Johnnyw flying the tvr flag
Discussion
after a difficult qualifying session avoiding a big oil down from a porker and getting rear ended by another one that didn't see the oil the car survived ok. race one started ok but jonny got stuck behind the widest 996 i've ever seen, the cerb was way quicker in the corners but just couldn't sneek through.Back in the pits after a suitable dressing down/drivers briefing from Ben(john's son)and team john went out for race 2, i'll let johnny fill in the details but from a 30/32 car field he finished 14th overall 5th in class and bearing in mind at least half the grid are in our class a big well done johnny, by the way we were also one of the camera cars so should be some good footage to see
A weekend of mixed fortunes that finished extremely well:
Friday night, had to drive up to Snett as signing on was 7.30 and scrutineering at 8 am on Saturday, took nearly 5 hours due to the amount of holiday traffic and of course lorries can only go as fast as the slowest caravan!!
Saturday's waethr was so changeable you just had to go out on slicks at practice and hope!! First practice, I kept it under 6000 revs to check the car through after the top end refresh and basically circulated, practice 2 I warm the tyres and was just about to give it some and I get black flagged, I come in get sent to Parc Ferme and it's not me, I get back on for the last five minutes and it rains.
Qualifying on Sunday/Today was interesting 32 cars on track, with 7 seconds from fastest to slowest is competitive and trying to find some space on a lap where nobody has caused a yellow flag isinteresting!! Anyway, did a poor OK, ahead of a couple of GT3's and all of the Class 3's except the very quick Z4 Coupe and had the brace of Aston Martin's behind me aswell.
First race was fun having a full on 6 lap race with a GT3 for 21st spot but this just left us on our own and we made little impact on mid field, at least it got me up the grid for race 2. Just could'nt keep passed him on the straights!! We went into virtually every overtaking corner side by side but I didn't make it stick.
Race 2. Absolute blinder off the rolling start and got ahead of the Porsche that I was fighting with before but the red flags and lights came on and we rolled back to the start finish straight to see 4 cars in a serious smash , nobody seriously hurt, just aches and pains fortunately but a lot of damage! We waited while the cars were cleared and followed the safety car for the first lap of a shortened race, to 15 minutes.
Red lights off as I managed to catch up the backside of the Z4 and Lee also had the same in mind, lets see how far round the outside of the first right hander can we go to get around the group hugging the inside in fear of being ducked under, took two on the first lap up to 8th in class and managed to hold off the Class 1 cars behind (who'd had malfunctions in race 1) whilst getting past another 3 to claim 5th in class and 14th overall!!
I forget how little time I've spent in the Cerb in the past 6 months and how little race time we have under our belt together since the new st-up, it's like learning again but with some serious banter from my son Ben and my mate Dave Jenkins I was refocussed back to a more "determined" mode.
We still have an undrsteer problem to sort and have been allowed another 30 bhp within the class which is a new overwinter engine project. The first one we will sort this year one way or another. But the car has proven today that as a 97 model against Porsche and Ferrari (and Astons) of much newer generations it can still cut it!
So next race is Brands GP on August the 9th!
Final thanks, as always to APM Andy, the car was set up briliantly and apart from the normal tightening of bolts inbetween sessions, something I hope track day practioners also perform!!, the car ran faultlessly and is a credit to his work and the fundamental design of the car, that so many people find it easy to tilt at! We certainly seemed to have less to do between races than most!!
Cheers
Jonny
Friday night, had to drive up to Snett as signing on was 7.30 and scrutineering at 8 am on Saturday, took nearly 5 hours due to the amount of holiday traffic and of course lorries can only go as fast as the slowest caravan!!
Saturday's waethr was so changeable you just had to go out on slicks at practice and hope!! First practice, I kept it under 6000 revs to check the car through after the top end refresh and basically circulated, practice 2 I warm the tyres and was just about to give it some and I get black flagged, I come in get sent to Parc Ferme and it's not me, I get back on for the last five minutes and it rains.
Qualifying on Sunday/Today was interesting 32 cars on track, with 7 seconds from fastest to slowest is competitive and trying to find some space on a lap where nobody has caused a yellow flag isinteresting!! Anyway, did a poor OK, ahead of a couple of GT3's and all of the Class 3's except the very quick Z4 Coupe and had the brace of Aston Martin's behind me aswell.
