Turbos.
I'm afraid i haven't done this place/event much justice. In my keeness to be fully prepared, the camera was put aside for the most of the trip but hopefully i can fill some gaps with a paragraph or two...
The Spa Britcar race was a longer affair than normal, so we got our mate to be our third driver. Being experienced, he helped us with learning the track since we had only been once before, which was earlier this year.
After hearing that Spa had 320 days of rain a year, we were suprised it was just as hot in Belgium than it was in the UK! We were based in the old pitlane, which gave us a nice view of Eau Rouge.
The pitlane itself was a challenge, having two kinks... i almost went off straight away! After a few laps though the 7km circuit came back to me. Although we set a decent time, the faster BMWs killed us on the straights (two seconds after Eau Rouge and another two on the Blanchimont section).
We had no new mods since Brands, that is apart from some tasty magnesium Speedlines which saved 14kg across the board. With the car being so low however, we had to shave the chassis to get them to fit!
The new aero mods passed scrutineering and we had some inquisitive competitors taking a look too!
The race was the next day, and started at 7pm so i had a bit of time to check out the pit area...
Some were keen though, testing their tyre/fuel changes throughout the morning!
We weren't quite ready to do the same!
The boys stripped the car down and put it altogether making sure it was all ok, and excluding the fire extinguisher system going off on top of Eau Rouge, mechanically the car was fine.
When it comes to the race however, it was a disappointment. It started raining heavily - which was great for us, we had a better chance - but we had major problems. Qualifying 22nd, my dad started and got us up to 17th avoiding some tentative Porsches and Ferraris. A F430 put into the wall after Eau Rouge though and for half an hour the safety car was out.
As things got going, the throttle pedal jammed at 100%. Not suprisingly, my dad went off the track but eventually got it to the pits. We were 4 laps down before the car was back out...
Our mate James did a great stint though, at the time 4th fastest on track. He overtook our class rivals, but of course he was only unlapping us!
Eventually, it was my go. It was still wet and the windscreen was fogged up. I was fcuking determined to get a decent result though, and with the drying track i was on the pace straight away. Sadly, my optimism dried up soon after as the car spluttered 3/4 way round one lap.
I came into the pits and the boys tried finding out what the misfire was for. They played around and i was sent on my merry way, only for the car to start running on three cylinders! I limped back again, they changed coils, plugs etc. and once again i went out. The car never improved, but it was worth finishing the race so i hobbled round whilst everyone overtook me. We finshed 31st out of 44.
So, it was a pretty undignified ending to what we hoped would be a dream weekend. Its hard to draw positives but at least this brings some reality to the fact the little Lotus probably can't deal with these longer races! We'll stick to what it does best in future!
I'll leave you with some photos... i think we were the only ones without any damage!
The Spa Britcar race was a longer affair than normal, so we got our mate to be our third driver. Being experienced, he helped us with learning the track since we had only been once before, which was earlier this year.
After hearing that Spa had 320 days of rain a year, we were suprised it was just as hot in Belgium than it was in the UK! We were based in the old pitlane, which gave us a nice view of Eau Rouge.
The pitlane itself was a challenge, having two kinks... i almost went off straight away! After a few laps though the 7km circuit came back to me. Although we set a decent time, the faster BMWs killed us on the straights (two seconds after Eau Rouge and another two on the Blanchimont section).
We had no new mods since Brands, that is apart from some tasty magnesium Speedlines which saved 14kg across the board. With the car being so low however, we had to shave the chassis to get them to fit!
The new aero mods passed scrutineering and we had some inquisitive competitors taking a look too!
The race was the next day, and started at 7pm so i had a bit of time to check out the pit area...
Some were keen though, testing their tyre/fuel changes throughout the morning!
We weren't quite ready to do the same!
The boys stripped the car down and put it altogether making sure it was all ok, and excluding the fire extinguisher system going off on top of Eau Rouge, mechanically the car was fine.
When it comes to the race however, it was a disappointment. It started raining heavily - which was great for us, we had a better chance - but we had major problems. Qualifying 22nd, my dad started and got us up to 17th avoiding some tentative Porsches and Ferraris. A F430 put into the wall after Eau Rouge though and for half an hour the safety car was out.
As things got going, the throttle pedal jammed at 100%. Not suprisingly, my dad went off the track but eventually got it to the pits. We were 4 laps down before the car was back out...
Our mate James did a great stint though, at the time 4th fastest on track. He overtook our class rivals, but of course he was only unlapping us!
Eventually, it was my go. It was still wet and the windscreen was fogged up. I was fcuking determined to get a decent result though, and with the drying track i was on the pace straight away. Sadly, my optimism dried up soon after as the car spluttered 3/4 way round one lap.
I came into the pits and the boys tried finding out what the misfire was for. They played around and i was sent on my merry way, only for the car to start running on three cylinders! I limped back again, they changed coils, plugs etc. and once again i went out. The car never improved, but it was worth finishing the race so i hobbled round whilst everyone overtook me. We finshed 31st out of 44.
So, it was a pretty undignified ending to what we hoped would be a dream weekend. Its hard to draw positives but at least this brings some reality to the fact the little Lotus probably can't deal with these longer races! We'll stick to what it does best in future!
I'll leave you with some photos... i think we were the only ones without any damage!
Nice one fenn!
