Snetterton 29.05.2010

First Sprint at Snetterton, First Sprint in the Wet & First Spin.

I had spent the previous week watching the weather report hoping for them to change and show more sunshine but on the morning of 29th May I eventually had to accept there was going to be rain at some point during the day, but hoped it would be fairly light.

Arriving at the circuit it was fairly over cast but did at least stay dry for the first 2 practice runs which were completed with positive results, a best time of 78.37.

However in the hours between the practice and timed runs a fair amount of ran had fallen, So went for a fairly conservative first run , if nothing else this confirmed my suspicions that the Toyo R888's were going to be fairly entertaining on the very wet track surface.

I set off for the second timed run with more confidence, which proved to be a little miss placed as the second corner was exited facing in the wrong direction. Video evidence is here

Having over stepped the levels of grip / my skill levels, I was determined to make the third run a good one and managed a time of 89.17 which gave me 6th place overall out off 52 entrants, being beaten by 2 radicals, a 911 GT3 RS, a formula ford and a caterham.

Overall I was very pleased with the results, as always came home looking forward to the next round, Motorsport is quickly becoming very addictive.

Goodwood 15.05.2010

It was back to Goodwood on the 15th of May for a chance to sort out the early braking, with an aim of a lap time of around 104 seconds.

Another cracking day, dry with bright sunshine always makes getting up at 6a.m. more bearable.

slightly smaller turnout than the previous event with 6 competitors in my class. As with the previous event I went with the aim of second place in class knowing that for the time being first was highly unlikely, also went with the aim of beating my previous best time.

By the end of the day one of my goals was realise with a second place but an improvement of around 3/10th wasn't as much as I was hoping for, I still found myself breaking far too early, maybe changing the existing standard discs and pads for something more appropriate for track use may give me a bit more confidence in the braking zones or maybe more track time, I expect both would help.

Now can't wait for the next event at Snetterton in two weeks for a chance to try a circuit I've never visited before.

Goodwood 24.04.2010

First round of the year at Goodwood and the first round with the new Toyo R888's.

Having really enjoyed the round at Goodwood in 2009 I was looking forward to revisiting the track, but was all too aware of the reputation the circuit has for not being very forgiving so maybe it wasn't the place to be finding the new cars limits.

I expect partly due to the above and still getting used to competing in a rear wheel drive car there were a few nerves in the braking zones.

I couldn't have asked for a better result, coming second out of 7 in class and only being beaten by a more experienced racer in a modified S2000, who I hadn't expected to beat. Although a much smaller winning margin would have been nice!

The best time of the day was 106s for 1 lap from a standing start, although 6 seconds faster than I had achieved in the clio in 2009 the S2000 clearly had a lot more to offer and I know I was breaking far to early and far to softly in to 'no name' and 'woodcote'.

North Weald - 4th April 2010

Having watched through the video footage from the previous event at North Weald I left for the second event of the year. I was positive about improving on the previous efforts in round 2 which was back at North Weald and looking forward to the event which had attracted 20 competitors in my class.

However all was to go slightly wrong just a mile from the venue when I managed to hit a deer damaging the front bumper, Thankfully no other damage, or so I thought.

So the pre practise preparation involved lots of gaffer tape and bumper repairs rather than the normal thinking about the task in hand and walking the course, but as I was there I may as well carry on, all be it in a slightly worse mood than normal.

The two practise runs went to plan although when returning to the paddock after the second I noticed that the engine management light was on.

With no way of telling why the engine management light had come on and not wanting to cause any unnecessary damage I was left with a difficult decision to make as to wether to carry on with the timed runs on not.

Rightly or wrongly I though having traveled this far I'd better at least put 1 timed run in which despite having visions of exploding engines in the back of my mind was good enough for 10th out of 20 in class, and points towards the SDMC speed league, so the day wasn't a complete loss.

On arriving home and plugging the car into a diagnostics computer in became apparent that the secondary air pump which pumps warm air into air the inlet when the engine's cold had got damaged in the earlier accident, So in hindsight I could have carried on.

North Weald - 14th March 2010

The first event of the year took place at North Weald airfield in Essex. I was my first event at an airfield and the first in the S2000.

Arrived on a cold March morning to find a good turnout of 10 competitors in my class.

Fairly pleased to finish 5th out of ten although two competitors who beat me were in a clio 172 and an Integra type R (the same as my previous cars) so I left the event wondering if the change to the S2000 was such a wise move.

Also the first chance at running the S2000 made me realise I wasn't going to get very far running on the old crusty bridgestone tyres which had come on it.

The regulations concerning tyres had been amended for 2010, they now allowed the road going classes to run on list 1B tyres, so once home the credit card was dusted off , a new set of Toyo R888's were ordered and the ebay hunt for a spare set of wheels started.

New car / new class for 2010

Having enjoyed the 2009 season I was looking for a new challenge for 2010 and a change from front to rear wheel drive. The car of choice was a 2003 Honda S2000

Unfortunately the MSA have done away with the standard production class and therefore I will be running in the road going production class which allows for a number of modifications although I will for the time being leave the S2000 standard.

Also for this year I've decided to enter 3 championships

The Tunbridge Wells MC all circuits - http://twmc.org.uk/

The Sevenoaks & district motor clubs speed league - http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/

The association of central southern motor clubs speed championship & speed challenge - http://www.acsmc.com/