Time Attack 2011 Club Challenge
As promised, event report >
After months of preparation and modifications the Time Attack weekend had arrived, my first day of competing in my car at Oulton Park in the first round of Time Attack. We (myself & Dougie) arrived around 7am to get the car through scrutineering and sound testing which it passed with no issues. I went over to sign on at race control and attended the driver briefing, after this it was simply a case of taking the reg plate off the car, removing the tool box and deflating the tyres to the correct pressures and we were ready for the off.
Since the last outing (track day with Phil Glew driver training) the car had new home-made rear drop links fitted, the front shocks had the damping increased from 9 to 4 clicks from max and the tyres where swapped around so the most worn fronts where now on the rears and the hardly used rears where now on the front.
I had decided that in the first session which is “warm up” to try and push the car reasonably quick so I could see how the car felt with the subtle suspension changes, it would be the first time driving the car on track with all of the mods with no passenger. I had never driven the shorter circuit we would be using on the day prior to this weekend so I wanted to try and get the one corner I had not used before sussed out. There was a one hour test the day before which I had attended but for some reason I just couldn’t get “in the zone”? so I wanted to try this track lay out at pace.
Thankfully with other competitors on track getting “in the zone” was not an issue! I drove fairly hard and managed to get a bit of confidence flowing which in turn managed to calm the nerves. On the way in to Oulton I filled the car with petrol to the brim because this car drinks like you would not believe, when I pulled off track I had just short of ¾ of a tank in petrol. My best time in this sessions was a 1:39.57 which was ok but I knew I had more to come. My personal target prior to the event was to try and get in to the 1:37s so 1½ seconds needed to be found! In this first session my time was the quickest in Club Class so far, but I knew that other more experienced drivers would still be cruising.
Going out for the second session (practice) I was happy that I could drive with confidence, but this time I wanted to drive a little smarter and try to put in to practice the things I learnt when I was driving with Phil Glew. When I pulled out on track I was behind the two Redbrick Racing Civics which are a lot less powerful, I knew if I could overtake these cars on the opening lap I would have an open track in front of me to put a quick set of laps in. I passed the two Civics and managed a best lap of 1:37.86 before the session was red flagged due to an Evo engine letting go, my target of a 1:37 had been achieved so I was fairly happy.
I still thought I could do better than this though, when I pulled in to the pits (red flag) with my brakes smoking I could see that my new front DS2500’s had been half used up already! I decided not to go out when the session was started again because I knew the tyres would be getting worn, the brake pads where wearing fast and the petrol gauge was down to half a tank. At this stage I was 4th overall and still thought others would have more to come, at this stage I believed I still had more to come and was hoping I could drop in the 1:36s? The quickest lap so far was a 1:36.79 which I thought I could possibly match?
After a long driving break with other things going on and having a dinner break it was time to go out again in qualifying, I put a few quick laps in and noticed the petrol gauge was dropping quickly, still concerned with tyre life and brake pad wear I decided to come in early to save everything for the final, I really wanted to push hard to achieve a 1:36. When I came in I was a little disappointed to hear my quickest lap was a 1:38.20; however I was chuffed to hear that this was quick enough to put me in 3rd overall.
In preparation for the last session I (Ashley) topped the car up with £15 worth of juice thinking this would be enough for the final session without wanting to add too much weight? I went out in the final session second in line behind the chap in the 6R4 Metro (Mark Pollard) who had been quick all day, I decided to follow him on the warm up lap and to try and stick with him on his flying lap which I did. After one quick lap Mark slowed down so I went passed him and decided with an empty track in front of me to try and put some fast laps in, again I wanted to try and put what I had learnt from the day out with Phil Glew in to practice.
After a few more quick laps which I was convinced where much quicker than I had done all day, I was on a hot lap and on the brakes hard in to druids and when I lifted off the brakes and was turning in to the double right hander, the rear of the car stepped out a lot which I managed to hold on to and get around the corner. I was chuffed with the drifting antics which I assume for the spectators must have looked awesome, but it also spoilt a quick lap which was disappointing.
I decided to slow the pace right down and do two slow laps to get the tyres cooled down, after two slow laps in the 2:20s I went for my final stint of putting a quick lap in, half way around the lap coming out of Knicker Brook I felt the car struggling whilst accelerating, I looked down to see the car on a ¼ of a tank of petrol, I kept my foot on the gas but again felt the car struggling and knew it was due to low fuel.
