Emotional Engineering newsletter
Discussion
www.crash.net/news_View~t~Race-res
Results from race one, didnt look good for Monaro
Although if you click on Quali 2 things look better
>> Edited by caspy on Monday 17th April 11:38
Results from race one, didnt look good for Monaro
Although if you click on Quali 2 things look better
>> Edited by caspy on Monday 17th April 11:38
caspy said:
www.crash.net/news_View~t~Race-res
Results from race one, didnt look good for Monaro
Although if you click on Quali 2 things look better
>> Edited by caspy on Monday 17th April 11:38
Just giving the others a head start...
newsletter dated Tue April 19th.
Emotional top ten at Oulton Park.
Monaro takes sixth in class in Cheshire.
It was a Easter weekend of mixed emotions for Emotional Engineering in the Avon Tyres British GT championship opening round at Cheshire's Oulton Park race track with the squad's Vauxhall Monaro forced to miss the weekend's first race due to unexpected brake problems, but fighting back to score an emotional top ten result in the Easter Monday race.
Oulton Park is one of Britain's most challenging race tracks and gave the team which runs the only racing Vauxhall Monaro in the UK a tough test for their first race meeting of the year.
Developments to the car had paid dividends and despite the limited pre-season testing undertaken, drivers Matt Griffin and Steve Hyde were given hope for a good result with the first qualifying session, held on Saturday, seeing Griffin setting the 11th fastest time of the 23 runners. Steve Hyde, in his first runs in the car then set the 17th fastest time in qualifying for the Monday race.
Shortly after Hyde had been in the car, however, the squad discovered a problem which would sideline them from Saturday's race. A fracture across one of the massive brake discs meant a replacement was needed, but there were not replacements available.
"We started the weekend with some new compound brake pads which made a massive difference, and this combined with working with the Avon tyres for the first time we were very encouraged with qualifying, but prior to the first race we found a crack in the front rotor [Australian for brake disc], it was too far gone and there wasn't enough time to do anything about it," explains team manager, Allen Orchard.
Whilst Easter Sunday was spent by many eating Easter eggs and enjoying a hearty Sunday roast, the Emotional Engineering squad were hard at work locating and then fitting their new brakes after AP Racing came to the rescue.
"We looked high, far and wide for a replacement but I'm really pleased to say that AP were fantastic and actually opened their shop on Easter Sunday so we owe them a lot of thanks," said Orchard.
Monday's race saw the squad start with Steve Hyde, driving solidly at the 2.69mile Oulton Park International track. The skies above the picturesque park venue did look to threaten rain during the course of the 35 lap GT duel, but it remained dry for the entirety.
Hyde found himself stuck behind a very wide Ferrari ahead, and try though he might he was unable to get past at the technical circuit, so the squad opted for an early pit stop to vault the car up the order. After a perfect stop, the car exiting the pit box just 0.4secs after the mandatory 45 seconds had elapsed, Griffin took over. Now near the rear of the field, Griffin had his work cut out but the Irishman worked his way up the order to the squad's ninth place overall, and sixth in class.
"I was passing a lot of cars, our car felt great, the best it's ever been since I've driven it so I had a good tool to work with," said Griffin. "I passed ten of twelve cars so that was great fun. Today the car ran faultlessly, the team did a fantastic job, Steve drove a very good first stint and the strategy was brilliant. It was probably the best weekend we've had, but hopefully it'll be the worst of the year."
Team-mate Steve Hyde was happy with his Monaro debut, which took place on the same weekend his son Jonny was racing in the Ginetta championship at the same track.
"I think it went better than expected," said Hyde. "We've got a car we've spent a fair bit of time on over the winter, but I'd not actually driven it before this weekend, so for me to come out of my first ever race in it with a top ten finish is a really good result.
"The Monaro is beautifully balanced and so driveable, when the back starts to slide it slides but you can control it, it's a big car but once you get out on the track you tend not to notice that. An unlucky problem set us back on Saturday but we definitely bounced back and put a smile on everybody's face."
