GRRC Spring Sprint at Goodwood Sat 10th May...
Discussion
Hi all, just a teaser for now, full report and photo's to follow... At last, I've finally got my GTR on track and in competition! Achieved 8th overall and 4th in class, not bad for the first time out and in some testing conditions. LuckyP graced us with his presence with camera in hand - so we're counting on some good pics - no pressure then Pete? If you can't wait, check out the Goodwood Events thread, a few pics already. More to come in the next few days, so watch this space.
Trevor
Trevor
GRRC Spring Sprint – Goodwood Sat 10th May…
It’s a good job I like to challenge myself as this will be the very first time I’ve driven this car on any track and in competition, a steep learning curve then!! To make matters even more interesting the weather conditions for practice were far less than desirable, it was extremely wet and windy! Okay, I could have changed the settings… disconnect the ARB’s, wind the shocks off to full soft, adjust the rear wing and even change the wheels/tyres but I knew the weather was forecast to dry out and frankly, it would have made little difference to my performance in practice, so I decided to stay on the dry settings with the Kumho tyres if for no other reason than to bank the experience on how the car handles on those settings in these conditions for future reference. I’ve been on a start grid on dry settings with slicks before now and it’s started to chuck it down just before the race starts – there is little worse than not knowing how a car will handle in those circumstances. As you might expect, there was an amazing variety of cars of all types and disciplines in attendance and some very tough competition for me in my class. Here’s how the day played out for me…
Practice:
This would consist of a timed standing start single lap continuing to complete a second lap, which is also timed. The start was from the pit lane (a new format for this year) and after crossing the finish line, you have to slow very quickly in order to exit the track just past the pit lane (in the race form up area). “Extreme caution” was the order of the day, especially for a wet practice on dry settings as Goodwood is ‘very’ unforgiving if you come off the circuit, often resulting in serious damage!! Getting the power down off the line was difficult enough, let alone getting around the corners without incident. OMG was it slippery or what?! Daring to carry as much speed as possible through the corners, with plenty of unintentional drifts, slides and sideways moments on nearly every corner and even some straights, it was very scary to say the least! As a consequence my times were a little slow. Not a very good start to the day but I didn’t expect much in these conditions and I now had some serious catching up to do??
First Timed Run:
Thankfully, it stopped raining and dried out in time for everybody’s first timed run. This would consist of a timed single standing start lap. As I had a lot of catching up to do, I had to push as hard as I dare whilst still trying to get a feel for the cars handling for the first time in the dry! I had a little trouble starting the engine and it was coughing and spluttering at low revs, but drove okay at high revs. The front end seemed quite stable, but the rear felt loose with a little too much over-steer? Bear in mind my shocks were only set at 25% (10 clicks) all round, anti-roll bars set to stiff on the front and medium on the rear with tyre pressures at 18psi front and 21psi rear with only one lap, so little chance to generate much heat! I was reasonably pleased with my improvement from practice with the move up to 4th in class behind three Nissan GT-R’s. I decided to leave the settings as they are and just try and get a better feel for the cars handling. I changed the spark plugs to overcome the poor running at low revs and added a little more fuel for the next run. I knew I would struggle to close on the GT-R’s and frankly I wasn’t worried, I was there to test the pace of my car and myself, bring the car and myself home in one piece and above all, enjoy the event! I didn’t care where I finished, so long as I had a good day. That said, I was of course trying as hard as I dare!!
Second Timed Run:
I was obviously pushing a little harder this time and as always, the run felt a lot faster than it actually was. The engine ran faultlessly with the new plugs and my second run was at least a ‘slight’ improvement on the previous run! That was the competition bit over, but we then had the opportunity to complete additional runs which would not count toward the results. I needed to add a little more fuel – trying only to carry as much as necessary. Feeling a little more confident, I decided to take another run in an effort to just practice my lines and corner speeds and see if I could improve on my time.
Third Timed Run:
I did improve my time despite losing the back end in a ‘very’ big slide through Woodcote corner (before the Chicane) and taking out a marker board on the outside of the track, but managing to gather it up and keep going with thankfully no damage! It was time to count my blessings and call it a day then.
