great opening weekends racing
Discussion
really good to see everyone again, not a bad turn out, cars all looked awesome at the start anyway, felt for all those that had problems but glad everyone was not hurt in the fires, always a scary part of motor racing, well done to the marshals and hope both cars are not too damaged, I won't be at Rockingham as it's the American Speed Festival at Brands, hope all goes ok, see you all at Snett hopefully.
yeah Nice to be back in the saddle its been a too long.
It wasnt until friday afternoon that we actually finally decided to go as we were not 100% happy with the car from an engine malady we've been chasing all year..
TBH i wasnt sure we'd make it past qually on sunday..
With sharing the Car I went out first in an other session to do 3 laps keeping out of the way of everyone and it felt ok, although not at full speed so I didnt spoil any ones qually time.
In the TVR qually my mate managed 3 laps before a battery issue cut the engine going into brooklands and then went from 0 to 300 bhp as he turned into luffield pitching him into the kitty litter....
A battery change ( good job my battery pack has exactly the same battery !) and a quick reset on the geometry later and we were ready for the 40 min Race.
Im not sure which was worse in the holding area, My mate sitting in my car or me having to watch... after the race start it felt very weird sitting in the now empty garage fully kitted up waiting for my car to come in. Then suddenly it was in and I have to jump in and get strapped in. a quick shout that there is oil down at Copse and Im off the tyres hot and everything up to temp so its straight on it. The suspension still really had a base setup for slicks and the treaded tyres not liking it much so I think I won the Brooklands drifting competition !! The car was going ok but it wouldnt rev past 5600 so were having to short shift a little.
We weren't running a pit board so I didnt know it but we did make it up to 3rd at one point when a few others had spins etc. Then coming out of luffield I got a zero oil pressure warning so instantly cut the engine and rolled to a halt.
Once back in the pits the problem was clear the serpentine belt had snapped and flung off the oil pump belt. new belts on and she fired straight back up with no problems.
A little gutting but we had still had a good run..
Sunday was the detc race, and 18 TVRs and a Caterham lined up qually. which was to say interesting with 2 cars on fire and lots of oil down at Brooklands. I pitted for a pressure heck on the new tyres and then went out for one more lap , the engine was still limiting to 5.6k rpm and it didnt feel quite right so i dived straight back in the pits as the red flag came out...
I though it might be coil packs so we went to swap them, but did a plug check and compression test first and with zero on number one, called it a day so started to pull the engine apart. looks like it should just be a refresh on the heads and maybe a new valve/guide.
We also had some helpers this weekend who had never been to a race meeting before, a work colleague and her husband and the a mate of my dads son and his mate. They all thoroughly enjoyed it and felt welcomed by all the teams.
This weekend as also a great example of how everyone mucks in to help everyone. Tim Lent me some belts as we knew mine were out of date, Mat lent Mike a Distributor and tools and spares were going in all directions.
Like TIm my next outing will Be the Speedfest, so I'll see the detc runners at snett or Angelsey
G
It wasnt until friday afternoon that we actually finally decided to go as we were not 100% happy with the car from an engine malady we've been chasing all year..
TBH i wasnt sure we'd make it past qually on sunday..
With sharing the Car I went out first in an other session to do 3 laps keeping out of the way of everyone and it felt ok, although not at full speed so I didnt spoil any ones qually time.
In the TVR qually my mate managed 3 laps before a battery issue cut the engine going into brooklands and then went from 0 to 300 bhp as he turned into luffield pitching him into the kitty litter....
A battery change ( good job my battery pack has exactly the same battery !) and a quick reset on the geometry later and we were ready for the 40 min Race.
Im not sure which was worse in the holding area, My mate sitting in my car or me having to watch... after the race start it felt very weird sitting in the now empty garage fully kitted up waiting for my car to come in. Then suddenly it was in and I have to jump in and get strapped in. a quick shout that there is oil down at Copse and Im off the tyres hot and everything up to temp so its straight on it. The suspension still really had a base setup for slicks and the treaded tyres not liking it much so I think I won the Brooklands drifting competition !! The car was going ok but it wouldnt rev past 5600 so were having to short shift a little.
We weren't running a pit board so I didnt know it but we did make it up to 3rd at one point when a few others had spins etc. Then coming out of luffield I got a zero oil pressure warning so instantly cut the engine and rolled to a halt.
Once back in the pits the problem was clear the serpentine belt had snapped and flung off the oil pump belt. new belts on and she fired straight back up with no problems.
A little gutting but we had still had a good run..
