Nippon Challenge rounds 5 and 6 @ Castle Combe 19th June
09 June 2010, 12:49 PM
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Nippon Challenge rounds 5 and 6 @ Castle Combe 19th June
With the series quickly gathering pace, the Nippon Challenge makes its first appearance at the Wiltshire based circuit on the 19th June.
Rounds 5 and 6 are to take place on this gruelling circuit, which is known to test cars and driver to their limits and beyond.
The weekends racing is organised by Castle Combe Circuit, and looks to provide a varied and enjoyable programme of events.
Joining the Nippon Challenge will be rounds from the following:
Britcar GT & Production Championships
Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain
Ma5da Racing Championship
MR2 Racing Series
VAG Trophy
Volkswagen Golf Series
Classic Clubmans Championship
Castle Combe FF1600 Championship
Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship
Castle Combe Sports & GT Championship
It is expected that there will be a big turn out of competitors for this popular circuit.
Hope to see you there.
Rounds 5 and 6 are to take place on this gruelling circuit, which is known to test cars and driver to their limits and beyond.
The weekends racing is organised by Castle Combe Circuit, and looks to provide a varied and enjoyable programme of events.
Joining the Nippon Challenge will be rounds from the following:
Britcar GT & Production Championships
Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain
Ma5da Racing Championship
MR2 Racing Series
VAG Trophy
Volkswagen Golf Series
Classic Clubmans Championship
Castle Combe FF1600 Championship
Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship
Castle Combe Sports & GT Championship
It is expected that there will be a big turn out of competitors for this popular circuit.
Hope to see you there.
21 June 2010, 08:31 PM
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Vaughan Fletcher: No:15 GT300 Subaru Castle Combe 19th June 2010 Rounds 5 and 6
Pre Race:
Following another excellent result at Snetterton, the car was duly shipped back to ScoobyClinic for a new clutch, fluid change and a general once over.
With the clutch slipping badly in both races, there was no alternative but to replace it. Looking at future proofing the car for other events, it was decided that it would be replaced with an Exedy Hyper clutch. Difficulties with the new clutch resulted in the box coming out two times before it was resolved.
There were a couple of other jobs which needed addressing before Combe, which included replacing the near side front hub as the bearings had collapsed, and fixing an oil leak from the oil filter housing.
Once the remedial jobs were completed, the oil and fluids were drained and replaced with new.
The suspension set up was also zero’d to allow us to work on the settings when we got to Combe.
The car was picked up on Tuesday night and retuned home for a pre-race clean and to be loaded ready for the off.
While he had the opportunity, Vaughan swapped the Ferodo front brake pads for a set of Performance Friction 01’s. Having used these before with the previous Brembo set up, they give a better performance than the Ferodo’s that came with the AP kit.
Practice:
Vaughan and the support van made the drive down to Wiltshire on Thursday night, to be on site in readiness for the track day sign on at 8am. The rest of the team made their way down on Friday.
Having not raced at Castle Combe before, it was decided that some track time was needed before qualifying. The 1.85mile circuit has a reputation of being hard on the car and driver, so we were keen to put some miles under our tyres, before race day.
As official testing was on the Thursday, we opted for the track day that was being run on the Friday. Although not officially a test day, we could have a look at the track, and start to adjust the suspension settings ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
The first session was all about shaking down the car, bedding in the new brake pads and getting to grips with the circuit.
The circuit is notoriously bumpy, and is a place where huge accidents easily occur. With this in mind, learning the braking points, along with the best line was key to a clean fast lap.
The suspension was set up with some negative camber, to take into account the majority of the corners being right hand, and the Silverstones tyres were fitted up first.
Vaughan was out on track with some fast paced machinery that were also using the day as a “test” for the weekends events. Although there were no more than 20 cars on the circuit at any given time, we were still having tussles with traffic.
Once happy with the layout, the car was brought in to check out the tyre temperatures, and to allow us to check the suspension was suited to the circuit.
The recorded tyre temperatures, and increased tyre pressures highlighted there was some adjustment needed in the suspension, so this was duly adjusted, and we made the switch to slicks to see what the difference would be.
We noticed that the slicks and Silverstones were giving similar lap times, but there was still some adjustments to be made to gain optimum suspension settings.
