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I have decided to not sprint the car in 2008 and do Time Attack instead!
The third visit to Curborough this year and a double lapper event.It started raining on the way to the event and kept on raining all morning. I was a bit disappointed that the damp weather would mean that I would not achieve a decent time or beat my time from the previous year. The Triumph TR4 did not turn up so all the other cars in my class were four wheel drive, so I would have no advantage and probably a disadvantage as they used the 4wd permanently unlike the skylines Attessa.
First run of the day and it was wet and slippy. Everyone took it easy although I did try and put in a reasonable time. I ran 76.76 and Rob Wakelin was two seconds faster than me. Second run of the day and the same conditions. I went quicker and so did Rob. The timing equipment did not record me a time but I was told that I had gone two seconds quicker but Rob had as well.
For the first timed run of the day, it had stopped raining but the track was still damp and slippy. The track did seem to be slowly drying as the runs progressed (allowing the cars running later on to get better times). Alex Morton in the GT4 set off, was gone for ages and returned in 91 seconds after having an off. Gareth Nadin in the impreza set off and only made it to the first turn and went off! Rob Wakelin set off in his impreza, impressively controlled a rear end slide in the same place as Gareth and then went off a few seconds later! Naturally, I asked the startline marshalls if there was any oil on the track. They told me no so I decide to keep it smooth and try and stay on the track. To be honest, my time did not seem that quick but it was, 70.50 seconds. Only five cars ran quicker that this on their first run and everyone after me had a drier track especially the final cars half an hour later.
Our second and final run was drier but still damp. Alex ran 76.50, Gareth came off the track again and Rob ran 68.97. I knew this run has to be a good one as one mistake would cost me first place. It was a good run and it was close. I was 0.21 seconds quicker to the 64 foot timing beam and 0.32 seconds quicker overally, recording 68.68 seconds. A hard fought and pleasing win. Usually I am unhappy with my performance at Curborough but this time I was pleased.
To finish the year, I will be at Thoresby Hall again for a weekend of sprinting.
Click here for the full results -15th July Results.
Sunday 17th June and a return to Curborough. After the 35.41 last time out, I was confident that a bit more effort would see me in the 34's for the first time. The track was looking good as after a week of wet weather including some very heavy downpours on the previous day, the sun was out and a dry day was forecast.
The other cars I was against were a TR4, and the brace of Subaru’s I was against in April and they were joined by a Toyota Celica GT4 and a 22B impreza.
I started with a couple of slow practice runs (35.9 and 35.7) and the clouds gathered before the first timed run and so I was expecting rain and therefore decided to try as hard as I could. The run was a good one, my new personal best of 34.95, but the Subaru of Rob Wakelin ran a 34.80. I got the wrong line into the molehill (chicane) on the second run and ran 35.47 and came close to a second 34 second run with 35.07 to end the day. I was disappointed to get second place when a win was possible but I was only beaten by 0.15 seconds and the 3rd place car (the 22B) was over 2 seconds behind.
One consolation was that my final run produced a 64ft time of 2.03 seconds that was only beaten by the fastest car of the day, a Pilbeam MP58H that ran a 28 second lap! Also, I consistently hit 104mph over the finish line, which was not beaten by many cars.
My next sprint is in July and is Curborough again, but this time is a double lapper which is a bit harder.
Click here for the full results -17th June Results.
The biggest change for me in 2007 is that I now have a daughter, less spare time and less spare money! I have cut my sprint season down to five rounds, three at Curborough and two at Thoresby Park. As my power, boost and handling were not right in 2006, my car spent some time at RB Motorsport for some TLC. A remap, resetup of the boost controller, racing rear diff, new brakes all round and some more weighty items removed should improve things. Unfortunately after all of that, I am running back in road class this year as it is more competitive and so my car has the full interior back in, the heavy rear spoiler back on along with the headlamp, and road tyres instead of track ones. To sum up, a slight bit more power, better brakes with more weight and less grip.
