ABW widebody 700+bhp Hawk Spec C
23 July 2013, 08:53 PM
#37
Time Attack round 4 @ Oulton Park > 20th July 2013
So since the last round the car body had been widened by Daren @ ABW so I could put new wheels with new tyres on, my previous tyres were 265 R888s, the new tyres are 285 Dunlop DZ03G’s from HP Tyres, so was looking forward to see how the car was different with the new rubber.
The second change to the car was the new turbo from Owen Developments, my last turbo was a GT35 with a .63 exhaust housing, Owen Developments supplied me with a GT3586HTA-M turbo, this comes with a .82 exhaust housing.
After the car was built and ready Paul Blamire mapped the car and we achieved 672.7bhp @ 2.3bar peak, the car weighs approximately 1150kg.
Time Attack Warm up>
In warm up I used cal2 which is 1.7 bar peak, the car felt real quick and I thought it was a quick lap? Wanted to kick off getting fast laps in early. I was surprised to hear that it was a 1;58, my team mate Chris Bennett did a 1;55 ☹
Practice>
Turned the car up to cal3 which is 2.0bar peak and really tried my hardest, going down the straight towards shell oils the car was quite a handful to keep in a straight line, those fat tyres weren’t that happy going in a straight line ☺ after a lap which had the car feeling like quite a hand full I got back in to the pits to hear we had done a 1:49.7 which was great, I was hoping to go sub 1;50 at some point during the day. This time had us in top spot with my team mate in 2nd with a 1;52…. Was he holding back though??
Qualifying>
In qualifying I decided to use cal3 again and get a banker lap in, after the banker lap the idea was to turn the car up to full power and see if I could go any faster with full boost? After an out lap and one fast lap I came back in to the pits to see what my time was thinking cal4 and out again? As soon as I came in to the pits my team were waving me straight in to my garage? This wasn’t part of the plan?? When I stopped the guys stated that my car was screaming when I crossed the line on my hot lap, they said the car sounded like it was super charged? There first thoughts were there is a gearbox issue. With the session still happening the team concentrated on my two team mates Chris and David Gabriel, once the session was over we had a look at the car, I mentioned it sounded fine from in the car? Steven Darley took the car for a quick spin and came back and stated he could only hear a small noise from the drivers front wheel area, a quick look around and we found a small issue with the front shocker locking rings loose, these were tightened up hoping that may have been it?
Final>
I went out clearly needing to manage my time, I was aiming at getting close to a 1:55, as soon as I left the pits and went down the hill and changed down to 4th and let the car roll there was a terrible noise in the dive train, I changed up to 5th and the noise went away, using no boost I accelerated along the straight and then down in to 4th again, terrible noise again!!? I knew I still needed to score points, I was also aware that Dave Coe had gone out the day before with issues, I had spoken to Jason Ogg earlier on and he was having issues too, so I was now thinking I knew that two of the 4wd cars left on track were OHWs so how many point scoring cars were left in? with this in mind I rolled around the circuit and completed another lap so registering a lap > it was a 2:27 lap!! When I came back in I found out that I had actually come in last but still as the 5th highest scoring 4wd car so scored 60 points in the final. Add these to the 50 points scored in qualifying and I had scored 110 points in total, Dave Coe had a no score and Jason Ogg had only scored 110 points too because of his car issues.
So all in all it was mission achieved, I went to Oulton Park hoping to score some good points, hold the gap on my nearest competitors and also try to not get another strike, ok so the plan was not to ruin a gearbox but that’s just small details ☺
I have to say though that after driving the car with the new tyres and new turbo the car feels quicker, a lot better all round. With one eye on entering Club Pro next year I am happy that these latest modifications have definitely took the car to another level.
So now the car is off to SD Motorsport on Friday for a gearbox change so the car is ready for TOTB on Saturday and Sunday, I am competing as part of the 22b.com team so hoping for another great weekend ☺
I would like to give a big thanks to everyone who has helped make this possible to date and keep helping> Steven Darley and team of SD Motorsport, Paul Blamire of Zen Performance, Daren at ABW for the awesome wide body work!!, the guys at Chevron Stafford and Owen Developments for the new fantastic turbo (full boost next time guys ☺ ) Mark at Lateral Performance for awesome parts, Alyn @ AS Performance for helping with parts great race parts, Shawn at SW Motorsports for the great cage installation, Scott @ Scooby Spares and also Greame at Whiteline UK, a massive thanks to all of you.
