First time sprinter

[Nigel_O]

Do you need to make a "beam breaker" for the timing gear - usually a black blade, about 9" x 2", at the very front of the car

My only real on-track suggestion for your first outing is don't try to be a hero - just get round fairly quickly and get a feel for the car and the track

My off-track suggestion is to talk with some of the seasoned competitors - they will have some great suggestions about technique and lines at the venue - I used to sprint at Curborough and learned as much from other drivers as I did from actually driving round myself

Oh yes - one other suggestion - enjoy yourself (although its pretty difficult not to...)

[Galveston]

Thanks again for all your help with this, it's appreciated and I really do feel much more prepared than I was.

New helmet and gloves purchased this morning, overalls are hanging on the washing line, tyres are being fitted tomorrow... all I need now is to find the motivation to drag myself outside and nail a new exhaust system onto the car and I'm just about sorted.

Cheers.

[LordHaveMurci]

Galveston said:

Thanks again for all your help with this, it's appreciated and I really do feel much more prepared than I was.

New helmet and gloves purchased this morning, overalls are hanging on the washing line, tyres are being fitted tomorrow... all I need now is to find the motivation to drag myself outside and nail a new exhaust system onto the car and I'm just about sorted.

Cheers.

What exhaust have you gone with?

[D_G]

I usually run in A3, doing single seater this year though. Have a chat with the guys you are parked with, I've always met great people who are always ready to help, Hullavington is a great track.

[Galveston]

LordHaveMurci said:

What exhaust have you gone with?

A horrible pattern system. I wanted a proper Renault system but they're not available anymore. That leaves (as far as I can tell) a choice of cheap and nasty pattern systems or overly loud boy racer systems. I went for the lesser of those two evils until I can source something better.

[LordHaveMurci]

Galveston said:

LordHaveMurci said:

What exhaust have you gone with?

A horrible pattern system. I wanted a proper Renault system but they're not available anymore. That leaves (as far as I can tell) a choice of cheap and nasty pattern systems or overly loud boy racer systems. I went for the lesser of those two evils until I can source something better.

I went for a BTB after a LOT of research, sounds nice but not too loud, unlike many others.

[Galveston]

D_G said:

I usually run in A3, doing single seater this year though. Have a chat with the guys you are parked with, I've always met great people who are always ready to help, Hullavington is a great track.

Are you still doing AutoSolos this year or do the rest of us have a chance of a win?!

LordHaveMurci said:

I went for a BTB after a LOT of research, sounds nice but not too loud, unlike many others.

When did you get your BTB? Their Clio specific website(s) seem to have been closed down, and there's nothing on their generic website. I need to find five mins to give them a call to see if they're still available.

Edited by Galveston on Sunday 6th March 14:02

[LordHaveMurci]

Galveston said:

When did you get your BTB? Their Clio specific website(s) seem to have been closed down, and there's nothing on their generic website. I need to find five mins to give them a call to see if they're still available.

Edited by Galveston on Sunday 6th March 14:02

I tried setting up a group buy on Clio sport, bloke at BTB was really nice but ended up deciding the GB wasn't worth the hassle so I bought mine anyway, this was 5-6yrs ago. The Renault specialist who fitted it was really impressed with it.

Seems many Clios end up with K Tech's which are loud & boomy from what I've read, the BTB reads 98db at 4500rpm when tested at Wis etc, being a stealth system it might read slightly higher as it may reflect, I could be talking ballcocks though!

[Trev450]

Have you considered having an exhaust custom built. My system on the Evo which is turbo back, 3" stainless steel cost a shade under £600 from Prospeed in Cardiff.

[onomatopoeia]

Galveston said:

Next daft question... what's the start system? Is there a countdown system with a green light as per rallying, or is it an "in your own time" set-up like AutoSolo?

I'll add one thing to the information already given. When you come to Llandow, which is generally run as a 1.75 lap format, once you get the green light you only have a few seconds to go, it will change back to red if you don't, and at that point you absolutely must not leave the line, as a car that has just finished its first lap will be arriving at high speed on the section of track you will be joining.

People that ignore the red light and go anyway give the course controller kittens.

[carl_w]

onomatopoeia said:

I'll add one thing to the information already given. When you come to Llandow, which is generally run as a 1.75 lap format, once you get the green light you only have a few seconds to go, it will change back to red if you don't, and at that point you absolutely must not leave the line, as a car that has just finished its first lap will be arriving at high speed on the section of track you will be joining.

