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Max5 Racing Blog (Mazda MX-5)
- Thread starter AdamR
- Start date
Cheers Russ - how far along are you at the moment?
ARDS passed this morning
To be honest the test is very simple, written bit slightly nervy but we got some good 'strong advice' from our instructor, Malcolm Barfoot (who is one of the founders of ARDS). These included 'All the flags are on the front of the form, each answer is only used once, tick them off as you go if you want...' and 'if unsure, just go for the most safety-conscious answer!'.
There are 17 flag questions and 8 multi choice (A-E). You need to get all the flags correct but you are permitted to get 2 of the 8 other questions wrong. The one that caught me out was about use of mirrors, I selected 'use them when changing direction or speed', but the correct answer is 'use them on each straight and wherever necessary'. The other 3 answers were obviously wrong!
The practical is pretty much 'Are you a hooligan? No. That's a pass then' affair. You get a couple of laps in the passenger seat to show you what's expected, then 3-4 laps getting used to the car (usually use one of the circuit's cars, in my case a Pug RCZ, which was alright but a bit 'numb' and had VERY light controls) with tips if you need them, and then 2-3 laps driving on your own with a silent instructor.
I did the test at Oulton (full) and it was a pretty quiet day, so not much traffic to worry about, didn't see a single flag and luckily the rain held off. Just kept it smooth, concentrate on lines and consistency, 80-85% maximum pace and passed with 'well above what is expected'.
So yeah, there we go. Not too scary! They are apparently making the test harder soon so anyone thinking about it, get stuck in!
Other news: HANS device and new gloves are on the way, window nets arrived this morning. Hopefully picking the car up within the next few days, and it'll be stickered up with number 28
Congrats mate!
Im booking mine next week, for next month
Been takign my time looking for kit, been into my local suppliers a few times, but im trying to stick to a medium of not spending way more money than I actually have, and not buying cheap tat that will put my life at risk
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Thanks dude! Hope yours goes well too
Small update:
Stickers arrived this morning!
Huge thanks to Jonny at UberSticky.co.uk
Will get them on the car and some pics sorted later...
Small update:
Stickers arrived this morning!
Huge thanks to Jonny at UberSticky.co.uk
Will get them on the car and some pics sorted later...
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Got the stickers slapped on and got a few pics, this is probably the cleanest the car will be for the forseeable future (ever?)
Cheers again to Jonny at http://www.ubersticky.co.uk (for all your vinyl cutting needs) and http://www.carpromos.co.uk (check out his track day / sprint / race vids, they are excellent) for the graphics!
Donington was cancelled, so booked Blyton Park for Monday instead. Can't wait to drive the bloody thing now!
Cheers again to Jonny at http://www.ubersticky.co.uk (for all your vinyl cutting needs) and http://www.carpromos.co.uk (check out his track day / sprint / race vids, they are excellent) for the graphics!
Donington was cancelled, so booked Blyton Park for Monday instead. Can't wait to drive the bloody thing now!
182cup & 172 racecar
Like it. Good luck.
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Well, my first race weekend was an interesting one.
I was on a bit of a downer Saturday afternoon/evening and most of today, but have finally been able to put a positive spin on it.
Left work a bit early on Friday (4) so I could get to Anglesey for some tea and in time to put my tent up. Arrived about half 7, to nasty greyness and wind. Couldn't find anyone at first, but turned out they were walking the track so I just bummed about for a bit til they were back.
Got myself set up in a corner of the paddock where Rodders and Chris (SEO Musketeer) were, stole some of Chris' sausage and buns (thanks buddy!), then spent a fair bit of time chatting with Chris about anything and everything until it was nearly dark. At which point I realised my tent wasn't up yet, d'oh.
It was pretty bloody windy at this point, but luckily Rodders' race shuttle was in a good position for a wind shelter, so I got my tent put up behind that. I had forgotten the little cap that goes over the top, so had to bodge one out of a bit of tarpaulin and some zip ties or I'd have got very wet!
Went back to pester Chris and was pretty shocked to hear we had managed to beat Sweden in the footie - all good! We set the world to rights for a bit, then I headed to my tent about 11:15.
Now, this tent was fine for camping in my back garden when I was 8, but the airbed I'd brought with me didn't really fit, and neither did I. So, there I am curled up diagonally in my tent, raining, feeling like the tent is going to collapse at any point, with the top 'cap' I'd made flapping about noisily. Briefing at 8:15 in the morning, followed by sign on, followed by scrutineering, and I still had to change my wheels over so thought I'd better set my alarm for 7...
It got to 2am, at which point I'd not had any sleep, and I'd had enough!
Managed to get relatively comfortable in my car (as comfortable as you can sat in the driver's seat of a car that won't recline cos the boot is so full - side note, I have been looking at vans today!), put some earplugs in and got to sleep about half 3. Woke up at about 5 due to the daylight, so put a hat over my face and tried to nod back off again until my alarm...
Woke up again, thought I'd have a quick glance at my phone. 07:56. Eh? 07:56. s**t! Phone on silent and earplugs means you ain't gonna hear your alarm is it, idiot. So, in a bit of a panic I chuck some shoes on and set about changing my wheels over, and head to the caf for briefing at 8:15, just.
I'll let this photo of Crocodile Alandee describe the weather at this point:
So, briefing over, got through sign on with no issues, and then to scrutineering.
Now, there had been a 'no engines started before 10am rule' on the paperwork, but they let us drive to scrutineering luckily, as pushing cars across the paddock in the pissing rain would not have been much fun!
Car went through scrutineering after a bit of umming and arring from the main guy, apparently there are still a few small holes through from my boot to the cockpit which they weren't too happy about, but let it go anyway. Needed an MSA sticker for my helmet too, so you can add £1.80 to the motorsport tax list earlier in the thread!
Qualifying 1 - on the International Circuit:
It was chucking it down as I was getting into the car, but I absolutely love track driving in the rain so wasn't bothered at all. In fact, I felt extremely calm, as I knew I would get about 7 laps so I could just take it steady at the start and build speed. In fact, Rodders made a very good point that you need to complete 3 laps of quali in order to make the race, so I took it really easy at the start.
Managed to find some free track towards the end of the session (passing Mark Theaker after he'd got a bit of a slide on), and qualified 2nd in Mk1s, with Rob Chilcott 7s faster than me and on overall pole! That cheeky track day on Friday paid off then Seriously though, impressive stuff mate, nice one!
After quali, we did the usual thing of grabbing some time sheets, sharing hero stories, and hanging our gloves out to dry.
Race 1:
The rain had been stopped for a little while, so the track was drying due to the wind and other cars whizzing round. Again I was really calm, no nerves or adrenaline flowing which was sort of surreal...
I was snoozing a bit on the start and let the revs drop, got away ok but Chris on my right was ahead and Mark came from the row behind to pass me up the inside of the first corner.
However - Ian managed to mess up, turns out he shifted 1st to 2nd, then 5th and then back to 2nd, which locked the rear wheels mid corner, sending him sideways into Jeremy. In avoiding that lot Mark went onto the grass and spun, so I was quite lucky I hadn't got a good start or I'd have been tied up in the incident!
I cut across the inside of the first corner, two wheels over the grass, and back onto the black stuff - phew. This, however, put me on the outside for The Banking and Rolf in a Mk3 had the inside line. I knew he was there so kept it wide and waited for him to come through, then cut back and got alongside, but didn't have the power to get past so dropped back in behind him for Church.
Chris in the Orange Mk1 was ahead of us at this point, but I saw him getting a bit squirmy mid way through Church... He went off to the inside, and while Rolf lifted I knew exactly where Chris would end up so kept the power on and got past - after a bit of sideways action exactly where Chris had lost it! Close call. It was a real shame Chris fell off to be honest, as our lap times looked to be pretty similar, and we'd have pushed each other all the way if we'd have been closer on track.
After that, I followed John for a bit until Jeremy and Ian came past me (recovering from the 1st corner) and they kinda pushed John along, so I lost sight of this group gradually. This left about 2/3 of the race on my own, so I just concentrated on keeping it smooth and consistent, as I knew I'd end up with a 2nd place as long as I didn't fall off.
The end of the race came and I felt a bit... weird. I can't really explain it. I had expected, and had been told to get ready for, a huge adrenaline rush but because I'd been on my own for nearly 15 mins it just felt like a track day. A trophy, but gained by default, with not a chance of being 1st. Never mind, this will be different tomorrow eh?
Again we grabbed some timing sheets, had a look at videos of the start, and Chris inspected the damage.
Qualifying 2:
The track had been drying all afternoon, and by the time we'd been held in the assembly area for about 3 hours (felt like it anyway - I nearly fell asleep a couple of times) there was definitely a dry line. Lap times were coming down and the cars were much less twitchy than earlier. Felt like I was going ok but the car didn't quite feel 'there', I am not sure why but have a feeling it might be the front camber. My other Mk1 is at 2 degrees, Chris' is a 2 degrees but mine is on max and still 1.7. Anyway, 0.3 degrees might not make any difference, who knows...
