The loneliness of the long distance club racer
Discussion
It seems to be the season to do owner stories, so I thought I’d pen a few thoughts on my 996 GT3 now that I’m dabbling in the club racing scene after a long break. There will be no mention of residual values or exploding 991 engines.
Some of you know it’s an ex-Dubai car that started life as a daily driver, got mildly modified for autocross and sprints, before entering the domestic pilot “saloon” car championship which morphed into domestic touring car and GT championships. By the time it had completed 2.5 seasons of wheel to wheel racing, it had turned into a very-expensive-but-not-quite-Cup-car. Still, I learnt a little about chassis dynamics along the way and the memories are priceless. If Phil doesn’t mind, here’s one memory from Pistonheader RSPhilip’s brilliant Crank & Piston site (www.crankandpiston.com):
Fast forward to 2012, Cobalt Blue is loaded on a container and heading back to Blighty with its owner. There’s something sad about a car leaving the land of its upbringing, but at least she had something to curl up next to on the journey back. Easy one for you PHers to identify...
First job is to decommission her and put her out to a gentle pasture. So the leather Recaros, carpets, AC, CD player and OEM rear windscreen and ¾ glass are back, although to be fair the carbon panels, full roll cage and solid bushes still make it feel a tad visceral in here. A year prior to leaving Dubai, I had the gearbox crated and shipped out 3,500 miles to Mike at Sports and Classic who rebuilt the gearbox and diff, then crated it back again. An absolutely first class job, the gearbox and motorsport diff are as new (better in fact, as the OEM street diff is woefully inadequate). A local shop refreshed the top end but back in Blighty it turned out the top end refresh was insufficient, so GT-One in Chertsey took the engine apart last year and rebuilt the lot:
I particularly appreciate how Craig and Peter take the time to keep me fully informed and involved in decision making. Every component and rebuild protocol is to OEM standards, and they don’t fob you off with someone who’s paid to make the coffee and answer the phones. I’ve developed an irrational hatred of leather sofas, coffee machines and glass-partitioned viewing areas. As for “service advisers”...
After 1200 miles of running in the ‘new’ engine, now that Cobalt was mechanically perfect it seemed rude not to campaign her again. So for this season I’ve ditched my Caterham and decided to run Cobalt in the Classic Sports Car Club’s New Millennium series.
I’m now in a dilemma – rip out the carpets and other frippery (again), or revel in the idea of bringing a road car to race meet? (Maybe even leave the number plates on!) I decide on the latter. That way if I do badly, I can fall back on the excuse “well it’s not really a race car, so there”. After a check of MSA Blue Book rules and some help from PHers on the club motorsport forum, it’s time to ditch the otherwise perfectly lovely blue Schroth harnesses which are now out of date and replace them with identical perfectly lovely blue Schroth harnesses which will expire in 2020. Feels like a pointless expense, but there you go. The plumbed in fire extinguisher is out of date but weirdly UK club racing does not require them to be in date. The electrics work fine but a refill may be prudent. A quick dig in the box of treasures at the back of my garage unearths a kill switch and my old fibreglass splitter. Dust off my Cobra seat (weirdly UK club racing rules do not required dated seats so this is still legal) and harvest an organ from the Caterham (the transponder), and I’m good to go. Except that I am of course mechanically cack-handed so I decide to outsource the trickier bits to a local bloke in a shed.
Having turned the air blue trying to manhandle my splitter and the race seat (which appears to be sitting on the wrong brackets), Ricky turns out to be a revelation from heaven. Recommended by my local MOT workshop as a man with specialist skills at an affordable rate operating out of a nearby industrial estate, I turn up to find him rebuilding an a E-type from the ground up. The omens are good.
So Ricky fits the transponder, the kill switch, the splitter, and works some magic on the seat brackets. Ah, it feels like the old days again.
From this:
To this:
A quick test at a very wet Brands reveals the GT-One built engine is truly wonderful but the conditions don’t allow me to stretch the car. So the first race will have to be more of a test session than I’d hoped.
