Racing a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v
Discussion
Hi all.
In 2015 I sold a business I had spent the previous 9 years sweating blood toil and tears over and started living my childhood dream of being a racing driver. I spent the next 18 months learning some really hard lessons about what it takes to drive well and fast in a gen 2 Renault Clio. You can read some of the story here A Baptisum of fire and check out some videos here complete with some big shunts on my youtube channel.
I am now spending 2017 completing the dream by doing it in a dream car of my youth, a Lancia Delta! I bought a 1990 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v from Tanc Barret in Kidderminster. The car is currently full of rust, has many bodged repairs, has no engine, no doors and is pretty much a wreck. Definitely not ready for the race track.
The plan is to dip the car, repair any damage, weld in strengthening plates, put in a group a rally cage and add the required safety and security features needed to win some races.
I am going to race the car predominantly within the club racing circuit throughout England with a trip out to Europe also. The current calendar looks is starting with a visit to my local circuit in Norfolk at Snetterton (300 configuration) on the 1st & 2nd of April. Then a trip to Hampshire on the fastest circuit in the UK; Thruxton on the 22nd & 23rd of April. Silverstone (International) is next on the 27th & 28th of May which should be great with the wide open FIA circuit which is then followed by the legendary Spa Francorchamps on the 23rd to 25th of June. The north of England is next with Croft on the 22nd & 23rd of July and then the English West Country with a visit to Castle Combe on the 12th & 13th of August. Donnington Park (National) is next on the 9th & 10th of September followed by a trip north once more to Oulton Park on the 7th of October. The season finale takes the car to Brands Hatch, which will include proper night races on the 11th & 12th of November.
I intend to race the car with the Classic Sports Car Club. I have completed a few rounds with them in 2015 and 2016 with a Renault Clio 182 in their Tin Top and New Millennium series reasonably successfully. For the Delta, the car is eligible for the Future Classics. Modern Classics and Open Series’.
Future Classics is designed for Sports, Saloons and GT cars from the 1970's and 1980's and is split into 2 groups with an overall winner for each decade. The class structure is based on engine capacity, allowing cars to battle it out all down the field and provide great entertainment. The grids are full of iconic cars from the period including Sierra Cosworths, Porsche 911s, Jensons and TVRs. The Lancia is in the A80 class, which is the highest and fastest class in the series for cars manufactured in the 1980s.
Modern Classics is designed for most production Saloon, Hatchback, Sports and GT models produced up to the end of 1999. Modern Classics attracts a wide range of cars from Alfa Romeo and Volkswagen through to BMW, Ferrari and Porsche. The Lancia is in the A0 class, which is the highest and fastest class in the series. Nothing short of a win will do for both series!
The races are run over forty minutes and include the added excitement of a mandatory pit-stop with a 30 minute qualifying session on the same day. Entries may be two drivers sharing a single car or as a two car team, however I am competing as a single driver. All race winning cars/drivers accumulate winners penalties, helping to stop the same car/driver dominating at every round.
More pictures on my blog post Racing a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v.
In 2015 I sold a business I had spent the previous 9 years sweating blood toil and tears over and started living my childhood dream of being a racing driver. I spent the next 18 months learning some really hard lessons about what it takes to drive well and fast in a gen 2 Renault Clio. You can read some of the story here A Baptisum of fire and check out some videos here complete with some big shunts on my youtube channel.
I am now spending 2017 completing the dream by doing it in a dream car of my youth, a Lancia Delta! I bought a 1990 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v from Tanc Barret in Kidderminster. The car is currently full of rust, has many bodged repairs, has no engine, no doors and is pretty much a wreck. Definitely not ready for the race track.
The plan is to dip the car, repair any damage, weld in strengthening plates, put in a group a rally cage and add the required safety and security features needed to win some races.
