ADR Sport 2 Sports Racer
Discussion
Only 7 Sport 2 models were built, according to Adrian. He knows one was written off, so that leaves 6. You have one, I have one and I've been in touch with someone else who has one that now has a different body. There's also this white one, these two in the US and that silver-bodied rolling chassis that was up for sale for ages. I think that's all of them!
Andy
I thought there were twice as many built. I dont think any actually went to the USA. The chassis couldnt be certified for SCCA events, a situation which prompted the redesigned chassis that was the ADR 3. The photo of the blue and black cars was, I believe, taken outside their old factory in Maidenhead. Even those two have got different chassis as evidenced by forward stays from the roll hoop on one of the cars.
Simon
I thought there were twice as many built. I dont think any actually went to the USA. The chassis couldnt be certified for SCCA events, a situation which prompted the redesigned chassis that was the ADR 3. The photo of the blue and black cars was, I believe, taken outside their old factory in Maidenhead. Even those two have got different chassis as evidenced by forward stays from the roll hoop on one of the cars.
Simon
I got those figures directly from Adrian. He may not have recalled correctly at the time. I don't think any two of the cars were the same as they enjoyed rapid development. The amount of work required to bring my car up to ADR3 spec at the front was more than even Adrian had remembered. I believe there were a few more cars of the previous models (1000/750f) and there are over 30 ADR3 models spread across the world.
Winter Update 2013: Part 2
The RaceCapture/Pro has been upgraded to the latest firmware and I'm on the beta test list for v2.0, which is imminent. I've yet to fit any extra sensors, but I'm hoping to get some students from Bridgwater College to fit them. Adding to the front aero from the previous update is some wheelarch vents. They reduce pressure in the wheel arch, reducing lift.
To balance out all this aero at the front, I had a mould made for the rear diffuser, although the diffuser wasn't ready for the first round at Clay Pigeon. It wouldn't have helped there, so it made no odds! Clay Pigeon was a bit of a struggle as the charging system wasn't working as I discovered after flattening my main pack and the spare. I finally got the car running (and I think I broke the Sports Libre record too), but the two packs were dead. I ordered a new lithium pack to replace them, which has an integral button for showing charge status. It's a bit short on grunt, so this one doesn't start the engine at all. Anyway, back to the diffuser, I finally had it fitted for Llandow, which let me remove some of the stiffening braces for the rear wing to reduce weight. Here's the new mould on the left next to the old floor on the right. Chunky!
The RaceCapture/Pro has been upgraded to the latest firmware and I'm on the beta test list for v2.0, which is imminent. I've yet to fit any extra sensors, but I'm hoping to get some students from Bridgwater College to fit them. Adding to the front aero from the previous update is some wheelarch vents. They reduce pressure in the wheel arch, reducing lift.
To balance out all this aero at the front, I had a mould made for the rear diffuser, although the diffuser wasn't ready for the first round at Clay Pigeon. It wouldn't have helped there, so it made no odds! Clay Pigeon was a bit of a struggle as the charging system wasn't working as I discovered after flattening my main pack and the spare. I finally got the car running (and I think I broke the Sports Libre record too), but the two packs were dead. I ordered a new lithium pack to replace them, which has an integral button for showing charge status. It's a bit short on grunt, so this one doesn't start the engine at all. Anyway, back to the diffuser, I finally had it fitted for Llandow, which let me remove some of the stiffening braces for the rear wing to reduce weight. Here's the new mould on the left next to the old floor on the right. Chunky!
Motorsport at the Palace 2014
You may have twigged that I have skipped over the Llandow Sprint. That's mainly because I have no data as the battery was deader than I thought and I'd not replaced it at this point. The day ended with a 2nd in class pot and a snapped chain after just 8 starts - the company that did my spanner check over the winter and fitted the new chain didn't understand the importance of a good one and fitted something cheap! I bought two DID X-ring chains and cut them to make 3 chains - the benefit of a short chain. I also had the car corner-weighted and a full geo setup at Bridgwater College, who did a great job of telling me the car was heavier than I thought. The bad news was 475kg wet with some fuel in and 43.7% front with me in it.