Race day dawns miserably. I load the trailer up in a downpour at stupid-o’-clock in the morning, check the spares, tools, race kit, sundry bits and pieces, set the sat nav for Brands and tip toe my way past the neighbours. A last minute wrong turn costs me some time and I arrive in a panic, hoping not to miss my scutineering slot. I needn’t have bothered....I don’t make it past the scrutineers as the kill switch has failed. Ricky appears to have ignored the feedback loop from the alternator which means the engine won’t cut without a diode. Arse, and indeed, feck. I cannot however ignore my own stupidity for not checking (or rather, I checked the kill switch cut the power when the engine was off – doh!). Presumably Ricky had been equally moronic.
Despite help from fellow competitors, we are unable to fix the issue in time for quali and I must reload a very wet Cobalt and head back. My state of mind is as miserable as the weather and will last most of the following week.
It’s Rockingham next and I decide not to take any chances with preparation. So GT-One fix the kill switch problem and a troublesome hot-starting issue, then it’s off to Parr to have the geometry set up to my liking: neutral to mild understeer in the high speed corners as I like to have something to push up against, and let me handle the trail braking in the tight corners. Whilst there, we have RSS rear toe links fitted as one side of the existing Cup items appear to have a very minor kink, probably as a result of the wonderful moonscape that is the Surrey highway system. Rather bizarrely, Parr tell me they cannot share details of their set up which costs a not inconsiderable £650 in labour alone! I had naively assumed such a price would include a corner weighting but it turns out that, yes, that’s just for working their geo mojo. Having been used to giving the man from Pirelli in Dubai a piece of paper with my preferred settings and standing over his shoulder as he does it, I am somewhat shocked but hey, Parr are the best right?
A week away from race day, and Parr rather belatedly inform me the toe links will not arrive in time and I am understandably peeved at the management of the whole process. Once again, Pistonheads come to the rescue, Slippydiff informing me that RSS parts are supplied by Nine Excellence which is round the corner from Parr... result! And thanks, Slippy.
Race day is an unsettled forecast and I’m wondering how my new Cup 2s will cope with rain. Another early morning faff with the trailer (I HATE reversing these things!) and today I really am nervous: I think, I THINK, I’ve got everything right this time, left nothing to chance. Proper butterflies today. I’m checking and rechecking everything. Can’t afford to get this wrong a second time. Multiple visits to empty my bladder. You get the picture.
Scrutineering is all good, phew! Quali is – at first – a bewildering swarm of hot hatches and coupes from other classes overwhelming me with their buzzy engines and tack-sharp direction changes through Rockingham’s infield. I’m utterly overwhelmed. I’ve no idea which way this circuit goes and haven’t driven a Cup car or GT3 on Cup settings for 4 years. Let’s just circulate for a few minutes, get the lie of the land, and stay out of the way. 10 minutes later, I hear something rip whilst turning into the apex of the high speed banking followed by a graunching sound from the front. Marvellous. How I wish I was back in Dubai with an all-singing pit crew and radio comms. Instead a lonely inspection in the pits reveals Ricky’s handiwork with the front splitter left plenty to be desired. Useless man. Useless me. Now I fear for the poor owner of that E-type...
Thankfully, the crew of a Porsche 968 in a parallel series come to my aid and help me whip off the offending item to get me back out in time to complete the rest of the session. By my last lap before the chequered flag, the car is starting to come alive – from somewhere out of the depths of my cryogenically frozen muscle memory, those old rev-matching and trail-braking skills are starting to reanimate. I say ‘starting’ as there’s probably at least another second (maybe even 2!) to be found, and I’m sure my braking is perhaps 20% off the optimum, but I’m happy that the car is beginning to dance into and through the corners. That Parr set up turned out to be pretty damn good – I’m P2 which is not saying much as there’s an M3 in a class lower than me sitting a whole 2 seconds ahead in P1! To be fair, the Beemer looks very trick, and the driver is no fool, so I allow myself to feel a small sense of accomplishment.
And then the heavens open up. Desert sand drifting across the Dubai Autodrome I can deal with, but rain?
