172 Race Car
Saturday 12th Jun 2010 - Oulton Park Tintops Race
Another sunny race day, another circuit. The full International layout at Oulton Park. After wearing out our Hankook tyres at Anglesey and not being able to get any replacements, we had no choice but to choose another tyre brand. We went for the Dunlop DZ03 as this is quite a popular tyre in the Tintops series. However, with no time to test before the race day we had to hope that they would work with the setup we left Anglesey with.
We set up camp for the day and swapped the wheels over as normal. We had fully checked the car over during the week, so it was ready to go. The only job left was to tighten up the fan belt a little. As soon as we loosened the adjuster on the alternator, we discovered the casing had broken. A spare alternator was the only thing we had forgotten to bring! The top bracket done up tight was the best we could do.
Oulton is the first circuit we have visited that both of us had perviously been to. Both of us have done a few track days there. Based on how we had got on in the past, we had set ourselves the target of getting into the 2min03sec bracket. I did the first stint in qualifying and realised straight away that the setup was way off for our new tyres. It was now the total opposite to Brands Hatch, massive oversteer. I had a spin on my first lap and braked too late for the Hizzy chicane on the second. 2 laps later I had another huge spin exiting knickerbrook, this time I knew it wasn't just me/setup. As I slid across the grass I could see steam from the bonnet so made my way slowly into the pits. Tony and our crew for the day were surprised to see me. They took the bonnet off and the problem was obvious. A split hose had sprayed coolant all over the engine bay and the rear tyres were covered too. Some swift work by our guys got the hose repaired and some water back in with 9 minutes of qualifying left.
Tony had to complete some laps to get into the race. He took the first lap steady to clean up the tyres, then realised the car wanted to kill you at every turn. He missed the 2nd chicane, twice, a big sideways moment at Cascades and a trip through the gravel at Druids. The car was awful.
7 laps was all we had managed between us, but remarkably a 2:04.4 from Tony got us 9th on the grid.
After qualifying had finished, a marshall told us to go and visit the clerk of the course. We had been naughty boys. We were shown a sheet that they fill in at race control when the marshals radio in any incidents. 3/4 of the page was car 4. Missed chicane and continued, spin and continued, spin and continued, missed chicane and continued (possible advantage) Spin, trip through gravel and continued. He wasn't impressed. We told him about the coolant leak and said we were sorry, we left without penalty but were warned that we might get charged extra for using bits of the circuit we hadn't paid to use.
A big adjustment had to be made to try and get the car to stop going backwards into the corners. The biggest change we had made to make the Hankook's work was the rear anti roll bar. We took the links off completely and had to hope for the best. We checked the coolant hose and used the laptop to monitor the coolant temperature as the engine warmed up again. All was fine, a lucky escape.
3pm rolled around and the start of the race. Starting 9th place gave us position on the inside, near the pit wall. Someone ahead of us had to withdraw, so this promoted us up to 8th on the grid and on the outside. The lights went out and I made quite a good start, gaining a little on the car in front. Simon in the Peugeot 205 beside me had made an even better getaway and pulled alongside into the first turn. I ran wide and took to the grass. After what seemed like the whole grid had passed me I regained the track in 12th place but was back up to 10th by the end of the lap. The car felt much better than in qualifying, with a little turn in oversteer and some exit understeer. I had a few lockups into the hairpin as I struggled to get the car slowed down.
I made up a few places and was back up to 8th before the pit stop. I came into the pits at the end of lap 9, very quickly and struggled to slow down before the speed limit line. We had practiced our driver changes again in the lunch break and improved from Anglesey. Stationary for only 20 seconds, Tony was in and on his way.
He exited the pits right behind the 5th place car, as at Anglesey we had made a big jump through the pitstop phase. 6th place slipped by as Tony got up to speed and started to learn how the car felt. He managed to hang on to them for a few laps as they had a big battle. But the cars natural pace was behind them and he started to fall away into a very lonely 7th place. Another lock up and almost missing the 2nd chicane again gave the left front tyre a bad flat spot on lap 17. This caused a vibration but Tony's best lap of 2:03.8 was set on the final lap.
So 7th wasn't a bad result after a short qualifying and my mistake at the start. The day had again highlighted how valuable the test at Anglesey had been. Had we had the time to test before, we would of sorted the problems out and got a reasonable setup on the new tyres before race day. We were both pushing really hard in the race, a slightly disappointing day but the car survived and so did we.