I do enjoy Crystal Palace. The atmosphere is so relaxed and everyone seems to have fun. I again entered for both days and found myself up against Rob Hume in his Van Diemen and David Seaton in his BMW-powered Pilbeam. Sunday was beautiful weather, as we've come to expect, but I couldn't get my head in gear. I took the class win by a narrow margin from David, despite having the floor peeled off the car on the way to the start line by the matting used to ensure the grass didn't get churned into mud. Several marshals (including a fabricator of 30 years) pushed me out of the way and repaired the car over their lunch break. To all of you (and the organising team for giving me a practice run after lunch), I am very grateful. Scott Boulton took a bunch of brilliant photos.
So where did I lose the time? Buzzing the limiter into the first corner cost me 4mph from running too short ratios and my apex speed at the first corner was down by 3mph. Acceleration through turn 2 was much better and I took the corner flat for the first time, getting that lost time back. Buzzing the limiter again cost me some time down to Big Tree Hairpin and a slightly slower apex speed cost me time through such a long, slow corner. Again, peak speed down the straight was down, partly because of a missed shift, and I was very slow on the first apex of the chicane. Another attack of the limiter cost me time down to North Tower and I was a whole 5mph down before braking into the corner. Lots of time was lost being tentative through North Tower and that, on the whole, explains why I was so slow this year.
On the Monday, the heavens opened and flooded the paddock. The cars were lined up on the return road and the track shortened to compensate. The others in Sports Libre mainly gave up, but I soldiered on, despite my wets that had been purchased from a shelf where they'd sat since being taken from a Formula Renault in 2004. Rob Capper was the only fast single seater and he clipped the bank at Big Tree Hairpin in practice, so I sniffed a chance of my first FTD. In the first timed run, the heavens opened just after the roadgoing classes had gone out on a damp track. A Subaru Impreza and Nissan GTR went quicker than me by some margin, but my run was scrappy at best. I could go quicker. On the second run, I was sat in the car as it was drying out and I was debating slicks. Then a Datsun took out a tree and the 20 minutes lost left time for the rain to come down. I pushed too hard, locked the front up and slid into the barriers at Big Tree Hairpin, smashing the front clamshell, the splitter and all the body mounts. At least I won the class! Scott Boulton managed to get a photo as I locked up.
You may have twigged that I have skipped over the Llandow Sprint. That's mainly because I have no data as the battery was deader than I thought and I'd not replaced it at this point. The day ended with a 2nd in class pot and a snapped chain after just 8 starts - the company that did my spanner check over the winter and fitted the new chain didn't understand the importance of a good one and fitted something cheap! I bought two DID X-ring chains and cut them to make 3 chains - the benefit of a short chain. I also had the car corner-weighted and a full geo setup at Bridgwater College, who did a great job of telling me the car was heavier than I thought. The bad news was 475kg wet with some fuel in and 43.7% front with me in it.
I do enjoy Crystal Palace. The atmosphere is so relaxed and everyone seems to have fun. I again entered for both days and found myself up against Rob Hume in his Van Diemen and David Seaton in his BMW-powered Pilbeam. Sunday was beautiful weather, as we've come to expect, but I couldn't get my head in gear. I took the class win by a narrow margin from David, despite having the floor peeled off the car on the way to the start line by the matting used to ensure the grass didn't get churned into mud. Several marshals (including a fabricator of 30 years) pushed me out of the way and repaired the car over their lunch break. To all of you (and the organising team for giving me a practice run after lunch), I am very grateful. Scott Boulton took a bunch of brilliant photos.
So where did I lose the time? Buzzing the limiter into the first corner cost me 4mph from running too short ratios and my apex speed at the first corner was down by 3mph. Acceleration through turn 2 was much better and I took the corner flat for the first time, getting that lost time back. Buzzing the limiter again cost me some time down to Big Tree Hairpin and a slightly slower apex speed cost me time through such a long, slow corner. Again, peak speed down the straight was down, partly because of a missed shift, and I was very slow on the first apex of the chicane. Another attack of the limiter cost me time down to North Tower and I was a whole 5mph down before braking into the corner. Lots of time was lost being tentative through North Tower and that, on the whole, explains why I was so slow this year.
