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Racing
Anglesey June '08
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Oulton Park Sep '08
Snetterton March '09
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Thursday 12th March, 2009
The journey to Norfolk was uneventful and with about 10 miles to go we found ourselves behind Colin Chapman's motorhome in convoy so we parked up near him when we arrived at about midnight. Tim and Steve Robinson were already there.
I got a few bits and pieces out of the motorhome's garage - crockery, food etc. and we settled down for the night.
Friday 13th March, 2009
What a difference it made being able to get up and make a cup of tea and get dressed in the warmth of the motorhome! Once up and about I swapped the wheels over to my old and knackered 'dry' set, stuck some fuel in and got the video camera set up. After signing on I took the car over to be noise tested which was actually my main worry for the weekend. I was right to be worried, despite being rather conservative with the declared maximum power revs the tester said I was right on the limit. I'd hoped that would be it for the weekend noise- test-wise but it was pointed out to me that it was pretty likely we'd be tested by the club officials in the assembly area before qualifying.
It was a cool but dry morning with some developing cloud. I'd never driven Snetterton before so armed with the knowledge gained from watching Tim's video and the Circuit Guide I headed out for the first session. I was really getting to grips with the car again as well as learning my way round a new circuit so I was anythin but fast, getting round in about 1:28. As I found before, if you're well off the pace you never get a clear lap as you're always being baulked by faster cars coming through, and there were plenty of those! As well as some quicker RGBers there were a couple of 911GT3 Cup cars circulating and they of course had the top end our cars don't, especially on a circuit like Snetterton with the long fast Revett straight and scarily fast right hander of Coram. Watching them go past up the inside round Coram reminded me how well GT3s handle, you can really see the suspension working and the correctability of the car. It was also quite alarming to be passed on the brakes by a couple of bloody great pickup trucks! These things were clearly a bit lighter than they looked, seemed to have oodles of power and were on slicks. I came in for a rest as we had two 50 minute sessions and that's just too long for me in one stint. I got back out for a few more laps at the end of the session then came back in.
One problem was that I thought I was having clutch slip, and I recalled that Andy and I had forgotten to swap the clutch springs in the new engine for heavy duty ones at Oulton last year. What was puzzling though was that the engine revs displayed on the DigiDash didn't see, to reflect a slipping clutch and seemed to be rising in a nice linear fashion.
For the second session I gradually built it up my speed and got down to a mid 1:23 by the end. I could see plenty of scope for improvement but again I didn't get many clear laps. I was pretty please with that though - a long way of the pace of the others but I'm patient and am happy to take my time progressing and learning the car. By the end of the session I'd decided the clutch slip actually probably wasn't and that it was probably due to the exhaust being quite a bit louder than last year.
I didn't have any sessions for the afternoon so I spent a quiet afternoon pottering round cleaning the car and checking it over. In the evening George Polley arrived and I took my wheels over to get the new tyres I'd ordered fitted. After that David and I had a pleasant evening with a few beers and a cooked meal in the motorhome followed by a couple of beers with RGBers and Andy Bates in the bar.
Saturday 14th March, 2009
Race day! After signing on I went for the compulsory briefing for all drivers who haven't raced at the circuit before. This basically consisted of the Clerk of the Course telling us about the layout of the pit lane and assembly area etc. and was over in 10 minutes or so.
I then decided to cut the baffle down so it would fit in the end of the silencer's tailpipe so that if I failed a noise test I could fit it in a couple of minutes. I drove round to the assembly area when we were called and we formed up in a row. A pair of officials were making their way around with noise meter and clipboard. I ran the engine up to 6500rpm and heard the tester say 107 to the one with the clipboard and I didn't catch the rest of the conversation. Neither spoke to me however and they moved on to the next car. So that should be that out of the way for the weekend but I'll need a new and much bigger silencer for the next race weekend.
We got out on to the track and apart from the usual cold tyres I was on brand new tyres so didn't push too hard even by my standards for a lap and a half or so. Also all the faster boys who were behind me in the assembly area made their way through. I was certainly feeling more comfortable with the car, getting more feel for the balance and the onset of slides on the corners. My main problem remains the issue fof bravery in the faster corners, each time I come out of one knowing I should have gone in a bit quicker. then next time round my brain wouldn't allow it! My first full timed lap was 1:26.8 followde by a 1:26.9 then I improved to 1:25.35. My 4th lap was actually my fastest of the session at 1:23.3 then I had 2 low 1:24's mainly because ot traffic. On the 7th lap there were some waved yellows as I came into the Esses so I eased off a bit and saw Tony Gaunt's car on the grass with the rear bodywork completely detached from it nearby. As I then turned in for the Bomb Hole the car just went straight on! I then spotted a black car ahead of me in the barriers and realised there was something slippery on the track. I backed off the gas, braked very gently and the car hooked up again just before I took to the grass. I got through the Bomb Hole completely off line and as I went into Coram I could feel the car sliding again so I eased right off. I did 2 more laps pretty much at snail's pace round the dodgy bit realising that although I really felt I could gain another second or two it wasn't going to happen with the track as it was. The chequered flag then came out for the end of the session.
