Racing a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v

Racing a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v

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Discussion

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

242 months

Thursday 3rd August 2017
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Zombie said:
The clutch looks very similar to the clutch used on Alfa v6s. There is a known issue with the release bearing pulling out of the pressure plate due to a manufacturing defect. They're all made by valeo, even the different brands - QH, OE Alfa etc.

Discussion here;

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-gta/980210-alf...
It looks like they are talking about a different problem, the bearing pulling out of the clutch plate, not the bearing falling off the fork on the arm.
We don't use Valeo bearings and don't get that problem.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Wednesday 16th August 2017
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Hi all. Just finished the Festival Italia at Brands Hatch. Great crowd but sadly got a DNF in both races.

Blog: https://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/08/16/lancia-v-...

Ferraris Spin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxejRqRGqaU

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LUd6ryZRI8

Extended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poh_LboMlME

Mrs Muttleysnoop

1,412 posts

183 months

Thursday 17th August 2017
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Thurbs said:
Hi all. Just finished the Festival Italia at Brands Hatch. Great crowd but sadly got a DNF in both races.

Blog: https://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/08/16/lancia-v-...

Ferraris Spin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxejRqRGqaU

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LUd6ryZRI8

Extended: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poh_LboMlME
So sorry re your 2 DNFs. Race 2 you were really going for it and we really enjoyed watching you on Sunday.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Wednesday 20th September 2017
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Hi guys. Sorry, I forgot to keep this thread updated. Tell me if it is boring and I will stop updating it...

After a much-deserved summer break, we set our sights on the next round at Donington Park the weekend of 9th and 10th of September. After the success of Croft we are all doing rain dances here as we fear the Delta won’t be quite as competitive in the dry against some stiff opposition. We will be using the Nankang AR-1 for dry (4 new & 4 part worn) plus the Nankang NS-2R for any rain.

Of the two race ending problems faced at Brands Hatch we have identified the root cause of both. The drive belt failure was caused by a miss-aligned alternator pulley which was causing pre-mature ware on the belt. The pulley has been machined and should now be in alignment. The second failure was caused by a shear through the drive shaft at the point of the circlip on the outside end on the rear right-hand side of the car. We don’t know if the failure was just because the shaft had been a road car for 27 years before being asked to race and gave up, or if the standard shafts will all need replacing. We will keep an eye out for that.

Unlike previous rounds we decided not to test and this put us slightly on the back foot in qualifying. We had new set of pads to bed in on the front, tyres to scrub, new springs on the front as well as some adjustment in the rear tow. There is an adage in racing that you should only change one thing at a time and we were playing with fire. Luckily we didn’t have any issues with the new setup but with lots of slow cars on track it did mean we only got one semi-reasonable. Here is the hot lap from qualifying:

There was a slight miss-hap half way though when intending to signal I accidently turned the car off! Luckily I got going again and lived for another lap. In the end the Delta qualified a lowly 10th just behind a gaggle of cars in and around the 1m 19s to 1m 21s so there was a chance of going forward from there.

This weekend was again one where much time was spent looking at the sky and the weather radar screens. It had rained during the previous race but was sadly drying out for our race so we opted for dry tyres, Nankang’s AR-1 road legal track tyre, expecting it to continue to dry but hoped it was still damp out on track.

After the first corner the delta had made up three places and continued to syth through the field on the greasy track. After the end of lap 1 the Lancia was up to P2 behind the Porsche RSR of CHAMBERLAIN / FARRELL and spent the following laps closing down the gap to just over a second. By lap 5 though it was pretty much dry and the quick cars started to catch up and overtake dropping us down to 4th before the pit stops.

First lap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQXLtQtgluM

The second part of the race was about holding station as much as possible against the quicker field coming through. Some silly mistakes by me meant at one point we dropped back to 7th but some shunts, spins and unreliability meant we climbed back up to 4th where we stayed for the rest of the race.

