emotional where are you?
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Saturday Practice ............
Practice this morning gave the whole team a big boost, for the first time this season, race engineer Alistair Niven has been able to concentrate on making small changes to cars set-up, tyre pressures and shocker settings, which has translated into big changes in the cars performance.
“In one session we have taken over 3 seconds off the gap between us and our nearest rivals, the drivers are gaining confidence in the car which means they can push a bit harder which in turn gives us better feed back, a really useful session.” Alistair Niven
“The cars a lot quicker, much better to drive, its really good over the bumps here.”(Matt Griffin)
Next are the two qualifying sessions the true test of the cars improvement.
First & Second Qualifying..................
Matt Manderson started the first Qualifying session of the day, just as light drizzle made the track just damp, but not enough for wets. Manderson was laying a fantastic 9th overall when the session was red flagged after a big off by the Noble (73)
Matt Griffin went out in second qualifying and immediately started eating into the time deficit between the Monaro and the leading Ferrari 360 (4.72 seconds in practice)the car looked so much better than it had to date.
Pushing the car hard Matt achieved 11th overall less than one 10th of a second from the Ferrari in tenth place, Griffin had cut down the difference to the leading Ferrari by one and a half seconds (to 3.109 seconds)
A great drive and huge improvement for the team, smiles all round in the Emotional Engineering race awning.
Best time on lap13 1:09.344
Now the car get its check over for the race at 5:10pm.
Saturdays Race Round 7....................
British GT rounds have a rolling start, the pace car pulls in to the pit lane, green lights and no overtaking until the start line, simple. Not for this round, pace car in, no green light, chaos, some gained some lost, Matt Griffin got clipped by a Corvette and lost places. He quickly recovered and settle down to chasing the pack, quickly making back places until a accident brought out the safety car for six laps, leaving just a few more laps before Matt was called in for the driver change.
Matt griffin left the pit and set out, like a thing possessed, using his newfound confidence in the car to push hard, then every thing went wrong, the reoccurring
fault with the belt stuck again, the engine rapidly over heated before starting to misfire, leading to fears the engine had “let go” in fact the engine management system had gone into safe mode after the water temperature had reached a critical level.
After such a promising start to the day this was another huge disappointment for the team, but as always the mechanics set about trying to solve the problem with there usual determination.
Sundays Race Round 8....................
During the morning the Castle Combe track experienced brilliant sunshine then short showers, but for the start of Round 8 of the British GT Championship the grid was bathed in sunshine. Starting eleventh Matt Griffin pushed hard from the off gaining places on the first corner, heavy contact with a Corvette seamed to cause no damage. Matt battled for the next few laps getting to a fantastic seventh place, “one of the best session I’ve ever driven” said Matt Griffin.
As the car came to halt for the driver change it became apparent the knock from the Corvette had damaged the right rear wheel ripping off part of the rim leaving the tyre bead exposed “its amazing the tyre stayed on the rim.” said Alistair Nivin
Changing the rear wheels lost an additional 45 seconds dropping the car to 18th
Matt Manderson took back two places after the driver change, before a light shower gave way to a downpour, a big off by one of the front-runners brought out the red flag to end the race.
Fastest lap 1:09.61 finished 15th
“After such a huge improvement, with the car running perfectly, it’s devastating that one knock lost us 10 places, we should have had a top six finish, I feel disappointed for both Allen and the sponsors.” Matt Griffin
“I am well chuffed” said Matt Manderson," it’s the first long stint in the car I learnt a lot, its been really positive this weekend."
To be running 6th and 7th with the rest of the V8’s is so encouraging we have made a serious leap forward this weekend. We need to get the car on a serious diet we need to loose 40-50 kilos, we've also been having a problem with the power steering and the belt all weekend, we think now the two may be related. All in all we have had the best meeting to date, really encouraging! Allen Orchard
www.emotional-engineering.co.uk/
Practice this morning gave the whole team a big boost, for the first time this season, race engineer Alistair Niven has been able to concentrate on making small changes to cars set-up, tyre pressures and shocker settings, which has translated into big changes in the cars performance.
“In one session we have taken over 3 seconds off the gap between us and our nearest rivals, the drivers are gaining confidence in the car which means they can push a bit harder which in turn gives us better feed back, a really useful session.” Alistair Niven
“The cars a lot quicker, much better to drive, its really good over the bumps here.”(Matt Griffin)
Next are the two qualifying sessions the true test of the cars improvement.
