It was a chance conversation with Jody of climax motorsport which brought around the opportunity to share a stunning BMW E36 M3 with it's owner Edward Christie, not only would I get the opportunity to race an M3 but I'd get to race it on one of the worlds greatest circuits, Spa Francorchamps.
We arrived on the Thursday which was my first opportunity to set eyes on the car and it immediately became apparent that there were going to be some issues with me fitting in the car, the winged race seat was clashing with the roll cage and was far to high. Given that it was also to close to the steering wheel for either of us, we opened to removed the seat runners which made the seating position just about bearable although driver changes where never going to be the fastest.
As it was to be my first go in the car we opted to do the optional test sessions on Friday morning although this session was unfortunately compromised by red flags it still gave be a little time to get accustomed to the car, a best time of 3:09 was recorded, not really where we wanted to be but gave something to build on.
Come qualifying I went out for the first and immediately found myself going better, 20 minutes in and the car was handed over to Edward with a best lap of approximately 3:01, still a little way off what I wanted but I had to respect that the car was being used on a 'you bend it you mend it' basis and I really didn't want to have the embarrassment of damaging somebody else's race car. The second half of qualifying was again compromised with red flags and being cut short so Edward was unable to better my time.
The first race took place on Friday afternoon.
Wednesday, 25 July 2018
Sunday, 1 October 2017
Donington Park - 17th September 2017 - Production BMW rounds 11 and 12
Having missed rounds 9 and 10 at Brands hatch the pressure was on for a good result at Donington Park, in the championship tables with dropped rounds allowed for I was sitting just behind Mark Palmer and a little further behind Dave Graves so 4th or 5th in the championship was still achievable with good results at the Donington and Snetterton.
Headed out for qualifying which went fairly well finishing 4th overall behind, Matt Swaffer, Will Davison and Owen Darch with a best time of 1:57.935.
Had a good start and heading into the chicane was neck and neck with Owen Darch as be both got on the brakes there was a minor touch and we slowed more than expected, turn into the chicane and was collected but Mark Palmer who hit the passenger side read quarter unfortunately spinning me round where I was collected by Rob Cooper on the drivers side rear wing. Unfortunate but I should feel lucky that no one hit the passenger compartment as this could have been a lot more serious.
And that was the end of 2017 for me, unfortunately the car is too badly damaged to realistically be rebuilt before Snetterton. It should be repairable but I'd rather take my time and do the job properly and also replace the front wings and valance at the same time, so it 2018 the car is looking as good as new.
Headed out for qualifying which went fairly well finishing 4th overall behind, Matt Swaffer, Will Davison and Owen Darch with a best time of 1:57.935.
Had a good start and heading into the chicane was neck and neck with Owen Darch as be both got on the brakes there was a minor touch and we slowed more than expected, turn into the chicane and was collected but Mark Palmer who hit the passenger side read quarter unfortunately spinning me round where I was collected by Rob Cooper on the drivers side rear wing. Unfortunate but I should feel lucky that no one hit the passenger compartment as this could have been a lot more serious.
And that was the end of 2017 for me, unfortunately the car is too badly damaged to realistically be rebuilt before Snetterton. It should be repairable but I'd rather take my time and do the job properly and also replace the front wings and valance at the same time, so it 2018 the car is looking as good as new.
Thursday, 6 July 2017
Silverstone GP - 2nd July 2017 - Production BMW Rounds 7 and 8
It was back to Silverstone for 7 and 8 of the production BMW championship but this time we were on the Grand Prix circuit. Whilst it is great to be able to race on the GP circuit it does bring a slight issue, well I say issue more of a challenge in that we share the grid with the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons. This means the slower of the PBMW's need to keep and eye on their mirrors as the front running E36 M3's will be coming up to lap them towards the end of a 20 minute race, it also means the PBMW front runners have to deal with the traffic that it the back of the TTRS grid.
In recent years a welcome 20 second gap has been tried out and seams to help at the TTRS race car get a couple of laps in before the front running PBMW's are looking to make their way through the pack.
I headed out out for a busy qualifying session consisting of 54 cars, including 29 Production BMW's early on Sunday morning with a aim of a time somewhere in the low 2:43's, obviously a 15 minute qualifying session doesn't give you all that much time to get many laps in especially when you only have 140BHP. Finished the session with a 2:43.462 around 1s behind the fastest PBMW lap of Will Davison, which left me 3rd in class with a healthy 1.1s advantage of the 4th placed David Graves.
As we had two grids the TTRS grid goes on the conventional light system with the PBMW going approximately 20s later on the drop of a flag, I got a fairly awful start but managed to just about hold 3rd place from dave graves despite a little touch down at the club chicane. I managed to build up a bit of a gap whilst Dave battled with Mark Palmer and by the time he'd started to close it it was a case of managing my way through the TTRS traffic without loosing too much time, after 20 minutes I managed my first PBMW podium at Silverstone.
Race 2 followed a very similar storey to race one other than on the second to last lap I very annoyingly locked the rear brakes, a tiny mistake meant I lost momentum going through the chicane and Dave Graves nipped through to take 3rd place.
