Time Attack - Knockhill .... its started ....
27 July 2007, 07:10 AM
#1
Time Attack - Knockhill .... its started ....
Well, the time to try my luck at a timed event has finally come.
Having been unable to commit to the full series when funds were needed by the organisers in February I managed to sneak an entry into the Knockhill round of Time Attack as I saw how much fun Mike Payne was having and knowing that some people would deem a near 1000 mile round trip too much for one round a space became available courtesy of Ron Kiddell (thanks Ron
)
The last month has been hectic trying to get through the list of things to do to try and eek a little more performance out of the car and a lot more performance out of me
With a final shakedown last week at cadwell along with some expert tuition from Maxx, a few minor tweaks were needed such as bigger injectors and more boost :evil: to give me the best chance I will have of getting a less than embarassing result up there.
As always before events there is a mad rush to get things done and I feel for Mike Payne (TA) and Bladey (competing in EDC at the same event) whose cars were both finalised yesterday having had recent scares - I believe Mike's was mapped to 2 bar
in the early hours of this morning by Zak after having had to strip and subsequently rebuild a lot of the engine to find and cure a mystery noise. Up until 9pm last night Mike didnt know whether he was definitely going to make it 
I am so pleased that he is - it will be great to slug it out on track with him in what should be two fairly well matched cars (albeit with different driving characteristics)
Well, having had a perfect night's sleep (not) in fact I havent slept that well for quite a while now worrying about the event, the car, me, the weather and anythign else that I have forgotten to do cos my mind has been pre-occupied
(sorrry if this affected you) .... up at 6am - not cos I had to but because it was light and I couldnt get back to sleep anyway
The plan today is to make a leisurely journey up to Dunfermline where Mike and I are booked into a fine B&B for the two nights. It looked great on their website, lets hope it is as good as it seems. They have wi-fi there so will post reports from there
Tomorrow is 'the' day !!
The event starts for us with an SIDC Track Morning from 9am - 12 that both Mike and I are booked on to try and gain some experience of the track before the stopwatches come out to play. This wont give us a major advantage over anyone else in TA as most of the competitors seem to be running in it but hopefully it can stop us joining Team Gravel and help us to post some respectable times in the afternoon practice and qualifying sessions
Zak from Mocom will be coming up to assist on the day with set-up, map tweaking, general problems as well as probably stirring the friendly competition between Mike and myself
The afternoon TA Club Challenge is broken down into two groups. Both Mike and I are in the same group and will get 2 x 20 min practice sessions then a 20 minute qualifying session where it is time to stand up and be counted .... our best lap time during that period ranks us for the final later on. During the final we have 1 warm up lap, then 1 hot lap to set our best time
Alyn from ASP is also heading up (I hope the tickets arrived Alyn) and I am looking forward to meeting him and also Dan @ PFC along with many other friendly faces in what is, after all, a relatively small community of track goers, modifiers, tuners and general motorsport lovers.
To say I am excited is a huge understatement.
To say I am nervous is even more so but that will go as soon as on track (i hope)
Bring it on !!!
Having been unable to commit to the full series when funds were needed by the organisers in February I managed to sneak an entry into the Knockhill round of Time Attack as I saw how much fun Mike Payne was having and knowing that some people would deem a near 1000 mile round trip too much for one round a space became available courtesy of Ron Kiddell (thanks Ron
)The last month has been hectic trying to get through the list of things to do to try and eek a little more performance out of the car and a lot more performance out of me
With a final shakedown last week at cadwell along with some expert tuition from Maxx, a few minor tweaks were needed such as bigger injectors and more boost :evil: to give me the best chance I will have of getting a less than embarassing result up there.As always before events there is a mad rush to get things done and I feel for Mike Payne (TA) and Bladey (competing in EDC at the same event) whose cars were both finalised yesterday having had recent scares - I believe Mike's was mapped to 2 bar
in the early hours of this morning by Zak after having had to strip and subsequently rebuild a lot of the engine to find and cure a mystery noise. Up until 9pm last night Mike didnt know whether he was definitely going to make it I am so pleased that he is - it will be great to slug it out on track with him in what should be two fairly well matched cars (albeit with different driving characteristics)Well, having had a perfect night's sleep (not) in fact I havent slept that well for quite a while now worrying about the event, the car, me, the weather and anythign else that I have forgotten to do cos my mind has been pre-occupied
(sorrry if this affected you) .... up at 6am - not cos I had to but because it was light and I couldnt get back to sleep anyway The plan today is to make a leisurely journey up to Dunfermline where Mike and I are booked into a fine B&B for the two nights. It looked great on their website, lets hope it is as good as it seems. They have wi-fi there so will post reports from there
Tomorrow is 'the' day !!