After two DNF at Brands Hatch we were relieved to have finished and finish well. 3rd in class against the faster M3s and TVRs was a great result and we had all worked hard to overcome the advantages RWD cars have over 4WD in the dry. Choosing the delta is always going to be a compromise and days like today are when you have to double your efforts to stay at the sharp end.

Video: http://youtu.be/WRrkPtfd8cw

Extended Version: http://youtu.be/hRY1K1W63Gc

Timing Sheets: http://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CSCC/2017/173664...



Having reviewed the footage from Saturday’s race we made some small damper changes to see if that would help the car and driver unlock some more speed. We did improve on our best from Saturday but still qualified a lowly eight. The good news is there was a second separating about ten cars and we were right in the thick of it. Opportunity to go forward but also to drop back.

We made some final changes to the setup for the race, particularly around breaking stability and took ourselves to the assembly area. This one would be 100% dry which was disappointing but that is how things go.

We made a reasonable start and got a few places on the first few laps, but being conservative on the tyres we were soon overtaken back. The car ended up 8th after the pit stops having served a thirty second winners penalty after winning Croft. We were fortunate to pit early as there was a whole train of cars behind us.

A Morgan used tape as a fuel cap, caught on fire quite badly. Thankfully everyone was ok and the car isn’t a pile of burning embers but the race was stopped. As we were less than seventy five percent through the race distance it was re-scheduled for the end of the day.

For reasons best known to the drivers and teams, a number of cars withdrew at this point, packed up early and went home. This immediately promoted us to sixth for the re-start. Rain dances worked and we had a wet track to begin with!

Autosport 14/09/17 said:
Richard Thurbin’s four-wheel-drive Lancia Delta Integrale was untouchable with the extra traction in its rain-soaked race. From sixth on the grid Thurbin comprehensively bested the field off the line, going around the outside of Redgate to claim the 1980s race lead.
First corner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMgupBVXAg

What a race! It was all over by the first corner… there was one brief moment on the first lap where I thought great I am in the lead, oh that means I don’t have any references for braking! I didn’t make any real mistakes, kept it smooth and off the racing line and ended up two seconds or more a lap faster than the next guy. It very nearly ended in disaster though as the last two laps I was running out of fuel and was surging through the corners. I then used an endurance technique of lift and cost plus higher gears to eke out what little fuel I had left. Luckily a TVR stuck it in the gravel which meant 4 cars on the side of the road so they flagged it early. I made it back to the pits with only just enough fuel to put it on the

Winning for the second time this year is really amazing (and the only car to do so). Clearly the Delta has a significant advantage in the wet and we need to be more competitive in the dry so we have a chance at winning in all conditions. All that being said, it is great to finish both races with 3rd in class and first overall. Happy camper here!



Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2itOICjjKw

Extended Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOtFm57bh_4

Timing Sheets: http://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CSCC/2017/173664... (scroll down past the 1970’s group).

J886ATV

134 posts

89 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
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Thurbs said:
Tell me if it is boring and I will stop updating it....
Definitely not boring! Please keep the updates coming smile

Mrs Muttleysnoop

1,412 posts

183 months

Friday 22nd September 2017
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Just keep those updates coming.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Tuesday 24th October 2017
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Birkett Preview - Saturday 28th October 2017 @ Silverstone Historic Grand Prix Circuit in Northamptonshire.

Jim Clark, Graham Hill , Gerry Marshall, Vic Elford and Richard Attwood all took part in it. Steve McQueen is said to have become hooked on endurance racing as a result of it. Colin Chapman, Jem Marsh and Eric Broadley developed their now-famous brands with help from it. What is ‘it’? The famous Birkett Six-Hour Relay Race, in which historic saloons can run up against modern specials. Up to 70 teams of between four and six drivers compete to lap the circuit as many times as possible within the six hours, with only one vehicle per team allowed out on track at any one time. Entry is restricted to saloon and sports cars – no open-wheelers – but that still allows for a hugely eclectic mix of cars of all ages out on track.

