29th August 2010 - Mallory Park Tintops Race
We were a little keen getting to the circuit this morning and arrived way too early. We had time to set up for the day, have a cup of tea and bacon sandwich and then go for a walk around the track
Tony had not driven around Mallory before and was surprised at how much elevation change there was approaching the hairpin and down through 'Devils Elbow', It never shows up in the videos.
We signed on and got the car scruitenered with no problems. The front tyre we flat spotted at Oulton had been finished off at Silverstone a few weeks ago so we fitted a brand new set of fronts. We hadn't even scrubbed them in. Half an hour before qualifying and it started to drizzle. It continued to rain lightly off and on while we made our way to the assembly area and the circuit was now quite damp. Not wanting to risk the car Tony took the first 6 lap run steady. It was really slippery and the brand new tyres didn't help. A few cars span in front of him but after a quick pit stop to check tyre pressures, he slowly improved his times as the sun poked through the clouds and the track started to dry.
He came in to swap over with about 13 mins of the session left. He reported that the battery light had been flickering and within a few laps of me being out, it came on for good and stopped charging. I pressed on as the track was now dry but a few spots of rain had begun to fall again. I was very happy with the car but as the rain came down harder the wiper started to go slow as the battery began to go flat. 2 mins from the end of the session I lost power coming out of the hairpin and chugged into the pit lane, the engine coughing badly. I knew it was down to the flat battery.
We pushed the car back to our pit area and stuck the battery on charge. A few wiring checks confirmed the worst another alternator failure!
We had a spare so started swapping the regulators over. Found one of the inlet trumpets had fallen off, that wouldn't of been helping.
The results from qualifying were published and we had stuck it in
5th with a
55.1 second lap, 0.7 off pole. I knew we could go faster with a bit more track time (and a working alternator). Then a massive downpour. We all huddled under the gazebo as everything around us got a good soaking. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes and the sun came out half an hour later and that was the last of the rain for the day.
Alternator repaired and working, car fuelled up and checked over, we were ready to go. We sat under the gazebo until the wind decided to claim it for itself and it had to be binned.
We went through some pit stop practice and changed a few things that seemed to help
At 4pm we made our way to the assembly area. I was doing the first stint and start. I wanted to try again after almost getting it right at Oulton. We made our way out on the warmup laps and I made sure I got plenty of heat into the brakes. There were some very quick and experienced guys around me and I will admit to being a little nervous.
Lights out and a reasonable get away. Starting nearest the pit wall I just stayed there. Got a little too much wheel spin in 1st but made good gains as I went through the gears and slotted into 3rd place at the first corner. A quick check in the mirrors and noticed there was a gap to the next car. (I would later find out that there had been a few spinners just behind us)
I tried to hang onto Ashely in the other Clio in 2nd but lost some time in traffic and was caught by one of the Integra's who came by leaving me 4th.
Then the alternator light began to flicker again. I couldn't believe it. A quick glance at the volt meter showed a figure of 19 volts! I started to smell something burning and 3 laps later it stopped charging all together. I watched the voltage coming down every lap and hoped it would last. By this time I was pretty much alone, lapping cars without too much time lost and putting in 55's. Tony decided to leave me out a little longer as the pit lane was quite busy as everyone around us made their stops and I took the lead on lap 24.
2 laps later we pitted, with a rev counter I could judge the 50km/h pit lane speed a little better. The battery was now reading 12.6 volts. We made a little bit of a hash of the stop but nothing major and it was still our fastest stop to date. Tony nailed it out of the pit lane, still in the lead! We turned to the girl with the speed gun and found that Tony had hit 48km/h on the way out, Close!
Tony lost the lead at the end of the lap as he explored the grip levels in what were his first ever dry laps at this circuit. Ian, now in the other Clio after his stop, was in 3rd, about 4 seconds behind. He had already been out for a few laps so was up to speed. He closed to within a second but by then Tony had dropped into the 55's and was able to keep the gap at around 1 second. He had him covered.
On the pit wall we knew we were looking good, it just depended on if the battery would last the distance.
On lap 40 (3 laps from the chequered) the inevitable happened. The car coughed and spluttered out of the hairpin, the battery, now down to 11 volts, was not enough to run the engine properly at any more than a few thousand revs. Podium finish, gone!
The car was still running so he carried on. Loosing 15 seconds per lap, we finished the race 6th
I had mixed emotions after. We had raced very well, the car felt fantastic to drive and we had again made improvements in the pit stops. Fastest lap was a 54.9, but the result was not what we deserved. Tony was just angry.
Something needs to be done about our alternator weakness, and quick.
Silverstone is this Saturday.
We packed up and swapped the wheels back over ready for the trip home. The front left tyre was totally ruined compared to the right front. A result of the high speed right hand bends at Mallory
A great day and an awful day all in one. But I guess thats motor racing.
