My first years racing

[itsallyellow]

So, the season is now over and what a year it has been!

We finished building the race car in Febuary this year and entered in into the Dunlop TVR Challenge.

The plan was to finish a few races and by the end of the year be somewhere near the class B pace.

So when i qualified pole in class and second overall at our first race of the year i was rather shocked!

We never expected to do as well as we did this year, the car has been allmost faultless, bellow is a list of problems we have had.

1 wheel baring failiure (Manged to finish 3rd)
2 ball joint failiures (Niether effected our position)
1 Broken diff (The hydratrak stopped woring at the second race meeting, used it for the rest of the year - will change for next year)
3 x lost the brakes. First was due to poor quality fluid cost me a win, came second, The other two times have been due to the pads wearing beond half way causing the heat to be transfered to the caliper and a lack of ducting (still managed to win in class both times)
1 clutch (broke in the first race of the year, lost two places but got a podium)
1 Cracked lower wishbone

None of these problems were that major and most were caused by our inexperience.

Our results have been:

Cadwell Park:
Quali = Pole in class 2nd overall
Race 1 = 4th in class 8th overall
Race 2 = 3rd in class 6th overall

Snetterton
Quali = Pole in class 4th overall
Race 1 = 2nd in class 6th overall (Fastest Lap)
Race 2 = 1st in class 5th overall (Fastest Lap)

Brand Hatch
Quali = Pole in class Pole overall
Race 1 = 1st in class 4th overall (Fastest Lap)

Anglesey
Quali = Pole in class 4th overall
Race 1 = 1st in class 4th overall (Fastest Lap)
Race 2 = 1st in class 4th overall (Fastest Lap)

Silverston
Quali = Pole in class Pole overall
Race 1 = 1st in clas 2nd overall 1.52 seconds behind leader(Fastest Lap)
Race 2 = 1st in clas 2nd overall 0.272 Behind leader (Fastest Lap)

Brands Hatch
Quali = Pole in class Pole overall
Race 1 = DNF(Black flagged from first due to fuel leak) (Fastest Lap)
Race 2 = 1st in class 3rd overall (From the back of the grid) (Fastest Lap)

Oulton Park
Quali = Pole in class 2nd overall (by 0.002)
Race 1 = 1st in class 4th overall (Fastest Lap)
Race 2 = 1st in class 9th overall (Fastest Lap) Broken wishbone on lap 2 meant i couldnt use the brakes!

So to sum up our year, we have qualified pole in class at every meeting, achieved fastest lap in class at every race apart from the first meeting of the year.
The only DNF was at Brand Hatch which was down to me spinning the car into the Armco causing the filler neck to split.

Thanks to everyone on here who have shown there support and those who came to the races and said Hi!

A very big thanks to Dave hillis (Plasticman) Andy at APM and Joo at Tcs.

Althought the biggest thanks has to go to my Dad who has been at every race, spent most of his free time building a reparing the car, wouldnt have been racing if it wasnt for him!

We won the class B Championship and if it wasnt for my DNF at Brands would have won overall!!

Next year we will be battling in class A aginst the Tuscans and Sagaris.

The car is now looking and feeling a bit tired so will be undergoing a great deal of work over the winter.

A picture from Oulton Park. (Needs a re-spray!)




Again thanks for all the support!

Thanks Mike

Edited by itsallyellow on Wednesday 15th October 14:04

[Duke Thrust]

Top job Mike!

[Dirty Boy]

Top stuff.

So are you going for the Britcar24hour?

ETA I was at Snetterton, would thoroughly recommend anyone who hasn't been to a meeting to get along and watch.

Edited by Dirty Boy on Wednesday 15th October 14:17

[SimonSparrow]

Absolutely brilliant first year, hope all goes well with the winter work for next season!

[itsallyellow]

Dirty Boy said:

Top stuff.

So are you going for the Britcar24hour?

ETA I was at Snetterton, would thoroughly recommend anyone who hasn't been to a meeting to get along and watch.

Edited by Dirty Boy on Wednesday 15th October 14:17

We will see. It seems that Britcar themselves arnt sure whats happening yet. We will work on the car over the winter and see how we go. Theres a part of me which would like to concentrate on class A of the TVR's. I think to do will in that would be quite an achievment.

Mike

[JensenA]

Were all proud of you, Great Achievment Mike, in fact for a first time outing, its a Fecking Marvellous Achievment!!-

[trackcar]

Got to be said that you and your dad (a top dad in anyone's book, a real gent and a real hard worker) have done brilliantly this year .. roll on 2009!

[ceejay]

Well done Mike. I hear you picked up a rather nice new trophy too. Well deserved. Hope to see you out there again next year.

[itsallyellow]

Thanks Joo!

Cheers Cliff. Hopefully we will both be on the grid again next year!

Yes the trophy is amazing, made even more special knowing it was voted for by the drivers.

Mike

Edited by itsallyellow on Wednesday 15th October 14:55

[billy no brakes]

Great stuff you must be overwhelmed with the results on your first attempt

Gary

[S5TVR]

Mike,

Saw you race at Snetterton, Brands & Silverstone and was not only impressed with the Cerb but also with your driving ability. Will look forward to seeing you out next year. What will you be doing to the car to move into Class A - presumably more power ?

[itsallyellow]

S5TVR said:

Mike,

Saw you race at Snetterton, Brands & Silverstone and was not only impressed with the Cerb but also with your driving ability. Will look forward to seeing you out next year. What will you be doing to the car to move into Class A - presumably more power ?

Thanks!

Yes more power is the first thing. Also upgrading the entire drive train. There will be some aerodynamic tweeks and hopefully some more wieght lost. Loosing more wieght will be the hardest part. Even i have lost 2 stone since Silverstone in August!

Mike

[Dirty Boy]

itsallyellow said:

There will be some aerodynamic tweeks

Plastic covers to smooth over the lights? The plastic cowling on the works MGCs increased top speed by 4-5mph on the straights

(according to folklore)

[amazon]

Well done Mike!

[SI-PEN]

Yeah, great job!

Shame you decided not to do Britcar next year, or should I say shame they changed the date!

[julian64]

Well done. I harp back to what I said before on your previous thread. Look at all the fastest laps you have posted throughout the year.

Colour me confused, but are they fastest laps despite the fact you have a power disadvantage to class A??

I really don't understand the rules, but if you have restricted power on the AJP to the class A cars then do you think they are worried about what will happen next year when your Cerb AJP is running at full power??

How close do you think you are to arriving home in front of all the tuscan racers next year?

[itsallyellow]

Fastest laps in class Julian. I have only achieved fastest lap overall once at Brands.

Mike

[julian64]

So, whats the time void in front of you to the class A speeds and the power you are allowed to increase to get there?

Just trying to get an idea of the how much work you have to do

[dougc]

Good job. Nice to Cerberas racing.




Drop me a PM if you want the originals.

[itsallyellow]

julian64 said:

So, whats the time void in front of you to the class A speeds and the power you are allowed to increase to get there?

Just trying to get an idea of the how much work you have to do

Very difficult to say. Earlier in the year at Snetterton the gap was about 1.4 per lap. Anglesey was about the same.

But at Brands and Silverstone i was just as quick.

Last weekend at oulton park i was 0.002 off the pace in quali and was as quick as the tuscans except for Mark hockin who had about 1.2 per lap over everyone else!

Class A dosnt have a power limit or a wieght limit.

The tuscans are wieghing in just under 900kg.

Mike