In fact, the Birkett is often said to be two events in one, because in addition to competing for the maximum number of laps in the Six-Hours, teams also compete in a handicap classification, which in theory can be won by anyone. Each team, unless it’s in ‘scratch’ position, is credited with a number of laps, according to perceived performance (based on observations and timings by the organisers at previous race meetings throughout the season). This means all teams should have a chance of winning the handicap side of the competition. In fact, due to the volume of traffic on track, it actually favours the slower cars, which are more easily able to meet their target race times as they’re less affected by congestion. The event is over a single day with qualifying starting at 9:00am and the race it’s self-kicking off at 11:45am for over 6 hours.

Like all endurance events, the Birkett is a team event and this year we are part of the “Legends of the 1990s”. The team is made up of a trio of turbo charged 4wd cars and a trio of BMW M3s. Normally racing together in the Classic Sports Car Club Modern Classics, this motley crew of racers have joined forces to take on the best of endurance racing. With two ex-rally cars and lots of driven wheels, the team are hoping for a 50/50 wet dry to make best use of the cars capabilities and drivers alike. The 4wd contingent is made up of a duo of Toyotas in the shape of a Celica GT4 sporting a brand new engine of Richard Hayes as well as the 3.0 twin turbo Supra of Roger Hayes. The final 4wd car is our Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v, a fresh build for this year. The team of mightily rapid BMWs is made up of Michael Russell, Tim Barley and last but not least Matthew Johnson. Racing on list tyres, the team has entered in class b as well as the overall handicap race with hopefully a very slow target time to beat! Check out Tom Barley’s facebook page: www.facebook.com/Tom-Barley-Racing-416065758749096...

The team went testing at Donington Park this week on the national circuit. The aim of the day was to get the car better set up for the dry so we are able to take the fight to the front of the field. Autumn (or “fall” to our American friends) is not the best time to go testing a dry setup and we had a day of fog, rain and cold. This meant that whilst exploring the balance of the car and the limits of grip there may have been some drifting! http://youtu.be/jzo30NuhD-g Not the quickest way around a circuit but enormous fun never the less. Came away 2.5 seconds faster than our last race two weeks ago where we managed an overall win. http://youtu.be/b2itOICjjKw

Looking at the forecast, at the moment it is cloudy and dry but definitely on the cold side with temperatures from 8 to 12 degrees Celsius (48F to 54F). The Lancia has both the Nankang AR-1 for dry and the Nankang NS-2R for any heavy downpours on standby, but all fingers and toes are crossed for rain! http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2637827

All to play for and the team are confident that if it rains we should do well. Here is a video from last year in the Renault Clio 182 championship car with “Team Clio 182”. http://youtu.be/oxnIFFTx2hw

Live timing for the event: http://www.theresultslive.co.uk/750-motor-club/201...

Please feel free to come and say hello. Tickets are £10 on the gate with full access to the whole circuit and paddock (but not grandstands sadly). At the moment I am out first for an hour between 11:45 and 12:45 but that may change depending on weather and other dramas.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Wednesday 1st November 2017
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Racing Against BBC’s Top Gear
Welcome to my blog on turning a rusty old shed in to a thoroughbred Italian winning race car. In the last episode we were at Donington Park racing against cars from the nineteen eighties. After qualifying 10th and making our way up to 8th the race was stopped and restarted at the end of the day. http://youtu.be/b2itOICjjKw The great news for us is the restart was very wet and from 6th on the grid we were in the lead by the exit of the first corner and took a dominant overall victory. http://youtu.be/DBMgupBVXAg In this episode we take on the Birkett relay racing against the BBC Top Gear crew in an epic 6 hour team endurance race.

About
The Birkett is an endurance race where 70 teams of between four and six drivers compete to lap the circuit as many times as possible within the six hours, with only one vehicle per team allowed out on track at any one time. In addition to competing for the maximum number of laps in the Six-Hours, teams also compete in a handicap classification, which in theory can be won by anyone. Each team, unless it’s in ‘scratch’ position, is credited with a number of laps, according to perceived performance (based on observations and timings by the organisers at previous race meetings throughout the season). This means all teams should have a chance of winning the handicap side of the competition.

