Sprinting and Hill Climbing

Gurston

Leisurely pace nothing to do with not knowing the hill as my granny drives faster than I do! But, a terrific venue, perfect weather and no problems on the way home. A very enjoyable day.

Iain

[simontaylor]

First practice on Sunday.
http://www.brayspeed.co.uk/assets/films%20for%20web/Red%2021%20220407G.wmv

Nice footage, I can see I need to get into 1st gear quicker at the Carosel...... and keep my right foot to the floor a bit longer through Hollow.

[simontaylor]

Wiscome Park was an AWESOME venue this weekend, a double header.
The weather was fantastic and the views were great (the trees and the birds), they even had a proper beer tent.
On arrival, I was shocked to see how steep it was in places, how narrow the "gate" is and twisty it is through the "esses".
Anyway, the local boys knew what they were doing...... and it showed as they were 4-8 plus seconds faster than the rest of the field.
Over the weekend I got faster and faster, run by run and finished with a 51.6, just 1 second behind a scooby. All of my class was 4WD except a locals Morgan plus8. Pete Ellens did rather well in his A110, he took a 2nd in class of 10 with a 48.4, beating 3 locals, 2 of which sulked rather badly as he piped them on the last run of the weekend by jumping up from 4th.

Here is a drivers eye view, but bear in mind that I was 30% slower in my lardy GTA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KBnAeITfPs

Goodwood next on May the 19th,
nice and fast, no hairpins to get tangled up in.

[simontaylor]

Goodwood this weekend, Saturday 12th May.
Fully booked, 100 car entry and a whopping 15 cars in my class (Roadgoing over 2 litre). Tim Jeffrey will also be competing in his nice blue A610 in the Standard class, plus a double driven R5 Gordini turbo, could be an interesting day.

Spectating is not promoted per-say, but is very available. I am in garage 32, not sure where "helpers" and mechanics park but the marshalls will advise and you can walk through to the competitors paddock. Burger vans for food and last year there was spectator access to the roof of the pit building giving excellent views of cars from Woodcote, through the chicane and down the start straight into Madgwick. Practice starts at 9 with 2 laps followed by 3 timed runs of 1 standing start lap from the official start line. Come down and say hello and see what it's all about.

How did you get on then?? Did you go quicker than Tim Jeffrey? How about the Gordini Turbo.....I guess it probably posted FTD!?!
I'm at Knockhill tomorrow for the National Sprint championship round.....it will be interesting to see how many of them I can beat! I will only be taking slicks, so I hope it stays dry!?! (fat chance )

[simontaylor]

Whoops, I actually ment the 19th for Goodwood, which is tomorrow.
I'll let you know afterwards. Good luck at Knock hill yourself.

I am also up against Tim's A610 at Prescott on May 27 and at Abingdon on Jun 9 (2 sprints in 1 day, combined best times for main results).
Tim seems to like to enter in class 0 (bog standard), where as I admit to to my mods and go into Class 3 for Road-going. I have heard a rumour that Tim's car has had the boost "adjusted", all the more reason to push a bit harder myself.

I last raced him at Lydden last year, I trailed him by 1.03 secs over 88.52 seconds, not bad. He has 25% more BHP and I was 1.1% slower.

Sunny here now, I hope it staye for tomorrow, as Tim does not have a CC.

Nightmare day!!! Howling wind, sporadic torrential rain and lots of National championship runners who didnt go to line up when they were called! I only ended up getting 3 runs and one of those came to a halt when my fuel pump went on strike (tow truck job ). Then I spun and got a ticking off from the clerk of the course for going too fast under red flag conditions. By the time of the last run I was so desperate just to complete the 2 laps and record a time that I was over cautious (well a little anyway!). Managed 3rd in class, pipped by the same guy as at the last event by a couple of tenths

[simontaylor]

Peter, take it easy, to finish first, first you have to finish, I suppose you know that but I'm glad you had a good day out too.
Goodwood was bright sunshine and a cool breeze (just right for turbo cars). The circuit was dry and blisterlying fast.
Last Year I managed 110.85 after 3 runs.
This year 110.19, 109.74 and 108.07, (AVERAGE speed of 81mph from standing start). I was well pleased with the improvement, but the car is running very lean and not pulling like it should do, or even did do.
Placed 9th in class from 14 drivers and Tim Jeffrey in his A610 acheived a pb of 100.86. Many drivers acheived a pb, me too, just goes to show how good the circuit and day was.

He was 8 seconds quicker????!!! Blimey, I was thinking you'd be getting ahead this weekend! More work to do I guess....running leans not good! Have you got the ECU fitted yet?

[simontaylor]

8 seconds may be quite a lot, but I'm lacking some power as well as experience behind Tim. I have been warned about the Jacques Villenerve approach. Go as fast as you can, find the limit and then in the spare car just go a bit slower. Not my starategy really, I'm trying hard to stay on the black stuff this year.

All sorts of interim challenges to overcome first, plus events every weekend for the next 5 weeks, 1 weekend off then 2 more events, 1 off 3 more, Might do something about it at the end of August. Other things to do too like a cambelt change on the Lexus, it's 30,000 miles overdue.

Oh yes, the Quatro that got 1st in class (98 secs), is a standard engine, just got a bigger intercooler and a Motec ECU and a bonnet with grilles in the top of it. The chap said he mapped it himself up and down the road, never been on the rollers. So I'm hoping that an ECU is the way to go...... in time.

He was 8 seconds quicker????!!! Blimey, I was thinking you'd be getting ahead this weekend! More work to do I guess....running leans not good! Have you got the ECU fitted yet?

Goodwood is all about speed, and therefore power... its relatively easy to carry speed, only perhaps two really technical conrers, so I guess power will always prevail.

Simon's results at Lydden - a tight twisty circuit with at least four technical corners tell a different story.

Elvington on Saturday....hopefully a realistic chance of posting FTD....the only car likely to pip me (if all goes well) is the guy who beat me at Teesside and Knockhill So thats that f!cked then
I'm just preying for nice weather.

2nd overall again......and not even close to FTD.....couldnt get 3rd gear off the start and managed to re-arrange my front wing on the cones!

[simontaylor]

Well done Peter.
I put a fuel pressue gauge on my car, it was down at 2.2 bar when it should have been up at 2.8-3.0.
So I fitted an adjustable fuel regulator and set it up for about 2.9bar.
WOW the car goes well now. Did a 0-60 test on Friday night with my GTECH and recorded a 5.66 and 5.67 times.
Abbingdon airfield was this weekends sprint, it is actually 2 full sprints in 1 day and they add the 2 best times from each course for the overall results..
Well I was 3 seconds faster than last year, down from 111 to 108. This included plenty of missed gear changes, infact of the 4 timed runs, 3 had missed gear changes.
Remember I was 8 secs behind Tim's A610 at Goodwood, this weekend I was only 3 behind him...... so he is well in my sights now.

[stephendell]

Didn't you already beat him at Prescott?

No time recorded in the results that I saw.