Hi all
Initially thought I'd had a bad day out at Lydden, bad in the sense that i thought I was not as quick as i would like to have been. Generally I will be about 4.5 seconds off the big boy modified road going class winners time...I was running some 6.5 seconds slower..kinda dissapoinging when I had invested in new rubber all round; 888s to the rear (a bit worrying as they have ltd number of grooves to dispurse water considering the weather and Marks spins and comments after Brands), and new Toyo proxes T1Rs at the front. The T1Rs are a high performance road tyre where as the 888' s are a softer semi-slick track tyre. A bit of an odd combination but a 8 couldnt afford the 888's for the fronts as both the T1R's cost the same as one 888!. The school of thought being it'll be oversteer that'll slow me down not understeer.
Practice: damp to moist track conditions ...I drove within my and the cars limits to find out where the grip was or wasnt on the new tyres on a circuit I ve only driven once in the GTA in 2011 in the dry; It's all too easy to lock the fronts and off you go into a body crunching tyre wall!!!. A small number of lovely cars doing just that ..although not too badly damaged it was far more than I can afford. My run well it was ok but those T1Rs appeared ro be under steering like an oil tanker trying to do a U turn at full bore! I was not impressed, however none of the new tyres had been properly scrubbed to the car as yet. I posted an ok time that could be improved.
First timed run: The weather was getting worse and the track wetter...so it was time to try and bank a good lap before it hammered down and it was impossible to improve lap times. I went at it pretty hard trying to be as smooth on the brakes as possible keeping the car settled..no sudden movements braking in a straight a line as possible and I set an ok time of 105.9 some 6 seconds off the class lead..disapointed...yes, ..must do better!!
2nd timed run: well I did try harder and reflecting back I must have been going quite well despite a reasonably bad misfire in the midrange which made exiting bends quickly very tricky; and on an even wetter circuit the weather gradually worsening. Well I was until this happened ...see link below..
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qz_djsnuh ... z_djsnuh0#
I lost only 6 seconds despite my ending up facing the wrong way!!
3rd timed run..an improver run not actually counting towards the result. So one of only about 15 drivers to brave a very wet circuit and with the misfire very much improved i posted my fasted time of the day improving by .035 seconds giving me 105.55 approx. This doesn't sound much to get excited about but considering nearly everyone else ..apart from Riku was going slower it was quite an acheivement as the odds against me doing so were stacked against me!.
Silly really I only realised after the event that the reason my times were further off the class win is that the average sprint length was normally about a mile long but the distance at Lydden is 1.75 miles so to be about 6 seconds off Tim Jeffries wasn't bad at all in fact I was only 4.5 seconds behind the 2nd place in class Porshe GT3 RS..not bad for my poor mans Porshe with less than half the BHP really.
A report on Marks championship below.
https://m.facebook.com/LyddenHillRaceCi ... ment_reply
Martin in respect of Riku beating TJ by 10 seconds not to take-a-way anything from young Riku who excelled, you have to remember that both cars are running in totally different classes The 610 being in modified road going and the clio in modified The main differences being the clio is stripped out but does have a cage ..it will handle like a cart it also has a sequential flat shift box and a choice in specialist tyres available; in this instance a full set of brand new wets as compared to a track day or road tyres that mod/prod have to run; this will make an enormous difference. The cars are probably not too dis-similar in power to weight the front wheel drive will be easier to drive especially in the wet and maybe mr Jefferies was doing just enough to win his class as FTD was always going to be taken by a single seater on the day.
like I said though absolutely fantastic drive by Riku very smooth drive showing maturity beyond his years against a very quick sorted 610 driven by avery experienced driver so nothing to be taken away from Rikus performace at all ...outstanding Riku...Mark ...Chritmas is coming up send him out in that single seater!!
Not a lot happening on here so I thought I'd prattle on bit a give you something more to read.
a lot more control and less roll certainly at those kinds of speeds. Looking back retrospectively I fed too much power too early, I should have let it drift wider to use more of the track, instead from the video it looks like I tried to keep the front from drifting too wide (4wheels outside the lines meant the time did not count) the combo sent me spinning.