I needn’t have worried. The race itself is dry. And the circuit is wonderful. I didn’t think I would enjoy a NASCAR style oval, but it’s really good fun. I particularly like the US-style grandstand and leaderboard.
There’s a sense of ‘will-I-won't-I make it through this high speed turn’ through the banked turn 1 and each lap you attempt to clip the apex a couple of clicks quicker and get a couple of inches closer to the outer wall on the exit. Without my front splitter, it feels a little too hairy for comfort and I allow myself not to be drawn into competing with the pole sitting and rather excellently driven M3 but rather concentrate on a solid P2 from flag-to-flag.
Well, I would have done, except that about 15 minutes in whilst holding off the challenge of a Seat Leon Cup behind me, a horrible knocking sound from the rear and a hugely scary squirming under braking put paid to my day: two wheel bolts have sheared their threads and the rear nearside wheel is hanging rather forlornly from its hub. The sockets have ovalised so the wheel is toast:
I suppose I should count my blessings – had I continued for another lap perhaps they might have been scraping me off the outer wall of turn 1. An expensive lesson learnt – always torque your nuts!
Silverstone is 12th September. By then I will either have switched over my Cup 2s (brilliant tyre, BTW) to my BBS wheels or have sourced a replacement OEM for the rear. If anyone knows of one, please drop me a line! (11J ET63)
And if anyone fancies a free ticket to Silverstone with the proviso they can help me with the mandatory pitstop (all you need to do is buckle my harness and pull it tight), PM me.
Some of you know it’s an ex-Dubai car that started life as a daily driver, got mildly modified for autocross and sprints, before entering the domestic pilot “saloon” car championship which morphed into domestic touring car and GT championships. By the time it had completed 2.5 seasons of wheel to wheel racing, it had turned into a very-expensive-but-not-quite-Cup-car. Still, I learnt a little about chassis dynamics along the way and the memories are priceless. If Phil doesn’t mind, here’s one memory from Pistonheader RSPhilip’s brilliant Crank & Piston site (www.crankandpiston.com):
Fast forward to 2012, Cobalt Blue is loaded on a container and heading back to Blighty with its owner. There’s something sad about a car leaving the land of its upbringing, but at least she had something to curl up next to on the journey back. Easy one for you PHers to identify...
First job is to decommission her and put her out to a gentle pasture. So the leather Recaros, carpets, AC, CD player and OEM rear windscreen and ¾ glass are back, although to be fair the carbon panels, full roll cage and solid bushes still make it feel a tad visceral in here. A year prior to leaving Dubai, I had the gearbox crated and shipped out 3,500 miles to Mike at Sports and Classic who rebuilt the gearbox and diff, then crated it back again. An absolutely first class job, the gearbox and motorsport diff are as new (better in fact, as the OEM street diff is woefully inadequate). A local shop refreshed the top end but back in Blighty it turned out the top end refresh was insufficient, so GT-One in Chertsey took the engine apart last year and rebuilt the lot:
I particularly appreciate how Craig and Peter take the time to keep me fully informed and involved in decision making. Every component and rebuild protocol is to OEM standards, and they don’t fob you off with someone who’s paid to make the coffee and answer the phones. I’ve developed an irrational hatred of leather sofas, coffee machines and glass-partitioned viewing areas. As for “service advisers”...
After 1200 miles of running in the ‘new’ engine, now that Cobalt was mechanically perfect it seemed rude not to campaign her again. So for this season I’ve ditched my Caterham and decided to run Cobalt in the Classic Sports Car Club’s New Millennium series.
I’m now in a dilemma – rip out the carpets and other frippery (again), or revel in the idea of bringing a road car to race meet? (Maybe even leave the number plates on!) I decide on the latter. That way if I do badly, I can fall back on the excuse “well it’s not really a race car, so there”. After a check of MSA Blue Book rules and some help from PHers on the club motorsport forum, it’s time to ditch the otherwise perfectly lovely blue Schroth harnesses which are now out of date and replace them with identical perfectly lovely blue Schroth harnesses which will expire in 2020. Feels like a pointless expense, but there you go. The plumbed in fire extinguisher is out of date but weirdly UK club racing does not require them to be in date. The electrics work fine but a refill may be prudent. A quick dig in the box of treasures at the back of my garage unearths a kill switch and my old fibreglass splitter. Dust off my Cobra seat (weirdly UK club racing rules do not required dated seats so this is still legal) and harvest an organ from the Caterham (the transponder), and I’m good to go. Except that I am of course mechanically cack-handed so I decide to outsource the trickier bits to a local bloke in a shed.
