Toffee at Time Attack, rounds 6&7 @ Snetterton
26 September 2012, 07:58 PM
#1
Toffee at Time Attack, rounds 6&7 @ Snetterton
Having had engine issues after round 1 at Cadwell Park it was great to be back at Time Attack at Snetterton, this was rounds 6&7 the final two rounds. I have never been to Snetterton so was looking forward to seeing what it was like. I booked myself on the Friday trackday with the MLR to get some practice in, the trackday was on the 300 circuit, after getting out on track and having a drive around I was really impressed with the track, it’s a cracker!!
I started off by running the car in cal2 (Vpower only) and just circulated to learn the track, once comfortable with which way the track goes I decided to turn the car up to cal3 and have a blast, after coming out of the infield section going on to the back straight I was accelerating down the straight when the car cut out? After getting back to the pits I plugged the laptop in and noticed the oil temp was around 120 degrees and the oil pressure had reached a low of 1.5bar!!
After this I decided to go out again and circulate off boost trying to keep the oil temp low, once out of the last corner I gave it loads but tried to limit the revs to 7k and managed a full lap without the car cutting out. After dinner I continued in the same vein just taking it easy and putting just one quick lap in, on cal2, cal3 & cal4 the car was running at around 120 degrees and the oil pressure was around 1.5bar crossing the finishing line, there was no way I was going to try and put a back to back lap in. After the trackday finished I at least had a plan for the Saturday Time Attack round.
Saturday
I went out in warm up and practice taking it easy trying to familiarize myself with the track now that the cones had one, after dinner I decided to go out in qualifying on cal4 and go as quickly as I could, unfortunately again the car cut out on the back straight, after starting it up I circulated the track twice off boost trying to bring down the oil temps, once it reached 90 degrees I tried for another lap, this time trying to make sure that the revs never went over 7k and nursing it around the corners, again though the car cut out on the back straight!!!?
Once back in the pits Paul Blamire came over and asked what the issues were? Once I explained what was going on he plugged the laptop in and messed about with some graphs (its all black magic this mapping lark to me ☺ ) once finished Paul explained that he thought the oil pressure sensor was giving inaccurate readings once the car was getting hot, this was giving low oil pressure readings which the ECU was spotting and cutting the car out. So the final came with hopefully the issue resolved? I went out again taking it easy on the outlap and then went for it…… would you believe it on the same back straight this time there was a strange screeching noise coming from the engine bay each time I accelerated? I limited the revs and nursed it around past the pit wall to complete a lap, whilst going past the pit wall I accelerated hard just so Paul may be able to hear the noise?
At this point I thought the day was over, and started to cruise around the track to get back to the pits, thankfully the red flags went out and the session was stopped.. BONUS!! When I got back to the garage Paul was there again (TOP BLOKE! he was actually there taking care of other cars in the Pro class but was there when I needed his help) I explained the noise and popped the bonnet, he immediately spotted the turbo hose not on properly, he told me to get my helmet back on and get ready (Woo hoo I thought I had ran my last lap) once fixed I got back out on track and after an out lap tried to put a quick lap in, unfortunately for me my front head lights are not working, however when approaching a BMW cruising I started to flash my full beam so he would move out of my way, well flashing lights or not he decided to not move out of the way and blocked my line for three corners and eventually got out of the way once going on the back straight, I gave it full beans and completed he full lap.
When I came back in and looked at the times I saw I was 5th overall but the first OHW, so went to the trophy stage and collected a 1st place trophy and a nice bottle of bubbly. The one thing going through my head was that although the BMW got in my way and cost me possibly a couple of seconds, I have to be thankful that the car never cut out? It would appear that the changes Paul made in qualifying had worked, fingers crossed for tomorrow then.
Sunday
This was the 200 track lay out, I had heard it was not too different but obviously was eager to see which way it went for myself, once I had gone around the track in warn up and noticed it was just one corner that was different which cut out the infield I was chuffed that the track would not be something new to learn. When practice came I had decided to run in cal4 and go for it to see if the car was ok? Went out and put a flyer in (messed up 2 corners but that’s my fault) and when I came back in I saw I was in second place overall by less than a second, I plugged the laptop in and oil temps were at a max of 108 degrees and oil pressure went as low as 3.5bar, this was very encouraging, I thought to myself that’s it, in qualifying I was going to ring its neck not be worrying about limiting revs.
