Mallory Park September 2009

Qualifying: This is the first time I would be out in the car after getting its third engine of the year so I was just praying it would last out. Spent the first few laps under 3,ooorpm to warm the engine up and then tried to get some fast laps in. With such a short circuit and with so many cars out it was hard to get any kind of fast lap in. Qualified in 21st which was about what I expected, still it leaves me with more cars to overtake!

Race 1: made a poor start and lost several places but managed to get a couple back quite quickly. I was realing in 3 cars just ahead of me until I noticed a plume of steam coming from the front of the car, I started to loose power and then got passed by everyone behind me so decided to pull into the pits. Turned out that a stone had punctured the radiator so that was the end of the race for me. Managed to find a spare radiator in the paddock (thanks Coggy) and got it fitted before the second race.

Race 2: got off to a great start (so I thought), I managed to get past Nina in front of me on the inside very quickly then switched to the outside to get past another car. When I look back at the video footage seems I then went and lost most of the places I made by the start of the second lap. As the race played out I had a good tussle with the light blue car, then Chris Shackle spun off from the front of the pack and rejoined just behind me. He got past me quickly then past the light blue car a couple of laps later. I shortly followed up with my move on the light blue car; I took a slow entry into the hairpin to get a quick exit and managed to get up the inside, we then went down the start finish straight side by side but I was endging ahead and had the outside line going into Gerrards, we had a slight overlap coming out of Gerrards and I was sent slightly sideways but held onto it and came out ahead. I then started to pull away and was surprised to find I was catching Chris. I followed him around for a couple of laps right behind him and noticed he was braking very early into the hairpin so next lap around I had a faster exit from the esses and dived up the inside into the hairpin braking very late. I manged to keep in front of him (but only just) coming out of the hairpin and then started to pull away. At the end of the race I was catching Seb Fisher up ahead and would have been right behind him after another lap but the chequered flag came out.
Not a great day out finishing in 15th but on a positive note I did make several overtaking manouvres which is something I had failed to do previously.

Snetterton, no show

After a succesful swap out of engines and a good start to my trackday at Snetterton (despite the heavy rain first thing) things ended badly. It seems I ran the engine for too long and too hard and ended up damaging the big end. I was able to replace the big end bearings and everything was looking good for the next race at Snetterton.

Race Day
After a bit of a frantic start to the day trying to get new tyres fitted, I was feeling confident going into the qualifying session. However, second lap in the horrible noise from the engine started again and I realised that just replacing the big end bearings had not solved the problem. That was it, my race day over and another new engine required. :( I wasn't the only one to fall at the first hurdle, several other cars didn't make it past qualifying. Out of a total of 29 cars that turned up only 18 actually finished the second race.

Cadwell Park June 2009

This was always going to be my best days racing due to my knowledge of the track but after finding out I was down on power it lowered my expectations. Had some really good hot weather with a nice dry track. Qualifying: got some clean air after a couple of laps and got some good times down, positioned 12th on the grid (best so far) which gave me an outside chance of a top ten.

Race 1: Made a good start around the outside gaining a couple of places. Couple of laps in passed car #60 as he missed a gear going up the mountain. Started to get some really fast laps in and was catching the guy in front and pulling away from the guys behind. Then narrowly missed #33 spinning out only for him to catch up to me and pass me on the penultimate lap but I wasn't letting him get away with that! He went well wide leaving the track going into the back straight so I went up the inside only for him to dart right across the track and push me half onto the grass. I kept going and we went side by side into Park, we both braked too late with him going off onto the grass and then retiring to the paddock and me spinning on the inside and stalling. Car #13 got past me but I managed to get it started again and didn't loose any further places.

Finished 7th!! Best result yet, very happy with that and also won the team prize!

Race 2: Positioned in 7th which meant I had the inside line, started ok and kept position. I was definately quicker than 13 in front of me but just couldn't find away around anywhere, just didn't have the power to be able to make a move. This meant everyone else caught me up and I started to loose places. Eventually finished 9th due to people spinnig off ahead of me, can't really complain about 2 top ten finishes with a slightly dodgy engine but I was 1.5 seconds a lap quicker than the guy in front so 7th was possible if I had been able to get past.

