Turbos.
Last week we were back at my home circuit in the Lotus Cup UK series, but this time on the more exciting GP circuit. Following the last race's woes, the team had to quickly get together the parts required to build another Duratec engine. It now has more off the shelf parts from Cosworth to help the bottom end.
We arrived the Thursday before the race weekend for a track day, our only opportunity to test. We had some minor difficulties cutting short running until the afternoon, with the starter motor packing up, but nothing fundamentally wrong and by the afternoon we were going well. It was first go for Adam Wilcox partnering with me, someone who had won the original Motorsport Elise series and was a successful British GT and Japanese Super GT driver. We left happy; the car was fine and from an ego point of view, Adam was about half a second slower than me.
Come Saturday's practice, the tide turned. Towards the end of the first lap, Adam lost all drive and had to coast back to the pits.
With the Scholar engine builder there in support (given the previous history!), he found the timing wheel (a part under no stress and made out of billet steel) had sheared in half. Everyone was perplexed; Essex based Scholar made the dash to try and get there before qualifying. Sadly, they didn't make it in time. The next day, we'd be starting from 43rd on the grid.
The next morning we dreamed up the fairy tale of how we could win from the back. In reality, we'd do well to finish our first of three races. With such a big grid, the first challenge was to avoid all the drama. It is all very well being fast, but could we avoid all incidents? We needed safety cars, and luck. It was also hot; i was sweating in my race suit before we even started!
A rolling start meant i could begin overtaking after the first car had gone through the green lights. With the grid so big, i was well down the road, so relied on the team boss to radio when i could begin passing. Fortunately i missed the first melee, a French 2-11 driver spinning at Paddock. He was pointing the right way by the time i had got there!
I then picked my way through the crowd and mess on the first lap. I dared not look in my mirrors as i jinked through the Production cars, i didn't want to know what chaos was behind me! However, i needed to be aware of a 2-11 that also didn't qualify, being driven by an ex-Caterham champion. We traded places throughout the mayhem, but by the end of the lap i was in front.
As i made my way through the Production field, it was then to the more difficult cars in the 2-11 class, V6 class and my fellow Open class competitiors.
And then i recieved my first bit of luck, safety car followed by...another safety car! A Production Elise had crashed round the back of the circuit, which was then almost collected by a Europa a few laps later.
In a blink of an eye, i was now 10th and i could see the leader, my main class and series rival, in the train behind the safety car. Of course, there still the small matter of battling with the faster remaining cars. The car was also intensely hot in side, the slowing down behind the safety car turned the thing into a sauna and breathing was difficult.
Massive credit to the unbelievably quick Production car being driven by Rob Boston. The fact it is was almost as quick in a straight line as our car with a K-Series suggests he has found every loophole going, but nevertheless, respect!
But with the fun over, it was the more serious matter of the top two cars being driven by experienced drivers with excellent race craft. My first challenge was a quick S2 Exige. Suddenly the heat wasn't an issue as adrenalin took over!
I managed to squeeze past as he went defensive, and then had resulting oversteer on the exit of Graham Hill bend allowing me to slip by before we joined the GP circuit.
With the pit window looming, i was struggling with the car. With the lack of testing, we had a pretty poor, understeery setup and the tyres were getting way too hot, only exacerbating the problem.
But after getting the message over the radio to come in the next lap, i set the fastest lap of the race. I had to hand over to Adam, good timing as i was exhausted by the heat and concentration. I made the TV interviewer sit down next to me as i was too knackered to stand!
Frustratingly, the car was petulant for Adam; its switch-like clutch is even worse with heatsoak and he stalled the car trying to get away. It costed us 7 seconds and the lead. Adam did his best but found the car was struggling with the heat too; he also had the added complication of lapping cars whilst also being on the chase.
With another crash close to the end, they decided to red flag the race. Although Adam was gutted to not make an impact, i was over the moon with a) finishing a race and b) the finishing position considering where we started. Undoubtedly it wasn't great being 'robbed' of another potential victory, i managed to re-establish some belief in myself and the car.
The next race is at Zolder which is our sole European round. Never been there before but am getting instruction there next Thursday in the Porsche. Fingers crossed it will set me up well for the race!
We arrived the Thursday before the race weekend for a track day, our only opportunity to test. We had some minor difficulties cutting short running until the afternoon, with the starter motor packing up, but nothing fundamentally wrong and by the afternoon we were going well. It was first go for Adam Wilcox partnering with me, someone who had won the original Motorsport Elise series and was a successful British GT and Japanese Super GT driver. We left happy; the car was fine and from an ego point of view, Adam was about half a second slower than me.
Come Saturday's practice, the tide turned. Towards the end of the first lap, Adam lost all drive and had to coast back to the pits.
With the Scholar engine builder there in support (given the previous history!), he found the timing wheel (a part under no stress and made out of billet steel) had sheared in half. Everyone was perplexed; Essex based Scholar made the dash to try and get there before qualifying. Sadly, they didn't make it in time. The next day, we'd be starting from 43rd on the grid.
The next morning we dreamed up the fairy tale of how we could win from the back. In reality, we'd do well to finish our first of three races. With such a big grid, the first challenge was to avoid all the drama. It is all very well being fast, but could we avoid all incidents? We needed safety cars, and luck. It was also hot; i was sweating in my race suit before we even started!
A rolling start meant i could begin overtaking after the first car had gone through the green lights. With the grid so big, i was well down the road, so relied on the team boss to radio when i could begin passing. Fortunately i missed the first melee, a French 2-11 driver spinning at Paddock. He was pointing the right way by the time i had got there!
I then picked my way through the crowd and mess on the first lap. I dared not look in my mirrors as i jinked through the Production cars, i didn't want to know what chaos was behind me! However, i needed to be aware of a 2-11 that also didn't qualify, being driven by an ex-Caterham champion. We traded places throughout the mayhem, but by the end of the lap i was in front.
As i made my way through the Production field, it was then to the more difficult cars in the 2-11 class, V6 class and my fellow Open class competitiors.
And then i recieved my first bit of luck, safety car followed by...another safety car! A Production Elise had crashed round the back of the circuit, which was then almost collected by a Europa a few laps later.
In a blink of an eye, i was now 10th and i could see the leader, my main class and series rival, in the train behind the safety car. Of course, there still the small matter of battling with the faster remaining cars. The car was also intensely hot in side, the slowing down behind the safety car turned the thing into a sauna and breathing was difficult.
Massive credit to the unbelievably quick Production car being driven by Rob Boston. The fact it is was almost as quick in a straight line as our car with a K-Series suggests he has found every loophole going, but nevertheless, respect!
But with the fun over, it was the more serious matter of the top two cars being driven by experienced drivers with excellent race craft. My first challenge was a quick S2 Exige. Suddenly the heat wasn't an issue as adrenalin took over!
I managed to squeeze past as he went defensive, and then had resulting oversteer on the exit of Graham Hill bend allowing me to slip by before we joined the GP circuit.
With the pit window looming, i was struggling with the car. With the lack of testing, we had a pretty poor, understeery setup and the tyres were getting way too hot, only exacerbating the problem.
But after getting the message over the radio to come in the next lap, i set the fastest lap of the race. I had to hand over to Adam, good timing as i was exhausted by the heat and concentration. I made the TV interviewer sit down next to me as i was too knackered to stand!
Frustratingly, the car was petulant for Adam; its switch-like clutch is even worse with heatsoak and he stalled the car trying to get away. It costed us 7 seconds and the lead. Adam did his best but found the car was struggling with the heat too; he also had the added complication of lapping cars whilst also being on the chase.
With another crash close to the end, they decided to red flag the race. Although Adam was gutted to not make an impact, i was over the moon with a) finishing a race and b) the finishing position considering where we started. Undoubtedly it wasn't great being 'robbed' of another potential victory, i managed to re-establish some belief in myself and the car.
The next race is at Zolder which is our sole European round. Never been there before but am getting instruction there next Thursday in the Porsche. Fingers crossed it will set me up well for the race!
