TVR's at Brands
Discussion
Just got back from the TVR race at Brands. What a fantastic race.
Well done to Mark Hockin for a superb start and eventual win
Top marks to Andy Holden, started the race two laps down from the pit lane and was a whisker away from completely unlapping himself, brilliant drive sir, top entertainment.
Congratulations to Howard Bryan for finishing and getting the next step on your licence (and a championship class win?)
Big round of applause to all the other guys who made for such an entertaining race, shame the weather was so hit and miss.
And finally, but by no means last, well done to Iain Jones(Chassis_33) for the most number of off track excursions in twenty minutes
Good to see such a variey of Tivs in action, well done guys.
Well done to Mark Hockin for a superb start and eventual win
Top marks to Andy Holden, started the race two laps down from the pit lane and was a whisker away from completely unlapping himself, brilliant drive sir, top entertainment.
Congratulations to Howard Bryan for finishing and getting the next step on your licence (and a championship class win?)
Big round of applause to all the other guys who made for such an entertaining race, shame the weather was so hit and miss.
And finally, but by no means last, well done to Iain Jones(Chassis_33) for the most number of off track excursions in twenty minutes
Good to see such a variey of Tivs in action, well done guys.
Edited by FrenchTVR on Saturday 2nd September 14:32
Thanks to everyone who turned out yesterday, despite the weather.
I'm not going to do my regular big de-brief, I'm kinda of an a quandry onthe one hand I put in a few decent laps, the best being 57.340, which was 7th quickest overall and 4th in Class B, but thats only half the story, I drove like a cnut at times and t
tted Tim first time through Druids, apologies Tim. The rest of the time I lost the car going in too hard, and understeering onto the wet stuff, or grass or both, still it's much better than the arse end twitchy P.O.S. this I've been running all year.
Everything is coming together, but the car is hardly the best handling Chim in the world, with or without clubs and the nut behind the wheel needs to sharpen his pencil too if he's to be classed as anything but an inconsistant heroic failure.
Regards
Iain
I'm not going to do my regular big de-brief, I'm kinda of an a quandry onthe one hand I put in a few decent laps, the best being 57.340, which was 7th quickest overall and 4th in Class B, but thats only half the story, I drove like a cnut at times and t
tted Tim first time through Druids, apologies Tim. The rest of the time I lost the car going in too hard, and understeering onto the wet stuff, or grass or both, still it's much better than the arse end twitchy P.O.S. this I've been running all year. Everything is coming together, but the car is hardly the best handling Chim in the world, with or without clubs and the nut behind the wheel needs to sharpen his pencil too if he's to be classed as anything but an inconsistant heroic failure.
Regards
Iain
Iain I'm sure you're final comment was meant tongue in cheek. Just remember, you're out there giving it a go and working bloody hard to make it happen - that's a whole more than most people ever achieve. I'd say Brands was your best race so far, there's no doubt it's coming together and the important thing about your best time is that it wasn't far behind the other cars (those on wets that is)and that's a great place to build from. It was very slidey out there and brilliant practice to get a feel for what the car can do. Well done mate and look forward to seeing you at Oulton.
Steve (Car No 11).
Steve (Car No 11).
Iain, don't focus too much on the negatives, everybody makes mistakes (especially me - see later) just look at the positives. I thought you went well at Brands and you're definitely moving forwards now the reliabilty is getting better. It was a shame about the tag with Tim but you put your hand up to the mistake and that's the most important thing. A little earlier on the brakes and you'd have pulled off the move of the race imho, it's a very fine line between success and failure as I well know. Just a shame you didn't finish.
