Thanks Collection of photos from the weekend...

New paintjob before the TA decals went on:

 

On track action:

 

A few of the trophies & team:




New splitter might be a touch on the low side

 

And going back to the vibrations that plagued my braking points all day, i took the front hubs off this weekend to find the passenger hub is looking slightly worse for wear!!

 

Final update for today, video of my best laps in qualifying & the final:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDbJx25z-hs

 

love this car the new look and front end are immense. great video too.

 

How much quicker do you think you could have been with a non-dragging splitter and decent hubs ?

 

Splitter wasn't really a problem and won't be changed for the next round. Hubs on the other hand, who knows? My quick lap wasn't exactly tidy on the exit of Druids so that coupled with the hubs, maybe a 50 something. 40 something is the target next time

 

I am right in thinking you don't run an aero package on the rear, other than the rear wing?

Mark A

 

Mikee looks particularly interested in the specs of the TA model

 

LOL

No Mark, just the front splitter & the rear wing - not at a stupid height either! Just goes to show...

 

Phwoar!

 

Let this slip a little completely forgot/didn't have time to do my write up for round 4 from Cadwell Park, let's just say it's not a track you go to without ever having driven it before and expect to do well! Came away with half decent points and another broken gearbox in the final, luckily i'd gotten a lap in before it happened and this time we found out what we were breaking as the the whole box didn't go in the bin this time! Turns out the standard 3rd-4th syncro hub isn't up to the job!!

Anyway, onto the final round at Snetterton and after the mid pack finish at Cadwell the title was still up for grabs between me and Paul Doyle, the maths were simple, finish no worse than 7th if Paul was going to be on the top step. To make the job just that bit harder we put a rod through the block at TOTB requiring a new engine, by the time we'd decided on what to build we were down to a week to go, the days past and it was Friday night and the engine was just going in, midnight and the engine fired into life. Saturday was going to be a busy day!

Spec for the final round would consist of a Scoobyclinic 2.3l engine, Ported STI 8 AVCS heads and GSC S1 cams, GT35 XT-R billet turbo & Syvecs ecu mapped by Pat.

First job on Saturday was to get the car corner weighed, the old suspension had gone onto another car we're building and we wanted to try out some new suspension for next year, by the time this was done we were nearing lunch and the car had to have the geometry done and run in and mapped! As usual, there was a few teething problems and it was nearing 3pm when we got on to the geometry, one hour later and we'd done the quickest geom in history, it wasn't perfect but the car had to get on the dyno, run in quickly ands mapped before 6pm! 10-20 minutes going up and down the rev range on the dyno and that was the car run in, this engine wasn't getting 500 miles on it! A quick oil change and then it was onto the higher boost runs, last run of the evening saw 602bhp at 1.8 bar of boost, that'll do, let's get it on the trailer!
We arrived at Snetteron at 10pm that night, got the car in the pit garage and made our way to the hotel/pub for a couple of pints then to bed, tomorrow was going to be a loooooooong day!

A lovely fry up greeted us for breakfast, the prefect start to a day At the track and after the briefing we were into morning warm up, i take the car out on low boost, no reason to put the car through any unnecessary stress just yet. First things first, i needed to check how the car handled with the new suspension, i'd taken a flyer with the bump/rebound settings as we were never going to get chance to set the car up properly and it wasn't a mile off thankfully. The only problem we en-counted in the first session was a loss of rear camber on the left rear, i might have rushed the geometry a bit too much!! 2008 was the last time i'd been here and even then i'd only got 2 sessions under my belt before the car broke, so i was going to need as many laps as possible to find my way around the place.