So, lap 5 I think, coming up to Rocket and shifting down from 4th, to 3rd, to 2nd, my engine made a weird noise. Then it started rattling and clattering. I carried on at full beans for a few corners thinking it might clear, but no joy. Missed the pit entrance so had to continue for another lap, coasting round out of the way of everyone
Pulled it back into the paddock and waited for the session to finish. Rodders came over and asked me to fire it up - I had feared it was a new engine job and he confirmed it sounded very much like a knackered bottom end bearing.
Some idiot (me) didn't check his oil level before the session, and it was completely off the bottom of the stick. The stick is about 1 litre top to bottom, and the total capacity is 4 litres so the poor thing had no chance. Lesson learned.
No point staying for the Sunday, so the car goes back on the trailer and tent gets packed up, in time for heading down to the meal Rodders had arranged for us all.
Had a good laugh chatting with the guys, decent food and then it was time to tackle the trip home. It's about 2.5 hours and I left the track about 11. I was really struggling so had to keep pulling in at services, ended up falling asleep at one point and I think I had about half an hour, haha.
Got home just after 3 and flopped into bed. Head was still very busy though, I felt disappointed with my lack of pace and how stupid I'd been with the oil. In all honesty if it wasn't for the social side of things, I wouldn't have enjoyed it at all. I could have had the same driving experience (but a lot more bum in seat time, and for a lot less money) doing a track day. But, the group of guys made the weekend worth it. Rodders has offered to let me take the car over to his to get the engine swapped, and I've already sourced a bottom end to put in it.
Today I've been looking at buying a van, because doing a race weekend (especially a wet one!) from a car was a bit tricky, too much stuff and nowhere to get changed! So - hoping to get a van and the new engine sorted before the Blyton Bash in 2 weekends.
Got a video exporting now which I'll upload overnight and stick up in the morning.
Again, if you read all that, I owe you a sugary treat!
Adam
I was on a bit of a downer Saturday afternoon/evening and most of today, but have finally been able to put a positive spin on it.
Left work a bit early on Friday (4) so I could get to Anglesey for some tea and in time to put my tent up. Arrived about half 7, to nasty greyness and wind. Couldn't find anyone at first, but turned out they were walking the track so I just bummed about for a bit til they were back.
Got myself set up in a corner of the paddock where Rodders and Chris (SEO Musketeer) were, stole some of Chris' sausage and buns (thanks buddy!), then spent a fair bit of time chatting with Chris about anything and everything until it was nearly dark. At which point I realised my tent wasn't up yet, d'oh.
It was pretty bloody windy at this point, but luckily Rodders' race shuttle was in a good position for a wind shelter, so I got my tent put up behind that. I had forgotten the little cap that goes over the top, so had to bodge one out of a bit of tarpaulin and some zip ties or I'd have got very wet!
Went back to pester Chris and was pretty shocked to hear we had managed to beat Sweden in the footie - all good! We set the world to rights for a bit, then I headed to my tent about 11:15.
Now, this tent was fine for camping in my back garden when I was 8, but the airbed I'd brought with me didn't really fit, and neither did I. So, there I am curled up diagonally in my tent, raining, feeling like the tent is going to collapse at any point, with the top 'cap' I'd made flapping about noisily. Briefing at 8:15 in the morning, followed by sign on, followed by scrutineering, and I still had to change my wheels over so thought I'd better set my alarm for 7...
It got to 2am, at which point I'd not had any sleep, and I'd had enough!
Managed to get relatively comfortable in my car (as comfortable as you can sat in the driver's seat of a car that won't recline cos the boot is so full - side note, I have been looking at vans today!), put some earplugs in and got to sleep about half 3. Woke up at about 5 due to the daylight, so put a hat over my face and tried to nod back off again until my alarm...
Woke up again, thought I'd have a quick glance at my phone. 07:56. Eh? 07:56. s**t! Phone on silent and earplugs means you ain't gonna hear your alarm is it, idiot. So, in a bit of a panic I chuck some shoes on and set about changing my wheels over, and head to the caf for briefing at 8:15, just.
I'll let this photo of Crocodile Alandee describe the weather at this point:
So, briefing over, got through sign on with no issues, and then to scrutineering.
Now, there had been a 'no engines started before 10am rule' on the paperwork, but they let us drive to scrutineering luckily, as pushing cars across the paddock in the pissing rain would not have been much fun!
Car went through scrutineering after a bit of umming and arring from the main guy, apparently there are still a few small holes through from my boot to the cockpit which they weren't too happy about, but let it go anyway. Needed an MSA sticker for my helmet too, so you can add £1.80 to the motorsport tax list earlier in the thread!
Qualifying 1 - on the International Circuit:
It was chucking it down as I was getting into the car, but I absolutely love track driving in the rain so wasn't bothered at all. In fact, I felt extremely calm, as I knew I would get about 7 laps so I could just take it steady at the start and build speed. In fact, Rodders made a very good point that you need to complete 3 laps of quali in order to make the race, so I took it really easy at the start.
Managed to find some free track towards the end of the session (passing Mark Theaker after he'd got a bit of a slide on), and qualified 2nd in Mk1s, with Rob Chilcott 7s faster than me and on overall pole! That cheeky track day on Friday paid off then
Seriously though, impressive stuff mate, nice one!After quali, we did the usual thing of grabbing some time sheets, sharing hero stories, and hanging our gloves out to dry.
Race 1:
The rain had been stopped for a little while, so the track was drying due to the wind and other cars whizzing round. Again I was really calm, no nerves or adrenaline flowing which was sort of surreal...
I was snoozing a bit on the start and let the revs drop, got away ok but Chris on my right was ahead and Mark came from the row behind to pass me up the inside of the first corner.
However - Ian managed to mess up, turns out he shifted 1st to 2nd, then 5th and then back to 2nd, which locked the rear wheels mid corner, sending him sideways into Jeremy. In avoiding that lot Mark went onto the grass and spun, so I was quite lucky I hadn't got a good start or I'd have been tied up in the incident!
I cut across the inside of the first corner, two wheels over the grass, and back onto the black stuff - phew. This, however, put me on the outside for The Banking and Rolf in a Mk3 had the inside line. I knew he was there so kept it wide and waited for him to come through, then cut back and got alongside, but didn't have the power to get past so dropped back in behind him for Church.
Chris in the Orange Mk1 was ahead of us at this point, but I saw him getting a bit squirmy mid way through Church... He went off to the inside, and while Rolf lifted I knew exactly where Chris would end up so kept the power on and got past - after a bit of sideways action exactly where Chris had lost it! Close call. It was a real shame Chris fell off to be honest, as our lap times looked to be pretty similar, and we'd have pushed each other all the way if we'd have been closer on track.
After that, I followed John for a bit until Jeremy and Ian came past me (recovering from the 1st corner) and they kinda pushed John along, so I lost sight of this group gradually. This left about 2/3 of the race on my own, so I just concentrated on keeping it smooth and consistent, as I knew I'd end up with a 2nd place as long as I didn't fall off.
The end of the race came and I felt a bit... weird. I can't really explain it. I had expected, and had been told to get ready for, a huge adrenaline rush but because I'd been on my own for nearly 15 mins it just felt like a track day. A trophy, but gained by default, with not a chance of being 1st. Never mind, this will be different tomorrow eh?
Again we grabbed some timing sheets, had a look at videos of the start, and Chris inspected the damage.
Qualifying 2:
The track had been drying all afternoon, and by the time we'd been held in the assembly area for about 3 hours (felt like it anyway - I nearly fell asleep a couple of times) there was definitely a dry line. Lap times were coming down and the cars were much less twitchy than earlier. Felt like I was going ok but the car didn't quite feel 'there', I am not sure why but have a feeling it might be the front camber. My other Mk1 is at 2 degrees, Chris' is a 2 degrees but mine is on max and still 1.7. Anyway, 0.3 degrees might not make any difference, who knows...
So, lap 5 I think, coming up to Rocket and shifting down from 4th, to 3rd, to 2nd, my engine made a weird noise. Then it started rattling and clattering. I carried on at full beans for a few corners thinking it might clear, but no joy. Missed the pit entrance so had to continue for another lap, coasting round out of the way of everyone
Pulled it back into the paddock and waited for the session to finish. Rodders came over and asked me to fire it up - I had feared it was a new engine job and he confirmed it sounded very much like a knackered bottom end bearing.
Some idiot (me) didn't check his oil level before the session, and it was completely off the bottom of the stick. The stick is about 1 litre top to bottom, and the total capacity is 4 litres so the poor thing had no chance. Lesson learned.
No point staying for the Sunday, so the car goes back on the trailer and tent gets packed up, in time for heading down to the meal Rodders had arranged for us all.
Had a good laugh chatting with the guys, decent food and then it was time to tackle the trip home. It's about 2.5 hours and I left the track about 11. I was really struggling so had to keep pulling in at services, ended up falling asleep at one point and I think I had about half an hour, haha.
Got home just after 3 and flopped into bed. Head was still very busy though, I felt disappointed with my lack of pace and how stupid I'd been with the oil. In all honesty if it wasn't for the social side of things, I wouldn't have enjoyed it at all. I could have had the same driving experience (but a lot more bum in seat time, and for a lot less money) doing a track day. But, the group of guys made the weekend worth it. Rodders has offered to let me take the car over to his to get the engine swapped, and I've already sourced a bottom end to put in it.
