Had a great end to the season with the weekend just gone, a double header at Cadwell on a weekend of mixed weather and fortune.
Hadn't had a lot to do to the car since the last round, so went into qualifying with a known quantity. It was dry to start off with, damp in places, although stupidly I'd not adjusted the front tyre pressures so they were pretty low. On a cold day, it took a long long time for any temperature to build, so I was restricted to pretty much one clean lap on which I managed to set a 1.51.19, good enough for 9th on the grid (8th was an XR2 with 1.51.18). Being a double header, the second best qualifying times were used to decide the grid for race two, so my 1.53.95 was only good enough for 14th.
Lunchtime arrived, prepared the car for the race, then it started raining. Lightly to start off with, so didn't make any changes to the car - if it was just going to be damp, I was going to run full dry settings and hope the people converting to wet settings would struggle. Sadly, the weather got worse, so I resorted to a pretty conservative wet setup, making the rear damping a lot softer (still stuck with 900lb springs), raised the front tyre pressures a few pounds and lowered the rear by a couple.
By the time the race started, it was clear I'd made the right choice. Never driven on track in the wet before, so was an experience over the first few laps. Visibility down the straights was virtually zero, at times couldn't even make out the car in front's rain light!
I got a woeful start, as usual, almost jumped so had to dip the clutch, then the lights went out and I spun it up. Dropped well back into the first corner and tiptoed round following another XR2 and a Swift for a couple of laps. Started to close up on them as I was feeling out the grip - lots of sideways moments as the video will show, little bit of contact with the other XR2 where he was braking and I was giving it a dab of oppo into the gooseneck.
Sadly, my windscreen wiper decided to part company with the car, which reduced my visibility to absolutley zero and after a few moments of almost missing a corner because I couldn't see where I was going, and an off track excursion, I parked the car to save it for Day Two. There was no way I was going to end the season in the wall!
Day Two started with more rain, and more rain, and a bit more. Fortunately this eased and gave way to strong winds and a bit of warmth. Combined with other cars running on track all day, by the time our race (at 4:35pm) came around, the track was dry!
Started Race Two in 14th I made another dreadful start, slipping the clutch into every gear and was down a couple of places straight off the start. It's the final race of the season though, so I wasn't taking any prisoners and hung my balls out to get a good result. The video tells the story of this one, but isn't quite uploaded to youtube yet. Pulled off a few very late braking manoeuvers to move up to 9th by the end of the race, after a last lap off at the mountain and some big guns falling off.
Tight at the start
There's half a car's width there
Close!
Bit of kerb at Mansfield
Lots of kerb up the mountain
Next year, there'll be even more committment, a new engine and a perfectly set up car - it's time to start challenging for higher placings!
Hadn't had a lot to do to the car since the last round, so went into qualifying with a known quantity. It was dry to start off with, damp in places, although stupidly I'd not adjusted the front tyre pressures so they were pretty low. On a cold day, it took a long long time for any temperature to build, so I was restricted to pretty much one clean lap on which I managed to set a 1.51.19, good enough for 9th on the grid (8th was an XR2 with 1.51.18). Being a double header, the second best qualifying times were used to decide the grid for race two, so my 1.53.95 was only good enough for 14th.
Lunchtime arrived, prepared the car for the race, then it started raining. Lightly to start off with, so didn't make any changes to the car - if it was just going to be damp, I was going to run full dry settings and hope the people converting to wet settings would struggle. Sadly, the weather got worse, so I resorted to a pretty conservative wet setup, making the rear damping a lot softer (still stuck with 900lb springs), raised the front tyre pressures a few pounds and lowered the rear by a couple.
By the time the race started, it was clear I'd made the right choice. Never driven on track in the wet before, so was an experience over the first few laps. Visibility down the straights was virtually zero, at times couldn't even make out the car in front's rain light!
I got a woeful start, as usual, almost jumped so had to dip the clutch, then the lights went out and I spun it up. Dropped well back into the first corner and tiptoed round following another XR2 and a Swift for a couple of laps. Started to close up on them as I was feeling out the grip - lots of sideways moments as the video will show, little bit of contact with the other XR2 where he was braking and I was giving it a dab of oppo into the gooseneck.
Sadly, my windscreen wiper decided to part company with the car, which reduced my visibility to absolutley zero and after a few moments of almost missing a corner because I couldn't see where I was going, and an off track excursion, I parked the car to save it for Day Two. There was no way I was going to end the season in the wall!
Day Two started with more rain, and more rain, and a bit more. Fortunately this eased and gave way to strong winds and a bit of warmth. Combined with other cars running on track all day, by the time our race (at 4:35pm) came around, the track was dry!
Started Race Two in 14th I made another dreadful start, slipping the clutch into every gear and was down a couple of places straight off the start. It's the final race of the season though, so I wasn't taking any prisoners and hung my balls out to get a good result. The video tells the story of this one, but isn't quite uploaded to youtube yet. Pulled off a few very late braking manoeuvers to move up to 9th by the end of the race, after a last lap off at the mountain and some big guns falling off.
Tight at the start
There's half a car's width there
Close!
Bit of kerb at Mansfield
Lots of kerb up the mountain
Next year, there'll be even more committment, a new engine and a perfectly set up car - it's time to start challenging for higher placings!
Last edited by a moderator:
