Race of Remembrance 2019
Discussion
Hello PHers! This thread being posted with approval from PH headshed, for which we’re very grateful.
RoR19 is now live! Entries opened on Monday at 0900 and are flying in. I wanted to post some information here so you can all have a butchers.
We’re being sticklers for the classes this year and have settled on C1, 1600, 1800, 2000, Caterham and Lotus. However…
If you race in a series that would like to run within its own class then please contact us asap. MSA/Motorsport UK mandates a minimum 5 cars to make an official class and we’re following that. We’d be more than happy to factor in a new class if demand exists, providing it is at or below the highest 2000cc Multivalve level. Pistonheads are competing this year in the EnduroKa series. This is an excellent example of making it easy to create an EnduroKa class, if demand exists.
The costs for 2019 have been set. For those committing with a deposit by or before March 31st the cost has been held at that of last year; £2,200. Anyone booking on after that date will pay the 2019 price of £2,400. Whether you’re on the discounted 2018 rate or not full entry fees are due by or before August 31st, 2019. The discounted rate will be applied to teams whose funds received into the RoR account by the end of March 31st.
A few answers to initial questions:
Venue confirmed: Anglesey / Trac Mon
Date confirmed: November 8-10th inclusive
Classes confirmed: C1, 1600, 1800, 2000, Caterham, Lotus. Opportunity for bespoke classes such as 116 Trophy for 5 or more identical entries
Tyres: List 1A/B/C generally though class specific, please see regs when released
Forbidden: slicks, wets, sequential boxes
Testing: a short period of free testing is included in entry fee. A longer (open-pit half day – 3.5hrs) of testing will be run by Mission Motorsport on Friday November 8th at a cost of £150 per car.
Licence: Nat B Race and up.
Relay Teams: limited to 25% of the grid – this year that means 13 teams
Garaging: All single car entries receive a garage on the pitlane, all relay entries in the relay marquee
Weather: Confirmed as a balmy 28 degrees with bright sun and low winds.
We expect demand to be very high and have a maximum grid number of 53. Please book early to ensure your entry, the entire process is being based on a 1st come 1st served basis, so don’t miss out.
The RoR committee has expanded this year to include motoring journalists and PR/marketing professionals – this means you can expect regular, relevant and interesting updates through the year once booked on.
Communications regarding RoR19 are to be sent to ror@missionmotorsport.org please.
All we need at this stage for a booking is: Name, suggested class you’ll be competing in and a deposit of £500. Supplementary information such as car, driver list, personal info etc. will all be collected from you by the entries team through the year. A weekly updated entry list will go up on raceofremembrance.com so you can keep updated with who you’ll be racing against.
To enter please go to www.raceofremembrance.com/entry-form/ and register.
Thanks all,
Ben!
RoR19 is now live! Entries opened on Monday at 0900 and are flying in. I wanted to post some information here so you can all have a butchers.
We’re being sticklers for the classes this year and have settled on C1, 1600, 1800, 2000, Caterham and Lotus. However…
If you race in a series that would like to run within its own class then please contact us asap. MSA/Motorsport UK mandates a minimum 5 cars to make an official class and we’re following that. We’d be more than happy to factor in a new class if demand exists, providing it is at or below the highest 2000cc Multivalve level. Pistonheads are competing this year in the EnduroKa series. This is an excellent example of making it easy to create an EnduroKa class, if demand exists.
The costs for 2019 have been set. For those committing with a deposit by or before March 31st the cost has been held at that of last year; £2,200. Anyone booking on after that date will pay the 2019 price of £2,400. Whether you’re on the discounted 2018 rate or not full entry fees are due by or before August 31st, 2019. The discounted rate will be applied to teams whose funds received into the RoR account by the end of March 31st.
A few answers to initial questions:
Venue confirmed: Anglesey / Trac Mon
Date confirmed: November 8-10th inclusive
Classes confirmed: C1, 1600, 1800, 2000, Caterham, Lotus. Opportunity for bespoke classes such as 116 Trophy for 5 or more identical entries
Tyres: List 1A/B/C generally though class specific, please see regs when released
Forbidden: slicks, wets, sequential boxes
Testing: a short period of free testing is included in entry fee. A longer (open-pit half day – 3.5hrs) of testing will be run by Mission Motorsport on Friday November 8th at a cost of £150 per car.
