th place overall, 4th in class - a great result given a starting position of 10th place and the tough competition.
The car went very well, still room for some improvements, but excellent given the number of bits that have been off on the car, repaired, panel beaten, etc, etc it's a miracle that it even started!!!

Great job by everyone that came, and actually to all the other "Kits" drivers, really great driving standards from all.

Roll on Cadwell - aka the mini Nurburgring.

Brands Bo Selecta - Sunday 21st June 2009 - Big Al driving

So, how did the double header at Brands go??

Cheeky test day on Friday showed some really promising lap times, getting round the circuit quicker than ever before in our car.
Some subtle changes to the car set-up made it more forgiving on the limit, also a tad more friendly (less snappy).

Saturday soon rolled round, and into our practice session which had been combined with SR> qualifying bringing a total of 32cars onto circuit at once. This unfortunately meant that practice was very busy, with no clean laps and certainly no repeat of the fast lap times from Friday's test day. I got 9th place for Race 1 and 10th place for Race 2, not what I had hoped for, but given the busy and varying relative speeds in practice not at all surprising.

Race 1

9th place, means pitwall side of the grid and 5th row, and as it turns out downhill!! So, for the start, handbrake on a fraction to stop the car rolling and wait for the red lights. On they came, revs steady, then out and GO! Got a fantastic start, hooking up the initial traction just nicely before planting it and thrashing the car through it's gears up to max revs in third gear ready for the entry to Paddock - managing to get past Mathew Lewis in his MNR Vortex before Paddock. MAW and Steve Taylor had some contact heading off from the grid, but both carried on with no apparent issue. Nigel Brown got a great start and catapaulted himself up from 14th to 6th by Druids. Paddock was busy, very busy! Side by side with Stephen Bell round Paddock and into Druids, Steve just slipped past (My excuse: I'd been slightly put off by the amount of tyre smoke on entry to Druids and expected to find a car in two in track!)

Once back on the start-finish straight, the power advantage that a V8 offers became apparent - Mathew came stomping past, despite me having a great run out of Clearways - I guess those extra 4 cylinders create a few more of those desirable pigmy horses! As soon as we got to Paddock again though, it was very clear that Mathew's cornering speed is not as high as our lighter car's. I was hot on the heals of Matthew all the way round Paddock and Druids, he got a better run out of Graham Hill which opened up a gap - very handy since halfway round Graham Hill Mathew started an almighty slide which he did not recover - I jumped on the brakes and was ready to try and decide which way to dodge - left or right, to miss him, when BANG! - Ian Kempson who was following me, came straight into the back of my car and sent me into a real tank-slapper, fortunately I oscillated past Matthew 4 times without hitting him!! I could immediately hear bodywork dragging and see it flapping, so straight into the pits for a checkover. Des and Mike quickly repaired the car so that I could go out a do some hot laps, however the main pack were so far ahead that there was no chance of catching, got some clear laps, overtook a few backmarkers, and enjoyed the drive! No cigar though, finally finished 14th (last) due to the time in the pits having repairs!

Oh well, back to the pits for repairs and read for race 2 @ 1745....leaving us ~2hours to repair the car....So much for putting our feet up then...



Huge thanks to the support team - Des, Mike & Suz especially for keeping the car running! Jo, Oliver, Emma, Jason & Tina with Joshua and Brandon, Graeme, Steve & Suzanne and Nigel for their great support throughout the day. Nigel and Jason, have now attended two years in a row, and were successfully roped into car repairs again this year - thanks!!

Race 2 report and photos to follow...

Calamitous Cadwell

Following the mixed successes of the track day on the Tuesday, the following Sunday May 10th saw the return of our race car to racing duties at Cadwell Park. If the challenge of Cadwell wasn’t enough in its own right, with myself (Mike) at the wheel, the challenge was also to try to match Al’s excellent speed around the circuit, not only from last year’s event but also from Tuesday.