In recent years a welcome 20 second gap has been tried out and seams to help at the TTRS race car get a couple of laps in before the front running PBMW's are looking to make their way through the pack.
I headed out out for a busy qualifying session consisting of 54 cars, including 29 Production BMW's early on Sunday morning with a aim of a time somewhere in the low 2:43's, obviously a 15 minute qualifying session doesn't give you all that much time to get many laps in especially when you only have 140BHP. Finished the session with a 2:43.462 around 1s behind the fastest PBMW lap of Will Davison, which left me 3rd in class with a healthy 1.1s advantage of the 4th placed David Graves.
As we had two grids the TTRS grid goes on the conventional light system with the PBMW going approximately 20s later on the drop of a flag, I got a fairly awful start but managed to just about hold 3rd place from dave graves despite a little touch down at the club chicane. I managed to build up a bit of a gap whilst Dave battled with Mark Palmer and by the time he'd started to close it it was a case of managing my way through the TTRS traffic without loosing too much time, after 20 minutes I managed my first PBMW podium at Silverstone.
Race 2 followed a very similar storey to race one other than on the second to last lap I very annoyingly locked the rear brakes, a tiny mistake meant I lost momentum going through the chicane and Dave Graves nipped through to take 3rd place.
Tuesday, 6 June 2017
Silverstone National - 4th June 2017 - Production BMW Rounds 5 and 6
After a cracking start to 2017 and Cadwell Park and Brands hatch we headed to Silverstone for rounds 5 and 6. I had a good start to the weekend with some friday testing again helped by Stuart Waite. We hadn't been on the National circuit since 2012 when my best lap time was 1:14.667. Following the Friday test it was looking like this would drop into the 1:12's
Qualifying went well, time of 1:13.012 wasn't quite in the 1:12's I'd hoped for but was good enough for 4th on the grid and meant I would be starting on the inside line into the first corner.
Race 1 I got a good start moving a head of Owen Darch and taking 3rd, managed to hold Owen off for the first 6 laps but on lap 7 he passed. By the 10th lap the rain was falling and I'd started to gain and put a lot of pressure on Owen but despite breaking early he never made enough of a mistake to allow me to make a real attempt to get past and I therefore had to settle for 4th, by no means a bad result but kind of wished I'd manage to hold onto the final podium position. Times had also fallen to a best of 1:12.958 which meant I'd achieved the goal set on Friday.
Race 2 was not to go quite so well, in fact it was probably the worse result I'd ever had in PBMW, on route to the grid whilst warming the tyres there was a loud bang which would appear to be the diff failing. Limped the car into the pit lane for my first DNS in 6 years.
Annoyingly this rather messes up the season, of the 14 races we are allowed to drop our worse to scores from the overall results, however I already need to miss 2 races and therefore needed to have a clean run for the remaining races.
Qualifying went well, time of 1:13.012 wasn't quite in the 1:12's I'd hoped for but was good enough for 4th on the grid and meant I would be starting on the inside line into the first corner.
Race 1 I got a good start moving a head of Owen Darch and taking 3rd, managed to hold Owen off for the first 6 laps but on lap 7 he passed. By the 10th lap the rain was falling and I'd started to gain and put a lot of pressure on Owen but despite breaking early he never made enough of a mistake to allow me to make a real attempt to get past and I therefore had to settle for 4th, by no means a bad result but kind of wished I'd manage to hold onto the final podium position. Times had also fallen to a best of 1:12.958 which meant I'd achieved the goal set on Friday.
Race 2 was not to go quite so well, in fact it was probably the worse result I'd ever had in PBMW, on route to the grid whilst warming the tyres there was a loud bang which would appear to be the diff failing. Limped the car into the pit lane for my first DNS in 6 years.
Annoyingly this rather messes up the season, of the 14 races we are allowed to drop our worse to scores from the overall results, however I already need to miss 2 races and therefore needed to have a clean run for the remaining races.
Monday, 22 May 2017
Brands Hatch GP - 21st May 2017 - Production BMW rounds 3 and 4
As with the first 2 rounds at Cadwell Park I had opted for some Friday testing for rounds 3 and 4 on the Brands Hatch GP circuit. Unfortunately due to limited use of the GP circuit the practise was on the shorter Indy circuit, still a small price to pay for the opportunity to race on the full GP.
As before I had Stuart Waite with me desperately trying to get me to listen to instruction!, it has to be said it's not easy to get used to having someone else in the car but well worth while. Times weren't great but setting fast times could come later
Come Sunday I headed out to qualifying at the front of a 30+ car grid of E30 320's and set about seeing what could be done, times were generally an improvement on last years and surprisingly it Will Davison a while to catch up from 2nd out of the pit lane. Once he was close I opted to hold back, let him past and see if I could learn a thing or 2 by following. Something He'll possibly not allow to happen again as I managed to pip him to 2nd on the grid behind Matt Swaffer, the first time ever I'd been on the front row of the grid. Best time of 1:51.258 was over 2 seconds faster than I'd managed in 2016.