Licence: Nat B Race and up.
Relay Teams: limited to 25% of the grid – this year that means 13 teams
Garaging: All single car entries receive a garage on the pitlane, all relay entries in the relay marquee
Weather: Confirmed as a balmy 28 degrees with bright sun and low winds.
We expect demand to be very high and have a maximum grid number of 53. Please book early to ensure your entry, the entire process is being based on a 1st come 1st served basis, so don’t miss out.
The RoR committee has expanded this year to include motoring journalists and PR/marketing professionals – this means you can expect regular, relevant and interesting updates through the year once booked on.
Communications regarding RoR19 are to be sent to ror@missionmotorsport.org please.
All we need at this stage for a booking is: Name, suggested class you’ll be competing in and a deposit of £500. Supplementary information such as car, driver list, personal info etc. will all be collected from you by the entries team through the year. A weekly updated entry list will go up on raceofremembrance.com so you can keep updated with who you’ll be racing against.
To enter please go to www.raceofremembrance.com/entry-form/ and register.
Thanks all,
Ben!
Hi Ben
I'll email you tomorrow and subject to the reply put an entry in asap
My issue is in 2018 we had a 163bhp car and was put onto a category with civic typeR
What/how are you doing classes? By power? And can we have something concrete before we qualify! Not change classes after quali!!!
I'll email you tomorrow and subject to the reply put an entry in asap
My issue is in 2018 we had a 163bhp car and was put onto a category with civic typeR
What/how are you doing classes? By power? And can we have something concrete before we qualify! Not change classes after quali!!!
roddo said:
Hi Ben
I'll email you tomorrow and subject to the reply put an entry in asap
My issue is in 2018 we had a 163bhp car and was put onto a category with civic typeR
What/how are you doing classes? By power? And can we have something concrete before we qualify! Not change classes after quali!!!
Hi Rodders,I'll email you tomorrow and subject to the reply put an entry in asap
My issue is in 2018 we had a 163bhp car and was put onto a category with civic typeR
What/how are you doing classes? By power? And can we have something concrete before we qualify! Not change classes after quali!!!
Classes confirmed as above - however, as also mentioned we're pretty open minded about creating new classes where there is demand, and it makes sense. That's what we plan to do with 116 Trophy as they're going to add RoR to their calendar so will essentially be running their own race within ours, but also having a crack at our Heroes Trophy.
The Mk1 MX5 racers have indicated they'd like their own class and that's something we're working with them on. I'm sure it'll happen as they have a dozen or so cars/teams interested if we give them their own class.
Sympathise with your situation, but 2000cc multivalve covers such a big range and that's the class your car fits into. It never seems to have stopped you featuring on the podium to now either! Type Rs, Clios etc all quite realistic to fit in there. As of right now we have 3 x 2000cc class entries. 2 cars tbc and 1 Clio.
For the first time this year we're going to keep a live (ish) entry list on the site. Intention is to update it each weekend with that week's entries.
All we're asking for right now to book on is Name, Expected Class and whether it's a HT or Relay entry. So that's the info that will go up. Later in spring the entries team will start fleshing out the specifics of each entry and updating that online, so classes will be able to recce the competition.
Dan BSCS said:
No invitational class this year Ben?
When will the regs be available?
Dan
We're aiming not to have an Invitational Class at all. That said there will always be a reason for us to create one if the need arises. Typically that will be for the reasons it was created in the first place back at RoR14 - to allow disabled drivers to use a swank sequential box so they can compete - or like our own MM CRV, a vehicle that doesn't work in other classes but was built and driven by disabled MM beneficiaries.When will the regs be available?
Dan
Regs - great question. Can't answer that right now (!) - but - far earlier than previous years. We appreciate they play a key part in deicsion making for teams, so we're aiming for spring.
foz01 said:
Seems a shame to make up classes within the class structures, the mx5’s race against each other all year, they came 1st, 2nd &3rd in 2017 and 2nd 3rd in class in 18.
We have competed the last 2 years and it’s great racing against different cars, if it’s 1600cc it’s 1600cc.
There is and will continue to be a std mixed 1600 class, we already have entries. It likely won't have any Mk1 MX5s in it though.We have competed the last 2 years and it’s great racing against different cars, if it’s 1600cc it’s 1600cc.
bit of a thread revival!