Like all endurance events, the Birkett is a team event and this year we are part of the “Legends of the 1990s”. The team is made up of a trio of turbo charged 4wd cars and a trio of BMW M3s. Normally racing together in the Classic Sports Car Club Modern Classics, this motley crew of racers have joined forces to take on the best of endurance racing. With two ex-rally cars and lots of driven wheels, the team are hoping for a 50/50 wet dry to make best use of the cars capabilities and drivers alike. The 4wd contingent is made up of a duo of Toyotas in the shape of a Celica GT4 sporting a brand new engine of Richard Hayes as well as the 3.0 twin turbo Supra of Roger Hayes. The final 4wd car is our Lancia Delta HF integrale 16v, a fresh build for this year. The team of mightily rapid BMWs is made up of Michael Russell, Tim Barley and last but not least Matthew Johnson. Racing on list tyres, the team has entered in class b as well as the overall handicap race.

Race
Racing against Top Gear saw Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris and Rory Read entered with a trio of comedy cars. Matt was in a Bentley, Harris with a S600 and Rory had a Rolls with massive, wheels, wings and diffusers. The forfeit car was a Dacia Sandero which looked completely standard.

Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/phot...
Video: http://youtu.be/CoyhjR2ls-Y
Extended Version: http://youtu.be/rk9KNnQMgVo

The starting order of the race is determined by the team’s handicap and we started on the 23rd row in position 46. The Lancia took up the baton to take part in the first stint fuelled up for an hour of racing with the aim of making up places and keeping out of trouble.

After a good start, seemingly overtaking some drivers not quite awake start we set about picking off competitors
one by one and ended up finishing the session a respectable position 25 on scratch and 21st on handicap at the one hour mark. Second out on the road was Roger and then Richard Hayes who completed 45 minutes each. After the second hour Matt completed his first 30 minute stint and then Tom did an hour in his rapid BMW 325. At the half way mark the team was position 36 on the road and 22nd on handicap. Then over the next three hours, Richard and Matt did their second stint and Michael did his double stint and managed to pull out something pretty special. After a fill six hours of racing we finished position 32 on the road (14 positions better than hour handicap) and when taking in to account our credit laps, we were lucky 13th overall. Racing against 69 other highly competitive ammeter racers and coming away 13th is amazing and the whole team were really happy with the result.

Top Gear? They finished 69th out of 70 in both the scratch and handicap race. Unlike the first Top Gear race at Britcar, I got the impression they were not really competing but spent their time filming a narrative to suit their script. We managed to overtake a slow Chris Harris in his Mercedes but they were lapping 20 seconds slower than our team so there was no real contest. We look forward to the episode on TV and are hoping the Lancia makes an appearance.

Summary
The Birkett represents our last race of the season and we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We will be publishing a season highlights video over the next few weeks so don’t forget to subscribe, comment below and please give the video a thumbs up.

Site: www.lanciadeltaracing.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LanciaDeltaRacing/
Timing Sheets: http://www.theresultslive.co.uk/750-motor-club/201...



_Superleggera_

2,003 posts

196 months

Thursday 2nd November 2017
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I was at Silverstone on Saturday and the Integrale looked great on the track. Loved it.

I was with the Team BRIT guys. smile

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Thursday 2nd November 2017
quotequote all
_Superleggera_ said:
I was at Silverstone on Saturday and the Integrale looked great on the track. Loved it.

I was with the Team BRIT guys. smile
cool, you should have come and say hello.

Team Brit was an interesting team for me. I love what they are doing and why they are doing it. Much respect there and it is great to see motorsport being used in such a positive way. thumbup

I must get me one of those VIP passes biglaugh

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Thursday 21st December 2017
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Boxing Day Tuesday December 26th @ Mallory Park in Leicestershire, UK.

