Ksport Impreza Race Report Round 3 and 4 Time Attack June 25th/26th 2011 Brands Hatch
30 June 2011, 04:24 PM
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Ksport Impreza Race Report Round 3 and 4 Time Attack June 25th/26th 2011 Brands Hatch
After complete engine failure at round 2, Knockhill the Ksport Impreza team were feeling the pressure. A solid performance was needed at rounds 3 and 4 this weekend or our campaign for the 2011 Time Attack Pro Title would effectively be over. In addition to a full gearbox refresh for rounds 3 and 4 a newly built engine was fitted courtesty of Enginetuner, Plymouth long time Subaru and Mitsubishi specialists.
Each time I prepare for a Time Attack event I forget how much time and effort is required to get to the car, team and all the required kit to the event in the condition in needs to be in order to be competitive. The week before an event you get practically nothing else done other than car/event preparation, the midnight oil was burnt all week! Packing the van and loading the car is a 3 hour job in itself and for Brand hatch this was done in pouring rain….
Round 3 Saturday
We woke Saturday morning at the track to find the rain had not dried up and the track was still wet and greasy. Signed on, noise checks done and through scrutineering, and the car was out for the 1st warm-up session. Conditions were less than ideal the car slid around the track, even only on part throttle, for about half a dozen laps in the low grip conditions. The car also developed a miss fire on the last couple of laps so I brought her in to investigate. After a quick look round the coil pack plug had unclipped itself on cyl. 3 so that was the misfire issue put to bed rather quickly.
The second warm-up session was a lot drier and the grip was much improved….the car felt much more planted and the business of a full shakedown could commence, I built up the speed and engine revs slowly and toward to end of the session the car was using full boost and the tyres were up to the correct operating temperature. I came back into the pitlane only to find the rear diffuser had become detached from the back of the floor an was dragging on the floor behind the car, luckily the damage was only superficial and the team Ksport Techs soon had the mounting points re-engineered and the diffuser firmly reattached.
Along came qualifying and the car felt strong and planted in the warm-up laps. I put in a couple of banker laps and started to push harder but ran into major problems with understeer on the car to the point were it wouldn’t go where it was pointed. At the time I thought the tyres had gone off but when I brought the car home it was clear we had developed an oil leak and we had quite a bit of oil on both the front and rear nearside tyres. Despite the problems the early banker lap of 54.3 was enough for me to qualify in 4th place, Gav Renshaw in the Evo 9 had managed to qualify quickest with a blistering 51.8 second, with Marcus Webster in the R34 Skyline and Russ Paton in the Evo 6 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The final session came along all to quickly. We had cleaned up the oil but the source of the leak couldn’t be confirmed, the suspicion was the dry sump tank filler cap which had come loose in the heat. The plan was to put a few banker laps then bring the car in, assess our position with respect to the competition and then wind the pace up by switching on the nitrous and increasing the boost. First part of the plan worked well and I posted a 52.5 second lap before coming in. We decided to go out again with increased boost and the nitro on to challenge for the win. Unfortunately the grip levels on the car had fell away once more with oil on the tyres and I couldn’t get the increased power down to the tarmac, I came off the track on more than one occasion in the closing stages of the final, once at Coopers and twice at Clearways, to do my best to push for the win but it just wasn’t to be on the day. The early 52.5 second lap was sufficient for 3rd place on the podium with valuble points gained, but we were 0.85 seconds down on Gav Renshaw’s winning time of 51.6 on the day. Marcus Webster had delivered a fantastic 52.2 second lap to secure the runner-up spot.
Round 4 Sunday
The day started with bright sunshine and it was clear it was going to be a scorcher of an afternoon. The Ksport team had been busy overnight cleaning the car up and making various other repairs, a good portion of the Clearways gravel trap was cleared from the car floor in the garage overnight. - those stones get into the most awkward of places!
The warm up session started well with grip and power levels fine all be it on low boost settings…some 4 or 5 laps into the session we started to struggle for grip again and the car was brought home for analysis. More oil was found and now our attention turned to the breather system and catch can which appeared to be leaking.
Qualifying session - with the breather system re-plumbed and the car cleaned up were ready for qualifying. Temperatures were now approaching 30 degrees and the cars cooling systems would be working flat out and in my case almost certainly beyond what we would consider its normal limits. Just prior to quali we opened up the nitrous valves but one of the fittings started to leak so we isolated the system and started qualification without nitrous. Out we went and this time I stayed out for pretty much the whole session….all be it with a few cool down laps between the hot laps. The time I delivered was a 53.0 and was sufficient for 3rd place with Gav and Marcus qualifying in first and second. I knew I would need to up my game and shave at least another second off my time if I was to make a credible challenge.