So since the last round the car body had been widened by Daren @ ABW so I could put new wheels with new tyres on, my previous tyres were 265 R888s, the new tyres are 285 Dunlop DZ03G’s from HP Tyres, so was looking forward to see how the car was different with the new rubber.
The second change to the car was the new turbo from Owen Developments, my last turbo was a GT35 with a .63 exhaust housing, Owen Developments supplied me with a GT3586HTA-M turbo, this comes with a .82 exhaust housing.
After the car was built and ready Paul Blamire mapped the car and we achieved 672.7bhp @ 2.3bar peak, the car weighs approximately 1150kg.
Time Attack Warm up>
In warm up I used cal2 which is 1.7 bar peak, the car felt real quick and I thought it was a quick lap? Wanted to kick off getting fast laps in early. I was surprised to hear that it was a 1;58, my team mate Chris Bennett did a 1;55 ☹
Practice>
Turned the car up to cal3 which is 2.0bar peak and really tried my hardest, going down the straight towards shell oils the car was quite a handful to keep in a straight line, those fat tyres weren’t that happy going in a straight line ☺ after a lap which had the car feeling like quite a hand full I got back in to the pits to hear we had done a 1:49.7 which was great, I was hoping to go sub 1;50 at some point during the day. This time had us in top spot with my team mate in 2nd with a 1;52…. Was he holding back though??
Qualifying>
In qualifying I decided to use cal3 again and get a banker lap in, after the banker lap the idea was to turn the car up to full power and see if I could go any faster with full boost? After an out lap and one fast lap I came back in to the pits to see what my time was thinking cal4 and out again? As soon as I came in to the pits my team were waving me straight in to my garage? This wasn’t part of the plan?? When I stopped the guys stated that my car was screaming when I crossed the line on my hot lap, they said the car sounded like it was super charged? There first thoughts were there is a gearbox issue. With the session still happening the team concentrated on my two team mates Chris and David Gabriel, once the session was over we had a look at the car, I mentioned it sounded fine from in the car? Steven Darley took the car for a quick spin and came back and stated he could only hear a small noise from the drivers front wheel area, a quick look around and we found a small issue with the front shocker locking rings loose, these were tightened up hoping that may have been it?
Final>
I went out clearly needing to manage my time, I was aiming at getting close to a 1:55, as soon as I left the pits and went down the hill and changed down to 4th and let the car roll there was a terrible noise in the dive train, I changed up to 5th and the noise went away, using no boost I accelerated along the straight and then down in to 4th again, terrible noise again!!? I knew I still needed to score points, I was also aware that Dave Coe had gone out the day before with issues, I had spoken to Jason Ogg earlier on and he was having issues too, so I was now thinking I knew that two of the 4wd cars left on track were OHWs so how many point scoring cars were left in? with this in mind I rolled around the circuit and completed another lap so registering a lap > it was a 2:27 lap!! When I came back in I found out that I had actually come in last but still as the 5th highest scoring 4wd car so scored 60 points in the final. Add these to the 50 points scored in qualifying and I had scored 110 points in total, Dave Coe had a no score and Jason Ogg had only scored 110 points too because of his car issues.
So all in all it was mission achieved, I went to Oulton Park hoping to score some good points, hold the gap on my nearest competitors and also try to not get another strike, ok so the plan was not to ruin a gearbox but that’s just small details ☺
I have to say though that after driving the car with the new tyres and new turbo the car feels quicker, a lot better all round. With one eye on entering Club Pro next year I am happy that these latest modifications have definitely took the car to another level.
