Friday, 28 June 2013
Body No.001 arrives!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first body is now out the mould, trimmed and outside for the photo shoot!!!!!! It has turned out better than we ever imagined and we are completely blown away by it!! We just hope everybody else is and we get a few orders!! The body is going up to MNR at the weekend after the the Donington races, so if you fancy a sneak peek come along to donington on sunday
Pembrey 16th-17th June 2013
For the first time this year i managed to get off early enough on fridat to get a bit of testing in. William was getting a lift up with my sister so we headed up mid morning and got out for the afternoon session. Amazingly it stayed dry for the sessions and i got my head back around the circuit. The back section really i spretty technical and its easy to lose a few seconds if you dont use all the track. Paul Rickers was out too, and comparing times he was very slightly quicker, but i was sure i had a bit more to come and the gap was so little it would disappear in the race.
The Rabid camp was set up with the usual suspects minus Mr Watson, whose torrid run had continued with a slipping clutch at the RR earlier that day and he had decided to hang his boots up for the weekend. But we soldiered on without him, which to start with was rather difficult as Dave usually supplies the BBQ and our new BBQ had decided to melt. Luckily Colin Spicer came to the recue with a huge drum BBQ and got Bobs birthday weekend started with a few beers and a proper welsh BBQ, i.e. pissing it down!
The morning was dry and breezy, but the sky looked rather dark, but very unRGB like it stayed dry for practice and the race! I Qualified 2nd in class for the first race and pole for the 2nd, but there was a gaggle of us all together on very very similar times. The first corner at pembrey is very slow, very tight and very narrow, with a fast run down from the start/finish straight, and usually causes plenty of incidents in the first lap, so i decided to just take it very carefully, no heroics, just stay out of trouble and try and hold my position. This all went to plan, i held my position and tucked in behind Andy to settle in. The next few laps were great fun and Paul was right behind us until i nearly lost it, having a very sideways moment allowing Paul to zoom by. the following lap Paul got past Andy at Honda and i followed by down the straight. Andy had developed a miss fire hence the rather large difference in speed down the straight. I chased Paul down for the next few laps, and after he made a couple of mistakes pulled up along side him at hatchetts, but decided not to push my luck and allowed him to take the racing line at the next corner, then at Brooklands he made another mistake and I was lining up to try and take him at Honda, but the red flags came out just before the corner as Nick Donaldson had a rather big incident with the barrier on the exit. So i finished 2nd behind Paul, with Andy 3rd. Paul also got fastest lap by 0.02 of a second. I'm really enjoying my racing with Paul and Andy this year, we are very close and we are giving each other a lot of respect and room, i think we would all rather finish the race rather than have a collision, even if it does mean finishing a position down.
Saturday night a group of us went out for Bobs birthday to a local pub, lots of beer was drank and some rather large plates of food (i think Dave would be more gutted about missing this than the racing). There then followed a rather jolly and late evening in the bus, with about 12 of us all squashed in.
Sunday started of almost dry but then got wetter, by the time we were out to race it was properly wet on track, although the rain was fairly light and there wasnt really any standing water and not too much spray. The plan again was to stay out of trouble for the first lap, which i did, but lost a place to Andy. By the time we got to the back straigght it was evident there was still a fair amount of grip and i felt confident to accelerate hard from Brooklands and into Honda, this allowed me to power past Andy. I held onto to first place for the rest of the race, but made a conscious effort to try and get the fastest lap, which i managed on the last lap, giving me the maximum 16 points.
So with the result from class R in for the weekend, it means that i am 1st, 1 point ahead of Matt Higginson in the overall championship and 1st in Class F, 14 points ahead of Paul. I need to keep getting the top 2 positions in Class F but also need to start getting those fastest laps more often to keep me in contention for the overall top spot. And looking back at the videos i need to try and concentrate on keeping the proper lines when following someone as i seem to wonder off or follow them when they make a mistake. But so far what an amazing season!!!
Photos from dan
The Rabid camp was set up with the usual suspects minus Mr Watson, whose torrid run had continued with a slipping clutch at the RR earlier that day and he had decided to hang his boots up for the weekend. But we soldiered on without him, which to start with was rather difficult as Dave usually supplies the BBQ and our new BBQ had decided to melt. Luckily Colin Spicer came to the recue with a huge drum BBQ and got Bobs birthday weekend started with a few beers and a proper welsh BBQ, i.e. pissing it down!