The Final - The Ksport Techs did another oil clean-up job and a newer larger catch can was fitted to attempt to manage the still persistent oil leak issues, the nitrous system was re-plumbed but were down to one small 2.5lb bottle now, good for only a couple of laps. Cabin temperatures were almost unbearable at around the 50 degree mark (maybe I should refit the air con system!)….the green lights came on signifying the start of the session and all the pro cars proceeded out the pit lane in order…Disaster - after the first out lap it was clear we had a serious problem, the car was not firing correctly beyond around 5000 rpm and the power just wasn’t there. Straight back to the pits, I was praying it was something simple and it could be sorted quickly so we could get out and put a respectable lap time in…Paul Blamire was on to the problem like a shot. The ECU logs were downloaded and it was clear the car was running very lean. Paul quickly tested all 3 fuel pumps and found one of the 2 Bosch 10 bar main fuel pumps was not functioning. Fuse checked out OK so attention went to the relay, which on inspection was nearly melted! The screenwiper relay was swopped into the faulty fuel pump circuit and bingo we were back in business…with 6 minutes remaining on the clock I knew I had to go out and give it everything if I was going to carve out a result…I went out and done a lap to get the tyres back to temperature, the car was screaming with the heat. Oil temps and water temps were way higher than we would like…I started on my last lap of the day, I smashed it as hard as I could all the way through Clearways 4 wheel drift pretty much the whole way through…throttle flat all the way to the finish line at 140+mph…..fluid was now all over the screen through water systems overpressure and high temperatures…late as possible on the brakes into Paddock hill bend then flat all the way to the hairpin…through coopers, then smashing the curbs through Surtees before a long four wheel power slide all the way through Clearways again….52.022 seconds!!!…two hundreths off Marcus Websters winning time of 52.002.…less than the blink of an eye!…and that’s all that split the Pro Time Attack podium Cars at round 4.
Disappointing to miss maximum points by what is probably half a car length on the track but all told we were lucky to get back out in the final with the fuel pump issues so all told I was happy to collect to points and keep my title challenge alive.
You can see a video of my final Banzai lap taken from Gavin Renshaws Evo 9 on this Youtube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRwcVghQMjc
Massive thanks to all my supporters, sponsors: Dave Skyline, Dave Grice and Paul Blaimire for fantastic support all weekend….and to Bren at KSport UK, Enginetuner, Lateral Perfomance, EBC Bluestuff NDX brakes, AET Turbos, CDF Racing, also thanks to Adz and Andy Carr.
Please come and support the Ksport Impreza Team at Round 5 of the Time Attack 2011 series at Cadwell Park, Linconshire on Sunday July 31st
Each time I prepare for a Time Attack event I forget how much time and effort is required to get to the car, team and all the required kit to the event in the condition in needs to be in order to be competitive. The week before an event you get practically nothing else done other than car/event preparation, the midnight oil was burnt all week! Packing the van and loading the car is a 3 hour job in itself and for Brand hatch this was done in pouring rain….
Round 3 Saturday
We woke Saturday morning at the track to find the rain had not dried up and the track was still wet and greasy. Signed on, noise checks done and through scrutineering, and the car was out for the 1st warm-up session. Conditions were less than ideal the car slid around the track, even only on part throttle, for about half a dozen laps in the low grip conditions. The car also developed a miss fire on the last couple of laps so I brought her in to investigate. After a quick look round the coil pack plug had unclipped itself on cyl. 3 so that was the misfire issue put to bed rather quickly.
The second warm-up session was a lot drier and the grip was much improved….the car felt much more planted and the business of a full shakedown could commence, I built up the speed and engine revs slowly and toward to end of the session the car was using full boost and the tyres were up to the correct operating temperature. I came back into the pitlane only to find the rear diffuser had become detached from the back of the floor an was dragging on the floor behind the car, luckily the damage was only superficial and the team Ksport Techs soon had the mounting points re-engineered and the diffuser firmly reattached.
Along came qualifying and the car felt strong and planted in the warm-up laps. I put in a couple of banker laps and started to push harder but ran into major problems with understeer on the car to the point were it wouldn’t go where it was pointed. At the time I thought the tyres had gone off but when I brought the car home it was clear we had developed an oil leak and we had quite a bit of oil on both the front and rear nearside tyres. Despite the problems the early banker lap of 54.3 was enough for me to qualify in 4th place, Gav Renshaw in the Evo 9 had managed to qualify quickest with a blistering 51.8 second, with Marcus Webster in the R34 Skyline and Russ Paton in the Evo 6 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The final session came along all to quickly. We had cleaned up the oil but the source of the leak couldn’t be confirmed, the suspicion was the dry sump tank filler cap which had come loose in the heat. The plan was to put a few banker laps then bring the car in, assess our position with respect to the competition and then wind the pace up by switching on the nitrous and increasing the boost. First part of the plan worked well and I posted a 52.5 second lap before coming in. We decided to go out again with increased boost and the nitro on to challenge for the win. Unfortunately the grip levels on the car had fell away once more with oil on the tyres and I couldn’t get the increased power down to the tarmac, I came off the track on more than one occasion in the closing stages of the final, once at Coopers and twice at Clearways, to do my best to push for the win but it just wasn’t to be on the day. The early 52.5 second lap was sufficient for 3rd place on the podium with valuble points gained, but we were 0.85 seconds down on Gav Renshaw’s winning time of 51.6 on the day. Marcus Webster had delivered a fantastic 52.2 second lap to secure the runner-up spot.