Team manager Allen Orchard was very happy with the season debut, and is eagerly looking forward to the squad's next race. "The race went perfect from start to finish," he said. "Steve got stuck in traffic but he was doing some great times with a full load of fuel. With some good name drivers in front of him he was obviously going to have a battle to try and get past them so we opted to pit early and tried to use the clear track to give Matt time to smoke some laps which is exactly what he did."
Emotional Engineering will next be out in action in the second round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Donington Park on May 20-21.
Emotional top ten at Oulton Park.
Monaro takes sixth in class in Cheshire.
It was a Easter weekend of mixed emotions for Emotional Engineering in the Avon Tyres British GT championship opening round at Cheshire's Oulton Park race track with the squad's Vauxhall Monaro forced to miss the weekend's first race due to unexpected brake problems, but fighting back to score an emotional top ten result in the Easter Monday race.
Oulton Park is one of Britain's most challenging race tracks and gave the team which runs the only racing Vauxhall Monaro in the UK a tough test for their first race meeting of the year.
Developments to the car had paid dividends and despite the limited pre-season testing undertaken, drivers Matt Griffin and Steve Hyde were given hope for a good result with the first qualifying session, held on Saturday, seeing Griffin setting the 11th fastest time of the 23 runners. Steve Hyde, in his first runs in the car then set the 17th fastest time in qualifying for the Monday race.
Shortly after Hyde had been in the car, however, the squad discovered a problem which would sideline them from Saturday's race. A fracture across one of the massive brake discs meant a replacement was needed, but there were not replacements available.
"We started the weekend with some new compound brake pads which made a massive difference, and this combined with working with the Avon tyres for the first time we were very encouraged with qualifying, but prior to the first race we found a crack in the front rotor [Australian for brake disc], it was too far gone and there wasn't enough time to do anything about it," explains team manager, Allen Orchard.
Whilst Easter Sunday was spent by many eating Easter eggs and enjoying a hearty Sunday roast, the Emotional Engineering squad were hard at work locating and then fitting their new brakes after AP Racing came to the rescue.
"We looked high, far and wide for a replacement but I'm really pleased to say that AP were fantastic and actually opened their shop on Easter Sunday so we owe them a lot of thanks," said Orchard.
Monday's race saw the squad start with Steve Hyde, driving solidly at the 2.69mile Oulton Park International track. The skies above the picturesque park venue did look to threaten rain during the course of the 35 lap GT duel, but it remained dry for the entirety.
Hyde found himself stuck behind a very wide Ferrari ahead, and try though he might he was unable to get past at the technical circuit, so the squad opted for an early pit stop to vault the car up the order. After a perfect stop, the car exiting the pit box just 0.4secs after the mandatory 45 seconds had elapsed, Griffin took over. Now near the rear of the field, Griffin had his work cut out but the Irishman worked his way up the order to the squad's ninth place overall, and sixth in class.
"I was passing a lot of cars, our car felt great, the best it's ever been since I've driven it so I had a good tool to work with," said Griffin. "I passed ten of twelve cars so that was great fun. Today the car ran faultlessly, the team did a fantastic job, Steve drove a very good first stint and the strategy was brilliant. It was probably the best weekend we've had, but hopefully it'll be the worst of the year."
Team-mate Steve Hyde was happy with his Monaro debut, which took place on the same weekend his son Jonny was racing in the Ginetta championship at the same track.
"I think it went better than expected," said Hyde. "We've got a car we've spent a fair bit of time on over the winter, but I'd not actually driven it before this weekend, so for me to come out of my first ever race in it with a top ten finish is a really good result.
"The Monaro is beautifully balanced and so driveable, when the back starts to slide it slides but you can control it, it's a big car but once you get out on the track you tend not to notice that. An unlucky problem set us back on Saturday but we definitely bounced back and put a smile on everybody's face."
Team manager Allen Orchard was very happy with the season debut, and is eagerly looking forward to the squad's next race. "The race went perfect from start to finish," he said. "Steve got stuck in traffic but he was doing some great times with a full load of fuel. With some good name drivers in front of him he was obviously going to have a battle to try and get past them so we opted to pit early and tried to use the clear track to give Matt time to smoke some laps which is exactly what he did."
Emotional Engineering will next be out in action in the second round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Donington Park on May 20-21.
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