Today I've been looking at buying a van, because doing a race weekend (especially a wet one!) from a car was a bit tricky, too much stuff and nowhere to get changed! So - hoping to get a van and the new engine sorted before the Blyton Bash in 2 weekends.
Got a video exporting now which I'll upload overnight and stick up in the morning.
Again, if you read all that, I owe you a sugary treat!
Adam
Ah bugger, expensive lesson to learn but I bet it doesn't happen again!
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Yeah, it won't happen again! The way I keep looking at it, is that it's one of the cheapest engines I'll ever own - I can get a new bottom end for £75, or a complete engine for £100 - so it's a cheap lesson. Plus I'll learn how to swap it.
Anyway, here's a vid. First ~4 mins and last 30 seconds are the only mildly interesting bits, the rest of the race I'm on my own with nobody to play with haha.
Anyway, here's a vid. First ~4 mins and last 30 seconds are the only mildly interesting bits, the rest of the race I'm on my own with nobody to play with
haha.
Last edited by a moderator:
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Yep, I know that now!
Anyway, I popped (I say popped, the weather and traffic was crap so it took ages) over to Sheffield on Friday after Rodders had very kindly offered to help me get the engine sorted. As most of you will no doubt know, he runs Roddisons Motorsport and is the man for MX-5 race tuning, setup, advice etc.
Junk Yard Dog (John) had dropped a long nose bottom end off with Rodders on Thursday (which Rodders paid John for on my behalf - I wasn't expecting that, so thank you once again!), and I'd pulled off some of the ancillaries before setting off, so when I arrived about half 8 it was all systems go.
Tom (jellybean's son) was there and helped out through the day too - thanks again mate, see you at Blyton!
Having the lift was an absolute godsend, making it nice and easy to get all the bellhousing and starter motor bolts out. The forklift was also rather handy...
Engine out!
New bottom end going in...
And in, cleaned up ready for new head gasket - the existing head has a bit of work, so was worth re-using.
Building it all up. Was amazed at how easy the cambelt was to replace once you have good access to it.
Burping the cooling system - missed re-connecting the temp sensor at first, oops! Took a while for the thermostat to open, seemed to be an air lock right by it... Still, everything was done by about 3pm, the job had gone very smoothly indeed
Even got treated to a quick session on the rolling road at Autotronix Developments - huge thanks to Clive for squeezing me in at the end of the day and Rodders for taking me down in his truck.
Previously the car had been 129bhp... first run was 122, so Clive tweaked the timing and it was back up to 129 again Immediately afterwards there was a power cut so I have no print-out, haha, but at least we know it's running sweet.
So, once again, a MASSIVE thanks to Rodders for all his help - I understand how much of a draw on resources it is to have to 'hold the hand' of someone for most of a working day, I owe you big time. Thanks to Tom for his help, John for the new bottom end (and for delivering it to Rodders' too), and Clive for the RR session.
To be honest I'm pretty amazed at how everyone has pulled together and got the car up and running again, I really didn't expect this level of 'support'.
Can't wait to get bum back in seat this weekend at Blyton (MX-5 Owners Club weekend, with Mission Motorsport).
Adam
PS: Oil-related piss-taking welcomed, I'm becoming accustomed to it already
Anyway, I popped (I say popped, the weather and traffic was crap so it took ages) over to Sheffield on Friday after Rodders had very kindly offered to help me get the engine sorted. As most of you will no doubt know, he runs Roddisons Motorsport and is the man for MX-5 race tuning, setup, advice etc.
Junk Yard Dog (John) had dropped a long nose bottom end off with Rodders on Thursday (which Rodders paid John for on my behalf - I wasn't expecting that, so thank you once again!), and I'd pulled off some of the ancillaries before setting off, so when I arrived about half 8 it was all systems go.
Tom (jellybean's son) was there and helped out through the day too - thanks again mate, see you at Blyton!
Having the lift was an absolute godsend, making it nice and easy to get all the bellhousing and starter motor bolts out. The forklift was also rather handy...
Engine out!
New bottom end going in...
And in, cleaned up ready for new head gasket - the existing head has a bit of work, so was worth re-using.
Building it all up. Was amazed at how easy the cambelt was to replace once you have good access to it.
Burping the cooling system - missed re-connecting the temp sensor at first, oops! Took a while for the thermostat to open, seemed to be an air lock right by it... Still, everything was done by about 3pm, the job had gone very smoothly indeed
Even got treated to a quick session on the rolling road at Autotronix Developments - huge thanks to Clive for squeezing me in at the end of the day and Rodders for taking me down in his truck.
Previously the car had been 129bhp... first run was 122, so Clive tweaked the timing and it was back up to 129 again
Immediately afterwards there was a power cut so I have no print-out, haha, but at least we know it's running sweet.So, once again, a MASSIVE thanks to Rodders for all his help - I understand how much of a draw on resources it is to have to 'hold the hand' of someone for most of a working day, I owe you big time. Thanks to Tom for his help, John for the new bottom end (and for delivering it to Rodders' too), and Clive for the RR session.
To be honest I'm pretty amazed at how everyone has pulled together and got the car up and running again, I really didn't expect this level of 'support'.
Can't wait to get bum back in seat this weekend at Blyton (MX-5 Owners Club weekend, with Mission Motorsport).
Adam
PS: Oil-related piss-taking welcomed, I'm becoming accustomed to it already
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
The latest update in my blog comes from Snetterton, August Bank Holiday weekend. We were on the 300 circuit and shared the weekend with the 24hr 2CV race, truck racing and others which were a good watch!
I had to go to a family do down in Kent on Saturday night, which meant a relatively early start Sunday to make sure I was at the track in time for our briefing at 12.
I arrived about 10ish and said hello to everyone, then spotted Mark doing some cheeky weight-saving (yes, the sills were pretty full!).
Decent weather, woohoo!
After mingling with the paddock for a bit, we decided it was time to watch the last half hour of the 2CV race. They had been at it since 11am the previous day, had a red flag overnight due to flooding on the track and in the pits, but everyone was in great spirits and there was an amazing atmosphere about the place.
One of the cars came in about 20 mins from the end with what looked like a pretty terminal problem, smoke billowing from the exhaust. He was sent back out on the track (albeit VERY slowly) and came back round to the pit straight after what seemed like about 10 minutes, smoke still pouring from the exhaust. He was given a huge cheer by everyone on the pit wall and pushed over the line by a fellow competitor - amazing stuff
The finish of the race ended up pretty close from what I can gather, with only a few seconds in it! All the cars were met as they cruised down the pit lane at the end of the race, a great sight.
After that excitement, it was time to turn my attentions to our weekend. First up was our new driver briefing (you have to go to this if you haven't raced at the curcuit before). I went to Race Control to check the time and place of the briefing... 12 at Tyrrells resaurant - sorted.
The chap started by introducing himself as having run the first truck race in the UK in 1983, and mentioning that we had to be careful of black smoke, so would be flagged and allowed to adjust the mixture in the pits if it was too smoky. He also mentioned that a couple of the corners on the track didn't have much camber, so we needed to be careful of toppling over. Very odd...
At this point Sam (yellow number 11 car - his first time driving the car and his first race, more on that later) came over and dragged me away. It all seemed a bit weird but I was just going along with it... haha. I was at the truck briefing! Oops.
Anyway, luckily the 'correct' briefing was running a bit late, so managed to get to that. By the time we'd finished it was about 12:30, so still had some time to prep the car (yes, I checked the oil, twice in fact!!) before scrutineering at 1 and qualifying at 2:20pm.
Scrutineering went fairly well, only thing the guy seemed a bit iffy about was the fire retardant foam between the boot and the c**kpit (the c**kpit has to be sealed from fluids - especially fuel!). They always seem to pull me up on that. I blagged my way through it, but might bang some fibreglass over it at some point.
The car weighed in at 909kg with about half a tank of fuel - we need to make 970kg with driver and 3 litres of fuel at the end of a session / race. With my 85kg in there too, I knew I'd be plenty safe.
So - qualifying. I was pretty comfortable with the track as I'd been there about a month earlier in my other Mk1 to check it out. I had been lapping about 2:34 with a passenger, so was hoping to go a bit quicker this time...
Managed to get out onto the track in some clear air, but I had made some relatively major geo changes and not driven the car since it's last outing, so spent a couple of laps getting used to how the car was feeling before pressing on.
Now, there are two very important corners at Snetterton, one is Williams and the other is Murrays. Both are before very long straights, and Senna Straight (between Murrays and Riches) is uphill, too. You have to get good exits from both of these corners to get a good lap time, as obviously that extra speed carries all the way down the straight. I'll refer back to this track map a few times later on...
Turns out my quickest lap was on lap 5 (out of 8) - a 2:30.397 - I think I was maybe pushing a bit too much towards the end of the session. Watching the video back carefully would confirm, but it proves that smooth is usually fast!
Once back off the track we were shepherded through Parc Ferme and into the scrutineering bay for weighing. We don't get weighed every time, so this was a new experience for me. I'd done some quick calcs after scrutineering and was pretty sure weight would be no issue, but was nervous anyway..!
982kg, phew. That means I'd used 12kg of fuel (a smidge under 17 litres) in an 8-lap, 20 minute session. That's about 7mpg, if you include the warm down lap, eek. Either way, this was good knowledge for both later in the day and in future...
