Sprinting tomorrow.
Discussion
I tingle with excitement and anticipation.
BDC sprint at MIRA tomorrow. Some interesting stuff entered, in my class we have six Turbo R's and a Conti' GT. Lots of vintage Bentleys, three 3/8's entered, which for the uninitiated in Bentley lore are 3 litre chassis with 8 litre engines installed.
Various other things from Austin 7 Ulsters, Rileys, Alvis, Allard. Through to an Integrale Evo and a Fiat Tipo. Two ERA's and lots of Morgans too.
The Astons have cried off this year, last year all but one Turbo R set faster times, yet on paper the mid seventies AMV8's should have been loads quicker. It was very bizarre.
Wish me luck, lets hope I dont fall off!
BDC sprint at MIRA tomorrow. Some interesting stuff entered, in my class we have six Turbo R's and a Conti' GT. Lots of vintage Bentleys, three 3/8's entered, which for the uninitiated in Bentley lore are 3 litre chassis with 8 litre engines installed.
Various other things from Austin 7 Ulsters, Rileys, Alvis, Allard. Through to an Integrale Evo and a Fiat Tipo. Two ERA's and lots of Morgans too.
The Astons have cried off this year, last year all but one Turbo R set faster times, yet on paper the mid seventies AMV8's should have been loads quicker. It was very bizarre.
Wish me luck, lets hope I dont fall off!
Balmoral Green said:
lets hope I dont fall off!
M3 Mitch said:
Don't break any parts!
Bad news folks.
I got it wrong.
BG hit the tyres and the barrier at about 45 degrees to the rear n's flank after a massive spin.
I'm OK, BG aint!
Well at least you're OK Warren, but I'm sorry that what should have been an enjoyable day has ended up like that. I hope the damage is not too serious, though it doesn't sound very good.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
Thanks Alec/Dave for the reply.
Not covered by insurance, getting lots of advice to make a fraudulent claim, but i'm not going there.
BG is still a driver, but a lot of panel damage to front n's wing, both n's doors, the rear n's flank looks really bad, damage to bumpers at both ends on the n's corners. The n's sill looks OK and so does the underside, which is not bad considering it ended up with its n's rear corner raised up and sitting on top of the barrier.
Getting it checked out properly next week to make sure the geometry is all OK so I can continue to use it for Le Mans, no chance of getting it fixed before then.
As you can imagine, I dont feel to good about myself at the moment. My beautifull BG is all banged up.
My own stupid fault.
Not covered by insurance, getting lots of advice to make a fraudulent claim, but i'm not going there.
BG is still a driver, but a lot of panel damage to front n's wing, both n's doors, the rear n's flank looks really bad, damage to bumpers at both ends on the n's corners. The n's sill looks OK and so does the underside, which is not bad considering it ended up with its n's rear corner raised up and sitting on top of the barrier.
Getting it checked out properly next week to make sure the geometry is all OK so I can continue to use it for Le Mans, no chance of getting it fixed before then.
As you can imagine, I dont feel to good about myself at the moment. My beautifull BG is all banged up.
My own stupid fault.
Gutted to hear about the damage mate, hope it's not too bad. 
On the upside if you take it to Le Mans a bit "race worn" it will look cool as fook
(even in the McQueen jacket 
), and make for an interesting conversation starter i should imagine. Definately proves your car is far from being a garage queen, good on you! 
Cheers,
Rob.
On the upside if you take it to Le Mans a bit "race worn" it will look cool as fook
(even in the McQueen jacket ), and make for an interesting conversation starter i should imagine. Definately proves your car is far from being a garage queen, good on you! Cheers,
Rob.
BCA said:Spot on Ben, you know the track.
Im guessing it was the second half of MIRA where it becomes very slippy into a 90degree left hander?