Qualifying was upon us and i was happy with the car setup, we had a slight problem with a long brake pedal, possibly due to a leaking piston, all we could do was bleed the brakes and hope it didn't get any worse. The day had taken it's toll on a lot of the field and there was less than 10 left in Club Pro when the lights went green, qualifying for the final would just require a lap in the bag, i put in a slowish lap to do just that then decided to up the pace a bit, see where my braking points really were as i'd driven down the two main straights at 60-70% throttle for most of the day and didn't want to get caught out in the final if and when i did start to push it! A lap or two later and the session was red flagged, back in the pits and i was sitting in 3rd with a 1:17.5, not bad for saying i wasn't really trying. We decided to sit the rest of the session out, no need to break the car for no reason. By the end of qualifying only 5 cars had qualified, it didn't take a mathematician to work out that we only needed to register a lap in the final and we'd be crowned champion!
By the time the final had arrived i'd decided on a plan of action, i'd go around as slow as i could afford with the car on cal 1 again, we'd run it on cal 3 for the qualifying session with one more setting to go for the final, but decided not to risk blowing a boost hose off or anything else silly, just wasn't worth it! So out i went, i let everyone go first and sat at the back of the field so not to hold anyone else up only to find the car wouldn't accelerate out of the pits, almost like i had a limiter on - not good! I got to the 2nd corner and the car just wasn't running right, surely my car wasn't going to let me down now!! A few more seconds of panic and i realised maybe it was the cal 1 setting and loosen my belts to reach out and switched it to cal 2, put my foot down again and i had power again, thank f**k for that!! I quickly got on with getting my banker lap in, a blistering 1:34! LOL One more slow lap to take it all in that i'd won the championship and i decided it was time for cal 4 and 1.8 bar of boost, let's see what pace we really had in the car and see if we can finish the season on the podium too! It only takes a second to realise what power i'd had in reserve all day, the acceleration was ferocious up the start finish straight and i was quickly into the first corner, without checking the video i'm sure i run wide as i braked far too late but carried on with the lap, down the back straight and i'm waaaay faster than i've been all day and only just make it around the left hander into the Esses, out of the Bomb Hole and i take Coram almost flat out for the first time today, coming out of Russells and i spot the red flag but i keep nailed to the line and spot a 1:14.2 on the dash, not bad for a scrappy lap. Back in the pits and i decide i'm going to go out again, see if i can improve on the time, it's looking like 2nd is a distinct possibility, Paul is way out in front with a 1:11, i'm not going to better that today but feel i can improve. First lap out after the session restarts and i get a good lap in straight away, and i'm into the 1:13s, just! I try and go for another lap but the rear is starting to get a bit squirmy as the tyres are overheating and i catch Guglielmi in the Bomb Hole just to compound matters! The next lap is no better and to make matters worse i lose all power on the Revett Straight, as if a boost hose has come off, i crawl back to the pits and call it a day....and what a day, what a season even!!
At the start of the season i truly thought we'd be just making up the numbers, our car was never going to be the quickest out there and i knew we'd have to have luck on our side for the most part if we were ever going to do well....and that's how it panned out, we managed to score points at every rounds as others fell by the way side, it could have easily been the other way round at Knockhill & Cadwell! 2011 promises to be an even bigger challenge, a more than likely move into Pro and the need for another 5+ seconds of pace. It's going to be a long, hard winter!

The thank yous: Everyone at Scoobyclinic for their time and patience this year, especially Kev! Mark for his most excellent engine & gearboxes, Pat for his awesome mapping, Andy for stepping in at Knockhill and of course Mikee for his support throughout the whole year, couldn't have done it without any of them!

 

good times!!

 

congrats Kev

 

Finally got the video edited! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-3TCkyoigU

Now just for the photos....

 

Congrats on another victory

Great written up too, thanks for taking the time to share it

 

Well done Kev on another good season!

Keep up the good work

 

Well done Kev!

Looking forward to the project thread for the new car

 

Never did get those photos uploaded!

Turns out the season wasn't over and the car was out for two more events, the last one being my first race last weekend! We decided it was time to branch out a little and give door to door racing a go, turns out it a little more intense than time attack!! :lol2:

After running Morrisons E85 for the year in TA we had to have a rethink after it was stopped being sold by them, we had run race E85 at the last round of TA but that was a bit on the expensive side, plus racing would need a bigger fuel tank, more fuel.... so we've reverted back to V Power + Meth, we've lost maybe 30bhp but we weren't after massive power for racing, just reliability! It's one thing to do one or two laps at a time in TA but to go flat out for 10+ laps is another!!