As for me, well this will seem very odd to most people but I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend even though Taz27 ended up in the barriers during qually. The damage wasn't too heavy but a broken damper effectively removed any chance of getting the car out for the race. That's the down side but the upside is that we managed sixth place on the grid (3rd in Class B) just 0.4 and 0.7secs off Graham in his RV8 race Tuscan and Marks mighty Griff, I never thought a 25 year old Taz would get so close with the current regs (and we're pretty much bang on the 350bhp power limit too). I thought Mallory Park may have been a fluke as we ran on the gearboxes of G and Mark for the opening laps (till the bolts started falling out of the exhaust manifold!!!) but the Brands time in qually has got me wondering whether these old race Tasmins can compete after all. OK to get the time I had to drive the wheels off the thing, which ended up in the tyre wall trying to get a few tenths from a good exit out of the hairpin but it was good fun trying.
I'm now undecided whether to sell the Taz or keep it and develop the car a bit more alongside the T350.Hmmmm. Anyway it'll have a new one-piece frontend and spoiler for Oulton, can't wait.
Ceejay
As for me, well this will seem very odd to most people but I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend even though Taz27 ended up in the barriers during qually. The damage wasn't too heavy but a broken damper effectively removed any chance of getting the car out for the race. That's the down side but the upside is that we managed sixth place on the grid (3rd in Class B) just 0.4 and 0.7secs off Graham in his RV8 race Tuscan and Marks mighty Griff, I never thought a 25 year old Taz would get so close with the current regs (and we're pretty much bang on the 350bhp power limit too). I thought Mallory Park may have been a fluke as we ran on the gearboxes of G and Mark for the opening laps (till the bolts started falling out of the exhaust manifold!!!) but the Brands time in qually has got me wondering whether these old race Tasmins can compete after all. OK to get the time I had to drive the wheels off the thing, which ended up in the tyre wall trying to get a few tenths from a good exit out of the hairpin but it was good fun trying.
I'm now undecided whether to sell the Taz or keep it and develop the car a bit more alongside the T350.Hmmmm. Anyway it'll have a new one-piece frontend and spoiler for Oulton, can't wait.
Ceejay
Iain for what it's worth I think Brands is a tough circuit in perfect conditions it's a pig in the conditions you had yesterday, so you pushed the car beyond where it should have been, that's no bad thing just adds to the learning curve and it certainly got the spectators excited which is what the Challenge needs right now, you had us on the edge of our seats when you spun on the cooper straight, the fact you spun it 360 and kept it going is testament to just how good you are.
chassis 33 said:
I drove like a cnut at times and t
tted Tim first time through Druids, apologies Tim. The rest of the time I lost the car going in too hard, and understeering onto the wet stuff, or grass or both, still it's much better than the arse end twitchy P.O.S. this I've been running all year. Everything is coming together, but the car is hardly the best handling Chim in the world, with or without clubs and the nut behind the wheel needs to sharpen his pencil too if he's to be classed as anything but an inconsistant heroic failure.
Regards
Iain
Don't beat yourself up about this weekend Iain. The conditions were far from ideal with a powerful RWD car and wrong tyre choice doesn't help. (I include myself here big time. Wets for quali and the race).
You have given yourself a lot to think about but the trick is to learn from your mistakes. Analyse what went wrong, work out if you could have done anything different and then hopefully don't do it again.
That way you can turn any negatives from this weekend into future positives. Have 2 good
races at Oulton and end the season on a high. I'm stuck on my big 30,000HP RWD racer that weekend so no more racing for me this year but Steve should be out if we can get the engine rebuilt in time.
While I'm at it I'd like to congratulate Ben Wright on an excellent well driven debut. No fuss, no heroics, a solid first time out. Well done to Team Wright Racing.
TVM Tim
cee jay a 25yr old taz is never going to keep up with tuscans griffs etc as i have said before 55 has got 285bhp tops and the chassis can't handle that properly by the way who else started on slicks as it took me 5 laps to get them going, and yes it was good fun sliding about at the start with no grip at all.