The event starts for us with an SIDC Track Morning from 9am - 12 that both Mike and I are booked on to try and gain some experience of the track before the stopwatches come out to play. This wont give us a major advantage over anyone else in TA as most of the competitors seem to be running in it but hopefully it can stop us joining Team Gravel and help us to post some respectable times in the afternoon practice and qualifying sessions
Zak from Mocom will be coming up to assist on the day with set-up, map tweaking, general problems as well as probably stirring the friendly competition between Mike and myself
The afternoon TA Club Challenge is broken down into two groups. Both Mike and I are in the same group and will get 2 x 20 min practice sessions then a 20 minute qualifying session where it is time to stand up and be counted .... our best lap time during that period ranks us for the final later on. During the final we have 1 warm up lap, then 1 hot lap to set our best time
Alyn from ASP is also heading up (I hope the tickets arrived Alyn) and I am looking forward to meeting him and also Dan @ PFC along with many other friendly faces in what is, after all, a relatively small community of track goers, modifiers, tuners and general motorsport lovers.
To say I am excited is a huge understatement.
To say I am nervous is even more so but that will go as soon as on track (i hope)
Bring it on !!!
Last edited by dynamix; 27 July 2007 at 07:28 AM.
27 July 2007, 09:26 AM
#4
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Going round in circles in a Mini
Posts: 5,485
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Good Luck Duncan!
6 am, huh! was round Mike's at 5.45 loading all his kit, before taking him up to Zak's. really dissapointed not to be able to join you guys
Mikes was mapped to 1.8 bar, as beyond that it blew out the spark!
Ron Kiddell not going up in the Pro Class bandit car, should move you all up a place!
Have fun!
6 am, huh! was round Mike's at 5.45 loading all his kit, before taking him up to Zak's. really dissapointed not to be able to join you guys
Mikes was mapped to 1.8 bar, as beyond that it blew out the spark!
Ron Kiddell not going up in the Pro Class bandit car, should move you all up a place!
Have fun!
27 July 2007, 10:01 AM
#6
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Going round in circles in a Mini
Posts: 5,485
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Trending Topics
27 July 2007, 05:15 PM
#8
Arrived at the hotel
6 and a half hour journey isnt too bad at all including a fabulous A road blast up through Kielder Forest ..... awesome 8)
Hotel is fantastic - just on the edge of Dunfermline 15 mins from the track ... just unloading a few bits and going to wash Mike's car then food time
6 and a half hour journey isnt too bad at all including a fabulous A road blast up through Kielder Forest ..... awesome 8)
Hotel is fantastic - just on the edge of Dunfermline 15 mins from the track ... just unloading a few bits and going to wash Mike's car then food time
27 July 2007, 06:29 PM
#11
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Back in the UK at last!!!
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Blowing the spark out now! lol
Whats an MSD????
Well the car is clean (not Frayz clean), but it is cleaner
Time for grub and then a bit of revision on the circuit before getting my head down and get some beauty sleep!!!
Whats an MSD????
Well the car is clean (not Frayz clean), but it is cleaner
Time for grub and then a bit of revision on the circuit before getting my head down and get some beauty sleep!!!