I am going to race the car predominantly within the club racing circuit throughout England with a trip out to Europe also. The current calendar looks is starting with a visit to my local circuit in Norfolk at Snetterton (300 configuration) on the 1st & 2nd of April. Then a trip to Hampshire on the fastest circuit in the UK; Thruxton on the 22nd & 23rd of April. Silverstone (International) is next on the 27th & 28th of May which should be great with the wide open FIA circuit which is then followed by the legendary Spa Francorchamps on the 23rd to 25th of June. The north of England is next with Croft on the 22nd & 23rd of July and then the English West Country with a visit to Castle Combe on the 12th & 13th of August. Donnington Park (National) is next on the 9th & 10th of September followed by a trip north once more to Oulton Park on the 7th of October. The season finale takes the car to Brands Hatch, which will include proper night races on the 11th & 12th of November.
I intend to race the car with the Classic Sports Car Club. I have completed a few rounds with them in 2015 and 2016 with a Renault Clio 182 in their Tin Top and New Millennium series reasonably successfully. For the Delta, the car is eligible for the Future Classics. Modern Classics and Open Series’.
Future Classics is designed for Sports, Saloons and GT cars from the 1970's and 1980's and is split into 2 groups with an overall winner for each decade. The class structure is based on engine capacity, allowing cars to battle it out all down the field and provide great entertainment. The grids are full of iconic cars from the period including Sierra Cosworths, Porsche 911s, Jensons and TVRs. The Lancia is in the A80 class, which is the highest and fastest class in the series for cars manufactured in the 1980s.
Modern Classics is designed for most production Saloon, Hatchback, Sports and GT models produced up to the end of 1999. Modern Classics attracts a wide range of cars from Alfa Romeo and Volkswagen through to BMW, Ferrari and Porsche. The Lancia is in the A0 class, which is the highest and fastest class in the series. Nothing short of a win will do for both series!
The races are run over forty minutes and include the added excitement of a mandatory pit-stop with a 30 minute qualifying session on the same day. Entries may be two drivers sharing a single car or as a two car team, however I am competing as a single driver. All race winning cars/drivers accumulate winners penalties, helping to stop the same car/driver dominating at every round.
More pictures on my blog post Racing a Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v.
Scalino said:
Absolutely brilliant
Are you preparing the car (mostly) yourself (though seeing the timetable I imagine that might be a bit difficult)?
Looking forward to the updates!
Hi Scalino. Definately not! my skills are in the money making business. I can just about change a wheel and with help do things like starter motors but this is way beyond me... Are you preparing the car (mostly) yourself (though seeing the timetable I imagine that might be a bit difficult)?Looking forward to the updates!
STEVEN EVO said:
Hi , have had 4 integrales over the last 20 years , a couple highly modified , I live in Suffolk and tracked at Snetterton lots of times ( mainly in a 172 cup ) .I am pretty sure we have been on track together . I still have a mint 16v but keep off the track in that as I wrecked an engine many years ago going rd Coram at Snetterton and getting oil surge . I am sure you will get a good engine built if you intend to race .
I look forward to seeing your car develop
Cool. I have raced mostly with the 750 Motor Club and with the Classic Sports Car Club and I think have done 6 or so races at snet. Best result was 2nd in class when it rained and rained and I was overtaking M3s on the outside...I look forward to seeing your car develop
Regarding the engine build, I am sure you know the world of racing is highly competative and this is an area I am afraid I wont be telling everyone much about (unless I sell it). Needless to say it is designed with big but usable power, lots of lateral g and endurance racing in mind. Thrashing around a car for 2 hour races at a time means you need control and reliability rather than willy waving peaky power figures.
Those pictures you have posted look great with a real mix of cars. Was the stratos original? And more importantly, did you win?! And does the car still compete?
I would love to pick your brains about it. I know it isn't the greatest shape for going around a circuit and would be much better off in something with a greater aerodynamic co-efficient. I have been speaking to Steve @ Walkers regarding the best set up to use. He sourced the dog box, diff, transfer box reconditioning from Italy and towards InTrax for the suspension. They are also giving me tips about driving style for getting the best out of it on tarmac.
Would love to hear more about your exploits...
