Snetterton 8/9 Noverber

Hi Billy

Blyton does have a 2.7 mile sprint track which has a bit of everything with high speed sweeping corners, long straights and a technical interconnecting section linking the 2 laps together this allows plenty of places where time can be won and lost.

Blyton park has a few facility's including a club house that serves food, toilets and showers.
Camping is available but normally at a extra cost.

The last 2 years the Mini-Cross Divers Association have been running their Sprint championship at Blyton, it has been growing in popularity due to the friendly atmosphere and extra timed runs when possible.

Sean Graham 72 wrote:

billy f wrote:Try under your car seats as well

Sean Graham might be entering as well

I've requested the car be delivered to Snett for me.   Let's see if I get better service than I did for Oulton.

Sorry, Gents.

I've been let down again with respect to the car. I won't be joining you for this one.

Sorry to hear that Sean

The paddock plan timetable and finals have been issued for a while now, and the entry list has just been released in the last half hour. They can all be found at:

http://www.msvracing.com/cars/calendar.aspx

Theres 31 cars on the grid for the allcomers race with a great mix of cars. We have Neil Wade, Paul Waterhouse and myself entered.

The weather is not looking too good for Saturday at the moment, so fingers crossed for an improvement as I want to get the Mk2 below 2:20.0

Nick Starkey in the Caterham is always quick

Good luck with it mate hope it all goes well

Hope you have all remembered your wellies and thermals this weekend Snett will be COLD

Good luck to everyone, after spending a day in A&E after one of my subcontractors decided to try to trim his finger nails with a hedge cutter!, so make sure you keep safe out there (and keep warm!)

Oh and have fun

You all missed a real belter of an event - full report to follow.

In the past year the Mk2 has had stiffer anti-roll bars, new dampers, new exhaust, and more recently had the tired 1800 replaced with a 2000 engine, consequently, the aim of this weekend was to hopefully oust the remaining gremlins from the Mk2 and play with the set-up of the car ready for next season.  At the 4 hour relay last month it had dumped its oil twice!

In April it had posted a 2:24.236 during qualifying (the races were wet), although I was new to the circuit.  Based on this video (similar straight line speed to Mk2) I was hoping to break through the 2:20 barrier, and believed a 2:18 was a possible best time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktBlP9EGAU
This bloke in a Caterham Roadsport had a monumental drive from midfield to first and set a new lap record.  
Saturday quali was on a drying track and the Mk2 was left in its dry set-up, so was really chuffed to post a 2:19.652 to put me 19th out of 34 on the grid.  As the car had coped so well with the damp track, decided to up the front dampers by one click (2 clicks above the recommended range suggested by ProComp).

Race 1:  Good initial start but eased into Riches in case of spinners and lost a couple of places.  Gained them back over the next half lap and set about chasing down a MG ZS on slicks.  Able to keep him in range, but couldn't close on him, so after a few laps tried later braking and different lines, but they were all slower.  However, the Mk2 was really dancing with the extra click on the front and I was carrying more speed through the corners.  Finished 18th and posted a very satisfying 2:17.014.

Race 2:  Very similar to Race 1 but now I had my lines sorted, concentrated on carrying more speed into the corners.  I was slightly slower at 2:17.211, but everyone else was also slower (wind getting stronger) and I had gone quicker through the infield section.  Theoretical best lap time from both races was 2:16.355, which I am really pleased with.  Finished 17th.

Sun Qual:  Rained all night to leave a very wet track, but no rain while sitting in the assembly area.  Full wet set-up and posted a 2:48.477, which is slower than my previous best wet time, but put me 20th on the grid.

Race 3:  Track still damp with hardly any dry bits, so kept wets on, but stiffened front dampers a bit.  Sid by side with Paul W on grid and had a crap start (couldn't find second so settled for 4th) losing about 6 places.  Avoided a massive pile up on exit of Montreal, then made up places over next lap and then set about catching Paul, finally reeled him in, battled for a couple of laps, then passed along the straight.  Finished 16th with a 2:40.805.

Race 4:  Track still damp for about 2/3 of it, but decided to go for a full dry set-up to gain experience if it rains part way through a race.  Had another relaxed start and Paul took me down the inside into Riches and we had another battle.  Coram was tricky as the first part had a dry line, but the second half was very greasy.  The car went great on the dry settings and posted a 2:27.825 finishing 12th out of the remaining 22 cars.

So in summary, the 105,000 mile replacement engine is working great, especially when it only cost £320 to sort out!  A real High Speed Low Cost motor.

I now have the car set-ups for a variety of conditions and she is very controllable and doing some very respectable times.  A bloke came up to me prior to one race, complimented me on the car and was asking lots of questions.  I recognised the face (Adrian Newey, his son was racing in the single seaters)) so was flattered by his comments.  I was going to enquire how his son was doing but was in a rush to get to the assembly area.  It was a good job I didn't as it wasn't Adrian Newey, it was Jonathan Palmer!!!!  All I can say is that "Crusty Old Chief" isn't geeting any younger!

Paul W summed up the weekend, by saying " I set the trip meter on the Pug at the start of the weekend and we have done 181 miles!"

Neil Wade was also there in his classic Mini, but was suffering with a variety of engine problems.

The Mk2 still has some gremlins; cracked exhaust (again), an oil leak (thinks its the sump seal), loosening alternator lower mount bolt causing slipping belt, so hoping to have these sorted for the Plum Pud at Mallory.

Sounds like a good weekend mate. Im glad that the mk2 is coming together for you.

Ian