We headed off to grab some timing sheets and found I'd qualified second, just pipped at the post by Sam in the bright yellow #11 car as he'd busted out a very quick 2:30.1 lap right at the death - a bloody great result considering he'd never driven Snetterton OR the car before! (Why is it that ex-karters are always bloody fast?)
Unfortunately though, at the weigh in, Sam's slender figure and dry-cell battery (which had been fitted as a safety measure rather than for weight-saving, and isn't against the series regs) meant the car came in underweight, so he would have to start at the back. That would give me a better chance for the race, and also Sam would have a great time getting through the field, but it was a shame his efforts were in vain.
Our next action wouldn't be until the next day, so the cars were covered up and we went to watch some of the other racing. The trucks were kicking out rather a lot of black smoke, but watching their 6 tons lapping at under 2:30 was quite a sight!
The evening was pretty chilled - had some sausage buns, chocolate doughnuts and chocolate buttons with Chris (cheers for letting me borrow your stove again!), grabbed a pint of coke (and something stronger) with Paul, Jo, Mark, Tom and Chris, then went for a saunter round the track.
Main straight (Senna)... long and uphill.
Bentley straight... also very long.
There was lots of chat of best lines, inspecting kerbs, etc, and the odd silly pose.
We (Tom, Chris and I) popped back to the bar for another coke, checked out the TSL Timing website for the quali times, and decided on our strategy for the race (get ahead of the other cars and stay there). Then it was bed time.
Got a pretty good sleep, woken by the bin lorries coming round about half 6... 1100 litre steel wheelie bins are not quiet when they are being chucked around!
View from my boudoir (back of the van) in the morning - sunny!
Everyone else was still tucked up at this point...
But it wasn't long before we were all up and about, grabbing breakfast etc.
Sam and Barry prepping and adding weights to the car - doing lots of fuel weight calculations to make sure they were over the weight limit for the races. Neither of them had raced before, and it was Sam's first time driving the car too. Both thoroughly nice chaps and very quick drivers, so we hope to see you again in the future!
Sam with torque wrench in hand - maybe not so inexperienced after all!
Jeremy, Joe, Paul and Ian chatting.
The Chilcott camp - great setup they have there!
Final pre-race checks, Rodders and Tom on the left, Chris in the middle, and Paul on the right.
So - onto the first race. We were guided into the holding area and it appeared the marshalls had been given a grid list that hadn't been fully updated - Sam was put on pole with me in 2nd. Not a problem really, the #11 car now had plenty of weight in it, and this would just make the race more exciting hopefully!
I had an 'ok' start, with Chris in the orange #15 car passing me around the outside on the first straight and into Riches. Sam was ahead of us both at this point, but I think he must have missed a gear as he dropped back between Chris and I.
I got a bit sideways in the first corner and then stayed in 4th when I should have dropped a gear, so Sam came around the outside of me into Montreal and with a brief puff of smoke Chris' tyres he kept Sam at bay under braking - from 3rd to 1st in 2 corners, nice work mate! I had the inside line for Montreal, but Sam cruised round the outside and got on the power better than me to take 2nd.
He and Chris looked to be pretty evenly matched, with plenty of jostling going on throughout the first lap, so I decided to hang back a bit and bide my time...
My time came at the end of lap 1 - Sam got up the inside of Chris around Coram, but then had too much speed to stop the car! He went off on the outside of the track at the next corner, the tight left hander Murrays, with Chris getting some oversteer too and diving to the left of the track upon correcting it.
I made sure I got a good exit to carry speed along the main straight, and cruised up behind both of the cars ahead. Gradually creeping to the left of the track, I held Chris there and drew Sam across, leaving space to jink right and take the inside line for the next turn. My first 'proper' overtake
I reached the turn in point first and just needed to keep it steady to stay ahead - no dramas. Something my camera reveals but I missed at the time was Chris getting a bit drifty on the inside of the turn (at 85mph) and tagging Sam by accident, which made both of them get a fair bit out of shape. They both held it well, but it gave me a bit of breathing space.
At the next bend, Montreal, a tight right hander, Sam got seriously oversteery and spun, causing Chris to take evasive action losing both of them a fair bit of time. From here, I was able to take it fairly steady and come home for my first win!
After the race it turned out Chris had ended up with a bit more damage than I realised, so had his wing rubbing on his front tyre and had to retire Still, a bit of tugging, hammering and duct tape had him ready for Race 2!
This time I started on pole, next to Jimmy in the Mission Motorsport car, with Barry (Sam's dad, in the yellow #11 car) starting at the back due to being a shared driver and not having completed a full qualifying. Chris started next to him due to his DNF - with two quick guys at the back they were sure to have some fun, and I had to make sure I got away cleanly to avoid being swallowed up...
I got a decent start, and was in the lead into the first bend. I could see Mark (black and white #23 car) had made his usual storming start and was now in 2nd place. I was hoping I could make a bit of a dash and pull a gap while the others tussled with each other.
This worked well, and by Lap 6 I'd got a bit bored of driving round on my own again. I decided to back off, let Barry (who was now in 2nd) catch me, and then I could hopefully back him into Chris (who was in 3rd) and give us an exciting finale!
Once Barry was a reasonable distance back I got back on the pace - this was just before Agostini (2nd gear left hander). He made a really late dive on the brakes and tried to come up the inside! A very ballsy move - certainly woke me up, haha! I made sure to leave him a good car's width at the apex, but luckily I stayed ahead and the race was on!
We spent the rest of the race dicing with each other, both of us doing our quickest laps within the last 2 laps of the race when we never separated by more than a few car lengths. It was awesome to be so close to another car - this was the feeling I had been waiting for!
I had to take a few pretty defensive lines (mostly into Brundle and Murrays) to keep Barry behind me, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Big smiles all round on the podium, and another 1st place trophy for me! Full results are here: http://tsl-timing.com/barc/2012/123421max.pdf
My video is uploading at the moment, and should be finished tonight - I will stick it up when done.
Overall, a top weekend once again - even better than the last one obviously! Thanks to all the guys for making it so enjoyable.
Next race is Mallory Park on 30th September, with the quali and both races crammed into the same day. Should be very exciting due to the track being short and tight!
Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Northern bloke rambles on about his weekend and tells you about stuff you don't really care about in far too much detail'...
I had to go to a family do down in Kent on Saturday night, which meant a relatively early start Sunday to make sure I was at the track in time for our briefing at 12.
I arrived about 10ish and said hello to everyone, then spotted Mark doing some cheeky weight-saving (yes, the sills were pretty full!).
Decent weather, woohoo!
After mingling with the paddock for a bit, we decided it was time to watch the last half hour of the 2CV race. They had been at it since 11am the previous day, had a red flag overnight due to flooding on the track and in the pits, but everyone was in great spirits and there was an amazing atmosphere about the place.
One of the cars came in about 20 mins from the end with what looked like a pretty terminal problem, smoke billowing from the exhaust. He was sent back out on the track (albeit VERY slowly) and came back round to the pit straight after what seemed like about 10 minutes, smoke still pouring from the exhaust. He was given a huge cheer by everyone on the pit wall and pushed over the line by a fellow competitor - amazing stuff
The finish of the race ended up pretty close from what I can gather, with only a few seconds in it! All the cars were met as they cruised down the pit lane at the end of the race, a great sight.
After that excitement, it was time to turn my attentions to our weekend. First up was our new driver briefing (you have to go to this if you haven't raced at the curcuit before). I went to Race Control to check the time and place of the briefing... 12 at Tyrrells resaurant - sorted.
The chap started by introducing himself as having run the first truck race in the UK in 1983, and mentioning that we had to be careful of black smoke, so would be flagged and allowed to adjust the mixture in the pits if it was too smoky. He also mentioned that a couple of the corners on the track didn't have much camber, so we needed to be careful of toppling over. Very odd...
At this point Sam (yellow number 11 car - his first time driving the car and his first race, more on that later) came over and dragged me away. It all seemed a bit weird but I was just going along with it... haha. I was at the truck briefing! Oops.
Anyway, luckily the 'correct' briefing was running a bit late, so managed to get to that. By the time we'd finished it was about 12:30, so still had some time to prep the car (yes, I checked the oil, twice in fact!!) before scrutineering at 1 and qualifying at 2:20pm.
Scrutineering went fairly well, only thing the guy seemed a bit iffy about was the fire retardant foam between the boot and the c**kpit (the c**kpit has to be sealed from fluids - especially fuel!). They always seem to pull me up on that. I blagged my way through it, but might bang some fibreglass over it at some point.
The car weighed in at 909kg with about half a tank of fuel - we need to make 970kg with driver and 3 litres of fuel at the end of a session / race. With my 85kg in there too, I knew I'd be plenty safe.
So - qualifying. I was pretty comfortable with the track as I'd been there about a month earlier in my other Mk1 to check it out. I had been lapping about 2:34 with a passenger, so was hoping to go a bit quicker this time...
Managed to get out onto the track in some clear air, but I had made some relatively major geo changes and not driven the car since it's last outing, so spent a couple of laps getting used to how the car was feeling before pressing on.
