2010 Time Attack – Round 1 – Oulton Park report

Round 1 was a great learning exercise for me in a new class, a very different car and lots of unfinished (and unchecked) parts.

It went well on the day but the pure number of hours put in on the car (and working/mapping beforehand) meant that it was going to be down to the wire.

Thanks to some awesome help from ABW I had new doors 2 days before the round and windows arrived the same day and with Tim’s help got those on the day before setting off to Oulton Park with Julian.

I had not driven the car in the new state til rolling out of the pit lane for warm up and ran low boost to get used to it – it felt great and was immediately 2 seconds quicker than last year’s best time even on old tyres that had done the whole of last year’s TA season, a trip to the ring, cadwell and lots of road miles. (unfortunately that is all I had tyre wise)

Brakes bled and off out for practice and boost was upped and more time got whilst learning the car and relearning lines – all was good aside from issues with the centre of the new bonnet lifting (cured with some tape) and windows bowing out (again tape to the rescue)

Qualifying and I couldn’t stop locking the brakes under braking and i felt the car lacking in normal power and increased noise but put it down to lack of interior and vowed to try harder in the final and get the braking right.

The final came and went and I gained almost a second over qualifying but the car felt even less powerful and with worsening braking problems.  I put it down to my overeagerness to late brake until I came to the final lap and I lost the brake pedal altogether and cruised into the pits to see fluid leaking all over the wheels and tyres.  This was why the braking lockups were happening.  Turned out to be the union pipe that joins the two caliper halfs on the drivers side – the nuts had come loose and were dripping fluid.  I have spoken to ksport about this and they have now added a bolt check into the install instructions (i hadnt checked mine and I guess the heat cycles had done it).

At the end of the day I felt a little disappointed about my competitiveness in the new class even though I ended up 3 seconds quicker than last year, the car handled superbly on the new BC coilovers and felt very nimble through the corners – the lack of weight now is very noticeable which was very pleasing and the cage made the car feel tight.

After the event and on driving the car on the tuesday up to Leeds (daily driver duty) the boost leak was obvious with only 0.7 bar available and lots of hissing – the noise i heard on saturday on track was obvious now.  Split pipe from turbo to IC:

Very annoying that I didnt spot this on the day as it now explains why my speed traps were falling during the day despite carrying more speed through the corners.  On the main speed traps, i was 10mph slower at the end of the day than I was during the warmup.  If only ..

Anwyay, all fixed now and other finishing work done on the work that couldnt be done pre oulton and almost ready for knockhill with full power and full braking :thumb:

Other items done:

- central aerocatch for bonnet:

- some bling APR mirrors that I can see sod all out of but look lovely courtesy of Amber Performance :

- door sealing rubbers
- window retaining clips
- engine bay is now spotless too

2009 Time Attack Results Summary

Total Points for the season of 690 out of a possible 750.

* corrected for Shane Smith moving to Club Pro.

Time Attack Round 1 – Oulton Park

… 1 week to go

Having spent most of the previous weekend under the car, I was relieved to have finished the need to do list on the friday so could look at some tidying up work and double checking of the work done to make sure there would be no show stoppers on the day.  This, i felt, would be time well spent as the events come thick and fast to start with.

The week started with a great offer of a Jeep Cheroke tow vehicle from one of my sponsors CJS Norwich.  This was an absolute god send and meant that towing up to Oulton Park was going to happen and I could push harder on the day for a result along with taking the family and all the spares I could need with me.  There was even room for the odd luxury with my a proper beans to cup coffee machine making its way into the truck so that caffeine fixes could be had at any time !! LOL

… 2 days to go:

Toyo 888’s arrived in time from Toyo and a quick trip to Ely Tyre Services to fit them to the rims and chat to the guys about what I was going to do with them.  I was surprised and delighted that they had heard of Time Attack and they quickly got the job done so that I could come back and watch whilst Matt Neame of 2 clear buckets put yet another coat of wax on the car and wheels.  He said it would make me faster LOL.  The car looked gorgeous when finished and with 2 sets of absolutely glistening Hyper Zero Wheels, i felt proud to see what the vision and discussions with Paul of Zen Performance at the end of last season had materialised into on my drive.