The first event was the Birkett 6 hour relay at Silverstone, this would have been my first race but you needed 6 signatures on your licence to compete, so in stepped Andy McKenna, Scoobyclinic's test driver, ice driver, you name it! The team was made up of 6 cars from Scoobyclinic, the plan was to run 20 minutes at a time, nearly 3 times as many stops as everyone else hoping this would give us the best chance to keep the cars all in one piece! And the plan worked, we had a few setbacks, but overall was a good result; 7th overall and 1st in class. Yet another testament to Scoobyclinic's car preparation

The weeks building up to the two events were meant to be just a few simple jobs, swap back to a full size fuel tank and remap for V Power, put some brake ducts in.....nothing's quite so simple though!! We had problems with the fuel lines and injectors for the Birkett prep and leading up to this weekend's racing it took nearly 4 days to sort out yet more injector problems, not to mention fuel pump, fuel regs, mapping, if it could go wrong, it did! But a huge thank you to everyone at the clinic for soldiering on and getting the car ready for the weekend, i keep repeating myself but without their help none of this would be possible!

So onto the weekend and i was entered into the 750 Motor Club's Allcomers handicap races, 15 minutes of practice to determine grid and handicap then 2x 10 laps races around Donington Park's National circuit. Just to make this weekend's job just that bit harder, not only was it my first race, first grid start etc. it was my first time on slicks...in the middle of November!
Morning practice was a bit of a rushed affair, we were late getting to the track and when i got to signing on i didn't realise i needed an upgrade card to get my signatures, luckily i had my Blue Book with me so got that out only to find i needed a passport photo or they wouldn't sign it! So back to the car and after a bit of routing around the only thing i could find was one of my press cards, a quick trip to the signing on room again and they agreed to cut my card up and staple the photo to my signature card, result! (must remember to get my press card renewed...) And then the next setback dawned on us, i didn't have any numbers for the car! A quick run back to signing on and all they had was the numbers, not the white backing board - this might seem like an oversight but the it was the same club that ran the Birkett and at that race they supplied everything, i just presumed it would be the same here! So back to the car and we had to get the knife out and cut out the decals on the car to make a white area
By the time we'd done all this the practice session was minutes away and i'd not even gone to the drivers briefing for people who'd not raced at Donington before, i decided to risk missing it for the practice session and try and go straight after...oh, and the car hadn't been scrutinised yet!! By the time i'd jumped the queue and got back to the van to get changed they were lining up in the holding area, turns out i'd needn't had rushed so much, they were still noise testing when i got there, although i was the last car to go in!! :/
Practice got under way and it felt very much like a TA session, so not a baptism of fire just yet! We were out on 888s for the session, the track wasn't entirely dry and i didn't think we were ready to try slicks out for the first time in those conditions. I went round for the 15 minutes trying to get a decent lap in but struggled with slower and faster cars ruining most of my laps, but i wasn't too deterred, winning wasn't my top priority, i just wanted to gain some experience, get a couple of signatures on my licence to get us started.
Back in the pits after the session and i'm one of a number of drivers called to the steward's office, quite obviously for missing the briefing, a couple of minutes of apologies from us all and we're let on our way, phew! The timing sheets are released and i'm mid pack of 30+ cars for both races, should make the starts interesting!

