Spire GT3 RGB Racer
Discussion
Hey mate, cheers yeah I know I'm biased but I think my car looks amazing now with the green and yellow/gold bits.
The grid was OK but expected better, there's a few people with personal issues / just couldn't make it so I expect the numbers to improve as the season goes on. We are having a bit more of a social media push too and going to keep sharing footage as is Rich which I hope will help... I honestly don't understand why people race anything else, these cars are so fun to drive and the £/performance beats anything else out there particularly when it comes to running costs. No 1200 quid set of slicks with a cliff edge performance drop off here, one set of AR1 control tyres from polleysport is £395 and theyll do 2-3 race weekends.
Due to us having a couple of wet races last year I did the full season on less than £800 of tyres. All other faster (slicks and wings) championships people are spending nigh on double that in one weekend, not to mention their tuned/hybrid long stroke/big bore busa engines that cost a fortune etc. I've felt for a long time that sports 1000 is one of the best championships out there, I think what we struggle with is USP. Kinda just good on all fronts.. I suppose the USP is bang for buck, but that doesn't always get people starry eyed.
There seemed to be a bit of an exodus not long ago where a lot of people went racing objectively more exotic cars in other multi class championships etc. Still club racing but f
king expensive and arguably a smaller pool of talent, just people with money. The racing apparently not half as good but racing exotic cars in a class of 5 looks good on the gram.
I suppose some people choose a category to race in so they can post about it on social media and look like they're going places.. the rest of us in the know, know it's a complete load of bks 
There's so many people out there now trophy hunting in class championships where there's little to no competition and plastering it all over the place, it honestly boils my piss. Why no one checks the results for themselves is beyond me. Gone off on a tangent here but the point I'm making is that Sports 1000 is as pure as it gets. We have the MKs on the grid at the moment to help them get off the ground but they are a separate "cup", not a class. They are also helping bump our numbers post COVID as things undoubtedly took a hit. So it's a mutual benefit but not the long term plan for either of us.
We also have the sporting cup to keep people interested that are mid pack, essentially if you score a overall podium you get knocked out of it. Generally 4th-6th overall is 1st-3rd in sporting cup.
So there's something for everyone, but the main prize is a prize that means something and not one that will come easily.
Fingers crossed people see just how amazing these cars are both in accessibility and performance and there's a bit of a resurgence. I am very passionate about this as you can probably tell
The grid was OK but expected better, there's a few people with personal issues / just couldn't make it so I expect the numbers to improve as the season goes on. We are having a bit more of a social media push too and going to keep sharing footage as is Rich which I hope will help... I honestly don't understand why people race anything else, these cars are so fun to drive and the £/performance beats anything else out there particularly when it comes to running costs. No 1200 quid set of slicks with a cliff edge performance drop off here, one set of AR1 control tyres from polleysport is £395 and theyll do 2-3 race weekends.
Due to us having a couple of wet races last year I did the full season on less than £800 of tyres. All other faster (slicks and wings) championships people are spending nigh on double that in one weekend, not to mention their tuned/hybrid long stroke/big bore busa engines that cost a fortune etc. I've felt for a long time that sports 1000 is one of the best championships out there, I think what we struggle with is USP. Kinda just good on all fronts.. I suppose the USP is bang for buck, but that doesn't always get people starry eyed.
There seemed to be a bit of an exodus not long ago where a lot of people went racing objectively more exotic cars in other multi class championships etc. Still club racing but f
king expensive and arguably a smaller pool of talent, just people with money. The racing apparently not half as good but racing exotic cars in a class of 5 looks good on the gram. I suppose some people choose a category to race in so they can post about it on social media and look like they're going places.. the rest of us in the know, know it's a complete load of b
ks There's so many people out there now trophy hunting in class championships where there's little to no competition and plastering it all over the place, it honestly boils my piss. Why no one checks the results for themselves is beyond me. Gone off on a tangent here but the point I'm making is that Sports 1000 is as pure as it gets. We have the MKs on the grid at the moment to help them get off the ground but they are a separate "cup", not a class. They are also helping bump our numbers post COVID as things undoubtedly took a hit. So it's a mutual benefit but not the long term plan for either of us.
We also have the sporting cup to keep people interested that are mid pack, essentially if you score a overall podium you get knocked out of it. Generally 4th-6th overall is 1st-3rd in sporting cup.
So there's something for everyone, but the main prize is a prize that means something and not one that will come easily.