Upon arrival, it was clear that the weather had improved vastly from what greeted us earlier in the week and it looked set to stay dry all day, which it duly did. We were straight through safety scrutineeering and quickly into practice. I had left the car set-up with the same settings that Al finished with on Tuesday, and as it turned out, with have very differing driving styles. All last year we had suffered with turn-in understeer but that had been ironed-out very effectively with the winter updates. It appeared that Al likes the car to move about at the back more than I do as I found myself dealing with turn-in oversteer at virtually every bend. I tried to quickly get used to the setup but struggled to get enough clear space on track to put in a quick time. The session seemed to end very quickly and when the qualifying times were announced I was disappointed not to have posted a faster time. I was 9th and 7th on the grid overall for the first and second races respectively.

Having turned off the circuit at the end of practice, I was immediately ushered into the scrutineering bay for discussions on the new adornment at the front of the car. It was deemed we were eligible to race with it for this weekend and so after a period of slight apprehension, onwards we went.

Scrutiny of the on-board video showed that I needed to slow down the rate that I applied lock as I was unsettling the back of the car at corner entry, so I took that on-board but also tweaked the dampers to a slightly softer setting both front and rear. Hopefully that would help my confidence in the car.

It was a long wait of over five hours between the end of practice and the first race, but only a scheduled gap of just under an hour between the two races. Not ideal. Still, having checked the car fully and fixed the alternator plug that had become dislodged in practice, it was to the grid that I went. When the lights went out, I made quite a good start and made up a place almost straight away. I was being hassled through Charlies 1 and 2 by a faster-moving car behind but I covered my line coming into Park Corner. The car was lacking grip as the tyres were still coming up to temperature (the difference between cold and hot tyres is quite big on these Yokos) which was limiting my mid-corner speed. I managed to hold off the attack and on the next lap started pulling away quite easily now the tyres had some heat in them. The car felt much better suited to my driving and the improvement in my confidence was marked. After only a few laps I checked the lap timer and I was running nearly two seconds quicker than in qualifying but still some way off Al’s lap times. D’oh!

I had a great race with Chris Scopes for the majority of the first race and thought I could get through a couple of times when he ran wide through the Gooseneck, but I just couldn’t make it past. On the last lap, I got a great exit from Charlies 2 and was perfectly place din the slip stream to pass him. However he covered his line well and fairly into Park Corner and so I failed to get past him. However, I thought I had a great chance of gaining a trophy as I spotted that Andrew Ward had gone onto the grass at the exit of Mansfield. Suddenly a recovering Andrew, Chris and myself were line astern coming into the Mountain for the last time, but over-taking in that part of the circuit is tricky at best. As it happened, that’s the order we finished (behind Stephen Bell who took class honours). So a fourth in class finish (6th overall) and only a couple of seconds off second place after a 20 minute race. I was very pleased indeed. The car had been brilliant throughout as well.

After a necessarily hurried re-fuelling stop and check over, we were back to the grid for the second of our 20 minute races. This time I was two places further forward on the grid and with more confidence in the car. The start was momentarily delayed as Andy Hiley’s car was pushed off the grid after it stalled and failed to start again. I got a fantastic start and was right in the middle of the tightly bunched pack through the first lap. Coming through the mountain section I could see a fast moving Hiley gaining behind me (as it turned out Suz and Des had been able to bump-start his car in the pit lane). I pulled out of Barn and Andy was still some distance behind me. I carried on accelerating down the straight and saw he was catching me. He moved towards the inside of the track but I reached the turn-in point at Coppice first. As I turned in however, Andy moved inside of me. Not wanting to collide with him at over 100mph, all I could do was run wide and I ended up spinning off onto the grass, watching as almost the entire field drove past. I was furious as I was in a great position beforehand but now my race was in tatters.
All I could do was try to gain back as much time and places as possible. The car still felt good after the spin and so I was pretty sure no damage had been done. I overtook one car on the next lap and kept on pushing. I very quickly caught up with Rob Sinclair and Nigel Brown just in front of him. As we raced up through the mountain section, Rob attempted an ambitious overtake going into the Hairpin, but couldn’t avoid taking to the grass as he ran onto the marbles and unfortunately collided with the side of Nigel’s car. However, this caused both of their cars to stop in the middle of the circuit. I had nowhere to go and despite my best efforts to avoid a collision, I ran into the back of Rob’s car. D’oh!

As I moved off again, I could hear a great deal of scraping coming from the front of the car and so there had obviously been some damage. Fortunately for me, the pit lane was just around the next corner and so I coaxed the car towards the pit lane. I felt a bump from the right front tyre and looking in my rear view mirror showed that I had just run over part of our front splitter. That would be that broken then! As I called into the pits, Des and Suz came running over to assist me (Suzanne was laughing for some reason though…….why was that again?) but it was evident that it would take some time to secure the bodywork before carrying on again and so I decided to call it a day. Not the best end to a race day particularly following such a strong start in the second race, and of course some repairs to be done before the next outing for the car, this time with Al at the helm at Brands Hatch.

So thanks to all the team for helping get me to the grid but apologies for not bringing it home unscathed. I must try harder next time. Good luck to Al at Brands on the 21st of June. Mike

Birthday Bonaza

Birthday Bonaza for Big Al

A very Happy Birthday present indeed - money from his mum and dad (THANKS!!) to spend on a trackday at the mini-nurburgring, aka Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire on 5th May 2009.
I had not driven the car since Mallory in 2008, which was in August! So, as you can imagine with the Mad-Racing team tinkerings, quite a lot had changed....

Anyhoo, Mike was out in the morning session, very much thwarted by heavy rain and oil on track - not the nicest driving conditions generally, and especially not with our race tyres!

Anyway, once in the car ~1400onwards, I got my eye back in and started to put the car through it's paces....It generally felt a lot more stable and controlled than last year - much more predictable, compared with last year where it definately had a snappiness about it - causing numerous unexpected mid corner slides and even a couple of spins. So, it's very pleasing to know that the changes over the winter (using the F1 wind-tunnel*) have made an improvement. The green machine, Kermit, was clearly the fastest car on track at the Cadwell Track Day, and the speed at which I was able to approach/over-take other cars is just gob-smacking. The single biggest improvement on the car is the brakes - they are now awesome, have so much stopping power and are very easy to modulate. Really a great improvement for a race-car...

We made a few set-up changes during the afternoon, which made some further improvements to the car, and further inspired confidence in it's ability.

The bend of all bends at Cadwell is now Coppice, this is the uphill left-hander off the start-finish straight, that with a clear track and perfect turn-in point can be taken with a slight lift, but otherwise flat-out in 4th gear (guess ~100mph) - unbelievable feeling as you fly up the hill! It probably looks like a Tesco run in the video, but trust me - heart-in-mouth doesn't even begin to describe it!

Anyway, the day finished on a real high - the car was going round Cadwell with excellent handling, and with performance that we know will be very competitive compared to everyone else's performance from last year, so feelings are running high in prep for Mike's race here on the 10th May and Al's race here on the 12th July.

Roll on Cadwell race days!!!

Al out.

* Not really a wind tunnnel, more of a hairdryer really...

The Green Machine Returns to the Track

After a long winter break (during which saw the arrival of a new car to the MAD-racing stable in the form of Suz's Locost), the green machine finally turned a wheel in anger at Mallory Park on April 5th with me (Mike) at the wheel. The lead up to the test day at Brands Hatch on April 1st was in the usual style of everything being finished at the last minute (well that's motorsport for you) with Al, Des, JB and myself pulling a late night on Tuesday in preparation.

There were lots of changes to be tried at Brands including new lighter brakes, new suspension bushes, new alternator, a rear anti-roll bar and lots of other bits of (top secret) tweakery. It was my first time behind the wheel since my Anglesey races in July last year and much had changed since then. So it was with slight trepidation that I belted myself in to Kermit and took to the track for the first time. After a warm-up lap, I started to pick up the pace, overtook a Caterham and then promptly spun across the grass onto the outside of Clearways. Great start! I'd never driven such an oversteering car and now I was slightly afraid. A quick check in the pits by the crew of Al, JB and Suz quickly found the root cause of the lairy handling being that the front dampers had been wound to zero. That'll do it then! After setting them to actually do some damping, I was back out on track and picking up speed more successfully.