When the time sheet came out I was 19th out of 26 so picking up pretty much where I left off which was fine by me although a couple of the guys behind me were there because their qualifying had been blighted by mechanical/electrical problems (Tim and Adrian).
Not a lot to do to the car for race one apart from fuel it up - it's a long race at 28 minutes plus a lap so more or less a full tank. Apart from a quick check under the bonnet I really had nothing else to do. David came round to the assembly area with me then toddled off to stand on the hill overlooking Russell to spectate. Soon enough they were rolling us out of assembly onto the grid - no green flag lap and the assembly area is just before the pit entrance so no warm up lap at all. Couple of quick burnouts to get a bit of heat into the tyres then onto my spot on the grid. There were a few gaps on the grid due to the mechanical gremlins that had struck the paddock and I had a nice space in front of me to the left and our newcomer, Austen, in his Westfield alongside me on my left.
I got yet another great start - the torque of the Busa means it's easy to light up the rear end without loads of revs and it's just a matter then of feathering the throttle to control the wheelspin and keeping the car pointing the right way. As I was spearing into the gap in front of me there was frantic waving of yellow flags along the pit wall and I had to take evasive action as someone (I think Duncan) had stalled on the grid. I hung back then going into the first corner which turned out to be pretty uneventful and I got onto the power on the short straight before Sear. I took an inside line going into Sear and was just about to plant the throttle coming off the apex when a yellow car appeared right in front of me. It was sideways on and stationary and in a split second I realised there was no way I could miss it at the speed I was going. I ended up T-boning his car, the front of my car crumpled up and to be honest in the harnesses and tight fitting seat the impact was fairly undramatic. I tried to think before I got out - the engine had of course stalled, before I switched the battery master switch off I remembered to switch off the video camera (otherwise it results in a corrupt file). I then got out and told the marshals I was fine. Aaron who was the yellow car's driver said he was fine and when I asked him what happened said he'd just spun.
We spent quite a while then hanging round while the ambulance arrived and the medic checked we were both OK and the recovery trucks came to get out cars off the circuit. Of course the race had been red flagged by then. I hitched a ride back with my car to the field next to the paddock where the recovery trucks all hang out and they said they'd leave it on the truck till I came back with my trailer for them to crane it across. I walked back to the paddock to find a fairly hot and bothered David who had seen the race red flagged and got worried when firstly my car didn't come rounf then he saw the ambulance going out. He'd run halfway round the track trying to find out what had happened to me. We then went and watched the race from the bank over Russell. Yes, I was mightily pissed off. The relief that you aren't injured doesn't seem to counteract the other negative aspects somehow!
My initial impression was that the car was quite badly damaged and was going to need a lot of work. A couple of the guys in the paddock had a look and reckoned it probably wasn't as bad as it looked. Sadly they were wrong! On closer inspection in addition to the trashed bonnet, radiator and broken steering rack there's damage to a few of the chassis tubes including top and bottom suspension mounts. Andy Bates had a look and I fairly rapidly came to the conclusion that this wasn't really something I could sort myself at home and secondly that I didn't know anyone close to home who I knew to have the capability to do it either. Andy suggested leaving it with him as his unit is 40 minutes from Snetterton and after considering this for a short while I decided it was the sensible way forward. So that evening we followed Andy and Andy Grant who was going back there for a spare engine back to AB Performance and left the Fury there complete with trailer for Andy to make a more complete assessment on Monday
David and I stuck around for the rest of the weekend - lots of others were having woes of both mechanical and accident causation. Poor old Tim after a couple of storming test sessions on Friday had an engine problem straight away in the qualifying session so was at the back of the grid. Or at least he would have been had he got the engine sorted by the time of the race which he sadly didn't. Despite lots of help from within the paddock he didn't get it ready for Sunday's race either. Andy Grant got his engine swap done with just seconds to spare for Sunday's race. Adrian's engine threw a rod in Saturday's race and his engine swap didn't get completed in time. Judi turned up with a new engine but never got to run I think because of cooling system problems.
I'd pretty much expected to have a lot of neck pain come Sunday morning but it never happened and although I was as sick as the proverbial parrot I was physically fine.
Adrian was kind enough to stick a copy of his on-board video onto a flash card for me - he was behind me on the grid and had to take evasive action to avoid being involved himself.