Looking forward to RoR
Less than 4 weeks to go.
Class A is looking busy, but as mentioned above I think i'll be a bit sad to see the Mk1 MX5s get a class of their own... taking a 9 car class (all very even on paper) to a 4 car class.
Anyway - we'll race whoever is in our class and try our best
TS team 1 & 2 are Mini Cooper R50s by the way, not MX5s as noted on entry list
http://www.raceofremembrance.com/
Looking forward to RoR
Less than 4 weeks to go.Class A is looking busy, but as mentioned above I think i'll be a bit sad to see the Mk1 MX5s get a class of their own... taking a 9 car class (all very even on paper) to a 4 car class.
Anyway - we'll race whoever is in our class and try our best
TS team 1 & 2 are Mini Cooper R50s by the way, not MX5s as noted on entry list
http://www.raceofremembrance.com/
Hi Adam,
Good point ref 1600 class - the committee (of 14 of us, me inc) had a chin wag about it and... it's not happening, all will run together as one large class. As you say, should be good!
The Mk1 MX5 lot have brought a decent group though, so they'll have a side pot (unofficial in general classification) where the best performing car gets their moment in the sun, but not a full 1/2/3 podium shebang.
Can't wait now. Though MMHQ is an absolute madhouse!
Good point ref 1600 class - the committee (of 14 of us, me inc) had a chin wag about it and... it's not happening, all will run together as one large class. As you say, should be good!
The Mk1 MX5 lot have brought a decent group though, so they'll have a side pot (unofficial in general classification) where the best performing car gets their moment in the sun, but not a full 1/2/3 podium shebang.
Can't wait now. Though MMHQ is an absolute madhouse!
May as well post this here too... bit of a write up of the weekend from my perspective 
Usual long post alert... and prob forgotten more than I have remembered! A bit light on pictures (long story but should have some of my own in time), and I'll add in vids later.
Background: This is 'TrackScotland’s' third year at Mission Motorsports 'Race of Remembrance'. If you don’t know what this is, check it out
12hr / 1000km endurance race wrapped around a remembrance service on the Sunday morning. A great event, and a bit of a season finale for us Very different to most of our motorsport activities throughout the year too!
• 2017 - Lost out on 3rd place with minutes to go - gearbox failure
Learnt a lot
• 2018 - Entered 2 cars and 8 drivers. Class win and 4th place. Learned even more.
• 2019 .... 2 car entry
Prep – Those involved in the team will know I don’t want to be caught short of a part/spare after making the long journey. With that in mind I built a new SMRC Mini Cooper Cup car this year with a view to using it as a 'spare' car for RoR before its brought into active SMRC duty :lol: So we had to prep/test 3 cars before the event :O Simon and Matty (MB Garage Services) had them in/out of the workshop after trying a few things out at Knockhill, and they even tested one of the car themselves to get a better feel for things with them being the main support at the event - The ‘RoR’ setup seemed to get a very positive response from all the drivers during testing. Final touches to all 3 being done on the week leading into RoR. The pink car was also sporting a prototype digi dash system from 603 Autosport! Gucci Gucci!
Wednesday
Set off to collect MB Plant MotorSport support van from MB Garage Services and Motorsport in Ellon. Loaded it up (a bit lighter than previous years) and returned for Simon and Matty to load their tools and equipment. Home to pack and collect Jonny from nursery, with Fee in London till later in the eve. Busy busy running around like a headless chicken!
Thursday
Out of the house at 6am to collect cars/trailers and rendezvous with the more Northern drivers. Several hundred miles later the armada of camper vans and trailers arrived at Anglesey and began setting up (taking over!) the garage. Usual Thursday night prep needed to be done (I dont have enough time to get this all done before we head down).. radios installed in all 3 cars, lap timers installed, displays installed, geometry verified, stickers applied. Discussions on strategy and tactics. Bed sometime after 1am.
Friday
Up at 6am, and cars out front for a photoshoot before they head off to scrutineering. It was good to capture a moment when all 15 of us were together with the 3 cars looking reasonable fresh Went on a track walk with a handful of the team – always insightful.
Drivers signed on at 8am, and paid testing from 9-12pm.