The 43rd annual Plum Pudding race meeting returns on Boxing Day, Tuesday 26th December 2017. The Plum Pudding is the only race meeting on the circuit calendar to feature two, three and four wheels and is the ideal excuse for the whole family to get up off the sofa and away from those mince pies, because with fresh air and racing engines… it doesn’t get much better!

An event that’s become something of a tradition for those local to the Leicestershire circuit, it gives competitors who love to race on two, three or four wheels a chance to work off the Christmas turkey in a slightly more unique way than normal! Whilst those who love to race bikes and sidecars will have races to cater to their tastes, a pair of races each will be run for sports cars and also saloons respectively.

The way this works, however, is a little different to any other race meeting. This is because although competitors will still have a regular practice session, there is no qualifying on the day to determine the grid, nor is it chosen by a random draw. Instead, our grid position is set by the order of entries received. The grid for the second will then be a reverse of the result from Race 1, so if one wins they start at the back and so on.

For this event we shall be trailing a live broadcast of the practice and both races. We have no idea if there is the signal, bandwidth or if the camera will pick up any sound. If it works we will be looking to do it as a regular feature next year. Keep a watch out on the YouTube channel at approximately 9:45, 12:40 and 15:05.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=richa...

Full timetable download: https://tinyurl.com/ycg4w9l9

Stay up to date with live timing here: http://livetiming.tsl-timing.com/BRSCC


Dave Brand

928 posts

267 months

Friday 22nd December 2017
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I'll be marshalling at the Plum Pudding - I'll look out for you!

According to the Mallory Park website lack of entries means that the sidecar races have been cancelled. The timetable hasn't yet been updated.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Friday 22nd December 2017
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Hi Dave.

Thank you so much for putting yourself out on Boxing day, we all really appreciate it.

Please come and say hello if you get chance.

Looks like a good race with a Escort Cossie and a Scoopy plus a Audi TT.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Saturday 6th January 2018
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Dave Brand said:
I'll be marshalling at the Plum Pudding - I'll look out for you!.
Good to meet you Dave and thanks for your time on Boxing day. Hopefully we put on a good show!

Race One

We “qualified”, or got our entry in ninth place right in the middle of the twenty car grid. The second bit of bad news is that ninth was on the right hand side of the circuit next to the pit lane.



The start was taken very tentative given the grip advantage that 4wd has and there was no space to drive in to. Once the race got underway the slower cars dropped back and we were in a battle with similarly passed cars. After overdriving the car for a number of laps, the car came off the circuit on the exit of Gerard’s Bend and splashed through the puddles losing two places. Then followed a recovery drive where the lovely sounding Rover Vitesse was caught and passed after a better exit out of Devils Elbow corner. We finished fifth overall but 3rd was definitely possible without the off track antics. We had opted for the Nankang NS2-R tyres which are full wet “list” tyres but this was probably the wrong call as there was a definite dry line and the extra rubber given by the Nankang AR-1 would have been better.



Race Two

The Clark of the Course decided to change the starting order and instead of reverse grid the whole field, reversed the top six. This was great news for us as it meant we were starting in second position on the front row.



As there was plenty of space in front of the Delta we made a good start but the flying Audi TT Spaceframe yellow rocket came flying past and quickly disappeared in to the distance. We had opted for dry tyres this time with the Nankang AR-1 and once warm after the two warm up laps the tyres were giving lots of confidence inspiring grip even in the damp patches. Sitting pretty in second we were on course for finishing well but an Impreza had other ideas. After a few close laps swapping places and beginning to overdrive the car again, the exit of Gerard’s Bend caught us out again and we followed almost the same path through the grass and puddles. This time we had lot lost any places but the Clio Cup car had caught up a whole bunch of time. Sadly the Impreza retired from the race and the Clio Cup car, driven by an instructor from Mallory Park caught and overtook the delta towards the end of the race. We did have a brief fight back but off line there was much less grip so a lunge down the inside would not have finished well.



