So the race weekend came up pretty quickly after all the prep work. I didn't really have time to think about it much before hand. The anticipation and excitement were building though!
We did however manage to book in for a retest on the championship dyno on the Saturday, the day before the race. If you have read the previous posts you will know we had some issues over the last values that we ran at Brands earlier in the year, meaning we would have to run 60kg of ballast to be in class C. To make sure I was prepared this time I worked out the gearbox ratios, and the road speeds prior to our visit, so I could keep an eye on what the operator was putting into the settings during the test etc. This data also helped with setting up the gear position for the dash (which I have calibrated for RPM and vehicle speed)
So we headed up to Donington mid day on the Saturday as we were booked in with Total Track Dyno Power at 2pm.
@chrispy.clio and I got there first and started to unpack all the awning boxes (luckily the Clio has a large empty boot, so most of the parts went in there, and the main awning bags were strapped on the trailer in front the car)
I'm glad we arrived on the Saturday to setup as setting the awnings up for the first time and understanding how the joining kit etc worked took a while!.. An hour or so later and we were all finished. Should be up within minutes next time though, the Surf and Turf products are brilliant bits of kit. Its amazing how such a large awning and table can compress into such small bags/boxes.
The setup and sky banner looked better than I previously hoped it would. Will be a good base for the rest of the season!
I particularly like the modularity of the walls, having full height and half height really opens up the awning whilst protecting from the wind. Plus at night we can fully enclose the awning.
With all the equipment setup it was time to warm the car up and take it over for its re run on the dyno.
I explained all the previous issues to the team, as they were different operators from the two at Brands. We went through all the settings methodically and I was happy with how everything was setup.
The first 3/4 runs we suffered from the dreaded dyno oscillation's again!.. This time however I was able to see what was changed to resolve it. The operator adjusted the 'ramp' to allow the engine to increase rev slightly quicker on the power run. This seamed to stop it and we managed 3 runs fine before doing the final 3 power runs to get the figure.
We ran 150.97, 150.75, 151.24 which was around 7hp less than previously run and more inline with all the other clios tested. This meant we could remove ~30kg of ballast from the car!. this was a big relief and made all the conversations with the event organisers worthwhile.
I made sure I took pictures of every setting on the dyno, so if we are required to do a re run during the season for legality purpose I can make sure the car is tested in the exact same conditions as this time!. This way there would be no doubt in my mind over the consistency of the equipment.
We then jumped straight into the queue for scrutineering. Something I really wanted to do on the Saturday, as it would give us plenty of time to resolve any issues that we/scrutineers may find with the car.
It was also great to see a new addition to the livery with
H&T Trailer Hire & Sales coming on board as a main sponsor to the team. Hugh and the team have always been so helpful and supportive of us; from the first time they got us out of a tough situation last year, and all the way through our test days. If you are after any advice on trailers, plan to buy one or are wanting to hire one they are the guys/girls for the job!
So we managed to pass through scrutineering pretty swiftly!.. We were praised on our build quality which was great to hear. The only item which we needed to modify was the addition of a yellow band on the main earth cable from the battery to the body. This was easily added and our 'pass' sticker also added to the car!.
All those endless nights going over the rule book and blue book paid off!
We took the car back to the awning and waited for
@Jenbo to arrive. We then set about adjusting the ballast and working out the fuel levels for qualifying in the morning. The last task was to fit all the championship stickers and position our personal sponsors. Then setting up the camp beds and getting the Dominoes in!!!
The awning was surprisingly warm through the night!. but jeeeez we missed the memo on needing ear plugs!, the planes coming into land at east mids every 15mins made for an interesting sleep.
RACE DAY!!
a quick shower in the morning and a cup of tea and we were up and ready to go!. First thing first was to head over to get signed on. We then headed back over to scrutineering to get our kit and helmets etc approved and stickered up. (Ben arrived later the night before so scrutineering had closed)
We were the first group out for qualifying at 9:05 so it was good to have everything ready.
With last minute checks and cameras installed Ben headed off to the assembly area while I carried a spare wheel, trolley jack, torque wrench and wheel gun to the pitlane, just incase we got a puncture. (reminder to get a trolley for next time as that was all pretty heavy!!)
On my way to the pitlane I pulled up the TSL timing screen on my phone, only to have the sudden realisation that I hadn't picked up the transponder at sign on, as we were borrowing one from the championship organisers!!!.. You think your all prepared but something always has a habit of biting you in the bum!. I dropped everything off in the pitlane and ran up to the race control area to pick up the transponder
With the cars circulating I quickly rang Chris as he was making his way back from the assembly area. He had the Stilo intercom headset on with connection to the car. We were able to tell Ben to pit as soon as he could so we could fit the transponder!. on Bens in lap the red flags came out as a couple of cars had had excursions into the gravel trap at turn one... This was a blessing in disguise as we were able to pull the bumper off and quickly fit the transponder in the pitlane before joining the middle of the queue lining up to go out again! So we didn't really miss out on any laps in the end.
With the green lights back on the track went live!.. The plan was for Ben to go out and warm the car up and do his 3 mandatory laps (each driver has to do a minimum of 3 to qualify for the race) then put In some banker laps before he handed over to me. We have always been within a few tenths of each other in testing which is great for race pace. Ben is very consistent, and me more sporadic, but I have always managed a faster single lap (I think Ben is a little more worried of damaging the car as I am the one who does the work haha).
The first few laps we were down in 22nd out of 33 cars and I was pretty pleased with that as It was about P8 in class and for our first event I didn't have a clue where we would be compared to the competition. Little did I know Ben was just trying to find some space out on the busy circuit. Once he got into a rhythm, the car and Bens pace began to show, jumping up to P9 overall and 3rd in Class!.. Now I was starting to get excited, we were in with a chance of a good quali result here!..
Being the first group out on track the track evolution was starting to become apparent. Every lap people were going quicker and quicker!.
Before I knew it I was being told to get my helmet on as Ben would be coming in!.. Then I was out on the circuit for my first qualifying session, this is what the previous 4 years had been building too!
Knowing Ben had warmed the car and tyres nicely, and spending all year testing I was at one with the car immediately. I was able to take the craner curves flat even from straight out the pits!. The confidence the car brings is brilliant. The setup edging towards understeer, but very stable. It was a joy to drive.
I quickly found a gap in the traffic and began to work on my lines, trying to be as smooth as possible. I was trying to take turn one too fast and struggling with entry to mid corner understeer, but everywhere else on the lap felt good.
It was great having
@chrispy.clio on the pit wall keeping me informed of lap times and position via the intercom. Saves looking out for pit boards.
We crept up to P2 in class behind a Honda Civic FN2 (great bit of kit).. I then found myself catching the civic on track, I made one last push on my last flying lap of the session, getting a little tow maybe
and went 2 tenths quicker putting us into P5 overall and P1 in Class!! with a 1:22.465 pipping the 2nd place Civic by 0.031s (that was close, good job we got the transponder fitted)
The chequered flag came out on the next lap and that was it, first session ever and we had grabbed pole in class!!!.. what a feeling!
Before we could enjoy it fully we just had the little task of post quali checks in Parc Ferme. Every car was weighed to make sure we weren't breaching the class regs!. We were weighed and given the thumbs up all ok!
Quite an array of cars, we're in there somewhere!
Here is my fastest lap from quali....
Race report up next (might be tomorrow now, that took a while to write).....
