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

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

Brands Hatch 27th April 2013

To say i was a little excited about the delayed season opener wouldn't quite do it justice. Since Donington I (well we, me, dad Will and Dan) have been counting down the seconds. We were all packed up and ready to go by the middle of the week, but couldn't go testing friday as we had to wait for Will to finish school. He was on strict orders to run home so we could be on the road by 4pm, which he did and we were, but 45mins down the road we received a phone call from my irate mother as the central heating had packed in, 1.5hrs later we were back at the same spot and way behind schedule. Arriving in the paddock just before 9pm, we rolled up to the Rabid camp, where Bob and Dave had saved us a huge amount of space the night before. A quick setup, followed by lighting up the new BBQ with pizza stone to feed the crew and a couple of beers. and it was then time to start helping Dave setup the geo on his MNR after he had removed the front corner during testing. Wheel alignment at midnight is not the best start to the season, but spose it sums up the spirt of the RGB paddock and the weekends wouldn't be complete without this sort of thing. Although i think Dave could have done without this bit of "RGB lifestyle".................

Saturday was an early start, due to the large entry, class F and R had been split into their own races and class F were out early in the day. Having 40 odd entries for RGB is fantastic, and the class F's getting their own race can only be a good thing for RGB, possibly something we will manage to get more and more of if grids stay healthy, hopefully attracting more people to come and join us. It was also exciting the F'ers would have a pole start and podium finish, something not possible with the new wave of class R cars dominating the front end of the grid. Quali went well, the car felt really good and i had a good clear run, which was probably due to me being first in the queue and there being 16 cars on track. The times came in and the first 3 rows were all in a few tenths of each other so it was lining up to be a close fought race. I was 2nd for both races, 0.06 seconds behind Paul Rickers, so a front row start for the first time ever, very exciting!!

I had a mediocre start, as did Paul next to me and i managed to nose a head of him getting into paddock, but i was being a little tentative and wanted to ensure i didnt have a collision or a spin with cold tires, at which Colin Spicer (starting on the 2nd row) who had a flier came steaming through on the outside to take the lead. Coming out of Clearways i got far better drive than Colin and went up his inside. Over the next few laps i managed to pull out a decent lead, but due to Steve Bells diff lunching itself and being stranded in the middle of druids the race was red flagged. The restart didn't go well (i must sort that clutch lever out!!) and i was 3rd by the time we got into paddock. A couple of laps in i got past Paul up the inside after another decent exit from clearways, and then the following lap did the same on Andy Grant (in Al Boultons old purple peril) via the outside line at Paddock. I saw Paul get past Andy the following lap and when the last lap board came out he was right behind me. I panicked and drove the last lap very defensively, and did close the door on Paul coming down the straight after Graham Hill, but managed to hold on to the finish line to claim my first ever class win and overall race win!! As you can see from the footage i was rather pleased and almost put the car into the pit wall whilst punching the air!! We were called into park ferme so had to walk down to the podium, but by the time we had got there the next race and started so missed out on the interview and standing on the podium, which was a bit of a disappointment, but nothing was going to take the smile off my face after the win!

Mid afternoon, minutes before the class R race the heavens opened, and i was very glad i wasn't on that grid. The conditions looked horrendous, something the drivers confirmed when they returned from their midday wash!! Never the less it was a good race to watch, not because of the numerous spins, but some close racing and outstanding drives by numerous drivers,most notably  Matt H winning his first race in impressive style, Scott M first outing in his new car and getting on the podium and  RGB'er newbie Duncan Horlor steering his rebuilt Spire GTR to an excellent finish after starting 15th! Well done all, a great showcase for the RGB grid!

Race 2 came and the circuit was still wet, but the standing water had cleared and very little spray. I had a decent start and got past Paul as we entered paddock, i then managed to pull out a good lead over the next few laps (i couldn't see any cars in my mirror by the time i entered paddock hill, so decided to back off and just manage the gap until the chequed flag to claim the win. So that was my 2nd ever win and made it a double winning weekend, bloody fantastic!!!  

Now drinking and eating is all part of the race weekend, but after such a fantastic day it got a little bit silly. Not everyone had had such a good day, i.e Mr Watson, but he is very good at eating (hey big man) and drinking, so he forgot about his troubles and joined in with the festivities. The evening was great fun, Bob had cooked up his special pulled pork, Dave had bought gallons of red wine, Steve M bought a bottle of Jack D and i had bought our old favourites Jagermeister and tins of red bull. Visitors passed in and out of the camp and by 2.30am there were many empty bottles and the odd body littered around the camp at which point the last few capable of walking staggered off to bed.