29 July 2007, 12:31 AM
#18
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Back in the UK at last!!!
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Good news????
OK news....
Firstly well done Duncan.... first time out in time attack with a relatively unmodified car and managed a very respectable 15th (although that is really 14th due to the local Pro driver that was in our class).
As for me... well where do i start?
They day started well when in the warm up session they actualy timed our laps. I managed a 59.649 (wiining Pro time was 55 last year). this placed me 6th in the total field of Club & Pro class!
Duncan's transporder didn't work so no time for this session.
Then the 1st qualifer put me in 7th with a respectable and consitent 59.694! And Duncan 1:02.007....
Then for the 2nd practice/Qualifier and in true scottish fashion the heavens opened and it p*ssed down.... well we all got out on track in either rain, drizzle or just a wet circuit and in these challenging conditions i managed a 1:02.070 which placed me 1st in the club class.... yep you read it right... 1st
Duncan putting in a great 1:05.417 putting him 6th
Sadly it goes down hill after that..... there was lots of discussions about running the final hot lap due to yet more heavy rain, it was decided rather than 1 hot lap we would get 2. This would give us more time to heat the tyres and get to know the circuit..... Well muggins here was first out on circuit and every one can claim what they like, but that is a dissadvantage due to the cars not helping to shift the water from the circuit in the form of spray etc. So off i went, cold lap done, 1st hot lap felt good, even though the tyres were spinning constantly under full throttle. Then for my second hot lap, flying down the straight, a little over confident hitting the brakes hard, the back steps out, a little side ways action and then straight full force sideways into the Gravel!!!! Well i limped home with loads of steering lock on and fearing major damage, but on inspection i had pushed both nearside tyres off the rim!!! other than that, the car seems fine. the one good thing, i managed a reasonable time given i only ended up with one hot lap and i was the first guy out, my time 1:06.542 which put me 7th (or 6th if you exclude the ringer doing a 59.330 
). Which also would have put me 7th in the Pro class. I'm pleaseed with the results from the day, i mean to get a 1st in one of the sessions is amazing. BUT i am annoyed with myself for pushing a little too hard, as i know the 2nd lap would have been a good 0.5 to 1 second quicker, which would have pushed me a lot higher up the rankings...
Oh and not to forget Duncan, who pout in a great 1:09.458 putting him 15th (14th), out of 24 runners for the final...
Well roll on Brands Hatch!!!!!
(I'll post some pictures later in the week)
OK news....
Firstly well done Duncan.... first time out in time attack with a relatively unmodified car and managed a very respectable 15th (although that is really 14th due to the local Pro driver that was in our class).
As for me... well where do i start?
They day started well when in the warm up session they actualy timed our laps. I managed a 59.649 (wiining Pro time was 55 last year). this placed me 6th in the total field of Club & Pro class!
Duncan's transporder didn't work so no time for this session.Then the 1st qualifer put me in 7th with a respectable and consitent 59.694!
And Duncan 1:02.007....Then for the 2nd practice/Qualifier and in true scottish fashion the heavens opened and it p*ssed down.... well we all got out on track in either rain, drizzle or just a wet circuit and in these challenging conditions i managed a 1:02.070 which placed me 1st in the club class.... yep you read it right... 1st
Duncan putting in a great 1:05.417 putting him 6th
Sadly it goes down hill after that..... there was lots of discussions about running the final hot lap due to yet more heavy rain, it was decided rather than 1 hot lap we would get 2. This would give us more time to heat the tyres and get to know the circuit..... Well muggins here was first out on circuit and every one can claim what they like, but that is a dissadvantage due to the cars not helping to shift the water from the circuit in the form of spray etc. So off i went, cold lap done, 1st hot lap felt good, even though the tyres were spinning constantly under full throttle. Then for my second hot lap, flying down the straight, a little over confident hitting the brakes hard, the back steps out, a little side ways action and then straight full force sideways into the Gravel!!!!