My results:
Class D - Road legal cars built after 1979 with engine more than 2000cc
Practice 1: Pos 7 / Intermediate = 129.83 / Finish = 250.47
First Timed Run: Pos 4 / 64ft = 2.93 / Finish Line Speed = 93 / Finish = 98.42
Second Timed Run: Pos 4 / 64ft = 3.09 / Finish Line Speed = 95 / Finish = 97.86
In Order of Overall Time: Pos 8 / Run 1 = 98.42 / Run 2 = 97.86 / Best = 97.86
Additional Timed Run 1: Pos 3 / 64ft = 3.00 / Finish Line Speed = 97 / Finish = 96.40
At least my timed runs were pretty consistent. I finished a respectable 4th in class and 8th overall. Not bad for my first time out on track in this car! I believe there is a lot more performance to come from the car but I need to spend a bit more time on the set up to give me the confidence to carry much more speed through the corners which should improve my lap times considerably. So in conclusion, a very challenging but successful event which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks to the GRRC/BARC for running a great event despite the weather. Full results with all competitors listed can be found at… http://tsl-timing.com/?loc=club&season=2014&am... Some very nice pictures of mine and many other very special cars in attendance can also be found at… http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/helensanders/sets/72... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynchie999/sets/7215... A special thanks to LuckyP and all the enthusiastic PH’ers braving the weather to provide some very nice photo’s.
Here are a few very short video clips courtesy of my son George – wind the volume up as it’s very windy and sorry it’s not much, this was his first attempt…
Wet Practice Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGScXUOLyMY
Run1 Start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrN8f6Ti6Yk
Run1 Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDntEUbadxo
Run2 Start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZOQhDstRSA
Run2 Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbQg9cC3c8
I do have cameras to mount on the car, but didn’t get around to it due to the weather! Hopefully next time out we’ll have some better on track footage. There are a few more pictures to come soon.
Any constructive tips on set up would be welcome, bear in mind I have nylon bushes so can only adjust the following;
Front Tracking
Rear Tracking
Front Camber
Rear Camber
Front Anti-roll Bar (soft/medium/hard)
Rear Anti-roll Bar (soft/medium/hard)
Springs (I could fit heavier rated)
Ride Height (limited due to wrap around arches)
Shocks (bump only)
Tyre Pressures (Kumho's)
Rear Wing
Still under consideration... is modifying the wrap around wheel arches (cutting straight and making good) to facilitate much easier changing of the wheels?
Best regards,
Trevor
It’s a good job I like to challenge myself as this will be the very first time I’ve driven this car on any track and in competition, a steep learning curve then!! To make matters even more interesting the weather conditions for practice were far less than desirable, it was extremely wet and windy! Okay, I could have changed the settings… disconnect the ARB’s, wind the shocks off to full soft, adjust the rear wing and even change the wheels/tyres but I knew the weather was forecast to dry out and frankly, it would have made little difference to my performance in practice, so I decided to stay on the dry settings with the Kumho tyres if for no other reason than to bank the experience on how the car handles on those settings in these conditions for future reference. I’ve been on a start grid on dry settings with slicks before now and it’s started to chuck it down just before the race starts – there is little worse than not knowing how a car will handle in those circumstances. As you might expect, there was an amazing variety of cars of all types and disciplines in attendance and some very tough competition for me in my class. Here’s how the day played out for me…
Practice:
This would consist of a timed standing start single lap continuing to complete a second lap, which is also timed. The start was from the pit lane (a new format for this year) and after crossing the finish line, you have to slow very quickly in order to exit the track just past the pit lane (in the race form up area). “Extreme caution” was the order of the day, especially for a wet practice on dry settings as Goodwood is ‘very’ unforgiving if you come off the circuit, often resulting in serious damage!! Getting the power down off the line was difficult enough, let alone getting around the corners without incident. OMG was it slippery or what?! Daring to carry as much speed as possible through the corners, with plenty of unintentional drifts, slides and sideways moments on nearly every corner and even some straights, it was very scary to say the least! As a consequence my times were a little slow. Not a very good start to the day but I didn’t expect much in these conditions and I now had some serious catching up to do??
First Timed Run:
Thankfully, it stopped raining and dried out in time for everybody’s first timed run. This would consist of a timed single standing start lap. As I had a lot of catching up to do, I had to push as hard as I dare whilst still trying to get a feel for the cars handling for the first time in the dry! I had a little trouble starting the engine and it was coughing and spluttering at low revs, but drove okay at high revs. The front end seemed quite stable, but the rear felt loose with a little too much over-steer? Bear in mind my shocks were only set at 25% (10 clicks) all round, anti-roll bars set to stiff on the front and medium on the rear with tyre pressures at 18psi front and 21psi rear with only one lap, so little chance to generate much heat! I was reasonably pleased with my improvement from practice with the move up to 4th in class behind three Nissan GT-R’s. I decided to leave the settings as they are and just try and get a better feel for the cars handling. I changed the spark plugs to overcome the poor running at low revs and added a little more fuel for the next run. I knew I would struggle to close on the GT-R’s and frankly I wasn’t worried, I was there to test the pace of my car and myself, bring the car and myself home in one piece and above all, enjoy the event! I didn’t care where I finished, so long as I had a good day. That said, I was of course trying as hard as I dare!!