On the Monday, the heavens opened and flooded the paddock. The cars were lined up on the return road and the track shortened to compensate. The others in Sports Libre mainly gave up, but I soldiered on, despite my wets that had been purchased from a shelf where they'd sat since being taken from a Formula Renault in 2004. Rob Capper was the only fast single seater and he clipped the bank at Big Tree Hairpin in practice, so I sniffed a chance of my first FTD. In the first timed run, the heavens opened just after the roadgoing classes had gone out on a damp track. A Subaru Impreza and Nissan GTR went quicker than me by some margin, but my run was scrappy at best. I could go quicker. On the second run, I was sat in the car as it was drying out and I was debating slicks. Then a Datsun took out a tree and the 20 minutes lost left time for the rain to come down. I pushed too hard, locked the front up and slid into the barriers at Big Tree Hairpin, smashing the front clamshell, the splitter and all the body mounts. At least I won the class! Scott Boulton managed to get a photo as I locked up.
The Abingdon CAR-nival is a pretty hectic day for sprinting. Scrutineering, signing on and the drivers' briefing are half a mile from the paddock and there's a convoy run, two practice runs and two timed runs before lunch. After lunch, there's another convoy run, two practice runs and two timed runs on a different course. The day started dry, but it soon turned to rain, which became so bad that they halted the event for 45 minutes as the first corner was barely visible and water was flowing through the paddock. My boots have since fallen apart! A tentative morning after my Crystal Palace crash in the wet left me chasing the class lead, half a second behind, so as it dried out in the afternoon (bright sunshine and bone dry) it was all to play for. A good run put me comfortably in the lead and I was lucky enough to receive my trophy from John Watson!
To understand how I went at Abingdon this year, let's compare with last year. Initially, I made a better start in 2013, but the 2014 gearing was shorter and I was travelling faster within 70 metres of the start. Last year's car ran the low rear wing, whilst I ran with maximum rear wing in 2014 with the wing in its high up position and the flap at maximum angle. The rate of acceleration slowed and 200m into the course at less than 90mph, the 2013 car was going quicker. The 2014 car had pulled just half a tenth in this period of better acceleration. By the time I hopped on the brakes in 2013, I'd gained quarter of a second in just 350 metres.
This is where the time was gained. I was far braver (60 metres braver) on the brakes into the chicane. This gave me an overspeed of some 15mph during the braking zone and netting 1.13 seconds before the apex. A slower exit from a poor line through the right-hand of the chicane led to a speed difference onto the straight, even though much of the speed difference was pulled back by the straight. I presume a wider exit cost time on the final left in 2013 and that allied to the greater downforce and shorter ratios in 2014 closed the gap. The gap in speed carried on all down the straight, costing 0.33 seconds in 2014.
I was again far faster in 2014 on the way into the corner. On this run, I dragged the brakes slightly, scrubbing off 27mph by the apex, but being 9mph faster than 2013 at best. Apex speed was almost identical, but I did have tremendous understeer in 2014 suggesting that the high downforce setting was bringing the centre of pressure too far rearwards. I'll try a lower wing angle at a later date, which will reduce leverage on the front, hopefully giving more overall grip and lower drag. Another run showed a 4mph advantage in apex speed, suggesting I was also off the boil on that run. The later braking gave a tenth.
Helpfully, my data logger made this year's best run a few tenths quicker than last year's. Given that the official timing made last year's a 44.85 and this year's a 44.59, I think we can say that's within tolerance. Sadly, I don't have data from my best run last year, which was a second quicker than the reference lap shown here, but there's enough information here to say that the high downforce configuration is considerably slower as a much better drive resulted in a time just a few tenths quicker. Next year, I shall revert to a lower downforce configuration. It is worth noting that despite a further year of (ab)use on the same tyres, that apex speeds seem remarkably consistent.
To understand how I went at Abingdon this year, let's compare with last year. Initially, I made a better start in 2013, but the 2014 gearing was shorter and I was travelling faster within 70 metres of the start. Last year's car ran the low rear wing, whilst I ran with maximum rear wing in 2014 with the wing in its high up position and the flap at maximum angle. The rate of acceleration slowed and 200m into the course at less than 90mph, the 2013 car was going quicker. The 2014 car had pulled just half a tenth in this period of better acceleration. By the time I hopped on the brakes in 2013, I'd gained quarter of a second in just 350 metres.
This is where the time was gained. I was far braver (60 metres braver) on the brakes into the chicane. This gave me an overspeed of some 15mph during the braking zone and netting 1.13 seconds before the apex. A slower exit from a poor line through the right-hand of the chicane led to a speed difference onto the straight, even though much of the speed difference was pulled back by the straight. I presume a wider exit cost time on the final left in 2013 and that allied to the greater downforce and shorter ratios in 2014 closed the gap. The gap in speed carried on all down the straight, costing 0.33 seconds in 2014.