We stayed around to watch the 2nd class R race, again very entertaining with a fantastic 3 car battle upfront, with John C recording his first win in the new Spire, Al B impressing in his first outing in his newly acquired Spire and Matt H coming in 3rd with a lap record.

So the weekend had everything, and although i have had many many brilliant race weekends this tops them all!!!! A big thanks goes out to Dad for the 100's of hours he has put into developing and repairing the old GM1 over the last few years, i wouldn't have got this far without his support, and definitely missed a few races along the way without his paddock angle grinding skills!!! And another big thankyou to Dan for his faithful support, especially through some of the darker weekends, and for feeding us and keeping the camp in a habitable state! Fingers crossed some more fantastic weekends are ahead.......

Roll on Snetterton!!!!

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!

 

Mallory Park 14th October 2012

Mallory is not my favourite circuit, but with the 2nd place battle set up with Steve i was looking forward to it!! I didnt qualify great but Steve had a problem meaning he was starting well behind me. I got past Dave after a couple of laps, but could see him and steve close behind, steve got past Dave and i could see him looming in my mirrors, i missed a gear at the hairpin, and steve nudged into the back of me, no problem only a kiss and we accelerated out of the corner, next thing i know there is a car on my roof, which then drives down my bonnet and bits of cars are everywhere. I end up sitting in the car on the side of the track looking around wondering what the hell has happened, Steve is impaled in the armco, and Dave (who was the car on my roof) was no where to be seen.

Luckily no one was hurt, Dave was parked on the apex of the Devils elbow (nice!) with the front car of his car missing, not upside down in the lake like i imagined, Steve was fine, unlike his badly bent car, and my dive for freedom (and roll cage) had saved my head (and life). It looked unlikely that any of us would make it out for the 2nd race, upon further inspection, Steve and Daves weren't going anywhere soon, but my car had only had its airbox and injectors pulled off and the body work destroyed (again). Luckily i actually had my old bonnet with me, so a bit of gaffer tape, tie wraps, and a big straightening bar meant i could get out for the 2nd race. I only needed to get 1 point to get 2nd in class overall, so infact only needed to line up on the grid, but stayed out there and got a rather poorly driven 3rd in class. To be fair my head wasn't up for the race at all, the accident had shaken me up, and my hatred for Mallory only confirmed.

Photos:-


So i got 2nd in class for the season, which was my aim this season, so success, and another step up the ladder. It also transpired that i achieved 4th overall so get the no 4 next year, another move up. But its been a frustrating season, lots of problems and many many hours spent in the garage repairing lots of damage. Also 5 DNF's, very irritating!!! If other class F'ers hadn't also had such a torrid season i would have never have got 2nd, so count myself very lucky in some ways.

Donington Park 2nd September 2012

Sorry its been so long, i just dont seem to have any time to keep up with this!!! I'm not going to go through everything now, plus i lost some photos off my phone and some video, so cant do a full report anyway.

After the Anglesey disaster i was feeling rather nervous about the race and my chance of 2nd in class for the season was all but over, i just wanted to finish both races and go home with the car in 1 piece. I think my qualifying highlighted this as i was 4th in class and nearly a 0.7s slower than Steve and Paul Rickers. I had an awful start in race 1, and dropped back another couple of places in class, but Steve then had a problem  (i think his undertray got bent into his back wheel) and had to retire. Colin Spicer who had got past me on the my tentative start, spun off the chicane. I then managed to get past Dave Watson (who was going well) on the 3rd lap. I couldnt catch Paul Rickers and had consigned myself to 3rd, but on the last lap i almost went off on oil at Mcleans and then saw Paul on fire at Coppice (oil leak caused the fire). I can honestly say i have never been so gutted to get 2nd place, Paul had a rotten run of luck and deserved the 2nd place

The clutch had been getting more and more snatchy through the season but i had just lived with, but after my woeful start we decided to have a look at it before the 2nd race. This turned out to be rather fruitful as we discovered 4 of the plates had broken up!! I have no idea how the clutch was still working, but it was consigned to the bin and another one fitted.

Race 2 started better, Steve was ahead of me with 2 class R cars in-between us, but it was inevitable they would get past steve so decided just to follow them round until then, then mount my attack on steve. The plan was all going well and i was tucked up right behind him, then his clutch went and he had to retire again. I was gutted as i was really looking forward to a proper battle with steve. Between us we had a lot of problems through the season and actually only both finished the same race twice! So i collected 2nd place again with an easy drive, and with steve not finishing it meant we were both on 99 points with the last race of the season at Mallory lined up as the decider.

