Birkett 2012 and Bodywork Testing

Ok ill start with the bodywork testing.  Firstly i did a session with the car as normal to set some comparison times and look at the top speeds and feel the handling limits. The lap times weren't really usable as there was a lot of traffic and I'm rubbish at putting consistent laps in, we were more interested in the top speed of the car compared to the handling. I know we could create lots of rear down force and improve high speed cornering grip, but it was the sacrifice to top end we had to balance out. After swapping the rear end over i went out with it on the middle height setting, instantly the car felt so planted, i could easily take Copse much faster, but i could feel the car wasn't topping out down the straights, the rear end was obviously causing a lot of drag. When we came in we compared top speeds and we were about 7mph down on the previous session with the old body work. We set the deck at the lowest level which meant it was virtually flat. The car still felt more planted on the high speed corners and i could feel the car was pulling a Little faster down the straights. Checking the logs again when we came in, the car was hitting within 2mph of the top speed from the start of the day. We decided to cut out the rear lip of the new deck as suspected this was causing a lot of drag, as usual dad got his grinder out, cut it off and then added some filler. This seemed to do the trick, we actually hit a slightly better top speed than the start of the day and the car felt nicely planted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didnt want to risk the new bodywork for the Birkett so decided to put the old tub back on fior for the race. As soon as i went out i could feel the reduction in rear end grip, so hopefully we have created more rear end downforce with no sacrifice in top end.

So on with the Birkett 2012 report, problem is i cant remember much about it now as it was so long ago. I know before the race even started we had lost a car, poor bobs ZX10 engine decided it was going to through all its oil out during the test day, we tried various  fixes but nothing work and he had to pull out before the start of the race. So we were down to 4 cars, me, dave, james and John. John had had clutch problems on the test day and work late into the evening to sort them, i think Dave broke something (as usual) and James turned up in the evening ready for the race in the morning.

I started the race again, which is great fun, but was aware of the carnage from the year before and decided id keep well out of the way or trouble, id had enough of that during the 2nd half of the season. Luckily Dave was in our team so my main source of accidents wouldn't be out on track with me. I had a decent start but as we headed out of maggots the rather wayward mini nearly took me out and i took to the outfield to miss  a collision. I then spent the next 15mins fighting my way back into position, but then disaster my clutch went, i noticed it coming onto the main start/finish line, just after the pit entrance so had to do a lap at a slow clutch slipping pace. When i came in Dave had already gone out, this is not allowed, but only happened as the one of the members of the other RGB team had told him i was in. Now i'm not accusing anyone of anything, but it may have been a ploy to try and beat us after we had collected a trophy ahead of them in 2011 ;-). Luckily we we rent punished and Dave did a sterling job pulling some places back. Meanwhile we did a quick clutch change and i headed down to take my place again. Not long after arriving in the garage i was out again, james's car had destroyed its gearbox so we were now down to 3 cars!! The early pit stops and slow laps thourg failures had cost us dearly and we were never going to get back to where we wanted on the leader board, but our aim was to try and beat the the other RGB team who had had their own portion of problems meaning it were very close. I had a great dice with colin for a few laps in my one session, catching him and then passing him and pulling away, only for him to real me back in and pass me again in the traffic, followed by me taking a wild spin after attempting a rather audacious undertake and running out of road and talent. Derek then jumped in his Sabre for the other RGB teams and put some absolutely storming lap times, ensuring they would beat us. Unfortunately for John, a broken wishbone on the wellington straight on the last lap caused him to have a huge accident and totalling his Spire GT3. Happily he was OK, but it was a bad end to another epic Birkett!