I was again far faster in 2014 on the way into the corner. On this run, I dragged the brakes slightly, scrubbing off 27mph by the apex, but being 9mph faster than 2013 at best. Apex speed was almost identical, but I did have tremendous understeer in 2014 suggesting that the high downforce setting was bringing the centre of pressure too far rearwards. I'll try a lower wing angle at a later date, which will reduce leverage on the front, hopefully giving more overall grip and lower drag. Another run showed a 4mph advantage in apex speed, suggesting I was also off the boil on that run. The later braking gave a tenth.
Helpfully, my data logger made this year's best run a few tenths quicker than last year's. Given that the official timing made last year's a 44.85 and this year's a 44.59, I think we can say that's within tolerance. Sadly, I don't have data from my best run last year, which was a second quicker than the reference lap shown here, but there's enough information here to say that the high downforce configuration is considerably slower as a much better drive resulted in a time just a few tenths quicker. Next year, I shall revert to a lower downforce configuration. It is worth noting that despite a further year of (ab)use on the same tyres, that apex speeds seem remarkably consistent.
After several years of sprinting and spectating at Prescott Hillclimb, I thought it was about time I tried the other side of the fence. I booked the first day of Longton DMC's first event at Prescott. Walking up the hill in the morning, I realised it's quite different from the tarmac versus the lawns. What struck me was the gradient that is not apparent until you walk it. I realise that sounds daft, like saying the most amazing thing about The Leaning Tower of Pisa is how much it leans, but it really is.
I struggled through most of the day to find any time. After taking a trip through the gravel at Pardon on the first run, I knew I needed to be careful with the amount of lock I had. I managed the next 3 runs within just 3 tenths, leaving me to shake the hand of Luke Trotman, with whom I had been battling all day, and congratulate him on his win. Totting up my best sectors of the day put me two-thirds of a second down. Knowing that wheelspin in Pardon was a big problem, I softened my dampers to minimum softness and gave it all on the final run, lopping 1.1 seconds off my best to take the win by 3 tenths. Both Luke and I were quite surprised.
Sadly, I don't have the data from the run, but I do have the camera footage and the split times to thumb through. Off the line, the timing system shows I was 0.45 behind Luke after 64 feet and my final launch was my best by 1/100th of a second. I was 2mph quicker under the bridge and my sector from 64 feet to Ettores was 2 tenths quicker than before and crucially almost a second quicker than Luke. I was over half a second up here and I had been faster all day!
The sector from Ettores to Midway includes Pardon Hairpin, which was where I really struggled. I lost 0.81 to Luke over this section and was now over 3 tenths down but I was 2 tenths quicker than I'd ever been before. Over the final section, I pulled out 0.61 seconds over Luke, beating my previous best by almost half a second. I set all my best sectors in the one run. The video shows I was over a tenth quicker through Orchard, two tenths quicker through Ettores, almost 4 tenths faster through Pardon and the same through Semicircle compared to my previous best. Here's the best run.
I struggled through most of the day to find any time. After taking a trip through the gravel at Pardon on the first run, I knew I needed to be careful with the amount of lock I had. I managed the next 3 runs within just 3 tenths, leaving me to shake the hand of Luke Trotman, with whom I had been battling all day, and congratulate him on his win. Totting up my best sectors of the day put me two-thirds of a second down. Knowing that wheelspin in Pardon was a big problem, I softened my dampers to minimum softness and gave it all on the final run, lopping 1.1 seconds off my best to take the win by 3 tenths. Both Luke and I were quite surprised.
Sadly, I don't have the data from the run, but I do have the camera footage and the split times to thumb through. Off the line, the timing system shows I was 0.45 behind Luke after 64 feet and my final launch was my best by 1/100th of a second. I was 2mph quicker under the bridge and my sector from 64 feet to Ettores was 2 tenths quicker than before and crucially almost a second quicker than Luke. I was over half a second up here and I had been faster all day!