Well i limped home with loads of steering lock on and fearing major damage, but on inspection i had pushed both nearside tyres off the rim!!! other than that, the car seems fine. the one good thing, i managed a reasonable time given i only ended up with one hot lap and i was the first guy out, my time 1:06.542 which put me 7th (or 6th if you exclude the ringer doing a 59.330 ). Which also would have put me 7th in the Pro class. I'm pleaseed with the results from the day, i mean to get a 1st in one of the sessions is amazing. BUT i am annoyed with myself for pushing a little too hard, as i know the 2nd lap would have been a good 0.5 to 1 second quicker, which would have pushed me a lot higher up the rankings...Oh and not to forget Duncan, who pout in a great 1:09.458 putting him 15th (14th), out of 24 runners for the final...
Well roll on Brands Hatch!!!!!
(I'll post some pictures later in the week)
29 July 2007, 12:31 AM
#19
just got back to the hotel and had a fine scottish curry
what a great day.... toally knackered now but what a day !!!
The day started with the SIDC track morning which Mike and I had booked onto the try and get a bit of practice of this circuit. First impressions of it were .... jeesh
Its only got 7 corners .... how hard can it be ?
But half of those corners are totally blind, flying sideways jumping kerbs and generally hooning around. I came to the conclusion that Mike was more willing to drive closer to the edge than I was quite early on ... more on that later though
I was logging the first track session and came in with a 1min 3 something, which I was quite pleased with after just a few laps. Came into the pits and the story for the day seemed to be my car overheating coming in the pits so plentiful supplies of water were needed to fill it up for the next outing.
Mike and I went out loads in the morning track time to try out various lines, gear choices, amount of kerb taken etc etc.. There are places where you are literally sideways flying with your foot planted to the floor waiting for it to land and drive on .... then there were other corners where you have to be even more committed ... not a day for the faint hearted. I had thought the mike was quick in the morning sessions where my time had come down to 1 min 2 but still hadnt got the hairpin right.
This I was determined to improve in the afternoon TA sessions.
Session 1 Warm up
My transponder wasnt working so the MST timing guys logged me at a 4min 6 lap ... the guy came up and got me to relocate it afterwards
Session 2 Practice (DRY)
Mike was flying clocking a high 59 sec lap which was stunning - my best was 1 min 2 but got badly baulked on a real flyer as the traffic was horrendous through the whole session for me and struggled to piece a good lap together.
It then started raining at the end of the session .... oh dear this will be fun
We came in from this session and the heavens opened on us - it was horizontal rain !!
Session 3 Qualifying (WET)
Again Mike was throwing caution to the wind and chucked his car into the corners with bigger ***** than me. I was airborne several times a lap and sideways a lot but Mike seemed to be able to hook it up better than me in the wet. Having said that he hooked it up better than anyone in the wet coming in with fastest Club Challenge Driver, with me in 6th. I was delighted with this and Mike was like a schoolkid ... lovely to see someone so happy - well done Mike.
As for the hairpin, this comes at the end of the straight and is a heavy braking zone (yes pf brakes worked again) but i had a choice to try and get as much speed as possible for the uphill section:
Option 1 - trail brake into it keeping it tidy and then apply power when at the apex to bring the speed onto the uphill straight
Option 2 - brake in a straight line get a good line in a drive fighting some understeer until you can get on the power
Option 3 - stand on the brakes and turn in whilst at the same time burying the right foot to bring the car sideways within an inch of the edge of the exit kerb and gravel trap to the delights of the crowd.
Unlike my normal smooth driving style, weirdly I chose option 3 as it seemed the quickest and certainly made me laugh all the way up the start/finish straight and that was important to me ... love it
Then, just as we thought we knew what Scottish rain was like ... it well and trully lobbed it down ...... hmmmm
TA Final (WET WET WET)
The hotlaps were decided to allow 2 hot laps following a drivers meeting to allow for some degree of tyres warming up. This was good as we got two goes to post a good time.