I would love to pick your brains about it. I know it isn't the greatest shape for going around a circuit and would be much better off in something with a greater aerodynamic co-efficient. I have been speaking to Steve @ Walkers regarding the best set up to use. He sourced the dog box, diff, transfer box reconditioning from Italy and towards InTrax for the suspension. They are also giving me tips about driving style for getting the best out of it on tarmac.
Would love to hear more about your exploits...
I am certainly optimistic...! …but I know money and talent are needed to win.
In order to sharpen up my driving skills ready for the new season I rented a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 4. The car is a rally tarmac spec car with around 400 horsepower so is comparable to the delta in many ways. As it’s January I saw 2 degrees and a damp track all day at Snetterton on the 300 configuration.
This is the car (at Silverstone last year):
Here are a couple of laps towards the end of the day when the track was nearly dry. Sadly it was not very fast but I have plenty of excuses stored away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnF0C8Z2jO8
I really enjoyed the day and are beginning to get my head around the massive power and traction you get with AWD. I have another session booked in at Rockingham towards the end of Feb to build more technique and confidence.
In order to sharpen up my driving skills ready for the new season I rented a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 4. The car is a rally tarmac spec car with around 400 horsepower so is comparable to the delta in many ways. As it’s January I saw 2 degrees and a damp track all day at Snetterton on the 300 configuration.
This is the car (at Silverstone last year):
Here are a couple of laps towards the end of the day when the track was nearly dry. Sadly it was not very fast but I have plenty of excuses stored away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnF0C8Z2jO8
I really enjoyed the day and are beginning to get my head around the massive power and traction you get with AWD. I have another session booked in at Rockingham towards the end of Feb to build more technique and confidence.
Thanks for all the pictures and advice, all good.
The car is now ready for the paint shop and will be there for a week or so. Just signed up for a test day on the 23rd of March and the first race on the 1st of April.
The good news is all of the bits needed to get it on the grod have arrived... all expect a couple of hubs.
I have also picked up another shell (non integrale) over the weekend which is much less wrotten than the yellow one.
The car is now ready for the paint shop and will be there for a week or so. Just signed up for a test day on the 23rd of March and the first race on the 1st of April.
The good news is all of the bits needed to get it on the grod have arrived... all expect a couple of hubs.
I have also picked up another shell (non integrale) over the weekend which is much less wrotten than the yellow one.
Hi all, another update.
Driver positioning is really important when building a car for endurance so we took some time getting this bit right. I am going to be doing 40 minute races mostly but want to compete in the odd 2 hour race also. We spent a lot of time getting the seating position as central and rearward as possible to get the best COG. This means the rear seat mount is half way in to the reat foot well and the seat is a good part behind the B pillar. I haven't got any pictures of this but will do so when the build progresses further. We have also decided to go with an electronic throttle and throttle body to give us more flexibility when it comes to engine mapping.
Most of the parts ready for building have now arrived and some of them are a demonstration of engineering excellence. In particular the machining of the engine components including the con rods, pistons, clutch, crank, cams (not pictured) and block. All of the components have been balanced and weighted to within a gram, the block has been pressure tested and honed ready for the new pistons. The head is away still being machined and the valves installed ready to be built up. Because this is a race car I don’t want to say much more about the specification but if anyone is interested, drop me a line and I can fill you in.
Once the car’s welding had finished and the new panels had arrived the car was shipped off to the painters ready for the final paint to be applied. Colour was an important decision in the build and whilst there were red cars briefly around in the 1989 WRC, I ended up going for the classic white. This is mainly because I want to get sponsorship for this and subsiquent seasons and I thought a white car would be the most attractive. For the interior and engine bay I went against the Lancia factory standard of light grey and opted for a classic dark grey look instead. This was mainly to cut down on glare during sunny days as well as during night races where reflections can massively reduce visibility.
Once I had decided on the colour (and there was much dithering) the painter ended up sand blasting the shell rather than dipping it given there was very little rusting of the metal since the last dip. The painter then applied a rust inhibiter to the metal, base coats and then the final finishing coats. The floor had additional layers of stone chip protection applied before the final finishing colour.
