Silverstone Report

Billy will be along soon with a report of a cracking weekend

Carbon bush fell out the centre of the distributor in the second race im surprised the car finished at all

IAN51 wrote:Carbon bush fell out the centre of the distributor in the second race im surprised the car finished at all

Still you beat Ed, until he overtook you after the race had finished

Pie man tries a dougnut
Click on above.

Funny but that was a bout £30 quids worth of rubber on the track

Arrived Friday evening to find Bill & Irene, ED & Zoe plus kids, and John already at the track.  The outer paddock was virtually empty, so took the opportunity to replace the A048’s with some old slicks that I had, then go and do lots of “figures of 8” on the old runway to scrub off the old hard rubber and get down to some fresh stuff  They cleaned off very well and I took some tyre temp readings to set the tyre pressures.  Followed this with a cycle round the track in the company of Ed and Amelia, before settling down for some tinnies and a good chat

Ian turned up early the next morning, and it was good to see the Fester was running again 

We were first session, so very early signing-on and scrutineering.  The scrut complained how stiff the battery cut-out control was, however it turned out he was pulling on the extinguisher!!!!!!  Thankfully, it did not go off

Practice on the slicks was entertaining as it took a few laps for the rears to warm up and settle down.  The car was going quite well on them, but although the rear tyres had a reasonable diameter, they were smaller than the A048’s and I was hitting the rev limiter in 6th at the exit of Woodcote and also by the bridge over Wellington straight.  Consequently, although the cornering speed was higher, the lap times were high 1:07’s and I usually do 1:06’s.

Therefore, it was decided to race on the A048’s and the wheels/tyres were swopped over.  Qualified 11th and made a good start passing 4 cars (one stalled on the grid) by the exit of Copse.  Tried to hold off A BMW M3 and thought I had pulled out a big enough gap round Luffield, but he just soared past on the run to Copse.  I eventually finished in 10th place, ½ second faster than qualifying, but failing to get into the 1:06 lap times.  The car was feeling great through the corners, and I was hitting the rev limiter in top on most laps, so I put this down to the worn out A048’s on the rear reducing my gearing.

Looking forward to the second race, but then it started to rain and it became very wet indeed.  Changed over to the wets that came with the Mk2, which are donkeys years old, and were originally bought secondhand by Frodo for his Locoblade.  These are a lot smaller in diameter than the A048’s, but then again the Mk4 is horrendous in the wet on the A048’s, so I was not that bothered.  Had another good start getting through the row in front and alongside one of the cars from the row in front of them, but this put me in the middle of a Crossle sandwich through a very wet Copse and I lost my momentum through the corner to be outdragged from the exit.  I was hitting the rev-limiter early on both straights, but he grip in the corners was making up for it and I was starting to push harder, when I started to suffer ever increasing understeer???!!!  I almost had Ian off twice on the exit of Copse and Luffied as the car struggled to take a set and just drifted wide.  I was alos having to pull the steering to the left down the straights, and was worried the wheel nuts were coming loose, so I slowed and could then hear the front offside tyre “slapping” along the track – I had a flat tyre :\

I can’t remember my last DNF, but it was good to have had 3 good fun wet laps in the Mk4, rather than the usual nervous ones.

Packed all the wet kit away and then retired to a campsite with Bill, Irene, Ed, Zoe and the kids for some hot food and many more beers 

A really enjoyable weekend away.  Great to see John out again after a long break and also in his new car.  Huge respect for Ian, for persevering with a reluctant Fester to complete both races, and more than pleased that the problems appear to be the dizzy cap.  Also thanks to Ed for flashing his lights at me trying to warn me about my flat tyre!

A great end to a great weekend

https://servimg.com/view/18980756/2

I took Billy ages to get the run up speed right to land it clean on the boat.

Great to see the old crew, really good racing. One day I will beat Ian fair and square. I was chuffed with the second race as I was able to really lean on the car in the wet and actually breaking hard which is something I havnt had the confidence to do before. Bill copied my in car footage so maybe if I ask nicely he could edit and put on the tube for me and put a link on here?

Thanks again to the Browns for providing food for the family and hopefully this weekend will convince Bill to stop playing with silly motorbikes and concentrating on getting the budget blaster up and running again.

A Fantastic Day with just the sort of atmosphere i was starting to miss. I look forward to getting the Race Van and enjoying some more of the friendly banter in the paddock.