Fingers crossed people see just how amazing these cars are both in accessibility and performance and there's a bit of a resurgence. I am very passionate about this as you can probably tell
Edited by Yazza54 on Tuesday 23 April 20:39
The side of being a traditional run yourself clubbie that no one sees!
This week was this Yarrow Racing bangbus MOT, a time I fear every year because there's always something that comes up. Last year was some anti knock bushes on the front torsion bars that literally do nothing and perish for fun on these Ivecos. I got a particularly jobsworth type and he failed it .. so I wrote to VOSA and they agreed with me that it was an advisory at best and of no detriment to the vehicle and gave me a pass. I fought the law and all that!
It's much more stringent on a HGV and I always fear the smoke test, revving the absolute tits off a big diesel in neutral, just horrible.
So this year it absolutely sailed through until the dreaded smoke test. The guy was really sound and gave me a few goes, it was getting better each time but struggling probably due to general lack of use. He was adamant I should floor it and hold it down which felt horrible, anyway... On the final attempt the fan ripped itself to bits and took out the radiator.
So I'm 30 mins from home with a HGV that's just dumped all it's coolant. I can only think that the viscous clutch fan kicked in when the engine was already at high RPM and had to go from nothing to flat out in an instant and it just shed all it's blades through the rad.
I pleaded with the MOT place for a quiet corner to work on it, as recovering would cost a fortune. They were quite helpful, probably because I'm a private owner and there's no money to be made out of me but either way it was a big help.
My old man came out to give me a hand and my Mrs went to collect a rad for me. Got it all fitted and back up and running in about 90 minutes, luckily it's an easy job and I was driving the vehicle that carrys all my tools!!
Went back the next day and passed the smoke test pretty easily. I realised that 3/4 throttle it sailed under by miles, also it had been for a good run before etc so that probably helped.
So the MOT was £150 ISH, rad £180 and then £47 for re test... Expensive week.
Relieved to have that done for another year.
It had an old AC rad that has never worked mounted Infront of the rad so I ditched that but kept the spal fans off it. I managed to figure out how they are wired and used the old clutch fan switch to trigger the relays that work the two spal fans. Would rather have had them behind the rad but they are push fans so had to go Infront. A replacement clutch fan was £280 so I said no thanks to that...!
The upshot of the new rad and fans is that it actually is better than it was before especially without a crusty old AC rad blocking it. I may reinstate AC later on with a new rad in a better location but for two half days work I'm proud to have the thing back in working order.
All in good time for Silverstone National next week.... Not my favourite track but it does normally produce some fast and close racing with it being quite a basic layout. Here's a fast lap from the last time I went there..
I have been busy on the car too, gearing change, new chain, oil and filter, general prep and full string line plus some setup changes to try and aid a bit of grip as I was spinning up a lot at Croft. Also had a little extra capacity added to my fuel tank as last time I did Silverstone national I got fuel surge on the last lap and lost the lead... It's worse than every other circuit for this as it's flat out for such a large % of the lap.
I'll post up the timetable when it's released... There's no live stream but they are doing some paddock videos / interviews etc that'll be up on the main 750MC Facebook page and the live timing will be on TSL.
This week was this Yarrow Racing bangbus MOT, a time I fear every year because there's always something that comes up. Last year was some anti knock bushes on the front torsion bars that literally do nothing and perish for fun on these Ivecos. I got a particularly jobsworth type and he failed it .. so I wrote to VOSA and they agreed with me that it was an advisory at best and of no detriment to the vehicle and gave me a pass. I fought the law and all that!
It's much more stringent on a HGV and I always fear the smoke test, revving the absolute tits off a big diesel in neutral, just horrible.
So this year it absolutely sailed through until the dreaded smoke test. The guy was really sound and gave me a few goes, it was getting better each time but struggling probably due to general lack of use. He was adamant I should floor it and hold it down which felt horrible, anyway... On the final attempt the fan ripped itself to bits and took out the radiator.
So I'm 30 mins from home with a HGV that's just dumped all it's coolant. I can only think that the viscous clutch fan kicked in when the engine was already at high RPM and had to go from nothing to flat out in an instant and it just shed all it's blades through the rad.
I pleaded with the MOT place for a quiet corner to work on it, as recovering would cost a fortune. They were quite helpful, probably because I'm a private owner and there's no money to be made out of me but either way it was a big help.
My old man came out to give me a hand and my Mrs went to collect a rad for me. Got it all fitted and back up and running in about 90 minutes, luckily it's an easy job and I was driving the vehicle that carrys all my tools!!