As practice, I planned to do a test day at Curborough with the 200plus club using track tyres in the morning and road tyres in the afternoon. Despite the new diff and track tyres, the car was quite a handful in the morning and I retired at lunchtime as I had an oil leak from above the gearbox which turned out to be a hidden pipe coming from the oil catch tank...doh!
Sunday 29th April and my first sprint of the year at Curborough. A mixed bag of cars with some serious competition, an Alpine Renault and a TR4, a brace of subaru's (one with over 400bhp) and two mitsubishi evos'. Track conditions were near perfect.
I took it easy on my first run but was astounded to beat my previous personal best of 35.51 with a 35.42 even though my car was heavier and had less grip! The only car faster than me was only 0.8 seconds faster so I felt confident.I tried on the second run and went slower but so did the other car so our fastest times stood. First timed run in the afternoon, I tried harder again, and ran 35.41, my fastest time of the day but I expected better and both evos were quicker. We had three more runs but all three were slower and all in the 35's. The most disappointing thing was that most went faster on their final run and I was pushed into fourth place by the Subaru WRX. I was gutted!
Click here for the full results -29th April Results.
Sunday was the last round of the championship. It was quite overcast and damp and I had a slightly heavy head from the night before! The other cars in my class were Andrew in the escort and Nick in the V8 MGB as Tim had swapped his Alfa for his manta and changed class. I took it easy in first practice again and especially careful in second practice as it began to rain before we went out.
Onto the first timed run and I could not run as fast as Saturday as there was still some damp even though it was drying. I took the class lead with 55.84 seconds, but the MGB was only just a couple of seconds behind me. Time to put my foot down! The next run was dry and I ran 53.46, my fastest time of the weekend, four seconds clear of the others. On the final run, I managed another 2.1 64 foot time, the fastest of the day again but a slower overall time of 53.70.
It was a class win but a slower time than last year. It seemed that the Dunlops were not as good as road tyres on the rough surface. I could have gone faster with stronger brakes. Something to think about for next year.
Click here for the full results -24th September Results.
I am not sure what I am doing next year as we are expecting a baby in March and so my spare time and budget will be cut! I am aiming to at least do a few sprints to keep in practice. Overall this year has been good but I missed the other cars in the road class and may be back in that class next year. I gained less points this year due to harder targets and only finished in 21st place although I won more trophies. For the last two years trophies, see the pictures.
I finished off the season with two rounds at Thoresby Hall again. The course was the same as last year with a series of access lanes, linked together by 1st gear (in my car) corners.
This year I decided to camp over from Friday night to Sunday afternoon to give myself an easy weekend. The weather forecast looked good but it was not right and it rained all day Friday. Putting up the tent in the rain was not fun although the rain stopped as soon as the tent was up and the sky cleared! Unfortunately this led to thick fog as the sun went down but it had cleared by the time I returned from a fish and chip restaurant with my brother Andy.
Saturday started damp which is not very nice on a green course, used once a year, that has to be brushed cleaned before the event. I was against Andrew in the Escort Cosworth and and Tim in the Alfa Romeo GTV again. Neither had driven the course before. There was also a late entry of a Reliant Scimitar SS1. An inspection of the car showed that it had a 1.8 Nissan Silvia turbo engine in it and was really light with hardly any bodywork and had a very trick suspension set up. I had a feeling that a win today was not going to be easy.
I took it easy on the first run as it was still quite damp. Just the same as last year, braking for the 3rd to 1st gear chicanes caused the car to lock up on each downshift so I had to be careful. The second run was taken with caution as well as the next run would be the one that counted.
Onto the first timed run and conditions were good. You could never really tell if there was any damp patches in the trees but I spun up the tyres in rear wheel drive to clean all the mud and grass (!) off them and gave it a big launch. The run seemed smooth and fast and I waited to see what the others had done. My time of 53.57 was only 0.17 seconds ahead of the scimitar but seven seconds clear of the other two. I tried harder on the second run and the launch gave me the fastest 64ft time of anyone on the day of 2.1 seconds (try that after driving off muddy grass!) but my time was a second slower than the previous one. Craig in the scimitar ran 53.15 to take the class lead and then went home as he had an important sprint on the next day! This left me one last run to try and beat him. I failed to do this however and was disappointed to be beaten for the first time this year.