Following practice, we pitched up and settled back to watch everyone arrive for the weekends racing.
After watching an abysmal football match, we hoped to have better luck come race day.
Race Day:
Having had rain the night before, Saturday dawned dry and bright.
Having sat through the circuit briefing, we headed up to scrutineering, only to be met by a traffic jam that resembled the M25 at rush hour, but with less organisation! With time fast running out before qualifying was about to start, we managed to get the all important approval to race.
Qualifying:
With only a few minutes back at camp, Vaughan got ready for qualifying, and made his way up to Parc Ferme with the rest of the drivers.
From a possible grid of 42, the Nippon Challenge had full attendance with 42 cars, covering every class from GT150 up to the Super GT/GT 500 entrants who were making a big return to the Nippon for Combe. There was a large turnout of MR2’s and MX5’s, which would make for some close class battles come race time, and would possibly come into play as back markers for the quicker cars.
Tim Clarke’s Evo 6 was back in the fold, with a fresh gearbox following his excursion at Brands last year. With a driver split between races one and two, Tim would have to set his qualifying time, before quickly swapping to allow Simon from Performance Autoworks to qualify for race 2. As this is Tim’s home circuit, we would be watching his times closely.
Ian Froggat in his Type RA looked at being strong competition for the lead, with his constantly improving results. However it was a race in itself to get the car to Combe after he blew the rear diff in testing on the Tuesday.
The ever popular Swift of Andy Mclennan was back following his retirement at Snetterton, hoping for better results this time round.
Dale Gent was making his debut at Combe, in his GT500 Impreza, which looked like it would be capable of turning in some respectable times.
GT 300 class was made up of the four regulars:
04. Spencer Turner Subaru Impreza Sti
15. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza RA
44. Ian Froggat Subaru Impreza RA
51. Steve Burke Nissan 350z
We knew we needed to get out on track as soon as possible to get the tyres up to temperature before putting in some fast laps. With over 40 cars on the grid, space would be tight on track, and putting in a good lap time could be problematic.
Heading out on to the track we were about 6 or 7 cars in from the front, which would hopefully give us a good chance to clear traffic before coming back round to start the first full lap.
The work carried out during Fridays track day looked to be paying off. The car was looking flat through the corners, and settled through the bumps of the circuit.
After his allotted time in the seat, Tim pulled in to swap drivers. With Simon in the seat, he set off to post his qualifying time. Running up to “Quarry” the Evo’s reversing lights flashed on as it crested the hill. Related or not, the car soon pulled off the circuit with terminal engine failure.
Running a new gearbox following Snetterton, Spencer Turner was posting some good times, and set 6th overall, but wouldn’t be on the grid to take his place. Oil leaking from the new gearbox, found it’s way onto the tyres of the car, resulting in a spin which saw the drivers side badly damaged. With no way to repair the car, his race was run.
When the results “eventually”! came in we were pleased to see we had claimed pole.
Qualified 1st in class
Qualified 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.16.265 sec on lap 9 of 9
Pole Vaughan Fletcher
2nd Ian Froggatt
3rd Tim Clarke
Race 1
Following qualifying, we re-fuelled the car, adjusted the tyre pressures, and prepared the car for the race. Thankfully there was little to do and we could watch some of the other race’s driving by.
With Tim and Spencer both out, the circuit staff bunched the grid up, to close up the spaces left by the Evo and Subaru’s departure.
Starting from 1st place on the outside of the grid we needed a good start, to out run the chasing pack. With the red lights out, both Vaughan and Ian took a good start, but the black Subaru of Dale was soon chasing them down using the car’s superior torque and power.
With Dale in front, and pulling out a lead, Vaughan was trying everything to hang on to his back bumper.
Lap after lap Vaughan was hoping to capitalise on any mistake Dale made, but even though Dale struggled with braking into “Quarry” a couple of times he held his line, which meant Vaughan was unable to overhaul him.
Traffic helped Vaughan close the gap towards the end of the race, but Dale held on to finish first, with Vaughan taking the second place step on the podium.