Testing
The 3 ‘new’ drivers (Will, Sandy and Adam Morrison) were given the majority of seat time in the testing car. As with every year so far, we have taken a car to test without having to be mindful of taking life out of the race car. We didn’t have the luxury of a second test car (no time to build another LOL) so the Pink team just used Barbie sparingly, with each driver doing a small number of laps to get a quick re-cap on Anglesey. Lap times were very positive at this point, already as quick as we’ve been before but without any pushing of the car!
Towards the end of testing the pink car developed a vibration FL. Diagnosed straight away as the inner CV. Seemed like the driveshaft was replaced in minutes and car ready to go soon after! Great to get any breakages out the way early :O Hopefully.
Qualifying
The drivers were given strict instructions to do the minimum laps required without being too concerned about lap times. In reality its of little importance where we are on the grid. Both cars ended up together again, with 0.8s splitting them.
• Pink – 1:49.018
• Blue – 1:49.883
Adam KINDNESS - 1:49.018
Craig DILLON - 1:49.674
Lowell FORSYTH - 1:50.699
Mark DAWSON - 1:51.721
William ROBSON - 1:49.883
Gordon LONG - 1:53.973
Adam MORRISON - 1:51.442
Sandy BONNER - 1:53.160
These times put the Pink car in P25 and Blue in P26 overall. 4th and 5th in Class A (1600cc).
Night Familiarisation
This session has no bearing on the starting position so there is nothing to be gained by pushing a car, or taking unnecessary risks. Drivers only had to do 3 laps to prove they were capable in the dark, and were reminded of this, and most behaved themselves… :X
Saturday – Race Day :O
There was a few hours of free testing on the sat morning, both teams used this to bed in new brakes for the race. A few stop start laps later that was done and it was time to set the running order and get our ducks in line for the race. The running order for the Pink car was myself, Craig, Mark then Lowell. Blue car went for Will, Adam M, Gordon then Sandy.
Andrew MacDonald was the team member doing the MMBoF – I’ll let him comment on that, but safe to say… It looked pretty bloody cold and flip-flops aren’t ideal!
Race! (my own personal experiences here, will let other drivers cover theirs if they want)
Things kind of sink in when you’re in the holding area lined up next to a bunch of famous drivers… and you are in bright pink shopping trolley! Bring it on! Rolling start with 2 green flags laps (weather was abysmal) – made up a couple of places early on then settled into a bit of a rhythm behind the Canadian run MX5 in Class E. It was a good bit quicker on the straights, but holding me up in the corners. I wasn’t willing to risk a daft pass so just kept plugging away. Lots of wet laps later a small disaster struck. I snatched a brake, activated the ABS and ploughed into the back of a very early braking civic (nearly had an incident with him pulling across in the braking zone a lap or two earlier). Hindsight I should have just went off track to right but I must have thought he’d seen me coming in hot. Minimal damage, but steering was out, one LED broken, bonnet mashed and bumper destroyed. Kept it going to end of stint, lap times still decent. My stint was just over an hour long. Craig was in after me, still very wet but rain easing with the darkness falling.
Vid from race start - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7Wgvvw1xU
I was back in the car around 8:30pm, on dry tyres :S. The first lap or two was a bit wiggly working out where the grip was. During these laps Will in the blue car passed me ( I didn’t know it was the sister car behind!). Handful of laps later I was back pressuring Will. The following laps were pretty epic! Pitch black, wet greasy track, back markers…. Some requesting of team orders on the radio… being told to just get passed rather than being waved past LOL, then being reminded to ‘Bring the cars home’ once I started to try a bit more for the pass! Eventually made the pass up at Peel with a cheeky little block pass to make sure Will didn’t have the momentum or inside line to come back at me for the next corner, job done! We finished the day 1.6sec apart, line astern on the road and P2 / P3 in Class A (1600cc) to a 1500cc Turbo (I think) Civic in P1
Vid from Pink car – Final stint Saturday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8_7Cl8Jdhk
There is no longer Parc-Ferme overnight so we took the chance to make some running repairs and some precautionary repairs.
Pink car needed the most :S – Gearbox swap (was experiencing a slight crunch 3-4 when rushing gears), New clutch, New front bumper, New front discs, new rear pads, brakes bled…. Taped up the bonnet
Blue car needed a new lower ball joint and brakes bled
Sunday – Race completion and Remembrance Service part way through in the pit lane.