Photos:-

Angelsey Video

Well i'm back online now so here is 32 seconds of footage!! I cut the few laps out i attempted after the collision as it wasn't very interesting other than the horrific handling! Race 2 was equally as bad and cant bring myself to edit it!

Anglesey 3rd-4th August 2012

Well i dont know quite where to start!!!!!  We managed to get the car back together with a day to spare, mainly down to dad who spent hours and hours sorting stuff out, including loading all the bus up for me as i was stuck at work. I had replaced the the lower wishbone mount, straightened the steering rack mounts and reset all the geo, then dad and i spent the tuesday before race weekend reseting and mounting the bodywork. Making the body work now we have the mould is the easy part, its all the faffing about getting it mounted that takes the time.

We set out thursday evening as had the friday test day booked, we had high hopes for the weekend, a full days testing, 2 races and the RGB BBQ should be a perfect weekend, especially if the weather would stay dry. The weekend was 3 hours in when the first incident happened, whilst unloading the bus (10 minutes after arriving), one of the spare wheels stacked ontop of the upper level in the bus decided it would try and unload itself, launching itself from the upper level, and landing ontop of my head while i was knelt down undoing the wheel straps. This almost knocked me out, i was dazed and lying on the floor, with blood dripping down my forehead. Dave came to the rescue and bandaged me up like Basil Fawlty in "The Germans"!! After cutting my head at doni in a similar fashion Bob had said he carried medical kit and could have stitched it up if he was there, unfortunately he wasn't at the circuit again, even though he had planned to be there. This time his 3 year old motorhome had decided to spit its guts out in the middle of nowhere and was waiting for various RAC people to arrive!

Waking up Friday the weather didn't look too promising, but the 3 sessions in the morning stayed dry and other than a small twiddle on the front dampers the car was feeling great and really planted. I was in the 1min 14's, and was certain i could get into the 13's in the afternoon, which looking at others times should have put me up at the front of class F alongside Al. During lunchtime we borrowed Bobs corner scales (who arrived at 7.40am after a torrid evening!) and set the ride heights. During lunch we had a heavy downpour, but by the time our first afternoon session arrived it had stopped and the track looked ok. I decided to go out and was surprised how grippy the circuit was. The next session is when the weekend took a turn for the worse, whilst approaching Church i saw yellow waved flags, so i backed off and soon saw Arthur (owner of Geoff Masons old Spire) sideways on the xit point of the corner, i had 2 choices, try and come inside him, or scrub off a bit more speed and take to the grass. I chose the latter as decided it was less risky, which in a normal situation would have been the correct decision, but following some distance behind was a locost who obviously feels the need to ignore yellow flags, doesn't understand the flag system or is completely blind and proceeded to punt me up the backside, removing my rear undertray and bending the stays. I was fuming, something you will see in my video when i get round to uploading it (no broadband at home at the moment, thanks Virgin!), the only saving grace was my damage was repairable and the impact with me probably saved Arthur from being T boned by the idiotic locoster!!! Just to rub salt in the wounds i had to go and see the first aiders and bumped into the offending locoster, he never even made an apology just saying he had no where to go, which i suppose is true if you dont bother slowing down for stationary cars and yellow flags!! William did find the car later and give it a kick which made me chuckle.

Spaghetti bolognese and a few beers were consumed with team greenway and mortimer in the bus, listening to rain pounding outside. Dad and Jen attempted to drink as much wine as there was water failing from the skys, only giving up when Bobs home brew dried up!