During the dinner break I was talking to another driver and his team, I explained I was not running meth because of the rules, to which they replied you can run a meth mix in club, its just proper race fuel that is not allowed? This was a great boost to my hopes, I then went and added the meth (20% mix) and was feeling really up for it. As qualifying approached the heavens opened, the track was wet but there was no standing water, so went out on the 888s (only tyres I had) when exiting the pit lane 3rd in line we arrived at the first right hand hair pin, the green skyline started to drift when trying to turn in to the corner, we were only going slowly so I was thinking wtf? Before I could blink the VX220 in front of me also decided to start drifting but he actually spun the car and went off the track…wtf? As I turned in to the corner my car started to drift but thankfully I caught it and made it around the hairpin, when going down the back straight you could see a foot wide oil slick on the racing line going down the whole straight, I pootled around as quickly as I could gradually getting quicker, I know from my biking days that all you can do in these conditions is to keep circulating trying to build up tyre temps, after a few laps and getting quicker I turned in to the last corner and the car just lost traction and started to slide off the track, bugger it!! I planted the accelerator and just hung in there whilst it bounced over the kerb, mud and grass until she eventually got back on track, I have to admit I was loving this ☺ On my next lap the course went to red flags.
The officials had decided that the conditions were not safe and sent out the wagons to clean up the track, a few minutes later an announcement came out that the session was scrapped and that they would be running a fresh 15 minute session, whilst in pit lane and talking to Duncan Graham he was kind enough to give some words of advice, he advised that I should lower my tyre pressures by a few psi which should help grip? Whilst talking to Duncan most of the other competitors were swapping wheels to run on MSA 1A tyres, I reduced my tyre pressures by 3psi per corner and went back out, to my surprise I managed to come 5th even though I only had my 888s on. Thankfully for me my main rival was a chap called Jason Ogg who was driving a blue RA Motorsport classic, I knew he was in the same boat as me and he was running with AO48s in the wet, game on!!
When the final came I went out feeling confident I could repeat my driving from qualifying, well once around the first bend and in to the first hair pin all plans were out of the window, the track was soaking and there was standing water everywhere, on a few corners on every lap the car was predictably aqua planning but then gripping again, I thought this is crazy, but it’s the last session so lets do what I can, after a few laps getting use to where the water was I went for a quick lap, things were going pretty well and I was putting in a reasonably tidy lap with no mistakes, once I got to the bomb hole I straight lined the apex (one of the points were it was aqua planning) and tried getting on the gas again fast and hard, pretty much straight away the car stepped out and as hard as I tried to control it all was lost, after a few swings left and right eventually the car swung around and went in to a spin, thankfully she spun off in to the infield and started to slide side ways, I looked out of the passenger window and spotted a white wall approaching with “Corams” wrote on it, at first I thought it was white tyres? Well thankfully it wasn’t, as soon as I hit the white wall it smashed in to a million bits, it was Styrofoam!! Thank f f that. After that I started the car up and came back in to the pits, that’s enough for me ☺
After the session was over I caught up with Oggy and he had beaten me on his last lap, bugger!! To be fair he deserved it, not only for being out there like me on semi slicks when they just were not the right tyres to be on, but also for the whole effort he and his team had put in to be there coming all the way down from sunny Scotland (top guys!!)
So after a full weekend of driving that was me goosed, more importantly though it was a great experience, I have now experienced what it takes to be out there with the TA guys and also got a good idea how far off I am from the guys at the front. I am hoping to do the full season next year, after this weekend I am pretty confident that me and my car will hopefully not be far off in 2013, I don’t think she is that far off now, just a few issues to sort out with a few sensors, I do need to look at engine bay cooling, I am also confident after speaking to Steven Darley that there is a lot of weight to come out of my car, this with a bit more practice and experience will hopefully see me managing to grab a spot on the podium at least once next year?