Now, there are two very important corners at Snetterton, one is Williams and the other is Murrays. Both are before very long straights, and Senna Straight (between Murrays and Riches) is uphill, too. You have to get good exits from both of these corners to get a good lap time, as obviously that extra speed carries all the way down the straight. I'll refer back to this track map a few times later on...
Turns out my quickest lap was on lap 5 (out of 8) - a 2:30.397 - I think I was maybe pushing a bit too much towards the end of the session. Watching the video back carefully would confirm, but it proves that smooth is usually fast!
Once back off the track we were shepherded through Parc Ferme and into the scrutineering bay for weighing. We don't get weighed every time, so this was a new experience for me. I'd done some quick calcs after scrutineering and was pretty sure weight would be no issue, but was nervous anyway..!
982kg, phew. That means I'd used 12kg of fuel (a smidge under 17 litres) in an 8-lap, 20 minute session. That's about 7mpg, if you include the warm down lap, eek. Either way, this was good knowledge for both later in the day and in future...
We headed off to grab some timing sheets and found I'd qualified second, just pipped at the post by Sam in the bright yellow #11 car as he'd busted out a very quick 2:30.1 lap right at the death - a bloody great result considering he'd never driven Snetterton OR the car before! (Why is it that ex-karters are always bloody fast?)
Unfortunately though, at the weigh in, Sam's slender figure and dry-cell battery (which had been fitted as a safety measure rather than for weight-saving, and isn't against the series regs) meant the car came in underweight, so he would have to start at the back. That would give me a better chance for the race, and also Sam would have a great time getting through the field, but it was a shame his efforts were in vain.
Our next action wouldn't be until the next day, so the cars were covered up and we went to watch some of the other racing. The trucks were kicking out rather a lot of black smoke, but watching their 6 tons lapping at under 2:30 was quite a sight!
The evening was pretty chilled - had some sausage buns, chocolate doughnuts and chocolate buttons with Chris (cheers for letting me borrow your stove again!), grabbed a pint of coke (and something stronger) with Paul, Jo, Mark, Tom and Chris, then went for a saunter round the track.
Main straight (Senna)... long and uphill.
Bentley straight... also very long.
There was lots of chat of best lines, inspecting kerbs, etc, and the odd silly pose.
We (Tom, Chris and I) popped back to the bar for another coke, checked out the TSL Timing website for the quali times, and decided on our strategy for the race (get ahead of the other cars and stay there). Then it was bed time.
Got a pretty good sleep, woken by the bin lorries coming round about half 6... 1100 litre steel wheelie bins are not quiet when they are being chucked around!
View from my boudoir (back of the van) in the morning - sunny!
Everyone else was still tucked up at this point...
But it wasn't long before we were all up and about, grabbing breakfast etc.
Sam and Barry prepping and adding weights to the car - doing lots of fuel weight calculations to make sure they were over the weight limit for the races. Neither of them had raced before, and it was Sam's first time driving the car too. Both thoroughly nice chaps and very quick drivers, so we hope to see you again in the future!
Sam with torque wrench in hand - maybe not so inexperienced after all!
Jeremy, Joe, Paul and Ian chatting.
The Chilcott camp - great setup they have there!
Final pre-race checks, Rodders and Tom on the left, Chris in the middle, and Paul on the right.
So - onto the first race. We were guided into the holding area and it appeared the marshalls had been given a grid list that hadn't been fully updated - Sam was put on pole with me in 2nd. Not a problem really, the #11 car now had plenty of weight in it, and this would just make the race more exciting hopefully!
I had an 'ok' start, with Chris in the orange #15 car passing me around the outside on the first straight and into Riches. Sam was ahead of us both at this point, but I think he must have missed a gear as he dropped back between Chris and I.
I got a bit sideways in the first corner and then stayed in 4th when I should have dropped a gear, so Sam came around the outside of me into Montreal and with a brief puff of smoke Chris' tyres he kept Sam at bay under braking - from 3rd to 1st in 2 corners, nice work mate! I had the inside line for Montreal, but Sam cruised round the outside and got on the power better than me to take 2nd.
He and Chris looked to be pretty evenly matched, with plenty of jostling going on throughout the first lap, so I decided to hang back a bit and bide my time...
My time came at the end of lap 1 - Sam got up the inside of Chris around Coram, but then had too much speed to stop the car! He went off on the outside of the track at the next corner, the tight left hander Murrays, with Chris getting some oversteer too and diving to the left of the track upon correcting it.
I made sure I got a good exit to carry speed along the main straight, and cruised up behind both of the cars ahead. Gradually creeping to the left of the track, I held Chris there and drew Sam across, leaving space to jink right and take the inside line for the next turn. My first 'proper' overtake
I reached the turn in point first and just needed to keep it steady to stay ahead - no dramas. Something my camera reveals but I missed at the time was Chris getting a bit drifty on the inside of the turn (at 85mph) and tagging Sam by accident, which made both of them get a fair bit out of shape. They both held it well, but it gave me a bit of breathing space.
At the next bend, Montreal, a tight right hander, Sam got seriously oversteery and spun, causing Chris to take evasive action losing both of them a fair bit of time. From here, I was able to take it fairly steady and come home for my first win!
After the race it turned out Chris had ended up with a bit more damage than I realised, so had his wing rubbing on his front tyre and had to retire
Still, a bit of tugging, hammering and duct tape had him ready for Race 2!This time I started on pole, next to Jimmy in the Mission Motorsport car, with Barry (Sam's dad, in the yellow #11 car) starting at the back due to being a shared driver and not having completed a full qualifying. Chris started next to him due to his DNF - with two quick guys at the back they were sure to have some fun, and I had to make sure I got away cleanly to avoid being swallowed up...
I got a decent start, and was in the lead into the first bend. I could see Mark (black and white #23 car) had made his usual storming start and was now in 2nd place. I was hoping I could make a bit of a dash and pull a gap while the others tussled with each other.
This worked well, and by Lap 6 I'd got a bit bored of driving round on my own again. I decided to back off, let Barry (who was now in 2nd) catch me, and then I could hopefully back him into Chris (who was in 3rd) and give us an exciting finale!
Once Barry was a reasonable distance back I got back on the pace - this was just before Agostini (2nd gear left hander). He made a really late dive on the brakes and tried to come up the inside! A very ballsy move - certainly woke me up, haha! I made sure to leave him a good car's width at the apex, but luckily I stayed ahead and the race was on!
We spent the rest of the race dicing with each other, both of us doing our quickest laps within the last 2 laps of the race when we never separated by more than a few car lengths. It was awesome to be so close to another car - this was the feeling I had been waiting for!
I had to take a few pretty defensive lines (mostly into Brundle and Murrays) to keep Barry behind me, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Big smiles all round on the podium, and another 1st place trophy for me! Full results are here: http://tsl-timing.com/barc/2012/123421max.pdf
My video is uploading at the moment, and should be finished tonight - I will stick it up when done.
Overall, a top weekend once again - even better than the last one obviously! Thanks to all the guys for making it so enjoyable.
Next race is Mallory Park on 30th September, with the quali and both races crammed into the same day. Should be very exciting due to the track being short and tight!
Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Northern bloke rambles on about his weekend and tells you about stuff you don't really care about in far too much detail'...
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Will watch the vid later but great results mate, very well done!
Turbos.
Just spent ages reading this page! Nice write ups and glad to hear you are getting silverware already.
I love the sound of the comradery involved in the series, must make up in part in being in tents! I am lucky i get to stay in a Premier Inn; not sure i could handle the cold and wet nights, especially if i didn't end up with a trophy!
LOL @ the 2CVs! I remember doing testing there last season with a few go round, was lapping them every lap! It was a scary difference in entry speed into corners sometimes.
I love the sound of the comradery involved in the series, must make up in part in being in tents! I am lucky i get to stay in a Premier Inn; not sure i could handle the cold and wet nights, especially if i didn't end up with a trophy!
LOL @ the 2CVs! I remember doing testing there last season with a few go round, was lapping them every lap! It was a scary difference in entry speed into corners sometimes.
Good read, some nice information for the beginner racer. As I have said one make series do interest me I have built a car that is only suitable for open championships really so it does tend to be how big is your wallet, I will probably shift as all my mates have done in a season or two of open championships.
One make is good but can also get quite expensive (usually repair costs rather than car cost) due to the closeness, it is that way in Scotland, nobody gives you an inch up the sharp end.
One make is good but can also get quite expensive (usually repair costs rather than car cost) due to the closeness, it is that way in Scotland, nobody gives you an inch up the sharp end.
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Summary for Donington 6th April: Qualified on pole, screwed up the start, made too many mistakes and finished 4th in race 1. Race 2 - again screwed up the start, went off the track quite a lot, finished 7th - but had an awesome time!
Well it's been a while, but following a cracking day at Donington yesterday, here's another update! It's a little short on photos as I didn't have a lot of spare time on the day (edit: and just checked my phone, the memory card was being an idiot so it hasn't stored any at all, bugger!), but I'll try and add some pretty pictures in where I can...
So, first race of the season. Had done quite a few track days over winter, but only one in the race car just to check it was all ok. It had been reportedly been puffing out a bit of blue smoke at the last race of last season (Mallory, which for some reason there appears to be no report of!? I'll have to sort one out...) but some slightly heavier weight oil seems to have sorted that. Was really looking forward to this one, and it seemed everyone else was too, as we had a full grid (limited to 30 cars so some people were unfortunately turned away), a good split of Mk1s and Mk3s (15 of each I think) and it was going to be much busier / tighter than last year!
