Silverstone GP - 14/15th April 2012 - PBMW round 3

Rounds three and four of the PBMW championship took place on the Silverstone GP circuit as one of the support races for the Formula 2 event. Having never driven at Silverstone I opted to take part in testing on the 13th

Having run in the test day on the 13th I went into qualifying positive, Qualifying was to take just 15 minutes which isn't many laps of the full GP circuit when you only have 130bhp. Qualified 19th out of 41 competitors in class, on a grid which was to be shared with the faster project 8 racing saloons.

Another positive came when the lights went green and we were off as unlike the 2 previous rounds at brands hatch I made a reasonable start holding on to the pack though the first series of corners, avoiding a substantial accident at Becketts and heading out onto the hanger straight in one piece.

The good luck was a little short lived when on the third lap I turned into the Stowe corner at the end of the Hanger straight and spun.

Given the speed at which the car broke away I was slightly concerned that there was a puncher or other issue with the car.

Getting back on the circuit found be back towards the back of the field with some quite bad wheel wobble, still a little concerned about any potential issues with the car I opted to drive at 90% and bring the car home. Finished 30th.

As the Project 8 and PBMW grids had been combined I didn't run in the second race but the car ran in the hands of Ben. following having the front wheels rebalanced and suspension checked it ran well.

Brands Hatch - 24/25th March 2012 - PBMW rounds 1&2

The weekend of the 24th and 25th of March was the first 2 rounds of the Production BMW championship on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. The car was also being run in the Project 8 racing saloons series on the same weekend by Ben Woodcock.

23rd March 2012 - Test day

We took the opportunity to book into the test evening on the 23rd of March as this was the first chance to run the E30 since the Brands Hatch Trackday in December.

Since the trackday the suspension has been changed and the car set up by Jody Halse of Climax motorsport and the tyres changed from the old Toyo R888's to the Marangoni Zeta Linea sport semi slicks as required by the series regulations.

With only an hours running time between us there wasn't a great deal of time to get used to the car but a time of around 61s was looking a lot more positive than the times on the December trackday.

24th March 2012 - Qualifying

Having nervously watched Ben qualify the car in Project 8 Racing Saloons and complete 2 15 minute races without any issues it was now my turn behind the wheel.

For qualifying the total entry of 37 cars was split into 2 groups, I went out in the second group and immediately felt reasonably comfortable in the way the car drove, came in 15 minutes later with no real idea of how I'd got on but with a huge grin on my face.

Expecting to be near the back of the grid I was pleasantly surprised to see that my time of 1:00:887 had left me 11th out of 19 in my group and 22nd out of 37 overall. Pole position was set by Ben Winrow with a time of 58:436.

25th March 2012 - Race Day - Race 1

For the races the total entry was split into 3 groups and then each group ran in 2 of the three races, creating grids of 25 cars. I found myself starting in 15th position on the grid which left me fairly central in the road with far to many cars around me for my first racing start.

Sat on the grid I was starting to feel a bit nervous as first the 1 minute board was held up and then the 30 second board. Shortly after the red lights are lit up, and as they're turned off we all go for it. Far to many revs on my part meant for way to much wheel spin, looking in the mirrors lots of cars behind me are making a better job of getting of the line. Looking in my mirrors also took my attention way from changing into second gear and I hit the rev limiter in first for what felt like several seconds. So from 15th on the grid to what seamed like about 22 or 23 by the entry to Druids. It hadn't been an ideal start but I still has all my paint so it wasn't all bad.

In the first couple of laps had a great battle with another E30 whilst trying to get to grips with racing other cars rather than just the clock, eventually got passed and started to pull away. A mixture of other people spinning an the odd over take meant I was slowly moving up the field.

Over the last few laps had a great battle with Stephen Murphy in car number 144. I seamed to be quicker from druids through to the entry to paddock but he'd always out brake me into paddock and get the place back, Great fun, clean racing with no swapping of paint. I eventually came out in front finishing 18th, rather annoyingly being lapped on the final corner.

Post race I was promoted to 17th as a couple of competitors were disqualified. Best lap of 60.023 was a welcome improvement on the qualifying time.

25th March 2012 - Race Day - Race 2

For race 2 I again started in 15 place on the grid, got a slightly better start but still lost a place or 2 into paddock hill bend, a tentative approach to druids lost me a couple more places but I was expecting this being my first race, It really was quite daunting having so many cars all fighting for the corner.

The race went well, making up a few spaces in the early stages, eventually pulling clear of the two cars behind me. The middle of the race was quite quiet but in the last few laps I noticed I was starting to gain on Brian Jones in car 84 so pushed on a fast as possible, occasionally pushing a little too hard and battling the car to avoid spinning. Through out the last lap I was getting very close and had a run on him coming out of the last corner, a straight drag race down the main straight left me just 0.135s behind as the chequered flag was waved.