Convinced that I had managed to put some hot laps in early I pulled in to discover my quickest lap was only a 1:38.02? I was convinced that I had gone quicker and possibly would be fast enough to get me in to the 1:36s but I was wrong, a lap timer is needed!! My time was quick enough to put me in 5th overall, I know I should have been happy with this, but I was struggling to be happy because I was convinced a late 1:36 could be achieved and I had not managed to produce it!
Anyway top day out and managed to put in a good show, put the reg plates back on the car, pumped the tyres up, put the tool box in the back and drove home!! On the way home going north on the M6 it was great to see loads of cars coming past us flashing there lights and waving, obviously with TA stickers all over the car it was easy to see that we had just competed in the car and was still using the car to commute in!
Isn’t hind sight wonderful!
Since the day itself I have wondered what I could have done differently to make my results better, the list is fairly long but as you can imagine the list as usual contains a lot of items that cost money. The main lessons are > I should have gone slower from the off in the first three sessions and saved the tyres for the final, if I could have afforded another set of new tyres for the day this would have been an advantage, but more importantly if I do buy another set of tyres I would buy the “shaved” tyres where they remove a few millimetres from the tyre tread to reduce tyre squirm, this helps the handling of the car and also should not create as much heat in the tyre.
A lap timer is now high on my list, if I had known my lap times in the final I am sure I would have tried harder/smarter to get the times (0.033 faster and I would have a trophy) down, I am certain a brake cooling kit will also be helpful, the brakes themselves worked amazingly and I can’t fault the stopping power, however the pad and discs wear rate is shocking. I think a brake cooling kit would help with pad & disc wear? The wheels where still scorching hot 20 minutes after pulling in, I think this whole area needs cooling down. I am also looking at a more track orientated pad for future track outings.
I have written my own list of items to look at for future car development, but high on the list is to also have more days out with driver tuition, I think I did ok for my first time out but also believe there is a lot more to come.
The one thing I had under estimated with this whole driving on track business is how costly it is, I thought the tyres would have lasted longer? There is still a lot of tread left on the tyres but the edges are worn and more importantly I think they have “gone off” a bit. I certainly didn’t think that I would be only getting a 100 miles from a brand new set of brake pads.
After a really great day out I have to accept that competing in every round (competitively) is way out of my budget this year, I am hoping to attend a track day at Cadwell and Angelsey if I can and then enter the Time Attack events at these tracks, hopefully next year with less money being spent on the car I will be able to afford to enter the full season of Time Attack.
I must add > a HUGE thanks to Richard Bulmer at Tracktive Solutions for the work, help and advice leading up to this point, equally the team at Buddy Club UK have been awesome, on the day itself at Oulton I had two mechanics (Shaun & Ashley
) from Buddy Club working on my car all day taking tyres temps, pressures and all kinds.
I should add, if you are thinking of trying a round of Time Attack you should definitely go for it, the organisers at Time Attack are a great bunch of people, they have been as helpful as you could hope for to help me make it to the first round. I should also add that the other competitors were also a great bunch of people. I met Duncan Graham & his wife (I have been reading about this guy for ages!! ) on the day what nice people!
I will post some pics of the day later on, in the meantime there are a few good write ups on the event on “Garage Awesome Time Attack Round 1” and “Speed Hunters”
Cheers,
Lee
After months of preparation and modifications the Time Attack weekend had arrived, my first day of competing in my car at Oulton Park in the first round of Time Attack. We (myself & Dougie) arrived around 7am to get the car through scrutineering and sound testing which it passed with no issues. I went over to sign on at race control and attended the driver briefing, after this it was simply a case of taking the reg plate off the car, removing the tool box and deflating the tyres to the correct pressures and we were ready for the off.
Since the last outing (track day with Phil Glew driver training) the car had new home-made rear drop links fitted, the front shocks had the damping increased from 9 to 4 clicks from max and the tyres where swapped around so the most worn fronts where now on the rears and the hardly used rears where now on the front.
I had decided that in the first session which is “warm up” to try and push the car reasonably quick so I could see how the car felt with the subtle suspension changes, it would be the first time driving the car on track with all of the mods with no passenger. I had never driven the shorter circuit we would be using on the day prior to this weekend so I wanted to try and get the one corner I had not used before sussed out. There was a one hour test the day before which I had attended but for some reason I just couldn’t get “in the zone”? so I wanted to try this track lay out at pace.