The morning was dry and breezy, but the sky looked rather dark, but very unRGB like it stayed dry for practice and the race! I Qualified 2nd in class for the first race and pole for the 2nd, but there was a gaggle of us all together on very very similar times. The first corner at pembrey is very slow, very tight and very narrow, with a fast run down from the start/finish straight, and usually causes plenty of incidents in the first lap, so i decided to just take it very carefully, no heroics, just stay out of trouble and try and hold my position. This all went to plan, i held my position and tucked in behind Andy to settle in. The next few laps were great fun and Paul was right behind us until i nearly lost it, having a very sideways moment allowing Paul to zoom by. the following lap Paul got past Andy at Honda and i followed by down the straight. Andy had developed a miss fire hence the rather large difference in speed down the straight. I chased Paul down for the next few laps, and after he made a couple of mistakes pulled up along side him at hatchetts, but decided not to push my luck and allowed him to take the racing line at the next corner, then at Brooklands he made another mistake and I was lining up to try and take him at Honda, but the red flags came out just before the corner as Nick Donaldson had a rather big incident with the barrier on the exit. So i finished 2nd behind Paul, with Andy 3rd. Paul also got fastest lap by 0.02 of a second. I'm really enjoying my racing with Paul and Andy this year, we are very close and we are giving each other a lot of respect and room, i think we would all rather finish the race rather than have a collision, even if it does mean finishing a position down.
Saturday night a group of us went out for Bobs birthday to a local pub, lots of beer was drank and some rather large plates of food (i think Dave would be more gutted about missing this than the racing). There then followed a rather jolly and late evening in the bus, with about 12 of us all squashed in.
Sunday started of almost dry but then got wetter, by the time we were out to race it was properly wet on track, although the rain was fairly light and there wasnt really any standing water and not too much spray. The plan again was to stay out of trouble for the first lap, which i did, but lost a place to Andy. By the time we got to the back straigght it was evident there was still a fair amount of grip and i felt confident to accelerate hard from Brooklands and into Honda, this allowed me to power past Andy. I held onto to first place for the rest of the race, but made a conscious effort to try and get the fastest lap, which i managed on the last lap, giving me the maximum 16 points.
So with the result from class R in for the weekend, it means that i am 1st, 1 point ahead of Matt Higginson in the overall championship and 1st in Class F, 14 points ahead of Paul. I need to keep getting the top 2 positions in Class F but also need to start getting those fastest laps more often to keep me in contention for the overall top spot. And looking back at the videos i need to try and concentrate on keeping the proper lines when following someone as i seem to wonder off or follow them when they make a mistake. But so far what an amazing season!!!
Photos from dan
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Mould finished!!!!!!
Ahead of schedule the mould was popped off today!!!!! Excited isn't the word!!!
Hopefully we should have the first body out in 2 weeks time!!
Hopefully we should have the first body out in 2 weeks time!!
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Plug Finished
The plug was finally finished with all the fences added to create the mould split lines. It then had to be transported 1 mile up the road to the mould shop. To do this das trusty trailer was stripped down to the bare chassis and with the use of jacks, blocks, rollers and a brother-in-law it was loaded on and strapped down.
The large roofing bolts are added on the fences are to create locating plugs in the mould, the mould is laid over the fence and bolt head, the fence is then removed and the next part of the mould is laid up against the GRP, the shape of the bolt heads is built in so you get a locating dimple when you bolt the moulds together.
The plug is still up at the mould shop but should be finished next week, here are some progress shots of the mould being made
The large roofing bolts are added on the fences are to create locating plugs in the mould, the mould is laid over the fence and bolt head, the fence is then removed and the next part of the mould is laid up against the GRP, the shape of the bolt heads is built in so you get a locating dimple when you bolt the moulds together.
The plug is still up at the mould shop but should be finished next week, here are some progress shots of the mould being made
Snetterton 300 25th May 2013
The car required nothing doing to it after brands, we (well dad and dan) had even checked it over on the sunday and I washed it for the stoneleigh show, so it was a simple pack up and go. I was picking dan up from his house in the bus on the way and dad and will were meeting us at dans at around 5pm, hoping to be at snetterton for pizzas by 8pm, but The m42 being closed, followed by the m6 being closed ensured that it took dad 3 hours to do the 70mile journey from home to Dan's. This at least gave dan and I time to stock up food from tesco and more importantly buy a new wiper blade for the bus which had ripped itself to pieces earlier in the day.
Another detour caused by fun on the A14 meant we weren't setup and eating pizza until 10pm. We set up camp with the usual rabid crew, most of which had been testing that day and reported of a very damp day! Surprisingly Dave's car was still in 1 piece, bobs bdn was all OK even after numerous off roading trips, but Marc nordons MNR LMP was going through a rather comprehensive rear end rebuild after twisting both rear drive shafts after its first trip out on track. Another sad sight was Colin Chapmans rather bent BDN, he’d had an accident in the 2nd test session of the day after aqua planning down the straight then bouncing off the Armco, battering both front and rear ends.