The evening was then spent down the local village hall with an excellent meal, wine and beer. I retired to bed around midnight fairly drunk!
Click here for the full results -23rd September Results.
Finally a day when it all went right!
Since my trip to Curborough I have been busy. I took part in Ten of the Best and did ok on the handling course but only ran a 13.6 second 1/4 mile. The terminal speed of 101 mph suggested a 350 bhp car and a dyno run at Thor Racing confirmed it was! After a phone call to R B Motorsport, I fitted another Crank Angle Sensor to the timing cover and took the car for another dyno test. Full power was back!
On to Harewood Hillclimb. I seem to do really well at Harewood but do not score many championship points as the class record is 59 seconds and was set by a very rapid Audi Coupe!
My class consisted of an Alfa GTV race car, a group N escort cosworth, a mitsubishi evo and a Subaru WRX. I was confident of a win and was quite relaxed!
On my first run, I took it easy as some bends were slippy and quite a few people were going off. Still I ran 68 seconds which was ok. I improved a bit on my second practice and ran 67 seconds. There was a chance of rain so I prepared to give it my all for my first timed run. I had a snooze during lunch so I was still a bit dozy on the way to the start (!), and gave the tyres a spin to clean them and proceeded to the line. Unfortunately another car had crashed and I had to pull back and wait for a few minutes. This did not put me off as I ran 66.17, a personal best!
We only got one more run, and I was prepared to try a bit harder. I studied other peoples lines through the last corner (which I struggle with) and really tried to be a tidy as possible, not spin the wheels out of corners and get the last bend right. I was told that I did and was rewarded with a 65 Second run at last, 65.84. The nearest rival ran 68.14, so it was another first in class and this felt a good win!
Click here for the full results -27th August Results.
Only one more weekend to go now, Thoresby in a few weeks time.
Second consecutive weeks sprint and my second time at Elvington this year. I was determined to get a result this time after my car let me down on the last visit. First run of the day was a disaster! The course had been changed from last time to make the chicanes less tight but there were lots of cones. I went through the first chicane but came out on the wrong side of the cones somehow! Halfway round the course I did the same thing again. This resulted in a very poor 90.79 seconds. Second run I really concentrated on the course and got a 83.82 which was a big improvement. The other two cars were four seconds behind me but this was only practice so I did not relax.
First timed run of the day and I gave it everything I had. Rain was forecast for later so I had to make this count. The result, 82.98. Claude was only three seconds behind me so I tried again on my second run and improved to 82.96. My final run was slower but I won the class easily and won a nice big trophy.
As I left the airfield, it started to rain with eventually a thunderstorm so I timed it well!
Click here for the full results -22nd July Car Results.
Also listed are the bike results -22nd July Bike Results.
A return to Curborough but this is the only time I will be doing a double lapper. I was against a Porsche 911, Andrew again in the group N escort cosworth and a Ferrari F355 challenge car which was the fastest car in my class last year. I was going to have to try hard to win today especially as I had only got home after a relaxing holiday at 7pm the night before!
I do find Curborough easy and felt relaxed for the first run. I thought I took it easy but my run was 63.20 which was not only my fastest run of the whole day, but 0.35 seconds faster than Brian in the Ferrari's fastest time last year! Spectators said that it did not look very fast but it was. I was feeling very confident!
All of the rest of my times were all in the 63 second bracket, and Brian could not beat 64.02 so it was a win for me on a very warm day.
Click here for the full results -16th July Results.
Back at Curborough again. I was a bit disappointed that I was on my own in my class but there was some good cars (including two skylines and evos) in the road class so I aimed for their times.