We queued in the Pitlane and were supposed to head out onto the track in reverse seeding from the qualifying session. This would have put Mike running last and me 6th from last - on a drying track this would have been good.
As it happens, Mike was first out on track. A drenched, puddly, wet slippery water fest of a track. I was sitting in the pitlane ready to go out 4th and saw mike go steaming through on his first hotlap - looked great. Saw him come past for the second time, this time slewing sideways one way then the other entering the downhill, off camber, blind series of corners called Seat Curves.... he didnt appear round again hmmm. I was worried... really worried. The the marshall said GO - so off on track for my laps. It was slippery, really slippery but full of confidence from the previous wet session, I made swift progress and caught the person that had set off in front of me. At least I didnt come last
Anyway results ....
TA Club Challenge
Mike Payne 6th Place from the one hot lap and some gravel to take home with him for the second (well done)
Duncan Graham 14th Place
I believe that there was over 30 CC competitors so overall well chuffed with it and had a ball - what a great circuit (well worth the long trip even for a track day IMO)
what a great day.... toally knackered now but what a day !!!
The day started with the SIDC track morning which Mike and I had booked onto the try and get a bit of practice of this circuit. First impressions of it were .... jeesh
Its only got 7 corners .... how hard can it be ?
But half of those corners are totally blind, flying sideways jumping kerbs and generally hooning around. I came to the conclusion that Mike was more willing to drive closer to the edge than I was quite early on ... more on that later though
I was logging the first track session and came in with a 1min 3 something, which I was quite pleased with after just a few laps. Came into the pits and the story for the day seemed to be my car overheating coming in the pits so plentiful supplies of water were needed to fill it up for the next outing.
Mike and I went out loads in the morning track time to try out various lines, gear choices, amount of kerb taken etc etc.. There are places where you are literally sideways flying with your foot planted to the floor waiting for it to land and drive on .... then there were other corners where you have to be even more committed
... not a day for the faint hearted. I had thought the mike was quick in the morning sessions where my time had come down to 1 min 2 but still hadnt got the hairpin right.This I was determined to improve in the afternoon TA sessions.
Session 1 Warm up
My transponder wasnt working so the MST timing guys logged me at a 4min 6 lap
... the guy came up and got me to relocate it afterwardsSession 2 Practice (DRY)
Mike was flying clocking a high 59 sec lap which was stunning - my best was 1 min 2 but got badly baulked on a real flyer as the traffic was horrendous through the whole session for me and struggled to piece a good lap together.
It then started raining at the end of the session .... oh dear this will be fun
We came in from this session and the heavens opened on us - it was horizontal rain !!
Session 3 Qualifying (WET)
Again Mike was throwing caution to the wind and chucked his car into the corners with bigger ***** than me. I was airborne several times a lap and sideways a lot but Mike seemed to be able to hook it up better than me in the wet. Having said that he hooked it up better than anyone in the wet coming in with fastest Club Challenge Driver, with me in 6th. I was delighted with this and Mike was like a schoolkid ... lovely to see someone so happy - well done Mike.
As for the hairpin, this comes at the end of the straight and is a heavy braking zone (yes pf brakes worked again) but i had a choice to try and get as much speed as possible for the uphill section:
Option 1 - trail brake into it keeping it tidy and then apply power when at the apex to bring the speed onto the uphill straight
Option 2 - brake in a straight line get a good line in a drive fighting some understeer until you can get on the power
Option 3 - stand on the brakes and turn in whilst at the same time burying the right foot to bring the car sideways within an inch of the edge of the exit kerb and gravel trap to the delights of the crowd.
Unlike my normal smooth driving style, weirdly I chose option 3 as it seemed the quickest and certainly made me laugh all the way up the start/finish straight and that was important to me ... love it
Then, just as we thought we knew what Scottish rain was like ... it well and trully lobbed it down ...... hmmmm
TA Final (WET WET WET)
The hotlaps were decided to allow 2 hot laps following a drivers meeting to allow for some degree of tyres warming up. This was good as we got two goes to post a good time.