It's race time and we're a little better prepared this this time....apart from we've forgot to fit the slicks and with a change in the programme due to the 2 minute silence for Remembrance Sunday, we're needed in the holding area before 11am not just after like the programme! After a few frantic minutes were all set to go and lined up on the bottom of the Melbourne Loop in grid order, i've got a vague idea what happens next but i just follow what everyone else does! Looking around there's a real mix of cars, Radicals, Prosports, Westfields, Clio Cups and of course 3 other Scoobyclinic cars!
Once lined up on the grid we're let off for a warm up lap, the slicks don't feel mega grippy so i'm not exactly sure what to expect at the first corner and beyond! We get the 5 second board and the light go red, a couple of seconds later and they're out and i dump the clutch, 4WD was banned in BTCC for a good reason and i'm already up behind the guy 2 rows in front! But i'm blocked in on the inside so follow him round the first corner, to the left of me Chris Huntley in another Impreza goes into the gravel followed by Ian Froggatt in one of the Scoobyclinic cars, knowing i'm in a similar car on the same tyres this slows me down a bit into Craners which loses me a place, the rest of the lap i regain a bit of trust in the tyres and begin to push, catching and passing the Westfield in front of me onto the back straight...only for the red lights to come on, presumably for the incidents at Redgate. We get instantly lined up on the grid ready to restart once they've cleared the cars from the gravel. 2-3 minutes pass and we're set off on another green flag lap, back to the grid again and i get the same good start as before but try to take the Westfield infront of me on the inside, which soon turns to the grass! Bit of a panic as i miss a gear but regain myself and slot back in behind, out of Redgate and i notice something's not right with the clutch, this takes my mind of the job in hand and i lose a few places, by the time we get to the start straight again it seems ok and i get passed a few more car but one of the Prosport cars has spun into the gravel, i back off and get undertaken by two cars under the yellow flags, maybe i back off too much, but it's dropped me back a bit. Coming out of the Old Hairpin the clutch slippage is back and worse than before and i'm struggling to get out of the corners and get any speed up, this is probably a blessing in disguise, as by the time we arrive at the final chicane and onto the start finish, theres cars flying everywhere, Tim is sent into the barriers, and Chris has somehow ended up on his roof and sliding down the pit straight!! Turns out one of the Prosport/Radical cars seized coming out of the chicane and has caused a chain reaction, resulting in carnage!! I instantly recognise this will cause a red flag and duck straight into the pits and seeing as this was our 2nd red flag, i get sent back to the paddock. Who would have though racing could be this much fun!! LOL

More to follow later, including videos...

 

Brilliant write up - sounds amazing

 

Thanks


Race 2 is upon us and i'm a bit further down the grid, but have a more central starting position, hopefully we won't get blocked in down the inside like the previous two starts! Warm up lap completed and we're lined up again, the red lights go out and i make my 3rd good start of the day but this time a slot opens up down the middle and i'm well up in the top ten, a few cars have a moment on cold tyres into Redgate and i'm up a couple more places...then the clutch starts to slip again (you'll hear it in the videos) but i don't seem to be losing much ground so stick with it and try and give the clutch an easy time, i follow a Westfield for most part of the lap and get a good exit out of Copice and get down the inside into the final chicane and we're up to 5th by the end of the first lap! A few more laps pass as i just try and be consistent but i can see one of the Prosport cars catching and it's only a matter of time before he's on me....and i make his job a bit easier by losing it going into the last chicane, unknown to me at the time and only by watching the video back, my header tank cap has leaked or god knows what, and it's poured a load of water onto my tyres, causing me to lose control at that point, going down into Redgate and i try and fend him off but it's a bit point less and he goes past, the next thing i know i'm going utterly sideways through the corner, i somehow how the world's biggest drift and just about collect it onto the kerbs, part of me at the time isn't sure if i've got oil or something on my tyres and i back off considerably as i don't want that happening again down Craners! I take it gingerly for the next lap or so but this has also given the Westfield and one of the Clinic cars to catch me, once i'm sure there's nothing wrong with the car i get a move on again. I'm then into traffic and backmarkers, and i get quite lucky with them and get past without much trouble, the same can't be said for the two chasing me and i open up a lead again. Into lap 9 and i'm almost home and it turns out to be the last lap as i get past by the two leaders halfway through the lap, i overtake a few more backmarkers and finally see the chequered flag for the first time, that's more like the racing i was expecting!