First & Second Qualifying..................
Matt Manderson started the first Qualifying session of the day, just as light drizzle made the track just damp, but not enough for wets. Manderson was laying a fantastic 9th overall when the session was red flagged after a big off by the Noble (73)
Matt Griffin went out in second qualifying and immediately started eating into the time deficit between the Monaro and the leading Ferrari 360 (4.72 seconds in practice)the car looked so much better than it had to date.
Pushing the car hard Matt achieved 11th overall less than one 10th of a second from the Ferrari in tenth place, Griffin had cut down the difference to the leading Ferrari by one and a half seconds (to 3.109 seconds)
A great drive and huge improvement for the team, smiles all round in the Emotional Engineering race awning.
Best time on lap13 1:09.344
Now the car get its check over for the race at 5:10pm.
Saturdays Race Round 7....................
British GT rounds have a rolling start, the pace car pulls in to the pit lane, green lights and no overtaking until the start line, simple. Not for this round, pace car in, no green light, chaos, some gained some lost, Matt Griffin got clipped by a Corvette and lost places. He quickly recovered and settle down to chasing the pack, quickly making back places until a accident brought out the safety car for six laps, leaving just a few more laps before Matt was called in for the driver change.
Matt griffin left the pit and set out, like a thing possessed, using his newfound confidence in the car to push hard, then every thing went wrong, the reoccurring
fault with the belt stuck again, the engine rapidly over heated before starting to misfire, leading to fears the engine had “let go” in fact the engine management system had gone into safe mode after the water temperature had reached a critical level.
After such a promising start to the day this was another huge disappointment for the team, but as always the mechanics set about trying to solve the problem with there usual determination.
Sundays Race Round 8....................
During the morning the Castle Combe track experienced brilliant sunshine then short showers, but for the start of Round 8 of the British GT Championship the grid was bathed in sunshine. Starting eleventh Matt Griffin pushed hard from the off gaining places on the first corner, heavy contact with a Corvette seamed to cause no damage. Matt battled for the next few laps getting to a fantastic seventh place, “one of the best session I’ve ever driven” said Matt Griffin.
As the car came to halt for the driver change it became apparent the knock from the Corvette had damaged the right rear wheel ripping off part of the rim leaving the tyre bead exposed “its amazing the tyre stayed on the rim.” said Alistair Nivin
Changing the rear wheels lost an additional 45 seconds dropping the car to 18th
Matt Manderson took back two places after the driver change, before a light shower gave way to a downpour, a big off by one of the front-runners brought out the red flag to end the race.
Fastest lap 1:09.61 finished 15th
“After such a huge improvement, with the car running perfectly, it’s devastating that one knock lost us 10 places, we should have had a top six finish, I feel disappointed for both Allen and the sponsors.” Matt Griffin
“I am well chuffed” said Matt Manderson," it’s the first long stint in the car I learnt a lot, its been really positive this weekend."
To be running 6th and 7th with the rest of the V8’s is so encouraging we have made a serious leap forward this weekend. We need to get the car on a serious diet we need to loose 40-50 kilos, we've also been having a problem with the power steering and the belt all weekend, we think now the two may be related. All in all we have had the best meeting to date, really encouraging! Allen Orchard
www.emotional-engineering.co.uk/
The E-E Monaro is still having some probs, but with a few restritions lifted and races under their belts the car is getting quicker. Once they looses the 40-50 kilos, from the car and sort the belt problem out and have a bit more luck with the traffic they will be right up there.
Can't wait for Thruxton,
Good luck boys !
All the best, Rob.
Can't wait for Thruxton,
Good luck boys !
All the best, Rob.
G'Day, i just want one,
Races on TV as follows
Saturday 19th June
07:30 Channel 4 - GT from Snetterton
Friday 25th June
21:30 Motors Tv - GT from Snetterton
Saturday 26th June
04:30 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Saturday 26th June
07:30 Channel 4 - GT from Snetterton
Sunday 27th June
00:00 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Sunday 27th June
08:00 Channel 4 - GT from Castle Combe
Sunday 27th June
16:30 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Monday 28th June
04:30 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Tuesday 29th June
16:00 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
(all times provisional)
Enjoy,
Regards,
Rob.