I was reasonably confident the 'work' (track days, reading / theory, datalogging, car tweaking) I'd done over winter had improved my pace, but there was only one way to find out...
I set off down on Friday evening - it's definitely nicer to stay at the track overnight, say hello to everyone, then you have a bit of contingency time in case anything goes wrong... Like writing your tow van off somewhere near Oxford and having to get collected late Friday night - luckily that wasn't me, but one of the new guys Graeme. He got here in the end and though thanks to Jon, but it mean Jon had done Bournemouth - Donington - Oxford - Donington in one go, so he looked pretty shattered when he came to say hello at about 11!
Spent a bit of time in Rob's sauna (full on beast-spec awning zipped to the size of his motorhome complete with bottom 'skirt' and gas heater!), then headed to bed about half 11. Unfortunately as you may know, Donington is on a flight path for one of the busiest airports in the country, so I didn't manage to get much sleep until about 2am when the planes stopped. I was really overjoyed (slight sarcasm) when the kicked off again about 5. At about half 6 I gave up trying to get any more sleep, and was hearing some familiar voices outside so decided it was time to get up.
Sign on was 8:30 til 8:45, a compulsory 'not raced at Donington before' briefing at 8:30, then scrutineering 8:45-9:45. Usually we head to sign on a little early to give ourselves plenty of time for any issues later in the day, but when we turned up about 8:15 there was a massive queue. Not ideal, but hoped I could get to the front before the new driver briefing...
Half 8 came and I was about 5th in the queue, bugger - off to the new driver briefing and lose my place. Never mind, that queue will die down, won't it? Not so! It was even bigger now and qualifying was at 10 - meaning we'd get called around 9:40. This was going to be tight - especially with family / relatives arriving around half 9, and my car failing scrutineering due to no brake lights, argh! I still needed to get changed, check tyre pressures and go to the loo as well...
I got back to our paddock area and started poking around in the back of the car, both bulbs were fine (I'd changed one over winter as it blew at Mallory) but Tom pointed out the switch at the pedal wasn't connected - THANK YOU!
I decided tyre pressures were more important than the loo, and strapped myself in to get to the holding area just in time. Phew. With 30 cars lined up I anticipated a busy session so tried to get myself somewhere that might allow a bit of space...
The session went pretty well, the car felt good and I didn't get caught in much traffic at all, which allowed me to get stuck in and get some clean laps put together. Rob, the fastest guy last year, said he'd been doing high 1:28s at a session earlier in the year, and I had done a mid 1:30 in my road car with a passenger at a recent track day, so I had a feeling I might be able to get somewhere near him.
After quali, I got mobbed by the aforementioned family / relatives and completely forgot about picking up a timing sheet. However, when someone brought one over and it showed I'd managed a 1:29.0 and was 0.7s quicker than the 2nd placed car in my class I was pretty shocked! I would end up starting with 3 Mk3s between myself and the nearest Mk1 - so immediately my plan for the race was to use them as a 'buffer' and try to keep ahead...
One of the things I'd been doing over winter was some datalogging. I have found it very very useful in identifying areas to gain time very quickly and in an easy to understand graphical format. I'm a big believer in developing the driver instead of the car, and it seems the ideal tool to do it.
Here's an overview of the qualifying session, with my quickest lap highlighted in red. It looks a mess if you don't know how to read the data, but here's some of the stuff I look at...
- Braking / acceleration G, cornering G and speed trace at the bottom. If any of the 'spikes' under braking or cornering are obviously smaller in one corner, then you know immediately you are not using all the available grip at this point!
- On the lap times chart, F means fastest sector, FC means fastest consecutive sector (top middle of the pic). On Lap 7 the first sector was actually 0.17 faster than the first sector from my fastest complete lap (lap 10), for example. So, my overall theoretical quickest lap (if I'd have strung together all my fastest sectors into one lap) would have been 1:28.63 - about 0.4 faster than my actual fastest lap. This is useful to see how consistent your driving is - if your theoretical is miles quicker than your actual best, that tends to indicate things are a bit erratic!
- You can also see that laps 4 onwards (with the exception of lap 8 where I got held up) are all pretty consistent and gradually tending to get quicker. You must complete 3 laps without firing it off or you aren't allowed to race, so I always take the first couple pretty steady, build up pace, get some heat into the tyres and brakes, learn the track conditions, try to find myself some space in the traffic, and then press on.
- The coloured track map shows were I can go faster and where I did ok. You set up a 'simulation' car (using power, weight, drag coefficient, maximum cornering (1.25) and braking g (0.9), and a few more) and the software compares your performance to it. Red means I'm slow and blue means I'm not so bad! It doesn't take into account gradients and cambers (those who have done Donington will know how important these are!) but the main areas it looked like I could gain time were the braking zone into the first corner (Redgate) and the uphill entry to the right hander at the back of the track, Coppice. This is where I could hopefully gain some time for the race... The section between marker 3 and 4 is all uphill, hence the simulation software thinking I was losing time.
Race 1 was at half 1 and we were on live TV! In order to save time we were informed we'd be doing a rolling start - we'd not done these before so it was going to be a steep learning curve!
After a spot of lunch, our time came around and we all headed to the assembly area so get ready. Being so far up the grid was a little weird but I kept in my mind that if I could get a decent start, all would be ok...
Unfortunately I made a right mess of it, haha. The rolling speed was about right for 2nd gear, so as soon as the lights went out I buried the throttle. A couple of seconds later I hit the limiter (for rather a long time, haha), forgot to change up and was completely swamped - I think I must have lost 4 or 5 places by the first corner.
The race was really good fun though - I spent a lot of timing dicing with the top 3 guys, but couldn't find any sort of rhythm and kept making stupid mistakes. This dropped me back, meaning I had to catch them again - which I was able to do since they were busy fighting their own battles - but as soon as I got a sniff of a pass on Chris I c**ked up again.
I finished the race 4th, happy that it was a fun race but disappointed I'd been so erratic. Last season I had been very consistent in the races (and quali), and it's always the way I drive at track days too, but it seemed the extra pace that had seemingly come from somewhere had taken that away!
The only consolation was that I'd taken fastest lap and this was 0.9s quicker than my qualifying time - 1:28.1. Of course consistency and position wins races but I was fairly chuffed I had gained so much time. The MX-5 Mk1 lap record for Donington is 1:26.89 so there was still a way to go though!
Unfortunately my camera had a paddy and I forgot to turn the datalogger on for Race 1, but everything was working for Race 2...
Starting 4th in Mk1s in a bunch of 6 well-matched cars, this one was going to be good! And it was - apart from me being an idiot and firing it off all over the place, haha. Once again I had the fastest lap, but finished 7th due to two trips across the grass and a couple through the chicane just before the start-finish straight - ouch. I have a video exporting which I'll stick up later, but for now it's back to the data (and I'm a poet but I didn't know it).
'Driving the circle' is a phrase used to try and explain how the g-force trace should look if you are using all of the available grip of the tyres. You get hard on the brakes, then gradually reduce braking force as you turn in, seamlessly blending into full cornering force at no braking or throttle, then transition back into full throttle. If your car can brake at 0.9g and corner at 1.25g, this means you can actually 'cheat' some extra grip out of the tyres and corner at 1g while still braking at 0.4g, say. The best drivers ride the rim of the 'traction circle' all day long and make it look easy, but it's not!
Here's a video from the start of the year where I started logging and using the circle to show me where I could use the available grip better (don't need to watch it, just look at the shape of the blob):
And then at Cadwell a month later...
The first video is more of a 'pitched roof' shape and the second one is much more rounded - this is what we're aiming for!
Checking the g plots from the quickest lap in Race 2 it seems I'm getting there but I can still fill out the circle better. Since there are only a few left-handers at Donington and none of them are 'true' braking zones, the trace on the left could never reach as far to the side as on the right:
I'm relatively happy with the progression there from the Blyton video above.
Looking at the overall data from Race 2 shows the following...
- I'd got rid of / reduced the red zones at the two braking points I wanted to (compare the pic below to the one above).
- Consistency was bad! Compare theoretical to actual lap times - in fact my quickest overall lap this time only had 1/5 quickest sectors, compared with 3/5 for the quali lap. I think this may have been down to traffic / other cars, you can see at the first corner my speed plateaus for quite some time, and then again at the 3rd 'spike' in the lap. The second speed spike which also plateaus is Craner Curves, so no matter if you're flat on the throttle the car speed doesn't really increase as there is so much tyre scrub.
- If I had strung 5 good sectors together I'd be down at 1:27.25, which I was pretty chuffed about!
The datalogging software is also really good for finding out why you were fast or slow at a particular part of the track.
My 'goal' had been to brake later in general after I'd seen the simulation comparison following qualifying - I managed this and it did gain me over half a second, but the data reveals that I probably overdid it a few times...
The comparison below is my fastest lap in quali (blue) vs fastest lap in race 2 (red):
- I hit the brakes much later (up to 10m!) at nearly all the corners, but this hurt my apex speed everywhere apart from the chicane. I had gained time, but it was from carrying my end-of-straight speed for a little longer rather than carrying it through the bends.