I guess I was under no illusion that Will was likely to come past at some point during race one but he could have waited until the second corner, However the moderate disappointment of being demoted to 3rd was quickly over come when for the first half of the race I was able to stick with the lead pair, towards the second half with the tyres feeling well used Will and Matt where able to pull away slightly. With David Graves and Mark Palmer battling for 4th and 5th behind me it became a bit of a cruise to 3rd, although one eye was always on the mirror watching David Graves slowly making up some ground.
I believe excluding Marshalling points I'm now running 3rd in the championship which is a great start to the year.
Destination VLN
It's probably not an unusual feeling for any racer to have a strong desire to race on the legendary nurburgring nordschleife and I must confess it's been a fairly long term goal. The obvious choice being in the VLN series.
After a fair bit of research and discussing the option with a friend who already runs an E36 M3 in class V5 it would appear that it's almost affordable in the lower classes and with that in mind I found a low millage BMW E36 318is to use as a base car for class V2. It's very early days but the plan is to be out in Germany in 2018, fingers crossed this long term goal can be achieved.
The car is a 1995 version so have the M42 1.8 engine rather than the later M44 1.9 which would have pushed us into the V3 class (up to 2.0l)with much faster hot hatches.
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Cadwell Park - 23rd April 2017 - Production BMW Rounds 1 and 2
It was a late start to the 2017 Production BMW championship with the first 2 round being at Cadwell Park at the end of April. Rather than running in the Production BMW's sister series, the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons on Saturdays I have opted to try Friday testing with the help of Stuart Waite to try and show me how things should be done.
Friday testing had gone well with a best time of 1:48.2 which is a good improvement on my previous best of 1:50.230 the help from Stuart was really making a big difference.
Sunday came and we headed out for an early qualifying, luckily due to the complicated calculation to assign qualifying order I found myself heading out 6th out of 25 cars, a particular advantage on a track as tight as Cadwell. By the second lap I only had Mark Palmer in front of me and could settle into setting some consistent times, unfortunately turning into the Gooseneck for the third time Mark locked up, took at slightly alternative line and managed to smash the sump on the curb, emptying its contents on the outside of the corner. This left me with a clear track in front, running third for most of the session I was eventually pushed down to 4th with a time of 1:47.698. This would give me 4th on the grid for race 1, my second best time gave me 5th on the grid for the second race.
Race one got off to a slightly annoying start with far too much wheel spin, luckily I was not the only one but 1/2 of the first lap was spend side by side with Owen Darch who'd started in 5th. Only at the Gooseneck had I finally managed to get back into 4th. which despite Owen's best efforts I just about managed to hold on to until the end of the race.
I started race 2 in 5th place due to the new way qualifying works, despite getting a much better start I couldn't get past Owen who had this time started in 4th and also lost out to Andy Strong. The whole race was a mixture of trying to put pressure on Andy and Owen whilst also constantly having my mirrors filled with the ever fast car of Dave Graves. By the end on an exhausting 20 minutes I finished the race in 6th place.
I believe this leaves me 5th in the championship and very much looking forward to Brand Hatch GP.
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Clio Nearing completion
It's been a bit of a while since the last update on the clio 182 championship car I've been slowly building. Since the last update in April we've manged to pretty much finish the car, the original aim was to have it entered into the victor Meldrew race at brands hatch but unfortunately it was looking like a bit to much of a rush and when your expecting to be hitting over 100mph rushing the last few bits probably isn't the best idea. Instead the plan will be to have it ready for a trackday at Snetterton on the 3rd of December.
Since the last update we've carried out the following:
1) Fit a nice carbon Corbeau revolution seat with extra low mounts and TRS six point harnesses
2) Fit a 4 litre OMP plumbed in fire extinguisher system
3) Fitted the new K-tec racing championship spec coilovers and solid front top mounts
4) converted the front hubs and driveshafts to cup spec to allow for the championship spec coilovers to be fitted
5) Convert the car to the cup alternator set up which removes the ac pump as required by the championship regs.
6) Installed the MSA electrical cut off switch
7) Installed a rainlight
It looks like
Thruxton - 24th September 2016 - PBMW rounds 15 and 16
Well it's been a few weeks since the last rounds of the 2016 Production BMW championship rounds at the Thruxton circuit near Andover. My first visit to the circuit since a Ferrari driving day almost 20 years ago. Due to the limited number of race days on the circuit the Production BMW championship hadn't had the opportunity to visit the circuit in some time.
The chance to race at Thruxton brought out a couple of old faces, Stuart Waite and Rob Manger who just happen to instruct at the circuit along with some chap called Tiff Needell.
Due to restrictions on track time at the circuit there was no Friday testing although we were fortunate to be driven around the circuit for some sighting laps, Many thanks to Rob Manger for being on chauffeuring duties.
On Friday afternoon a number of cars were power tested on Ray West tuning's rolling road in order to provide data for the championship coordinators. At this time it was discovered that my car was running lean on full throttle due to a worn airflow meter, wonder if this had contributed to the slight down turn in results in the second half of the season. Being a simple device Ray west was able to make a temporary repair.
The results at Thruxton meant I finished the 2016 championship in 5th position just 1 point behind David Graves in 4th.