Finished 1st in class
Finished 2nd overall
Fastest lap: 1.16.415 sec on lap 11 of 12
1st Dale Gent Subaru Impreza
2nd Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza
3rd Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza
Race 2
Following race 1, we had to quickly turn the car around in readiness for race 2. With a small list of jobs to do, everyone set about with their tasks. As well as adding enough fuel to see us through the race, we had to repair the transponder. The wiring had become damaged and wasn’t sending its signal back to the timing control.
With the grid filling up for race 2, there were a couple of absentees, in the name of Martin White and Andy McLennan. Andy’s Swift had come to a halt on lap 10 of race 1.
Having another chapter of bad luck was Martin, who picked up a puncture in the paddock. With time running out, even Silverstone couldn’t fix things in time to get Martin back onto track.
Starting from 2nd place on the inside of the grid, we had the long way round to exit “Folly” in the lead, and even though Vaughan got a great start off the line, and lead Dale briefly, he soon came back to take the inside line, and in the ensuing battle Ian in car 44 came through and took 2nd place, dropping us back to 3rd.
Coming round for lap two, the positions remained the same, with Dale starting to pull out a lead. On the exit of “Quarry” Vaughan got alongside Froggatt, but couldn’t get the run past along “Farm Straight”. It was until lap 3 at the same point, that Ian went wide onto the grass and handed Vaughan 2nd place. With the bit between his teeth and the black number 88 car ahead, Vaughan gave chase.
Coming into “Camp”, Dale made a mistake and went off onto the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust. This allowed Vaughan to take a big chunk out of his lead, and get close enough to make a play for first.
Coming up “Avon Rise” the battling pair where split by two back markers. Vaughan took the grass on the infield, whilst Dale dived to the left. Both came back together side by side just as the crested the track into “Quarry”. Dale got hard on the brakes, and locked up, allowing Vaughan to dive to the inside and exit “Quarry” alongside Dale, but with enough
momentum to close the door on him.
Heading into “Bobbies”, more back markers came into play. Vaughan passed the line of cars and Dale took the same line, but one of the cars turned across his front, and ended up spinning off into the grass. The incident allowed Vaughan to pull out a bit of a lead, but Dale was soon giving chase.
Pushing hard to close the gap, the black Subaru was locking up coming into “Quarry” and was sporting the damage of his contact, with bent panels, and the indicator hanging out.
With 3 laps to go, Dale was black flagged, which meant the new 2nd place car of Ian Froggatt was some way back, but not enough to convince Vaughan to ease off.
With the chequered flag dropped, Vaughan had completed 12 laps of hard fought racing, setting a new lap record for the Nippon Challenge.
Finished 1st in class
Finished 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.14.946 sec on lap 2 of 12
1st Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza
2nd Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza
3rd Steve Burke Nissan 350z
Summary
Overall it was a fantastic race meet, and the battle with Dale in both races provided some of the best racing we’ve enjoyed.
Thanks go to all of our sponsors, who made this journey possible, and in particular ScoobyClinic for the car preparation.
Lydden Hill is 4 weeks away, so a trip to the depths of South East looks to be on the cards!
Jonathan Fletcher Supporter. Subaru GT300 #15
Pre Race:
Following another excellent result at Snetterton, the car was duly shipped back to ScoobyClinic for a new clutch, fluid change and a general once over.
With the clutch slipping badly in both races, there was no alternative but to replace it. Looking at future proofing the car for other events, it was decided that it would be replaced with an Exedy Hyper clutch. Difficulties with the new clutch resulted in the box coming out two times before it was resolved.
There were a couple of other jobs which needed addressing before Combe, which included replacing the near side front hub as the bearings had collapsed, and fixing an oil leak from the oil filter housing.
Once the remedial jobs were completed, the oil and fluids were drained and replaced with new.
The suspension set up was also zero’d to allow us to work on the settings when we got to Combe.
The car was picked up on Tuesday night and retuned home for a pre-race clean and to be loaded ready for the off.
While he had the opportunity, Vaughan swapped the Ferodo front brake pads for a set of Performance Friction 01’s. Having used these before with the previous Brembo set up, they give a better performance than the Ferodo’s that came with the AP kit.
Practice:
Vaughan and the support van made the drive down to Wiltshire on Thursday night, to be on site in readiness for the track day sign on at 8am. The rest of the team made their way down on Friday.