Thankfully with other competitors on track getting “in the zone” was not an issue! I drove fairly hard and managed to get a bit of confidence flowing which in turn managed to calm the nerves. On the way in to Oulton I filled the car with petrol to the brim because this car drinks like you would not believe, when I pulled off track I had just short of ¾ of a tank in petrol. My best time in this sessions was a 1:39.57 which was ok but I knew I had more to come. My personal target prior to the event was to try and get in to the 1:37s so 1½ seconds needed to be found! In this first session my time was the quickest in Club Class so far, but I knew that other more experienced drivers would still be cruising.
Going out for the second session (practice) I was happy that I could drive with confidence, but this time I wanted to drive a little smarter and try to put in to practice the things I learnt when I was driving with Phil Glew. When I pulled out on track I was behind the two Redbrick Racing Civics which are a lot less powerful, I knew if I could overtake these cars on the opening lap I would have an open track in front of me to put a quick set of laps in. I passed the two Civics and managed a best lap of 1:37.86 before the session was red flagged due to an Evo engine letting go, my target of a 1:37 had been achieved so I was fairly happy.
I still thought I could do better than this though, when I pulled in to the pits (red flag) with my brakes smoking I could see that my new front DS2500’s had been half used up already! I decided not to go out when the session was started again because I knew the tyres would be getting worn, the brake pads where wearing fast and the petrol gauge was down to half a tank. At this stage I was 4th overall and still thought others would have more to come, at this stage I believed I still had more to come and was hoping I could drop in the 1:36s? The quickest lap so far was a 1:36.79 which I thought I could possibly match?
After a long driving break with other things going on and having a dinner break it was time to go out again in qualifying, I put a few quick laps in and noticed the petrol gauge was dropping quickly, still concerned with tyre life and brake pad wear I decided to come in early to save everything for the final, I really wanted to push hard to achieve a 1:36. When I came in I was a little disappointed to hear my quickest lap was a 1:38.20; however I was chuffed to hear that this was quick enough to put me in 3rd overall.
In preparation for the last session I (Ashley) topped the car up with £15 worth of juice thinking this would be enough for the final session without wanting to add too much weight? I went out in the final session second in line behind the chap in the 6R4 Metro (Mark Pollard) who had been quick all day, I decided to follow him on the warm up lap and to try and stick with him on his flying lap which I did. After one quick lap Mark slowed down so I went passed him and decided with an empty track in front of me to try and put some fast laps in, again I wanted to try and put what I had learnt from the day out with Phil Glew in to practice.
After a few more quick laps which I was convinced where much quicker than I had done all day, I was on a hot lap and on the brakes hard in to druids and when I lifted off the brakes and was turning in to the double right hander, the rear of the car stepped out a lot which I managed to hold on to and get around the corner. I was chuffed with the drifting antics which I assume for the spectators must have looked awesome, but it also spoilt a quick lap which was disappointing.
I decided to slow the pace right down and do two slow laps to get the tyres cooled down, after two slow laps in the 2:20s I went for my final stint of putting a quick lap in, half way around the lap coming out of Knicker Brook I felt the car struggling whilst accelerating, I looked down to see the car on a ¼ of a tank of petrol, I kept my foot on the gas but again felt the car struggling and knew it was due to low fuel.
Convinced that I had managed to put some hot laps in early I pulled in to discover my quickest lap was only a 1:38.02? I was convinced that I had gone quicker and possibly would be fast enough to get me in to the 1:36s but I was wrong, a lap timer is needed!! My time was quick enough to put me in 5th overall, I know I should have been happy with this, but I was struggling to be happy because I was convinced a late 1:36 could be achieved and I had not managed to produce it!
Anyway top day out and managed to put in a good show, put the reg plates back on the car, pumped the tyres up, put the tool box in the back and drove home!! On the way home going north on the M6 it was great to see loads of cars coming past us flashing there lights and waving, obviously with TA stickers all over the car it was easy to see that we had just competed in the car and was still using the car to commute in!
Isn’t hind sight wonderful!
Since the day itself I have wondered what I could have done differently to make my results better, the list is fairly long but as you can imagine the list as usual contains a lot of items that cost money. The main lessons are > I should have gone slower from the off in the first three sessions and saved the tyres for the final, if I could have afforded another set of new tyres for the day this would have been an advantage, but more importantly if I do buy another set of tyres I would buy the “shaved” tyres where they remove a few millimetres from the tyre tread to reduce tyre squirm, this helps the handling of the car and also should not create as much heat in the tyre.