I was a bit surprised to run a time of 35.77 on my first practice of the day as I was not trying too hard and my previous best time was 36.12. I was pretty confident of getting a good time today. As there were only about fifty cars taking part, we were promised lots of runs and we got two practice and six timed runs in the end.
My next practice and first timed run were slower (36.40 and 35.95) but I tried harder on the next run and got a time of 35.57. The next three runs were all very close (35.89, 35.96 and the best of 35.51).
For the final run I tried braking later and carrying more speed through the corners but as I exited the hairpin, the car lost power, backfired and the engine warning light came on. I took it easy over the line just in case but the car was ok. I had run it too low on fuel (even though I had only just put some petrol in the car for the first time in the day). I ran a 36.28 which would have been my fastest time of the day without the mishap.
On one of the runs, I did try running more boost on the finish straight and the car did not seem to run right. Afterwards, I discovered that the clutch is slipping at 5000 rpm so the car will be returning to RB Motorsport before the next sprint.
Click here for the full results -18th June Results.
A great day at a great venue. I camped over the night before so I was in less of a rush on the day and it showed.
I eyed up the competition and made the decision that I was at an advantage and so took it easy in practice, making sure I was happy with my lines. I struggled with Orchard corner last year and took it in 1st gear which lost me a lot of speed so I threw the car around in 2nd gear this year. Also I struggled with oversteer and understeer in the very tight and slow Esses. This year I went throught with neither and no tyre squeal! To see photos of the course, click on this link and scroll down - Harewood Hillclimb course.
On my first run I ran a 67.89 which was a personal best. The other cars in my class ran 73, 75 and 79 seconds so I decided to aim for the time that the fastest Mitsubishi evos were running, which was 65.25 as they will be my targets at Ten of the Best in July.
I gave it everything on my second run which resulted in a time of 66.97. I still could not tell my brain to brake late for Quarry corner which probably lost me at least a second. As usual for me at Harewood, I tried hard on the last run and went slower (68.20) as I tried too hard and was not tidy enough. The nearest car in my class ran 73.08 so I won another trophy for the collection.
The car felt spot on and I think that it is only the driver slowing it down so I will be aiming for a 65 second run in August.
Click here for the full results -4th June Results.
A round of the championship that I would rather forget! I camped over the night before so the day would be more relaxed, or so I thought!
This is a unusual sprint as bikes also run inbetween the car runs.
The old style track really suited my car as it was fast with mostly third gear corners. Some new chicanes had put in for this year. The sighting lap was run quite slowly so I did not get a feel for the new corners. Unusually I decided to drive the first practice quite hard. I was struggling to remember where the track (cones) went and 3/4 of the way round, I took a 2nd gear chicane in 3rd gear and went on through the cones. I reversed and kept going but time was lost. Surprisingly, I ran a time that was only seven seconds slower than fastest time in my class for the day.
When I returned to the paddock the heavens opened and it hailed! I saw steam coming off the car but thought that it was off the hot brake disks. Unfortunately it was a split pipe on the rear on the engine (a three hour job to fix!) and I was losing coolant. I retired and waited at a local pub for the AA! I am not sure why the results show a second time for me as I did not run it!
Click here for the full results -29th May Car Results.
Also listed are the bike results -29th May Bike Results.
I managed to get on the track at the Donny Show with the TimeAttack boys. Once I had finished my practice, it was time to get the car ready for sprinting. As I mentioned before, I am running in a different class this year which lets me change the car a bit more. I have removed the rear spoiler, passenger and back seats and seat belts. Also the air conditioning. This has saved me some weight. Also one of the headlamps is replaced with a vent. On with a new set of DZ02G tyres and ready for some action.......
It was dry when I arrived at Curborough but this was about to change! I was gambling on mostly dry weather for my new super grippy tyres but once we went out to practice it rained. Curborough is particularly slippy in the wet and the rain lasted all day!