First race was fun having a full on 6 lap race with a GT3 for 21st spot but this just left us on our own and we made little impact on mid field, at least it got me up the grid for race 2. Just could'nt keep passed him on the straights!! We went into virtually every overtaking corner side by side but I didn't make it stick.
Race 2. Absolute blinder off the rolling start and got ahead of the Porsche that I was fighting with before but the red flags and lights came on and we rolled back to the start finish straight to see 4 cars in a serious smash , nobody seriously hurt, just aches and pains fortunately but a lot of damage! We waited while the cars were cleared and followed the safety car for the first lap of a shortened race, to 15 minutes.
Red lights off as I managed to catch up the backside of the Z4 and Lee also had the same in mind, lets see how far round the outside of the first right hander can we go to get around the group hugging the inside in fear of being ducked under, took two on the first lap up to 8th in class and managed to hold off the Class 1 cars behind (who'd had malfunctions in race 1) whilst getting past another 3 to claim 5th in class and 14th overall!!
I forget how little time I've spent in the Cerb in the past 6 months and how little race time we have under our belt together since the new st-up, it's like learning again but with some serious banter from my son Ben and my mate Dave Jenkins I was refocussed back to a more "determined" mode.
We still have an undrsteer problem to sort and have been allowed another 30 bhp within the class which is a new overwinter engine project. The first one we will sort this year one way or another. But the car has proven today that as a 97 model against Porsche and Ferrari (and Astons) of much newer generations it can still cut it!
So next race is Brands GP on August the 9th!
Final thanks, as always to APM Andy, the car was set up briliantly and apart from the normal tightening of bolts inbetween sessions, something I hope track day practioners also perform!!, the car ran faultlessly and is a credit to his work and the fundamental design of the car, that so many people find it easy to tilt at! We certainly seemed to have less to do between races than most!!
Cheers
Jonny
Well done Jonny! 
JonnyW said:
The normal tightening of bolts inbetween sessions, something I hope track day practioners also perform!!
Jonny, Glad you had a good weekend, very excited to see how our comparatively low buck Cerbs are capable of giving the more expensive GT cars some serious worry (though I expect yours is creeping into the not so low buck with your race development program 
).Anyway your comment above got me thinking, what kind of spanner checks should a regular, or even occasional track Cerb get? Im guessing you are referring to checking the torque on all the suspension components?
It would be great if there was some kind of check list for the above.
Edited by Erich Stahler on Tuesday 22 July 08:47
Erich Stahler said:
JonnyW said:
The normal tightening of bolts inbetween sessions, something I hope track day practioners also perform!!
Jonny, Glad you had a good weekend, very excited to see how our comparatively low buck Cerbs are capable of giving the more expensive GT cars some serious worry (though I expect yours is creeping into the not so low buck with your race development program).Anyway your comment above got me thinking, what kind of spanner checks should a regular, or even occasional track Cerb get? Im guessing you are referring to checking the torque on all the suspension components?
It would be great if there was some kind of check list for the above.
Visual inspection of all of the front and rear suspension bolts, basically everything from the main suspension bolts through to the diff and chassis bolts, ones I take particular attention to are the ones that hold the camber in line through tension on slide lines on the wishbones and the anti roll bar bolts.
Check other things that fall off or need checking:
Exhaust mounts
Radiator mounts
Seat mounts
All the oils and fluids
Pads
I have breathers and catch tanks for the engine and diff that need checking, the diff at race pace will struggle to cope with the heat after 30 minutes and needs either cooling or a venting system that cools and pours the oil back in to the casing that blows out
Bonnet mounts shake loose, I've glassed my ones in
Electrical bits in road cars can also fly about, check the boot
Also check the battery, the plastic keeps the heat in and I had one boil once, now have a gel one in the passenger well
Basically everything
Well done Jonny and Andy - great to see you back out on track.
By the way, there is a product called Torqueseal which is very good for checking if bolts are slackening off. It is a coloured gel that goes brittle when it drys. You put a blob of it on each bolt or nut and if it has cracked then the bolt has moved. Tippex or paint pen aren't bad, but this is a bit more definitive.
Cheers
Andy
By the way, there is a product called Torqueseal which is very good for checking if bolts are slackening off. It is a coloured gel that goes brittle when it drys. You put a blob of it on each bolt or nut and if it has cracked then the bolt has moved. Tippex or paint pen aren't bad, but this is a bit more definitive.
Cheers
Andy
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