Races on TV as follows
Saturday 19th June
07:30 Channel 4 - GT from Snetterton
Friday 25th June
21:30 Motors Tv - GT from Snetterton
Saturday 26th June
04:30 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Saturday 26th June
07:30 Channel 4 - GT from Snetterton
Sunday 27th June
00:00 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Sunday 27th June
08:00 Channel 4 - GT from Castle Combe
Sunday 27th June
16:30 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Monday 28th June
04:30 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
Tuesday 29th June
16:00 Motors TV - GT from Snetterton
(all times provisional)
Enjoy,
Regards,
Rob.
I have had a reply to an email I sent to Allen Orchard at EE-racing, in my email I said that a group of us from the HSV Drivers Club are expecting to go along to the Thruxton meet on the 29th-30th August 2004.
In Allen's reply he said we would be more than welcome to come along and he would show us around the team and race car personally.
I am not sure if we can get a group discount on tickets or if EE-Sport can pull a few strings!! but it would be good to have a firm idea of numbers (I guess about 10+ so far) so if you are up for it please post here................
>> Edited by uk hsv on Thursday 24th June 10:30
In Allen's reply he said we would be more than welcome to come along and he would show us around the team and race car personally.
I am not sure if we can get a group discount on tickets or if EE-Sport can pull a few strings!! but it would be good to have a firm idea of numbers (I guess about 10+ so far) so if you are up for it please post here................
>> Edited by uk hsv on Thursday 24th June 10:30
Race report from Oulton Park............
“as I came across cars ‘bang ‘ straight past no problem” Matt Griffin
First Practice.
The day started with a mysteriously flat battery, and after just one lap the car was back in the pit garage with what turned out to be a miss aligned steering wheel, no power steering and peddle box teething problems.
After another few laps in the car Matt Griffin handed over to Matt Manderson but after only four laps in the car with no power steering, ineffective brakes and with the rain starting to fall the team decided enough was enough and brought the car in.
The team set about trying to sort out as much as they could before the start of qualifying.
Qualifying.
The brake and power steering problems needed new parts and there was not enough time to fit them, without the risk of missing Qualifying so the decision was made to run the car as it was.
After two wet laps the session was stopped due an accident at the restart Matt Manderson went out determined to do his best with the car, but things did not go to plan, after a few quick laps, the car suddenly cut-out, despite being able to restart Matt only managed to limp back to the pits before the end of the session. The cause, another flat battery, with only a few minutes to change drivers, Matt Griffin set for his first lap with out the cause of the problem being found, and unfortunately he did not complete the lap.
After the promise of Castle Combe the morning’s performance had been very disappointing. There was a lot to do before the first race of the weekend, round nine of the British GT Championship.
Saturday’s Race. Round 9 of the British GT Championship.
The battery failures turned out to be a simple wiring fault, it just took nearly two hours to find leaving no time to sort out the remaining problems.
Starting from 22nd on the grid with no power steering and a breaking problem this was not going to make an easy race. As usual a rolling lap start, but just to make Matt Manderson race a little more exiting a collision amongst the front runners, at the first corner lead to carnage with cars spinning everywhere, making full use of the chaos Matt threaded his way though, making up several places before settling behind one of the Corvettes in thirteenth place to add yet more tension to Matt race he now had no power steering, a very heavy brake pedal and the car in front spraying out fuel onto the track making driving closely behind impossible, eventually Manderson found a way past the Corvette into eleventh place.
On lap 17 an exhausted Matt Manderson was called in for his driver change. Matt Griffin started his stint with lap times similar to Manderson’s within a couple of laps he started chipping away “ I got into a good rhythm and started to push harder towards the end of the race but the steering is so heavy you really couldn’t tell exactly where the car was going to be in the corner, I had to go off the racing line to get the thing to turn” holding 11th place Matt put in a supreme effort on the last four laps to get on to the tail of the 10th placed Ferrari “I could of got him on the last but one lap, but I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, that has got to be the hardest race I have ever had, I’ve driven all kinds of race cars F3, F3000 but I am totally ****ing exhausted, on the slow down lap I opened the drivers door because I thought I was going to sick.”