There were two other cars in my class, a very nice and light 4.6 litre V8 MGB (!) and a group N Ford Escort Costworth rally car (see pictures). They were both running the same tyres as me so I left my tyres on and made the most of the slippy track. I was convinced it would be dry later and so took it easy in practice with a very slow 46.44 followed by a 43.79. The first timed run of the day was just as damp but I tried a bit harder with a 42.94. Andrew in the escort ran a 42.53 to lead. I went a bit quicker on the next run with a 41.67 which gave me the class lead by 0.29 seconds. By the last run, some people were going quicker but a lot were spinning as it was damp in places and dry in others. Andrew fitted slick tyres and I stuck with my dunlops and did not change either my tyre pressures or suspension (I had used normal road settings most of the day). Andrew went slower and I ran 40.57 (the 9th fastest time of the day).
As all timed runs were declared wet, special scoring takes place, where each class winner get 20 points so this was a very good result for me championship wise.
Hopefully there will be dry weather at my next sprint at Elvington at the end of the month.
Click here for the full results -7th May Results.
My first sprint is in May so it was time to get some practice in. I did a trackday with the Jap-Club. It was at Croft which is a fast and flat race circuit. The idea was to get some practice in myself and then go out with a instructor to go faster!
It was damp to start with but dried out as the day went on. At lunch time, I changed my wheels, using my Dunlop Formula R's instead of Toyo road tyres. The reason for this being, that I am using cut slicks for sprinting this year (which means a change of class). There is a lot more grip with the dunlops.
I then went out with Mick who has raced cars at Croft and was using an R32 GTR for his sessions, which meant that he was an ideal instructor for me as he knew the car and the track. Second gear corners were turned into third gear corners and the throttle was applied on the apex rather than after it. My car was really flying now and was scaring me a bit! The track seemed to come together in one flowing lap.
Last session, I went out with my brother and he was impressed how much faster I was going now. It just goes to show how important, training is. Money well spent.
Sunday was the last round of the championship. I was (mistakenly) under the impression that I could just win the novice trophy if I went a second faster than Saturday and so was prepared to did a lot deeper today. I took it steady in practice again, and tried second gear through some of the corners
to see if this made the run any quicker but it did not. For the first run of the day, I put the car in rear-wheel drive mode (using a switch) and did a big burnout! With the back tyres warm I tried my hardest, trying to brake as late as possible. The result was a 52.41 second run. On my next run, I
tried braking later again but this turned out to be too late and I ran a slower time. The final run was my last chance. I warmed the rear tyres but was prevented starting by a red flag. I was eased into position by the startline marshalls but when I put the car into gear to do my run, the green 'go'
light went out. I took the car out of gear and looked around to see if there was a red flag again but no one said anything. I put the car into gear and went for it. I was disappointed to find out that selecting 1st gear had broken the timing beam and I had sat on the line for 8 seconds with the clock
running! I was not allowed a rerun as I should have requested this instead of setting off. Oh well, second place again!
It was Matt's weekend as he won first place both days and secured the novice trophy as well.
Congratulations to Matt Taylor!
Final Result - 2nd placed novice driver, and 9th place in the championship (76 drivers entered).
So was it all worth it? Yes, I have finally managed to drive the car a lot smoother and faster and brake a lot later. The car has been improved with far better handling. I have met and competed with some really great and really skilled drivers. Will I compete again next year? Yes I think, but maybe
not so many events as it has been expensive (there are far cheaper cars!).
The final two rounds of the NSCC calendar take place next to Thoresby Hall. It is a stunning location and makes for an interesting sprint. The course is a series of access lanes that are linked together by some very tight corners that need to be taken in first gear in my car. The lanes are not
used very much during the year and so are slippy at first and become cleaner during the weekend.
Two of the entrants in my class had dropped out, so I was with my old adversaries Matt in the evo and Stewart in the TR4. Also there was Nick in a Scimitar SS1. I cautiously ran 56.81 and 54.28 second runs in practice to try and ensure I made it to the timed runs. My first timed run of the day
was 53.40, which was good enough for second in class but no matter how hard I tried, I could not improve on this time to try and close on Matt's best time of 51.91.