Saturday morning and off to scruitineering as usual, which was running behind as usual, returning back to camp after an hour as usual, luckily with no issues as we wouldn’t have had time to sort anything anyway. AMG TV then came over and filmed a quick interview as they were featuring RGB in the TV coverage on Motors TV the following week. I garbled some words out and then hoped it would be left on the cutting room floor, but unfortunately it was not:-
I’d never driven the 300 before, so the 15 minute pratice session would allow me to do 6 or 7 laps in which to learn the circuit and record a grid position. Due to this I wasn’t too hopeful on getting a good time or grid position, but there were a lot of people in the same situation, especially due to the poor conditions on the Friday. With 35 entrants, another great entry for the RGB grid, there were plenty of cars out on track, but its also a very long circuit with plenty of room so I had a pretty clear run, and other than trying to drive Coram for a couple of laps like it was before the circuit changes and having a rather large spin, it went pretty well. I felt there was plenty of time still to get out of the circuit but it was great fun and the new infield section was challenging and I could see plenty of opportunities for over taking. When the result came out I was surprised and delighted to have qualified 1st in class for both races and 10th on the grid. For the first time there was a real divide between classes, the top 9 were all Class R’s, followed by 9 Class F’s. Although this is showing up the speed differentials on the faster circuits, it meant that the class F’ers should be able to concentrate on the class F race rather than being mixed in with the R’s.
Race 1 started OK, I got a decent start, didn’t bog down and went off in the pack, Andy Hileys car was on my inside and I could have probably kept my toe in carried around the outside of him into the first corner, but the risk wasn’t worth it it so I backed out and tucked behind him and was slowed by the braking pack into the Montreal, this allowed Steve Bell to drive round the outside who if you look carefully at the video gives me a wave as he goes past on the way to Palmer corner ;-) I tucked in behind steve and then chased him down for the next couple of laps working out where we were quicker/slower than each other. I got level with him on the outside coming into Riches, we both left room for each other around the corner and I made it first and took the lead. I managed to pull out a small gap and then the rest of the gaggle of F’s (Paul R, Nick Donaldson, Colin Spicer and Andy Grant) caught up and whilst they fought it out I managed to pull away a little more and concentrated I just maintaining the gap rather than blistering pace. I lead the race up until Riches on the last lap, Paul R had put some storming laps in and coming up the start finish straight my mirrors we full of him, I decided (badly) to take the inside line coming into Riches, but out braked myself and Paul came flying past. This ruined my corner and exit speed from Riches and Paul pulled a good gap. Ontop of this it turns out he had a flyer of a last lap and set the lap record to which I had no answer and he grabbed the wi!!! Although I had lead for the majority of the race, Paul thoroughly deserved the win and I wasn’t disappointed in the 2nd at all.
In race 2 I had a cracking start and i think I was up to 6th overall by the time we came into Montreal and had a 3 class R cars between me and the next class F. I didn’t put any resistance up as Hiley and Dave Wale came past, but I still Had Tim H between me and the next class F car, something I wanted to maintain without slowing me down. Tims car is affectionately placed in its own class, class B, standing for Bisexual as it looks like an F’er but is infact an R. It is nearer the class F pace rather than the R (I think there was 3 seconds difference between him (9th) and 8th on the the grid) so I was hoping to use him as a buffer. For a few laps we had a great time swapping places, running side by side and letting each other have the track space rather than balls out defending, which meant the lap times stayed up. Unfortunately after I got passed Tim, his driveshaft popped and he had to pull off. This left the road clear for Steve to up the Greenway hunt, again on the last lap I could see lots of him in the mirror and made a royal cockup of Oggies, locking up and missing the apex, with Steve almost going up my chuff (he did say afterwards he’d considered trying stick his nose up the inside at this point but would have most likely result in a collision so decided not to). I managed to hold on for the rest of the lap and claimed the victory, which I was rather chuffed with as can be seen in the video.
On the negative side, the most of the other of the Rabid gang had a pretty awful weekend. Bob had gone well in practice, but on the 2nd lap of the first race his throttle jammed open as he came into Coram and he ran straight on into the tyre wall, crunching both nearside corners and side pod, Dave’s run of random problems continued, in practice his battery died and he lost all power, race 1 he had to retire with the car going into limp mode due to some electrical failure, he then had a small fire in the wiring loom whilst repairing the electrical issue and in race 2, although he did finish the water was boiling up (turns out the water pump had packed in and whilst sorting this out discovered the gears on the end of the crank to clutch were damage).And to round it up Marcs LMP poo’d its rear CV joints in race 1 as the driveshafts were too short, meaning no race 2.
Photos from dan
Another detour caused by fun on the A14 meant we weren't setup and eating pizza until 10pm. We set up camp with the usual rabid crew, most of which had been testing that day and reported of a very damp day! Surprisingly Dave's car was still in 1 piece, bobs bdn was all OK even after numerous off roading trips, but Marc nordons MNR LMP was going through a rather comprehensive rear end rebuild after twisting both rear drive shafts after its first trip out on track. Another sad sight was Colin Chapmans rather bent BDN, he’d had an accident in the 2nd test session of the day after aqua planning down the straight then bouncing off the Armco, battering both front and rear ends.