Saturday morning arrived and was dry, we had to refit the undertray after the previous days repairs and then headed of the usual fun of scrutineering. I went out for practice towards the back of the pack, but managed to get a clearish 3rd lap and then had a decent 4th lap but ran wide on the exit of the final corner and ran over the grass, this caused lots of grass to fill the radiator mesh nd i had to pull over as the car started to get too hot. These 2 laps put me 12th (3rd in class) on the grid for both races, which was a little disappointing as the times i was heading for on friday would have put me alongside Al. Before th race we had nothing to do so decided to fit the new stickers from my new sponsor. Autotech (www.autotech.co.uk), who i work for, have agreed to sponsor me (hence the new website title). They are starting up a new training academy, taking on 20 fresh faced young people to help them with their continued growth and expansion. We finbished the stickers with only minutes to spare for the race. Dan decided that he would get some shots during the race to show the new livery off. But the weekend was about to get a lot lot worse..... I had another below par start and entered the first corner on the inside of Tim H's rear end, Dave Watson was in a similar position on my inside and his front end and my rear corner had a small kiss, this slight touch sent me into a spin, collecting Tim, after 180 degress of spin my rear corner struck Daves rear wheel in a fairly hefty blow, lifting my car into the air and accelerating my spin, sending my front end into tims rear corner again. The resulting evasive action of other drivers had caused James W to lose his bonnet and throttle bodies after catching the rear of David Wales BDN, plus numerous other cars taking to the grass. This incident finished Dave Watsons, Tims and James's race. I continued for 5 laps, and although the car seemed to be handling OK it was getting very hot, and i ended up pulling off after the first corner and hastily removing the bonnet as smoke started to come from the front side pod. This turned out to be the GRP smouldering on the exhaust, so thankyou to the marshalls for helping me pull it all clear.

So after that rubbish race we spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening trying to patch the thing back together with aluminium, pop rivets, tie wraps, ply wood and miles of gaffa tape. If it had been raining we wouldnt have bothered and just turned to the wine and beer and missed sundays race, but as it was dry we decided it was againts the RGB spirit and got on with it.

I was supposed to be on the burners for the RGB Marshalls yearly BBQ, but ended up making a late entry due to all this messing about. Lukily my fellow RGBers, Mr Strongbow and Mrs Stella made me forget my troubles and we had a fantastic evening, involving a pyromaniac doctor, chinese lanterns and finished of by a reverse Houdini father (you all know who you are!!)

Sunday was dry again, but the rather patched up car was about as good to look at as myself and few of my fellow revellers. By the time the race came i was feeling normal and ready to try and redeem the weekend. I made a tentative start just trying to keep out of trouble. Dave Watson got ahead of me, but at church there were a few spinners and i was  3rd in class behind Dave. Dave was going well and i had a couple of rear engined cars nibbling me from behind, the car wasnt feeling right though, the back kept stepping out and i was struggling to hold the car on line. Tony and Dave Wale got passed me and there was now a bit of a gap to Dave Watson infront, i managed to close the gap down, but the car really didnt want to grip at the rear, i was aware the temperatures where getting very hot and i think the water was starting to boil over, lubricating the track just infront of my rear wheels. This all ended in a spin coming into the corkscrew, and i watched colin spicer, bob and steve bell come past me.

 I was determined to try and get infront of steve as he is my rival for overall 2nd in class for the season, but the car just wouldnt handle and it was getting even hotter. I ended up running wide at the first corner and doing some seriously high speed grass tracking, folding the front of the bodywork under the car and launching the car into the air. After getting back on the track it was obvious something was now very wrong, the temperatures went through the roof and the steering was all over the shop so ended up pulling off and retiring again.

From speaking to others it turns out the front was dragging on the ground after the first lap, the repaired bracket had pulled out of the GRP and allowed the front end to drop on the ground. Hopefully this was the cause of the unstable rear end and the airflow issues

So to sum up, a cr@p weekend of racing of the biggest magnitude, i've kissed goodbye to anychance of 2nd in class for the year and we have loads of work to get the car ready for Doni next month. On a plus side it was a great social weekend, and even after all the problems i wouldn't have missed it for the world!!!

We would just like to say a big thankyou to everyone who helped us over the weekend and lending us tools, parts and materials. I will be bringing a box of gaffa tape to doni to hand out replacements for the rolls we used!!!

Dans pictures of the weekend:-



Videos to follow once i have broadband again

Donington Park 23rd & 24th June 2012

The forecast was terrible, Friday morning was a complete washout, but by the afternoon it dried out and everyone who was there managed to get a few quicker sessions in, once all the red flags had stopped. I had an issue with my brakes, the front were locking up very easily and the pedal didn't feel right. Initially thought i had air in the system after refitting the rear axle, so we bled them again and did find a small amount of air. On trying them again, they were still not very good, the fronts would just suddenly lock up with no warning and the pedal was all over the place, no amount of messing with the brake bias made any difference. So we then turned our attention to the front, the pads were worn, and at home in the garage i thought they would be fine for one more weekend. On bleeding the fronts, black fluid came down the bleed tube, indicating it had been boiling. After a few pumps the fluid was clear again and no bubbles. Removing the pads showed the usual Hi-Spec trait of wearing the pads at a horrible angle, and all the paint had burnt and peeled from the pads. This must have been caused as the pads were too thin (worn), so we set about fitting the spare pads we had in the truck.

