The journey down was easy and we arrived at 10.30am and set about unloading and setting up camp. The paddock was surprisingly empty and managed to get a spot on the edge of the paddock next to the power points and saved Bob a place next to us. I had 2 test sessions booked for the afternoon, but as this wasn't until 2.45pm we had plenty of time to set the car up. We took the car upto the flat area next to the scrutineering bay and borrowed a set of corner weight scales from Paul Nightingale (Spire sports cars). First off we went round setting the ride heights, i had been suffering a little understeer at silverstone testing so decided to up the rake from 20 to 25mm. After setting the heights we put it on the scales, this was the first time i had ever done this and was amazed that the diagonals were out by 20kg! After twiddling the spring seats i got it within 0.5kg, a quick check of the ride heights now showed it sitting 10mm too high all round, so i backed off all the springs seats 3 turns and rechecked the weights. This time it was very slightly out, so half a turn here and there sorted it out to within 0.5kg again. Just as we were finishing, we turned away and the car rolled off the scales and into some handrails!!! None of us wanted to look, the front of the bonnet had taken the full impact and there was now a 150mm crack, stress cracks and a big chunk out of the nose of the bonnet!!!! And guess where the damage was, right in the middle of all the stripes! BOLLOX!!!
As i was scrabbling round trying to patch up the bonnet Lee from Q20 turned up. Luckily she thinks the battered and scared looks will just enhance its appeal at the show as it proves its a real race car. We'll have to wait and see quite how scarred it is by September and reserve judgement on that ;-)
The first session of testing proved very useful, the rear end of the car was all over the place coming out of Graham Hill bend, and felt very squirrely when powering out of any of the corners. I suspected the rear suspension was bottoming out, so popped into the pits and added a couple of clicks to the rear dampers. This instantly settled the car down, but makes me think that i may be slightly too soft at the rear. The problem with the rear suspension is the lack of travel available due to the pick up points of the dampers, if you soften it off, you run out of bump, so its a trade off between compliance and grip at the rear and not hitting the bump stops. I may try a set of 200's at the rear and see how that goes. But with the dampers stepped up slightly the car was behaving well, the handling was a lot less twitchy and it inspired confidence. Rather than it feeling like it was trying to spit me off the circuit and kill me every time i tried to put the power down, it squatted down and gripped at the rear, although the front didn't feel quite as positive as before. The one place i felt a lot happier was Paddock hill, here i could really push on through the apex and knew that if i was running a bit wide i could back off the power slightly without worrying about a visit to the gravel. This meant i could use every inch of tarmac (including the green strip), so much so both Dad and Dan said they couldn't watch anymore as they thought i was going into the kitty litter! Personally i felt fine through there and never felt like i was close to going off. Laptime showed i was about he same times as before, which i was slightly disappointed with, but more significantly i was lapping at a constant time of low 53's. Consistency has always been my problem, i could put one fast lap in, but then the next one would be way off. So if the new set up has helped this then i've not wasted my money!
The 2nd test session went OK, i managed to get down to a 53.29 which was faster than my best qualifying time last time, although slightly down on my fastest race lap (53.12). I did have a couple of moments at surtees and clearways, and had to come in to try and sort my head out, but 30mins is a long time out there, and i'm now pretty glad we don't have the 28min races!!
I gave the car a check over and grabbed some photos of the car in the empty paddock before we popped out to get a chinese in readiness for the England game. Phil had generously given me a portable travel TV for the bus so we could watch the game, although i wish he hadn't as it was an appalling performance and I vowed to forget the World cup and only watch cricket in the future!! During the dinner and the game Bob arrived and set up next to us, with our new pull out awning and bobs gazeebo we had a nice little set up which if we repeat should keep us fairly protected and dry at future meets.
Saturday was a fairly laid back day with scruitineering not until 10.30, qualifying at 11.30 and race at 4.30. But somehow managed to ourselves very busy, messing with the car and Miles and Dan buffing up the paint work on the bus! The bus actually has a shiny reflection on the nearside now!!!
Qualifying didn't go great, i ended up at the back of the queue in the paddock so held back for a few laps to get some clear track ahead. Trouble was, within 2 fast laps i would start to catch people up again, so only really got 1 flying lap at a time, and only managed 3 or 4 quickish laps. I wasn't overly confident in my grid position, so when it came out that i was 2nd in class for both race i was chuffed but my best time was a 53.45, and Al was a long way ahead (0.6 seconds) of the rest of class C. Colin was suffering with some handling issues after his repairs post Anglesey crash and Matt was having engine problems, so it wasn't a great performance from me!
As we pulled into the holding area it started to spot with rain, and by the time the red lights went out it was raining properly and the track was wet. I got a decent start and held my position coming into paddock where i decided to tuck in behind Tony on the inside and try and hold the inside line up to Druids, but Paul Rogers decided that winning every race was too boring span coming down hill out of paddock, i backed off as i wasn't sure which way he was going to go, letting Matt and Colin come through. The track was slippy for the first few laps but it had stopped raining and dried out pretty quickily. I was tucked up behind Colin for the entire race, although dropped back from him a few times due to back markers or a mistake on my behalf. Dad had been telling me just to try and pressure Colin and hope he made a mistake, unfortunetly for me, he never did and i had to settle for 4th in class right behind him.
The camera stopped on lap 3, and the rear veiw camera was empty for most of the race, so heres the first few laps only.
The excitement of the race was nothing compared to seeing Bob pull up along side me at the bus, next to the BBQ gas cylinder with his rear calliper on fire! I panicked like a girl and ran into the bus to get the extinguisher, but as Bob pointed out, steel and brake carbon doesn't burn very well and it extinguished itself. The evening was spent with a few beers and a BBQ while watching Bob and Dad disassemble and rebuild the rear calliper several times, which was actually far more entertaining than the England game the night before!
Race 2 on Sunday was dry, and after slightly better start than the day before i ended up losing out to Matt and Colin again as i slowed for a spinning Tim coming out of Druids on lap 1. The rest of the race was again tucked up behind Colin, but this time we reeled Matt in (i think he had fueling problems at the end of the race again) and both passed him, i was also pleased that i constantly stayed with Colin, only dropping back once after getting stuck behind a back marker but quickly caught back up. I just couldn't find away past Colin he drover very consistently and took some good defending lines, i definitely could have been more aggressive, but after our history of collisions this year i didn't want to risk it! So i ended up 3rd in class again, had a fantastic race and really enjoyed myself, but next time Colin.... next time!!! ;-)
The car performed faultlessly again, until the last few yards of the race, as i was coming up the straight to the finish line the car started stuttering in 5th as if i was hitting the limiter, i tried to replicate it on the cool down lap but didn't manage it and it ran fine in the pits with no load on the engine. I'll have to have a hunt around see what i can come up with.
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