Having turned the air blue trying to manhandle my splitter and the race seat (which appears to be sitting on the wrong brackets), Ricky turns out to be a revelation from heaven. Recommended by my local MOT workshop as a man with specialist skills at an affordable rate operating out of a nearby industrial estate, I turn up to find him rebuilding an a E-type from the ground up. The omens are good.
So Ricky fits the transponder, the kill switch, the splitter, and works some magic on the seat brackets. Ah, it feels like the old days again.
From this:
To this:
A quick test at a very wet Brands reveals the GT-One built engine is truly wonderful but the conditions don’t allow me to stretch the car. So the first race will have to be more of a test session than I’d hoped.
Race day dawns miserably. I load the trailer up in a downpour at stupid-o’-clock in the morning, check the spares, tools, race kit, sundry bits and pieces, set the sat nav for Brands and tip toe my way past the neighbours. A last minute wrong turn costs me some time and I arrive in a panic, hoping not to miss my scutineering slot. I needn’t have bothered....I don’t make it past the scrutineers as the kill switch has failed. Ricky appears to have ignored the feedback loop from the alternator which means the engine won’t cut without a diode. Arse, and indeed, feck. I cannot however ignore my own stupidity for not checking (or rather, I checked the kill switch cut the power when the engine was off – doh!). Presumably Ricky had been equally moronic.
Despite help from fellow competitors, we are unable to fix the issue in time for quali and I must reload a very wet Cobalt and head back. My state of mind is as miserable as the weather and will last most of the following week.
It’s Rockingham next and I decide not to take any chances with preparation. So GT-One fix the kill switch problem and a troublesome hot-starting issue, then it’s off to Parr to have the geometry set up to my liking: neutral to mild understeer in the high speed corners as I like to have something to push up against, and let me handle the trail braking in the tight corners. Whilst there, we have RSS rear toe links fitted as one side of the existing Cup items appear to have a very minor kink, probably as a result of the wonderful moonscape that is the Surrey highway system. Rather bizarrely, Parr tell me they cannot share details of their set up which costs a not inconsiderable £650 in labour alone! I had naively assumed such a price would include a corner weighting but it turns out that, yes, that’s just for working their geo mojo. Having been used to giving the man from Pirelli in Dubai a piece of paper with my preferred settings and standing over his shoulder as he does it, I am somewhat shocked but hey, Parr are the best right?
A week away from race day, and Parr rather belatedly inform me the toe links will not arrive in time and I am understandably peeved at the management of the whole process. Once again, Pistonheads come to the rescue, Slippydiff informing me that RSS parts are supplied by Nine Excellence which is round the corner from Parr... result! And thanks, Slippy.
Race day is an unsettled forecast and I’m wondering how my new Cup 2s will cope with rain. Another early morning faff with the trailer (I HATE reversing these things!) and today I really am nervous: I think, I THINK, I’ve got everything right this time, left nothing to chance. Proper butterflies today. I’m checking and rechecking everything. Can’t afford to get this wrong a second time. Multiple visits to empty my bladder. You get the picture.
Scrutineering is all good, phew! Quali is – at first – a bewildering swarm of hot hatches and coupes from other classes overwhelming me with their buzzy engines and tack-sharp direction changes through Rockingham’s infield. I’m utterly overwhelmed. I’ve no idea which way this circuit goes and haven’t driven a Cup car or GT3 on Cup settings for 4 years. Let’s just circulate for a few minutes, get the lie of the land, and stay out of the way. 10 minutes later, I hear something rip whilst turning into the apex of the high speed banking followed by a graunching sound from the front. Marvellous. How I wish I was back in Dubai with an all-singing pit crew and radio comms. Instead a lonely inspection in the pits reveals Ricky’s handiwork with the front splitter left plenty to be desired. Useless man. Useless me. Now I fear for the poor owner of that E-type...