Unfortunately the standard elise pads which are the same shape as the Evo8 pads Hispec quote as the part number for these callipers, but are a few mm thicker but half the price. Normally dad puts these on his surface grinder and thins them down to fit, but this time he hadn't got round to it the, so he improvised and made a rather scary looking surface grinder from a hand grinder, a few clamps and a camping kitchen

You can see in the foreground an unground pad compared to a thinned pad. After about an hour of grinding and fitting we had the pads in place. A quick test showed that the brakes were back to normal, crappy and wooden, but at least i knew when they would lock up.

Friday evening a group of us went to a local pub Dave Watson recommended, the BOGOF offer was fully utilised as 75% of the group ordered the American grill which consisted of most of Derbyshire wildstock!! A few pints of pedigree were also consumed, making a dangerous concoction for Saturday!!!

Saturday arrived, initially looking sunny, but soon turned wet and Windy, but surprising the weather man was correct and it dried up. We had a late qualifying session so the track had completely dried out. So with the car on full dry settings i headed out, hoping i could close the gap on my Boulton, and keep ahead of Steve, Paul and Andy. Last year i was a long way of Al here, although we had just fitted the front end and was still trying to get it balanced. As it turns out qualifying was a bit of a black banana, most laps in the first 5 minutes had a yellow flag, then Mark Conroy in his rebuilt mission stuck it in the gravel at Coppice. I do think they should have red flagged the session, as for the rest of the session the marshals attempted to remove it under waved yellows, meaning we all had to back off, something i was especially careful to do after my rollocking at the start of the season from Viv! So the grid was going to be a bit of a lottery, and i really had backed off so was half expecting to be near the back of the grid. But to my surprise i was 11th overall and 2nd in class, so about standard or maybe even slightly better than usual for this season!!

Race 1 was fun, a reasonable start getting past Scott but letting Steve Bell get ahead off the line. By the time we came down Craners i was tagged onto the back of Steve, and then almost rear ended him at xxx as he slowed at the apex. The I then defended the line from Scott, although we aren’t actually racing class R cars, getting another car (what ever the class) in between you and the car you are battling with is not ideal! As we came down Cranners for a 2nd time i was carrying a lot more speed than steve and came past him on the right hand side, i turned into the old hairpin and all felt good, but ended up running all 4 wheels wide onto the grass, Steve must have liked the look of this so he added 2 of his wheel to the grass and we headed up the hill side by side cutting the lawn. Obviously as he was on the tarmac he managed to accelerate alot quicker than me, as did Scott and Tony and they all passed me, bugger! Watching the video back i managed to undo all my good work by over correcting and literally steered myself off the circuit, this is a habit i have to kick!! For a couple of laps i tried to get past Tony, which then allowed Matt to catch us after his spin at the pit entrance. I tried to defend my position so not allow another between myself and Steve, but all this achieved was to widen the gap to Steve as i was going slower. Once Matt was past i gave chase, and did close the gap down to Steve, until smoke was seen coming from his car and he retired. This left me 2nd in class with a decent gap behind to the next class F car, so i toned it down a tad and bought it home to break my run of 3rds this season.

My wife Emma and my 2 youngest boys came over in the morning to watch the race and were staying in the bus for the first time on Saturday night. Emma likes things to be clean, something the bus isnt. An old race truck that only has men sleeping in it at weekends, and an oily race car in it the rest of the time is never going to be the most hygienic of places, although i do admit we need to get our fingers out with the cleaning a bit more in the future. So Emmas first job on Saturday was give the place a spruce up, she said she couldn’t stay in it in its current state. I tried to blame Dan as he is our gimp and should keep everything in check, but she wasn’t buying that, so I borrowed a dust pan and brush from Bob and gave it to her. Emma had had the foresight to bring some of her favourite things, anti bacterial wipes, with her, so then proceeded to wipe down everything she could reach. The evening was a jolly affair, 3 BBQ's on the go, and another counties supply of livestock cooked and washed down with plenty of beer.

