Time Attack race car build
10 October 2013, 12:48 AM
#151
So what an 11 days to end the season with, we went to Brands Hatch on the Saturday and stopped over night to be ready for the last round of Time Attack UK, well the celebrations got started a night earlier than planned and we had a great night with my team (Chris Radcliffe, Brett Sheffield and the rest of SD Motorsport) and the guys from RA Motorsports. So come Sunday morning it was time to take to the legendary Brands Hatch circuit, I took my time through warm up, followed a mate of mine in practice who was driving a Subaru legacy, I followed Damien for a few laps to get an idea of lines and then we were ready for the qualifying session. In qualifying the track was too busy and I struggled to get a clean lap in aaargh!! Very frustrating, but had a few more laps and other than a little slide off the track we were ready for the final which was split in to two groups.
Final > The final was a lot better, now the groups were split the circuit was clear and everyone was flying!! I managed to post my quickest laps of the day and managed to take the win
Amazingly the three guys behind were within hundreths of a second of each other and only four tenths behind me. So the podium was two great guys in Jason Ogg and Dave Coe, we went up to get our trophies and then I was back up again to collect the Championship winning trophy… I will be honest this was a slightly emotional moment for me, I was feeling the pressure way before Donnington and to now have the trophy in my hands was a relief, well happy!!
So back to the hotel and we were forced to celebrate again!! Not as bad this time because we were all exhausted, we managed to have a meal and a few drinks with Dave Coe and his team, great ending to a cracking weekend.
So went back to Preston on Monday, went to work on Tuesday & Wednesday and then met the guys (Chris Radcliffe, Brett Sheffield and Steven Darley) on Thursday… road trip!! We were off to Hull to get the ferry over to Rotterdam for the European Time Attack Masters
We landed in Zandvoort on Friday morning and took a walk to the circuit, we had a good walk around the circuit and took in the track lay out, this is a long fast circuit which was looking very technical. Friday night we went to the local village (Amsterdam ) and met up with the last member of the team for the weekend > Motorsport Guru Paul Blamire, had a couple of quiet drinks and then went back home for an early night!!
Saturday morning we were up and got to the circuit reasonably early to get the garage kitted out and were ready for the test session which started at noon. I took to the track and slowly learnt the track, whilst I was nipping in and out of the pits the guys were amazing, as I pulled in my team were monitoring tyre temperatures, pressures, engine bay to ensure everything was ok and also looking at the ECU logs, quick pit stops and I was out again. At the end of the hour session I managed to get a couple of quick laps in which were around 1min 58secs, quite happy to get under 2 minutes.
Saturday night we nipped out for a quiet drink in to the local village again and met up with Gav Renshaw and Andrew Barbour, another great night was had with the guys and then it was back home for another early night
Sunday was European Time Attack Masters day, so you can imagine I was very nervous but tried to stay cool, when we arrived at the track the guys were all busy making sure my car was ready for the event, it was decided to reduce the camber settings based on the day befores information, after chats with Paul Blamire he also started making other changes to the car set up and they were all great. First session I went out for 20 minutes just making sure everything was ok, after a couple of laps came in and the car was checked over, after a couple of safe laps Paul decided to up the boost setting to cal3, I went for a couple of laps but just took it easy making sure the car was ok for the qualifying session, when I came back in the guys said I had done another 1min 58secs.
So when the qualifying session arrived I went out on cal3 again, it was agreed that I should leave pit lane get 1 lap in try to get the tyres hot and go straight in to a hot lap, this would be good practice for the final. After a warm up lap I started my flying lap, on the 3rd corner which is a very tight left I caught up with a very nice carbon Skyline which looked to be giving me room to undertake on the left hand side, so I went for the pass and just as my front end was near the side of the Skyline the other car suddenly changed his line and we nearly touched!! After slamming the brakes on to avoid a hit I then had to stop the car going in to a spin, so lap ruined but composed myself and carried on pushing hardish.. I decided to finish the lap and then go for a flying lap.
So started a quick lap which was clear and quick, but as always there were times were I was thinking “I can do that quicker” but hey ho, I completed the lap and just as I was approaching the last few corners I noticed fluid on my windscreen, going around the second to last corner I noticed I was being black flagged, so pulled in to the pits which was the plan anyway. I told the guys about the fluid, it turned out to be the steering fluid had boiled!! Whilst they were looking at the car a Time Attack official came over and advised we were black flagged due to excessive noise. So it was decided to finish the session there and let the guys work on the car, I was then advised that I had done a 1min 53 lap, very happy!! whilst looking at the car the Dutch Time Attack officials came over and stated the car was now the loudest of the weekend, result!! We had a quick chat with Glen Horncastle who advised not running again because a second warning means your are banned from going back out.