Lower, Wider, Faster were the key words of that discussion on the Sofa in Wellingborough and now that the check list of ‘need to do’ things had all been done for this round (further developments are following soon) I was excited about the prospects of doing well.  The car was certainly lower than last year, definitely wider and I know from the testing at Snetterton that it is faster too (along with me).

… 1 day to go:

Nerves didnt have time to hit as I spent the day running around collecting the trailer and loading the truck and trailer and we headed off for our good friends Nigel & Lou Pinder to spend the night before at their house (more local than ours) and go for a curry.  A great meal and a good relaxing evening and it was early to bed for the 5am rise and trip to the circuit for signing on, and leisurely run up to the warm up.  Last year’s accident at Oulton was definitely in my mind and the mixed weather forecast looked all too familiar.

… the day itself

The trip to the track was simple and the Jeep performed its duties superbly with plenty of grunt to cope with the hills – they have hills around there – and yet return 29pmg towing the trailer !

Unloaded and set about preparing the car for the warm up, signing on (LOL) and chatting about the plans for the day.

A good short briefing this time and we were ready to start the car and head out onto the track.  Nige was going to sit with me for the warm up session to help settle my nerves.  It did in a way but he could tell my head wasnt right as my lines in the first session were quite frankly embarassing and I was not right.  The car performed great though on wastegate duty apart from a huge misfire that was solved as soon as I got back to the pits with the help of Pat.  The Solaris ecu’s immense datalogging abilities providing the exact millisecond when this happened and we were able to identify the issue and sort it there and then with Pat on the phone.  Simply download the rolling log file when I come into the pits and thousands of data points are there able to be analysed and improved upon in time for the next session.

Then, just before practice the heavens opened.  De Ja Vu and my already messed up head with going haywire.  I did not want a repeat of last year’s daftness so optimistic, well definite that the weather would improve, I was going to go out and do one lap in the wet and come back in.  No prizes for practice times and it would not be of any use to the dry track experience later.

Tom Ferrier was helping me get my head together during the lead up to going out and he definitely helped (as he did all day) with words of encouragement as well as wisdom.  I think everyone around me could sense my mood and most gave me a wide berth so that I could do what I needed to do to feel

The track was patchy – some parts were very grippy even in the wet but others most definitely weren’t.  I guess the Deisel guzzling Trucks on the track did not help and unfortunately it bit a few competitors and the session was stopped.  Thank god

The time for qualifying to happen took ages to come around, luckily the gang from Zen arrived so that was a great distraction and great to see as the experience of Paul in the pits is a nerve settler for sure.  The car was looking superb and even though not 100% finished it would still be very very quick on track.

The rain clouds had gone and it was turning out to be a fantastic day.

Qualifying was going to be the first session run at full boost.  Time to extract every bhp out of the Lateral MD321V and find the confidence to drive the track as hard as I needed to….

The pre practice checks were done by the gang, more fuel added and away I went with the instructions that Paul had given me.  We had a plan and it was time to apply it.

It seemed to go well, I was gaining in confidence and speed but I guess others were on the same journey.  Into the pits for a check up after a very sideways moment, I think it must have been on the oil that Neil Wrenn was chucking onto track as it was unexpected and nearly took me into the gravel at Druids.  I told Paul that i must have a puncture as it felt very weird..  Paul assured me all was well and instructed me to head out again and get another hot lap in.  This was the time to make it count as there were points on offer for qualifying position.

back into the pits and Steve Darley (I think) informed me that I was 4th – superb !

Mark from Lateral Performance was as excited as I was, as was Julian, Nige and all of Team Zen.  Rachel and Annabelle headed back from viewing and they were ecstatic too.

The car felt great with the first full session on full boost, the braking was immense from the KSports and Performance Friction Pads, the handling sublime and far greater than I could use at that stage.  It was confidence inspiring – just what I needed.  A few checks on the car, download the data logs, check the oil, water and all was good.  Nothing to do for the final except change tyres and put a splash of fuel in.  I knew I could go lots faster.  As Tom said to me – “time to be brave”.