I was woken up in the night by heavy rain, very heavy rain and i imagined a soaking wet race and unhappy wife and kids. But as it turned out it dried up again, and the sun actually came out!! Race 2 didnt start as well as race 1, and it then deteriorated massively. I let a few people through after a fluffed start, and was alongside colin coming down craners. I wish i had kept my foot down and got past him as then the next sequence of events wouldn't have happened. Going down starkys straight i was tucked up behind him, but as we reached Goddards everyone infront braked fairly early so i popped out to the left and went past him, i turned into Goddards and headed towards the 2nd apex, unfortunately so did Colin and had rather a large impact with m y offside wheel. Colin span off (but managed to get going again) but i stayed on the track. As i went over the start line i was aware the steering was at a jaunty angle and the car did feel a bit skitty, especially under braking into Redgate. I thought i'd carry on for a bit and on the right hander of redgate its seemed ok(ish) but as i headed down to craners it all got a bit wobbly and it took all my effort to keep the car in a straight line. At this point i knew it was time to retire from the race, something i had not had to do before in a RGB race due to a collision.

The car looked a bit sorry for itself, the one side of the new nose was destroyed, the new bonnet is cracked, wishbone is scrap, chassis pickup is bent, oil cooler is twisted, steering rack mounts bent and headlight is no more.

So a successful Saturday, not so great Sunday, but all in all i still had a great weekend. Just to finish the weekend off though, the bus decided to bite my head while loading the car up and i had to go over to the medical centre to get it glued up. I think i may have ended up at the cafe by accident, as the woman who glued it up made a bit of a mess, applying far too much glue and dripping a load more into my hair in another patch (the dark patch below the blood). I am writing this 5 days after the event and my hair still has huge lumps of glue in it!!

Dans Photos of the weekend

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Cadwell Park 26/27th May 2012

Being a gluten for punishment i decided to travel up to Cadwell on the tuesday night for a day of driver tuition from Tim Harmer on the Wednesday, then return home that night, only to return again on Friday. Dad would be missing his first (and only) race of the season this weekend as he was in Monaco for the F1, it was gonna be a long and tiring week of driving!

So back to the driver training day with Tim, earlier in the year i had attempted the same event only to have the day cut very short with a cracked front disc. This time i was hoping for a better day, but after 3 laps the fuel pump packed in again!!!!! I had a proper hi-flow facet pump spare in the bus, so after 30minutes we were up and running again and set out with Tim in the passenger seat for a few laps. The car was handling like crap due to the extra weight causing the car to bottom out on every right hand bend, but Tim used this initial session to just evaluate my lines and gear selection. His first suggestion was to try taking some of the corners in a higher gear so as not to be so brutal with the engine, and also to gve me that bit more time (not banging through the box) to concentrate on my lines and trail braking. We wound all the dampers up by 3 clicks and headed out again. The handling was transformed just by doing this, ok it wasn't a sharp as normal but at least it wasn't trying to kill us every corner. We spent the rest of the morning and first half of the afternoon tuning my lines, trailing the brakes and trying to get me to dance the car through hall bends. I found this mentally and physically exhausting, thinking about so much stuff, and trying different things left me feeling completely drained by the time i went out on my own. After the first solo session my times were the same as last year and first run in the morning, but the difference was i felt like there was plenty in reserve and i wasn't on the ragged edge all the time, and i still hadnt mastered hall bends. I almost didn't do the final session as i was so tiered but after a handful of skittles and a sugar rush i felt upto another bash. This time i reduced my lap times very slightly, but came away happy knowing i could knock more time off by experimenting and carrying more speed through a lot of the circuit.

See the new lightweight front end and lights, saving 6kg!!!!

Returning to Cadwell on Friday without checking the car over since wednesday was a little unnerving but i just didn't have the time, or inclination as i was totally fubared to do it on thurday evening. So an early start on Saturday was required so i could give it the once over before scrutineering, as it turned out everything was fine and i was all fueled up and ready to race way before scrutineering. Scruitineering turned out to be a real joke, a couple Furys were pulled up on roll cages by a scrutineer obviously having a bad day and dreaming of some new rules the night before. This didn't effect me, my experience was of the most lax scrutineering session i have ever been subjected to, infact it was a complete waste of time and the guy didn't even notice my 2 cameras so when i went into the holding area i was pulled up by the marshal for not having video written on my pass ticket. I was then told i was over the noise limit and was almost made to return to the bus to repack the exhaust. As it happens i managed to blag my way through it and promise to get t repacked for Doni, but as it turns out nearly every car was pulled up for noise, so i suspect the noise meter was rather broken!!

Practice went OK, 3rd in class (again) and 16th overall for both races, but still off the pace from Al, who again was miles out in front from the rest of class F. More disappointing was that i hadn't really improved from my best time on tuesday, recording a 1.37.68. I had hoped to be scraping onto the 134's or at least the low 135's so i was a long way off. I still knew there was time in places i could go quicker, or at least try and string a lap of better sectors together, but realised my hopes of 134's were not going to be reached.

