For me, this year was going to be ZERO tolerance on stress.

I had already made the decision several months ago to return the Spec C back to full road spec, which included full standard interior, stereo and speaker system (including a sub lol), road spec suspension (limo ride quality lol) etc etc. I should really weigh it again!! On the day I took NO tools , no spare wheels with track tyres and with only the addition of my helmet and a couple of cans of normal VPower, I was set to go. Needless to say, I was not expecting anything at all and just wanted to have a bit of a laugh.

Withstanding all the above, the only addition was to have someone drive the car around the handling circuit that could, without doubt, do a better job than me. I.E. Simon!

After several laps around the Handling Circuit, Simon was able to achieve a 33.2s, which gave us a 9th. As an overall standing this was far from impressive, but as far as I know, it was the quickest road trim car on normal road tyres (i.e. T1R's as opposed to most others using 888's or equivalent). It is a real eye opener how much difference things like suspension (springs are way softer now) settings and especially tyres can make. All in all, the car did what it did and I am pleased with what it did, considering it's road set-up now. It still beat or was within a nats "round thing" of some other stripped out, equal or higher powered cars.

The only thing that was not right on the day with the car was the launch control and with Simon's lack of practice with launching the twin plate, saw bogged launches unfortunately.... losing some time, but hey ho!

What was really apparant this year was the calibre of car entries and drivers. Easily the best line-up we have had overall on the Handling Circuit.

Well done to the guys in the Top 4, especially Olli - that car is truly awesome!

Well done to Rob North in the Spec C from Team Hydra ..... you can obviously peddle a car mate. A well deserved 7th - it must of been my race seats!

Great day out and above all I arrived on my own steam and got home on my own steam without any issues...... that above all else is the main thing to me!

Regards,
Shaun

 

There was spec D which came 3rd in full trim, okay being driven by a snivelling, computer geek, budding 17yr old pro driver. Im not jealous



Andy

 

roflol - the spec D was on nice sticky tyres. Awesome drive though..... hats off!

 

I dont why you dont drive the car yourself, whats does it matter, that you maybe a crap driver , but you are missing out on all the fun. I know Im crap at driving round bends, but I had a hoot on the circuit and drag strip.


Besides the spec D probably weighs as much as a bus, with a leather interior

You cant blame it on the tyres you were using, sorry, your driver was using.

Andy

 

Andy,
Not "blaming" anything..... the car & driver did what they did on the day.

As regards to driving.... I would rather the car come 9th than last! I am up at Snetterton next month, so am looking forward to getting behind the wheel there. I have plenty of oppourtunities to drive and enjoy the car myself.

Anyway..... this thread is not about me, it was meant for people to share their own stories of the day.

 

Tom is going to love that description of him.....

 

Being serious, quite a talented young chap watching him driving in the handling final.

 

(This is Shaun)

Absolutely...... based on what I can work out the power of his car is (on the terminals he had on the 1/4m), Tom was undoutedly the "Driver of the day" on the handling circuit!

Regards,
Shaun

 

The Spec D is my car and yes it is on Toyo 888's. Thanks To be honest Tom and I set the goal of getting a fully trimmed car into the top 10 so we are both very chuffed with his 3rd place.

It is not a light car! Tom and I did briefly discuss taking the rear seats out but decided it would make a good result more satisfying if the car still had all its interior and equipment in place. We did take the spare wheel and jack out of the boot though!

We had a great day and obviously thoroughly enjoyed ourselves so a big thanks from Tom and I to Chris and all the other organisers and marshals.

Robin

 

Andy, thanks for the comments.

Hi Shaun,

Thanks for that Tom will appreciate that. My car obviously isn't standard it has been modified to try and create a very driveable road car above all else, rather than chasing figures. It has a twin scroll turbo, equal length headers, decat exhaust etc and was mapped by Bob Rawle. It hasn't had a delta dash run as yet so I am unsure of the exact figures. On a rolling road it gave 420lb/ft of torque but the fly-by-wire throttle kept cutting the engine on the rollers meaning we didn't get a bhp figure but I suppose a guess of about 380bhp would not be far off?