Having not raced at Castle Combe before, it was decided that some track time was needed before qualifying. The 1.85mile circuit has a reputation of being hard on the car and driver, so we were keen to put some miles under our tyres, before race day.
As official testing was on the Thursday, we opted for the track day that was being run on the Friday. Although not officially a test day, we could have a look at the track, and start to adjust the suspension settings ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
The first session was all about shaking down the car, bedding in the new brake pads and getting to grips with the circuit.
The circuit is notoriously bumpy, and is a place where huge accidents easily occur. With this in mind, learning the braking points, along with the best line was key to a clean fast lap.
The suspension was set up with some negative camber, to take into account the majority of the corners being right hand, and the Silverstones tyres were fitted up first.
Vaughan was out on track with some fast paced machinery that were also using the day as a “test” for the weekends events. Although there were no more than 20 cars on the circuit at any given time, we were still having tussles with traffic.
Once happy with the layout, the car was brought in to check out the tyre temperatures, and to allow us to check the suspension was suited to the circuit.
The recorded tyre temperatures, and increased tyre pressures highlighted there was some adjustment needed in the suspension, so this was duly adjusted, and we made the switch to slicks to see what the difference would be.
We noticed that the slicks and Silverstones were giving similar lap times, but there was still some adjustments to be made to gain optimum suspension settings.
Following practice, we pitched up and settled back to watch everyone arrive for the weekends racing.
After watching an abysmal football match, we hoped to have better luck come race day.
Race Day:
Having had rain the night before, Saturday dawned dry and bright.
Having sat through the circuit briefing, we headed up to scrutineering, only to be met by a traffic jam that resembled the M25 at rush hour, but with less organisation! With time fast running out before qualifying was about to start, we managed to get the all important approval to race.
Qualifying:
With only a few minutes back at camp, Vaughan got ready for qualifying, and made his way up to Parc Ferme with the rest of the drivers.
From a possible grid of 42, the Nippon Challenge had full attendance with 42 cars, covering every class from GT150 up to the Super GT/GT 500 entrants who were making a big return to the Nippon for Combe. There was a large turnout of MR2’s and MX5’s, which would make for some close class battles come race time, and would possibly come into play as back markers for the quicker cars.
Tim Clarke’s Evo 6 was back in the fold, with a fresh gearbox following his excursion at Brands last year. With a driver split between races one and two, Tim would have to set his qualifying time, before quickly swapping to allow Simon from Performance Autoworks to qualify for race 2. As this is Tim’s home circuit, we would be watching his times closely.
Ian Froggat in his Type RA looked at being strong competition for the lead, with his constantly improving results. However it was a race in itself to get the car to Combe after he blew the rear diff in testing on the Tuesday.
The ever popular Swift of Andy Mclennan was back following his retirement at Snetterton, hoping for better results this time round.
Dale Gent was making his debut at Combe, in his GT500 Impreza, which looked like it would be capable of turning in some respectable times.
GT 300 class was made up of the four regulars:
04. Spencer Turner Subaru Impreza Sti
15. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza RA
44. Ian Froggat Subaru Impreza RA
51. Steve Burke Nissan 350z
We knew we needed to get out on track as soon as possible to get the tyres up to temperature before putting in some fast laps. With over 40 cars on the grid, space would be tight on track, and putting in a good lap time could be problematic.
Heading out on to the track we were about 6 or 7 cars in from the front, which would hopefully give us a good chance to clear traffic before coming back round to start the first full lap.
The work carried out during Fridays track day looked to be paying off. The car was looking flat through the corners, and settled through the bumps of the circuit.
After his allotted time in the seat, Tim pulled in to swap drivers. With Simon in the seat, he set off to post his qualifying time. Running up to “Quarry” the Evo’s reversing lights flashed on as it crested the hill. Related or not, the car soon pulled off the circuit with terminal engine failure.
Running a new gearbox following Snetterton, Spencer Turner was posting some good times, and set 6th overall, but wouldn’t be on the grid to take his place. Oil leaking from the new gearbox, found it’s way onto the tyres of the car, resulting in a spin which saw the drivers side badly damaged. With no way to repair the car, his race was run.
When the results “eventually”! came in we were pleased to see we had claimed pole.
