VF-Racing

Pre Race:

Justover two weeks prior to Donington, Vaughan took the car to Cadwell Park inorder to put some more miles on the relatively new engine, and to test somechanges that had recently been carried out.

Anew larger wastegate had been fitted in order to help regulate the boost levelsmore precisely, and hopefully overcome the issue of turbo hitting the pre-setboost limit and cutting the power.

Withthis fitted, the car was put on the rolling road at Scoobyclinic’s premises andentrusted to their team of engineers. After a check, the final figures came outat a pleasing 576.9 bhp and 510 ft/lbs of torque.






Oncircuit at Cadwell, the car started the day well, with no reported issues.However as the working temperature increased, and the exhaust gasses began toflow more freely, the car began to produce more boost, which as a result beganto clip the boost cut.

Scoobyclinicengineers Andy Moore and Marc Hibbert were on hand to review the data log assoon as the car was returned to the paddock.

Interrogatingthe data led Andy to pull back the cut limit and the car was sent on its way.Already warmed through, the car was soon making more boost than was safelyallowed, so again the boost limit was breached and the safety feature kickedin.

Moretime spent on the laptop resulted in a boost level that the car was comfortablewith, albeit at a loss of some overall power.

Althoughthe boost was no longer an issue, there was now a problem with the speed inputinto the car’s ecu which was causing it to sense an over boost situation. Withthe speed input features disabled, the car ran to its full potential, andallowed for some R&D work to be carried out.

Inan attempt to reduce fuel temperatures during a race, a fuel cooler has beenfitted, along with the associated pipe work.

Ductsmounted in the rear quarter panels and an under floor scoop pull air into thecooler, which then exits through the redundant rear number plate location.

Totry and establish what worked best, some scoops were fashioned from old coffeecups, and liberal amounts of gaffa tape and the car was sent out on track. Withthe under floor vent disconnected the fuel temperature dropped by around 5degrees, and with it re-connected the temperatures rose. It’s thought that thiswas because of hot air from the engine/gearbox being drawn in to it.

Thecar ran well for rest of the track day, and so with a plan of action in hand,the car was shipped back to Scoobyclinic for the necessary modifications.


Qualifying:

Havingonly ever visited the famous circuit for numerous track days, the weekend’sevent would be the first ever competitive outing at the team’s home track.

Missingout on the last event at Anglesey, the teamhad now lost their 3rd place in class position, and sat in 4thplace going into the final two rounds.

Class A for the event was the largest proportion of the grid andwas made up of:


02– Rex Stamp – Lotus Exige

03 – Jonathan Faul - Mitsubishi Evo 8

05 – Dave Cockell – Escort Cosworth

06– Andy Robinson – Ford Falcon

08– Steve Putt – Mazda RX7

14 – Doug Ellwood - Marcos Mantis

16 – Vaughan Fletcher - Subaru Impreza RA

19 – Ian Froggatt - MitsubishiEvo 5

33 – Ian Roberts - Subaru Impreza RA

36 – Keith Butcher – GinettaG50

42 – Danny Precious –Subaru Impreza

57 – Chris Huntley -Subaru Impreza

62 – Alex Sidwell – Holden Commodore

71 - Mark Shulzhitskiy - Nissan 370Z

72 - Wolfgang Reip - Nissan370Z

96 – Garry Prebble – Mitsubishi Evo 9

Withan early qualifying slot, the track conditions were less than perfect with alot of moisture present creating a slick surface when combined with theaviation fuel that falls from the airport traffic.






Dueto this, it was a last minute decision on tyre choice, with the intermediateToyo R888’s and the slicks both to hand. With a call needed, the decision wasmade to run with the slicks and hope that a dry line would begin to form oncethe large grid started to lap the circuit.

With31 cars on circuit and the track temperature still low, it would take severallaps to ensure that the tyres were up to temperature in readiness to attack fora fast lap. Cold tyres and a bit too much commitment into anyone of Doningtonscorners could spell disaster.

Afterhalf a dozen or so laps to get a good amount of heat into the tyres, and tomake a note of where the circuit was at its worst, it was time to press on.

Asis the way, it was one of Vaughan’slast laps that netted him his fastest time, which ended up being good for 4thoverall. A result the whole team was pleased with considering those ahead.






Qualified4th in class

Qualified4th overall

Fastestlap: 1.22.584 on lap 12 of 13


Round 1:

Withthe usual pre-race checks carried out, the cars made their way to the assemblyarea, and from there were led onto the circuit to take up their grid positions.

