VF-Racing

Pre Race:


Following the car’s first outing of the season some 6 weeks ago on the GP circuit at Silverstone, the team prepared for the trip to Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire and the search for better results.

Towards the end of the team’s first race at Silverstone, the car began to loose power and limped across the line in 4th place after a battle with Barry Squibb and his Evo 9.

Early indications had us believe that there was a fault with the waste gate, which was an annoyance, but something we expected to rectify quite easily. However this was later found not to be the case and a more serious reason for the problem unfolded.

The engine was removed from the car, and the cylinder heads were removed. From here on in it was obvious that the car had severely overheated. The head gasket onone bank had blown right through, while the other was not far behind.

It wasn’t known if the engine had overheated causing the gasket failure, or the failure resulted in the overheating. Either way the end result was the same, one scrap engine!

Not only would another new engine be required, but some more work around the cooling was in order in order to stop this happening again.

To help direct the airflow more efficiently through the radiator, all the gapsaround the edges were sealed off, meaning the air hitting the front of the car goes through the radiator instead of going around it.

In addition, new vents have been installed into the bonnet, to help extract the hot air once it passed through the radiator.




Some time spent on the dyno at Scoobyclinic got everything working as it should, and pumping out some big numbers.


Testing:


With everything back together, a test session on the Saturday before the race was booked to allow the car to be checked over.


Everything looked to be working as it should, with no obvious signs of anything untoward, and early indications showed that we were already quicker than our times from2011.

Race Day:


With dry and warm weather expected all day, the slick tyres remained in place, with the pressures set accordingly.


The car was left with the same set up wehad run in testing, as both tyre wear and temperatures showed that we had got this well sorted.

Qualifying:


Class A for the event was made up of:


06. Andy Robinson Ford Falcon

08. Steve Putt Mazda RX7

14. Doug Ellwood Marcos Mantis

16. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru ImprezaRA

19. Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza RA

75. Barry Squibb MitsubishiEvo 9


On one of our favourite circuits, we were hoping for a good position. By gettingout towards the front of the qualifying group meant that we would have a relatively clear run, and hopefully this would allow us to set some good lap times.


As the session unfolded Vaughan was able to push on, and was visibly quicker than others in his class.

Lap after lap and the times dropped steadily and entered new territory for theteam. Getting into the 1.33’s was a massive improvement since our last visit and a great reward for all the work carried out.




Not everything in the garden was rosy though, as the Impreza failed to complete qualifying, which caused concern for the whole team.

Despite not going the full distance, Vaughan had still done enough to place 2nd on the grid.


Qualified2nd in class

Qualified2nd overall

Fastestlap: 1.33.430 sec on lap 6 of 10


The car was returned to the paddock where it was found that all electrics had been lost and the car had just died out on the circuit.

Back at camp, the investigations began into what had gone wrong. With the fuse boxlid off, straight away two blown 45amp fuses pointed to a large electricalmalfunction.

Both fuses were swapped out, only for one of them to blow as soon as the safety cut off switch was turned on.

The long and short of it resulted in tracing wires throughout the car, looking for where it could be shorting out. Relays were swapped, panels were removed and phonecalls were made, but nothing we tried stopped the fuse from blowing.

After all the work and effort by team and the potential for a race win for the taking, with heavy hearts we had to admit defeat.


Round 1:

With the car not able to start, meant that the first race would be watched from the sidelines.

With about 4 hours until race 2, a call from Kev at Scoobyclinic lifted team spirits and gave us hope of joining the grid for race 2.

With the car jacked up the issue was all too apparent. The thermal wrap on theheaders had caught fire and the resulting heat had melted a large part of the wiring loom which runs near the front of the engine.

The team jumped on the task in hand and began to clear the debris and start to separate the wires from the molten mess they had become.

The remnants of the burnt exhaust wrap were also cut away, which then presented us with another problem, and the route cause of the melted wiring.

A crack in the tubular header had allowed hot exhaust gases to eventually burn the bandage, which in turn melted the wiring, causing the fuses to blow.

With the wiring prepared, and the next to last fuse installed, it was fingers crossed to see if a miracle had been performed.

The car fired into life, however jubilation was short lived as the noise from the cracked manifold meant racing would not happen as things stood.

Not ones to give up, the search for a welder began. With time running out a teamrunning Porsche Boxster’s “TF Motorsport Ltd” came to the rescue and they promptly got stuck in to weld up the offending split.




With minutes to spare, Vaughandonned his race suit and headed to the assembly area, where he took up his position at the back of the grid.


Round 2:

Sat on the back row of the grid was unfamiliar territory for the driver from Chesterfield, but it did present a fantastic challenge.

Ahead were 17 cars, all racing for class and race spoils. Some were less powerful,but others would present themselves as worthy opponents given a normal race,let alone one which started from the back row.

With the Mini of Steve Winnifrith ahead and then a gaggle of Clio Cup cars, getting ahead as soon as possible would be crucial.

With the out lap complete, and the course car safely off track, the lights went outand the grid roared across the start/finish line and headed for the first corner of Coppice.

Andy Robinson and his Ford Falcon lead the pack with a train of cars behind him.

Already rocketing through the pack, Vaughan had taken 6 places before Coppice and was already beginning to close on those ahead.




Unfortunately a red flag incident on the first lap meant Vaughan was returned the back of the grid for the restart. All that work in the first lap, and he was left to do it all again. To make things worse, the race was now reduced to 15 minutes from theoriginal 20.

After another green flag lap behind the safety car the race was underway again,although this time the Clio’s stayed ahead until everyone was around Coppice and heading onto Park Straight.

With no answer to the Subaru’s performance, they were soon dispatched and the hunt was on for the “scalp”!

With the less powerful cars now behind him, Vaughan soon found himself up with his fellow class “A” drivers, and the quicker carsof class B, C and D.





With speed and skill, each driver was gradually picked off, seeing Vaughan climb the leader board, much to the delight of the commentators and the crowds.

After passing Whittaker in the M3 and taking 3rd place, the battle was onwith Dennis Crompton in his M3 for 2nd place. Seeing the opportunity in Coppice, the Subaru slipped through to take 2nd place, andimmediately began to open up a gap, which sat at 6 seconds when the chequred flag dropped.




With only Robinson ahead, it was still all to play for, although time was against us meaning a challenge for 1st place was not possible.

With arguably the drive of the day, Fletcher crossed the line in 2ndplace.


Finished 2nd in class

Finished 2nd overall

Fastest lap: 1.33.573 sec on lap 9 of 10


Summary

A massive thanks goes out to everyone involved in getting the car ready for race 2.

It would have been all too easy to put the car back on the trailer and go home, but the efforts of everyone involved made the results in race 2 all the sweeter.

By not giving up, a memorable race was able to take place, and one that will be remembered by those there for quite some time.

With some work still left to do with the electrics (horn blaring for last few laps!)and the possibility of a new 6 speed gearbox, the guys at Scoobyclinic will be kept busy for a while.

We will be out next at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 9th/10thJune for rounds 5 & 6 of the “Euro Saloon”” championship.



Can’twait!