Van Diemen Single Seater - Sprint time!

[MagicalTrevor]

Well the car worked beautifully today when I took it to Llandow for a Test Day. Had the track to ourselves (me and a few mates) in the glorious sunshine.

Anyway, recorded some video... I'm getting better!
https://youtu.be/1gcB3WDtoV0

[confucuis]

Booo! Need more videos/pictures than that!

[MagicalTrevor]

confucuis said:

Booo! Need more videos/pictures than that!

Working on it This was to whet your appetite

[Podie]

Looked twitchy on the brakes at the end there!

[MagicalTrevor]

I was braking a bit later than usual... the 'bus stop' section was a little compromised from there on in... hence the subtle fade

It's actually really stable on the brakes

[Podie]

Cool

When's the next outing?

[MagicalTrevor]

Podie said:

Cool

When's the next outing?

Not until May now where there are Llandow and Hullavington Sprints.

[speedtwelve]

Looks great with the sports prototype body.

Good call with the cast-off F3 cut-slicks. When I raced in club karting our promised shipment of wets didn't arrive so we scavenged the circuit bins for tyres on the inevitably rainy race day...

[MagicalTrevor]

Thanks

Well the car is going up for sale very soon, I have an opportunity to share a Formula Ford Ecoboost like this:


My VD is fantastic but it makes a lot of sense to share a car with more tuning potential and shared running costs.

[MagicalTrevor]

Now in the Classifieds, I'll be sorry to see it go.

[andburg]

I'm sure you'll enjoy the new car.

If only i had the cash: http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/motorsport/...

[LordGrover]

Buggeration. Never got to see it.

Hope the new project works out.

MagicalTrevor said:

That's right. I'm afraid my car refused to start. I spent the first practice session removing spark plugs from my car.

I was pretty fed up, I'd done a lot of prep on the car and it worked just fine last time.

As said above, Motorsport at its most frustrating! I'll be taking it to a specialist to give it some TLC.

I went home around midday and got drunk that evening. Sorry I missed you

[s2sol]

MagicalTrevor, I reckon you live around the corner from me. I saw the Volvo parked outside your house and the Van Diemen on the drive on Saturday morning. It looks fantastic. I reckon you'll miss it. Look out for a scruffy grey V70 T5 in the area...

[MagicalTrevor]

That'll be me! We've not lived there long.
I'll start waving at all the V70s

[s2sol]

Christ, not all of them! It seems to be the weapon of choice round here if it's not a Kia 4x4 or picanto. We moved in last March, and I reckon with both of us in our mid 40s, we brought the average age of the road down about 10 years.

[MagicalTrevor]

Slightly disastrous situation... the replacement car requires a National A licence and I only have a Nat B! I've also not been collecting signatures because I hadn't expected to need an upgrade any time soon! Oops!

So I've not got to collect 8 signatures to upgrade

Action stations! There's a Sprint this weekend at Clay Pigeon (kart circuit) but I can't use the Van Diemen because, well, it's sold and that wouldn't be fair on the next owner if I did some damage to it.

What else can I use... my Volvo? Someone else's car? ...

I'm pinching my Wife's car. Mainly because it's much lower value and if I crash it then it'll be cheaper to repair, but also because it'll be mildly amusing to enter it into a Sprint. Excluding the motorbike engines, I'll be the lowest capacity entrant in a Fiat 500 TwinAir in Lounge spec
I'm also keen to show that you can indeed Sprint in ANY car!



Fortunately, I've been offered a double-drive in an MX5 for a few events.

Edited by MagicalTrevor on Saturday 18th April 10:22

[Red Firecracker]

Thank gawd you sold it, I was starting to get itchy dialing fingers!

[MagicalTrevor]

Whilst I appreciate that owning a racing car isn't for everyone, it's a lot of hassle but worth it once you drive it, it's like nothing else!

The funny thing is, talking about that with most people, they just don't get it! Mates think I'm mad and can't understand why I just don't buy a Porsche or something like that. I just have very little interest in sports cars now. I've switched from browsing Autotrader ( ) for Lotus', TVRs and Porsches to estate cars suitable for towing

If you ever get the chance to drive a single seater, no matter what power it has, then do it...!

[McSam]

Sad to see this go, it looked like a fantastic piece of kit, but then if you're replacing it with a new FF then that's a different matter I do hope you'll keep us posted on that!

Fair play to you for collecting signatures in anything you can get your hands on! You certainly can sprint in anything, I thought I was doing it on a shoestring bringing an E36 with 177k on it, but then I was in a class that also featured a completely standard Lexus LS400 other entrants have included a Suzuki Cappuccino, and we're expecting a Citroen 2CV at the next one..

[MagicalTrevor]

I love the fact that you CAN enter anything and there's a class to suit. Beats a track day IMO