Only two weeks to go until the first race and as you can see I am currently knee deep in wires as I am doing the loom myself.
How many hours in a day? Not enough to work, build let alone rest or sleep.
Driver positioning is really important when building a car for endurance so we took some time getting this bit right. I am going to be doing 40 minute races mostly but want to compete in the odd 2 hour race also. We spent a lot of time getting the seating position as central and rearward as possible to get the best COG. This means the rear seat mount is half way in to the reat foot well and the seat is a good part behind the B pillar. I haven't got any pictures of this but will do so when the build progresses further. We have also decided to go with an electronic throttle and throttle body to give us more flexibility when it comes to engine mapping.
Most of the parts ready for building have now arrived and some of them are a demonstration of engineering excellence. In particular the machining of the engine components including the con rods, pistons, clutch, crank, cams (not pictured) and block. All of the components have been balanced and weighted to within a gram, the block has been pressure tested and honed ready for the new pistons. The head is away still being machined and the valves installed ready to be built up. Because this is a race car I don’t want to say much more about the specification but if anyone is interested, drop me a line and I can fill you in.
Once the car’s welding had finished and the new panels had arrived the car was shipped off to the painters ready for the final paint to be applied. Colour was an important decision in the build and whilst there were red cars briefly around in the 1989 WRC, I ended up going for the classic white. This is mainly because I want to get sponsorship for this and subsiquent seasons and I thought a white car would be the most attractive. For the interior and engine bay I went against the Lancia factory standard of light grey and opted for a classic dark grey look instead. This was mainly to cut down on glare during sunny days as well as during night races where reflections can massively reduce visibility.
Once I had decided on the colour (and there was much dithering) the painter ended up sand blasting the shell rather than dipping it given there was very little rusting of the metal since the last dip. The painter then applied a rust inhibiter to the metal, base coats and then the final finishing coats. The floor had additional layers of stone chip protection applied before the final finishing colour.
Only two weeks to go until the first race and as you can see I am currently knee deep in wires as I am doing the loom myself.
How many hours in a day? Not enough to work, build let alone rest or sleep.
Edited by Thurbs on Wednesday 15th March 11:42
227bhp said:
Whose pistons are those?
CP Pistons or http://www.cp-carrillo.com/ in their native language. We had the choice of 8:1 or 9:1 compression and went 9:1 in the hope of less lag.Progress has been frantic over the weekend and the last few days...
Got most of the body's wiring terminated and tested, only 2 mistakes
which were thankfully caught.
The air jack system has been terminated and pressure tested.
What is more exciting though is the engine has been finished, flywheel, cluch and gear box mounted and then the transfer box put on. The whole ensumble was then put in the car and bolted to the mounts....
The front and rear suspension has also been test fitted and we found some small ajustments to washers etc need to be made in order to get the right ammount of toe and camber on the car.
Next step is to check and set up the bump steer and start terminating the engine electrics. Then minor stuff like doors, windows, rads, oil, turbo, exhaust, brakes, fuel lines, alternator, water pump, mapping, running in, testing etc to go...
10 days to race day!
Got most of the body's wiring terminated and tested, only 2 mistakes
which were thankfully caught. The air jack system has been terminated and pressure tested.
What is more exciting though is the engine has been finished, flywheel, cluch and gear box mounted and then the transfer box put on. The whole ensumble was then put in the car and bolted to the mounts....
The front and rear suspension has also been test fitted and we found some small ajustments to washers etc need to be made in order to get the right ammount of toe and camber on the car.
Next step is to check and set up the bump steer and start terminating the engine electrics. Then minor stuff like doors, windows, rads, oil, turbo, exhaust, brakes, fuel lines, alternator, water pump, mapping, running in, testing etc to go...
10 days to race day!
Wow, what a week.
It has been long 14+ hour days getting things ready, making brackets, modifying parts, fabricating holders etc. We are nearly there though.