Yes, in the events that I do usually it's go in your own time after green (although if you wait several minutes you'll ps off many competitors) or if it's a circuit or a course where various bits overlap you have 5 seconds before it goes back to red. So plenty of time and be aware of breaking the beam. For example, don't crawl forward after green and then go, as the crawl will break the beam and the timing will start from there.

[Galveston]

Thanks all. I'll let you know how I get on...

[Galveston]

So the car and I survived our first sprint... and we did alright too, 2nd in class A2 (standard series production - List 1A tyres).

I was beaten to the class win (by a third of a second) by a nice chap driving a Clio RS200. We were both a couple of seconds ahead of the rest of the class (all Clio 172/182/197s) and also beat the Clio 172/182s running in the modified classes. I was particularly chuffed after the first practice run when I was 20th overall (of about 65) but I dropped back as the day went on and finished 31st.

My chuffed-ness was eradicated when I got home and downloaded the GoPro. My mental images of nicely aggressive but controlled driving were replaced by the reality of watching a lunatic flail at the steering while bouncing up and down in his seat...

Video of my fastest run

Never mind, it's a good way to learn!

Already looking forward to the next one at Llandow in May.

Thanks again for the advice above, it definitely helped.

[LordHaveMurci]

Galveston said:

So the car and I survived our first sprint... and we did alright too, 2nd in class A2 (standard series production - List 1A tyres).

I was beaten to the class win (by a third of a second) by a nice chap driving a Clio RS200. We were both a couple of seconds ahead of the rest of the class (all Clio 172/182/197s) and also beat the Clio 172/182s running in the modified classes. I was particularly chuffed after the first practice run when I was 20th overall (of about 65) but I dropped back as the day went on and finished 31st.

My chuffed-ness was eradicated when I got home and downloaded the GoPro. My mental images of nicely aggressive but controlled driving were replaced by the reality of watching a lunatic flail at the steering while bouncing up and down in his seat...

Video of my fastest run

Never mind, it's a good way to learn!

Already looking forward to the next one at Llandow in May.

Thanks again for the advice above, it definitely helped.

Good result, nice one. You're now on a slippery slope

[df76]

Enjoyed the video.. and looks a decent time. Just a shame that the venue is now closed (and I didn't get a chance to try it).

[Trev450]

Well done on your first event. As said, there's no going back now.

[D_G]

Glad you enjoyed it, great video too. Great result for your 1st Sprint, well done.
This weekend was like going back to school, back with all your mates after a long break, had a brilliant two events, roll on the rest of the year!

[carl_w]

Galveston said:

So the car and I survived our first sprint... and we did alright too, 2nd in class A2 (standard series production - List 1A tyres).

I was beaten to the class win (by a third of a second) by a nice chap driving a Clio RS200. We were both a couple of seconds ahead of the rest of the class (all Clio 172/182/197s) and also beat the Clio 172/182s running in the modified classes. I was particularly chuffed after the first practice run when I was 20th overall (of about 65) but I dropped back as the day

Good result for your first outing. Most of my first few were spent working out how I was going to make up the 4+ seconds deficit to the next placed car.

Was the winner a pleasantly spoken chap with a yellow RS200?

I've never done the Hullavington event (I was at Rockingham yesterday) and now it looks like I never will, as apparently the bulldozers go in soon so this was the last one.

[Galveston]

carl_w said:

Was the winner a pleasantly spoken chap with a yellow RS200?

No, a pleasantly spoken chap with a silver RS200. Andrew Bisping.

[Galveston]

I thought it would be nice to update this having completed another three sprints and a hillclimb since my last post.

Llandow #1

A few weeks after the Hullavington event I did the Bristol and Bristol Pegasus Motor Clubs sprint at Llandow. This time the class allowed unto 2600cc (or forced induction equivalent) so I was up against a Lancer, a couple of Fiesta STs, a mental little Toyota Starlet, an Audi S3, a Mini JCW plus a few normally aspirated cars including Andrew Bisping’s Clio RS200 that I’d been neck-and-neck with at Hullavington. Andrew was still on List 1a tyres whereas I was using R888Rs for the first time.

