|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pembrey race report by Graham Walden - April 2004 The long winter is
over and finally the season is starting again. A few tests at Anglesey
and Elvington have confirmed the car seems to be running ok. The new front
brakes we acquired over the winter have transformed the balance of the
car and should hopefully remove the brake failure problems of the
previous year. The regulations have
changed over the winter, The series is now multi class so the Tasmins
will be mixing it with more powerful cars and the results should be interesting.
We however, have stuck to the old 2.8 v6 originally fitted to the car,
putting us in class A. The first race this season is a double header at Pembrey in South Wales, so adding a test day on the Friday makes it a three day event. With this in mind Pops towed down his caravan and I towed the race car. I arrived first at about midnight on the Thursday with Pops arriving about an hour later. By 2am !! we were safely tucked up in the caravan. A few short hours later we we awake bimbling about in the early morning. Trying not to disappear in the swamp that had been designated as our part of the paddock. The car was quickly
unloaded and pushed into the Moore Racing Tent. Until the money runs out
Moore Racing are helping to run the car at the race meetings for us this
year, hopefully giving Pops a rest from lying under the car in the rain. Friday The last session of
the day proved the undoing of one of the new racers Gary Coulson. On the
out lap he managed to put a wheel on the grass at the Woodlands kink.
Even on the outlap your doing about 90mph here. The car then span across
the track hitting the tyre wall hard before coming to rest a little further
on. I was coming through
Brooklands hairpin at the time and saw it all happen. The car was badly
damaged and after getting out of the car a shaken Gary was taken to Hospital
for checks, returning later with a clean bill of health unfortunately the
same couldn't be said for the car or his wallet. The car was towed
back to the paddock where a quick inspection showed the only place it
was going was back in the truck. It had held up very well protecting
Gary but the body was shattered and the chassis bent. Saturday Qualifying is all
about finding space and getting down to some serious laps without getting
sucked into racing other cars and slowing yourself down. I didnt manage
to get the hang of it, spending too much time looking for the space, then
tangling with a turbo car on my hot lap and having to drop back
again and never really getting on it. I was dissapointed with a late 1:11
and third in class behind Steve Lewis and John Sumner, 7th on the grid
with Steve Hall in a Turbo tasmin on pole. Rather disappointed I wandered
off to watch some racing and chill out until the race. Race Unfortunately Dave didn't spot the bright violet car right beside him and veered over to the left hand side of the track, pushing me on to the grass. I gave him a slight tap to let him know where he should have been looking as I tried hard to slow the car and get it back on the track. This little incident had left me last going into the first corner. By the end of the
first lap though I had managed to get back to 7th behind Geoff Parkinson
in the 3000M. By the second lap I joined Pat Smith Span coming out
of Paddock and we all blasted past. Leaving Kevan Gore in the lead.
John Sumner had pulled out with a problem. I was having a whale
of a time trying to get passed Geoff. I felt I was quicker through the
bends but Geoff had all the lines covered and certainly had more acceleration
on the straights and I was struggling to find a way past, He seemed to
be able to read my mind as to which side of him i was going to try. Steve Hall then managed
to hit the barrier at the Hairpin removing half the nose of his car, and
after a few laps started to cover the track in oil with a dragging oil
cooler. Pat Smith was on a
charge came through and I tried to follow him past but again Geoff
spotted my move. Although one lap later Geoff span at the hairpin and
I finally found a way past. Released I headed off up the track, with
Pat still in view. The track was now very slippery with Steve's oil and
Pat was struggling to get traction. I hung on for dear life sliding everywhere
slowly reeling Pat in. At the flag I almost managed to pass him trailing
only by a car's length another lap and I would have easily been passed.
The final result was a win for Kevan Gore (B), Second For Steve Lewis(A)
and third for Dave Reynolds(B) in his first race. I managed 5th behind
Pat Smith(B) and a second in class. I was pleased with
the race, after an unfortunate start I'd clawed my way back and had some
good dices with Geoff and Pat, and the car had been well behaved for a
change. We left the car for the Moore Racing Guys to crawl over and
settled down to a meal in the caravan with John and Lindsey polishing
off the odd glass of wine and a beer or two. Sunday Determined not to
make a mistake in qualifying I wanted to get out first with a clear
track, so turned up to the holding area a good 15 minutes early. This
plan worked and I headed out to a clear track. All fired up I got straight
on it and even with cold tyres and brakes set off hard determined to get
a good lead on the following cars. With no distractions
I put in some good times and even held overall pole for most of
the session. Managing to break in to the late 1:10's which was my
target, then I backed off for a slow lap before giving it another
hard push for the last couple of laps. Not managing to improve
though and lost time on both laps with untidy entries to Hatchets Hairpin.
Pulling into the Parc Ferme the Team was smiling and we had qualified
4th overall and class pole even beating Steve Lewis although I'm sure
he must have been sand bagging. Kevan Gore ( B) had Pole followed by Steve
Hall (B) and Pat Smith (B) who was only a couple of hundredths of
a second in front of me. Race The light again went
to green and another good start, I dived quickly for the right of the
track to cover the inside line, and shut the door on John Sumner
quite hard. Exiting Spitfires I was in Third behind Steve Hall but he
then got out of shape and avoiding action saw me in second behind Kevan
Gore as we emerged from paddock. Knowing I needed to
push hard I went into Honda a little too hot on cold tyres and had
a huge slide that scrubbed enough speed for Steve Lewis and Pat Smith
to pass me into Hatchets, and gave everyone on the pit lane a big scare...
I then settled into a consistent low 1:11 lap and kept out of trouble.
Pat Smith caught Kevan in the closing stages and passed him for the win,
I came in a fairly safe 4th (2nd in class) with a 10 second gap
to the following Turbo Car of Dave Reynolds. Summary With the series now
being controlled by power to weight ratios and the DL1 Data loggers the
MSA Scrutineer and Matt Batchelor the Technical delegate did a sterling
job with the data analysis, even proving I'm well down on power, which
is encouraging providing I can find the funds to release the available
ponies. In summary it was
a great weekend with some good racing and plenty to look forward to, see
you all at Cadwell on 9th May. Graham Walden |
 |