There is no doubt in my mind that if Tom gets the backing he deserves, he has the potential to be a top driver and aside from being fast he is also that rare thing a real racer capable of slicing his way through the field when necessary.

At Mallory Park last weekend he was driving a Rover Tomcat in the pre 93 Touring Car Championship (he had never raced at Mallory before, first time out in the Tomcat and first time racing a fwd car) he put the car on pole but had to start the race from the pit lane 15th and last yet still managed to finish 4th fighting for 3rd in a 14 lap race!

Kind regards,

Robin

 

(SDB here)

Hats off to Tom. I'm no Mr Slow, but I reckon I'd have struggled to keep up on equal tyres. The lad's got talent!

For me, there were three big aspects to the competition :

1) The relentless domination of Roger Clark Motorsport's AWESOME subaru. (If you haven't seen it in the flesh yet, you really have to - its stunning)

2) Mikee Singh snatching a surprise victory as Drag Champion in the final, with a dodgy start from Olly (sorry Olly, you can't win them all - just most of them! ).

3) Tom's driving. He was outstanding.

 

Thanks Shaun, i found the track very hard to judge the next corner with the cones coming at you in a blur, i am very pleased with 7th place though and thought i could of gone quicker still if i could pull myself away from the 1/4 mile strip . Did you have ago on the strip?

Rob

 

Watching John Morbey posting the first 10 sec 1/4 mile for a wagon. Amazing achievement and well beyond anyone's expectations.

 

I had a great day. I didn't do the handling circuit, I was crap last year, and thought I'd give Shaun a chance

The young un(Tom) was good last year, even better this year. He's got talent by the bucketload.

The Gobstopper is a phenomenal car to watch. :drool:

I spent most of my day on the drag strip, won some lost some, new PB and unexpectedly second in my class. A very unexpected bonus.

Simon must have messed up the weather payment a bit though. IIRC Light breeze was meant to be ordered.

All in all a very good day.

 

Me ?

I went too fast, improved by 1/2 a second so shot past the 12.3 sec target with a 12.1!

So missed 12.3 bracket and didn't make 11 sec area!!

 

I did that last year. 1st run was a 13.3 should have stopped there, later on did a 12.7 meaning I'd broken out of the class.

This year, I was as inconsistent as ever, low 12's(12.4) to mid 13's(13.5).

 

young Tom is destined to go far i reckon if he gets a few good breaks. :-)

 

I've not done an Event like this before, Just found it hard to get used to the cones I kept getting the Apex cone and outer cones mixed up then Oh @@@@@@@ far to fast in and massive understeer. Bright side I did manage to scare the @@@@ out of a camera Crew

Though i did had a great day shame the wind/cone issue, started to find my way around in the End.

One lardy newage standard Type20 and One Lardy Old aged driver managed a respectable 11th Place and 43.5s

Tony

 

i have not done a show like this befor but was very please to come 4th on the handling circuit with my gold impreza i have built everything from scratch and have spent less than 10k that includes buying the car with no interior or engine. i am please with my result even though my clutch was slipping from the start and just want to say a big thanks to jolly green monster for mapping my car(the only help i had this year) cheers mate
hope you all had a good day
cheers
Rob

 

well done and thats why the event is open to anyone with any car from stock to modded to pro tuner, something for everyone there.

 

Had a great day first time i've seen the rcm car in flesh very very nice shame mikey smoked him well suppose you cant win them all' morbs was the high light of me day getting 10.9 x2 runs and getting in finall 4 some going for bordsley green tuning lmao keep it up morbs

 

Pretty much same as me. Im on a tight budget, have probably spent around 10k, all built on my gravel drive, apart from my mate built the block for me.
Only outsource was Simon (jgm) mapping the car.

Thats what I think these event are about. Us average joes trying to take on the big guns. Weve got nothing to lose.

Looks like Simon got a few good results at the shoot out. lol.

Cheers as well fud.