The racing itself was greatly Entertaining an the battles with Ed thoroughly enjoyable and a great testament to the trust that we have to be able to go into the braking area of Luffield in the wet and side by side through most of the corner and exit and credit where credit is due the Ed and the Tiger were pulling me in a fantastic rate of knots in both races and i think that Ed pipping me in the second race and me pipping him in the first (although 1 more lap i think he would have got me) is probably about right.

A massive thanks to Billy (Bad luck with the tyre) and Jill for keeping us serviced with Tea and Coffee over the Day and Jack for supplying the tools and support to prevent me smashing the Car to a million pieces and of course Bill it was great to Catch up again you need to get you car sorted.

A good weekend that with a bit more luck with the car could have been fecking amazing!

Ian

Bill copied my in car footage so maybe if I ask nicely he could edit and put on the tube for me and put a link on here?
Working on it but just in from work so don't hold thy breath matey

No worries I understand that you will be tired after holding a brolly for someone was it for a golfist or a Fisher person this time?

Ed

All this talk of racing cars sounds very exciting and makes me want to join in .

Hi Andy

Its a big first step to go racing, but once your sorted, its not too bad. The entry fees are a bit expensive, but you get far more track time for your money compared to sprinting, and the best bit is dicing with other drivers for the corners (something you don't get with track days).

In the past, I have found that the expensive part is competing in championships, as generally you have to spend a lot of money to be competetive, yet remain within the regulations. If you are doing allcomers events then you are free to spend your money on whatever mods you think will best improve the performance of your car. Note, though that not all allcomers races allow the use of racing slicks. If you need any help, just ask on here

Additionally, if you would like to come to a race event to see what's involved, just keep as look-out for future events and ask if anyone has any spare tickets they could send you.

Many thanks for the info Billy,

I'll definitely keep an eye out for your upcoming events, but i'm not sure I'll ever have the funds to come and play.

A few years back we Mini fools looked at doing a single round of a local all-comers race series at Croft and it would've been more than £1k for just the one event because of club membership, entry fees, ards, transponder and a few car mods.

Maybe one day ..........


Andy

Hi Andy we try to avoid the club fee,s if we can or pick one of the cheaper clubs to join as they are normally invited to "other" ckub events. For example we raced with msv at Silverstone but I raced using my Cscc membership.

transponder you can normally hire from the timekeepers on a race to race basis I think about £20

ARDS a necessary evil im afraid

but having said all that if sprinting suits you and your budget then good on ya but as Billy says you should still come to one of the race meetings if only for the craic we normally have spare tickets between all of us

Ian

Part one of Numnuts race

Part 2

Watch for the end where Ed burns off Ian "After the flag and keeps going" ha ha

Ah yes, glasses, flag, finish, missed, who does this remind me of

Front view from Ians 1.1
Sorry its longways but the camera was leaning into the bends

Eds front view

The below has been submitted to CKC for publication along with photos which I will add later.


Silverstone. National all Comers Race September 6th 2014

It has been a while since I have had a weekend away racing.
As such I decided to pack everything apart from the kitchen sink.

In between a huge amount of working hours time has slowly been found to fettle my Tiger Racing Avon.
2 litre Black top in standard form on 45’s. A standard T9 box. An open diff’. Disc all round and a Webcon ECU that soft cut at just over 6000 rpm for the days over Tiger Racings Standard Class.
Entry fee paid, entry faxed (four times) and off we go.
Number 1 Mechanic, Rachel, packed me up with enough food for a small army, (or at least a Brick) and off I went.

MSVR had indicated that we could sign on at Silverstone between 16:00 and 18:00.
Arriving at 16:30 I drove around a empty upper paddock eventually being met by a charming chap from MSVR who indicated I could park where I wanted.
Having called Billy Fletcher to ascertain his favoured position it was time to move.
So, advice taken, it was down to the end next to Copse, save some space and await the arrival of the others.

Signing on was about the most relaxed I could remember, empty paddocks and just me and the lady in the office. It certainly beats the havoc of signing on at the Birkett.

First to arrive was ‘Lord’ Edward Fuller, rumoured to be an eccentric millionaire of North Lincolnshire.
I was surprised he had not had his ‘Man’ deliver the car.
A car that despite being a Tiger Racing Super 6 goes well having had numerous upgrades to suspension, gearbox and Diff’.
It is rumoured that Ed had spent the National Debt of a small African Nation on his engine, I was curious to see how it performed.

