Finally last friday morning came around and it was time to head off to Oulton Park for the first race, six months after owning the car and getting it ready to see a circuit once more. For those who are unaware, see: http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?487157
I don't have any trackday experience (having just done some VXR days with instructors and the ARDS test) so this was my first real foray into driving a car on a circuit.
Scruitineering passed without major incident on Saturday morning, I was asked to cover up the headlights and to take note that my seat is slightly loose and the car was 2db over the 98db noise limit, but passed! When steam started to eminate from under the bonnet, I realised that the radiator fan hadn't kicked in. The other guys had a look but too late to try to fix it, so I was to take it steady in qualifying and park it if it showed any signs of overheating (the dashboard gauge wasn't picking up a temp reading).
Qualifying happened on a damp track, 'mildly moist' towards the end, as Top Gear would say, so I set about scrubbing the brand new front tyres in, warming up the brakes and learning which way the circuit goes. Had a few slippy moments and spent most of the time getting out of the faster guys way. Got one clear lap in and that was good enough for third in Class B (pre-92 cars, out of 6) and 26th overall (out of 30). Four places higher than where I expected to be. Bonus.
Between qualifying and the race I caught up with Chrisnnic, Christopher and Atouba and got a present from Naith...
Also discovered that the drivers side CV boot had split from the hub and shat grease everywhere. Again, no time to do anything about it - start the race and if the vibrations get worse - park it.
The video for the race tells the story, the aim was to finish the race and not take any risks along the way. That would include backing out of any 50:50 moves, just to bring the car home in one piece.
Along the way I set second fastest lap in Class B (2:13.79) and finished 26th overall. Could have been a few places higher were it for a tiny bit more luck and if I'd actually tried one or two manoeuvers. Thanks to Chris for the pics and everyone's support on the day Vid is available in 720p if you watch on YT.com.
Also congratulations to Josh (cookie-jnr) who won the championship on the day.
I don't have any trackday experience (having just done some VXR days with instructors and the ARDS test) so this was my first real foray into driving a car on a circuit.
Scruitineering passed without major incident on Saturday morning, I was asked to cover up the headlights and to take note that my seat is slightly loose and the car was 2db over the 98db noise limit, but passed! When steam started to eminate from under the bonnet, I realised that the radiator fan hadn't kicked in. The other guys had a look but too late to try to fix it, so I was to take it steady in qualifying and park it if it showed any signs of overheating (the dashboard gauge wasn't picking up a temp reading).
Qualifying happened on a damp track, 'mildly moist' towards the end, as Top Gear would say, so I set about scrubbing the brand new front tyres in, warming up the brakes and learning which way the circuit goes. Had a few slippy moments and spent most of the time getting out of the faster guys way. Got one clear lap in and that was good enough for third in Class B (pre-92 cars, out of 6) and 26th overall (out of 30). Four places higher than where I expected to be. Bonus.
Between qualifying and the race I caught up with Chrisnnic, Christopher and Atouba and got a present from Naith...
Also discovered that the drivers side CV boot had split from the hub and shat grease everywhere. Again, no time to do anything about it - start the race and if the vibrations get worse - park it.
The video for the race tells the story, the aim was to finish the race and not take any risks along the way. That would include backing out of any 50:50 moves, just to bring the car home in one piece.
Along the way I set second fastest lap in Class B (2:13.79) and finished 26th overall. Could have been a few places higher were it for a tiny bit more luck and if I'd actually tried one or two manoeuvers. Thanks to Chris for the pics and everyone's support on the day Vid is available in 720p if you watch on YT.com.
Also congratulations to Josh (cookie-jnr) who won the championship on the day.
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