Another sunny race day, another circuit. The full International layout at Oulton Park. After wearing out our Hankook tyres at Anglesey and not being able to get any replacements, we had no choice but to choose another tyre brand. We went for the Dunlop DZ03 as this is quite a popular tyre in the Tintops series. However, with no time to test before the race day we had to hope that they would work with the setup we left Anglesey with.
We set up camp for the day and swapped the wheels over as normal. We had fully checked the car over during the week, so it was ready to go. The only job left was to tighten up the fan belt a little. As soon as we loosened the adjuster on the alternator, we discovered the casing had broken. A spare alternator was the only thing we had forgotten to bring! The top bracket done up tight was the best we could do.
Oulton is the first circuit we have visited that both of us had perviously been to. Both of us have done a few track days there. Based on how we had got on in the past, we had set ourselves the target of getting into the 2min03sec bracket. I did the first stint in qualifying and realised straight away that the setup was way off for our new tyres. It was now the total opposite to Brands Hatch, massive oversteer. I had a spin on my first lap and braked too late for the Hizzy chicane on the second. 2 laps later I had another huge spin exiting knickerbrook, this time I knew it wasn't just me/setup. As I slid across the grass I could see steam from the bonnet so made my way slowly into the pits. Tony and our crew for the day were surprised to see me. They took the bonnet off and the problem was obvious. A split hose had sprayed coolant all over the engine bay and the rear tyres were covered too. Some swift work by our guys got the hose repaired and some water back in with 9 minutes of qualifying left.
Tony had to complete some laps to get into the race. He took the first lap steady to clean up the tyres, then realised the car wanted to kill you at every turn. He missed the 2nd chicane, twice, a big sideways moment at Cascades and a trip through the gravel at Druids. The car was awful.
7 laps was all we had managed between us, but remarkably a 2:04.4 from Tony got us 9th on the grid.
After qualifying had finished, a marshall told us to go and visit the clerk of the course. We had been naughty boys. We were shown a sheet that they fill in at race control when the marshals radio in any incidents. 3/4 of the page was car 4. Missed chicane and continued, spin and continued, spin and continued, missed chicane and continued (possible advantage) Spin, trip through gravel and continued. He wasn't impressed. We told him about the coolant leak and said we were sorry, we left without penalty but were warned that we might get charged extra for using bits of the circuit we hadn't paid to use.
A big adjustment had to be made to try and get the car to stop going backwards into the corners. The biggest change we had made to make the Hankook's work was the rear anti roll bar. We took the links off completely and had to hope for the best. We checked the coolant hose and used the laptop to monitor the coolant temperature as the engine warmed up again. All was fine, a lucky escape.
3pm rolled around and the start of the race. Starting 9th place gave us position on the inside, near the pit wall. Someone ahead of us had to withdraw, so this promoted us up to 8th on the grid and on the outside. The lights went out and I made quite a good start, gaining a little on the car in front. Simon in the Peugeot 205 beside me had made an even better getaway and pulled alongside into the first turn. I ran wide and took to the grass. After what seemed like the whole grid had passed me I regained the track in 12th place but was back up to 10th by the end of the lap. The car felt much better than in qualifying, with a little turn in oversteer and some exit understeer. I had a few lockups into the hairpin as I struggled to get the car slowed down.
I made up a few places and was back up to 8th before the pit stop. I came into the pits at the end of lap 9, very quickly and struggled to slow down before the speed limit line. We had practiced our driver changes again in the lunch break and improved from Anglesey. Stationary for only 20 seconds, Tony was in and on his way.
He exited the pits right behind the 5th place car, as at Anglesey we had made a big jump through the pitstop phase. 6th place slipped by as Tony got up to speed and started to learn how the car felt. He managed to hang on to them for a few laps as they had a big battle. But the cars natural pace was behind them and he started to fall away into a very lonely 7th place. Another lock up and almost missing the 2nd chicane again gave the left front tyre a bad flat spot on lap 17. This caused a vibration but Tony's best lap of 2:03.8 was set on the final lap.
So 7th wasn't a bad result after a short qualifying and my mistake at the start. The day had again highlighted how valuable the test at Anglesey had been. Had we had the time to test before, we would of sorted the problems out and got a reasonable setup on the new tyres before race day. We were both pushing really hard in the race, a slightly disappointing day but the car survived and so did we.