The sector from Ettores to Midway includes Pardon Hairpin, which was where I really struggled. I lost 0.81 to Luke over this section and was now over 3 tenths down but I was 2 tenths quicker than I'd ever been before. Over the final section, I pulled out 0.61 seconds over Luke, beating my previous best by almost half a second. I set all my best sectors in the one run. The video shows I was over a tenth quicker through Orchard, two tenths quicker through Ettores, almost 4 tenths faster through Pardon and the same through Semicircle compared to my previous best. Here's the best run.
This isn't really a technical forum. Over on Uphill Racers, the thread is 14 pages long.
I have a couple of Sport 1000s,still with BMW engine.
I wanted to so semsec this year and it was cancelled . Bikesports/oss ,I think I would be eaten alive by Radicals.
BMW is only 90hp and with bikesports, I would have to add 60kg to get up to weight, ADR 1000 only weighing in at 380kg.
SO I believe my only choice is let them gather dust or change to hyabusa, unless anyone has other suggestions.
I wanted to so semsec this year and it was cancelled . Bikesports/oss ,I think I would be eaten alive by Radicals.
BMW is only 90hp and with bikesports, I would have to add 60kg to get up to weight, ADR 1000 only weighing in at 380kg.
SO I believe my only choice is let them gather dust or change to hyabusa, unless anyone has other suggestions.
After breaking the class record several times at Clay Pigeon and still not having my name on it, I was determined to fix it. A slow start in practice put me on a 74.44 coming into the timed runs, which was under the class record, but not under my best time. In the first timed run, I put in a 73.35, followed by a 73.39 and a 72.90. All three were under the class record and the final one half a second off my personal best when the chicane wasn't set out correctly. I was happy with that and even happier that the club gave an extra run afterwards.
It was coming into the second lap of this final run that the moment happened. I turned into the corner and heard a noise as the car spun to a halt. I was bemused, thinking the chain had gone and locked the rear end. It hadn't - the stud in the bottom of the upright keeping the wishbone attached had sheared. The rear wheel was flapping in the wind and there was no lifting equipment for the recovery team. I had to retrieve my trailer and winch it on with the help of all the marshals. Lucky it happened there though, as the consequences of a similar failure at Castle Combe the following weekend would have been severe.
Talking of Combe the following week, it was Sunday evening and scrutineering was at 07:30 on Saturday morning. The stud, naturally, was not available off-the-shelf. Luckily, Grant Motorsport stepped in and manufactured 3 new ones out of EN24 steel and removed the snapped off one from the upright as well as making a new brake line, which was nipped down to the braid. McGill Motorsport supplied some new rod ends for the wishbones (one had broken in sympathy) and it was all finished with 10 hours to spare before scrutineering. All I needed was some sleep!
It was coming into the second lap of this final run that the moment happened. I turned into the corner and heard a noise as the car spun to a halt. I was bemused, thinking the chain had gone and locked the rear end. It hadn't - the stud in the bottom of the upright keeping the wishbone attached had sheared. The rear wheel was flapping in the wind and there was no lifting equipment for the recovery team. I had to retrieve my trailer and winch it on with the help of all the marshals. Lucky it happened there though, as the consequences of a similar failure at Castle Combe the following weekend would have been severe.
Talking of Combe the following week, it was Sunday evening and scrutineering was at 07:30 on Saturday morning. The stud, naturally, was not available off-the-shelf. Luckily, Grant Motorsport stepped in and manufactured 3 new ones out of EN24 steel and removed the snapped off one from the upright as well as making a new brake line, which was nipped down to the braid. McGill Motorsport supplied some new rod ends for the wishbones (one had broken in sympathy) and it was all finished with 10 hours to spare before scrutineering. All I needed was some sleep!
Having finished the car just a few hours before the event, I wasn't feeling wholly prepared for the Dick Mayo Sprint held by Bristol Motor Club at Castle Combe Circuit. I was wholly prepared though and I rocked up at 07:00 as usual to get scrutineered as early as possible, grab breakfast and make time to chat to all the people I was bound to bump into at my home event. Importantly, I was competing against Andrew, who I'd cajoled into buying a Van Diemen RF01X from Dermot's emporium and this was his first ever sprint. Baptism of fire!
Other notables in the class was Matt Carter, fresh from his 3rd place finish in the run offs of the British Sprint Championship, Clive Wooster (who beat me at Llandow), Luke Trotman (who had forgiven me for taking his pot at Prescott) and Tom Arnold, who hoped his electrical gremlins were finally behind him after replacing ... everything! It was boiling hot and my objectives for the day were to beat my class record and take 2nd place (or nobble Matt's car and take the win). I wasn't feeling nasty, so I chose to aim for 2nd place!