A lap timer is now high on my list, if I had known my lap times in the final I am sure I would have tried harder/smarter to get the times (0.033 faster and I would have a trophy) down, I am certain a brake cooling kit will also be helpful, the brakes themselves worked amazingly and I can’t fault the stopping power, however the pad and discs wear rate is shocking. I think a brake cooling kit would help with pad & disc wear? The wheels where still scorching hot 20 minutes after pulling in, I think this whole area needs cooling down. I am also looking at a more track orientated pad for future track outings.
I have written my own list of items to look at for future car development, but high on the list is to also have more days out with driver tuition, I think I did ok for my first time out but also believe there is a lot more to come.
The one thing I had under estimated with this whole driving on track business is how costly it is, I thought the tyres would have lasted longer? There is still a lot of tread left on the tyres but the edges are worn and more importantly I think they have “gone off” a bit. I certainly didn’t think that I would be only getting a 100 miles from a brand new set of brake pads.
After a really great day out I have to accept that competing in every round (competitively) is way out of my budget this year, I am hoping to attend a track day at Cadwell and Angelsey if I can and then enter the Time Attack events at these tracks, hopefully next year with less money being spent on the car I will be able to afford to enter the full season of Time Attack.
I must add > a HUGE thanks to Richard Bulmer at Tracktive Solutions for the work, help and advice leading up to this point, equally the team at Buddy Club UK have been awesome, on the day itself at Oulton I had two mechanics (Shaun & Ashley
) from Buddy Club working on my car all day taking tyres temps, pressures and all kinds. I should add, if you are thinking of trying a round of Time Attack you should definitely go for it, the organisers at Time Attack are a great bunch of people, they have been as helpful as you could hope for to help me make it to the first round. I should also add that the other competitors were also a great bunch of people. I met Duncan Graham & his wife (I have been reading about this guy for ages!! ) on the day what nice people!
I will post some pics of the day later on, in the meantime there are a few good write ups on the event on “Garage Awesome Time Attack Round 1” and “Speed Hunters”
Cheers,
Lee
nice write-up, you also got a mention and photo in the Racing Exposure write-up of the event 
http://www.racingexposure.com/blog/2...o-class-debut/
http://www.racingexposure.com/blog/2...o-class-debut/
Too costly for me to do a full season unfortunately
totally enjoyed the day out though and will be doing more Lee.
nice write-up, you also got a mention and photo in the Racing Exposure write-up of the event
http://www.racingexposure.com/blog/2...o-class-debut/
http://www.racingexposure.com/blog/2...o-class-debut/
Thanks for the link John
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From: 5 beats 4 - RS3 Rulez!!!
Lee,
Great write-up and a fantastic result for your first time out.
BTW.... you must be amazingly hard on your brakes, if you are mashing up a set of DS2500 in 100 hard miles! roflol I might not be the quickest kid on the block, but mine lasted for ages and that was with several "stigs" jumping in and caning the **** out of the Spec C as well.
Was your handbrake on!
Great write-up and a fantastic result for your first time out.
BTW.... you must be amazingly hard on your brakes, if you are mashing up a set of DS2500 in 100 hard miles! roflol I might not be the quickest kid on the block, but mine lasted for ages and that was with several "stigs" jumping in and caning the **** out of the Spec C as well.
Was your handbrake on!
Lee,
Great write-up and a fantastic result for your first time out.
BTW.... you must be amazingly hard on your brakes, if you are mashing up a set of DS2500 in 100 hard miles! roflol I might not be the quickest kid on the block, but mine lasted for ages and that was with several "stigs" jumping in and caning the **** out of the Spec C as well.
Was your handbrake on!
Great write-up and a fantastic result for your first time out.
BTW.... you must be amazingly hard on your brakes, if you are mashing up a set of DS2500 in 100 hard miles! roflol I might not be the quickest kid on the block, but mine lasted for ages and that was with several "stigs" jumping in and caning the **** out of the Spec C as well.
Was your handbrake on!
my friends who where with me who fitted the last two sets of pads where staggered by the wear rate! I have spoken to Olly Clark who has politely told me that with experience I will brake less and carry more corner speed I cant argue with the man given his talents, I suppose I should look at this as an area for improvement The problem I have at present is I think the DS2500's are the muts, ignoring money I love the stopping power and feel they give once properly scrubbed in.