This was my second visit to Harewood. After a rather poor result (70.23) last time, I was not expecting to do too well this time either. Worryingly, just before the event, spots on the garage floor indicated that the transmission was losing some oil but I could not find where from.
I decided to take it easy in practice and see how the car went. My warm up lap was 71.83, and my second practice run was 70.04, a personal best! Most of the other cars in the class were slower than me and so third place was up for grabs as I knew that I could not catch the leading
two mitsubishi's. First timed run in the afternoon, I had a reasonable run and did 69.84, and Malcolm in the Porsche 911 was 0.4 of a second faster. I just needed to go a bit faster to ensure I took a trophy home! On my next timed run I gave it my all, including a big rear-wheel
drive burnout before the start. It was not the smoothest of runs and the back end of the car kept coming out but I ran 68.49, which was much more like it. I waited for Malcolm's time and he was 0.4 of second slower than me. 3rd place was mine for the time being. Meanwhile, Jonathan
Mounsey ran below 64 seconds breaking the lap record for my class! We had time for one more run and this would be Malcolm's last chance to steal 3rd. I drove a similar, if not more ragged lap than last time and only got 69.94. Everyone else was slower as well so the results were final.
Another trophy for the cabinet!
My third time at Curborough this year but this time it was a double lapper. As usual I did not press on too hard in the morning as it is best not to wreck the car during practice. I ran 67.09 and 68.46, the second time being slower as I
was a bit rattled when I went out as my battery had gone flat and needed to be jump started!
Anyway, onto the proper timed runs and I decided to give it everything I had. All was going onto until came into the hairpin for the second time and the car spun around and stalled. I did not see it coming and was off the brakes and off the power!The result - 76.60!
One last chance and I made sure that the car was not too warm as it was a roasting day. The lines were good and smooth and spectators told me I looked a lot faster. Unfortunately the timing gear stopped at 37 seconds so I had to have another run. On warm tyres on a warm track
and an engine 25 degrees warmer than my first run things did not look good. The run was not as smooth and I got 66.35 which put me in third place out of 4. Disappointment for the second day running.
However, I am now 8th in the championship and in 1st place for the novice trophy so I cannot complain!
My first time at MIRA, a track which should have suited my car. It is a bit unusual there. You have to wait on the outskirts until they let you in. No cameras are allowed as manufacturers test their
cars in secret there. I was to compete against Roy Standley all weekend, who is a sprint legend in his Mitsubishi Evo 5.
The boost controller had been reset up and new suspension had been fitted. Also new were a set of Toyo tyres and I had only done about 30 miles on them so I took it easy in practice. Just after the first long bend, it looks like two straights with a kink but ot is not very straight at all.
The fastest drivers are taking this flat out but I was lifting which was costing me time. My first run was 59.15 and second was 57.90. The tyres seemed to be run in by now and so when the proper timed runs came in the
afternoon, I tried harder but I was disappointed with 57.64. Final run of the day I tried to go faster and brake later, almost not stopping at the end of the stright for the next corner (locked up) and only managed 56.97
which put me in 5th place out of 7 cars which I was not happy with.
Back down to earth after last weeks success! Curborough is pretty tight and technical and I never seem to do very well there.
The morning started damp so I took it easy. We got two timed laps before lunch and I was just getting mid 37's. Jeff and Matt (sharing Matt's evo) ran mid 34's and mid 35's. Unfortunately the car broke on the second timed run.
No matter how hard I tried the time came down but not by much. My car was slower on the finish straight which meant it was down on power from last time but I am hoping that is the boost controller playing up. I turned the boost down and went quicker, even on the straight.
For the last run of the day and drove a lot harder, nearly spinning into the chicane (molehill) and coming out very wide after the hairpin. This gave me my personal best of 36.12 seconds, which I am still disappointed with. I guess that it is about time for some new suspension!
At last! I went to Elvington feeling pretty confident. I did a trackday at the other end of the airfield the week before
and went out with an ARDS instructor for some training. Also Elvington West circuit starts with a ¼ mile straight so really suited my car.