Billy Fletcher the ‘Crusty Chief’ arrived towing the Mk4 Fletcher Hornet, the Mk2 being in the midst of some engine ‘development’.

Stuart Fenton was expected to arrive later, this turned out to be at half past darkness, 23:00 and involved a lengthy chat with the Jobsworth who was employed by G4S, late of Olympic and government Tagging fame, so getting in was never going to be a simple task. Having not seen Stu for some time when he was enthusiastically racing a Tiger cat I was looking forward to seeing his Tiger Racing RS6 with Duratec power.

This covered our kit car element but still left Ian Smythe to arrive with his XR2.
Not exactly a Kit, but equally not exactly an XR2.
Rear wheel drive and Cosworth turbo in the front.

By the time we had set up our small part of the paddock it was beginning to look like a motor home show. Ed and Billy both have more ‘vintage’ motor homes where then
joined by ‘Battery’ Bill Brown, Robin Hood owner, in his more modern ‘Gin Palace’ who was there to lend support and tinned beer.

With cars fettled for the night it was time for a cup of cocoa and bed.
With signing on for late comers being at 07:00, scrutineering at 07:30, a briefing at 08:00 and being called for qualifying at 08:30 an early night was essential.
Well, that was the plan. Several cups of ‘cocoa’ later, the stories and gossip got better and better.

06:30 and the bellowing of my alarm arrive far to soon, but there was no rain. Bonus!
Kettle on, strong sweet tea and biscuits for breakfast followed by the arrival of Ian Smythe who had only got his turbo rebuilt and engine running at 16:30 the previous day, finishing work on the car at 20:30.

The final instructions sent by MSVR had stated that no engines were to be run until 08:30, a not unreasonable request you may think, but this would then involve pushing them to and from scrutineering.
I noticed a few of the more athletic drivers pushing there cars to scrutineering but having recently just spent several weeks being tortured by a ‘physioterrorist’, who insisted that the discomfort she was currently causing would be worth it in the end, I decided it was engine start at 07:25 along with the rest of our crew.

My plan for the day was simple.
While the car had had maybe 60 road miles since it was sorted, there is no substitute for track time or testing.
I decided that I would run some 15” R888’s of unknown vintage that came with the car in qualifying and race 1, followed by a change to ACb10’s on 13” rims for race 2.
This would allow for a performance comparison and an interesting test in that few Avons run on 13” rims and none that I know of on Acb10’s.
There was no need to load the two different sets of wets before leaving home as every forecast showed no rain. So my Formula 3 wets and my specially cut soft Kumho V70 rain tyres stayed in the garage.

Briefing over, another brew and a last smoke and it was off to the assembly area reading for the first qualifying session of the day.

Lack of seat time meant that qualifying was going to be more of a test session with some timing.
I spent far to much time listening for odd noises and getting a feel for the car than I did going for timed laps.
It was not long before Stu Fenton roared passed me on the opening lap.

As I approached the Maggots Beckets complex I noticed Stu disappear strait on in a cloud of tyre smoke of the track.

The most annoying noise coming from the rear left hub, but only when mid apex in Luffield 1. An overly strong smell of melting rubber saw me return to the paddock a couple of laps early.

The annoying noise was never identified. Given the lack of active driving this car has seen with myself and it’s previous owner, it could well have been a nest of small rodents complaining at being disturbed on a Sunday morning. The tyre smoke was traced to a lose cycle wing rubbing the tyre.

Brew made, I went to see what had happened to Stu Fenton.
The throttle had stuck wide open on the approach to Maggots leading to heavy braking and a trip to the gravel trap. Said gravel had also shredded to alternator belt.
A quick test of the throttle linkage with the engine running showed no fault.
When tested with the engine off using full throttle movement one of the connection bolts jammed against the manifold at full throttle opening.
A hacksaw and five minutes later problem solved along with a new alternator belt fitted afterwards.

With MSVR pushing the racing programme on, we were called early at 11:45 for the Silverstone National All Comers Race 1.