I already have a long list of changes and maintenance jobs to be done so that I can start the 2017 season with the best chance possible of building on the positive results of 2016.
The chance to race at Thruxton brought out a couple of old faces, Stuart Waite and Rob Manger who just happen to instruct at the circuit along with some chap called Tiff Needell.
Due to restrictions on track time at the circuit there was no Friday testing although we were fortunate to be driven around the circuit for some sighting laps, Many thanks to Rob Manger for being on chauffeuring duties.
On Friday afternoon a number of cars were power tested on Ray West tuning's rolling road in order to provide data for the championship coordinators. At this time it was discovered that my car was running lean on full throttle due to a worn airflow meter, wonder if this had contributed to the slight down turn in results in the second half of the season. Being a simple device Ray west was able to make a temporary repair.
The results at Thruxton meant I finished the 2016 championship in 5th position just 1 point behind David Graves in 4th.
I already have a long list of changes and maintenance jobs to be done so that I can start the 2017 season with the best chance possible of building on the positive results of 2016.
Monday, 12 September 2016
Silverstone GP - 11th September 2016 - PBMW rounds 13 and 14
There had been some confusion as to whether the Silverstone even would be a points scoring event for PBMW and unfortunately in wasn't until a few weeks before that it was confirmed. This presented a couple of issues as I'd already committed to entering the revolve 24 hour bike race on the brands hatch GP circuit with 3 friends and as the number f rounds had increased to 16 we would all now drop out 3 worst rounds, reducing the advantage I had due to constancy (although Matt Swaffer had more reason to be upset as he'd effectively won the championship had Silverstone not been included) Unusually the TTRS and PBMW grids would race at the same time with the PBMW's starting 10 seconds behind.
The busy weekend was never going to be the best preparation for Silverstone,In order to not let down the rest of my revolve 24 team I did 4 hours on the push bike around brands hatch between 3pm and 11 on Saturday and then jumped in the truck to drive up to Silverstone, eventually arriving a 2.30am and desperately trying to get some sleep before qualifying.
Ended up qualifying 11th out of 20 PBMW's with a time of 2:46.493 a little off of the times I was expecting.
Had a good race 1 battling with Owen Darch and Paul Beaurain eventually finishing 8th on the road although this will become 7th for championship points as the 4th place finisher Ben Anderson was a guest driver. Fastest lap had also dropped to 2:45.908 which was a little closer to my expected times.
Race two was a long battle with Mark Palmer and Rob Cooper, another great clean race where I finished 7th with my best lap time falling again to a more respectable 2:45.054 unfortunately not quite able to drip into the 2:44's which the car is more than capable of.
We now have just 2 rounds left at Thruxton in a couple of weeks. When dropped rounds are taken into account Will Davidson and Matt Swaffer will go into the event tied on points and battling for the championship. Harry Goodman lies in 3rd with myself, Mark Palmer and David Graves battling for 4-6th positions in the championship
Brands Hatch GP - 28th August 2016 - PBMW rounds 11 & 12
After the disappointment of the accidents in the previous days TTRS race in was time to put that behind us and get on with the qualifying session for PBMW. Ended up getting stuck in a bit of traffic in qualifying which was going slightly slower than I'd have liked but not slow enough to make passing easy. Eventually found some space and was able to qualify in a slightly disappointing 12th position with a time of 1:53.391 which is my best ever time around the GP so that was some good news.
Race 1 was non stop close but fair racing with Andy Strong and Gregor Pryor, Ended up finishing 10th o/a my worst result of 2016 although one I'd have been happy with in 2015.
Race 2 didn't really go to plan as I headed into paddock hill side by side with Harry Goodman he locked up and went straight on into the gravel. I think this slightly put me off my line and I ended up loosing the back end, felt like I might get it back but unfortunately in wasn't to be and I to found myself in the Gravel at Paddock Hill, so having rushed back from holiday to make Brands Hatch at the moment neither of the races would count as we all have to drop 2 rounds each year.
Race 1 was non stop close but fair racing with Andy Strong and Gregor Pryor, Ended up finishing 10th o/a my worst result of 2016 although one I'd have been happy with in 2015.
Race 2 didn't really go to plan as I headed into paddock hill side by side with Harry Goodman he locked up and went straight on into the gravel. I think this slightly put me off my line and I ended up loosing the back end, felt like I might get it back but unfortunately in wasn't to be and I to found myself in the Gravel at Paddock Hill, so having rushed back from holiday to make Brands Hatch at the moment neither of the races would count as we all have to drop 2 rounds each year.
Brands Hatch GP - 27th August 2016 - TTRS rounds 11 & 12
As in previous years both TTRS and Production BMW were lucky enough to have the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on the calendar in 2016. Unfortunately there was to be no testing due to holiday commitments.
Headed out for my first run on the GP circuit in a year during the TTRS qualifying session and was please to qualify 2nd of 12 entrants in class F and quite shocked to have out qualified Will Davidson although still a way behind Matt Wileman, best time was a 1:54.257 which was a little off of my best lap times in 2015.