Second Timed Run:
I was obviously pushing a little harder this time and as always, the run felt a lot faster than it actually was. The engine ran faultlessly with the new plugs and my second run was at least a ‘slight’ improvement on the previous run! That was the competition bit over, but we then had the opportunity to complete additional runs which would not count toward the results. I needed to add a little more fuel – trying only to carry as much as necessary. Feeling a little more confident, I decided to take another run in an effort to just practice my lines and corner speeds and see if I could improve on my time.
Third Timed Run:
I did improve my time despite losing the back end in a ‘very’ big slide through Woodcote corner (before the Chicane) and taking out a marker board on the outside of the track, but managing to gather it up and keep going with thankfully no damage! It was time to count my blessings and call it a day then.
My results:
Class D - Road legal cars built after 1979 with engine more than 2000cc
Practice 1: Pos 7 / Intermediate = 129.83 / Finish = 250.47
First Timed Run: Pos 4 / 64ft = 2.93 / Finish Line Speed = 93 / Finish = 98.42
Second Timed Run: Pos 4 / 64ft = 3.09 / Finish Line Speed = 95 / Finish = 97.86
In Order of Overall Time: Pos 8 / Run 1 = 98.42 / Run 2 = 97.86 / Best = 97.86
Additional Timed Run 1: Pos 3 / 64ft = 3.00 / Finish Line Speed = 97 / Finish = 96.40
At least my timed runs were pretty consistent. I finished a respectable 4th in class and 8th overall. Not bad for my first time out on track in this car! I believe there is a lot more performance to come from the car but I need to spend a bit more time on the set up to give me the confidence to carry much more speed through the corners which should improve my lap times considerably. So in conclusion, a very challenging but successful event which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks to the GRRC/BARC for running a great event despite the weather. Full results with all competitors listed can be found at… http://tsl-timing.com/?loc=club&season=2014&am... Some very nice pictures of mine and many other very special cars in attendance can also be found at… http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/helensanders/sets/72... and https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynchie999/sets/7215... A special thanks to LuckyP and all the enthusiastic PH’ers braving the weather to provide some very nice photo’s.
Here are a few very short video clips courtesy of my son George – wind the volume up as it’s very windy and sorry it’s not much, this was his first attempt…
Wet Practice Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGScXUOLyMY
Run1 Start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrN8f6Ti6Yk
Run1 Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDntEUbadxo
Run2 Start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZOQhDstRSA
Run2 Finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbQg9cC3c8
I do have cameras to mount on the car, but didn’t get around to it due to the weather! Hopefully next time out we’ll have some better on track footage. There are a few more pictures to come soon.
Any constructive tips on set up would be welcome, bear in mind I have nylon bushes so can only adjust the following;
Front Tracking
Rear Tracking
Front Camber
Rear Camber
Front Anti-roll Bar (soft/medium/hard)
Rear Anti-roll Bar (soft/medium/hard)
Springs (I could fit heavier rated)
Ride Height (limited due to wrap around arches)
Shocks (bump only)
Tyre Pressures (Kumho's)
Rear Wing
Still under consideration... is modifying the wrap around wheel arches (cutting straight and making good) to facilitate much easier changing of the wheels?
Best regards,
Trevor
Thanks Guys. Hi Dom, noise limit at Goodwood is 105dB(A)max with an allowance of 2-3dB(A) for mechanical noise on mid-engined cars. On Saturday mine was bang on 105dB(A) actual, no allowance necessary! Just goes to show how the weather can affect noise tests as the previous test at Goodwood on a sunny and calm day was 103dB(A) actual?? Full details on how I have achieved this are in my previous post... http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... It does sound good doesn't it. Cheers.
Sorry for the delay, a few more pics courtesy of Helen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/helensanders/sets/72... thanks Helen.
Even more very nice pics of other very interesting cars here... https://www.flickr.com/photos/ph40/sets/7215764419...
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