Thankfully, the crew of a Porsche 968 in a parallel series come to my aid and help me whip off the offending item to get me back out in time to complete the rest of the session. By my last lap before the chequered flag, the car is starting to come alive – from somewhere out of the depths of my cryogenically frozen muscle memory, those old rev-matching and trail-braking skills are starting to reanimate. I say ‘starting’ as there’s probably at least another second (maybe even 2!) to be found, and I’m sure my braking is perhaps 20% off the optimum, but I’m happy that the car is beginning to dance into and through the corners. That Parr set up turned out to be pretty damn good – I’m P2 which is not saying much as there’s an M3 in a class lower than me sitting a whole 2 seconds ahead in P1! To be fair, the Beemer looks very trick, and the driver is no fool, so I allow myself to feel a small sense of accomplishment.
And then the heavens open up. Desert sand drifting across the Dubai Autodrome I can deal with, but rain?
I needn’t have worried. The race itself is dry. And the circuit is wonderful. I didn’t think I would enjoy a NASCAR style oval, but it’s really good fun. I particularly like the US-style grandstand and leaderboard.
There’s a sense of ‘will-I-won't-I make it through this high speed turn’ through the banked turn 1 and each lap you attempt to clip the apex a couple of clicks quicker and get a couple of inches closer to the outer wall on the exit. Without my front splitter, it feels a little too hairy for comfort and I allow myself not to be drawn into competing with the pole sitting and rather excellently driven M3 but rather concentrate on a solid P2 from flag-to-flag.
Well, I would have done, except that about 15 minutes in whilst holding off the challenge of a Seat Leon Cup behind me, a horrible knocking sound from the rear and a hugely scary squirming under braking put paid to my day: two wheel bolts have sheared their threads and the rear nearside wheel is hanging rather forlornly from its hub. The sockets have ovalised so the wheel is toast:
I suppose I should count my blessings – had I continued for another lap perhaps they might have been scraping me off the outer wall of turn 1. An expensive lesson learnt – always torque your nuts!
Silverstone is 12th September. By then I will either have switched over my Cup 2s (brilliant tyre, BTW) to my BBS wheels or have sourced a replacement OEM for the rear. If anyone knows of one, please drop me a line! (11J ET63)
And if anyone fancies a free ticket to Silverstone with the proviso they can help me with the mandatory pitstop (all you need to do is buckle my harness and pull it tight), PM me.
Running yourself without any help is very difficult. So much energy go's into prepping the car and just getting it to the circuit. By the time you get called to the collection area you mind is already scrambled.
Very best wishes for the rest of the season. I do not have the time to help you at the circuit but would be very happy to give you whatever advice might help if you wish. For some reason my new email address won't update on Pistonheads. Feel free to mail me on steve@traymateproducts.com I you wish
Very best wishes for the rest of the season. I do not have the time to help you at the circuit but would be very happy to give you whatever advice might help if you wish. For some reason my new email address won't update on Pistonheads. Feel free to mail me on steve@traymateproducts.com I you wish
Steve Rance said:
Running yourself without any help is very difficult. So much energy go's into prepping the car and just getting it to the circuit. By the time you get called to the collection area you mind is already scrambled.
Very best wishes for the rest of the season. I do not have the time to help you at the circuit but would be very happy to give you whatever advice might help if you wish. For some reason my new email address won't update on Pistonheads. Feel free to mail me on steve@traymateproducts.com I you wish
Steve, you are a true gent. I may at some point pick your brains.Very best wishes for the rest of the season. I do not have the time to help you at the circuit but would be very happy to give you whatever advice might help if you wish. For some reason my new email address won't update on Pistonheads. Feel free to mail me on steve@traymateproducts.com I you wish
So true about the mind being scrambled when you do this stuff solo.
majordad said:
Ya, I watched your race after my own MOdern Classics finished. I was up on top of the pits looking down at you and wondered why you retired. I could see them working on the wheel but it was not obvious what the exact problem was.