Race 1 saw Matt pull a decent lead (although a brief trip into the gravel nearly ended his race) whilst myself and Ross Stoner battled for 2nd and 3rd. As the chequered flag dropped Ross finished just 1.3 seconds in front of me
Race 2 was a little more eventful, as the start lights went off one of the cars on the 2nd or 3rd row didn't get away, with cars darting left and right there was some unfortunate contact and the race was red flagged. the second start was a lot better and all cars made it off the line cleanly
However on the first run up towards Pilgrims Drop 2 of the front running BMW E36 M3's of Nigel Innes and Steve Pearson had a coming together at substantial speed leaving a trail of carnage and resulting contact well into the mid field as people tried to slow. I think this is the first (and hopefully last) race I've been in where 1/2 the grids had to stop mid circuit because there's no clear route through. It was a real shame to see so many friends with damaged cars.
Headed out for my first run on the GP circuit in a year during the TTRS qualifying session and was please to qualify 2nd of 12 entrants in class F and quite shocked to have out qualified Will Davidson although still a way behind Matt Wileman, best time was a 1:54.257 which was a little off of my best lap times in 2015.
Race 1 saw Matt pull a decent lead (although a brief trip into the gravel nearly ended his race) whilst myself and Ross Stoner battled for 2nd and 3rd. As the chequered flag dropped Ross finished just 1.3 seconds in front of me
Race 2 was a little more eventful, as the start lights went off one of the cars on the 2nd or 3rd row didn't get away, with cars darting left and right there was some unfortunate contact and the race was red flagged. the second start was a lot better and all cars made it off the line cleanly
However on the first run up towards Pilgrims Drop 2 of the front running BMW E36 M3's of Nigel Innes and Steve Pearson had a coming together at substantial speed leaving a trail of carnage and resulting contact well into the mid field as people tried to slow. I think this is the first (and hopefully last) race I've been in where 1/2 the grids had to stop mid circuit because there's no clear route through. It was a real shame to see so many friends with damaged cars.
Thursday, 28 July 2016
Oulton Park - 23rd July 2016 - PBMW rounds 9 & 10
Unfortunately the TTRS and PBMW races take place on the same day at Oulton Park due to the circuits restrictions on Sunday events. This means that in order to run it both series you'd have very little time between races to let the car cool down or fix and issues / damage.
Deciding the risk of missing a race wasn't worth it I onky entered the PBMW race for this weekend.
Having tested on the Friday I already knew my lap times were a huge improvement over the last dry event we had at Oulton Park, best laps were in the region of 2:08.5.
Unforunstely after the first flying lap of qualifying the session was red flagged, really annoyingly this was caused by a competitor in another series being allowed out to complete 3 laps in order to be allowed to race in his own race. So to have red flagged our session by crashing when his lap times would ahve counted fror nothing was rediculous (rant 1 over)
Anyway back out for a few laps to try and set a decent time and ended up behind a slower car, not a problems as the marshalls were waving the blue flags so surely I'll get through, Nope blue flags completely egnored for the remaining 2 laps of qualifying. ended up with my best lap being good enough for 9th on the grid, looking at the results my times from the test day before would have been good enough for 6th.
Race 1 and the entire grid got a way cleanly, by the time I turned into turn 2 I was up to eighth having over taken Owen Darch, unfortunately Rob Cooper ran wide at the exit of cascades and Harry Goodman did the same on the exit of Island bend meaning by the end of lap 1 I was runing in a much more respectable 6th place. The rest of the race was fairly quiet early on I was holding onto the back of the fight between Mark Palmer and David Grave whist pulling a cumfortable gap back to Edd Giddings. However as the tyres started to go off the concentrateion was soon diverted to keeping Edd behind as Mark and Dave managed to pull a bit of a gap. Finished the race in 6th place.
Race 2 saw another good start managing to pass David Graves and head off in 5th position. Unfortunately the pace wasn't there to keep the ever fast Harry Goodman from coming past after he started 9th, recovering from his race 1 spin so after a few laps I dropped back down to 6th. Had another great and very fair race with Dave Graves but quite annoyingly on the last lap I loked up whilst braking for shell and he got the better run out of the corner to snatch 6th.
Over all a reasonable result which along with earning my marshalling ponts see's me promoted to 2nd in the championship behind matt Swaffer.
Deciding the risk of missing a race wasn't worth it I onky entered the PBMW race for this weekend.
Having tested on the Friday I already knew my lap times were a huge improvement over the last dry event we had at Oulton Park, best laps were in the region of 2:08.5.
Unforunstely after the first flying lap of qualifying the session was red flagged, really annoyingly this was caused by a competitor in another series being allowed out to complete 3 laps in order to be allowed to race in his own race. So to have red flagged our session by crashing when his lap times would ahve counted fror nothing was rediculous (rant 1 over)
Anyway back out for a few laps to try and set a decent time and ended up behind a slower car, not a problems as the marshalls were waving the blue flags so surely I'll get through, Nope blue flags completely egnored for the remaining 2 laps of qualifying. ended up with my best lap being good enough for 9th on the grid, looking at the results my times from the test day before would have been good enough for 6th.
Race 1 and the entire grid got a way cleanly, by the time I turned into turn 2 I was up to eighth having over taken Owen Darch, unfortunately Rob Cooper ran wide at the exit of cascades and Harry Goodman did the same on the exit of Island bend meaning by the end of lap 1 I was runing in a much more respectable 6th place. The rest of the race was fairly quiet early on I was holding onto the back of the fight between Mark Palmer and David Grave whist pulling a cumfortable gap back to Edd Giddings. However as the tyres started to go off the concentrateion was soon diverted to keeping Edd behind as Mark and Dave managed to pull a bit of a gap. Finished the race in 6th place.
Race 2 saw another good start managing to pass David Graves and head off in 5th position. Unfortunately the pace wasn't there to keep the ever fast Harry Goodman from coming past after he started 9th, recovering from his race 1 spin so after a few laps I dropped back down to 6th. Had another great and very fair race with Dave Graves but quite annoyingly on the last lap I loked up whilst braking for shell and he got the better run out of the corner to snatch 6th.
Over all a reasonable result which along with earning my marshalling ponts see's me promoted to 2nd in the championship behind matt Swaffer.
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Rockingham - 19th June 2016 - PBMW rounds 7 & 8
After the previous days results in the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons races I lost a bit of the confidence gained over the last couple of rounds. Headed out for qualifying having made a very set up changes. The car felt better and the times were falling, although annoyingly what was best time was lost as I had to pass another car through the last chicane . Ended up qualifying 11th which was a little further bak than expected but I wasn't the only person who seamed to the struggling a little.
Race 1 got a reasonable start passing Matt Wileman but was passed through turn one by both Gregor Pryor and Ross Stoner. By the first coner of lap 2 I'd moved past Ross Stoner, Jamie Jeffery and Pete O'conner. The rest of the race consisted of trying to chase down Gregor Pryor whilst defending against the always fast Matt Wileman. Managed to pass Gregor into turn one on lap 6 but was unfortunately passed by Matt on the second to last lap and ened up finishing 10th.
Race 2 was a little less eventful, after I good start where I passed Rob cooper the whole race was spent either chasing Pete O'Connor or defending from Gregor Pryor, the latter of which I only just managed to do, finished the race in 9th position.
Pleased to have left Rockingham still in 4th position in the PBMW championship although Harry Goodman has already claimed his 50 Marshalling points hwich everyone else is yet to do.
Post Rockingham the top of the championship looks is
Matt Swaffer 380
Harry Goodman 348
Dave Graves 329
Andy Gay 320
Edd Giddings 284
Race 1 got a reasonable start passing Matt Wileman but was passed through turn one by both Gregor Pryor and Ross Stoner. By the first coner of lap 2 I'd moved past Ross Stoner, Jamie Jeffery and Pete O'conner. The rest of the race consisted of trying to chase down Gregor Pryor whilst defending against the always fast Matt Wileman. Managed to pass Gregor into turn one on lap 6 but was unfortunately passed by Matt on the second to last lap and ened up finishing 10th.
Post Rockingham the top of the championship looks is
Matt Swaffer 380
Harry Goodman 348
Dave Graves 329
Andy Gay 320
Edd Giddings 284
Rockingham - 18th June 2016 - TTRS rounds 7 & 8
It had been a couple of years since the last time the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons and Production BMW championships had been to Rockingham but on the last visit I'd had a reasonable weekend.
After a couple of very good results in the prevous meetings at Brands hatch and Donington I arrived at Rockingham running 4th in the championship so opted for a bit of Friday pratise time. Car felt ok in practise although the times were not really where I hoped, this carried accross to the TTRS qualifying and I ended up qualifying 5th in class F.
Race 1 brought a good start and I was quickly up to 3rd in class F but could quite keep up with Edd Gidings or Andy Strong, maybe slighty down to running older tyres for the TTRS races but I dont think this was the key issue.
Race 2 I started 2nd in class as Andy Strong was not running, again got a reasonable strat but was again frustrated to find I didnt have the pace to worry Edd. A few laps in and I was battling with Matthew Newman in his Lexus IS200 which ended up with us being caught and passed by Calum Noble and Jamie Jeffery, with the main event being the PBMW races on the following day I opted not to turn a two way PBMW battle in to a three way one as it would have been silly to risk damaging the car and either miss or compromise the PBMW races.
After a couple of very good results in the prevous meetings at Brands hatch and Donington I arrived at Rockingham running 4th in the championship so opted for a bit of Friday pratise time. Car felt ok in practise although the times were not really where I hoped, this carried accross to the TTRS qualifying and I ended up qualifying 5th in class F.
Race 1 brought a good start and I was quickly up to 3rd in class F but could quite keep up with Edd Gidings or Andy Strong, maybe slighty down to running older tyres for the TTRS races but I dont think this was the key issue.