One last note if anybody is interested in doing the fun cup race at oulton park please let me know soon so i can get the entry in
One last note if anybody is interested in doing the fun cup race at oulton park please let me know soon so i can get the entry in
kg55 said:
cee jay a 25yr old taz is never going to keep up with tuscans griffs etc as i have said before 55 has got 285bhp tops and the chassis can't handle that properly by the way who else started on slicks as it took me 5 laps to get them going, and yes it was good fun sliding about at the start with no grip at all.
One last note if anybody is interested in doing the fun cup race at oulton park please let me know soon so i can get the entry in
One last note if anybody is interested in doing the fun cup race at oulton park please let me know soon so i can get the entry in
I think it will be extremely difficult to get ahead of the Class B race Tuscans and Griff, probably impossible. But I'm beginning to feel a bit more positive that Taz 27 can get close to their times and this season I'll settle for that. We've mounted the engine directly to the chassis and that seems to help a bit.
I think most guys went out on wets, you and Andy were probably the exception but it was definitely the right choice.
Ceejay
skippyf1 said:
As a member of TWR it was a pleasure to watch Ben Wright complete his first race successfully.
Congratulations to Ben
- move over Richard! Best wishes
Sharon
(TWR Catering Department)
Absolutely!
Well done to TWR team-mate Ben on a fabulous drive in his first race
Also another great performance by Sharon for looking after our sponsors in such fine style.
Roll on Oulton Park!
Cheers
Howard
ceejay said:
I think most guys went out on wets, you and Andy were probably the exception but it was definitely the right choice
Absolutely.
Given the weather, the very wet track and the circumstance of being the first race after lunch I thought I had no choice but to go out on the very poor set of four year old Tasmin Challenge Kumhos I had avoided usig at Mallory. This was a big, big mistake. The tyres took an age to get any heat into them at all, I span away from the grid in 1st and 2nd before losing it on the very first turn into Paddock Hill Bend. I somehow managed to keep it on the track and continued at a very poor pace for the rest of the race trying all I could to hold George Carter off. I was losing the car at every corner, first the front was sliding from under me and then I was losing the back end in trying to fight to get the front back - very unsettling, especially at Paddock Hill and Clearways with the biggest problem at Clearways being that I couldn't get the power down early enough to prevent George making up time on me on the drag down the start/finish straight.
I managed to hold George off until about the 14th lap when he snuck by me following a Class A Tuscan that I had to give way to under a blue flag!!! The dry line on the track was extending and now very much the racing line so I could push the tyres a little harder and managed to chase George down as I was able to push the car a little more on the corners. With two laps to go I knew I could get by him but with very little time had to push just that little bit more. This proved to be my undoing and proof of my novice status, I lost it finally at Paddock Hill Bend, (front then rear again) spinning just off the track but into deep enough gravel to end my race!!! When I got back to recover the car just a lap and a half later I inspected the tyres which were were completely hard, no sign of life in them at all.
Looking back on the race I have much to learn but much to be pleased with. I was very frustrated with having to crawl around the track for so long with no confidence in the tyres, that said I was very pleased to have been able to hold a Class B car off for nearly the entire race. With just two laps to go perhaps I should have relented and just brought the car home for some points, but hey, at this stage I want to race and learn doing it, points alone are no good to me right now. I qualified on slicks in the wet and my time was not far off the mark which is another plus considering our car is not so highly powered as other Class Cs and that my first view of brands was late on Friday night.
Congratulations of course to Marc for a truly first class performance, to Ben for 'holding his own' in such conditions - I had no idea it was his first race!?!
Again, well done to Howard, I'll be pleased to be rid of you next season!!
But from me, most of all, well done to George Carter for sticking on me so patiently for so long, waiting for just the right moment to get by me and to hold on to see the race out to attain his final novice licence sigature. All this whilst having no mechanical support for his car. Having worked so hard to get to the track George doesn't know where he stands - if at all- next year. Hats off fella!!
As for me, I've resigned the Kumhos to the scrap heap they deserve and I'm hoping to see some dry coditions for Oulton on the 7th October or I could be repeating my performance!
