Re: James/BigAsh 182 Race Car by TDF... It doesn't get much better than this! *Pic He
Brands Hatch Trackday:
So Tuesday saw us venturing to Brands Hatch for a track day in preparation for the first race there on the 7th May with the CSCC Tin Tops. I started out on Monday morning heading down towards TDF and en-route had to collect the Timing transponder from Tamworth, a trailer part from BJT Daventry and a couple of bits from GPR Silverstone. I got to TDF at about 2ish and had a good look round the car. As always the TDF boys gave great hospitality and made me feel very welcome. As per usual when I'm down at the workshop I try to give a helping hand although this does always slow them down so thanks for taking the time to explain everything to me. We then got the car on the dyno just because Matt wanted to give it a run and make sure everything was okay as we can't now drive it on the road. Everything was fine and I have put a video at the bottom from when it was on the dyno. We then packed the car onto the trailer and we headed down to the pub for a bite to eat which was very nice and was good to have a chat with Matt and Al as it always is. They both really are top guys and can't thank them enough for everything.
After our trip for dinner, I headed off down towards Brands Hatch and collected a friend who was going to help out. Managed to choose what seemed like a safe parking spot to leave the car and trailer for the night and then proceeded to bed. We stayed at Premier Inn at Swanley (10 mins from circuit) it was a great place to stop for the night and at £38 we couldn't grumble.
Got to Brands at 7.30 to be greeted by a very busy Paddock which was a shame as I was hoping to get a garage but anyway serves me right for been stingy and not reserving one. Went to meet up with my instructor Howard Hunt who was going to be with me for the day and proceeded to briefing. We then had to do the mandatory sighting laps and then we were good to go. Started off by doing a few laps just to warm the car up and to get a feel for the track as I had never driven here before. On the third lap coming into Graham hill bend we had the PAS fail again. We came straight into the pits and I was expecting to see similar to Anglesey with a flood of fluid everywhere but it hadn't. I checked the tank and it was still full although some had escaped from the breather. I called Matt who said unfortunalty some debris from the old pump must of got stuck in the rack valve and causing it to happen. He told me to go around the paddock and get plenty of lock to lock and try to free it and sure enough this worked. We went back out but it became an intermittent problem. PAS lasted a couple of corners and then failed for a few and then came back so it was a handful to drive. It then started to become better and last a few laps and gradually lasted longer and longer. After about 15 minutes we came in to check on the tyre presures etc when my friend noticed a small few drops of PAS fluid in front of the front wheel. This is where the breather had been blowing some out. I took the wheel off to mop it up and was greeted by a wheel arch full of grease. It became apparent that we had an issue with the CV joint although this was the one that was only changed 3 hours (Track hours) before. My total mechanical noobness showed through and I didn't have a clue what I was doing but got stuck in and after about 30 minutes of cleaning up I found a hole in the CV boot which had visibly been caused by a manufacturing defect in the boot upon very close inspection. At this point yet again I thought it was game over just when it seemed that the PAS issue was manageable. Matt called me up and suggested some race tape and try to cover the hole, unfortunately I didn't have any but a team with a radical gave me some very kindly so I stripped down the NSF to gain access. This involved calliper and disc off which doesn't sound much but I really am useless with mechanics lol. I then managed to get the hole covered over with tape and then secured it in place with cable ties to ensure it didn't come flying off. After sending a photo of my repair (Which i'm really proud of
) to Matt for his approval, I put everything back together and then went for a drive round the paddock to try everything out.
We then went back out on circuit and finally everything started to come together, the circuit was dry and when we where out there was not too much traffic. MSV were running the day and apart from some dodgy blue flag/lights the day was run faultlessly and I can only think of one reflag all day (Caused by me but I will get onto that
) I spent the rest of the day working with Howard and trying out different things to compare between his way and what I thought was right. We also did some comparisons between what gear to be in at what corner. I would highly recommend Howard and the amount I learnt in the day was incredible.
Later on in the afternoon we were coming around clear ways and coming onto the straight I went to get fourth gear and nothing, all I could hear was a scraping noise. The nut had worked itself loose from the side of the linkage and caused the linkage to drag on the floor. I managed to coast up the main straight and around paddock to pull in on the right behind the barrier where they could recover me safely from. Unfortnualty they had to throw a red flag to recover us but they waited for about 30-40 minutes to see if any other would happened to kill two birds with one stone. Once back in the paddock I managed to fix the problem in a few minutes and got us back out for the final 30 minutes.
Overall it was a slightly stressful day with a few problems that I would rather not of had. I have got to look at the positives though and that is that we got plenty of track time in the end, I know the circuit fairly well, we managed to do a race distance simulation and I got some fairly consistent lap times in. There is more speed to come and I just need to follow the advice that my instructor has given me which sometimes on the day I wasn't doing for some reason :S! I had great fun once the problems were sorted and I LOVE the circuit. I met a couple of clio owners also which was great and had a decent chat, I think one guy said he was on here
I have got a few photo's and videos below and now the car is tucked up at my house for the next few weeks before a trip to TDF en-route to first race to get the problems from the day sorted. The car got a good clean today and the set of OZ wheels have been sent off with my trim's to Sprayshack to be painted Orange which I can't wait to see. A new set of R888's have been ordered for the first race and I sent off the entry form this evening so all set to go
Thanks for reading as always and sorry if there are lots of mistakes above but I am shattered and ready for bed lol
James
Straps laid out to dry after wet journey home
Tyres definitely ready for a change
Unfortunately damaged the wrap when taking the number plates off but it will get covered by stickers anyway
[video=youtube_share;X4aqF498MZM]http://youtu.be/X4aqF498MZM[/video]
[video=youtube_share;UJX-ruw-Qhg]http://youtu.be/UJX-ruw-Qhg[/video]