There are only microns left between the wheel and the arch. We need to run a bit of camber so that will tuck the tyres in a bit more...
It is off to Owen Developments today for a turbo and map. Hopefully we should be it back on Wednesday.
Once that is done there is a small list of jobs to do including p-clipping, rain light, dash, winscreen, shake down & testing.
5 days to go...
It has been long 14+ hour days getting things ready, making brackets, modifying parts, fabricating holders etc. We are nearly there though.
There are only microns left between the wheel and the arch. We need to run a bit of camber so that will tuck the tyres in a bit more...
It is off to Owen Developments today for a turbo and map. Hopefully we should be it back on Wednesday.
Once that is done there is a small list of jobs to do including p-clipping, rain light, dash, winscreen, shake down & testing.
5 days to go...
After extending hours well in to the small hours we had the car ready on Wednesday at the tuners. Sadly, all of this was in vane due to a "miss understanding" between the exhaust fabricators and the turbo people. A new manifold wasn't going to be ready in time so we switched to plan B.
Plan B involved using a track ready Mitsubishi Evo 4, throw the stuff on it needed to race and see how I get on. Little did I know the long nights wouldn't be ending anytime soon!
On Wednesday the following bits were added:
- Rain light
- Kill switch
- Transponder
- Tow Loops
- Seat rail taken out and fixed in place with a seat fitting
- Spare seat removed
All done for about 9pm which was nice.
Thursday we went to Mallory to make sure the car was all good and get some laps under the belt. The car ran faultlessly all day getting in to the 52’s and I was confident I could do reasonably well over the weekend....
I drove to the circuit that night and set up ready for testing on Friday and all was well.
Friday Session 1 – after 5 laps the exhaust manifold gasket which is mated to the turbo manifold failed, resulting in no boost. Removed 3 studs, rounding off one of them, used some high temp silicone sealant and replaced it.
Friday Session 2 - Missed it due to fixing the gasket.
Friday Session 3 - Blew the gasket again but also blew out a bung on the manifold which caused flames to come out of the bonnet. Phoned up for some help, sourced some new studs, gasket and bungs and got a knight in shining armour to come from West Midlands to help out.
Friday Session 4 - Missed it due to no parts.
Friday Night - Chicken out of taking off the exhaust manifold but instead replaced gasket, replaced studs, rounded off a exhaust stud in to the head, found a long bolt and got it back on with about 3 threads left. Bed @ 12am.
Saturday Morning - Finished off jobs from last night and prepped for Qualifying. My helper also brought along a pit to car radio so we stuck that in as well.
Saturday Qualifying - Managed 2 laps with glorious boost before losing it all again. Clocked a slow 2:18 but carried on doing 3 laps so I qualified for the race. It then transpired I had exceeded track limits so they shunted me back to 32nd or something stupid from 12th. Checked and re-checked everything. Did all bolts up super tight but couldn’t find the source of any boost leak.
Saturday Race – Out of the assembly area I could tell there was still no boost so preceded to race as a low compression 2l NA car. Made up about 8 places on the first few laps, had a good fight with a Elise and a Fiesta before getting stuck in second gear. DNF with a gear linkage failure.
Saturday Night – Drilled and bolted the gear linkage (it was the bushes which had failed). Took off the whole front of the car including the radiator, intercooler, all exhaust and turbo manifold. Tracked down the boost leak to a rubber hose which had failed right where we couldn’t feel for it when the car was assembled. Cut about 2 inches off the hose where the leak was and then preceded to re-locate *everything* in order to get everything connected back together. 2 more studs were rounded and the thread which had the failed bung come out earlier was also knackered. Phoned another knight who arrived at 11pm with some more tools to file, grind and bodge to get it all ready. My second knight did all this after spending all day Saturday running 2 clios at Oulton Park with 750 Clio 182 having one in the barrier and one in the gravel! What a legend. Bed at 1:30am.
Sunday Morning – Woke up at 7, managed to get the studs and bolts to go in after more filing, drilling and grinding. Connected everything up, filled it with water, got it up to temperature and went for a test drive. Lots of boost, no leaks of air or fluids and everything was finally looking good.