Saturday morning and off to scruitineering as usual, which was running behind as usual, returning back to camp after an hour as usual, luckily with no issues as we wouldn’t have had time to sort anything anyway. AMG TV then came over and filmed a quick interview as they were featuring RGB in the TV coverage on Motors TV the following week. I garbled some words out and then hoped it would be left on the cutting room floor, but unfortunately it was not:-
I’d never driven the 300 before, so the 15 minute pratice session would allow me to do 6 or 7 laps in which to learn the circuit and record a grid position. Due to this I wasn’t too hopeful on getting a good time or grid position, but there were a lot of people in the same situation, especially due to the poor conditions on the Friday. With 35 entrants, another great entry for the RGB grid, there were plenty of cars out on track, but its also a very long circuit with plenty of room so I had a pretty clear run, and other than trying to drive Coram for a couple of laps like it was before the circuit changes and having a rather large spin, it went pretty well. I felt there was plenty of time still to get out of the circuit but it was great fun and the new infield section was challenging and I could see plenty of opportunities for over taking. When the result came out I was surprised and delighted to have qualified 1st in class for both races and 10th on the grid. For the first time there was a real divide between classes, the top 9 were all Class R’s, followed by 9 Class F’s. Although this is showing up the speed differentials on the faster circuits, it meant that the class F’ers should be able to concentrate on the class F race rather than being mixed in with the R’s.
Race 1 started OK, I got a decent start, didn’t bog down and went off in the pack, Andy Hileys car was on my inside and I could have probably kept my toe in carried around the outside of him into the first corner, but the risk wasn’t worth it it so I backed out and tucked behind him and was slowed by the braking pack into the Montreal, this allowed Steve Bell to drive round the outside who if you look carefully at the video gives me a wave as he goes past on the way to Palmer corner ;-) I tucked in behind steve and then chased him down for the next couple of laps working out where we were quicker/slower than each other. I got level with him on the outside coming into Riches, we both left room for each other around the corner and I made it first and took the lead. I managed to pull out a small gap and then the rest of the gaggle of F’s (Paul R, Nick Donaldson, Colin Spicer and Andy Grant) caught up and whilst they fought it out I managed to pull away a little more and concentrated I just maintaining the gap rather than blistering pace. I lead the race up until Riches on the last lap, Paul R had put some storming laps in and coming up the start finish straight my mirrors we full of him, I decided (badly) to take the inside line coming into Riches, but out braked myself and Paul came flying past. This ruined my corner and exit speed from Riches and Paul pulled a good gap. Ontop of this it turns out he had a flyer of a last lap and set the lap record to which I had no answer and he grabbed the wi!!! Although I had lead for the majority of the race, Paul thoroughly deserved the win and I wasn’t disappointed in the 2nd at all.
In race 2 I had a cracking start and i think I was up to 6th overall by the time we came into Montreal and had a 3 class R cars between me and the next class F. I didn’t put any resistance up as Hiley and Dave Wale came past, but I still Had Tim H between me and the next class F car, something I wanted to maintain without slowing me down. Tims car is affectionately placed in its own class, class B, standing for Bisexual as it looks like an F’er but is infact an R. It is nearer the class F pace rather than the R (I think there was 3 seconds difference between him (9th) and 8th on the the grid) so I was hoping to use him as a buffer. For a few laps we had a great time swapping places, running side by side and letting each other have the track space rather than balls out defending, which meant the lap times stayed up. Unfortunately after I got passed Tim, his driveshaft popped and he had to pull off. This left the road clear for Steve to up the Greenway hunt, again on the last lap I could see lots of him in the mirror and made a royal cockup of Oggies, locking up and missing the apex, with Steve almost going up my chuff (he did say afterwards he’d considered trying stick his nose up the inside at this point but would have most likely result in a collision so decided not to). I managed to hold on for the rest of the lap and claimed the victory, which I was rather chuffed with as can be seen in the video.
On the negative side, the most of the other of the Rabid gang had a pretty awful weekend. Bob had gone well in practice, but on the 2nd lap of the first race his throttle jammed open as he came into Coram and he ran straight on into the tyre wall, crunching both nearside corners and side pod, Dave’s run of random problems continued, in practice his battery died and he lost all power, race 1 he had to retire with the car going into limp mode due to some electrical failure, he then had a small fire in the wiring loom whilst repairing the electrical issue and in race 2, although he did finish the water was boiling up (turns out the water pump had packed in and whilst sorting this out discovered the gears on the end of the crank to clutch were damage).And to round it up Marcs LMP poo’d its rear CV joints in race 1 as the driveshafts were too short, meaning no race 2.
Photos from dan
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