For the record my best lap was a 1:16.8 on lap 8, just over 2 seconds quicker than i've gone there in the past, what power i was running is anyone's guess, i had 4 settings to play with, with the top one being 575bhp, but i decided to run on setting 2 all day, so maybe in the region of 500bhp. I need to take into account the slicks and the new track layout but i was still very pleased with my time. My first impression of the slicks was i was expecting a lot more grip, there was more, but not as much as i was expecting! Where they do outperform the 888s is longevity, there's no way i could have done 10 laps at that pace on 888s!!

Before race 2 we were all called to race control to discuss what we wanted to do about re-running race 1, we had the option of just running race 2 but for 15 laps, or risk leaving it till after the final race and hope we had no more stoppages as light would be a real issue. We finally decided to to try and run both races but a decision would be made at 3.30 if we ran again or not, 3.30 arrived, all the other races had behaved themselves and we had ourselves a re-run, albeit over 6 laps, but if it meant getting my signatures i was happy!

And so we were back on the grid for the 4th time of the day, i get a better start than i'd done from that position for the first two attempts and i'm well up the field into the first corner, but i miss my braking point with the extra speed and follow Ian wide into Redgate, all the good work undone...but that wasn't going to matter, i follow Ian down Craners and he's running a very tight line into the left hander, the next thing i see him losing the rear and then he's into a full on spin, it looks like he's about to spin out to the left and gamble going right, i almost make it past but he flicks to my right at the last minute, i take to the grass but the inevitable happens and i get swiped in the side sending me into a spin across the track and the whole field, luckily no one else collects me and i sit at the side of the track waiting to get going again, much to my amazement i've not got a huge gaping hole in the side of the car or a door hanging off and decide to keep going and see where i can finish up, the next 5 laps go far too quickly and i'm really enjoying battling my way back up the field. I have one close call when i overtake a MG ZR down Craners, compromise my line for the Old Hairpin and the next thing i know i'm banging doors with him! By the time the last lap is here i've got an open track ahead of me and try and get a good lap in and try and finish the day off with a good lap, which i duly do, no traffic, hit all my lines and braking points, almost like i was back in Time Attack!

A look at the timing sheet proved my fastest lap of the day was indeed my last lap, a 1:16.10, at the time i didn't think it was all that hot, but having a look at the times from TA in 2008 it was only 2 seconds slower than Olly Clark and under a second slower that Guglielmi, RC/Car Planet managed, admittedly though, there's far too many variables to make a worthwhile comparison.

Back into the paddock and it's time to see what damage has been done and it's not pretty, i've got a huge dent in the sill, both doors are destroyed along with the front wing and splitter, to say it's seen better days is an understatement, but i guess that's the chance you take! Ian's has faired slightly better, with only a front wing and headlight, although he did pull off with steering damage too! Red Bull would be proud! LOL

At the end of the day the handicap results are published and there's a surprise for me and 2 other clinic drivers, in race 2 i finished 6th overall and at the same time picked up 2nd in the handicap! Ian in the same race picked up 3rd place in the handicap. In the re-run race 1 Pete picked up 3rd place in the handicap with his 6th place, i managed to sneak into the top ten overall after being as low as 24th, i'm almost as proud of that result than the race 2 result! One other thing to note, Scoobyclinic cars were top tin tops in both races.

So, my first ever race day completed, i wasn't expecting to be that frantic, i wondered what i'd got myself into after the 2nd red flag, but as the day went on i got to love it more and more, it's a refreshing change to be able to drive my car lap after lap at full speed with the added bonus of actually racing your opponents on track rather on the timing sheet. Will i do it again? Definitely!

 

The videos:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpwXwEE1Sng
1st race red flags

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHcD0UdTYB4
2nd race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp87eD9urMk
and the re-run 1st race

Enjoy!

 

Not been reading this thread, but enjoyed watching your videos. 2nd race was a great start and a lot more aggressive.

 

Brilliant Kev, well done mate !

 

Awesome Kev.. saw your facebook update at the weekend and had to read it twice... your what!!!

Well done.

Simon