I went through the righthander at the control tower very well, I knew I was doing a blistering time at this point, a short run to the lefthander that had been marked off with cones to make it a 90 degree left, set out just like a set square, the apex cone made it a sharp corner rather than a curve. I was well over to the right and went in much too fast, dived into the apex under braking and powered out, the tail came out to the right, I over corrected and the tail snapped out to the left, put the car into a spin and I hit the tyres/barrier going backwards, the nearside rear corner and the nearside in general took the blow.
I am completely gutted.
There are no good places to go off at MIRA because of the big drop-off at the edge of the track, but that last left hander is the worst place because the scenery is so close.
I make a point of looking out for the places like this where mistakes like this are going to hurt, and save the heroics for the corners where you have somewhere to go.
I make a point of looking out for the places like this where mistakes like this are going to hurt, and save the heroics for the corners where you have somewhere to go.
GreenV8S said:
There are no good places to go off at MIRA because of the big drop-off at the edge of the track, but that last left hander is the worst place because the scenery is so close.
I make a point of looking out for the places like this where mistakes like this are going to hurt, and save the heroics for the corners where you have somewhere to go.
Thats all well and good, but if sprinters really did this, then they would pootle round most places. I agree theres a certain degree of caution you can get away with - but the real fun occurs when the risks are high and you nail that section to make a few tenths.
Or atleast thats how I seem to view it.
That surface change is what really gets people though, before that point theres a fair amount of grip and its easy to let the confidence lure you into a false sense of security.
Balmoral - please tell me that once shes back in one piece you'll be back out sprinting again?!
BCA said:
Thats all well and good, but if sprinters really did this, then they would pootle round most places.
EXCUSE ME?!!! Sprinters, me for example, really do do this. At least the ones who compete in a car they care about and don't want to smash, me for example. This doesn't mean you are pootling around. The trick is to recognise where it is safe to be fully committed and where you need to keep a greater safety margin. If you ignore this simple advice then you will be fine until you push your luck one time too many, and suddenly you're out of the game. I've lost count of the number of sprints I've done, must be over a hundred, and I've come off from time to time. However, I've never hit anything. The only scrapes on the car are from people touch parking at Sainsburys.
Only to a certain degree... having met the vast majority of TVRCC sprinters I dont think many are anywhere near as deliberately cautious as you made out in your first post.
Just an observation, thats all. You seemed to make it out like you would back off a fair bit. To be competitive - I doubt you can afford to be too cautious in many of these places. I think I just misinterpereted the degree of caution you were suggesting.
Just an observation, thats all. You seemed to make it out like you would back off a fair bit. To be competitive - I doubt you can afford to be too cautious in many of these places. I think I just misinterpereted the degree of caution you were suggesting.
Having re-read the past few posts: Sorry for misinterperating your degree of caution. I am the son of a regular sprinter and hope to join him soon driving, so not just talking nonsense from watching a few videos online...
Incidentally - are you out sprinting anytime soon?? You are one of few people I am yet to meet in the TVRCC championship, seems like you stopped just as dad started.
Also would like to stress that I dont know a single sprinter on PH/in the TVRCC that doesnt absolutely love thier cars and would do anything to keep them away from the scenery. However the sport doesnt half get scary at times when people are really trying. Good on them is all I can say, as soon as I have the guts to take the Cerbera out there I will. (where I'll prove to be the slowest Cerbera driver in history!!) Unfortunately, Dads getting rather annoyingly good, almost close to the times of the more experienced drivers out there.
Incidentally - are you out sprinting anytime soon?? You are one of few people I am yet to meet in the TVRCC championship, seems like you stopped just as dad started.
Also would like to stress that I dont know a single sprinter on PH/in the TVRCC that doesnt absolutely love thier cars and would do anything to keep them away from the scenery. However the sport doesnt half get scary at times when people are really trying. Good on them is all I can say, as soon as I have the guts to take the Cerbera out there I will. (where I'll prove to be the slowest Cerbera driver in history!!) Unfortunately, Dads getting rather annoyingly good, almost close to the times of the more experienced drivers out there.
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