Finally I would just like to add a BIG massive thanks to Steven Darley (SD Motorsport) and Paul Blamire (Zen Performance) for all their help, the car now handles better than ever and it goes like stink!!! Cheers guys, really looking forward to 2013.
Cheers,
Lee.
I started off by running the car in cal2 (Vpower only) and just circulated to learn the track, once comfortable with which way the track goes I decided to turn the car up to cal3 and have a blast, after coming out of the infield section going on to the back straight I was accelerating down the straight when the car cut out? After getting back to the pits I plugged the laptop in and noticed the oil temp was around 120 degrees and the oil pressure had reached a low of 1.5bar!!
After this I decided to go out again and circulate off boost trying to keep the oil temp low, once out of the last corner I gave it loads but tried to limit the revs to 7k and managed a full lap without the car cutting out. After dinner I continued in the same vein just taking it easy and putting just one quick lap in, on cal2, cal3 & cal4 the car was running at around 120 degrees and the oil pressure was around 1.5bar crossing the finishing line, there was no way I was going to try and put a back to back lap in. After the trackday finished I at least had a plan for the Saturday Time Attack round.
Saturday
I went out in warm up and practice taking it easy trying to familiarize myself with the track now that the cones had one, after dinner I decided to go out in qualifying on cal4 and go as quickly as I could, unfortunately again the car cut out on the back straight, after starting it up I circulated the track twice off boost trying to bring down the oil temps, once it reached 90 degrees I tried for another lap, this time trying to make sure that the revs never went over 7k and nursing it around the corners, again though the car cut out on the back straight!!!?
Once back in the pits Paul Blamire came over and asked what the issues were? Once I explained what was going on he plugged the laptop in and messed about with some graphs (its all black magic this mapping lark to me ☺ ) once finished Paul explained that he thought the oil pressure sensor was giving inaccurate readings once the car was getting hot, this was giving low oil pressure readings which the ECU was spotting and cutting the car out. So the final came with hopefully the issue resolved? I went out again taking it easy on the outlap and then went for it…… would you believe it on the same back straight this time there was a strange screeching noise coming from the engine bay each time I accelerated? I limited the revs and nursed it around past the pit wall to complete a lap, whilst going past the pit wall I accelerated hard just so Paul may be able to hear the noise?
At this point I thought the day was over, and started to cruise around the track to get back to the pits, thankfully the red flags went out and the session was stopped.. BONUS!! When I got back to the garage Paul was there again (TOP BLOKE! he was actually there taking care of other cars in the Pro class but was there when I needed his help) I explained the noise and popped the bonnet, he immediately spotted the turbo hose not on properly, he told me to get my helmet back on and get ready (Woo hoo I thought I had ran my last lap) once fixed I got back out on track and after an out lap tried to put a quick lap in, unfortunately for me my front head lights are not working, however when approaching a BMW cruising I started to flash my full beam so he would move out of my way, well flashing lights or not he decided to not move out of the way and blocked my line for three corners and eventually got out of the way once going on the back straight, I gave it full beans and completed he full lap.
When I came back in and looked at the times I saw I was 5th overall but the first OHW, so went to the trophy stage and collected a 1st place trophy and a nice bottle of bubbly. The one thing going through my head was that although the BMW got in my way and cost me possibly a couple of seconds, I have to be thankful that the car never cut out? It would appear that the changes Paul made in qualifying had worked, fingers crossed for tomorrow then.
Sunday
This was the 200 track lay out, I had heard it was not too different but obviously was eager to see which way it went for myself, once I had gone around the track in warn up and noticed it was just one corner that was different which cut out the infield I was chuffed that the track would not be something new to learn. When practice came I had decided to run in cal4 and go for it to see if the car was ok? Went out and put a flyer in (messed up 2 corners but that’s my fault) and when I came back in I saw I was in second place overall by less than a second, I plugged the laptop in and oil temps were at a max of 108 degrees and oil pressure went as low as 3.5bar, this was very encouraging, I thought to myself that’s it, in qualifying I was going to ring its neck not be worrying about limiting revs.