- Example: Where the vertical line is across the speed trace, I was 5mph slower through the first corner apex on my race lap compared with qualifying lap, because I'd braked too late and gone in too deep! This sort of thing was the same throughout the lap, I'd gone from braking too early to braking too late. The video I'll put up later shows the consequences of this
You can also study closer into this first corner example, and that looks like this...
The pic below compares the first sector only of my race 2 fastest lap with a different lap that was slower overall, but was 0.4s faster through the sector...
I braked harder on the 'red' lap (0.86g as opposed to 0.82g), but the 'blue' lap had a higher peak lateral g (1.13 - 1.09). When you look at the lines it becomes obvious why!
The blue blob on the track map shows I took a tighter line through the apex, so even though I braked later for the 'red' lap (the traces cross over - the blue sector's line turns orange in the braking zone, indicating I was a bit early on the brakes) and carried more speed into the turn, I couldn't keep the car on line, couldn't get on the power as early and ended up being slower all the way down the next bit of track, losing time overall!
So, it really is a delicate balance - and there is still a lot of work to do - however I have learnt a few things from yesterday...
- My pace has improved quite a lot, but I need to reign it in a little now to keep things consistent.
- I need to improve my starts and maybe be a bit more ruthless!
- Having 30 cars on track all at once makes for some very good fun.
- I can't wait for Croft in 3 weeks!
If I find some pics floating around the net I'll pop them in here just to try and make it a bit more interesting...
Cheers,
Adam
Well it's been a while, but following a cracking day at Donington yesterday, here's another update! It's a little short on photos as I didn't have a lot of spare time on the day (edit: and just checked my phone, the memory card was being an idiot so it hasn't stored any at all, bugger!), but I'll try and add some pretty pictures in where I can...
So, first race of the season. Had done quite a few track days over winter, but only one in the race car just to check it was all ok. It had been reportedly been puffing out a bit of blue smoke at the last race of last season (Mallory, which for some reason there appears to be no report of!? I'll have to sort one out...) but some slightly heavier weight oil seems to have sorted that. Was really looking forward to this one, and it seemed everyone else was too, as we had a full grid (limited to 30 cars so some people were unfortunately turned away), a good split of Mk1s and Mk3s (15 of each I think) and it was going to be much busier / tighter than last year!
I was reasonably confident the 'work' (track days, reading / theory, datalogging, car tweaking) I'd done over winter had improved my pace, but there was only one way to find out...
I set off down on Friday evening - it's definitely nicer to stay at the track overnight, say hello to everyone, then you have a bit of contingency time in case anything goes wrong... Like writing your tow van off somewhere near Oxford and having to get collected late Friday night - luckily that wasn't me, but one of the new guys Graeme. He got here in the end and though thanks to Jon, but it mean Jon had done Bournemouth - Donington - Oxford - Donington in one go, so he looked pretty shattered when he came to say hello at about 11!
Spent a bit of time in Rob's sauna (full on beast-spec awning zipped to the size of his motorhome complete with bottom 'skirt' and gas heater!), then headed to bed about half 11. Unfortunately as you may know, Donington is on a flight path for one of the busiest airports in the country, so I didn't manage to get much sleep until about 2am when the planes stopped. I was really overjoyed (slight sarcasm) when the kicked off again about 5. At about half 6 I gave up trying to get any more sleep, and was hearing some familiar voices outside so decided it was time to get up.
Sign on was 8:30 til 8:45, a compulsory 'not raced at Donington before' briefing at 8:30, then scrutineering 8:45-9:45. Usually we head to sign on a little early to give ourselves plenty of time for any issues later in the day, but when we turned up about 8:15 there was a massive queue. Not ideal, but hoped I could get to the front before the new driver briefing...
Half 8 came and I was about 5th in the queue, bugger - off to the new driver briefing and lose my place. Never mind, that queue will die down, won't it? Not so! It was even bigger now and qualifying was at 10 - meaning we'd get called around 9:40. This was going to be tight - especially with family / relatives arriving around half 9, and my car failing scrutineering due to no brake lights, argh! I still needed to get changed, check tyre pressures and go to the loo as well...
I got back to our paddock area and started poking around in the back of the car, both bulbs were fine (I'd changed one over winter as it blew at Mallory) but Tom pointed out the switch at the pedal wasn't connected - THANK YOU!
I decided tyre pressures were more important than the loo, and strapped myself in to get to the holding area just in time. Phew. With 30 cars lined up I anticipated a busy session so tried to get myself somewhere that might allow a bit of space...
The session went pretty well, the car felt good and I didn't get caught in much traffic at all, which allowed me to get stuck in and get some clean laps put together. Rob, the fastest guy last year, said he'd been doing high 1:28s at a session earlier in the year, and I had done a mid 1:30 in my road car with a passenger at a recent track day, so I had a feeling I might be able to get somewhere near him.
After quali, I got mobbed by the aforementioned family / relatives and completely forgot about picking up a timing sheet. However, when someone brought one over and it showed I'd managed a 1:29.0 and was 0.7s quicker than the 2nd placed car in my class I was pretty shocked! I would end up starting with 3 Mk3s between myself and the nearest Mk1 - so immediately my plan for the race was to use them as a 'buffer' and try to keep ahead...
One of the things I'd been doing over winter was some datalogging. I have found it very very useful in identifying areas to gain time very quickly and in an easy to understand graphical format. I'm a big believer in developing the driver instead of the car, and it seems the ideal tool to do it.
Here's an overview of the qualifying session, with my quickest lap highlighted in red. It looks a mess if you don't know how to read the data, but here's some of the stuff I look at...
- Braking / acceleration G, cornering G and speed trace at the bottom. If any of the 'spikes' under braking or cornering are obviously smaller in one corner, then you know immediately you are not using all the available grip at this point!
- On the lap times chart, F means fastest sector, FC means fastest consecutive sector (top middle of the pic). On Lap 7 the first sector was actually 0.17 faster than the first sector from my fastest complete lap (lap 10), for example. So, my overall theoretical quickest lap (if I'd have strung together all my fastest sectors into one lap) would have been 1:28.63 - about 0.4 faster than my actual fastest lap. This is useful to see how consistent your driving is - if your theoretical is miles quicker than your actual best, that tends to indicate things are a bit erratic!
- You can also see that laps 4 onwards (with the exception of lap 8 where I got held up) are all pretty consistent and gradually tending to get quicker. You must complete 3 laps without firing it off or you aren't allowed to race, so I always take the first couple pretty steady, build up pace, get some heat into the tyres and brakes, learn the track conditions, try to find myself some space in the traffic, and then press on.
- The coloured track map shows were I can go faster and where I did ok. You set up a 'simulation' car (using power, weight, drag coefficient, maximum cornering (1.25) and braking g (0.9), and a few more) and the software compares your performance to it. Red means I'm slow and blue means I'm not so bad! It doesn't take into account gradients and cambers (those who have done Donington will know how important these are!) but the main areas it looked like I could gain time were the braking zone into the first corner (Redgate) and the uphill entry to the right hander at the back of the track, Coppice. This is where I could hopefully gain some time for the race... The section between marker 3 and 4 is all uphill, hence the simulation software thinking I was losing time.
Race 1 was at half 1 and we were on live TV! In order to save time we were informed we'd be doing a rolling start - we'd not done these before so it was going to be a steep learning curve!
After a spot of lunch, our time came around and we all headed to the assembly area so get ready. Being so far up the grid was a little weird but I kept in my mind that if I could get a decent start, all would be ok...
Unfortunately I made a right mess of it, haha. The rolling speed was about right for 2nd gear, so as soon as the lights went out I buried the throttle. A couple of seconds later I hit the limiter (for rather a long time, haha), forgot to change up and was completely swamped - I think I must have lost 4 or 5 places by the first corner.
The race was really good fun though - I spent a lot of timing dicing with the top 3 guys, but couldn't find any sort of rhythm and kept making stupid mistakes. This dropped me back, meaning I had to catch them again - which I was able to do since they were busy fighting their own battles - but as soon as I got a sniff of a pass on Chris I c**ked up again.
I finished the race 4th, happy that it was a fun race but disappointed I'd been so erratic. Last season I had been very consistent in the races (and quali), and it's always the way I drive at track days too, but it seemed the extra pace that had seemingly come from somewhere had taken that away!
The only consolation was that I'd taken fastest lap and this was 0.9s quicker than my qualifying time - 1:28.1. Of course consistency and position wins races but I was fairly chuffed I had gained so much time. The MX-5 Mk1 lap record for Donington is 1:26.89 so there was still a way to go though!
Unfortunately my camera had a paddy and I forgot to turn the datalogger on for Race 1, but everything was working for Race 2...
Starting 4th in Mk1s in a bunch of 6 well-matched cars, this one was going to be good! And it was - apart from me being an idiot and firing it off all over the place, haha. Once again I had the fastest lap, but finished 7th due to two trips across the grass and a couple through the chicane just before the start-finish straight - ouch. I have a video exporting which I'll stick up later, but for now it's back to the data (and I'm a poet but I didn't know it).