On the first practice run, I needed to test the brakes, so I gave them a good firm press between Folly and Avon Rise to make sure I'd stop going into Quarry. I was back onto the pace by Hammerdown and the second half of the lap went together quite well. Given the brake testing, 4th place wasn't a surprise, but I was incredibly surprised to be within a second of my class record and only a few tenths off Luke in 2nd place. Matt had taken 3 seconds off the class record - foregone conclusion!
The second practice run was my opportunity to put a stamp on the timesheet and I put in a reasonable run that was 1.3 seconds inside my class record. Result! Matt was now 4 seconds under the record, Clive was also a few hundredths inside it and Luke was just 3 hundredths off it. I the day finished like that, I'd be happy, but Clive has a tendency to go faster each run, often by a second.
My afternoon started with the first timed run being a solitary hundredth quicker than my practice run. Unexpectedly, everyone else went slower, probably as a result of the heat cooking the tyres. Even Clive! That was one objective complete - I'd shattered my class record, even if Matt had obliterated it. Git! The second timed run was all or nothing and I went 2 hundredths slower, probably as a result of a little oversteer on the exit of Quarry. I'd like to say I was perfectly consistent, but I think the track conditions worsened at the same rate I improved. It was a good result though as the video shows the start line was a few feet further back and Castle Combe had decided to put tyres on the apexes for some reason, so the lines were a little more wiggly than normal!
There's been a lot of "I think" and "probably" here without a lot of evidence. There's a good reason for that. I've pulled out the Race Capture Pro as it's being replaced by a Xoombox from Xoomspeed. That neatly coincided with the little read-only tab on the SD card in the RacePak falling off, so it couldn't write to the memory card. The Xoombox will provide some solid data (whilst interfacing perfectly with Xoomcentre, which I've been using for a while as an analysis tool) as well as giving the possibility of adding launch control, traction control, flat-shifting, down-shift blipping, and even full pneumatic shifting. I've been collecting components from Chinese sellers with mixed success to build a dash (sequential shift lights and gear indicator) and pneumatic control system.
The closest I have to data at Combe is to compare video with my 2013 times, but not the class record as the video failed last year. I've split the track into several sections to compare the times. The first thing to note is that my 64 foot times were a few thousandths quicker, most likely reflecting the track temperature. By the end of the pit lane, I was 0.18 ahead this year, most likely for the same reason. I lost 0.12 through Folly, which suggests the car is accelerating less quickly. This isn't surprising as I was running the wing in its high position with the flap backed right off. It's more drag than the low drag configuration, but it doesn't correlate with the rest of the lap, perhaps because of alternate gear ratios and the other aero changes made over the winter. I was quicker from there to Avon Rise, probably through more commitment over the Rise. Maybe I wasn't flat last year or my line was different to account for the lower grip.
A few more hundredths through Quarry brought me back to a 0.15 advantage over 2013. I gained time to The Esses, suggesting a quicker exit speed from Quarry, which is what I felt at the time. Significant time was gained in The Esses, which is strange as I felt there was more to come and I thought I had always been fast there. Despite that, I seemed to have found nearly half a second and a few more hundredths through Old Paddock. I also gained significantly through Hammerdown, which suggests that either the ratios/aero changes have improved performance at these speeds or the extra speed carried through Old Paddock multiplied the gain on the run to Tower.
Significant time was made through Tower, which I know is my nemesis. I also managed a few tenths through Bobbies to finish 3 seconds ahead of my first timed run in 2013. The comparison is shown in the graph below.
Before finishing this write-up, I should point out Chris Buckley's performance. He'd never driven a sports racer, a car with slicks or an aero car and he turned up in his newly purchased Radical SR8. He knocked 15 seconds off his first practice time to finish barely a tenth behind me and set a new >1800cc class record. We've agreed to double drive our cars for the last two events, so he'll be aiming for my class record in the ADR at Clay Pigeon, whilst I aim for FTD in his SR8 at Combe in October...