We queued in the Pitlane and were supposed to head out onto the track in reverse seeding from the qualifying session. This would have put Mike running last and me 6th from last - on a drying track this would have been good.
As it happens, Mike was first out on track. A drenched, puddly, wet slippery water fest of a track. I was sitting in the pitlane ready to go out 4th and saw mike go steaming through on his first hotlap - looked great. Saw him come past for the second time, this time slewing sideways one way then the other entering the downhill, off camber, blind series of corners called Seat Curves.... he didnt appear round again hmmm. I was worried... really worried. The the marshall said GO - so off on track for my laps. It was slippery, really slippery but full of confidence from the previous wet session, I made swift progress and caught the person that had set off in front of me. At least I didnt come last
Anyway results ....
TA Club Challenge
Mike Payne 6th Place from the one hot lap and some gravel to take home with him for the second (well done
)Duncan Graham 14th Place
I believe that there was over 30 CC competitors so overall well chuffed with it and had a ball - what a great circuit (well worth the long trip even for a track day IMO)
29 July 2007, 06:53 AM
#22
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Going round in circles in a Mini
Posts: 5,485
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well done Duncan and Mike!
Duncan, you better start blagging hard to get a Brands entry! Tell Ron Kiddell to play in the pro class where he belongs and let you have his entry again
Mike,
I know you are a bit disappointed with another sixth, but you know for sure you where capable of much better. I mean 1st in class in Q3!
. And anyway 6th out of 30 is hardly bad is it!
Did your nice new overall's get any comments?
Brands next - Bring it On!
Duncan, you better start blagging hard to get a Brands entry! Tell Ron Kiddell to play in the pro class where he belongs and let you have his entry again
Mike,
I know you are a bit disappointed with another sixth, but you know for sure you where capable of much better. I mean 1st in class in Q3!
. And anyway 6th out of 30 is hardly bad is it!Did your nice new overall's get any comments?
Brands next - Bring it On!
29 July 2007, 07:45 PM
#26
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Back in the UK at last!!!
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Cheers guys.....
Bloody knackered from teh drive home, but at least i made it home!
My gravel entry musy have been around 80+.....
Roll on Brands.....
Bloody knackered from teh drive home, but at least i made it home!
My gravel entry musy have been around 80+.....
Roll on Brands.....
29 July 2007, 09:15 PM
#28
I'd say that was a lucky escape Mike
Top marks though mate - you were quicker than me and can shoot above your weight with the huge power outputs of the others. Looking at the trap speeds shows the power rankings and we were both low down on the list but finished higher due to handling and driving. A job well done.
Bigger turbo is needed now though if I have any hope of catching you
Top marks though mate - you were quicker than me and can shoot above your weight with the huge power outputs of the others. Looking at the trap speeds shows the power rankings and we were both low down on the list but finished higher due to handling and driving. A job well done.
Bigger turbo is needed now though if I have any hope of catching you
29 July 2007, 09:34 PM
#29
Scooby Regular
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Back in the UK at last!!!
Posts: 2,084
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'd say that was a lucky escape Mike
Top marks though mate - you were quicker than me and can shoot above your weight with the huge power outputs of the others. Looking at the trap speeds shows the power rankings and we were both low down on the list but finished higher due to handling and driving. A job well done.
Bigger turbo is needed now though if I have any hope of catching you
Top marks though mate - you were quicker than me and can shoot above your weight with the huge power outputs of the others. Looking at the trap speeds shows the power rankings and we were both low down on the list but finished higher due to handling and driving. A job well done.
Bigger turbo is needed now though if I have any hope of catching you
Guess i need the boost raised and my sparking issue resolved.....
I'm sure cams will be mentioned too, but i have to draw a line somewhere!