JB and Al were making blind set-up changes to the suspension and I was attempting to feed back what the car was doing beneath me in an attempt to give some honest feedback. This of cause meant I needed to be on the ball.....which I didn't really manage to do all day. Still, the day ended on a high (despite an alternator bracket failure earlier on) with the decision made to skip the anti-roll bar and leave the car basically as it was at the end of last season. Roll on Mallory then.....

In the usual tradition of last minute working, I eventually finished bolting on the newly catalysed back-box and tow loops and we loaded the car on the trailer at 9.30pm on Saturday night. Just-in-time. I met up with JB and Des at the gates of Mallory the next morning and the race day had begun.

Following signing-on, I walked the track whilst JB and Des moved the car through scrutineering. Kits were out first for practice. The car immediately felt fast, grippy and fun. I put in a couple of slower laps and then started picking my pace up. What I wasn't expecting though was the coolant temperature warning flashing at me on the display after only 7 or 8 laps. Something was evidently very wrong. I coasted round for half a lap which brought the temperature down from 120C to 105C and I pulled in to the pit lane. It became clear that the car had bolied over and we had lost coolant. That was the end of practice for me.

An investigation in the paddock found the water pump inlet pipe was collapsing at higher engine revs, so that was reinforced internally with a a coil of brake pipe inserted just before the pump inlet. We were hopeful this would fix the problem. My qualifying times had me starting 13th and 11th for the two races which was a little disappointing but understandable given the short practice session. The first race quickly came round and as I lined up on the grid, I was mindful of watching the coolant temp. My first couple of laps were quite eventful with a car spinning in front of me on the exit of the Devil's Elbow in a real heart-in mouth and "which way should I move" moment. And then I came across a car parked mid-track facing the wrong way at Gerard's. Still, I picked my way through and carried on. Unfortunately, a look at the dash showed that the cooling issue hadn't been resolved and the coolant temperature was rising again. In the end I had to keep backing off the power every couple of laps to bring the temperature down and then I could race for another lap, before backing off again. Really frustrating and I didn't feel I was really part of the race. Still, I eventually crossed the line in fourth in class which was much better than I had expected given the problems.

Lunchtime was spent trying to find the root of the cooling problem and more minor changes were made and we hoped again that the car would run cooler during race number two. I got a fantastic start when the lights went out at the beginning of the 2nd race and was challenging right in the middle of the pack. However, after a few laps a quick glance at the coolant temperature saw that the problems hadn't been fixed and the engine was once again running hot. I decided to call it a day after just five laps and pulled in to the pit lane and retired from the race. That was only the second retirement from a race I had made in over four years of racing so I wasn't used to the frustration of watching a race I should have been in. After the preparations at Brands I had been really hopeful of a strong running at Mallory but it just wasn't to be my day.

Thanks to all at MAD racing for your efforts in getting me and the car to the grid. Hopefully we'll have a better outcome at the next event. Mike

February 2009 Update

The MAD-Racing team have been a little bit quiet on the e-waves over the winter of 2008/2009. You can rest assured that there has been quite some activity going on in the background, a quick flavour:-
Rear axle off, lightened, re-painted, ARB in preparation, new rear wheel bearings.
New halfshaft!
Rear bulkhead off, new seat mountings, bulkhead replaced.
Wiring loom stripped out, & replaced.
Steering column mounting replaced
Front bushes
General weight saving (car was 28kg over weight at the end of 2008 season)

Huge thanks to the Mad-Racing Northern Technical Centre, aka “Bruce”, who has once again come to the rescue with a bundle of milling, turning & any other technical jobs!! Huge thanks Bruce!

Most of the winter works are done, or are mainly done, and the car is planned to be back in action in March 2009. With this bundle of changes, the team hope to propel the car to an even higher position that during the 2008 season.

Pls find a few photos of the rebuild below.

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