Turbos.
This year's European round was to be at the much forgotten Zolder circuit. Once an F1 circuit until Gilles Villeneuve's death, it has had little investment since. The pit garages are unchanged, so certain elements have a real feel of history about them. And when the older cars are around as a found out at a recent trackday there, the time warp feel is complete.
With two UK rounds after Zolder, the pressure was on to get a good result. With two DNFs, i was well down in the championship table despite when, on form, the car dominated. To help get to grips, we had a track day instead of the usual official test day on the Friday before the race weekend.
It was a farce really, with a 95db limit and draconian officials, people were being black flagged and told to pack up by 9.15! This was the complete opposite to the track day i'd done a few weeks back; no noise limit and just about every typical rule breached (hand held cameras etc.)!
With the day looking like a waste of time, we were 'secretly' told where the two noise meters were. I managed to get a few laps in until, eventually, i received my first warning at 98db. Like many others, we had a supertrap to put on to suppress noise. Our little noise tested reckoned it reduced things to a safe level, so i went back out.
And then i came in again.
Turns out the exhaust didn't like the added backpressure then! The boys patched it up and with the rev limit reduced i went out again, this time working out exactly where the limiters were so i could lift off appropriately. Sadly, some bell end asked the official where they were, blowing the 'secret'. He promptly got on his bicycle and did spot checks. I was caught at 105db and received my marching orders... annoying, but i got a lot of laps in compared to others; one guy got his second and final warning at 95.2db!
With the day over, i went to investigate the rest of the paddock. This was the strangest thing i found...
This was because the trucks were in town! We were actually supporting the FIA European Truck Racing series; i will never get used to seeing them on a track!
The next morning brought mixed weather. It was only me driving this time and i had the additional luxury of two practice sessions before qualifying, excellent! The first session was wet, but with our recently installed traction control it gave me an opportunity to play. I finished up 2nd, but on my in lap i was 2 seconds up before making an unexpected entry to the pits (i outbraked myself and took the pitlane over the gravel...). So you could call it unintentional sand bagging...
For the dry session, i found the car wasn't quite so suited to the track which has a lot of slow chicanes. We needed to improve initial turn-in the for multiple direction changes.
Whilst the rebound change improved turn-in, i was getting higher speed oversteer. Turns out we had a gurney flap from a BAR Honda F1, so that was taped on to the wing!
Tiny difference right? Actually i noticed the change immediately, and now the car was too safe. Setup was made even more extreme and it resulted in a higher grip threshold but a nice balance. Nevertheless, i was bumped down to the 3rd despite beating last year's quali time so i checked the datalogging out to see what i was doing wrong. My issue was that i was braking too early at some chicanes (the previous day i was lifting for the noise meters so didn't have a good reference point).
With nothing to change other than growing a pair, i went out for qualifying to try and beat my main competitor and a new challenger, ex-Caterham champion Jon Walker who normally competes in Lotus Cup Europe.
On my first flying lap, i set a 1.42 lap, over 1.5 seconds faster than last year's qualifying and i was comfortably in the lead. I circled the track to wait for space, whilst the team boss let me know what was going on. The Caterham guy hadn't yet got close yet as he was sitting in the pits with his engine cover off! Nevertheless, i looked for a few clear laps and shaved off a couple more tenths. I then came in the pits with a decent gap, to then find my main competitor had blown his engine! Turns out i could have of just pitted after my first flying lap!
Whilst it was nice to get pole, it was disappointing to see my main competitor pack up to go home. Ultimately, i am here to race people so it is disappointing to see. I cheered myself up with checking out the entertainment...
The Corvette club were there taking kids round, man i want a Z01!
After a cracking dinner (you get the best steaks in Belgium!), i got a lay in before the race on the Sunday. I had found out that Jon Walker had qualified for the separate European race within 4 hundredths of a second of me so i knew the race wouldn't be as simple as perhaps first thought.
My nerves were erased as we lined up and i found an empty space next to me; Jon would be starting from the pitlane. I was starting to think the race was being handed to me! Being led round by the safety car, i still had to be weary of the faster European cars (which can run GT4 spec 300bhp engines) off of the rolling start. That ended up meaning little, as i completely screwed up by getting the start line mixed up! Whilst everyone gunned it, i was left wondering why i was being overtaken. I was 5th into the first corner...