During the dinner break I was talking to another driver and his team, I explained I was not running meth because of the rules, to which they replied you can run a meth mix in club, its just proper race fuel that is not allowed? This was a great boost to my hopes, I then went and added the meth (20% mix) and was feeling really up for it. As qualifying approached the heavens opened, the track was wet but there was no standing water, so went out on the 888s (only tyres I had) when exiting the pit lane 3rd in line we arrived at the first right hand hair pin, the green skyline started to drift when trying to turn in to the corner, we were only going slowly so I was thinking wtf? Before I could blink the VX220 in front of me also decided to start drifting but he actually spun the car and went off the track…wtf? As I turned in to the corner my car started to drift but thankfully I caught it and made it around the hairpin, when going down the back straight you could see a foot wide oil slick on the racing line going down the whole straight, I pootled around as quickly as I could gradually getting quicker, I know from my biking days that all you can do in these conditions is to keep circulating trying to build up tyre temps, after a few laps and getting quicker I turned in to the last corner and the car just lost traction and started to slide off the track, bugger it!! I planted the accelerator and just hung in there whilst it bounced over the kerb, mud and grass until she eventually got back on track, I have to admit I was loving this ☺ On my next lap the course went to red flags.
The officials had decided that the conditions were not safe and sent out the wagons to clean up the track, a few minutes later an announcement came out that the session was scrapped and that they would be running a fresh 15 minute session, whilst in pit lane and talking to Duncan Graham he was kind enough to give some words of advice, he advised that I should lower my tyre pressures by a few psi which should help grip? Whilst talking to Duncan most of the other competitors were swapping wheels to run on MSA 1A tyres, I reduced my tyre pressures by 3psi per corner and went back out, to my surprise I managed to come 5th even though I only had my 888s on. Thankfully for me my main rival was a chap called Jason Ogg who was driving a blue RA Motorsport classic, I knew he was in the same boat as me and he was running with AO48s in the wet, game on!!
When the final came I went out feeling confident I could repeat my driving from qualifying, well once around the first bend and in to the first hair pin all plans were out of the window, the track was soaking and there was standing water everywhere, on a few corners on every lap the car was predictably aqua planning but then gripping again, I thought this is crazy, but it’s the last session so lets do what I can, after a few laps getting use to where the water was I went for a quick lap, things were going pretty well and I was putting in a reasonably tidy lap with no mistakes, once I got to the bomb hole I straight lined the apex (one of the points were it was aqua planning) and tried getting on the gas again fast and hard, pretty much straight away the car stepped out and as hard as I tried to control it all was lost, after a few swings left and right eventually the car swung around and went in to a spin, thankfully she spun off in to the infield and started to slide side ways, I looked out of the passenger window and spotted a white wall approaching with “Corams” wrote on it, at first I thought it was white tyres? Well thankfully it wasn’t, as soon as I hit the white wall it smashed in to a million bits, it was Styrofoam!! Thank f f that. After that I started the car up and came back in to the pits, that’s enough for me ☺
After the session was over I caught up with Oggy and he had beaten me on his last lap, bugger!! To be fair he deserved it, not only for being out there like me on semi slicks when they just were not the right tyres to be on, but also for the whole effort he and his team had put in to be there coming all the way down from sunny Scotland (top guys!!)
So after a full weekend of driving that was me goosed, more importantly though it was a great experience, I have now experienced what it takes to be out there with the TA guys and also got a good idea how far off I am from the guys at the front. I am hoping to do the full season next year, after this weekend I am pretty confident that me and my car will hopefully not be far off in 2013, I don’t think she is that far off now, just a few issues to sort out with a few sensors, I do need to look at engine bay cooling, I am also confident after speaking to Steven Darley that there is a lot of weight to come out of my car, this with a bit more practice and experience will hopefully see me managing to grab a spot on the podium at least once next year?
Finally I would just like to add a BIG massive thanks to Steven Darley (SD Motorsport) and Paul Blamire (Zen Performance) for all their help, the car now handles better than ever and it goes like stink!!! Cheers guys, really looking forward to 2013.
Cheers,
Lee.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post