Castle Combe - 10th October 2015 -PBMW rounds 11 &12

The final event of the 2015 Production BMW championship took place at Castle Combe on the 10th October, we'd not been to the circuit in 2014 and the 2013 race was about my worse result of all time. My pervious best time at Combe had been 1:28.599 so that was one goal to aim to beat.

On a more positive note, I'd arrived at the circuit 9th in the overall championship although it looked likely that Ian Russell was going to knock me down to 10th once the dropped rounds and marshalling points had been factored into the championship standings.

Headed out for an early qualifying at it was immediately apparent that the softer suspension setting's I'd used at the last rounds at Donington Park where not going to work. Coming out of the chicanes the rear suspension was bottoming out on the bump stops which made for an entertaining, if slow qualifying session. Unfortunately there was no Toyo Tires Racing Saloons race the day before to iron out these issues.

Ended up qualifying in 27th out off 36, not ideal but not a great surprise given the way the car felt. Qualifying time was 1:25.743 so almost 2 seconds faster than I'd been before.

In order to try and solve the issues with thecae stiffened up the rear suspension for race one which seamed to help, Although it was still just about hitting the bump stops through the chicanes it was clearly an improvement. Managed to get a good start and had a fairly hectic race to finish 24th with my best lap time getting better at 1:24.959

With nothing to loose I stiffened the rear shocks a few more clicks which this time seamed to solve the problems I'd faced in qualifying and race 1. I got a fantastic start form 24th to finish the first lap in 16th went on to have a great race with amongst others Ian Russell and Steve Carter. Very close and contact free which is exactly what 1 want from a race weekend. Finished the race in 12th which was a very welcome change from race 1. Best lap time had also fallen to a 1:24.191 so 4.408 second faster than my pervious visit to Castle Combe.

I think that leaves me 10th over all in the 2015 Production BMW championship which I'm very happy with, As always it's been a great year racing with fantastic people. I've already started to take the car apart to prep it for the 2016 championship.

Bayford Meadows - 4th October 2015 - Practise day

It had been a while since I've been out on a kart so we headed over to Bayford Meadows to try out the Tony Kart Rotax Max I'd bought a few months ago. Headed out on some dubious tyres but they were adequate for  getting out in the kart and trying to remember how to drive one.

Had a fantastic afternoon with a best time dipping into the 51's and running consistently in the 52's, a fair bit off thew pace but hopeful that with a little more practice and some better tyres I can knock a couple of seconds off of that.

Also had the chance to get my partners son back out on his Bambino, it was his third visit to Bayford meadows over the last few months and it's great to see him grow in confidence, already says he needs a faster engine but he's got over a year until he'll be 8 and able to move up to cadets

Nurburgring - Septemebr 2015

Well after all of this years racing it was about time for a holiday, naturally race tracks needed to be involved so we headed off to the Nurburgring. Very lucky to head out there in a 911 GT3 (996) which is the perfect car for the 'ring, just a shame with the minimal run off, insurance implications and the ever increasing value of the car means the laps were relatively leisurely at just under 9 minutes, video link belowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5bJDNhPELg

The trip did however inspire me to look further into racing on the 'ring, not sure I'll do all that well but it's a life's ambition just to be on the grid, fingers crossed I'll make it to atleast 1 RCN round in 2016

Donington Park - 20th September 2015 - PBMW rounds 9 &10

coming soon

Donington Park - 19th September 2015 - TTRS rounds 11 & 12

Coming soon

Brands Hatch GP - 16th August 2015 - PBMW rounds 7 & 8

After a great day in the BMW compact on saturday, Sunday was time for the 7th and 8th rounds of the Production BMW championship. Saturday had proved to be very worth while in terms of learning the circuit and we headed out to qualifying in a positive mood. The car felt great throughout qualifying with no drama's so I was slightly disappointed to finish 19th out of 37. although the time of 1:54,549 was very close to my previous fastest time around the GP circuit.

Had a fantastic start to race 1 managing to get passed the 2 cars in front before paddock hill and had a terrific race throughout with Gregor Pryor and Ian Shephard , ended up finishing in 15th place with a best lap time of 1:54.083

The start to race 2 didn't go quite as well, I got of the line well but the door was closed to there was no progression, had another close race with Karl Graves and Gregor Pryor . Again finished in 15th place, was annoyed at the lack of penalties handed out to the two drivers in front who both left the track on numerous occasions, I guess that's just the way it goes but if we're going to have rules they should be enforced. Good news came in the form of my best lap time around brands GP in a Production BMW car falling to 1:53.786 and still holding on to 10th in the overall championship.

Brands Hatch GP - 15th August 2015 - TTRS rounds 9 & 10

The 15th of August brought our second visit of the year to Brands Hatch, only this time we were fortunate enough to be racing on the full GP circuit as part of the Lotus festival. Timing for the event was also ideal for me as it's my local circuit so made sense to give the compact I've been building for the compact cup it's first competitive run out, in actual fact it was the first time it had ever been used on track.

On arrival there where 2 other cars in class E of the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons series. A honda Civic and ford puma, I had a feeling that the civic would be quicker than me but was unsure on how I'd get on against the Puma. Also had around 8 class F PBMW car's to compete with as their laps times looked very similar to the compacts.

Having had the front geometry set and brakes bled by Gary Feakins racing the day before I went out for qualifying with fingers and toes crossed. The car immediately felt pretty good and not too different from the PBMW other than a little looser on the back. Finished the 15 minute qualifying session in 30th position overall, 1st in class E with a best time of 1:58.208, approximately 3 seconds slower than my best time in the PBMW last year but reasonable enough for the cars first time on track.

With a couple of minor tweaks on the damper setting I headed out for race 1, Had a great battle with Mark Owen and Edwin Scott in the PBMW's, although occasionally a little too close!. As predicted the power of the Civic on Class E meant I had to settle for 2nd in class although neither the civic or the Mini Cooper S of Richard Ibrahim ever got out of sight. Ended up 22nd overall with the best lap time dropping to 1:56.936

Race 2 didn't go quite so well, a broken engine mount meant I had to take things a little easy in the second half of the race however still manage to finish 18th overall and bring the fastest lap time down by another second to 1:55.975

Compact cup car update.

Well after a couple of weeks of hard work it looks like the compact cup car should be ready for it's first race. the cars now been fitted with EBC yellow staff pad, paged discs, some used R888's, TRS 6 point harnesses as well as completing many other little jobs to get it ready and most importantly a few stickers to look the part.

The Superchips ECU has also been fitted which removes the ABS and traction control.

Just an oil change and a few brackets to be completed and the car should be running in the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons race at the Brands hatch lotus festival in a couple of weeks. Ideally looking to fit s bias valve to the rear brakes but time may not allow for this. 

With the Compact almost ready to go it was time to find some new daily transport, so purchased a 2004 Renault Clio 182, In the back of my head to prep in for the 750mc clio 182 series but probably best to finish one project at a time. 

Snetterton - 12th July 2015 - PBMW Rounds 5 & 6

Rather unfortunately after a glorious sunny day on Saturday there had been a fair about of rain through the night and the PBMW qualifying started on a wet and slippery circuit. Finished the 15 minute qualifying session in a respectable 12th position out of 33, better than I often ran in the wet.

Race 1 started well, the weather had dried up and I got a great start. I was up to approximately 8th position when turning into turn 1, a slight miss judgement on my part saw me cut across Matt Wileman but wasn't far enough in front, tiny tap sent me off the circuit.

Luckily I managed to rejoin, and had a great run through the field to finish 16th, not the result I was after but was a lot of fun. Looking at the TSL timings my fastest lap time of 2:27.268 was up there with a number of the top 10 finishing cars.

Having made strong progress I was looking forward to the second race of the weekend, until the heavy rain began to fall about an hour before we were due to head out. Again I got a reasonable start but struggled with visibility and fell back to 17th, most of the race was spent desperately trying to keep the car on the circuit. had a fun clean race with Steve Turtill I did feel I could have gone slightly quicker but despite managing to get along side a couple of times could quite get passed.

Snetterton - 11th July 2015 - TTRS Rounds 7 & 8

Having missed the two Toyo Tires Racing Saloons rounds at Zandvoort it was starting to feel like a very long break from racing. Rounds 7 and 8 were increased in lengths to 20 minutes for race 1 and 30 minutes for race to with each race having a compulsory pit stop. With this being the case I decided to share the car with a friend who'd just got his race license.

With both of us having to compete at least 3 laps to qualify the 15 minute session was pretty busy meaning I had 1 out lap, 1 timed and 1 in lap. Ended up qualifying …., fairly decent start but couldn't catch the cars in front on the used tyres we'd decided to run on. Handing over after 4 laps and James headed out for his first ever competitive laps. For his first race he did a great job of defending from Callum Noble who at times managed to get along side and eventually pull a gap of 1.6 seconds to leave us in 17th overall

Race 2 was much the same with us finishing 15th overall after a couple of retirements further up the field. best time of 2:28.777 was a little way off the best times of last year but with limited running on old tires I was optimistic that the times would come down a bit in the PBMW races on the following day.

Brands Hatch Indy - 17th May 2015 - PBMW rounds 3 & 4

After a reasonable day in the TTRS races on saturday I went onto a busy indy circuit to qualify for the production BMW's, With a total of 36 cars on track finding space was always going to be key to a decent qualifying lap.

Finished qualifying very please to have finally managed a sub 1 minute lap of brands hatch in a PBMW, actually broke it 4 times in the 15 minute qualifying session. My best time of 59.530 was good enough to qualify 12th, was hoping to for a top 10 but content with 12th, especially as 10th was only a 10th of a second faster.