Went back the next day and passed the smoke test pretty easily. I realised that 3/4 throttle it sailed under by miles, also it had been for a good run before etc so that probably helped.
So the MOT was £150 ISH, rad £180 and then £47 for re test... Expensive week.
Relieved to have that done for another year.
It had an old AC rad that has never worked mounted Infront of the rad so I ditched that but kept the spal fans off it. I managed to figure out how they are wired and used the old clutch fan switch to trigger the relays that work the two spal fans. Would rather have had them behind the rad but they are push fans so had to go Infront. A replacement clutch fan was £280 so I said no thanks to that...!
The upshot of the new rad and fans is that it actually is better than it was before especially without a crusty old AC rad blocking it. I may reinstate AC later on with a new rad in a better location but for two half days work I'm proud to have the thing back in working order.
All in good time for Silverstone National next week.... Not my favourite track but it does normally produce some fast and close racing with it being quite a basic layout. Here's a fast lap from the last time I went there..
I have been busy on the car too, gearing change, new chain, oil and filter, general prep and full string line plus some setup changes to try and aid a bit of grip as I was spinning up a lot at Croft. Also had a little extra capacity added to my fuel tank as last time I did Silverstone national I got fuel surge on the last lap and lost the lead... It's worse than every other circuit for this as it's flat out for such a large % of the lap.
I'll post up the timetable when it's released... There's no live stream but they are doing some paddock videos / interviews etc that'll be up on the main 750MC Facebook page and the live timing will be on TSL.
Morning all
Silverstone national was this weekend just gone.
Qualified P1
Race 1 - P1
Race 2 P1 ...but demoted to 2nd...
Qualifying was hard work. I was watching my pit board and was switching between P1 and 2 regularly.... 3 times I was significantly under my best lap and got mis shift from 2nd to 3rd. I managed to pull out a decent lap at the end to take pole by a tenth and this time I used the clutch from 2nd to 3rd to make damn sure it shifted.
I've had this issue before and had a good idea what it could be, frustratingly it actually looked like a slightly defective honda part when removed but anyway, got that fixed and spent some time inspecting the clutch too before race 1 as I had a fair bit of time to do it.
Race 1 - car was idling a bit lumpy towards the line, and I wasnt really properly paying attention.. stopped and turned the car off and re started it which seemed to sort it.. and then realised that I'd ballsed up and ended up lining up slightly angled towards the outside of the track... Silverstone is a bit annoying as pole is outside and basically gives advantage to P2 with no stagger. Poor start and slotted into 2nd. I really wish I had some decent onboard footage to show you guys of this but my camera came loose and was rattling around.
I made the move once but found a back marker on the apex and had to do it again, same place but this time around the outside.
Video here from the grandstand:
https://youtube.com/shorts/DtLrVxEbE_g?feature=sha...
The car in third joined the party and sandwiched us a bit but ultimately I made sure I was fully alongside after committing to the outside and the inside was totally mine and fair game. After this the two behind had a bit of a "skirmish" and that was that, finished P1 with a big lead.
One of the marshalls reported the incident about the middle car being sandwiched, had to report to the clerks office after... Would be the first of two visits of the weekend..! No issues for me, the car on the outside was given a warning for leaving no space. I had no space to give obviously and was fully alongside. As far as I'm concerned it was a bloody good move and that's that.
Anyway race 2 - MUCH better start this time but with it being so hot I set my car up to be better later on and struggled for grip initially and got overtaken. As I got comfortable I diced with the leader numerous times and eventually made a move stick and managed to build a bit of a gap and dealy with traffic as best I could.
Then it got tricky... We had 3 separate cars off the track in the section between brooklands and woodcote. I caught and passed one car before the yellows then stumbled across two cars I was coming up to lap into Nuffield, I slowed and got off the throttle and braked normally into the corner and one of the two I was following slowed more and moved totally offline which effectively forced me through - so here I am with a comfortable lead that I have had to work really fking hard to get, and I've just been seen overtaking under yellows.
I got 3 points and a convenient 3.5s penalty, obviously chosen because I had a 3s lead - talk about making it up as you go along.
Clearly the clerks think it would be safer to slam on and follow the other car with no consideration to what's behind?
It would have had no bearing on the outcome, I gained the lead a few laps earlier and it was unintentional. To not only lose the win but to get my first ever penalty points for this I think is a disgrace but hey ho. st happens. I was going to appeal it but they are very computer says no about these things and I just wanted to go home.
The upshot is I am now a hell of a lot more motivated now than I was before, so maybe it'll do me some good.. and ultimately I take pride in winning on the track.
For such a simple circuit I learned a lot about the car and the Ar1 tyres this weekend. I also finished the race 10kg over having put weight on again and now I feel that extra bit of oomph to sort myself out.
Onwards and upwards. I'll post the race 2 video later, just had to vent this now ha!!
Silverstone national was this weekend just gone.
Qualified P1
Race 1 - P1
Race 2 P1 ...but demoted to 2nd...
Qualifying was hard work. I was watching my pit board and was switching between P1 and 2 regularly.... 3 times I was significantly under my best lap and got mis shift from 2nd to 3rd. I managed to pull out a decent lap at the end to take pole by a tenth and this time I used the clutch from 2nd to 3rd to make damn sure it shifted.
I've had this issue before and had a good idea what it could be, frustratingly it actually looked like a slightly defective honda part when removed but anyway, got that fixed and spent some time inspecting the clutch too before race 1 as I had a fair bit of time to do it.
Race 1 - car was idling a bit lumpy towards the line, and I wasnt really properly paying attention.. stopped and turned the car off and re started it which seemed to sort it.. and then realised that I'd ballsed up and ended up lining up slightly angled towards the outside of the track... Silverstone is a bit annoying as pole is outside and basically gives advantage to P2 with no stagger. Poor start and slotted into 2nd. I really wish I had some decent onboard footage to show you guys of this but my camera came loose and was rattling around.
I made the move once but found a back marker on the apex and had to do it again, same place but this time around the outside.
Video here from the grandstand:
https://youtube.com/shorts/DtLrVxEbE_g?feature=sha...
The car in third joined the party and sandwiched us a bit but ultimately I made sure I was fully alongside after committing to the outside and the inside was totally mine and fair game. After this the two behind had a bit of a "skirmish" and that was that, finished P1 with a big lead.
One of the marshalls reported the incident about the middle car being sandwiched, had to report to the clerks office after... Would be the first of two visits of the weekend..! No issues for me, the car on the outside was given a warning for leaving no space. I had no space to give obviously and was fully alongside. As far as I'm concerned it was a bloody good move and that's that.
Anyway race 2 - MUCH better start this time but with it being so hot I set my car up to be better later on and struggled for grip initially and got overtaken. As I got comfortable I diced with the leader numerous times and eventually made a move stick and managed to build a bit of a gap and dealy with traffic as best I could.
Then it got tricky... We had 3 separate cars off the track in the section between brooklands and woodcote. I caught and passed one car before the yellows then stumbled across two cars I was coming up to lap into Nuffield, I slowed and got off the throttle and braked normally into the corner and one of the two I was following slowed more and moved totally offline which effectively forced me through - so here I am with a comfortable lead that I have had to work really f
king hard to get, and I've just been seen overtaking under yellows. I got 3 points and a convenient 3.5s penalty, obviously chosen because I had a 3s lead - talk about making it up as you go along.
Clearly the clerks think it would be safer to slam on and follow the other car with no consideration to what's behind?
It would have had no bearing on the outcome, I gained the lead a few laps earlier and it was unintentional. To not only lose the win but to get my first ever penalty points for this I think is a disgrace but hey ho. s
t happens. I was going to appeal it but they are very computer says no about these things and I just wanted to go home. The upshot is I am now a hell of a lot more motivated now than I was before, so maybe it'll do me some good.. and ultimately I take pride in winning on the track.
For such a simple circuit I learned a lot about the car and the Ar1 tyres this weekend. I also finished the race 10kg over having put weight on again and now I feel that extra bit of oomph to sort myself out.
Onwards and upwards. I'll post the race 2 video later, just had to vent this now ha!!
Edited by Yazza54 on Monday 20th May 09:03
SpudLink said:
Shame about loosing the 2nd win, but unfortunate decisions by stewards seem to be as much a part of the sport as punctures and mechanical failures.
Watched the video (despite the formatting not working). 1st attempt looked a bit too 'exciting', but well caught. The 2nd looked very well planned.
Yes I had observed for a number of laps that I was much stronger on corner entry and once I committed I had to really make sure I drove around him to make it stick. Watched the video (despite the formatting not working). 1st attempt looked a bit too 'exciting', but well caught. The 2nd looked very well planned.
The first was annoying finding a back marker sat on the apex but s
t happens. 
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