Was at Donington yesterday for a double header in a small field of 10 stock hatches, with only one other Class B car, an XR2i. Went through all my usual pre-race checks, fluids etc etc, sailed through scrutineering, no problems. Was driving down to the assembly area and something didn't feel right, even at low speed I could tell something was amiss, so about-turn and back to the garage. Got out and was immediately obvious, the N/S/R wheel bolts weren't done up fully. I'd torqued all the rest up, but must have been distracted for that one. Flew down to assembly, car's were already on track so had to go back to the pits (again) and start from pitlane.
The first few laps of qualifying were always going to be pointless as I had to bed in a new set of Brembo discs and Yellowstuff pads. Got halfway round my first lap and the red flag came out for two cars buried in the gravel at Old Hairpin. Restarted the session with two laps remaining and qualified 9th of 10 (1m35.05), only a car racing virgin in a 106 behind. Not the ideal start, as I thought maybe 7th was achievable. Back to the pits, met up with Feirny and his gay brigade and checked everything over prior to the first race.
Race 1 didn't start very well, still having a problem with 2nd to 3rd which put me back to 9th, although I regained the place down craner curves. The pack in front pulled away and I dropped the two behind, one of whom (the other Class B car) was stuck in 4th gear. Stayed like this for 10 laps and finished 8th (1st in Class - does that count as a win?). Pretty boring - although I had a bit of a moment into Redgate one lap where the back tried to overtake the front - cue arm twirling and a bit of rear hopping. Craner curves weren't quite flat for me at this stage, far too much movement from the back end with no heat in the tyres. Fastest lap down to 1m31.51.
Race 2 wasn't a lot better. Started 9th, finished 9th. Got a poor start, nearly spun at Redgate (again) and ended up losing a lot of time to the pack on the first lap. With the experience gained, I set about trying to catch up to the pack again, which was going fairly well, my laptimes were coming down a couple of tenths at a time. By the last lap I'd reduced the defecit from about nine seconds to just three tenths, but couldn't do anything about the car in front before crossing the finish. Managed to pull out a 1m29.42 on the very last lap of the race which was 5th fastest of the race and would have put me in the same position for qualifying.
Overall, it was another day of learning. Trimmed six seconds off my laptime between qualifying and racing, on largely the same track conditions - a laptime that was only 2.5s behind the fastest overall laptime set by one of the best drivers in one of the best cars. Pretty chuffed with that one lap, if only I could have done 24 like that! In the process of the day the digidash has shown that the max revs went to 7566rpm, which was on one particular downshift, where I shifted too early. After this the power was never the same towards the top end, and it does sound a little funky, so I'm expecting that I've shot an exhaust valve or 4. Will attend to that at some point before the next outing in March time.
Some pics from Feirny and a short video showing two Redgate 'moments'. Full vid to come soon.
The first few laps of qualifying were always going to be pointless as I had to bed in a new set of Brembo discs and Yellowstuff pads. Got halfway round my first lap and the red flag came out for two cars buried in the gravel at Old Hairpin. Restarted the session with two laps remaining and qualified 9th of 10 (1m35.05), only a car racing virgin in a 106 behind. Not the ideal start, as I thought maybe 7th was achievable. Back to the pits, met up with Feirny and his gay brigade and checked everything over prior to the first race.
Race 1 didn't start very well, still having a problem with 2nd to 3rd which put me back to 9th, although I regained the place down craner curves. The pack in front pulled away and I dropped the two behind, one of whom (the other Class B car) was stuck in 4th gear. Stayed like this for 10 laps and finished 8th (1st in Class - does that count as a win?). Pretty boring - although I had a bit of a moment into Redgate one lap where the back tried to overtake the front - cue arm twirling and a bit of rear hopping. Craner curves weren't quite flat for me at this stage, far too much movement from the back end with no heat in the tyres. Fastest lap down to 1m31.51.
Race 2 wasn't a lot better. Started 9th, finished 9th. Got a poor start, nearly spun at Redgate (again) and ended up losing a lot of time to the pack on the first lap. With the experience gained, I set about trying to catch up to the pack again, which was going fairly well, my laptimes were coming down a couple of tenths at a time. By the last lap I'd reduced the defecit from about nine seconds to just three tenths, but couldn't do anything about the car in front before crossing the finish. Managed to pull out a 1m29.42 on the very last lap of the race which was 5th fastest of the race and would have put me in the same position for qualifying.
Overall, it was another day of learning. Trimmed six seconds off my laptime between qualifying and racing, on largely the same track conditions - a laptime that was only 2.5s behind the fastest overall laptime set by one of the best drivers in one of the best cars. Pretty chuffed with that one lap, if only I could have done 24 like that! In the process of the day the digidash has shown that the max revs went to 7566rpm, which was on one particular downshift, where I shifted too early. After this the power was never the same towards the top end, and it does sound a little funky, so I'm expecting that I've shot an exhaust valve or 4. Will attend to that at some point before the next outing in March time.
Some pics from Feirny and a short video showing two Redgate 'moments'. Full vid to come soon.
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