Race 1 started well with a staller on the inside allowing me to move up a few places on the outside and get upto 2nd in class. After a few laps john Goodwin came past in the spire, and my mirrors were full of Steve Bell (again), i made a few mistakes, plus watching the video back i definitely needed to drop the car down a gear in a few of places as it was lacking acceleration, something that can be seen looking at the rear view. But i knew this at the time and was trying to concentrate on getting the lines and trail braking right. Steve got past cleanly down park straight, closely followed by Colin in his BDN. The following lap Matt Higginson forced his way through at Park, causing contact as he ran out wide after a rather ambitious manoeuvre. I purposely didn't defend the line, as he was well behind me as i turned into park, but i was then aware he was coming up the inside with no way of leaving any room for me to continue my line or even stay wide without leaving the track, so i pulled out and backed off to avoid a big collision. There then followed a small amount of contact as i tried to stay on the track as he ran out wide leaving me no where to go. I did similar things when i first started, and ended up with a bit of a reputation (and constant battle scares on the car) and received one or two talkings to from various racers and Clerks of the course, but in response I like to think i have changed my driving style. So Matt if you are reading I'm not criticising or having a pop, just observing from the otherside of the fence this time ;-) . So i ended up with 3rd in class again, oh and a broken bit of new front end, sorry dad!!!

Race 2 again started well, getting up to 2nd in class of the line again, then being part of a gaggle of cars for the first half of the race with some exciting side by side moments, but eventually losing my place to Steve (again) and rolling in 3rd in class (again).

 Apologies for the video quality, i converted it using the wrong settings.

Trusty side kick Dans photos

Brands Hatch April 28/29th 2012

We Arrived late Friday evening, pulling into a specially bus sized shape saved by our partner in crime Bob. It wasn't raining, but we heard tales of some monsoon type testing that day and a wet forecast ahead. After unpacking, a couple of beers and a general catchup with the RGB usual suspects we retired, expecting the worse when we awoke.

At 7am it wasn't raining, but it didn't look promising. By the time we went to scrutineering it had started to spit with rain and it slowly increased. Dad ran off to the Brands shop and bought a nice blue umbrella, which lasted until the first gust of wind before turning inside out. Over an hour after joining the line we were eventually scrutineered, i went straight back to the bus and got changed and just about made practice, but a few others who were at the back of the queue (like Bob) had to rush and almost missed the out lap!! Not good organisation, and definitely not good for the frame of mind! Practice was busy, wet and slippery, but i managed to grab 2nd in class for both races (11th and 12th), I was pleased, but again behind Al, should i just stop hoping i will ever get there???? The car is definetly more of a handful in the wet compared to when it was softer last season, but i was expecting that. Other than changing springs for wet races i cant do much about it.

As the day progressed, it got wetter and wetter and wetter! I was actually wondering if the races would be called off. There was an incident in the formula vee race, meaning all the subsequent races were shortened to 10 minutes. Initially i wasn't impressed with that, after all we do all this prep and travelling for the 30minutes or so of racing each weekend, and every race that is shortened means even less return for your effort and money. But within 10 seconds of the red lights going out i was wishing it had been reduced to 0 minutes! I dont normally mind the wet races, but this was just horrific, zero visibility (especially behind the Sabra of Lee's), cars spinning off left right and centre and several rivers running across the circuit! I had a reasonable start, but James Walker had a flyer and came steaming up the middle and tucked in behind Al. Gary Goodyear went spinning off at Paddock, then a couple of others went of between Druids and Graham Hill. I managed to close up over the next lap getting past a couple of cars, passing Matt G up the inside coming into Surtees and right up behind james, who then hit a deep patch of water and spun off, i then politely spun off in sympathy! My video wasn't working so i cant work out why, i think i just panicked and tried to change my direction to avoid James, causing the spin, where as in fact if i had just stayed online, i would have easily missed him and should have stayed on the circuit. I managed to get going again before James (who decided to do an extra 360 on the grass for show) or another class F car passed me, and then just tried to settle into just staying on the circuit. Of course this all went to pot when i saw Lee in his Sabre behind me, we had a good old battle for a few laps, after a mistake Lee got past and i tried to give chase, but the spray coming from his specially designed "rear spray deck" created less than zero visibility. During this time Stevie Bell and snuck up behind me, i hadn't even seen him in the mirrors, he isn't a vampire, but my mirrors may aswell have been made of toilet paper due to their usefulness! The first i knew about him being there was the nose of his car up my inside at druids, if i'd seen him i'd have never gone wide, but by the time i had seen him it was too late and he was passed. With only 1 lap left i tried to puch on, and in a last ditch attempt at surtees i ended up over cooking it and go grass cutting again, this time i just went straight on and rejoined the track without losing a place. So another 3rd in class, but at least i was alive and the car was in 1 piece.