So now the car is off to SD Motorsport on Friday for a gearbox change so the car is ready for TOTB on Saturday and Sunday, I am competing as part of the 22b.com team so hoping for another great weekend ☺
I would like to give a big thanks to everyone who has helped make this possible to date and keep helping> Steven Darley and team of SD Motorsport, Paul Blamire of Zen Performance, Daren at ABW for the awesome wide body work!!, the guys at Chevron Stafford and Owen Developments for the new fantastic turbo (full boost next time guys ☺ ) Mark at Lateral Performance for awesome parts, Alyn @ AS Performance for helping with parts great race parts, Shawn at SW Motorsports for the great cage installation, Scott @ Scooby Spares and also Greame at Whiteline UK, a massive thanks to all of you.
23 July 2013, 10:14 PM
#38
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So was it a 4th Gear issue then?
The changes on a whole seem to have improved the car, probably just you also getting use to what it feels like etc.
All sounds as if its going to plan....very best of luck to you
Car looks fantastic, still my fav out there.
The changes on a whole seem to have improved the car, probably just you also getting use to what it feels like etc.
All sounds as if its going to plan....very best of luck to you
Car looks fantastic, still my fav out there.
24 July 2013, 12:53 AM
#39
Yeah the car felt great, first run in cal3 in practice yielded a 1:49.7 and the ride was a bit scary, went out in qualifying again in cal3 only being smooth for a steady lap, with the experience of the first outting this run was a lot easier, only 80& throttle and still manageda slightly quicker lap, i reckon I may have had a 1:47 in the car
31 July 2013, 08:33 PM
#40
Bit late, but TOTB write up >
Weekend started with the replacement box going in on Saturday morning along with a newly refurbished clutch, this is an Exedy carbon triple plate clutch
so arrived at TOTB Saturday practice about noon, got the car off the trailer and started it and straight in to limp mode?? Steven & Paul Blamire arrived shortly after and found the fuel pressure sensor had given up 
so Paul turned this off on the ECU so we were good to go. First run on handling circuit was obviously all about just bedding the clutch in, so set off and ended up riding the clutch a bit because the biting point was a bit higher than previous, anyway set off and quickly new summit was wrong, was not sure if the car was in limp mode or if the clutch was slipping, all I knew was the car was lerching back and forth?? came in and told Brett who was helping me out, after a quick think I thought I would go again and see if it happened again? so again off the line learning new biting position of the clutch and being careful not to push the clutch too hard, once we were off the issue was there again? so limped around went back to the holding area and mentioned issues to Steven Darley, Steven went for a quick spin and came back with the news that the rear diff was goosed > game over for the day That night Steven & Brett got stuck in and replaced the rear diff for another that Steven had spare, so were ready to rock on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning walked the circuit a couple of times to get use to the layout, decided to change my Time Attack wheels and put some narrower wheels on which had Dunlop X22's on, these are supposed to be really good for sprinting. So first run again bedding clutch in off I went, after a couple of corners I was surprised how much the car was under steering and sliding about? so after a terrible lap went for another thinking it may have just been the tyres needing scrubbing in? second run and pretty much the same result > not happy at all. After a quick chat with Brett it was agreed to swap the wheels again and see if the Time Attack rubber was any better? third run this time I put the car on cal 4 and gave it loads off the line, clutch never slipped and we shot off!! went around and the car was much better, it was a rubish lap but it gave me a feel for the grip with these tyres and also the turn in of the car was different with the wider rubber on, more like what I am use to. So 4th run went quicker, from a 47.8 did a 47.2, still not good but this time I felt more dialled in with the track as my lap finished, so last run and went for it again, better again but far from tidy, this time 46.1, 1.1 seconds faster but now out of laps. This was a right downer, after the issues with the car I basically had 3 laps to get a lap in, bugger!!
So went over to the drag strip and had a play here, 1st lesson is the grip level is higher here so you need to launch it with more revs here than you do over at the handling circuit, from the line the car bogged down but quickly came to life and bang we were off, after 4 gear changes the finish line came and we did a 11.2 @ 131mph.. first and last drag run ever right there
Biggest disappointment is feeling I let the team down really, I know with better preparation the performance could have been a lot better. But I suppose thats motorsport, it was a funny weekend for our team, just seemed to be one of those weekends were peoples cars who were normally very reliable had all decided to have issues at TOTB, very frustrating. So my car is now back home and now needs a bit of TLC prior to my next event at Donnington.
Massive thanks to everyone in the team, drivers and helpers, everyone was great. In particular a massive thanks to Clive, he must be nuts wanting to captain a team like that every year.. much stress indeed. Huge thanks to Steven Darley and Brett Sheffield for the mechanical work on the car... again!! and also to Paul Blamire who once again made himself available and got me running again.
Maybe beat those pesky EVO's next year guys!!
Weekend started with the replacement box going in on Saturday morning along with a newly refurbished clutch, this is an Exedy carbon triple plate clutch
so arrived at TOTB Saturday practice about noon, got the car off the trailer and started it and straight in to limp mode?? Steven & Paul Blamire arrived shortly after and found the fuel pressure sensor had given up so Paul turned this off on the ECU so we were good to go. First run on handling circuit was obviously all about just bedding the clutch in, so set off and ended up riding the clutch a bit because the biting point was a bit higher than previous, anyway set off and quickly new summit was wrong, was not sure if the car was in limp mode or if the clutch was slipping, all I knew was the car was lerching back and forth?? came in and told Brett who was helping me out, after a quick think I thought I would go again and see if it happened again? so again off the line learning new biting position of the clutch and being careful not to push the clutch too hard, once we were off the issue was there again? so limped around went back to the holding area and mentioned issues to Steven Darley, Steven went for a quick spin and came back with the news that the rear diff was goosed > game over for the day That night Steven & Brett got stuck in and replaced the rear diff for another that Steven had spare, so were ready to rock on Sunday morning.Sunday morning walked the circuit a couple of times to get use to the layout, decided to change my Time Attack wheels and put some narrower wheels on which had Dunlop X22's on, these are supposed to be really good for sprinting. So first run again bedding clutch in off I went, after a couple of corners I was surprised how much the car was under steering and sliding about? so after a terrible lap went for another thinking it may have just been the tyres needing scrubbing in? second run and pretty much the same result > not happy at all. After a quick chat with Brett it was agreed to swap the wheels again and see if the Time Attack rubber was any better? third run this time I put the car on cal 4 and gave it loads off the line, clutch never slipped and we shot off!! went around and the car was much better, it was a rubish lap but it gave me a feel for the grip with these tyres and also the turn in of the car was different with the wider rubber on, more like what I am use to. So 4th run went quicker, from a 47.8 did a 47.2, still not good but this time I felt more dialled in with the track as my lap finished, so last run and went for it again, better again but far from tidy, this time 46.1, 1.1 seconds faster but now out of laps. This was a right downer, after the issues with the car I basically had 3 laps to get a lap in, bugger!!
So went over to the drag strip and had a play here, 1st lesson is the grip level is higher here so you need to launch it with more revs here than you do over at the handling circuit, from the line the car bogged down but quickly came to life and bang we were off, after 4 gear changes the finish line came and we did a 11.2 @ 131mph.. first and last drag run ever right there
Biggest disappointment is feeling I let the team down really, I know with better preparation the performance could have been a lot better. But I suppose thats motorsport, it was a funny weekend for our team, just seemed to be one of those weekends were peoples cars who were normally very reliable had all decided to have issues at TOTB, very frustrating. So my car is now back home and now needs a bit of TLC prior to my next event at Donnington.
Massive thanks to everyone in the team, drivers and helpers, everyone was great. In particular a massive thanks to Clive, he must be nuts wanting to captain a team like that every year.. much stress indeed. Huge thanks to Steven Darley and Brett Sheffield for the mechanical work on the car... again!!
and also to Paul Blamire who once again made himself available and got me running again.Maybe beat those pesky EVO's next year guys!!
31 July 2013, 08:48 PM
#41
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Sounds like you had the usual mix of troubles and success but at least you're getting to the bottom of the issues fairly quickly - just keep on enjoying it
10 October 2013, 12:46 AM
#44
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!!!
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crazyspeedfreakz
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05 October 2015 07:19 PM