Followingthe safety car around for 1 lap, as the pack came down to the grandstand area,everyone began to bunch up behind Prebble and Robinson in anticipation for thestart.

Ontothe start/finish straight the lights showed red and then with the lights outfor the rolling start, everyone thundered down to “Redgate”.

Outin front and charging hard, Prebble found the grip to be somewhat lacking atthe first corner, and promptly fell off the track and back to sixth place, witha number of other drivers doing the same as they were caught out by theconditions.






Asa result Vaughanmoved up to 3rd behind Robinson and Cockell and proceeded to pullout a lead over those chasing.

Althoughnot able to make any challenge for the lead, the Subaru was keeping incontention with the leading pair. All was going well until 4 laps in, whencoming down the pit straight all drive in 5th gear was lost. Theresulting speed differential meant he was unable to keep those coming up behindhim at bay.

Alap and a half were run using the remaining gears, but it was obvious thiswasn’t going to work, and the car was retired.


DNF

Fastestlap: 1.15.584 sec on lap 3 of 5


Despitefrantic phone calls, it soon became apparent that the Subaru wouldn’t make itout for the second race the following day, and the team began to prepare forthe journey home.

Whenall looked lost and all avenues were exhausted, in a show of extremegenerosity, fellow Subaru racer Danny Precious offered the keys to his Imprezain order for Vaughanto compete in race 2.

Afterdiscussing this move with the Clerk of the Course, and all other fellow racers,it was agreed that Vaughancould race, and would start from the back of the grid.


Round 2:

Withhorrendous track conditions, it was touch and go as to whether or not anyracing would take place. With cold temperatures and low lying fog, the courseofficials looked like having to call off the event.

However,just as the cut off time to make the decision was reached, the skies cleared,and within a few minutes the fog disappeared. Having lost over 3 hours worth oftrack time, the timetable was drastically altered. Each race was reduced to 13minutes, and the two qualifying sessions were limited to 3 laps behind thesafety car.






Havingnever driven Danny’s Subaru before, Vaughanhad to drive 3 laps behind the safety car to qualify for the 2ndrace. As soon as that was over, he had to quickly join the rest of the grid whowere already waiting in the assembly area.

Startingin last place, Vaughanfollowed the rest of the grid around two green flag laps.

Withthe safety car off into the pit lane, the grid rolled towards the lights andthe race got underway.

By“Redgate” Vaughanhad taken 6 places, but the unfamiliar gear ratios in the 6 speed gearbox meantthe car bogged down on the exit, which dropped him to the back of the packagain.

Backon the attack and by the end of lap 1, Vaughanwas up to 12th from a starting position of 23rd!






Nextup it was the Clio of Andy Jordan and the Civic of Chris Boon, but before amove could be made disaster struck for Andy Robinson in the Ford Falcon andDave Cockell in the Escort Cosworth. The resulting accident brought out thesafety car for 3 laps, leaving only 1 lap to race to the flag.

Onthe restart, the grid thundered away to make their last lap count. Vaughan was able tooverhaul the Clio before the chequered flag was shown, and narrowly missedclimbing a further position with Boon crossing the line just over half a secondahead.


(Post race adisqualification of a higher placed car promoted Vaughan to 10th place)



Finished6th in class

Finished10th overall

Fastestlap: 1.23.420 sec on lap 6 of 6


Summary

Aweekend of highs and lows with some great racing thrown in for good measure.When all seemed lost, Danny’s generosity and trust allowed Vaughan to compete in race two, of which ahuge note of thanks has to be given to Danny.

Well,the 2012 season has now come to a close for the team, and with it comes a long listof “thank yous”!

Massivethanks go out to Kev and the whole team at Scoobyclinic, who throughout theyear have worked tirelessly in order to ensure Vaughan makes it to the track. For over adecade, the relationship between Vaughan and SC has grown and helped to developone of “THE” best race Impreza’s on the track today. No matter what directionthe project takes throughout the winter period, SC will be there all the way.

Toall of our other sponsors, supporters and friends again thank you for yoursupport and continued belief in the team.



Scoobyclinic

RevolutionWheels

Goodridge

Brianat Damar

AlanDart

SupertechValves

PPGGears

Japspeed

DemonTweeks

RacingLogic

OpieOils

UKScoobies

TotalImpreza

SIDC





Words:Jonathan Fletcher

Pictures:Lindsey Fletcher & Jonathan Fletcher