Sunday Qualifying – Out of the assembly area still had loads of boost! Warmed up the tyres ready for a “banker” lap only to notice s
t loads of smoke coming out of the back. Went in to the pits where I was parked in the fire area. Once the marshals were happy I wasn’t about to die in an oil based inferno, my (now large) pit crew opened up the bonnet and diagnosed the dipstick had been blown out and pissed oil everywhere. We then went back to the pits, tipped 5L of brake cleaner over the engine without setting it alight and cable tied the dipstick down. Got back out, warmed up the tyres again and started a flying lap. Half way down the Bentley straight something in the drive train let go with a clonk and then a wine was present. I finished that lap (so I qualified, in 12th again as it happens) and when crossing the line noticed the oil pressure light was on. I then parked it up and sat out the rest of the session with the men and women of orange.
It runs!
Saturday Lunch – After getting a tow back to the pits, the team diagnosed a knock in the bottom end and we withdrew the car. At that point we gave up, put the car on the trailer and did the ”drive of shame” leaving just after lunch.
Roll on Thruxton in 3 weeks is all I can say…
Plan B involved using a track ready Mitsubishi Evo 4, throw the stuff on it needed to race and see how I get on. Little did I know the long nights wouldn't be ending anytime soon!
On Wednesday the following bits were added:
- Rain light
- Kill switch
- Transponder
- Tow Loops
- Seat rail taken out and fixed in place with a seat fitting
- Spare seat removed
All done for about 9pm which was nice.
Thursday we went to Mallory to make sure the car was all good and get some laps under the belt. The car ran faultlessly all day getting in to the 52’s and I was confident I could do reasonably well over the weekend....
I drove to the circuit that night and set up ready for testing on Friday and all was well.
Friday Session 1 – after 5 laps the exhaust manifold gasket which is mated to the turbo manifold failed, resulting in no boost. Removed 3 studs, rounding off one of them, used some high temp silicone sealant and replaced it.
Friday Session 2 - Missed it due to fixing the gasket.
Friday Session 3 - Blew the gasket again but also blew out a bung on the manifold which caused flames to come out of the bonnet. Phoned up for some help, sourced some new studs, gasket and bungs and got a knight in shining armour to come from West Midlands to help out.
Friday Session 4 - Missed it due to no parts.
Friday Night - Chicken out of taking off the exhaust manifold but instead replaced gasket, replaced studs, rounded off a exhaust stud in to the head, found a long bolt and got it back on with about 3 threads left. Bed @ 12am.
Saturday Morning - Finished off jobs from last night and prepped for Qualifying. My helper also brought along a pit to car radio so we stuck that in as well.
Saturday Qualifying - Managed 2 laps with glorious boost before losing it all again. Clocked a slow 2:18 but carried on doing 3 laps so I qualified for the race. It then transpired I had exceeded track limits so they shunted me back to 32nd or something stupid from 12th. Checked and re-checked everything. Did all bolts up super tight but couldn’t find the source of any boost leak.
Saturday Race – Out of the assembly area I could tell there was still no boost so preceded to race as a low compression 2l NA car. Made up about 8 places on the first few laps, had a good fight with a Elise and a Fiesta before getting stuck in second gear. DNF with a gear linkage failure.
Saturday Night – Drilled and bolted the gear linkage (it was the bushes which had failed). Took off the whole front of the car including the radiator, intercooler, all exhaust and turbo manifold. Tracked down the boost leak to a rubber hose which had failed right where we couldn’t feel for it when the car was assembled. Cut about 2 inches off the hose where the leak was and then preceded to re-locate *everything* in order to get everything connected back together. 2 more studs were rounded and the thread which had the failed bung come out earlier was also knackered. Phoned another knight who arrived at 11pm with some more tools to file, grind and bodge to get it all ready. My second knight did all this after spending all day Saturday running 2 clios at Oulton Park with 750 Clio 182 having one in the barrier and one in the gravel! What a legend. Bed at 1:30am.