How did you find the Cup 2 s in the greasy conditions?
We were lucky that our race had a pretty dry track, so it's difficult to say.How did you find the Cup 2 s in the greasy conditions?
On the other hand, I had to drive home from GT-One with one rear Yoko AD08 and the other Cup 2 in the pouring rain. I can say with some confidence the Cup 2 is significantly grippier even in the wet (car wanted to twist to one side under acceleration!). Stannding water is a different issue and I would trust the Yokos more in that regard.
sportsandclassic said:
Hi Harris,
Hope you are getting things sorted now.. ?
From the picture of your wheel the bolts don't have GT stamped into the heads... do they and I can't see it or not ?
GT3 Wheel bolts are slightly longer and should have red tapered cones.
Just out of curiosity.
Mike
Interesting, I didn't know this. I certainly don't recall red tapered cones. Will check.Hope you are getting things sorted now.. ?
From the picture of your wheel the bolts don't have GT stamped into the heads... do they and I can't see it or not ?
GT3 Wheel bolts are slightly longer and should have red tapered cones.
Just out of curiosity.
Mike
Gearbox is a peach, BTW.
Seeing the pictures of Cobalt Blue sat in the showroom in all its innocent glory before it's racing life reminds me of the day it was picked up brand new from Al Naboodah Automobiles by the one careful owner its had in its life (shame about the 2nd owner!). Only joking, still a great looking car and it is great to hear stories of you racing it again, I have very fond memories of seeing that car up close on YAS & the Autodrome.
You have a knack of writing in such a way I almost feel I am sharing the drive and the pain of things going wrong!
If I can persuade Debbie to let me head back to UK a week earlier than scheduled in September i'll come and help you at Silverstone........ now how to start that conversation....."dearest wife can you guess whose going to Silverstone in Sept...." hmmm might have to work on my approach to pull that one off.
Have fun.
You have a knack of writing in such a way I almost feel I am sharing the drive and the pain of things going wrong!
If I can persuade Debbie to let me head back to UK a week earlier than scheduled in September i'll come and help you at Silverstone........ now how to start that conversation....."dearest wife can you guess whose going to Silverstone in Sept...." hmmm might have to work on my approach to pull that one off.
Have fun.
Steve Rance said:
Running yourself without any help is very difficult. So much energy go's into prepping the car and just getting it to the circuit. By the time you get called to the collection area you mind is already scrambled.
I've found this as I now do all the prep and get the car to the circuit. I've got a helper at the circuit, but even so I still get there and have only thought about the mechanical prep and nothing about driving. I'm really not a good enough driver to do that.Previously I had team support and really thought about nothing but the driving, the circuit and the race - luxury!
You do very well indeed on your own that's for sure!
Bert
NAS90 said:
Seeing the pictures of Cobalt Blue sat in the showroom in all its innocent glory before it's racing life reminds me of the day it was picked up brand new from Al Naboodah Automobiles by the one careful owner its had in its life (shame about the 2nd owner!). Only joking, still a great looking car and it is great to hear stories of you racing it again, I have very fond memories of seeing that car up close on YAS & the Autodrome.
You have a knack of writing in such a way I almost feel I am sharing the drive and the pain of things going wrong!
If I can persuade Debbie to let me head back to UK a week earlier than scheduled in September i'll come and help you at Silverstone........ now how to start that conversation....."dearest wife can you guess whose going to Silverstone in Sept...." hmmm might have to work on my approach to pull that one off.
Have fun.
Er, is this the one careful owner who lit up the rear tyres and painted black lines every time he did a U-turn? You have a knack of writing in such a way I almost feel I am sharing the drive and the pain of things going wrong!
If I can persuade Debbie to let me head back to UK a week earlier than scheduled in September i'll come and help you at Silverstone........ now how to start that conversation....."dearest wife can you guess whose going to Silverstone in Sept...." hmmm might have to work on my approach to pull that one off.
Have fun.
Would be great to see you at Silverstone if you do manage to persuade Debbie...
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