Other notables in the class was Matt Carter, fresh from his 3rd place finish in the run offs of the British Sprint Championship, Clive Wooster (who beat me at Llandow), Luke Trotman (who had forgiven me for taking his pot at Prescott) and Tom Arnold, who hoped his electrical gremlins were finally behind him after replacing ... everything! It was boiling hot and my objectives for the day were to beat my class record and take 2nd place (or nobble Matt's car and take the win). I wasn't feeling nasty, so I chose to aim for 2nd place!
On the first practice run, I needed to test the brakes, so I gave them a good firm press between Folly and Avon Rise to make sure I'd stop going into Quarry. I was back onto the pace by Hammerdown and the second half of the lap went together quite well. Given the brake testing, 4th place wasn't a surprise, but I was incredibly surprised to be within a second of my class record and only a few tenths off Luke in 2nd place. Matt had taken 3 seconds off the class record - foregone conclusion!
The second practice run was my opportunity to put a stamp on the timesheet and I put in a reasonable run that was 1.3 seconds inside my class record. Result! Matt was now 4 seconds under the record, Clive was also a few hundredths inside it and Luke was just 3 hundredths off it. I the day finished like that, I'd be happy, but Clive has a tendency to go faster each run, often by a second.
My afternoon started with the first timed run being a solitary hundredth quicker than my practice run. Unexpectedly, everyone else went slower, probably as a result of the heat cooking the tyres. Even Clive! That was one objective complete - I'd shattered my class record, even if Matt had obliterated it. Git! The second timed run was all or nothing and I went 2 hundredths slower, probably as a result of a little oversteer on the exit of Quarry. I'd like to say I was perfectly consistent, but I think the track conditions worsened at the same rate I improved. It was a good result though as the video shows the start line was a few feet further back and Castle Combe had decided to put tyres on the apexes for some reason, so the lines were a little more wiggly than normal!
There's been a lot of "I think" and "probably" here without a lot of evidence. There's a good reason for that. I've pulled out the Race Capture Pro as it's being replaced by a Xoombox from Xoomspeed. That neatly coincided with the little read-only tab on the SD card in the RacePak falling off, so it couldn't write to the memory card. The Xoombox will provide some solid data (whilst interfacing perfectly with Xoomcentre, which I've been using for a while as an analysis tool) as well as giving the possibility of adding launch control, traction control, flat-shifting, down-shift blipping, and even full pneumatic shifting. I've been collecting components from Chinese sellers with mixed success to build a dash (sequential shift lights and gear indicator) and pneumatic control system.
The closest I have to data at Combe is to compare video with my 2013 times, but not the class record as the video failed last year. I've split the track into several sections to compare the times. The first thing to note is that my 64 foot times were a few thousandths quicker, most likely reflecting the track temperature. By the end of the pit lane, I was 0.18 ahead this year, most likely for the same reason. I lost 0.12 through Folly, which suggests the car is accelerating less quickly. This isn't surprising as I was running the wing in its high position with the flap backed right off. It's more drag than the low drag configuration, but it doesn't correlate with the rest of the lap, perhaps because of alternate gear ratios and the other aero changes made over the winter. I was quicker from there to Avon Rise, probably through more commitment over the Rise. Maybe I wasn't flat last year or my line was different to account for the lower grip.
A few more hundredths through Quarry brought me back to a 0.15 advantage over 2013. I gained time to The Esses, suggesting a quicker exit speed from Quarry, which is what I felt at the time. Significant time was gained in The Esses, which is strange as I felt there was more to come and I thought I had always been fast there. Despite that, I seemed to have found nearly half a second and a few more hundredths through Old Paddock. I also gained significantly through Hammerdown, which suggests that either the ratios/aero changes have improved performance at these speeds or the extra speed carried through Old Paddock multiplied the gain on the run to Tower.
Significant time was made through Tower, which I know is my nemesis. I also managed a few tenths through Bobbies to finish 3 seconds ahead of my first timed run in 2013. The comparison is shown in the graph below.
Before finishing this write-up, I should point out Chris Buckley's performance. He'd never driven a sports racer, a car with slicks or an aero car and he turned up in his newly purchased Radical SR8. He knocked 15 seconds off his first practice time to finish barely a tenth behind me and set a new >1800cc class record. We've agreed to double drive our cars for the last two events, so he'll be aiming for my class record in the ADR at Clay Pigeon, whilst I aim for FTD in his SR8 at Combe in October...
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff