This is my final report of the season, from the double header round at Snetterton. 300 circuit Saturday, 200 circuit Sunday.
As usual, we’d booked the Friday test day to familiarise ourselves with the track. So with some good grub packed, we headed up to the circuit on Thursday evening so that we were nice and relaxed for the day ahead. Pit garage 6 was to be our home for the next few days and also became the dining area for a 6 hour-long cooked chilli that evening. Just superb.
Friday morning, we were up bright and early, fuelled and ready to go. Scuffers arrived with the car and it was time to blast around for the day. We hadn’t really done any setup work on the car since its first outing this year and had been experiencing a fair bit of understeer. Having to wait to get on the power out of the slower corners was losing us lots of time over a lap, so sorting this out was the main priority. Patrick, owner of Quantum Racing Suspension had also popped along to see the car and help with damper setup which was nice. The car ran perfectly all day and we got the EP sequential gearbox working even better than ever with some small sorftware updates. However, we were struggling to sort our understeer problem. The car is now pruducing a quite considerable amount of grip and although the Kumho V70’s are absolutely amazing, unlike the 255 rears, the 205 width fronts are probably at their limit. After shredding 2 sets of them we found ourselves at a dead end and hoped that the new medium compound fronts would cure the problem for the Saturday. The only other issue with the car that day was the amount of noise it was producing!!! Having been black flagged and summoned up to race control early on in the day, we were made aware of the fact that we were louder than an F2 car and congratulated for managing to achieve this!!! All our sessions were therefore spent short-shiftling which was real distraction from actually learning the track. With the day over we re-packed the backbox and gave the car a quick once-over. It was then time to settle down for the evening, so we fired up the barbie and spent the rest of the night socialising with the rest of the paddock. Good times.
Saturday. With a strong coffee and a bacon bap down the hatch it was time to get going again. It was arranged at the start of the year that Simon would be driving the car for this round of the double header, the 300 circuit, just as a way of me saying thanks for all the help. It would also be good to see what the car was capable of. After sign-on, briefing and transponder collection we were all set. Geary, owner of Eliseparts had also come along for the day to experience a Time Attack event first-hand and to see all his products at work. The first warm-up of the day allows an analyist to sit in the passenger seat, so with Geary strapped in, Simon set off to give him a taster. The session ended and all was well. Geary, not having ever been out on track in a car of this spec and running one of his new gearboxes, stepped out of the car quietly. In this report I can’t really go into how he described his experience or what effect it had on his internal organs, but suffice to say he was both impressed, but pretty shocked at the same time!!!
The time that Simon had set in the first session with Geary on board was quite impressive. I was therfore really looking forward to seeing what could be done in the practise session with brand new front tyres fitted. However, having set off and us having waited on the pit wall for several minutes, Simon hadn’t yet passed us. We didn’t know where he was on the 3 mile circuit or what the problem could be, but he was nowhere to be seen. We did eventually find out that he hadn’t crashed and where he was, but it was only a while after the session had finished that we saw the recovery truck making its way back to the pits with the car being towed behind. As is turns out, one of the driveshafts had sheared clean in half. This particular shaft had been on the car since it was converted over 6 years ago, so it hadn’t had a bad innings at all!!! Luckily, in the back of my van I had the other 6 year old one that was previously on the other side before the new gearbox went in. We had about 2 hours before the point scoring quallifying was due to start, so set about swapping over the shafts. Half an hour or so later and the car was back together, ready for business.
Qually. The plan was to sandbag a little bit but if possible still get full points and leave the best for last, i.e the final. We got Simon out of the garage and into the pit lane before anyone else so that he could get a clean lap straight off. The understeer we had been fighting with was now pretty much gone due to using some fresh rubber and on his first flying lap, Simon set a time of 1.57. This was some 6 seconds quicker than anyone in our class and 2 seconds quicker than anyone else competing. Even the Pro guys who were on full racing slicks!!! Result. This caused quite a stir and we started getting lots of visitors to our pit garage who had come to see what was so special about this little plastic car. We also had comments from other competitors, photographers and marshals expressing how menacing the car was out on track and the obscene speeds Simon was taking the corners and how late he was on the brakes. Remember, this was still in sandbagging mode!!!
Final. The tyres were still looking perfect and the weather ideal. Simon left the garage, crawled down the pit lane and then hammered it up the pit exit onto the track. After a couple of minutes he came into sight again with his lights on, signifying he was ready to go for a fast lap. The sound of the car passing down the pit straight, flatshifting through the gears was simply incredible and again, the speed taken into turn 1 looking quite ridiculous. Simon set a couple of high 1.57’s again and came in for a tyre pressure check. Those adjusted he went back out, but with the session close to ending he only had time for one last fast lap. Once again the car came into sight entering Corum and was looking faster than ever, seconds later firing up the pit straight spitting flames shifting into 5th and again going back down into 4th for turn 1. It was a low 1.57. Enough to beat every other car there by around 5 seconds, but nowhere near as low as planned. Coming into the pits Simon was holding something on his lap. Oh dear… I’d forgotten to remove the passenger foot rest and it had jumped out of the footwell and gone under the pedals!!! Simon had grabbed it and had driven around with it on his lap which wrecked his last lap, the Aim dash showing that he had been on a 1.55 lap!!! A bit gutted about this but all of us very pleased with the win, the day was over. Presentations finished, it was time again for another huge barbie with friends and family.
Sunday. This was my day in the car and although I was excited about driving, we had the championship in the bag due to the amount of points that we had accumulated. I still wanted to win, however I felt quite relaxed. The weather forecast was doing it’s best to erradicate that feeling though. It was warm up time and we all lined up to go out. At this point the weather was still ok and I spent a couple of laps warming my tyres, remembering lines and braking points. After a lap or two I was down under 1.20 and came in for a tyre pressure check. Out again and I went for a few faster laps and ended the session with a relatively stress free 1.16. It was only the morning warm up but I was delighted to be top of the board, including the Pro Class drivers. If the weather was going to hold out I knew that there was a 1.14 on the cards, if not a 1.13 or lower. The car was just so predictable and safe to drive that a 1.16 really felt like a bit of a non-event. This was a good thing and proof of how sorted the car is.
The practice session was dry, however to save my tyres I decided to sit out and watch the other competitors blast around. Again, this was not a point scoring session, however no one did better that a 1.16 lap which gave me a bit of a confidence boost.
An hour or so went by waiting for the start of the qually sessions and the skies were starting to look steadily grumpier. Up until that day I really hated driving in the rain, as it not only scared me but means slow progress and longer laptimes. So, whilst praying for the evil looking clouds to fade away we jacked the car up and loosened the wheel nuts in readiness to fit my list 1a tyres. Sure enough, half an hour before our session was due to start the heavens opened. List 1a tyres on and it was qually time. The whole 20 minute session was spent going round very steadily in 4th and 5th gear, looking for the grippiest sections of tarmac and staying well clear of the slippery run-off strips. Funnily enough I really enjoyed this session and had instantly become more confident in the car. Better still, I had somehow come 1st in class even if I was driving around relatively slowly. The 50 points in the bag were very welcome indeed.
As the finals grew drew closer the weather didn’t change. This caused lots of red flags and with a huge oil spileage to add into the equation, the delays grew longer and longer. Eventually however, we were called out for the last time. I did exactly the same as before and just spent as much time going round as possible, getting slightly quicker with each lap. The conditions were horrible with very, very poor vision, but I still managed to reduce my previous time by a further 6 seconds near to the end. I decided to attack slightly harder for the last few minutes. This was a mistake though, as I then lost it coming through the ‘Bomb Hole’, doing several 360’s before coming to a rest in the grass. There was no more time to go for another lap now and I came back to the pits to find out I’d got 3rd place. Not too bad I suppose, but most importantly the car was ok and the championship was ours. The overall feeling of winning was slightly masked by a bit of controversy that had been haunting us since the Saturday evening, eventhough we had done absolutely nothing wrong. I can’t begin to explain how silly it all got, but it’s all done and dusted now. End of day presentations signified the close of the season. We all packed up, said our goodbye’s and went our separate ways.
I have to mention and give huge thanks to all the people involved with the car this year.
Firstly, Scuffers for helping build the car for this year, his constant development work and technical support throughout the season. Also a big thumbs up for his superb driving at the last round and bringing the car back in one piece.
Geary, Joy and the whole team at Eliseparts for their support and the use of their workshop on many occasions. I also have to commend them for their superb race products, many of which my car makes great use of. Especially the brand new EP sequential gearbox which is a thing of beauty. This has been a huge undertaking for alot of people to both design and make, but the end result is something quite outstanding and a real joy to use.
Patrick and the team at Quantum Racing Suspension for their skill in making brilliantly effective dampers and for their interest in my season in Time Attack.
Simon McBeath for his expertise and help with my aero package. This aspect of the car has functioned better than we ever envisaged for something that I basically made in a shed over the winter months.
My good friends Peter Sparrow and Sam Cox for helping me at the events and my wife and kids for putting up with me being a complete petrol head!!!
It’s with a tinge of sadness that I’ve written my last report of the season. I’ve had a week to enjoy our success, but it’s now time to shut down and do without my motorsport fix for the Winter months. This has without doubt been my most enjoyable season to date, both on and off the track. The Time Attack paddock really is a great place to be and I have made some very good friends. Next year is a year out for me again and a chance to spend a bit more time with my family. However… my car most certainly won’t be having a year out and we have already made some quite exciting plans. We will be developing the car further in as many areas as possible and giving it the power that it now deserves and can handle. Watch this space and thanks for taking the time to read this.