Only July and already looking forward to next year

Well it's only July and I'm already been looking at options for next year, the sprinting is good fun but in the back of my mind I've always had some circuit racing as a goal so I've bought a BMW E30 320i to use in the production BMW championship.

The car is a 1986 320i and has almost ready for racing with just a few minor details to get it finished.

Can't wait to get it on a trackday.

Debden - 10th July 2011

After a disappointing class turn out for the event at Lydden hill the day before a total of 16 competitors in my class for the Borough 19 motor clubs sprint at Debden was very reassuring. The event took place on a revised circuit layout which made an interesting change to the standard layout used in the past.

Arriving at the event the two cars to beat were likely to be the two porsche 911 GT3's, one a modified 996 and the second a 997 GT3 RS.

By the end of the event I was in third in class which was the best I'd really expected, a respectable 0.49s behind the 997 GT3 RS and just over 2s behind the 996.

a video of the event is here youtube

Lydden Hill - 9th July 2011

The SEMSEC 2 3/4 lap sprint at Lydden took place on the 9th June. A fairly poor turn out meant we had a class of just 4, which was very unfortunately reduced to 3 when a competitor snapped the key off in the ignition on the way to the first practice.

The two remaining competitors in my class were in much older less powerful cars so the class win was quiet inevitable, still good fun and all track time is worth while. The championship points were also very welcome!

Goodwood - 25th June 2011

Entered the second round of the year at Goodwood with the hope of breaking in 100 second barrier I so narrowly missed in April.

Arrived bright at early on Saturday morning to find the unwelcome sight of a very wet circuit, far from ideal but at least I could leave the traction control on (usually off for sprinting)

However the car seamed to have other ideas as whilst cuing up for the practice runs a fault code popped up turning the traction control and abs off, not welcome on a wet track where I was expecting to be hitting approximately 140mph in places.

Luckily playing with various buttons cleared the code and all my driver aids were back.

First attempt at the practice saw red flags as an MR2 turbo had spun exiting the chicane on to the main straight.

Second practice run went more to plan with a time of 110s which was along way off my desired time but respectable considering the track conditions.

luckily by the time the timed runs started the track had dried out and the business of breaking the 100 seconds could start. Ended up with a time of 96.36 which was far better than expected and gave me the class win along with a welcome 11th overall.

Mallory Park - 18th June 2011

After the very unexpected class win at Abingdon the previous weekend I left home for the Classic touring car racing clubs Mallory Park sprint in a positive mood.

Arriving at the circuit early Saturday morning we were greeted my a damp circuit which didn't inspire too much confidence. The main competition in the class was looking likely to be a 385bhp focus RS.

By the end of the first run I was lying around 0.5S off of the Focus for the class win, I'd accepted that the win wasn't going to happen as I'd again opted to play safe with the damp conditions and close barriers in places.

Went out for the last run having accepted 2nd place place but from somewhere found enough to finish the day winning the class by a second.

Abingdon CAR-nival - 11th June 2011

11th of June was my first attempt at the Abingdon CAR-nival. The sprint is part of a much larger event which includes rallying, auto tests and off road events all with the aim of raising money for local charities. http://www.abingdoncarnival.com/AbingdonCARnival/CAR-nival.html

The sprint itself is split into two courses, the best time from each course is then added together to obtain the overall result.

Arriving at the event I wasn't all that confident of doing that well, other entries in my class included 2 911 GT3's including the 997 GT3RS of Brain Winstone which I'd been loosing to all year as well as a couple of other experienced drivers which I thought may well leave me mid class.

First course our group competed on was the faster Abingdon circuit, after the 2nd timed run I was shocked to see that I'd be starting the second circuit with a time advantage of 0.91s over the second placed 911 996 GT3 and a 1.16 second lead over the 997 GT3 RS, not sure where that came from but was very pleased.

Going onto the the second 'Bentley' circuit the class win was mine to loose. The Bentley circuit is a series of longish straights with 90 degree bends so is a bit of a test of brakes and acceleration. I was also lucky enough to set the fastest time in class on this circuit as well although by a much smaller margin of 0.25 seconds.

One of my goals of the year was realized by beating the GT3RS so I left the event very happy.

a quick video of the event is here:- http://www.youtube.com/user/andye30m3?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/dnlCIZsm0hU

Lydden Hill - 4th June 2011

4th of June at Lydden Hill was an all too common result of coming 2nd in class behind the 997 GT3RS although on a more positive note I was around a second quicker than I had been in the sprint earlier in the year.