750MC Sports Specials races at Snetterton 1/2 August

750MC have previously not had green flag laps for cars that are not on slicks as it saves track time. However, I thought they had gone back to having them. I must admit though that the differences between Sat and Sun is a bit unusual. Anyhow, it will be a question to ask at the event.

Billy do you still need tickets?

I have 1, maybe 2

Thanks

May I wish you gentlemen and Ed the very best of luck this weekend

Great weekends racing and company - report to follow.

Special thanks to Ian who was keeping track on TSL live and sending me the results as soon as I had got back to the paddock

Agree with Billy, great weekend.

Best racing I have had in a long while, what a difference a full grid . Of simular cars make.

1st race

Qualified 20th. I had a bad start followed by small bollocks resulting in me being in 25th by the end of the second corner! After alot of close racing finished 18th

2nd race

Qualified 18th. Slightly better start but still got to work on standing my ground, lost 5 places this time in the second corner! To be fair there where a couple of cars that had qualified out of position in both races and I would have never kept them behind for long. After some overtaking by a number of different techniques, slipstreaming on both straights, on the brakes in a couple of places and throwing dummies and re taking 1 car several times. So all in all chuffed and learnt a lot.

Finished 19th, doesn't sound great but it's the best racing I have ever had. (Apart from beating JD at Mallory, Anglesey, Oulton, etc etc...

Heres a message and some epic photos from Nick and Mark to bring back those great memories:

Nice to catch up with you at the weekend. Here is a link you can add to you report on HSLC to spice it up a bit.

https://goo.gl/0ZlsQk

Enjoy

Great quality photos as normal

This event was an exciting prospect as a lot of work had been carried out on the Mk2 to rectify problems I was having at the previous event, when I was significantly slower than Ian driving the car. From previous results I had estimated that Ian and I would have a similar pace, and I would not be bothered with a difference of half to maybe even a full second between us, but on the Silverstone GP circuit I was way off the expected pace and it was lots of seconds! I was trying hard to analyse the reasons for this, but failure of the Go-Pro meant I had little to go on.

I knew I was suffering under braking into the fast corners as I leave my braking very late, brake hard, then trail brake and do a quick down shift just before I get back on the gas at the apex, where Ian brakes earlier whilst heeling and toeing the downshift as he turns into the corner and gets back on the throttle as quick as possible to balance it to the apex. I knew I was having problems with a loose back-end during my late braking and had decided to revert back to my rear uprights with the rod ends instead of the current fitted rubber bushes (rod-ends were not allowed in a previous championship), during this change a knackered bush had also been found, which gave me some hope.

I was also thinking about suspension frequencies as there is a difference in weight between the two of us, and by the time I got in the car there would have been 3 gallons of fuel less in the tank as well. My preferred frequencies have changed a lot since developing the Mk4, but that is a bike engine car, but it may be possible to apply the same to the car engined Mk2. Consequently the front springs were changed from 175lbs” to 225 lbs”. The car was then taken to work (nice flat floor) and the camber and toe angles set back to the base settings.

Additionally, Ian commented that he thought the rev counter was significantly undereading and I remembered that whilst driving it in France on the public roads the MPH readout on the Tom-Tom did not match the tacho (at 4000 rpm in top I was doing 60mph, when it should have been 70mph!). Consequently, a new Racetech expanded scale tacho was fitted.

Furthermore, I was getting fed up with continually welding up the exhaust system and this was put down to the engine mount rubbers being too soft, so it was decided to make new mounts and solid mount the engine in the chassis.

Finally, it was also noted that the airflow was breaking away early from the rear diffuser (looking at oil staining on it) so that was re-profiled as well. Once again I had carried out lots of changes, without testing what effect they would have, so it would be interesting to see how it would behave through the weekend.

I loaded up the car on Friday night to find that the ign light was not working, but a quick check revealed the wires had come out of the back of the alternator, probably when I was replacing the engine mounts!

Arrived at the track to find John and Ed had secured a prime location for us right next to the scrutineering bay. After welding Ed’s wing stay, I then set about removing my airbox so I could access the alternator and refit the wires. I was really looking forward to the practice and with 33 cars was pleased to be first in the queue to get out onto the track. The car felt good straight away, but the brakes were nowhere near as sharp as they usually are, then on the second flying lap, the pedal went very soft and I was having to brake much earlier than usual and pump the pedal at the slower corners. My estimated pace for the track was 1:27 (previous best was 1:27.306) down to a hopefull 1:25, which I estimated would place me between 14th and 22nd (so effectively 8 cars to play with). I had qualified 23rd which was pleasing but my time was a disappointing 1:29 and I was wondering whether it was the brakes, or the same problem as at Silverstone, despite all the work I had done on the car.

It was soon revealed that the brake bias had wound itself all the way to the front brakes and was almost wound out of the rear brakes clevis! Anyhow, I removed the top cover of the brake linkage cover and as I was adjusting it I noticed that the throttle cable which is below the linkage had an awfull lot of slack in it. A quick check revealed I was subsequently only getting about 2/3 throttle! So side screen off, aeroscreen off, and steering wheel off, then hours of contortions to identify the problem and sort it out. It transpired that the outer sheath was only just being held in place by the plastic covering, and this had all wrinkled up allowing about ½” of sheath to pull through the bulkhead fitting till it hit the pulley that the inner runs around to connect to the pedal.

Anyhow, it was all fettled prior to the race, but with no green flag lap, I wouldn’t know till the first corner how the brakes would perform and I was in the middle of a very big field. Thankfully they were OK and the car made up a few places in the first three corners then gradually picked off another few cars to finish in 15th and a great battle to hold onto that place. The brakes were not at their best from the start, but became worse from lap 4, but in those opening laps I had posted a 1:24.82 (thanks to a good tailwind and a tow), which was slightly quicker than the target I had set for myself.

Preparation for the next days race was a full bleed of all the brakes and a check of the front pads thickness, which was fine. I was 23rd again on the grid and finished 17th this time with a best lap of 1:26.74 (no tailwind and not much of a tow). However, the brakes were no better and again went even worse on lap 4.

Despite the brakes issues, the car was going like stink and responding very well to how I like to drive the car. The speed being carried into the high speed corners was amazing (thanks to the rod-ends) and this is where I was making up lots of places. Despite overshooting many times at the hairpin, it was still turning in exceptionally well (thanks to the stiffer springs). The only slight weakness seemed to be steady state cornering as I was being harried a bit in the first race through Coram whilst defending my place.

Thankfully, the Go Pro had worked all weekend and the speeds on the straights during practice were 113mph. In the races, once the throttle was sorted they were 125mph on the back straight and 122mph on the start/finish (not bad for 105,000 mile engine).

With having changed so many things it is difficult to evaluate what was causing my lack of pace at Silverstone, but I think it was a combination of excessive toe changes at the rear during braking (Ian coping better with this , too soft springs on the front compared to the rear (Ian adapting better to this) and most definitely the restricted throttle, which was probably masked by an overeading tacho indicating 7,000 when I was only doing about 6.500 as at Snetterton).

I reckon the throttle snag occurred due to the heat in the engine bay during the 50 minute race at Silverstone, but even if this hadn’t occurred, I don’t think I could of matched Ian’s pace in the opening laps of that race when he was in the Chimaera sandwich, I think that must have been the fastest any of the Hornets have ever travelled along the Silverstone pit straight!

Anyhow, back to Snetterton, great event, great track, great racing, great company, great photos – epic.

Billy you forgot to mention the wrong kind of leaves on the track LOL.

This race is covered in the November issue of Complete Kit Car