Sunday was the detc race, and 18 TVRs and a Caterham lined up qually. which was to say interesting with 2 cars on fire and lots of oil down at Brooklands. I pitted for a pressure heck on the new tyres and then went out for one more lap , the engine was still limiting to 5.6k rpm and it didnt feel quite right so i dived straight back in the pits as the red flag came out...
I though it might be coil packs so we went to swap them, but did a plug check and compression test first and with zero on number one, called it a day so started to pull the engine apart. looks like it should just be a refresh on the heads and maybe a new valve/guide.
We also had some helpers this weekend who had never been to a race meeting before, a work colleague and her husband and the a mate of my dads son and his mate. They all thoroughly enjoyed it and felt welcomed by all the teams.
This weekend as also a great example of how everyone mucks in to help everyone. Tim Lent me some belts as we knew mine were out of date, Mat lent Mike a Distributor and tools and spares were going in all directions.
Like TIm my next outing will Be the Speedfest, so I'll see the detc runners at snett or Angelsey
G
Still glad to have been there and see everyone - despite the smoke 
- would have loved to get on the grid, i watched some of the first race then got off home to wash car down.
The bodywork on the Purple car is only slightly singed - unlike my wallet which has taken some heat with the Red Rover engine fault and now this,so going to have to miss a couple of Rounds.
Will be at Rockingham to watch and help out.
We're aiming to be back racing for Anglesey with a fresh engine in the Purple car where normal service will be resumed
.
- would have loved to get on the grid, i watched some of the first race then got off home to wash car down.The bodywork on the Purple car is only slightly singed - unlike my wallet which has taken some heat with the Red Rover engine fault and now this,so going to have to miss a couple of Rounds.
Will be at Rockingham to watch and help out.
We're aiming to be back racing for Anglesey with a fresh engine in the Purple car where normal service will be resumed
.It was fun to see everyone in good form at the start of term and we thought the meeting went pretty well. Friday started with brake failure on the VW Mini Artic coming off the M1!! Luckily Colin and Tina brought the car up so with less weight and some serious pumping of the pedal we got there, then the battery went flat!! Many thanks to Colin for freeing the stuck caliper that had boiled the brake fluid and we now know that leaving the electric trailer brakes on and running the cool box from the cigarette lighter all day long is not a good idea.
The Hui's had a long weekend with testing on Friday. The weather was brilliant so hanging around on Saturday to watch the lads in Bernie's V8s was a pleasant day. My crash hat even did the race as I lent it to Ian Wilson whose hat didn't have the correct stickers on. Ian's Tasmin Speed Six went well on its first outing and it would be good to see it in the Challenge.
Unfortunately we thought testing had resolved the fueling problem that stopped No 3 in race one. We think we've got that sussed now and race 2 was much better.
Really sorry for Darren and Dave and Jamie who got a scalded foot when his car boiled in practice and then suffered a broken diff. I hope the cars are not too badly damaged and that we see you all soon. All the cars looked fantastic but it was a shame to see so many problems. Brilliant fastest lap to Dean in Race 2. With a 4.5 AJP that was very impressive and Tim's laps were pretty special in a Rover powered Tuscan.
Sorry to see that there are a few people who won't be at Rockingham. We will be there and hoping to see as many people as possible turn out for the races.
The Hui's had a long weekend with testing on Friday. The weather was brilliant so hanging around on Saturday to watch the lads in Bernie's V8s was a pleasant day. My crash hat even did the race as I lent it to Ian Wilson whose hat didn't have the correct stickers on. Ian's Tasmin Speed Six went well on its first outing and it would be good to see it in the Challenge.
Unfortunately we thought testing had resolved the fueling problem that stopped No 3 in race one. We think we've got that sussed now and race 2 was much better.
Really sorry for Darren and Dave and Jamie who got a scalded foot when his car boiled in practice and then suffered a broken diff. I hope the cars are not too badly damaged and that we see you all soon. All the cars looked fantastic but it was a shame to see so many problems. Brilliant fastest lap to Dean in Race 2. With a 4.5 AJP that was very impressive and Tim's laps were pretty special in a Rover powered Tuscan.
Sorry to see that there are a few people who won't be at Rockingham. We will be there and hoping to see as many people as possible turn out for the races.
I was so disappointed not to be there! Car tested well Thursday morning and then I heard a noise from the new engine... Tried to get it sorted in time but couldn't find anything wrong!
Turns out the shells had started to brake up! Nothing to serious so will be back testing soon. Speedfest next. Will also try to do Anglesey.
Mike
Turns out the shells had started to brake up! Nothing to serious so will be back testing soon. Speedfest next. Will also try to do Anglesey.
Mike
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