I was out first on Sunday (driver ending Sat must start Sunday) for a short spell. It was wet but drying with a healthy wind and sun starting to peak through the clouds. I was pretty confident the Yoko 050 was the right tyre choice, and kind of new what to expect from them on the initial laps. Got a decent start holding along side a C1 until crossing the S/F line, only to then see it and Will in the blue car tandem spinning behind me. I’ll let Will explain that one Had a great time in this stint, passing the Synchro Civic for the class lead, generally having a hoot without thrashing the car. Handed over to Craig around 40mins into Sunday.
Vid from Start of Sunday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcPJQzAJ4g
Craig’s session didn’t go as well though…. With a fairly big off into the tyre wall at outside of turn 1. Looks like an early turn in ran him a little wide onto the slippy kerb/grass and that was that. He got the car out of the dirt and back to the pits for Mark to jump into earlier than planned. Slightly longer pitstop as it was unplanned and needed wheels changed, car checked etc. Mark did the stint before/after the Remembrance Service before handing over to Lowell (just the right conditions for him to drift about in LOL ). Then it was my turn again around 13:30. This stint has to be one of the hardest drives I’ve done. Not pushing the car, but simply trying to keep the pace good as by this point is was clear we were fighting (4 ways) for the win, with the closest rival the sister car! The damage from Craigs off had damaged a lot of the door, meaning that the outer skin was only partially attached to inner, and the window was flapping and then gaping wide at speed. 1 lap in was enough for me to not be happy just leaving it/ignoring it, so I pretty much drove around holding the window tight to side of car. Easy enough for the most part, but 90odd minutes of doing it led to cramp in hand and right arm. The amount of force pulling the window out towards rocket was pretty amazing. I somehow managed to set the fastest race lap for the car during this spell lol!
VID from my final (10-11hrs of race) stint - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI3yk6XHGjM
Craig was in next to bring the car home. Sadly we (pink car) couldn’t take the win, but over the moon that the sister car (blue #55) took the win 16secs up the road! 1 2 in class
Hindsight – the blue car/team ran more like clockwork. Did the minimal pitstops all very close to the minimum time each time. The pink car/team was quicker when comparing lap times, but we gave away too much time through the few incidents we had, and resulting longer pitstops.
Still…. Bloody amazing weekend.
Loads of thankyous required!
Thanks to the organisers (Mission Motorsport) for another great event, thanks to the marshals for their time and effort – it must be pretty bleak standing out there in the periods of howling wind and rain! Thanks to Matty (MB Garage Services), Simon ( MB Garage Services), Sean (AA hero!) and Mathew (fueling) for the pit support. Thanks to Brian (MB Plant) for the van again! Thanks to Fee for putting up with me being so involved with car things on the lead up to this, and for the food, pit comms and team boss role. Thanks to David for the strategy!
Still cant get my head around how close the two teams were over 12hrs. 1.4 seconds apart after 6hrs. 16 seconds apart after 12hrs. Bonkers!
- ****************************************************************************************************************
Usual long post alert... and prob forgotten more than I have remembered! A bit light on pictures (long story but should have some of my own in time), and I'll add in vids later.
Background: This is 'TrackScotland’s' third year at Mission Motorsports 'Race of Remembrance'. If you don’t know what this is, check it out
12hr / 1000km endurance race wrapped around a remembrance service on the Sunday morning. A great event, and a bit of a season finale for us
Very different to most of our motorsport activities throughout the year too!• 2017 - Lost out on 3rd place with minutes to go - gearbox failure
Learnt a lot• 2018 - Entered 2 cars and 8 drivers. Class win and 4th place. Learned even more.
• 2019 .... 2 car entry
Prep – Those involved in the team will know I don’t want to be caught short of a part/spare after making the long journey. With that in mind I built a new SMRC Mini Cooper Cup car this year with a view to using it as a 'spare' car for RoR before its brought into active SMRC duty :lol: So we had to prep/test 3 cars before the event :O Simon and Matty (MB Garage Services) had them in/out of the workshop after trying a few things out at Knockhill, and they even tested one of the car themselves to get a better feel for things with them being the main support at the event - The ‘RoR’ setup seemed to get a very positive response from all the drivers during testing. Final touches to all 3 being done on the week leading into RoR. The pink car was also sporting a prototype digi dash system from 603 Autosport! Gucci Gucci!