The result of all this effort 11th overall 7th in class and a lap time of 1:46.16
“Frustrating, our aim was certainly to be well into the top ten but with the problems we had today, eleventh is awesome the guys have done an incredible job today considering the problems that we encountered this morning. I really could not of ask for more, we have just got to get these problems sorted, the constant development of the car is making us much quicker but lack of time to test is leading to the car being unreliable. We will make the changes to the brakes tonight and fix the power steering problem we should be 2 seconds a lap quicker tomorrow” Allen Orchard
Sunday’s Race. Round 10 of the British GT Championship.
Overnight the team had changed the master cylinders on the new pedal box fitted a new power steering pump and also made some changes to the suspension settings, so hopes for a better day than Saturday where high. Because of the failure of the car to set a time in second qualifying on Saturday the Monaro was to start the race from the back of the grid with Matt Griffin driving the first session.
Matt was held up for the first two corner at the back of the field, but went high on the banking of Shell Oils corner to pass three cars around the outside followed by two more over hill top. Lap after lap Matt gained places “as I came across cars ‘bang ‘ straight past no problem” for 35 minutes Matt pushed hard and after running a long first stint as he pitted for the driver change he was officially 3rd overall, but allowing for the other teams driver changes a still impressive ninth from last on the grid, a stunning drive. “I could really carry some speed through the tight corners, car was good but the set-up changes we made last night where wrong, mind I could still really push the car hard”
When the Monaro re-joined the race with Matt Manderson at the wheel it was in 11th position, Matt immediately struggled with the car, “every thing was different on the car (from Saturday) the changes to suspension made the car feel loose in high speed corners, I just did not have time to get myself dialled in.” initially Matt lost several places, and ended the race in 14th position.
“The race was a challenge, on the surface 14th is not as good as we expected here today, however with the problems we had yesterday it’s a decent result.
We have got to do better at Silverstone.......we will do better at Silverstone!” Allen Orchard
Check out www.emotional-engineering.co.uk for more info
“as I came across cars ‘bang ‘ straight past no problem” Matt Griffin
First Practice.
The day started with a mysteriously flat battery, and after just one lap the car was back in the pit garage with what turned out to be a miss aligned steering wheel, no power steering and peddle box teething problems.
After another few laps in the car Matt Griffin handed over to Matt Manderson but after only four laps in the car with no power steering, ineffective brakes and with the rain starting to fall the team decided enough was enough and brought the car in.
The team set about trying to sort out as much as they could before the start of qualifying.
Qualifying.
The brake and power steering problems needed new parts and there was not enough time to fit them, without the risk of missing Qualifying so the decision was made to run the car as it was.
After two wet laps the session was stopped due an accident at the restart Matt Manderson went out determined to do his best with the car, but things did not go to plan, after a few quick laps, the car suddenly cut-out, despite being able to restart Matt only managed to limp back to the pits before the end of the session. The cause, another flat battery, with only a few minutes to change drivers, Matt Griffin set for his first lap with out the cause of the problem being found, and unfortunately he did not complete the lap.
After the promise of Castle Combe the morning’s performance had been very disappointing. There was a lot to do before the first race of the weekend, round nine of the British GT Championship.
Saturday’s Race. Round 9 of the British GT Championship.
The battery failures turned out to be a simple wiring fault, it just took nearly two hours to find leaving no time to sort out the remaining problems.
Starting from 22nd on the grid with no power steering and a breaking problem this was not going to make an easy race. As usual a rolling lap start, but just to make Matt Manderson race a little more exiting a collision amongst the front runners, at the first corner lead to carnage with cars spinning everywhere, making full use of the chaos Matt threaded his way though, making up several places before settling behind one of the Corvettes in thirteenth place to add yet more tension to Matt race he now had no power steering, a very heavy brake pedal and the car in front spraying out fuel onto the track making driving closely behind impossible, eventually Manderson found a way past the Corvette into eleventh place.
On lap 17 an exhausted Matt Manderson was called in for his driver change. Matt Griffin started his stint with lap times similar to Manderson’s within a couple of laps he started chipping away “ I got into a good rhythm and started to push harder towards the end of the race but the steering is so heavy you really couldn’t tell exactly where the car was going to be in the corner, I had to go off the racing line to get the thing to turn” holding 11th place Matt put in a supreme effort on the last four laps to get on to the tail of the 10th placed Ferrari “I could of got him on the last but one lap, but I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, that has got to be the hardest race I have ever had, I’ve driven all kinds of race cars F3, F3000 but I am totally ****ing exhausted, on the slow down lap I opened the drivers door because I thought I was going to sick.”