The day started wet which wasn’t ideal for my first experience of the R888Rs, and I was five seconds off Andrew’s pace, but still about 6th in the class of 13. As the day went on I narrowed the gap to Andrew, ending up about a second off his pace. Annoyingly on the last timed run a couple of people found more time than I did and I dropped from 6th to 8th in class. My fastest time was 90.94s. Interestingly (because of what comes later) I was about a second quicker than the Starlet.

Llandow video - May

Llandow #2

At Llandow Andrew had mentioned that he was off to Llys-y-Fran in Pembrokeshire the following day to do a hillclimb, and that the Llandow and Llys-y-Fran events were usually organised as a pair on the same weekend. The events would be run again in July. This sounded like a good plan to me, so on 16th July I got up early and headed off to Llandow once again.

This time Llandow was being organised by a different club and with slightly different rules. I was running in the Standard Production class, using List 1a tyres again. Again the day started wet but this time I was quickest in class by 2.5 seconds in first practice. Andrew narrowed the gap to half a second in second practice as it dried up. It rained again over lunch, and the track was hilariously slippery for the first timed run. Andrew was 0.15s quicker.

Llandow video - July (Wet)

There was more-or-less a dry line for the second and last timed run. I managed a 91.07s, but Andrew sneaked the class win by 0.16s. Git. Despite losing by such a small amount I was more than happy to be second in class and 57th (of 98) overall. Andrew and I were both quicker than the majority of the modified production classes too. Not bad for a 13 year old bog-standard Clio.

Llandow video - July (Dryish)

It’s perhaps interesting at this point to compare times between the two events at Llandow. Andrew was about a second slower than at the first event (the track was still a bit damp in places) but I was only fractionally slower than I’d been on the R888Rs. I’d probably have been a second quicker had the track been dry. Some of that I’m sure will be more experience of the track, but I definitely prefer the way the car handles on the Michelin PS3s - definitely more feelsome, adjustable and confidence-inspiring. I also suppose the R888Rs don’t get much chance to warm-up in a 90 second sprint, but I thought it surprising how quick the PS3s were. Amazing when you consider that they’re only about £50 a corner.

Llys-y-Fran Hillclimb

The next morning we reconvened at Llys-y-Fran reservoir in Pembrokeshire. This was a completely different type of venue, a short hillclimb through the twisty narrow roads of the country park based around the reservoir.

As per the previous day’s event at Llandow I was running in the Standard Production class, this time against a Focus RS (Mk2), Focus ST170, a Puma, a Clio 197, Andrew’s Clio RS200, a 206 GTi 180 and a VW Lupo. Andrew is the class record holder at Llys-y-Fran and I think everyone else in my class had been to Llys-y-Fran before so I was expecting to struggle, especially as the day started wet again…

After Practice 1 I was 5th in class and about 4 seconds behind Andrew. After Practice 2 that was 2nd in class and 1 second behind Andrew. After the first timed run I was three-quarters of a second ahead of Andrew, who’d made a mistake…. All down to the last run…

Llys-y-Fran video

I won by 0.27 seconds.

The long left-hander hadn’t dried up and was really slippery, but I was only 0.25s off Andrew’s class record. I guess the little Cup had a weight advantage over her competitors that helped her up the hill, but I was really chuffed.

Dick Mayo Sprint at Castle Combe

The Dick Mayo Sprint at Castle Combe was the following weekend. Slightly knackered and rather too busy at work, it was only about 8pm on the evening before the event that I had a chance to give the car a quick check over and bolt on the R888Rs.

Although Combe’s my local track I hadn’t driven it before. I’d hoped to do a track day this summer to get familiar but didn’t get a chance. Despite arriving early I didn’t have time to walk the track, so I set off on my first run not really knowing where I was going so was a bit surprised to be 4th of 19 in class after that run. My second run felt infinitely better - I thought I’d found five seconds - but I was amazed that I was only a couple of tenths quicker. Everyone else had improved more so I’d dropped to 6th in class.

I found 1.5 seconds after lunch, but was fractionally slower on my last run - the first time that’s happened - so my first timed run was my best and put me 6th in class and 90th of 153 overall. Not too bad, but after my recent successes I was a bit disappointed. The Starlet I’d beaten by a second at Llandow in May had thrashed me by 4 seconds around a lap of Combe. I reckon I could find a couple of seconds with a few more laps, but not enough to beat the front runners.

Castle Combe video

Anyway, all good fun and I’ll definitely be back for more!