Still, third is a good result, second was on the table without the error at Gerard’s Bend but even without this error, the Clio would have probably caught and passed us for the second step.

Summary

The Plum Pudding was a surprise entry to the seasons racing and was a nice way to cap off a great first year with the Lancia. Please check out the season review videos on our YouTube channel and please subscribe, comment below and give the video a thumbs up.



Facebook: www.facebook.com/LanciaDeltaRacing/

Video: http://youtu.be/eFvfkLnjrnw

Extended Version: http://youtu.be/A7IBaU1FTtk

Additional Footage: Colin Taft http://youtu.be/2bkYypguyAQ

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Saturday 6th January 2018
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2017 was Lancia Delta Racing’s first year of competition.

Watch our season review programe split in to four parts by John and Richard about their highs and lows with competing in a new car.

Part 1: http://youtu.be/7JqrA2tOGds
Part 2: http://youtu.be/TRC7L_aRlb8
Part 3: http://youtu.be/wxZCdJlJ7as
Part 4: http://youtu.be/bCZqcIXSxPM

A playlist for the seasons videos can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmsJCCDm9ELZ...

John Shields runs www.jjperformance.co.uk and was instrumental in the cars design, build and engineering.

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Tuesday 13th February 2018
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Our 2018 calendar has been finalised and we can confirm the season’s calendar as follows:

7th April @ Snetterton 200
6th May @ Silverstone International
2nd June @ Oulton Park
22nd to 24th June @ Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
14th July @ Brands Hatch Indy
18th August @ Thruxton
19th August @ Brands Hatch Indy Festival Italia
16th September @ Donington Park National
6th October @ Mallory Park
19th to 21st October @ Magny-Cours, France
27th October @ Silverstone Historic Grand Prix (Provisional)
26th December @ Mallory Park Plum Pudding (Provisional)

Last year we took part in two series of the Classic Sports Car Club, namely the Future and Modern Classics series. For this year we have decided to compete only in the Modern Classics series designed for cars produced in the 1990’s. We took this decision for a number reasons including;

- Logistically, JJ Performance are running an awesome sounding Holden GTS in the New Millennium series and the Modern Classics is on the same day
- The competitiveness within Modern Classics is better
- But most importantly, the cars competing are not one-off specials but normal production cars which one can compete realistically against in the dry

We will also be competing in one off events with other clubs such as Motor Sports Vision, the 750 Motor Club and the British Racing & Sports Car Club.

This year’s calendar visits some great circuits throughout the UK featuring the super fast Thruxton, a double visit to both Silverstone and Brands Hatch as well as the location of our second ever win at Donington Park. The season opens at Snetterton in just a few weeks time using the traditional “200” layout suited for fast high-powered cars. The visit to Oulton Park in Cheshire will be our first and we were gutted to miss the event last year due to a clash of diaries. Even more so when it ended up being a very wet race…

The highlights have to be our continental visits to Belgium where we hope to start at least one race as well as our first ever visit to Magny-Cours in central France.

As always, everyone is welcome to come and watch with prices varying from free (at Spa) to at the most £13 for an adult. We are always happy to talk to visitors in the paddock and show the car off in all of its glorious detail.

B'stard Child

28,321 posts

245 months

Tuesday 13th February 2018
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Excellent - I'll come and hopefully see you at Snetterton - Last time you were in an EVO when I was looking for a Lancia biggrin

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all

The New Season Awaits


For us the winter period provides time for engineers and mechanics to do those all-important jobs which you never seem to get a chance to do through the season. As usual we have left everything until the last-minute and with only 4 weeks to go (at time of writing) the list of jobs is still long and complex. Here are some of the highlights!

Dry Weather Setup – we had some help from Rob Wheldon from Raw motorsport late in the 2017 season to help improve the car’s setup and managed to improve 3 seconds over our previous best at Donington. Doing the same in the dry won’t gain us as much time as this but will definitely move us forward on the grid (more on this in a later article).

Flatten Floor & Sump Guard – to decrease drag and improve top speed. This year’s calendar has some high speed circuits and the Delta was not the most aerodynamic of cars out of the factory.