Through rage/shame i bullied myself back up to 3rd by the second corner, although i received a tap from a 2-Eleven for my efforts. I then had to overtake the only other Brit in the top five; fortunately he made a mistake by going over a double-height kerb which unsettled his car. One more car to go!
I knew i was faster than anyone, and i managed to set up my move early in the lap. I could see the French guy in front was over driving and i forced him to go defensive on a tight right hander that gave me a decent run on the exit (you'll have to imagine this until i sort out the video!).
Over the next few laps i pulled a fair lead and was sitting pretty. That was until i then started noticing an intermittent warning about fuel pressure. Fuel surge i thought? I radioed in and was told to carry on at normal pace and i'd come in as soon as the pit window opened.
With the pitstop a mandatory 3 mins, the team could check the car. It seemed like a faulty sensor, but they topped up the tank just in case.
Once the pitstops had sorted themselves out, i had about a 40 second lead and was looking good. But then the car decided it wanted to add more spice; now i was getting a low battery warning! The earlier problem now made sense, the alternator had gone and the fuel pressure had dropped due to lack of voltage, triggering the alarm. Fortunately, alternator problems aren't new (the car vibrates them to death) and we'd fitted two batteries as a back-up. Problem was, they were being made to do 50 mins of running; i was told to reduce the amount of gearchanges for the last half hour as the sequential's compressor used a lot of power. I was losing 5 seconds a lap initially, until i started to learn to drive round the issue and was down to a 2 second a lap loss.
To the outside world, i imagine it looked like i was cruising to victory. The reality was me and the team were praying the car would hold as the warnings became more regular and prolonged. I can't remember a time where i have been more happy to see the chequered flag, with the car seemingly do whatever it can to grab defeat from the clutches of victory!
With another Class competitor DNFing, i am now back in the picture for an overall Class win, with an outside chance of winning the overall championship if i win the next two races. I am at Donington next week, back with a co-driver. We've decided to invest in the same alternator that McLaren use, and the team are working on a quick-release battery pack just in case the worst is to happen again!
Hopefully thing winning thing becomes a habit!
With two UK rounds after Zolder, the pressure was on to get a good result. With two DNFs, i was well down in the championship table despite when, on form, the car dominated. To help get to grips, we had a track day instead of the usual official test day on the Friday before the race weekend.
It was a farce really, with a 95db limit and draconian officials, people were being black flagged and told to pack up by 9.15! This was the complete opposite to the track day i'd done a few weeks back; no noise limit and just about every typical rule breached (hand held cameras etc.)!
With the day looking like a waste of time, we were 'secretly' told where the two noise meters were. I managed to get a few laps in until, eventually, i received my first warning at 98db. Like many others, we had a supertrap to put on to suppress noise. Our little noise tested reckoned it reduced things to a safe level, so i went back out.
And then i came in again.
Turns out the exhaust didn't like the added backpressure then! The boys patched it up and with the rev limit reduced i went out again, this time working out exactly where the limiters were so i could lift off appropriately. Sadly, some bell end asked the official where they were, blowing the 'secret'. He promptly got on his bicycle and did spot checks. I was caught at 105db and received my marching orders... annoying, but i got a lot of laps in compared to others; one guy got his second and final warning at 95.2db!
With the day over, i went to investigate the rest of the paddock. This was the strangest thing i found...
This was because the trucks were in town! We were actually supporting the FIA European Truck Racing series; i will never get used to seeing them on a track!
The next morning brought mixed weather. It was only me driving this time and i had the additional luxury of two practice sessions before qualifying, excellent! The first session was wet, but with our recently installed traction control it gave me an opportunity to play. I finished up 2nd, but on my in lap i was 2 seconds up before making an unexpected entry to the pits (i outbraked myself and took the pitlane over the gravel...). So you could call it unintentional sand bagging...
For the dry session, i found the car wasn't quite so suited to the track which has a lot of slow chicanes. We needed to improve initial turn-in the for multiple direction changes.
Whilst the rebound change improved turn-in, i was getting higher speed oversteer. Turns out we had a gurney flap from a BAR Honda F1, so that was taped on to the wing!
Tiny difference right? Actually i noticed the change immediately, and now the car was too safe. Setup was made even more extreme and it resulted in a higher grip threshold but a nice balance. Nevertheless, i was bumped down to the 3rd despite beating last year's quali time so i checked the datalogging out to see what i was doing wrong. My issue was that i was braking too early at some chicanes (the previous day i was lifting for the noise meters so didn't have a good reference point).
With nothing to change other than growing a pair, i went out for qualifying to try and beat my main competitor and a new challenger, ex-Caterham champion Jon Walker who normally competes in Lotus Cup Europe.
On my first flying lap, i set a 1.42 lap, over 1.5 seconds faster than last year's qualifying and i was comfortably in the lead. I circled the track to wait for space, whilst the team boss let me know what was going on. The Caterham guy hadn't yet got close yet as he was sitting in the pits with his engine cover off! Nevertheless, i looked for a few clear laps and shaved off a couple more tenths. I then came in the pits with a decent gap, to then find my main competitor had blown his engine! Turns out i could have of just pitted after my first flying lap!
Whilst it was nice to get pole, it was disappointing to see my main competitor pack up to go home. Ultimately, i am here to race people so it is disappointing to see. I cheered myself up with checking out the entertainment...
The Corvette club were there taking kids round, man i want a Z01!
After a cracking dinner (you get the best steaks in Belgium!), i got a lay in before the race on the Sunday. I had found out that Jon Walker had qualified for the separate European race within 4 hundredths of a second of me so i knew the race wouldn't be as simple as perhaps first thought.
My nerves were erased as we lined up and i found an empty space next to me; Jon would be starting from the pitlane. I was starting to think the race was being handed to me! Being led round by the safety car, i still had to be weary of the faster European cars (which can run GT4 spec 300bhp engines) off of the rolling start. That ended up meaning little, as i completely screwed up by getting the start line mixed up! Whilst everyone gunned it, i was left wondering why i was being overtaken. I was 5th into the first corner...
Through rage/shame i bullied myself back up to 3rd by the second corner, although i received a tap from a 2-Eleven for my efforts. I then had to overtake the only other Brit in the top five; fortunately he made a mistake by going over a double-height kerb which unsettled his car. One more car to go!
I knew i was faster than anyone, and i managed to set up my move early in the lap. I could see the French guy in front was over driving and i forced him to go defensive on a tight right hander that gave me a decent run on the exit (you'll have to imagine this until i sort out the video!).
Over the next few laps i pulled a fair lead and was sitting pretty. That was until i then started noticing an intermittent warning about fuel pressure. Fuel surge i thought? I radioed in and was told to carry on at normal pace and i'd come in as soon as the pit window opened.
With the pitstop a mandatory 3 mins, the team could check the car. It seemed like a faulty sensor, but they topped up the tank just in case.
Once the pitstops had sorted themselves out, i had about a 40 second lead and was looking good. But then the car decided it wanted to add more spice; now i was getting a low battery warning! The earlier problem now made sense, the alternator had gone and the fuel pressure had dropped due to lack of voltage, triggering the alarm. Fortunately, alternator problems aren't new (the car vibrates them to death) and we'd fitted two batteries as a back-up. Problem was, they were being made to do 50 mins of running; i was told to reduce the amount of gearchanges for the last half hour as the sequential's compressor used a lot of power. I was losing 5 seconds a lap initially, until i started to learn to drive round the issue and was down to a 2 second a lap loss.
To the outside world, i imagine it looked like i was cruising to victory. The reality was me and the team were praying the car would hold as the warnings became more regular and prolonged. I can't remember a time where i have been more happy to see the chequered flag, with the car seemingly do whatever it can to grab defeat from the clutches of victory!
With another Class competitor DNFing, i am now back in the picture for an overall Class win, with an outside chance of winning the overall championship if i win the next two races. I am at Donington next week, back with a co-driver. We've decided to invest in the same alternator that McLaren use, and the team are working on a quick-release battery pack just in case the worst is to happen again!
Hopefully thing winning thing becomes a habit!