We left for Elvington straight from the Bubble meet and so had chance to get the car ready the night before making for a relaxed start to raceday. Two
other competitors in my class had been moved class, so I only had one other car to challenge me. It was a 300bhp Porsche 993RS being driven by a very experienced
owner who finished 2nd in my championship last year. This was not going to be as easy as I thought. Practice went ok although I was struggling with understeer
through some of the 3rd gear corners as it was too narrow to carry a lot of speed through.
My first proper run saw me run 74.23 seconds compared to David Woods 76.30. My time was helped by a 7,500rpm launch, as it was a very grippy surface. On the second
run, David ran 74.67 and my response was 72.78. On our third run, David went slower and I tried some different lines and ran 72.78 again! David decided to leave
at this point, so I did not bother with my last run.
I was really pleased to have a first place trophy (see photo) but was disappointed to not beat the class record which is 70.64 but with more smoother lines,
experience and some better suspension, I reckon I can manage that next year!
A day of mixed emotions. My first hillclimb, which I was nervous about, but at least the weather forecast was good. There was a big
entry in my class so I made my mind up in advance, that I would not finish high up and should go to learn the course and score points.
I set myself a target of 70 seconds (the class record was 64.06).
I felt a bit intimidated after walking the course. There were plenty of different types of corners, on camber, off camber, blind, uphill
and downhill! My first run was 72.54 which was ok but I went slower on my seconds run. I increased the front damping and tried harder and
ran 70.47 which was more like it. The fourth run seemed much faster but was 70.23. We got one more run and I watched loads of cars run their
best times so I gave it my best shot. 70.90! Oh well. Will have to wait until next time now.
All in all, a brilliant venue with some interesting corners and scenery. My favourite moment was going into the final turn which everyone
seemed to be stuggling with. I had very bad understeer so I chucked it into 1st and nearly spun around. Foot to the floor burped out a huge flame!
At least the spectators were impressed! For my brothers pictures see the photos page.
My friend Jeff ran again on Sunday in a car shared with Matt Taylor and broke the six year old class record!
The first sprint of the year was Curborough. I was pretty confident of getting a good time but the weather had other ideas.
Twice we queued to practice and twice the sun shone on us, only for it to rain before we ran. This made the track very slippy
and did not give me much confidence. Other cars in the class were a two Mitsubishi evo’s, another skyline and a TR4 (see photos).
In the afternoon the weather improved with only the hairpin being wet, but I still managed 100mph over the finish line. The track
was near perfect for the last run, but I bogged down on the start and messed up the line on the hairpin giving me a mid 37 second
time. Andrew in the other skyline was 2 seconds faster and won the class (see photo).
Harewood hillclimb next Saturday – pray for sun!
I spent the day at the MAC Curborough Sprint Driving School
It was not cheap at £135, but you get a briefing on sprinting in general, rules and regulations, racewear, car
preparation and how to driver Curborough. The instructors are some of the top current sprinters in the UK so
they know what they are on about. Even though Curborough is a fairly short and straight forward course, there
are lessons to be learned and if you follow the instructor’s advice, you get quicker and smoother.
I was surprised to only be pulled up on my entry into the hairpin and was pleased to finish the day with the
joint highest score of the day of 82% (they do not time you). There are a couple of pics on the photos page.
Let’s hope the training pays off on May 8th!
2004 saw a change in direction for the way I used my car.
A friend recommended Competition Car Insurance
as they do road insurance for competition cars. The important thing was that they cover unlimited modifications which
means I can now modify my car without fear of my insurance not being renewed (as has happened in the past).
To take the insurance out, you have to have a competition licence and be taking part in a race series. I obtained a race
licence and joined the Nottingham Sports Car Club. I attended
a sprint course at curborough, did a trackday at Rockingham race circuit and then did three sprints (one at Elvington and
two at Thoresby Hall).
That's how it started. I intend to do the sprint course again and then nine sprints in 2005
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