Engine & Gearbox – as per February’s article, race engines need lots of tender loving care to deliver 500fwhp lap after lap after lap. Engine and gearbox out, stripped, checked and renewed where needed. To re-install without a leaking as the engine to gearbox seal is metal to metal and it is really hard not to have this seal weep small quantities of oil when running.

Air box – make and install a custom aluminium air box to separate air entering from the light cluster from the engine bay, hopefully reducing intake temps and adding power.

Re-fit doors – a pig of a job which will take a couple of days. Those who have seen the car up close would have noticed some “less than factory quality” shut lines with the fibre glass doors.

Investigate & Fix Knock – there is currently a knock coming from the front suspension or steering which happens on load. We need to find and fix this vital part, so we don’t end up driving straight in to a wall at any movement.

100’s of Small Jobs – including securing the LED headlights, tidying up wiring loom, securing the coil packs with a cover, fixing the rear light cluster seal, sealing up the 100’s of holes in the floor, installing the driver’s cooling fan plus much more.



Once we have done all this work is done we then need to take the car to a circuit or rolling road to perform a shakedown. After any major surgery it is wise to make sure everything has been put back in it’s right place and there are not going to be any dramas over the next race weekend. Finally testing needs to be booked prior to the first event to get me up to speed, back on the pace and ready to hammer in some good laps during qualifying.

Race Retro


It was great to chat to everyone at the Race Retro event at Stoneleigh in February. We were honoured to welcome Miki Biasion to the stand and we had a great chat about the car, what we achieved last year and our plans for 2018. A real down to earth guy who clearly has a passion for all things Lancia.









Drive Available!



Back in early 2017 we borrowed a Mitsubishi Evo 4 when the Lancia wasn’t quite ready to race. For 2018 it is available to arrive & drive from JJ Performance, our engineering partners and builder of the Lancia. Also joining us on the grid is a Subaru Impreza STI and Toyota Celica GT4! Give John Sheilds a call ( http://www.jjperformance.co.uk/) and compete head to head with ourselves and other 90’s rallying icons out on the track!

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4 Track Day at Snetterton




Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Thursday 15th March 2018
quotequote all
B'stard Child said:
Excellent - I'll come and hopefully see you at Snetterton - Last time you were in an EVO when I was looking for a Lancia biggrin
Sorry about last time, it was all very last minute! We are definately (well as much as you can be with a race car) going to be there on the 7th of April. Also planning on testing on the 29th of March and 6th of April but these are less certain depending on readiness!

Thurbs

Original Poster:

2,780 posts

221 months

Friday 30th March 2018
quotequote all
Snetterton Shakedown

The team is still burning the midnight oil finishing off those last-minute jobs and making sure everything will be ok throughout the weekend.

A spring day in England can start off with snow, go through rain, wind and end up a lovely summers evening with clear blue skies. It is therefore hard to know what kind of conditions we can expect on the day, so we will be making judicious use of the weather radar apps on our phones when making the critical call as to what tyres to put on the car for each session. Nankang have confirmed their support for us throughout this year and again we will be running their semi-slick tyres during testing and the race. For dry and slippery conditions, we run the Nankang AR1 tyre which is on the MSA’s C list of competition tyres and provides excellent grip and stability from new and through hour long stints. For predicted wet and monsoon conditions we will be opting for Nankang’s MSA ‘B’ list competition tyre the Nankang NS-2R which is also legal for road use and the tyre which has seen us to two overall victories in the pouring rain.