Best lap of 1:00:110 wasn't quite as quick as race 1 but on a positive note I finished without being lapped.

All in all had a great weekend, the club and other competitors were all very friendly and the results were better than I had expected.

Brands Hatch Trackday - 3rd December 2011

Before embarking on my first event in the 2012 production BMW championship I thought I'd better book myself in for a few trackdays, first of which was on the 3rd of december.

Driving up on

an overcast saturday morning the weather didn't look like it was going to stay good for my first attempt at driving the E30 320 on track. Luckily the rain held off long enough for me to get the car unloaded off of the trailer so at least I was dry.

However it wasn't to stay that way for long and by the time the circuit opened the track surface was wet and very slippery.

We had been warned that there wasn't a great deal of grip on the circuit however I slightly underestimated how greasy it was a promptly managed to spin on my second or third lap at the apex of paddock hill, only a very minor spin. Didn't even leave the circuit but it still didn't meet with the approval of the organizers.

Through out the day there was in the region of 15 red flags so I wasn't the only one caught out by the conditions.

By the afternoon the track had dried out and some more sensible laps were put in, a few seconds off where I'd ideally be but the cold surface, old R888's and lack of experience in the car wouldn't have helped.

A quick video of the last session is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Unf5twcIo

Lydden Hill - 22nd October 2011

A fairly predictable result at Lydden on the 22nd of October saw me finish in 3rd place behind the 2 911 GT3's, maybe there should be another purchase before 2012 and the odd sprint entered to see if I can compete on slightly more level ground.

The third in class was good enough for the following overall results for the year

Tunbridge Wells motor club - 1st overall

Sevenoaks Motor club - 3rd or 4th overall (forgot to marshall so didn't qualify)

AEMC - 5th overall, 3rd in class behind the GT3's

ASEMC - 5th overall, 3rd in class behind the GT3's

ACSMC championship - 8th overall, 3rd in class behind the GT3's

ACSMC Challenge - 2nd overall, 1st in class

So quite reasonable results considering I was 80-90 bhp down on the GT3's which I scored points against.

CSL went up for sale in the afternoon of the 22nd and sold soon after to fund a tow car for next year.

Eelmore - 9th October 2011

The 9th of October brought my first ever trip to the Farnborough Motor clubs Eelmore event which takes place on MOD ground between Farnborough and Aldershot.

As the results to this event weren't going to have an impact on any of the championships I've entered I thought I'd use the opportunity to try out the E30 320i that I'm intending to race next year.

As the car has been completely stripped for racing it was put into the modified class despite very little in the way of mechanical modifications so any dreams of class wins were very unrealistic.

had a great day out and the car performed faultlessly for myself and another person who double drove it with me.

what it lacked in power (and compared to the CSL it really does lack in power) it in part made up for with good braking and cornering abilities. If anything the brakes were slightly to good as a lack of ABS to satisfy the PBMW regulations for next year meant there was a fair amount of locking up going on.

I think my best timed run was a respectable 102.4 which I believe left me 5th out of 7 in class with the class winning time being in the high 50's

Debden - 2nd October 2011

2nd of October was the date for the last visit of the year to Debden, Great to see a large entry with a very strong entry in most classes including mine which had over 10 cars in class. As always the 2 GT3's, were going to be the guys to beat.

After the first timed run things were looking good, as had become almost predictable the class was being lead by the GT3's followed by myself although they were only 1/2 a second and 1 second in front so within reach. Also had a couple of competitors in a 968cs and tr8 within a couple of seconds behind and threatening to challenge for third.

Went off on the second run and attacked the roundabout with a little to much enthusiasm resulting in a little too much understeer which I quickly changed into far far to much oversteer, might have been recoverable but as the army had left a large pile of dirt just up the road I chose to abort the run rather than risk damaging the car. After all I still had a competitive time on the board or so I thought!

Turns out I must have clipped a cone, although I couldn't find any marks on the car which they usually leave and had received a 5 second penalty on my first run leaving me well down the field.

Third run determined to put a reasonab

le time in all started well, approaching the roundabout I switched the traction control from off to M-track mode to ensure that I didn't end up with silly amounts of over steer again. existed the roundabout well and went to switch the traction control back off as it make the car faster though the tighter sections of the circuit, in doing so I must have just knocked the car out of gear and lost time working out what the hell I'd done.

Ended up 5th in class which was a bit disappointing as without the penalty on my first run I would have ended up 3rd but I guess thats just the way it ends up sometimes.

North Weald - 11th September 2011

Last trip to North Weald of the year took place on the 11th of september, the weather forecast promised lots of rain so I arrived with full wet weather gear to be greeted by bright sunshine.

Luckily the issue with the GT3 in my class the day before at Brands hatch hadn't been too serious and the car was back out , although this effectively stopped any chance of a class win.

As predicted I left North Weald with the 2nd, 2nd in class of the weekend, a win would have been nice but 2 2nd places adds lots of valuable points for the various championships