During the wait for the final the running order was released and I learnt I was running 23rd out of 24 cars, when the time came we took our positions in pit lane and I was sat directly behind the SVA Evo car being driven by Gareth Lloyd, in front of Gareth was Jannes Subaru. I watched Janne launch his car and off he went, 15 seconds later it was Gareths turn, another 15 seconds later it was my turn to go, I launched the car off the line and lit the back tyres up spinning the wheels up towards the first corner, I though well they should be warm ☺
On my flying lap I noticed the car had a slight rumble on the front wheels, at first I thought about pulling the lap and coming back in? I accelerated very hard a few times and noticed it was only on deceleration, I decided against pulling in and went for my final lap, I did take it slightly easy and tried to just be very smooth, half way around the lap I noticed Jannes beautiful black Subaru parked at the side of the track with smoke coming out of the bonnet, I pressed on and completed my lap,. When I came back in to the pits my crew were all clapping and looked very happy, I had beat my previous best time slightly and managed another 1min 53 second lap. I have to admit I felt slightly frustrated that I knew the car had a lot more to give, after the changes being made and with my track knowledge getting better and better I am certain that another hour testing we could have knocked a few more seconds off the time?
Anyway I was told I was second in the 4WD class and 4th overall which is a good result, again getting in to the 1min 53seconds was a good result and lower than I thought I would get at the start of the weekend, my target was a 1min 55seconds so happy with the time all things being considered.
After celebrating on the podium and soaking Gareth with the champers we cleared up the garage quickly went back to our digs and got cleaned up ready for the party to begin we met up with Simon Deaton and his team and went in to Amsterdam, whilst there we met up with Gareth Lloyd and his mate and had one of my best nights out ever!! Day after it was back to Rotterdam to get the ferry back to Hull, another night in a bar having a few more drinks and then before we knew it we were being woke up, the ferry had arrived back at Hull and it was now Tuesday morning.. What an 11 days this had been
Hope you like the pictures attached, most have been nicked from other peoples postsvthanks to all the photographers for their great pictures which will last as a great reminder to a brilliant couple of weeks in my life.
Must add a HUGE thanks to the guys who hve supported me throughout the year, I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as me, roll on 2014!!!
Final > The final was a lot better, now the groups were split the circuit was clear and everyone was flying!! I managed to post my quickest laps of the day and managed to take the win
Amazingly the three guys behind were within hundreths of a second of each other and only four tenths behind me. So the podium was two great guys in Jason Ogg and Dave Coe, we went up to get our trophies and then I was back up again to collect the Championship winning trophy… I will be honest this was a slightly emotional moment for me, I was feeling the pressure way before Donnington and to now have the trophy in my hands was a relief, well happy!!So back to the hotel and we were forced to celebrate again!! Not as bad this time because we were all exhausted, we managed to have a meal and a few drinks with Dave Coe and his team, great ending to a cracking weekend.
So went back to Preston on Monday, went to work on Tuesday & Wednesday and then met the guys (Chris Radcliffe, Brett Sheffield and Steven Darley) on Thursday… road trip!! We were off to Hull to get the ferry over to Rotterdam for the European Time Attack Masters
We landed in Zandvoort on Friday morning and took a walk to the circuit, we had a good walk around the circuit and took in the track lay out, this is a long fast circuit which was looking very technical. Friday night we went to the local village (Amsterdam
) and met up with the last member of the team for the weekend > Motorsport Guru Paul Blamire, had a couple of quiet drinks and then went back home for an early night!!Saturday morning we were up and got to the circuit reasonably early to get the garage kitted out and were ready for the test session which started at noon. I took to the track and slowly learnt the track, whilst I was nipping in and out of the pits the guys were amazing, as I pulled in my team were monitoring tyre temperatures, pressures, engine bay to ensure everything was ok and also looking at the ECU logs, quick pit stops and I was out again. At the end of the hour session I managed to get a couple of quick laps in which were around 1min 58secs, quite happy to get under 2 minutes.
Saturday night we nipped out for a quiet drink in to the local village again and met up with Gav Renshaw and Andrew Barbour, another great night was had with the guys and then it was back home for another early night
Sunday was European Time Attack Masters day, so you can imagine I was very nervous but tried to stay cool, when we arrived at the track the guys were all busy making sure my car was ready for the event, it was decided to reduce the camber settings based on the day befores information, after chats with Paul Blamire he also started making other changes to the car set up and they were all great. First session I went out for 20 minutes just making sure everything was ok, after a couple of laps came in and the car was checked over, after a couple of safe laps Paul decided to up the boost setting to cal3, I went for a couple of laps but just took it easy making sure the car was ok for the qualifying session, when I came back in the guys said I had done another 1min 58secs.
So when the qualifying session arrived I went out on cal3 again, it was agreed that I should leave pit lane get 1 lap in try to get the tyres hot and go straight in to a hot lap, this would be good practice for the final. After a warm up lap I started my flying lap, on the 3rd corner which is a very tight left I caught up with a very nice carbon Skyline which looked to be giving me room to undertake on the left hand side, so I went for the pass and just as my front end was near the side of the Skyline the other car suddenly changed his line and we nearly touched!! After slamming the brakes on to avoid a hit I then had to stop the car going in to a spin, so lap ruined but composed myself and carried on pushing hardish.. I decided to finish the lap and then go for a flying lap.
So started a quick lap which was clear and quick, but as always there were times were I was thinking “I can do that quicker” but hey ho, I completed the lap and just as I was approaching the last few corners I noticed fluid on my windscreen, going around the second to last corner I noticed I was being black flagged, so pulled in to the pits which was the plan anyway. I told the guys about the fluid, it turned out to be the steering fluid had boiled!! Whilst they were looking at the car a Time Attack official came over and advised we were black flagged due to excessive noise. So it was decided to finish the session there and let the guys work on the car, I was then advised that I had done a 1min 53 lap, very happy!! whilst looking at the car the Dutch Time Attack officials came over and stated the car was now the loudest of the weekend, result!!
We had a quick chat with Glen Horncastle who advised not running again because a second warning means your are banned from going back out.During the wait for the final the running order was released and I learnt I was running 23rd out of 24 cars, when the time came we took our positions in pit lane and I was sat directly behind the SVA Evo car being driven by Gareth Lloyd, in front of Gareth was Jannes Subaru. I watched Janne launch his car and off he went, 15 seconds later it was Gareths turn, another 15 seconds later it was my turn to go, I launched the car off the line and lit the back tyres up spinning the wheels up towards the first corner, I though well they should be warm ☺
On my flying lap I noticed the car had a slight rumble on the front wheels, at first I thought about pulling the lap and coming back in? I accelerated very hard a few times and noticed it was only on deceleration, I decided against pulling in and went for my final lap, I did take it slightly easy and tried to just be very smooth, half way around the lap I noticed Jannes beautiful black Subaru parked at the side of the track with smoke coming out of the bonnet, I pressed on and completed my lap,. When I came back in to the pits my crew were all clapping and looked very happy, I had beat my previous best time slightly and managed another 1min 53 second lap. I have to admit I felt slightly frustrated that I knew the car had a lot more to give, after the changes being made and with my track knowledge getting better and better I am certain that another hour testing we could have knocked a few more seconds off the time?
Anyway I was told I was second in the 4WD class and 4th overall which is a good result, again getting in to the 1min 53seconds was a good result and lower than I thought I would get at the start of the weekend, my target was a 1min 55seconds so happy with the time all things being considered.
After celebrating on the podium and soaking Gareth with the champers we cleared up the garage quickly went back to our digs and got cleaned up ready for the party to begin
we met up with Simon Deaton and his team and went in to Amsterdam, whilst there we met up with Gareth Lloyd and his mate and had one of my best nights out ever!! Day after it was back to Rotterdam to get the ferry back to Hull, another night in a bar having a few more drinks and then before we knew it we were being woke up, the ferry had arrived back at Hull and it was now Tuesday morning.. What an 11 days this had been Hope you like the pictures attached, most have been nicked from other peoples posts
vthanks to all the photographers for their great pictures which will last as a great reminder to a brilliant couple of weeks in my life.Must add a HUGE thanks to the guys who hve supported me throughout the year, I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as me, roll on 2014!!!
10 October 2013, 06:27 PM
#156
09 December 2013, 05:57 AM
#158
Cheers for the comments guys, yeh the season certainly had its ups and downs, and rolls come to think of it but it all came good in the end. where doing major work on the car now to try and be competitive again next year but this time in Club Pro!! I can see its gonna be a very tough year already!!
but it all came good in the end. where doing major work on the car now to try and be competitive again next year but this time in Club Pro!! I can see its gonna be a very tough year already!!
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