Round 4 Sunday
The day started with bright sunshine and it was clear it was going to be a scorcher of an afternoon. The Ksport team had been busy overnight cleaning the car up and making various other repairs, a good portion of the Clearways gravel trap was cleared from the car floor in the garage overnight. - those stones get into the most awkward of places!
The warm up session started well with grip and power levels fine all be it on low boost settings…some 4 or 5 laps into the session we started to struggle for grip again and the car was brought home for analysis. More oil was found and now our attention turned to the breather system and catch can which appeared to be leaking.
Qualifying session - with the breather system re-plumbed and the car cleaned up were ready for qualifying. Temperatures were now approaching 30 degrees and the cars cooling systems would be working flat out and in my case almost certainly beyond what we would consider its normal limits. Just prior to quali we opened up the nitrous valves but one of the fittings started to leak so we isolated the system and started qualification without nitrous. Out we went and this time I stayed out for pretty much the whole session….all be it with a few cool down laps between the hot laps. The time I delivered was a 53.0 and was sufficient for 3rd place with Gav and Marcus qualifying in first and second. I knew I would need to up my game and shave at least another second off my time if I was to make a credible challenge.
The Final - The Ksport Techs did another oil clean-up job and a newer larger catch can was fitted to attempt to manage the still persistent oil leak issues, the nitrous system was re-plumbed but were down to one small 2.5lb bottle now, good for only a couple of laps. Cabin temperatures were almost unbearable at around the 50 degree mark (maybe I should refit the air con system!)….the green lights came on signifying the start of the session and all the pro cars proceeded out the pit lane in order…Disaster - after the first out lap it was clear we had a serious problem, the car was not firing correctly beyond around 5000 rpm and the power just wasn’t there. Straight back to the pits, I was praying it was something simple and it could be sorted quickly so we could get out and put a respectable lap time in…Paul Blamire was on to the problem like a shot. The ECU logs were downloaded and it was clear the car was running very lean. Paul quickly tested all 3 fuel pumps and found one of the 2 Bosch 10 bar main fuel pumps was not functioning. Fuse checked out OK so attention went to the relay, which on inspection was nearly melted! The screenwiper relay was swopped into the faulty fuel pump circuit and bingo we were back in business…with 6 minutes remaining on the clock I knew I had to go out and give it everything if I was going to carve out a result…I went out and done a lap to get the tyres back to temperature, the car was screaming with the heat. Oil temps and water temps were way higher than we would like…I started on my last lap of the day, I smashed it as hard as I could all the way through Clearways 4 wheel drift pretty much the whole way through…throttle flat all the way to the finish line at 140+mph…..fluid was now all over the screen through water systems overpressure and high temperatures…late as possible on the brakes into Paddock hill bend then flat all the way to the hairpin…through coopers, then smashing the curbs through Surtees before a long four wheel power slide all the way through Clearways again….52.022 seconds!!!…two hundreths off Marcus Websters winning time of 52.002.…less than the blink of an eye!…and that’s all that split the Pro Time Attack podium Cars at round 4.
Disappointing to miss maximum points by what is probably half a car length on the track but all told we were lucky to get back out in the final with the fuel pump issues so all told I was happy to collect to points and keep my title challenge alive.
You can see a video of my final Banzai lap taken from Gavin Renshaws Evo 9 on this Youtube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRwcVghQMjc
Massive thanks to all my supporters, sponsors: Dave Skyline, Dave Grice and Paul Blaimire for fantastic support all weekend….and to Bren at KSport UK, Enginetuner, Lateral Perfomance, EBC Bluestuff NDX brakes, AET Turbos, CDF Racing, also thanks to Adz and Andy Carr.
Please come and support the Ksport Impreza Team at Round 5 of the Time Attack 2011 series at Cadwell Park, Linconshire on Sunday July 31st
Last edited by popeyedoyle; 30 June 2011 at 11:40 PM.
30 June 2011, 06:12 PM
#3
forgive me for being stupid.
is time attack racing against the clock as the title suggests or racing other cars as there is other cars in the pictures.
your car looks awesome by the way.
that turbo gives it a hell of a kick and the wastegate chatter is making me have a sex wee lol
is time attack racing against the clock as the title suggests or racing other cars as there is other cars in the pictures.
your car looks awesome by the way.
that turbo gives it a hell of a kick and the wastegate chatter is making me have a sex wee lol
Last edited by tubbytommy; 30 June 2011 at 06:15 PM.
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