Sunday Morning – Woke up at 7, managed to get the studs and bolts to go in after more filing, drilling and grinding. Connected everything up, filled it with water, got it up to temperature and went for a test drive. Lots of boost, no leaks of air or fluids and everything was finally looking good.
Sunday Qualifying – Out of the assembly area still had loads of boost! Warmed up the tyres ready for a “banker” lap only to notice s
t loads of smoke coming out of the back. Went in to the pits where I was parked in the fire area. Once the marshals were happy I wasn’t about to die in an oil based inferno, my (now large) pit crew opened up the bonnet and diagnosed the dipstick had been blown out and pissed oil everywhere. We then went back to the pits, tipped 5L of brake cleaner over the engine without setting it alight and cable tied the dipstick down. Got back out, warmed up the tyres again and started a flying lap. Half way down the Bentley straight something in the drive train let go with a clonk and then a wine was present. I finished that lap (so I qualified, in 12th again as it happens) and when crossing the line noticed the oil pressure light was on. I then parked it up and sat out the rest of the session with the men and women of orange. It runs!
Saturday Lunch – After getting a tow back to the pits, the team diagnosed a knock in the bottom end and we withdrew the car. At that point we gave up, put the car on the trailer and did the ”drive of shame” leaving just after lunch.
Roll on Thruxton in 3 weeks is all I can say…
Edited by Thurbs on Monday 3rd April 13:14
We managed to get a good days shakedown on the car at Donington just after Download festival finished (still tons of abandoned stuff everywhere...).
Only had a few problems, most of which didn't cause too much downtime. The biggest issue was oil pressure was dropping during the big braking zones and we ended the day with needing a new crank and shells
Anyway, the engine is back together today and being slotted in for Tuesday's shakedown #2 at Snetterton. Then it is off to Spa Wednesday morning for the www.spasummerclassic.com What could possibly go wrong?!!!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFulPGEe_HM
More pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/phot...
Only had a few problems, most of which didn't cause too much downtime. The biggest issue was oil pressure was dropping during the big braking zones and we ended the day with needing a new crank and shells
Anyway, the engine is back together today and being slotted in for Tuesday's shakedown #2 at Snetterton. Then it is off to Spa Wednesday morning for the www.spasummerclassic.com What could possibly go wrong?!!!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFulPGEe_HM
More pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LanciaDeltaRacing/phot...
fergus said:
What did you do to prevent the oil pressure issue raising its head again? Are you able to baffle the sump/fit an accusump, etc per the regs you need to comply with? A crank per event is getting a bit extreme!
Hi Furgus. We already had a baffled sump...
As you suggest, we put in a Accusump yesterday. Fingers crossed.
fergus said:
If you've not done so already, I'd suggest a chat with Steve Smith @ Walkers in Northallerton. He will be able to provide some good direction. Good luck!
Hi Furgus. Steve was with us at Donington an saw it all first hand. They haven't seen it on their rally cars but they dont tend to do the large brake zones you get on a circuit. The brakes pull 1.2g+ for nearly two seconds.... It is a Walker's baffled sump which they are now re-designing as a result of this issue. Luckily they had another crank in stock or we wouldn't have made out for this weekend. Hi guys. Sorry I missed all these posts. It has been a busy few weeks.
The theory was that the baffled sump would be ok given (as others have said) they have worked no problem in rally cars. I don’t know if circuit racing creates a different set of issues around surge? What I can say is that under braking the car is making longitudinal 1.1-1.2g force for a few seconds. This is no more than the progression in to lateral g of around the same amount, but usually for longer (Coram etc).
The main reasons for not wanting a dry sump is the extra weight, extra piping complication, another pump to drive and if there were an issue we didn’t want lots of hot oil being pumped around the engine bay. Some of these disadvantages have sort of come to fruition with the accusump system we installed to solve the problem, but at least I am not buying new cranks after each session. I think in hindsight we should have gone with a dry sump setup, but you live and learn.