Wednesday
Set off to collect MB Plant MotorSport support van from MB Garage Services and Motorsport in Ellon. Loaded it up (a bit lighter than previous years) and returned for Simon and Matty to load their tools and equipment. Home to pack and collect Jonny from nursery, with Fee in London till later in the eve. Busy busy running around like a headless chicken!
Thursday
Out of the house at 6am to collect cars/trailers and rendezvous with the more Northern drivers. Several hundred miles later the armada of camper vans and trailers arrived at Anglesey and began setting up (taking over!) the garage. Usual Thursday night prep needed to be done (I dont have enough time to get this all done before we head down).. radios installed in all 3 cars, lap timers installed, displays installed, geometry verified, stickers applied. Discussions on strategy and tactics. Bed sometime after 1am.
Friday
Up at 6am, and cars out front for a photoshoot before they head off to scrutineering. It was good to capture a moment when all 15 of us were together with the 3 cars looking reasonable fresh
Went on a track walk with a handful of the team – always insightful.Drivers signed on at 8am, and paid testing from 9-12pm.
Testing
The 3 ‘new’ drivers (Will, Sandy and Adam Morrison) were given the majority of seat time in the testing car. As with every year so far, we have taken a car to test without having to be mindful of taking life out of the race car. We didn’t have the luxury of a second test car (no time to build another LOL) so the Pink team just used Barbie sparingly, with each driver doing a small number of laps to get a quick re-cap on Anglesey. Lap times were very positive at this point, already as quick as we’ve been before but without any pushing of the car!
Towards the end of testing the pink car developed a vibration FL. Diagnosed straight away as the inner CV. Seemed like the driveshaft was replaced in minutes and car ready to go soon after! Great to get any breakages out the way early :O Hopefully.
Qualifying
The drivers were given strict instructions to do the minimum laps required without being too concerned about lap times. In reality its of little importance where we are on the grid. Both cars ended up together again, with 0.8s splitting them.
• Pink – 1:49.018
• Blue – 1:49.883
Adam KINDNESS - 1:49.018
Craig DILLON - 1:49.674
Lowell FORSYTH - 1:50.699
Mark DAWSON - 1:51.721
William ROBSON - 1:49.883
Gordon LONG - 1:53.973
Adam MORRISON - 1:51.442
Sandy BONNER - 1:53.160
These times put the Pink car in P25 and Blue in P26 overall. 4th and 5th in Class A (1600cc).
Night Familiarisation
This session has no bearing on the starting position so there is nothing to be gained by pushing a car, or taking unnecessary risks. Drivers only had to do 3 laps to prove they were capable in the dark, and were reminded of this, and most behaved themselves… :X
Saturday – Race Day :O
There was a few hours of free testing on the sat morning, both teams used this to bed in new brakes for the race. A few stop start laps later that was done and it was time to set the running order and get our ducks in line for the race. The running order for the Pink car was myself, Craig, Mark then Lowell. Blue car went for Will, Adam M, Gordon then Sandy.
Andrew MacDonald was the team member doing the MMBoF – I’ll let him comment on that, but safe to say… It looked pretty bloody cold and flip-flops aren’t ideal!
Race! (my own personal experiences here, will let other drivers cover theirs if they want)
Things kind of sink in when you’re in the holding area lined up next to a bunch of famous drivers… and you are in bright pink shopping trolley! Bring it on! Rolling start with 2 green flags laps (weather was abysmal) – made up a couple of places early on then settled into a bit of a rhythm behind the Canadian run MX5 in Class E. It was a good bit quicker on the straights, but holding me up in the corners. I wasn’t willing to risk a daft pass so just kept plugging away. Lots of wet laps later a small disaster struck. I snatched a brake, activated the ABS and ploughed into the back of a very early braking civic (nearly had an incident with him pulling across in the braking zone a lap or two earlier). Hindsight I should have just went off track to right but I must have thought he’d seen me coming in hot. Minimal damage, but steering was out, one LED broken, bonnet mashed and bumper destroyed. Kept it going to end of stint, lap times still decent. My stint was just over an hour long. Craig was in after me, still very wet but rain easing with the darkness falling.