The result of all this effort 11th overall 7th in class and a lap time of 1:46.16
“Frustrating, our aim was certainly to be well into the top ten but with the problems we had today, eleventh is awesome the guys have done an incredible job today considering the problems that we encountered this morning. I really could not of ask for more, we have just got to get these problems sorted, the constant development of the car is making us much quicker but lack of time to test is leading to the car being unreliable. We will make the changes to the brakes tonight and fix the power steering problem we should be 2 seconds a lap quicker tomorrow” Allen Orchard
Sunday’s Race. Round 10 of the British GT Championship.
Overnight the team had changed the master cylinders on the new pedal box fitted a new power steering pump and also made some changes to the suspension settings, so hopes for a better day than Saturday where high. Because of the failure of the car to set a time in second qualifying on Saturday the Monaro was to start the race from the back of the grid with Matt Griffin driving the first session.
Matt was held up for the first two corner at the back of the field, but went high on the banking of Shell Oils corner to pass three cars around the outside followed by two more over hill top. Lap after lap Matt gained places “as I came across cars ‘bang ‘ straight past no problem” for 35 minutes Matt pushed hard and after running a long first stint as he pitted for the driver change he was officially 3rd overall, but allowing for the other teams driver changes a still impressive ninth from last on the grid, a stunning drive. “I could really carry some speed through the tight corners, car was good but the set-up changes we made last night where wrong, mind I could still really push the car hard”
When the Monaro re-joined the race with Matt Manderson at the wheel it was in 11th position, Matt immediately struggled with the car, “every thing was different on the car (from Saturday) the changes to suspension made the car feel loose in high speed corners, I just did not have time to get myself dialled in.” initially Matt lost several places, and ended the race in 14th position.
“The race was a challenge, on the surface 14th is not as good as we expected here today, however with the problems we had yesterday it’s a decent result.
We have got to do better at Silverstone.......we will do better at Silverstone!” Allen Orchard
Check out www.emotional-engineering.co.uk for more info
Silverstone race report from Allen Orchard
"This has been the most frustrating weekend"
Practice.
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH !!!!!!!!!! another thrown belt.
Qualifying.
Problems with the engine's oil breather system meant an early end to both qualifying sessions.
Round 11 of the British GT Championship.
Starting from 26th on the grid due to qualifying problems, Matt Griffin set about his task with vengeance four positions gained on the first lap, and by lap 6 Matt was in 16th place, however on lap 7 Matt reported problems and was called in, the team took the decision not to continue with the race.
Further investigation revealed something had been drawn in through the air intake and had been sucked into number eight cylinder.
Round 12 of the British GT Championship.
Car withdrawn.
"This has been the most frustrating weekend, with just a few laps in the race we proved the Monaro is quick, really quick. On full tanks we where amongst the fastest cars out there today, we have been dogged by small problems all weekend. Whatever it takes we have to find the solution to our reliability problems." Allen Orchard.
"We have seen that once we've got reliability the Monaro is going to be a front runner"
"This has been the most frustrating weekend"
Practice.
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH !!!!!!!!!! another thrown belt.
Qualifying.
Problems with the engine's oil breather system meant an early end to both qualifying sessions.
Round 11 of the British GT Championship.
Starting from 26th on the grid due to qualifying problems, Matt Griffin set about his task with vengeance four positions gained on the first lap, and by lap 6 Matt was in 16th place, however on lap 7 Matt reported problems and was called in, the team took the decision not to continue with the race.
Further investigation revealed something had been drawn in through the air intake and had been sucked into number eight cylinder.
Round 12 of the British GT Championship.
Car withdrawn.
"This has been the most frustrating weekend, with just a few laps in the race we proved the Monaro is quick, really quick. On full tanks we where amongst the fastest cars out there today, we have been dogged by small problems all weekend. Whatever it takes we have to find the solution to our reliability problems." Allen Orchard.
"We have seen that once we've got reliability the Monaro is going to be a front runner"
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