Thanks to all those who helped me out and supported me on the day.

Silverstone June 2009

Here's a brief summary of the race weekend:
Spent a cold wet Saturday Marshaling, at one point we had 4 Formula Palmer Audi's in the one gravel trap and it was rumoured that the meeting was close to being called off.
Woke up the next day to some deafening rain on the tent, you actually had to shout to talk to anybody inside. I thought the meeting was going to be called off but instead the qualifying was put back until 1040 by which time it had stopped raining and started to brighten up.

Qualifying - despite it stopping raining it was still a wet track but I actually had fun out there. Didn't really get a clear lap in to get a good time but still managed to qualify 22nd out of 30. Had one slightly hairy moment when I did a 720 spin and stalled right in the middle of copse corner. Apparently there is some on-board footage from the car directly behind me so that should be good!

Race 1 - the track is now completely dry now which disadvantaged me a bit as some of the cars that were slower in the wet got past me quickly. Was by myself again, ahead of the back of the pack but not quick enough for the middle of the pack. Race was red flagged on lap nine as 2nd, 3rd and 4th all came together with a fair bit of damage done to everyone. Finished 20th.

Race 2 - this race was going to be a bit more interesting as the fast boys that didn't finish the last race were now starting behind me. First half of the first lap was manic, cars absolutely everywhere, I decided to try not to battle too much as I didn't want to risk doing any serious damage to the car and these guys were going to pass me at some point anyway. Copse was definitely my weak point but I was getting quicker around it every lap and started to catch back up with the middle of the pack. Got right onto the back of one car and just needed an extra lap to get past him. Finished 24th but did manage to get ahead of one car that was in front of me in the first race.

Other cars where still pulling away from me down the straights as they had at Snetterton, some of it will be down to the driver but I'm now pretty certain the car is down on power so it will be going in to a racing garage this weekend to get it compression tested and dyno'd. I may have to part with a bit of cash to get it fighting fit for Cadwell.

Snetterton Race Apr 2009

Seeing as i've just completed races 5 and 6 I should give a brief account of races 1 ans 2 (missed 3 and 4)!

Qualified 21st out of 25, afterwards found a loose vacuum hose which improved the engine note 100%.
Race 1: Didn't do as well as quali, well off the pace, eventually finished 19th but at least I finshed it and didn't get lapped.
Race 2: Kept up with the rest of the field for the first lap but then got hit in the rear going into russel and spun off the track. Car wasn't too badly damaged so I continued and managed to overtake one car coming out of russel and then another under braking into the esses. Finished 18th and knocked 2.7 seconds off my quali time.
Good day out for my first couple of races, still a lot of work to go to keep up with the main pack. possibly down on power?

Snetterton April 2009 First Race Pictures

Pictures from our first official race are up here

Disaster!

Not a particluarly succesful day but some plus points: started out at 5am in the morning (never a good time to be awake) and I had only been going about an hour when the battery light came on, then the engine temperature needle started to rise, then the revometer failed then the speedo failed! Stopped at a service station and found that the water pump had collapsed and the fan belt had come off; couldn't fix myself so had to call the AA. They couldn't do anything so had to get both the truck and trailer towed to the centre of Leicster to get the pump replaced. Guys at the garage already had the part ready and got stuck into it straight away, job was done in a couple of hours and I eventually made it to Silverstone at 1330.

The next session was at 1405 so had to quickly get the car off the trailer and get all the way to the other side of the circuit to get signed on. Didn't have time to replace the tyres or sort out the engine so wasn't the greatest of sessions, more of a get to know the circuit session.