Vid from race start - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7Wgvvw1xU
I was back in the car around 8:30pm, on dry tyres :S. The first lap or two was a bit wiggly working out where the grip was. During these laps Will in the blue car passed me ( I didn’t know it was the sister car behind!). Handful of laps later I was back pressuring Will. The following laps were pretty epic! Pitch black, wet greasy track, back markers…. Some requesting of team orders on the radio… being told to just get passed rather than being waved past LOL, then being reminded to ‘Bring the cars home’ once I started to try a bit more for the pass! Eventually made the pass up at Peel with a cheeky little block pass to make sure Will didn’t have the momentum or inside line to come back at me for the next corner, job done! We finished the day 1.6sec apart, line astern on the road and P2 / P3 in Class A (1600cc) to a 1500cc Turbo (I think) Civic in P1
Vid from Pink car – Final stint Saturday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8_7Cl8Jdhk
There is no longer Parc-Ferme overnight so we took the chance to make some running repairs and some precautionary repairs.
Pink car needed the most :S – Gearbox swap (was experiencing a slight crunch 3-4 when rushing gears), New clutch, New front bumper, New front discs, new rear pads, brakes bled…. Taped up the bonnet
Blue car needed a new lower ball joint and brakes bled
Sunday – Race completion and Remembrance Service part way through in the pit lane.
I was out first on Sunday (driver ending Sat must start Sunday) for a short spell. It was wet but drying with a healthy wind and sun starting to peak through the clouds. I was pretty confident the Yoko 050 was the right tyre choice, and kind of new what to expect from them on the initial laps. Got a decent start holding along side a C1 until crossing the S/F line, only to then see it and Will in the blue car tandem spinning behind me. I’ll let Will explain that one
Had a great time in this stint, passing the Synchro Civic for the class lead, generally having a hoot without thrashing the car. Handed over to Craig around 40mins into Sunday.Vid from Start of Sunday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcPJQzAJ4g
Craig’s session didn’t go as well though…. With a fairly big off into the tyre wall at outside of turn 1. Looks like an early turn in ran him a little wide onto the slippy kerb/grass and that was that. He got the car out of the dirt and back to the pits for Mark to jump into earlier than planned. Slightly longer pitstop as it was unplanned and needed wheels changed, car checked etc. Mark did the stint before/after the Remembrance Service before handing over to Lowell (just the right conditions for him to drift about in LOL ). Then it was my turn again around 13:30. This stint has to be one of the hardest drives I’ve done. Not pushing the car, but simply trying to keep the pace good as by this point is was clear we were fighting (4 ways) for the win, with the closest rival the sister car! The damage from Craigs off had damaged a lot of the door, meaning that the outer skin was only partially attached to inner, and the window was flapping and then gaping wide at speed. 1 lap in was enough for me to not be happy just leaving it/ignoring it, so I pretty much drove around holding the window tight to side of car. Easy enough for the most part, but 90odd minutes of doing it led to cramp in hand and right arm. The amount of force pulling the window out towards rocket was pretty amazing. I somehow managed to set the fastest race lap for the car during this spell lol!
VID from my final (10-11hrs of race) stint - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI3yk6XHGjM
Craig was in next to bring the car home. Sadly we (pink car) couldn’t take the win, but over the moon that the sister car (blue #55) took the win 16secs up the road! 1 2 in class
Hindsight – the blue car/team ran more like clockwork. Did the minimal pitstops all very close to the minimum time each time. The pink car/team was quicker when comparing lap times, but we gave away too much time through the few incidents we had, and resulting longer pitstops.
Still…. Bloody amazing weekend.
Loads of thankyous required!
Thanks to the organisers (Mission Motorsport) for another great event, thanks to the marshals for their time and effort – it must be pretty bleak standing out there in the periods of howling wind and rain! Thanks to Matty (MB Garage Services), Simon ( MB Garage Services), Sean (AA hero!) and Mathew (fueling) for the pit support. Thanks to Brian (MB Plant) for the van again! Thanks to Fee for putting up with me being so involved with car things on the lead up to this, and for the food, pit comms and team boss role. Thanks to David for the strategy!
Still cant get my head around how close the two teams were over 12hrs. 1.4 seconds apart after 6hrs. 16 seconds apart after 12hrs. Bonkers!
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