'Driving the circle' is a phrase used to try and explain how the g-force trace should look if you are using all of the available grip of the tyres. You get hard on the brakes, then gradually reduce braking force as you turn in, seamlessly blending into full cornering force at no braking or throttle, then transition back into full throttle. If your car can brake at 0.9g and corner at 1.25g, this means you can actually 'cheat' some extra grip out of the tyres and corner at 1g while still braking at 0.4g, say. The best drivers ride the rim of the 'traction circle' all day long and make it look easy, but it's not!
Here's a video from the start of the year where I started logging and using the circle to show me where I could use the available grip better (don't need to watch it, just look at the shape of the blob):
And then at Cadwell a month later...
The first video is more of a 'pitched roof' shape and the second one is much more rounded - this is what we're aiming for!
Checking the g plots from the quickest lap in Race 2 it seems I'm getting there but I can still fill out the circle better. Since there are only a few left-handers at Donington and none of them are 'true' braking zones, the trace on the left could never reach as far to the side as on the right:
I'm relatively happy with the progression there from the Blyton video above.
Looking at the overall data from Race 2 shows the following...
- I'd got rid of / reduced the red zones at the two braking points I wanted to (compare the pic below to the one above).
- Consistency was bad! Compare theoretical to actual lap times - in fact my quickest overall lap this time only had 1/5 quickest sectors, compared with 3/5 for the quali lap. I think this may have been down to traffic / other cars, you can see at the first corner my speed plateaus for quite some time, and then again at the 3rd 'spike' in the lap. The second speed spike which also plateaus is Craner Curves, so no matter if you're flat on the throttle the car speed doesn't really increase as there is so much tyre scrub.
- If I had strung 5 good sectors together I'd be down at 1:27.25, which I was pretty chuffed about!
The datalogging software is also really good for finding out why you were fast or slow at a particular part of the track.
My 'goal' had been to brake later in general after I'd seen the simulation comparison following qualifying - I managed this and it did gain me over half a second, but the data reveals that I probably overdid it a few times...
The comparison below is my fastest lap in quali (blue) vs fastest lap in race 2 (red):
- I hit the brakes much later (up to 10m!) at nearly all the corners, but this hurt my apex speed everywhere apart from the chicane. I had gained time, but it was from carrying my end-of-straight speed for a little longer rather than carrying it through the bends.
- Example: Where the vertical line is across the speed trace, I was 5mph slower through the first corner apex on my race lap compared with qualifying lap, because I'd braked too late and gone in too deep! This sort of thing was the same throughout the lap, I'd gone from braking too early to braking too late. The video I'll put up later shows the consequences of this
You can also study closer into this first corner example, and that looks like this...
The pic below compares the first sector only of my race 2 fastest lap with a different lap that was slower overall, but was 0.4s faster through the sector...
I braked harder on the 'red' lap (0.86g as opposed to 0.82g), but the 'blue' lap had a higher peak lateral g (1.13 - 1.09). When you look at the lines it becomes obvious why!
The blue blob on the track map shows I took a tighter line through the apex, so even though I braked later for the 'red' lap (the traces cross over - the blue sector's line turns orange in the braking zone, indicating I was a bit early on the brakes) and carried more speed into the turn, I couldn't keep the car on line, couldn't get on the power as early and ended up being slower all the way down the next bit of track, losing time overall!
So, it really is a delicate balance - and there is still a lot of work to do - however I have learnt a few things from yesterday...
- My pace has improved quite a lot, but I need to reign it in a little now to keep things consistent.
- I need to improve my starts and maybe be a bit more ruthless!
- Having 30 cars on track all at once makes for some very good fun.
- I can't wait for Croft in 3 weeks!
If I find some pics floating around the net I'll pop them in here just to try and make it a bit more interesting...
Cheers,
Adam
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Wooft, will read all that later (you know, tomorrow, when I'm being paid )
)
182cup & 172 racecar
Well done Adam, I was racing at Rockingham yesterday, and there were loads of MX5's out there as well, must be lot's about.
Good luck with the rest of the season.
Good luck with the rest of the season.
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Cheers guys - how did you get on at Rockingham Tony? Yeah the BRSCC MX-5 series (separate one) was there, looked like a good day
Thanks, and you too. Hopefully see you some time!
Anyway, here's my vid from Race 2.
Started 4th in a bunch of 6 similarly-paced cars, again cocked up the start, then messed up in the race quite a lot and finished 7th.
I was chuffed with my pace (qualified on pole, and fastest lap in both races) but I was too inconsistent and made too many mistakes in the races, which was pretty diasppointing.
Video 'highlights' are as follows:
0:30 - Messing up the start by being too far back from the car ahead when the lights went out, then being too cautious throughout the first half of the lap.
1:05 - 3 abreast through Craner
2:33 - Tom closing the gap fairly forcefully
3:25 - Good run on James, passing into the chicane with Rodders up my inside - left him room but didn't come through
3:58 - Let Rodders through the inside and expected him to disappear into the distance...
4:17 - But nearly ran into the back of him at Old Hairpin! (He was in a borrowed car)
5:49 - Good speed through Old Hairpin, carrying the speed to pass Tom up the inside at the next right hander
8:10 - Good run on Josh out of the chicane, easy pass
8:55 - Getting cosy with Chris
9.38 - Good exit from chicane again...
9.56 - But screwed up again and lost both the places, dammit!
10:20 - Pass Josh up the inside again
11:42 - Oversteer down Craner, then Sam getting twitchy through Old Hairpin
12:27 - Good run on Sam... But overcooked it in quite a big way
14:50 - One handed drift through Old Hairpin, allowing Tom to pass me
15:30 - Slipstreamed him to make the pass... but screwed up again
16:23 - Too hot into Old Hairpin, gave it up and went grass-tracking
17:15 - Alan outbraked himself into the last corner, sat in the run off before the chicane
AFter the race I realised one of my front pads was down to the metal - that may have had something to do with the lack of retardation towards the end of the race! (Racing Driver Excuse #457)
Thanks, and you too. Hopefully see you some time!
Anyway, here's my vid from Race 2.
Started 4th in a bunch of 6 similarly-paced cars, again cocked up the start, then messed up in the race quite a lot and finished 7th.
I was chuffed with my pace (qualified on pole, and fastest lap in both races) but I was too inconsistent and made too many mistakes in the races, which was pretty diasppointing.
Video 'highlights' are as follows:
0:30 - Messing up the start by being too far back from the car ahead when the lights went out, then being too cautious throughout the first half of the lap.
1:05 - 3 abreast through Craner
2:33 - Tom closing the gap fairly forcefully
3:25 - Good run on James, passing into the chicane with Rodders up my inside - left him room but didn't come through
3:58 - Let Rodders through the inside and expected him to disappear into the distance...
4:17 - But nearly ran into the back of him at Old Hairpin! (He was in a borrowed car)
5:49 - Good speed through Old Hairpin, carrying the speed to pass Tom up the inside at the next right hander
8:10 - Good run on Josh out of the chicane, easy pass
8:55 - Getting cosy with Chris
9.38 - Good exit from chicane again...
9.56 - But screwed up again and lost both the places, dammit!
10:20 - Pass Josh up the inside again
11:42 - Oversteer down Craner, then Sam getting twitchy through Old Hairpin
12:27 - Good run on Sam... But overcooked it in quite a big way
14:50 - One handed drift through Old Hairpin, allowing Tom to pass me
15:30 - Slipstreamed him to make the pass... but screwed up again
16:23 - Too hot into Old Hairpin, gave it up and went grass-tracking
17:15 - Alan outbraked himself into the last corner, sat in the run off before the chicane
AFter the race I realised one of my front pads was down to the metal - that may have had something to do with the lack of retardation towards the end of the race! (Racing Driver Excuse #457)
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182cup & 172 racecar
Did you bend anything going over those sausage kerbs at that angle? Some good moves there.
Not bad Got a 1st and 2nd in French Trophy.
Not bad Got a 1st and 2nd in French Trophy.
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Now you mention it... yes, but only superficial luckily - seems the tyre / something flexed enough to make it scrub the return lips on the front wings, and pull them straight! The geo will need a full re-set now though I'm sure...
Any racing driver excuse for going off so much - these had half their meat on at the start of the day!
Nice work! I assume you'll have some vids on the go? We're at Rockingham in May but I've never driven there, so keen to try and learn it a bit from some vids...
Tell me about it
I could hear the car crying, haha.
George@RTR_Parts
ClioSport Trader
Good watch as usual Ads!
Might try get to Croft end of month to watch
Ps pay your membership you tight git
Might try get to Croft end of month to watch
Ps pay your membership you tight git
182cup & 172 racecar
Vids should be end of the week, Jay's picking up cards on Wed.
Rocking is very bumpy, hard on tyres and not as much grip as you would think.
Rocking is very bumpy, hard on tyres and not as much grip as you would think.
Mk1 MX-5 (x3), Westy
Cheers Euan! Just realised the pics are much bigger than the page displays, if you right click, copy image location (or similar if you're using IE / Chrome / whatever) then paste into a new tab / window you can see a lot more detail.
Jamie - we're at Thruxton 17-18th August if that's any good to you?
Jamie - we're at Thruxton 17-18th August if that's any good to you?
Jamie86
ClioSport Club Member
RS175,595,205gti,172
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