After my ‘testing’ during qualifying I was towards the rear of the grid, with stu Fenton behind me in the Tiger RS6, to my front a BMW to the left and a Ginetta G40 to the right on the row in front.
Green flag lap and form up in our boxes.
The plan being, after a lousy qualifying time, to drive between the BMW and the Ginetta before Copse.
With my rarely used GoPro camera switched on I was hoping that for posterity my plan worked.
All the red lights came on at once, 3 seconds later they went out.
Floored it, up to second, nose level with rears of the BMW and the Ginetta, both of them moving towards each other closing the door. Foot still well in, up to third, past the BMW, turning into Copse door to door with the Ginetta my car wriggling on cold tyres, moved to the right approaching maggots to straighten the braking line and the Ginetta sitting on my bumper. Brake hard, change down for the right onto the Wellington strait.
The Ginetta stick to me like glue all the way down to Luffield 1, attempts to go around the outside at Luffield 2 bur I drift wide, the BMW attempts the inside. Down the Pit strait I can se the Ginetta large in my mirrors and the BMW the same in his.
Turn in late for Copse in fourth, nowhere near enough drive out of the corner and they are both all over me heading again towards Maggotts. The tyres were now warmed up, brake extra late for the turn onto the Wellington strait and now it is just me and the Ginetta. It is cut and thrust all the way to lap 10 when he starts to fade.
Lap 11 and I notice Stu Fentons Number is being displayed on the pit wall.
Lap 13 complete, chequered flag and back to the paddock, no Stu Fenton.

Kettle on and Stu and his car appear on the back of a recovery truck.
Tea made and it is time to visit Stu, again.
Having purchased some very ‘Gucci’ push on connectors to his remote oil filter, they had decided to fail.
I left Stu to decide on his next course of action to find a grumpy Ian Smythe attacking his throttle cable. The heat of the turbo having melted the throttle cable, so I set about helping Ian.
At 12:55 Stu arrives needing a lift to a local racing supplies company for new oil hose and sundry parts, no problem Stu, I will take you, “they close at 13:00” says Stu.
We got there just as the guy was closing, rubbish out and keys in the door.
Decent chap that he was, he stayed open, Stu got his kit and fixed his car.
Back to helping Ian with his throttle cable.

Caught up with Billy Fletcher and Ed on their tales or daring do and with our second race not due until 17:30 was looking forward to watching some racing.

Got the Avon jacked up, wheel nuts loosened, prepared the 13” ACb10’s ready to go next to the cars and having a nice little relax in the warm wheather.

That was until 15:00, then it decides to chuck it down with rain. It can’t last long.
It did, until16:30.
So with car covered I sat it out in my tow car. Eventually getting nice and wet tightening and re doing the torque on the wheel nuts on the 15” R888’s and putting the ACb10’s back on the tyre rack.

Having packed everything bar the kitchen sink, it appeared that the kitchen sink was the rain tyres.

I now noticed that Fletcher, Fuller, Smythe and Fenton were all on rain tyres and without exception all said, “I nearly didn’t bring these”.
Further inspection of the paddock showed that everyone else apart from me had fitted rain tyres.

While R888’s are a fine dry tyre, wets there are not. Possibly ok for much more heavy tin tops but, on a light 7’esque car, no.

The call came to the assembly area and I noticed the the guy driving the Ginetta G40 had decided that the rain was not for him and was packing up.


Race 2 was much as I expected.
The wet shod boys made a hasty exit to the front leaving me to play catch up.
Catch some I did having an enjoyable scrap with a wet shod BWW.
He sped past me on the pit strait, spinning at copse. One lap later he caught me as I span on the entry to the Wellington strait. Thanks Stu!
One lap later he hit the pit wall ending up in the tyres at copse.
At the end, there were 3 heavily damaged cars returned on trailers, which technically did not make me last.
From previous articles there are some who may remember my ‘eureka’ moment when I discovered that racing in glasses meant you could see.
Repeating this in the rain was not so much fun, mist condensation, whatever.
It was like driving in fog.

The next outing is likely to be the MSVR Winter Series 10th November at the Snetterton 300.
4 races over 2 days, in NOVEMBER
More modifications to be completed on the car twixt now and then.
ACb10’s will be run this time and both sets of wets will definitely be going on the trailer.
Now where did I put my Damart thermal underwear catalogue.

Billy looking 'inscrutable'


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Hoping it does not rain on ACb10's

Stu between breakdowns