Race 1

Had a good start and during the first lap managed to get up to 11th but struggled a little with wheel spin and slipped a couple of place back, had a few good battles during the first 1/2 of the race with the 2nd half being dominated by the task of desperately trying to keep Ian Russell behind which I just about managed with us finishing 12th and 13th separated by just 0.437s

Got a fantastic start to race 2, started behind the always fast starting Mark Palmer and for once he didn't pull away like I was standing still. Exited paddock hill for the first time in 9th place, unfortunately lost a couple of places through out the race, mainly seamed to be due to horrendous wheel spin at clark curve causing issues down the main straight, most apparent when Matt Wileman manage to hit the back of the car under acceleration out of Clark corner while I was unable to get grip. Maybe the R888's down't last quite as long as I hoped. The second half of the race was yet again a case of desperately trying to keep Ian Russell behind me and retain 11th place, which I managed by just 0.214 seconds.

Brands Hatch Indy - 16th May 2015 - TTRS rounds 3 & 4

As with most rounds of 2014 I opted to enter the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons races on the saturday to use as test sessions for the following days Production BMW races. 

Arrived in a very positive mood after a couple of good results at Silverstone, 5 PBMW cars had entered class F of the TTRS races, I had expected Gary Feakins to be the pace setter in class F which proved to be the case with myself qualifying 3rd in class behind Matt Swaffer, reasonably happy with this result although would have been a lot happier had I managed to do a sub 1 minute lap, ended up with a qualifying time of 1:00.125. 

Race 1 proved to be fairly quiet but very useful in terms of track time, Ha d good battle with Jason Deniz in the MI16 205 at the start of the race and managed to finish in front of the class E E36 323 of Richard Ibrahim. 

Matt Swaffer had opted not to run in the races and Gary starting from the pit lane had pace I just couldn't keep with, ended up finishing 2nd in class and still not quite braking the 1 minute lap with a best time of 1:00.259. 

Race 2 saw just the 3 PBMW cars as Gary had chosen not to enter the 2nd race, I ended up having a good battle with the class E, BMW E36 323 of Richard Ibrahim in the first part of the race, ended up finishing first in class and got the pleasure of experiencing the podium at Brands Hatch 

Silverstone GP - 24th April 2015 - PBMW rounds 1 & 2

The first 2 rounds of the PBMW championship took us to Silverstone to support he Britcar 24 hour race. It had been a long busy winter since the last race at Snetterton and I arrived having carried out very little (or no) prep and having not had the chance to test the car at all.

Arrived at the circuit mid day Thursday with the intension of servicing the car, changing the discs and pads and giving it a good check over, however the opportunity to have an hours testing came up and I couldn't resist, turned out to be a well worth while hour although a little daunting being on track with a number of the front runners for the 24 hour race, hopefully I didn't get it the way too much. It was quite comical leaving the pit lane and glancing in the rear view mirror to see the Ginetta LMP3 car coming out behind me.

Managed to get the car serviced and changed the worn out front discs and pads for some pagid discs and Mintex 1166 pads, so the car was all ready to go before qualifying on Friday morning, Qualifying went well, found plenty of space and ended up happy with qualifying 8th for race 1 and 9th for race 2 with a best time of 2:45.986, which was my fastest lap of GP circuit to date.

Started race 1 in 8th, had a reasonable start but could have been better ended up having a great race with Rob cooper and Matt Wileman throughout the 30 hour race, Rob initially got in front but after about 20 minutes was caught out by a back marker and I was able to pass and just about hold on until the end. with just a lap or 2 to go I was running in a strong 7th place when approaching the arena curves I saw contact between Matt Wileman and Alex ball leaving them both spinning in the middle of the circuit, a brief trip off of the circuit to avoid making contact and I was up to 5th place, which despite Rob Coopers best efforts I thankfully managed to hold on to until the chequered flag to achieve my best result in PBMW to date and an improved best lap of 2;44.768

Race 2 was on the Saturday morning. Unfortunately the bright sunshine had been replaced with heavy rain about an hour before we were due out, come the start time the rain had stopped but the track was still wet, starting in 9th I again got a reasonable get away but as had proved to be the case in the wet races last year did struggle slightly with judging the wet grip levels and particularly found myself not pushing as quickly as I could have done, Early on we got held up by a couple of cars in the class above who were having their own battle and also struggling for grip but once it dried out they were able to use the power advantage and pull away, ended up have a great race with Tom Ibrahim throughout the 2nd half of the race with Tom being faster through the first 1/2 of the lap and me faster through the second half, eventually just about managed to beat Tom to 10th after getting a run on him down the Wellington straight and just about holding the place through Brooklands and Luffield.

All in all a great start to the 2015 championship, really looking forward to Brands Hatch in a few weeks.

Some Progress on the compact

It's been a pretty long day but I'm pleased to say having driven the car into SPR Coachworks workshop after work last night, I managed to drive it back out again this evening with the mandatory safety devises roll cage fully fitted and looking good.

Image taken during the first trial fitting

Still plenty of work todo but at least one of the biggest jobs is complete, Also took the time to fit a Cobra Evolution seat and temporary out of date harness which will do whilst I still use the car on the road.