The final and I lined up behind Shane.  We chatted and he explained to me what his intentions were so that we could work with each other to make sure we had space on track to make our times count.  This was great and shows the comradery of the competitors and the TA spirit.  Time to go and when the safety car pulled in Shane had dropped back from the car in front so as to give himself space to make his first lap count.  I did the same and on fresh rubber for the final tried to warm them up on the first full hot lap ready for a banzai number 2 lap.  This didnt quite work to plan and I came to the pits for a chat with Paul and he sent me back out with a plan, one fast then one balls out lap after he made an adjustment.  The first part worked and into the last flying lap of the final – about a minute to go and I was on it, faster than I had been, deeper into braking, quicker onto the power, harder through the chicane and flat out for the tree before druids and I catch the silver civic on a cool down lap overtaking two other cars on a cool down lap … grrrrrrrrrr.  I had to come right out of the power through the apex of druids and this cost me right down the straight to lodge, around there to a proper brave line this time and nailed it to the finish.  It was a fast one – must have been my quickest – it had to be.

Into the pits and Steve Darley held up 3 fingers ! – fantastic and I punched the air with delight, even though the lap had been compromised it had been enough to get my first ever podium.  Steve asked whether I had seen the pit board he had been holding out showing that I was 5th at that time and basically saying get a wiggle on – unfortunately I had just been focusing on picking the right braking point for that final banzai lap so had forgotten to look.  Thanks for trying to help Steven – I will remember next time LOL.

Out of the car and immediately on the phone to Rachel to ask whether she liked champagne – I was going to celebrate this one.  My target pre event was top 5 and I had done it.

Looking at the sector times afterwards showed where I was quick and where I wasnt, understandably my slow sector was the final corner of the lap where I had the accident last year.  i was getting the confidence but a few more laps would have been great.

Everyone was so happy around me and lots of other drivers came up to the pit garage to say well done, even Steve Linton that I had pipped to the 3rd place spot – I have a feeling it will be a close battle all year with him.

Party time !

To everyone else that was competing and writing their own stories, it was great to see you all. Getting there through all of our work, sweat, tears and money was a huge achievement.

So many thank yous, so little space…

Mark at Lateral Performance.  So much help over the last few months on getting the performance and the reliability in order.  That MD321V turbo is mentally ballistic – I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT ! but when’s that 600bhp bolt on turbo ready ?

Pat & Charlie – Solaris ECU – What a piece of kit that is. SUPERB!  The improvements to the driving characteristics of the car are huge, it is so much easier and smoother to drive on the limit now and the ALS adds a bit of sparkle to the final cool down lap to celebrate.

Paul and Team Zen from Zen Performance – as usual the calming influence of infinite set up knowledge is so easy to work with.  The extra time gained through making the car handle predictably and smoothly pays dividends in inspiring confidence to put the boundaries.  I can’t wait to see the improvements on the other tracks too.

Julian at CJS – your help and loan of the tow truck made the weekend possible.

Nige/Lou – for trillions of photos, videos, help setting up, getting there, entertaining, feeding, distracting me, entertaining me and generally being a great mate.

Daren at ABW – for making the prettiest car on the grid.  Wide is the way forward

Gary at Keith Michaels – for sorting out insurance for me at the last minute.

Matt at 2ClearBuckets – it was the wax that did it I am sure !!

Alyn at ASP – I will just say thanks for everything, hopefully you can make it up to Scotland for round 2.

GW Autoserve Ipswich – thanks for sorting the tyres / geometry out for me last week.  It really helps when all the wheels point in the direction that you want them to.

and most importantly to Rachel and Annabelle for losing me to the car for a few weeks and putting up with my general grumpiness over the past week.  It is great to have highs and lows – it makes you feel alive.

I would also like to say thank you for all the words of encouragement and support from friends and aquaintances whether actual or cyber.  They mean a lot to me.

and now, time to prepare for Round 2 – Knockhill 17th May

Podium Finish at Oulton Park in Time Attack Round 1

Pictures and report to follow as soon as I have gathered the pics together

This is my first podium and 3rd place was a great reward for the hard work put in over the last couple of months and for the support of my friends and sponsors.

A fantastic day ! and a big hangover this morning