Saturday evening was Steve Robinsons 60th birthday, so after cooking 300 animals for the RGB paddock i drank as much beer as i could get my hands on and stumbled off to bed.

Sunday morning was horrific, it had rained continual since saturday afternoon, it was blowing a gale and rain looked like something from an Anglesea holiday brochure! Dad and I went down to Fury sports cars to have a chat with Steve (the owner) and order our new chassis.............. Greenway developments will be building a new class F Fury, but not a as you know it Fury, but something radically different, maybe a bit mad, and maybe a bit dangerous, but it will be fun. Watch this space...

Somehow, by the time the race started it was dry, well apart from the small river on the exit of clearways. I wont go through the race in detail, as it will bore you, but also this time i have a video as i remembered to put the card in the Vbox! But to sum up it was fun, my driving was erratic and i got 3rd, again after a good battle with Steve but pipped by him again. So thats 4 races and 4 x 3rds. I want higher finishes, but at least i'm consistent, and the way to get a decent score at the end of the year is consistency.

Silverstone 30/3/12

A welcome return to Afghan Dan, whose trip home coincided nicely with the first race weekend of the year, saw him busy in the new kitchen knocking out numerous bacon butties for all the crew. Our paddock really isn't the same without him, so come on Afghans, sort your sodding country out so he can come home, look after us and take loads more pictures (of RGB cars!!)

This update is a little late so i will keep it short, unlike the videos. Qualifying was a little disappointing, 4th in class and 16th on the grid for both races. It was close between myself, Andy Grant and ex kitcar champion and RGB newbie Stevie Bell, but Al was again just that bit quicker. What was most disheartening was the overall grid positions, i hadn't been that low down the grid for a long time, but when looking at the cars on the grid this season, class R slightly outnumber the class F cars, and the newer R breeds are very quick. You have to get faster in RGB just to stay stationary, or in this case actually move backwards!

Like practice, Race 1 was dry and sunny, which is completely unheard of in RGB races at Silverstone, normally we are bailing the water from our cockpits while waiting for the red lights to go out! The race started well, i had a decent start, and then followed probably the most exciting race i have ever had! Unfortunately i had the camera angles set up wrong for the weekend, so you cant see how often there was a car alongside or tucked up under my backside! Myself, Steve and Andy had a great scrap for 2nd, swapping places numerous times, all very cleanly with no exchanging of paint, and looked as if it would continue until the chequered flag. But shortly after i passed Andy i came onto the pit straight and lost all power. I backed off and after trolling along until i exited copse it came alive again, only to die again along the Wellington straight. I knew then it was fuel starvation again, not through a low tank or cornering, but the low pressure fuel pump not being able to keep up with demand from the swirl pot by the high pressure pump. This was the same issue i had last year at Snetterton when the filter was blocked which then also buggered up the pump. What makes this so annoying is i had bought a facet style solid state pump and fitted this along with a new filter before the start of the season to ensure i didn't have the same issue again. But this time the failure was the new pump, the ebay piece of cr@p had always sounded a bit odd, but i just put it down the way i had mounted it causing the ali panel to vibrate. But under investigation it turned out it now wouldn't even prime itself and was fubared!! GGRRRRR!!!! I did manage to limp over the finish line, and due to Stevie Bells car setting on fire, along with his feet after a split swirl pot, i got 3rd place, so not a total loss!!

Back in the pits i refitted last years fuel filter and pump, refuelled, checked the car over, and then settled down for an evening of Bobs spicy slow cooked pork, and watched Dad and Jen (Bobs wife) consume vast quantities of Bobs home brew red wine!

Race 2 was lots of fun again, this time Steve got away from us at the start and put a couple of class R cars inbetween us. Andy and I had a good tussle for 3rd and we managed to reel Steve in a bit, but the flag came out too early to get to have a go at him. So i got another 3rd, and this time felt like i really had won it as i'd managed to beat Andy up to the line.

Afghan Dans pictures:-

So a great first weekend, and it looks like there will be some good battles this coming season, although we all need to focus on catching Al in his purple peril...........