Qualified 1st in class
Qualified 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.16.265 sec on lap 9 of 9
Pole Vaughan Fletcher
2nd Ian Froggatt
3rd Tim Clarke
Race 1
Following qualifying, we re-fuelled the car, adjusted the tyre pressures, and prepared the car for the race. Thankfully there was little to do and we could watch some of the other race’s driving by.
With Tim and Spencer both out, the circuit staff bunched the grid up, to close up the spaces left by the Evo and Subaru’s departure.
Starting from 1st place on the outside of the grid we needed a good start, to out run the chasing pack. With the red lights out, both Vaughan and Ian took a good start, but the black Subaru of Dale was soon chasing them down using the car’s superior torque and power.
With Dale in front, and pulling out a lead, Vaughan was trying everything to hang on to his back bumper.
Lap after lap Vaughan was hoping to capitalise on any mistake Dale made, but even though Dale struggled with braking into “Quarry” a couple of times he held his line, which meant Vaughan was unable to overhaul him.
Traffic helped Vaughan close the gap towards the end of the race, but Dale held on to finish first, with Vaughan taking the second place step on the podium.
Finished 1st in class
Finished 2nd overall
Fastest lap: 1.16.415 sec on lap 11 of 12
1st Dale Gent Subaru Impreza
2nd Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza
3rd Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza
Race 2
Following race 1, we had to quickly turn the car around in readiness for race 2. With a small list of jobs to do, everyone set about with their tasks. As well as adding enough fuel to see us through the race, we had to repair the transponder. The wiring had become damaged and wasn’t sending its signal back to the timing control.
With the grid filling up for race 2, there were a couple of absentees, in the name of Martin White and Andy McLennan. Andy’s Swift had come to a halt on lap 10 of race 1.
Having another chapter of bad luck was Martin, who picked up a puncture in the paddock. With time running out, even Silverstone couldn’t fix things in time to get Martin back onto track.
Starting from 2nd place on the inside of the grid, we had the long way round to exit “Folly” in the lead, and even though Vaughan got a great start off the line, and lead Dale briefly, he soon came back to take the inside line, and in the ensuing battle Ian in car 44 came through and took 2nd place, dropping us back to 3rd.
Coming round for lap two, the positions remained the same, with Dale starting to pull out a lead. On the exit of “Quarry” Vaughan got alongside Froggatt, but couldn’t get the run past along “Farm Straight”. It was until lap 3 at the same point, that Ian went wide onto the grass and handed Vaughan 2nd place. With the bit between his teeth and the black number 88 car ahead, Vaughan gave chase.
Coming into “Camp”, Dale made a mistake and went off onto the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust. This allowed Vaughan to take a big chunk out of his lead, and get close enough to make a play for first.
Coming up “Avon Rise” the battling pair where split by two back markers. Vaughan took the grass on the infield, whilst Dale dived to the left. Both came back together side by side just as the crested the track into “Quarry”. Dale got hard on the brakes, and locked up, allowing Vaughan to dive to the inside and exit “Quarry” alongside Dale, but with enough
momentum to close the door on him.
Heading into “Bobbies”, more back markers came into play. Vaughan passed the line of cars and Dale took the same line, but one of the cars turned across his front, and ended up spinning off into the grass. The incident allowed Vaughan to pull out a bit of a lead, but Dale was soon giving chase.
Pushing hard to close the gap, the black Subaru was locking up coming into “Quarry” and was sporting the damage of his contact, with bent panels, and the indicator hanging out.
With 3 laps to go, Dale was black flagged, which meant the new 2nd place car of Ian Froggatt was some way back, but not enough to convince Vaughan to ease off.
With the chequered flag dropped, Vaughan had completed 12 laps of hard fought racing, setting a new lap record for the Nippon Challenge.
Finished 1st in class
Finished 1st overall
Fastest lap: 1.14.946 sec on lap 2 of 12
1st Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza
2nd Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza
3rd Steve Burke Nissan 350z
Summary
Overall it was a fantastic race meet, and the battle with Dale in both races provided some of the best racing we’ve enjoyed.
Thanks go to all of our sponsors, who made this journey possible, and in particular ScoobyClinic for the car preparation.
Lydden Hill is 4 weeks away, so a trip to the depths of South East looks to be on the cards!
Jonathan Fletcher Supporter. Subaru GT300 #15
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