I am afraid I do not know what modification Walkers are planning on making to the baffles to stop the surge. I will ask Steve when I see him next.
I should have said I am on 1b tyres not slicks… specifically the Nankang AR-1 with 245/35 R17. Power wise, this isn’t a factor with the surge as it was all on the brakes.
With the accusump, we did a test at Snetterton which went well, no surge! Then a weekend at Spa Francorchamps which didn’t go so well. On lap 7 of qualifying, the “pull” clutch arm came out of the thrust release baring fixing. This caused a clutch-less change from 5th to 4th and it broke the pin which holds the selector on to the selector shaft, meaning it was stuck in 4th. We found a new box but it needed a standard clutch which we couldn’t source in time for all the shops closing in Belgium late Saturday afternoon.
We have Croft in a few weeks and goal is to finish!
Video from Spa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LwLrw2olI
The theory was that the baffled sump would be ok given (as others have said) they have worked no problem in rally cars. I don’t know if circuit racing creates a different set of issues around surge? What I can say is that under braking the car is making longitudinal 1.1-1.2g force for a few seconds. This is no more than the progression in to lateral g of around the same amount, but usually for longer (Coram etc).
The main reasons for not wanting a dry sump is the extra weight, extra piping complication, another pump to drive and if there were an issue we didn’t want lots of hot oil being pumped around the engine bay. Some of these disadvantages have sort of come to fruition with the accusump system we installed to solve the problem, but at least I am not buying new cranks after each session. I think in hindsight we should have gone with a dry sump setup, but you live and learn.
I am afraid I do not know what modification Walkers are planning on making to the baffles to stop the surge. I will ask Steve when I see him next.
I should have said I am on 1b tyres not slicks… specifically the Nankang AR-1 with 245/35 R17. Power wise, this isn’t a factor with the surge as it was all on the brakes.
With the accusump, we did a test at Snetterton which went well, no surge! Then a weekend at Spa Francorchamps which didn’t go so well. On lap 7 of qualifying, the “pull” clutch arm came out of the thrust release baring fixing. This caused a clutch-less change from 5th to 4th and it broke the pin which holds the selector on to the selector shaft, meaning it was stuck in 4th. We found a new box but it needed a standard clutch which we couldn’t source in time for all the shops closing in Belgium late Saturday afternoon.
We have Croft in a few weeks and goal is to finish!
Video from Spa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LwLrw2olI
Hi guys. It has been a busy few weeks, have finally had some race finishes, a class win and an overall win! The Delta is awsome on the wet...
The first Race at Croft we got a class win: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBN_RSMN_Sg & https://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/07/25/first-you...
The second race at Croft we qualified 2nd, took the lead on the first lap, won overall by 40+ seconds and got the fastest lap: https://youtu.be/cCckIHgvwOY & https://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/07/27/to-finish...
The race win I have done a "unlisted" video for anyone who is interested in watching the whole thing... warning: it is 50m long! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJc1wK7Hfc
The first Race at Croft we got a class win: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBN_RSMN_Sg & https://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/07/25/first-you...
The second race at Croft we qualified 2nd, took the lead on the first lap, won overall by 40+ seconds and got the fastest lap: https://youtu.be/cCckIHgvwOY & https://lanciadeltaracing.com/2017/07/27/to-finish...
The race win I have done a "unlisted" video for anyone who is interested in watching the whole thing... warning: it is 50m long! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJc1wK7Hfc
B'stard Child said:
Congratulations - excellent result
I assume the Lancia is now performing faultlessly?
Race cars rarely do. I assume the Lancia is now performing faultlessly?
We had a fuel pump issue caused by a bad crimp in the tank and a broken spark plug on Friday during testing.
On Saturday we ran out of tyres and if we had managed them better we could have (should have / would have etc) finished 5th overall. But hey, that's racing. Not the car’s fault and it ran without issue.
Sunday the car was faultless and sublime in the wet.
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
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
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!
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).
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=DBMgupBVXAgWhat 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).
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.
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.
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...
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.
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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...
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