Snetterton is situated in Norfolk, England and is the most easterly circuit in the UK we use for 2018. After its use as a USAF base, Snetterton was first used for motorcycle racing in 1953, organised by the Snetterton Combine, an association of clubs in Norfolk and Suffolk. The track was used by both Team Lotus (Formula One) and Norfolk Racing Co (Le Mans) to test their racing cars. Snetterton has 3 configurations which can be used for competition. Snetterton has undergone somewhat of a renaissance during the recent years following a multi-million pound redevelopment project at the start of 2011, which was met with rave reviews from both spectators and competitors alike. The 100 infield circuit is mostly used for sprinting with the 200 and 300 used for door to door competition. The Snetterton 300 circuit hosts the British Touring Car Championship, British Superbike Championship and British F3 and GT Championships. Snetterton is a typical post war airfield affair set in the mids of the Norfolk fens. The circuit is mostly flat with big skies above alerting you of what the weather will be 30 minutes hence.



This year the club has opted for the shorter 200 circuit and will be a good benchmark for how the car will perform over the year. A lap of the 200 circuit starts with a gentle climb up the start finish straight, hugging the put wall for added slip streaming. Richies corner is an unsighted fast right hander where only the slightest of lifts and a dab of left foot braking helps the car turn in and carry as much momentum through the apex as possible. A good exit here can bring you along side a competitor ready for a big stop in to the right hand hairpin of Montreal (what was called Wilson) sliding down the inside and ahead of your foe. The exit of Montreal is all important as instead of heading infield on the 300 configuration, the car needs to immediately turns left and head down the Bentley straight for a big drag towards the circuit’s infield bridge. The Delta should have the advantage through this tight section with good on power traction through the exit phase. After what seems like an age it gets exciting into Brundle where the car needs to brake from fifth gear down to the second gear right hand corner of Nelson all whilst going through a left hand tightening bend. Smoothness is the key here whilst not dropping too much speed on the entry. Minding the curbs on the inside of Nelson the car rockets out of the corner and soon is tipped in to the Bomb Hole. Taken much like Richies only slightly slower, the car is put in to the corner using only the smallest of lifts with a touch of left foot braking the right hander catapults you in to the never-ending corner of Coram. This right handed constant radius curve tests the balance of your car and again being smooth on the throttle and carrying as much speed around the large apex can set you up for another overtaking opportunity in to Murrays. As Murrays’ is a left hander you can be more aggressive on turn taking a wide line to the apex and get on the power early for another long drag up the start finish straight’s slight hill.



The 300 layout better suits the short wheel base of the Lancia as the 200 tends to be all about straight line speed which in turn suits cars with low drag and lots of power. There are 32 cars entered so far and cars to note in our class or fighting for overall victory includes a Seat Leon Cupra R, TVR Tuscan Challenge, 6 x BMW M3’s and a Z3M, a fellow ex rally car in the form of a Subaru Impreza WRX, Porsches 968 & a 993 911 and the drifters favourite Nissan 200SX. Having raced with most of these competitors over last year the race will prove challenging and we expect the TVR Tuscan Challenge car to drive off in the distance with it’s large V8 and space frame light weight chassis. The BMWs can never be ruled out as their long wheel base, excellent chassis balance sees them carry speed in to and through the apex better than nearly all the cars on the grid. A good result in the dry would see us finish in the top 6 and we are hoping to match or improve on our best dry result at Donnington of forth overall. Clearly in the wet with four-wheel drive, nothing short of a win will do!



On Friday the car is booked in for a full day’s testing with 4 sessions split throughout the day. The hope is to get the driver and car dialled in to the circuit and get as close to an optimum setup as possible in the time allowed.

This time last year we were still battling with getting the car ready for the start of the season and unfortunately one we lost. To try and still get a race we opted to rent a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4 and ended up having a frustrating weekend full of mechanical issues and dramas. You can read all about it here: http://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/04/20/plan-b-c-d... and watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHryJZU0saQ

We had some success at Snetterton in a Renault Clio 182 a few seasons ago and managed a second in class through the pouring rain, watch the video here: http://youtu.be/Y9KcRf1zcL8 and other races here: http://youtu.be/71075NEXpNA and here: http://youtu.be/0txHElMR66k

Stay up to date with live timing here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/181464 We will also be trying out broadcasting live during qualifying and the race. Stay up to date on Facebook and YouTube for the latest announcements.