Brilliant VdeV

[Ipelm]

Just had my second experience of spectating at a VdeV race, and it was a real tonic to this synical and jaded enthusiast. Fantastic cars, Duratec powered PN class sports prototypes,two drivers, loads of overtaking, fast 1m 31 fastest lap at Donington GP. 3 hours of absorbing racing, 5 leaders!

I went to Snet last year and Donington at the weekend, cant recommend enough, brilliant.

[aquilamotorsport]

yeh it looks like a cracking championship, i saw one of the cars at mallory at the plum pudding but missed donington at the weekend, looked like a cracking meeting with gt cup, palmer audis and the elise trophy too....oh well maybe next time!....the v de v cars sound and look brilliant, i used to love radicals but these things have just overtaken them me thinks!

[Ipelm]

I was disappointed with GT Cup, had hoped to see different makes of prep'd GT's instead full of redundant 360's and out of date GT3's. Obvious really I suppose with all those cars out there with no where to go, just me being naive. There was a TVR but its road pedigree really showed as it wallowed and rolled in the corners and stood no chance, it would be so cool to have a series for such cars thats NOT one-make. Soooooooo fed up with one-make racing.

[lanan]

VdeV is the way forward.
Great racing over a sensible distance in a proper car.
We have ordered a Pilbeam CN car, which will be run alongside our Norma, or we may sell the Norma and get a 2nd Pilbeam.
All the grid, I believe, run Honda engines, the Duratec can't cut the mustard.
We are looking for a funded and quick driver for the Anglesey round next month in the Norma, which was running 2nd untill the starter motor failed at pit stop..!

[Ipelm]

If there is one small negative and that is generally reliability will need to improve before the 6 hour speed fest at Snet

[johnph]

What does VdeV mean? I know its a French abbreviation but i can't think what it is.

btw - whats the kind of budget that a driver needs to bring and what are the liscence requirements?

[stockhatcher]

3 large per weekend i reckon, and a national b.

[bickers]

VdeV is fantastic we started racing inn France in 2003 with our old car and have just built a new car to cn regs(Bicknell PS7)you may have heard us somewhat as 2 of the manifold pipes has come off at the joints.It was our debut with the car and we were happy with its performance claiming 2nd quickest in the race just 3 tenths shy of quickest and that was with the broken exhaust!
I was happy to discover that Marcus Pye has written about the series,our car and my Dad in Autosport this week,it's nice to know that people appreciate a one man band taking on the manufacturers and being quicker than all but one car! Gary has done a super job bringing this wonderful series to the Uk.

Matt Bicknell

[mark69sheer]

I was really surprised to see the Radicals trailing the Juno's etc with the same engine. I was always under the impression that the Radicals were pretty much at the top of the game.. allthough I notice the Radicals do seem to have a narrower chassis?

Is there a tyre difference too?

[bickers]

They were in the garage next to us,I think people underestimate just how well engineered the Normas,Junos,ligiers and chirons are.They are fantastic machines!

[bickers]

Oh and I forgot to answer some questions,VdeV stands for VAN DE VYVER it's the guy who started it Erics sirname,also it's on a controlled avon tire so everybody is on the same set ones.I think you're are talking about 4k each driver

[lanan]

stockhatcher said:

3 large per weekend i reckon, and a national b.

Well that will cover the entry fee and race fuel William
All we need then is tyres, tansport, mechanics. accomodation, workshop, etc etc.....oh yes and the £80k for the car....!!
It's a tribute to Bicknell getting a car out there against established manufacturers. Variety is the spice of life and all that..!

[stockhatcher]

3k , 2 drivers, = 6k per round... or approximately my entire seasons budget blown in one weekend anyway graham, its the big one this weekend, a chance for me to prove how good your engineering skills are in stock hatch racing
i hope... !

Edited by stockhatcher on Friday 18th April 21:55

[bickers]

It certainly starts adding up doesn't it Graham,£1.80 a ltr or what ever it was and new fuel fillers at £700 a pop.It was nice to see the level of professionalism in the series and the drivers it attracted.We had one ex f3 guy in and you did to,I think it's a genuine option now for young guys looking to make the switch to sports cars.Harold Primat did the French series and is now in a pesca in the le-mans series,I don't quite see why single seater guys have taken the route into sports cars say in the carrera cup,sprint races with about 10 cars in.
VdeV provides everything required for drivers wanting to do le-mans,long stints,lots of traffic to get through,high g cornering and in the French series you even get to drive in the dark at the Magny cour 12 hour.Ok so there isn't the power of the lmps but it will be a lot easier to adjust from a cn car to an lmp car rather than from a gt car.
Thanks for the kind words Graham,we couldn't believe how nice everybody was being about the car considering we had just gone quicker than most of them!I look forward to seeing the Pilbeam.

Matt

[Piglet]

Hi all, to be honest, I thought I was going to snooze for three hours at Doni whilst you lot were out I'm a big endurance racing fan but I really didn't think V de V would do it for me....I'm pleased to say I was pleasantly surprised, it was good close racing and looked like fun - well done!

[lanan]

stockhatcher said:

its the big one this weekend, a chance for me to prove how good your engineering skills are in stock hatch racing
i hope... !

Best of luck William.
Just remember if you don't win, the reason is either the engine or the set-up....Never ever the driver...!!!!

[spiralp]

Ianan,

Send me an email via my profile if you still need a driver for Anglesey.