Lee.
Lee - you will love proper track pads like Performance Friction then. One set of these last a season for me and always work very well indeed. DS2500 and EBC seem to crumble away in very short space of time and it ends up costing 3 times as much as PF pads in the end.
Funnily enough Duncan I used PF pads on my R1 & Fireblade, can you advise which compound would be most suitable for the track, would you use another set of pads for the road or would the PF track pads be good enough for both road and track?
Cheers,
Lee.
They are absolutely fine to use on road aswell as track but can be a little abrasive on the discs if you are using them from cold a lot. I would probably swap them in for events with a spare set of cheap road pads for road use if you dont mind the extra work.
I use 01 pads and have done for 3 seasons now (have got through 3 sets). Before that I used the PF z rated pads (fast road version).
They are absolutely fine to use on road aswell as track but can be a little abrasive on the discs if you are using them from cold a lot. I would probably swap them in for events with a spare set of cheap road pads for road use if you dont mind the extra work.
They are absolutely fine to use on road aswell as track but can be a little abrasive on the discs if you are using them from cold a lot. I would probably swap them in for events with a spare set of cheap road pads for road use if you dont mind the extra work.
Thanks for that Duncan, PF01 pads it is
I've been reading this thread from the beginning and I'm so pleased you done well. It's nice to see more of a standard car doing well in a club class rather than a full blown TA car.
Oh, I know where your coming from regarding the fuel on the Spec C. I think my old spec c would do about 5 -6 mpg around the track. And that last half a tank of fuel doesn't last long.
Good luck for any future rounds.
Dave
Oh, I know where your coming from regarding the fuel on the Spec C. I think my old spec c would do about 5 -6 mpg around the track. And that last half a tank of fuel doesn't last long.
Good luck for any future rounds.
Dave
I've been reading this thread from the beginning and I'm so pleased you done well. It's nice to see more of a standard car doing well in a club class rather than a full blown TA car.
Oh, I know where your coming from regarding the fuel on the Spec C. I think my old spec c would do about 5 -6 mpg around the track. And that last half a tank of fuel doesn't last long.
Good luck for any future rounds.
Dave
Oh, I know where your coming from regarding the fuel on the Spec C. I think my old spec c would do about 5 -6 mpg around the track. And that last half a tank of fuel doesn't last long.
Good luck for any future rounds.
Dave
A few of the cars in Club Class are really well sorted track cars, but I have to admit if I had the cash mine would be the same so I cant moan.And yeh the last half of the tank is more like a 3rd really, mustnt grumble because its great on track
New discs have just arrived
I reckon I will be doing Cadwell and Angelsey, but after chasing more sponsorship and not getting anywhere I think its time all the stickers are to come off and get it looking like a road car again, so thats my bank holiday plan Cheers,
Lee.
As previously promised, I have attached just a few nice pics from Oulton Park Time Attack, I will add a lot more in the "Pictures" section.
Just want to give a huge thanks to Daniel Coverdale ( Eightj.co.uk ) who took the pictures, without these pics a lot of memories would have been lost
The A-Team working there magic
Queing up behind the BTCC Civics and the 6R4 Metro in the back ground waiting to go out
Nervous driver
Cheers,
Lee.
Just want to give a huge thanks to Daniel Coverdale ( Eightj.co.uk ) who took the pictures, without these pics a lot of memories would have been lost
The A-Team working there magic
Queing up behind the BTCC Civics and the 6R4 Metro in the back ground waiting to go out
Nervous driver
Cheers,
Lee.
Last edited by Toffee; May 4, 2011 at 11:50 PM.
As previously promised, I have attached just a few nice pics from Oulton Park Time Attack, I will add a lot more in the "Pictures" section.
Just want to give a huge thanks to Daniel Coverdale ( Eightj.co.uk ) who took the pictures, without these pics a lot of memories would have been lost
The A-Team working there magic
Queing up behind the BTCC Civics and the 6R4 Metro in the back ground waiting to go out
Nervous driver
Cheers,
Lee.
Just want to give a huge thanks to Daniel Coverdale ( Eightj.co.uk ) who took the pictures, without these pics a lot of memories would have been lost
The A-Team working there magic
Queing up behind the BTCC Civics and the 6R4 Metro in the back ground waiting to go out
Nervous driver
Cheers,
Lee.
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