However things did start to get better from here. Everyone seemed to like the paint job and several people came up to me to chat about it. I spoke to the oricle of Mk1 MR2's (Mo Stoner), he knew exactly what the problem was with the car and so now I will be replacing the air filter and completely flushing the cooling system. Also sorted out the idle problem by adjusting the screw, Rick gave me a hand getting the wheels off and I managed to have the tyres changed for the last session.
Engine sounding a bit better and not cutting out on me everytime I stopped it was back out onto the circuit. The new Silverstone tyres have so much more grip than the old Yokohamas and I was really able to start throwing it about, I was still getting overtaken but not as quickly as in the first session and was even able to keep up with one car.

All in all not 100% sure 6+ hours of towing a trailer was really worth the 20 minutes good tracktime, we'll chalk this one up to experience.

Cest Le Fine!

I have finally finished the respray, it only took a total of 6 days in the end! THe HVLP system worked very well once i got used to it. Very easy to use and clean and didn't make too much of a mess with overspray.

Spray diary:
Day 1 - removed lights etc and got garage set up, sanded down all plastic parts
Day 2 - finished sanding, didn't get around to masking up so now 1/2 day behind
Day 3 - applied 2 coats of red, first coat on one side looked awful as I had sprayed the paint on too thick, sorted that and the rest of the car looked good, spent the afternoon trying to sand out the drips and also a couple of areas where the paint hadn't stuck, now 1 day behind
Day 4 - applied 3rd coat of red, didn't go on brilliantly I think the mix may have been slightly too thin, spent some time trying to get rid of a couple of drips, applied 4th and final coat and it went on very well, bit of luck my best spray was the last!
Day 5 - masked up for grey and applied 2 coats, went on very well only a little bit of running on the spoiler, colour isn't grey however its white! I think there may have been a mistake at the paint factory, still 1 day behind
Day 6 - its a good job I had an extra day of work as a contingency, applied 1 coat of black, looked good to begin with but then started going a dark grey colour, not good, ran out of thinners so had to search Lincoln for a supplier, eventually found one and applied 2nd coat of black, now looks much better and i've finished the spraying! Left it for a couple of hours then removed all masking, paint overlap in a coule of places but nothing major, managed to get the 2 cars and scooter back in the garage in the evening.

I won't put any pictures of it up just yet as I can't get a good shot of it in the garage, I will wait until I have the sponsors logos on it and get Miles to take some good shots at Silverstone.

Well that didn't take too long did it?!

With a bit of help from the good Dr Bourke the MR2 now has two solid (ish) anti roll bar brackets. Started work around 8pm and eventually let the neighbours get some sleep at around 11.30pm. ET will probably be able to explain the process better than me as I was mostly on hole making and tea fetching duty.

Glad thats one less thing to do, but still a hell of a lot left!

Snetterton Trackday

Got up at 0430 to a very cold and frozen day, made it to Snetterton in good time at 0730, it hadn't got any warmer. Track time was delayed to 1000 due to the circuit still being frozen! This however gave me enough time to swap over the front brake pads which I managed to do suprising easily and quickly.

First session the track was very greasy so I took it easy, I also had the brake pads to bed in so couldn't go too mad. There were a lot of cars on track which led to several red flags and also long queues to get out on track. Not ideal if your car wouldn't idle properly!

Later on managed to put it off going into Russell, its a bit of a difficult entry as you want to start braking just before you've finished coming out of the previous corner. It turned out later this is where I ripped of a bracket holding on the front anti roll bar, this eventually led to an early day.

The track came good about 2pm and I started to put my foot down a bit, unfortunately some parts of the circuit didn't have as much grip as others and I had an almighty 180 in the middle of the track coming out of the first corner. Travelled a fair distance and the tyres didn't look at all healthy afterwards!

All in all it was a fairly succesful day, I managed to get some reasonable pace even though the handling was out due to the missing anti roll bar bracket. Engine definately not at full power yet but a complete service will hopefully sort that out.

Fair bit of work to do now to get it ready for the Meet and Great on 27th Feb!

Autosport Update

Pictures coming soon

Autosport 2009

Sakari racing will mostly be in attendance at the 2009 Autosport show tomorrow. I say mostly because ET should be arriving in the Beetle.....