Race 2 I started 2nd in class as Andy Strong was not running, again got a reasonable strat but was again frustrated to find I didnt have the pace to worry Edd. A few laps in and I was battling with Matthew Newman in his Lexus IS200 which ended up with us being caught and passed by Calum Noble and Jamie Jeffery, with the main event being the PBMW races on the following day I opted not to turn a two way PBMW battle in to a three way one as it would have been silly to risk damaging the car and either miss or compromise the PBMW races.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Brands Hatch Indy - 15th May 2016 - PBMW rounds 5 & 6
The PBMW's set off for their qualifying session on Saturday evening, Luckily as we set off in championship position order I was to follow Harry Goodman and Matt Swaffer for the entire session, always good to follow the front runners and study their breaking points and line. I was fairly lucky with traffic and managed to get some very consistent times in. Of the 16 laps we did only 3 were outside of the 58.xxx seconds, the best of which a 58.425 was good enough to qualify 6th on the grid 0.411 seconds behind the pole time set by Harry Goodman.
Lining up on the grid I'd already decided the plan (should I get a decent start) was to be heading straight between the 4th and 5th place qualifiers Jamie Jeffery and Ian Shepperd. As luck would have it I again managed to get off the line cleanly and as was the plan made the move between Jamie and Ian stick and also managed to pass the 3rd place qualifier Rob Cooper before Druids. The race from then on was a mixture of trying to hold onto the back of Matt Swaffer and Harry Goodman who were battling for the lead, whilst defending against the always fast Rob Cooper. Managed to hold Rob off until about 2 laps from the end when he got a better run along the main straight and took 3rd place away, I had been quite looking forward to another trip to the podium but it wasn't to be.
For race 2 I'd moved up to 4th on the grid for the start, was lucky enough to get another clean get away and get into 3rd place again.As with race 1 the whole race was spent trying to hang onto Matt and Harry whist having my mirrors full. However this time the pressure was coming from Dave Graves and Sam Strong as Rob Cooper had, had a poor start and then retired with mechanical issues. It has to be said this was one of the exhausting races I've ever had, Dave drove very cleanly but was feet away for the entire race meaning there was no option for me to make any mistakes. Luckily after 15 minutes of this I exited clearways for the last time ecstatic to see the chequered flag waving in the distance. Pleased to have proven to myself that the podium at Donington wasn't a complete fluke.
4th and 3rd place finishes at Brands Hatch means I remain in 4th place in the championship although closed up slightly on David Graves who is currently running in 3rd.
Brands Hatch Indy - 14th May 2016 - TTRS Rounds 5 & 6
Following on from the high of my first Production BMW podium at Donington a few weeks Prior I arrived at Brands Hatch looking for another positive weekend.
As always I'd opted to enter the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons event on the Saturday. Headed out for qualifying with the aim of beating last years best time of 59.5s and hopefully qualifying towards the front of the 10 Production BMW cars in the field. Ended up qualifying 18th out of 29 and 3rd in class F behind Will Davidson and Mark Palmer,also Just behind one of my oldest friends James Salmon in his first race in his 306 GTI6. Pretty pleased to have made a significant time improvement over last year with a 58,800 second lap.
With Will opting to start the race from the pit lane it looked like the class F race was likely to be between Mark Palmer, Sam Strong and myself as we'd all qualified within 0.3s of each other. I got a reasonable start but couldn't find a way past Mark so had to settle for 2nd with Sam never far behind, at the end of the race just 1.642 seconds separated the 3 of us. Best lap time had again dropped slightly to 58.664.
Race 2 didn't go as well a poor start meant that Sam and Jamie Jefferys in class F along with the Lexus and mini cooper S of Matthew Newman and Richard Ibrahim got passed. Not wanting to risk the car for the PBMW Qualifying session later in the day I opted for a conservative run to 4th in class.
As always I'd opted to enter the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons event on the Saturday. Headed out for qualifying with the aim of beating last years best time of 59.5s and hopefully qualifying towards the front of the 10 Production BMW cars in the field. Ended up qualifying 18th out of 29 and 3rd in class F behind Will Davidson and Mark Palmer,also Just behind one of my oldest friends James Salmon in his first race in his 306 GTI6. Pretty pleased to have made a significant time improvement over last year with a 58,800 second lap.
With Will opting to start the race from the pit lane it looked like the class F race was likely to be between Mark Palmer, Sam Strong and myself as we'd all qualified within 0.3s of each other. I got a reasonable start but couldn't find a way past Mark so had to settle for 2nd with Sam never far behind, at the end of the race just 1.642 seconds separated the 3 of us. Best lap time had again dropped slightly to 58.664.
Race 2 didn't go as well a poor start meant that Sam and Jamie Jefferys in class F along with the Lexus and mini cooper S of Matthew Newman and Richard Ibrahim got passed. Not wanting to risk the car for the PBMW Qualifying session later in the day I opted for a conservative run to 4th in class.
Donington Park - 24th April 2016 - PBMW rounds 3 & 4
After a pretty good day on Saturday in the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons races I headed out for the Production BMW qualifying session. Headed out behind Harry Goodman and made a point of trying to sick with him during qualifying as I knew he'd be near the front. I pleased to say I managed to stay close and Harry was on pole with a time of 1:26.464. I ended up 4th on the grid with a time of 1:27.129.
Unfortunately Rob Cooper who had qualified 2nd didn't make the grid as during qualifying he'd smashed the sump on a curb, despite managing to change the sump itself it turned out that the engine wasn't sounding good.
Robs loss however was my gain and as a result I'd line up on the grid with a clear view of the first turn. As with the TTRS races I managed to get a great start, looking back at the videos I may have lead a PBMW race for the first time (all be it for about 2 seconds and by about 200mm) However Harry held on to the lead through the first corner. Finished the first lap in 2nd place but through out the rest of the race dropped to 5th overall as Will Davidson, Matt Swaffer and Alan Wileman managed to get passed. Finished 5th but was promoted to 4th When Alan received a penalty for exceeding track limits. 4th was my best finish in a PBMW race to date so along with my best lap dropping to 1:26.601 I was pretty chuffed.
As with race 1 I started race 2 4th on the grid. Had another great race, Will Davidson and Harry Goodman managed pull a slight gap leaving myself, Matt Swaffer and Alan Wileman fighting over 3rd place. On lap 7 Alan made a small mistake and was out of the fight for 3rd. By this time I was starting to think about the possibility of my first PBMW podium. All I needed to do was keep Matt swaffer behind, Although Dave Graves was close enough that if we'd got to scrappy it would have been a 3 way battle again.
Please to say that I managed to keep the 3rd place and after over 4 years of trying I finally made it onto the podium.
Massive thanks to Rob at Gary Feekins Racing who have got the car handling fantastically and Jody Halse at Climax motorsport who built me the engine which has powered the car pretty much untouched for the last 3 years.
Unfortunately Rob Cooper who had qualified 2nd didn't make the grid as during qualifying he'd smashed the sump on a curb, despite managing to change the sump itself it turned out that the engine wasn't sounding good.
Robs loss however was my gain and as a result I'd line up on the grid with a clear view of the first turn. As with the TTRS races I managed to get a great start, looking back at the videos I may have lead a PBMW race for the first time (all be it for about 2 seconds and by about 200mm) However Harry held on to the lead through the first corner. Finished the first lap in 2nd place but through out the rest of the race dropped to 5th overall as Will Davidson, Matt Swaffer and Alan Wileman managed to get passed. Finished 5th but was promoted to 4th When Alan received a penalty for exceeding track limits. 4th was my best finish in a PBMW race to date so along with my best lap dropping to 1:26.601 I was pretty chuffed.
As with race 1 I started race 2 4th on the grid. Had another great race, Will Davidson and Harry Goodman managed pull a slight gap leaving myself, Matt Swaffer and Alan Wileman fighting over 3rd place. On lap 7 Alan made a small mistake and was out of the fight for 3rd. By this time I was starting to think about the possibility of my first PBMW podium. All I needed to do was keep Matt swaffer behind, Although Dave Graves was close enough that if we'd got to scrappy it would have been a 3 way battle again.
Please to say that I managed to keep the 3rd place and after over 4 years of trying I finally made it onto the podium.
Massive thanks to Rob at Gary Feekins Racing who have got the car handling fantastically and Jody Halse at Climax motorsport who built me the engine which has powered the car pretty much untouched for the last 3 years.
Thursday, 28 April 2016
Donington Park - 23rd April 2016 - TTRS rounds 3 & 4
Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2016 championship took place at Donington Park on the 23rd April, unlike 2015 we would be running on the shorter national circuit which leaves on the Melbourne loop, Personally I much prefer the national circuit as it avoids the two slow hairpins.
Having had a rare chance to test on Friday morning I was feeling pretty confident in how the car was handling although wasn't aware of the exact times as the track time on Friday was a trackday so timing wasn't allowed.
My previous best time on the national circuit was around 1:27.7 so I was happy with a qualifying time of 1:27.537 which gave me 13th on the grid and first of the 12 class F production BMWs.
Race 1 - After a great start I was fortunate enough to build up a bit of a gap to the remaining PBMW cars in class F however whilst battling hard with Johnathon Atkinson in the E36 318ti, both Ed Giddings and Alan Wileman managed to close up the gap and eventually pass leaving me with 3rd in class. Best lap time had dropped to a 1:27.096 leaving the chance to break into the 1:26's looking like a possibility.
Race 2 was much of the same with a good battles with Alan Wileman and the 2 E36 compacts, Ended up finishing 2nd in class behind Alan Wileman
Having had a rare chance to test on Friday morning I was feeling pretty confident in how the car was handling although wasn't aware of the exact times as the track time on Friday was a trackday so timing wasn't allowed.
My previous best time on the national circuit was around 1:27.7 so I was happy with a qualifying time of 1:27.537 which gave me 13th on the grid and first of the 12 class F production BMWs.
Race 2 was much of the same with a good battles with Alan Wileman and the 2 E36 compacts, Ended up finishing 2nd in class behind Alan Wileman
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
Clio Progress
Between rounds 1&2 at Snetterton and 3&4 at Donington we have somehow managed to find time to crack on with preparing the clio 182 for the 750 motor clubs championship. A decent days work and the Saftey devices 6 point bolt in cage was installed and we even found time to change the brake hoses for some Hel performance braided lines and bleed the brakes with some race fluid.
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