Edited by No.25 on Monday 4th September 14:29
Edited by No.25 on Monday 4th September 14:33
Evening all...
....well, I got that quite badly wrong didn't I?!!! Right tyre choice, wrong time to make the decision! My team were quite rightly furious with me for coming in to change, as with a mechanic down and only one wheel gun it was (in hindsight) always going to take too long. So whilst I had the fun of charging through the field, the team had the frustration of watching what was probably a reasonably comfortable win go out of the window. So apologies to them, but thanks for all their hard work, as usual. Had I not lost 3rd gear 4 or 5 laps from home I would have unlapped myself - but the aim was to win, so all in all not a terribly good day's work!
It was great to see some old friends though, and to see a much improved grid size - well done to all who raced.
Mark (F) - I came to find you afterwards but had missed you. I know you needed to get signatures to race in the Birkett and were probably v disappointed not to finish on Saturday - remember you can get a signature for marshalling for a day if you are a signature short.
Kind regards
Andy
....well, I got that quite badly wrong didn't I?!!! Right tyre choice, wrong time to make the decision! My team were quite rightly furious with me for coming in to change, as with a mechanic down and only one wheel gun it was (in hindsight) always going to take too long. So whilst I had the fun of charging through the field, the team had the frustration of watching what was probably a reasonably comfortable win go out of the window. So apologies to them, but thanks for all their hard work, as usual. Had I not lost 3rd gear 4 or 5 laps from home I would have unlapped myself - but the aim was to win, so all in all not a terribly good day's work!
It was great to see some old friends though, and to see a much improved grid size - well done to all who raced.
Mark (F) - I came to find you afterwards but had missed you. I know you needed to get signatures to race in the Birkett and were probably v disappointed not to finish on Saturday - remember you can get a signature for marshalling for a day if you are a signature short.
Kind regards
Andy
Andy, I did pop my head around your establishment after the race but there looked to be a lot going on in there and you looked to be pretty busy keeping people entertained. I didn't hang around the paddock for very long as I was feeling a little dejected, stupid and very frustrated at having been so foolhardy so close to the finish. On reflection there were many positives. I think things might be starting to come together and if Oulton remains dry (or I can get my hands some wets) I'm pretty confident of a good performance - although making bold statements like that might be another example of being foolish!!!
I need just the one more signature which I would hope to gain at Oulton - not sure if this is just the one race still, the timetable doesn't appear particularly full. I think Iain has a full team for The Birkett and several reserves although nobody has fully committed in this regard - there may be a chance that George will not be taking part so there might still be an opportunity.
I need just the one more signature which I would hope to gain at Oulton - not sure if this is just the one race still, the timetable doesn't appear particularly full. I think Iain has a full team for The Birkett and several reserves although nobody has fully committed in this regard - there may be a chance that George will not be taking part so there might still be an opportunity.
No.25 said:
I was feeling a little dejected, stupid and very frustrated at having been so foolhardy so close to the finish.
Dont beat yourself up too much over that
last year we started at brands and it was the first time I'd driven the tuscan. In the second race I was in 2nd and closing in for a win, when I ran a little wide into paddock that coupled with the wrong tyre pressures meant there was no way to make the corner... So here's a little pic to make you smile...( in the grand scheme of things this cost me the class last year)
Also Both Marc and myself had a moment with the paddock Gravel in qualifying...(note to self 1st lap with a new unscrubbed slick on the n/s front take it easy !!!)
The thing about racing is its a constant learning curve, be it about the circuit, the car, your driving or yourself !!!! I think everyone on the grid went home with somthing to think about...
see you all at Oulton!! G
Edited by Graham on Tuesday 5th September 10:59
Graham said:
The thing about racing is its a constant learning curve, be it about the circuit, the car, your driving or yourself !!!! I think everyone on the grid went home with somthing to think about...
see you all at brands G
see you all at brands G
...Dont you mean Oulton???
Yup looking forward to it!!!
Regards
Iain
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff