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.

Snetterton - 25/26th October 2014 - PBMW rounds 13 &14

After a positive day so far in the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons races I once more took to the track on Saturday afternoon to qualify for Sundays Production BMW races. As always a top 10 qualifying position was the aim and looking at the times from the earlier races looked like it might be possible.

I was a bit of a shock but a very welcome one to finish the session in 5th place with my best time falling further to 2:26.932, As the F4 championship was at the event TSL timing where also able to provide speed trap data at 3 points on the circuit, as I was in the top two through each of these I can at least confirm that Climax Motorsport as expected have built a very good engine.

Main aim at the start of race 1 was to keep 5th position, off the line Matt Swaffer and Mark Palmer in 6th and 7th got passed but Andy Baylie in 4th got a poor start so existing turn one I was down to 6th, however when Matt Swaffer out braked himself into the hairpin for the first time I was able to snatch 5th place back.

The rest of the race was probably the best race I've had to date, the first few laps involved desperately battling with Mark Palmer for 4th, at least twice going through the tight lift, right of bundle and nelson side by side. Unfortunately battle with Mark allowed Matt Swaffer to catch back up and would end up getting passed around the outside of Coram and under braking into Murrays. The last couple of laps was spent defending against Rob Cooper which unfortunately ended when I missed my breaking point into Agonstini on the last lap allowing him to get a better run out towards Hamilton. Ended up finishing 7th which was my best ever result in 3 years of trying with the best lap time falling to 2:26.367

The second race was again a close battle between myself, Mark Palmer and Rob Cooper with Andy Baylie and Dave Graves catching us up over the last couple of laps and really putting the pressure on. Not sure I'd have been able to hold them off for much longer but when the chequered flag was waved I was once again chuffed to have achieved another 7th place. Really was a great end to the season after a few difficult races.

Snetterton - 25th October 2014 - TTRS Rounds 13 & 14

It was off to Snetterton for the last 2 round of the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons series on the 25th October  and we arrived to welcome reports of a sunny Weekend.

Awoke Saturday morning to find the track still very wet from Fridays rain but set out for qualifying promptly at 9a.m. and was shocked at quite how slippery the surface was, even managed a couple of spins to keep the marshall entertained.

Ended up qualifying a slightly disappointing 17th out of 19 and 3rd in class out of just three but as there were only three class F cars in the race qualifying was as important as tomorrows PBMW races.

For some reason Gary who'd qualified first in class F started from the pit lane with myself and Julian Newman in the other class F PBMW next to each other in 16th and 17th, first lap went well and I'd managed to make up a further 2 places leaving me 14th. Had a relatively quite race with Julian Newman in the M5 comfortably in front but with the Honda Civic of Steve Allen slowly closing in threatening to come past. Ended up finishing a respectable 12th overall and took the class win and achieved a best lap time of 2:29.975 which I believe was better than the last 2 years.

Started Race 2 in 12th with only 1 other class F car taking part, this time being used by Matthew Newman so starting from the back of the grid. Had another reasonable start and at Palmer curve on the first lap the BMW compact running to the side of me had a spin which delayed all cars running behind us. I had a great battle throughout the race with Steve Allan in the Honda Civic, although with a slight straight line speed advantage he was able to keep 12th place this time and I had to make do with 13th and a second class win of the day. Also manage to improve my best lap time to 2:28.064

The good results left me with the class F win in the Toyo Tires Racing Saloons series and 3rd overall

Lydden Hill - 4th October 2014 - PBMW Rounds 11 & 12

It had been several years since my last visit to Lydden Hill despite it being the second closest circuit from home and I had been looking to the event, although the limited track width and largely non existent run off was in the back of my mind.

Arrived Friday night to find a fairly small grid of 17 for the race on the following day, Slightly disappointing compared to other events although it did mean all finishers would score championship points.

Headed out for qualifying and the car generally felt good, I'd used some older tyres as I'd  been warned of how abrasive the surface at Lydden was and want to save my better wet of tyres for Snetterton at the end of the month.

All in all qualifying went reasonably well, I was to start the first race in 13th on the grid.

Initially got a good start but a tight grid and the car in front failing to get a decent start meant I had no choice but to lift off before I'd even got into 3rd gear, slightly annoying but one of those things. Ended up dropping a couple of places.

By the time the second race came the rain was falling heavily, I got an unusually poor get away due to a little to much wheel spin and things never really got all that much better, further highlighting my hatred of wet conditions, still I finished both races without any additional alterations to the cars bodywork so I guess things could have gone a lot worse, still regretting not changing the tyres for less worn set.

 

Silverstone GP - 20th September 2014 - TTRS Rounds 11 & 12

The TTRS rounds at Silverstone this year would also host what is planned to become an annual challenge between the class F production BMW's and the mk2 golf GTI series. This meant a huge grid of 53 cars 28 of which would be running in class F (more than the 2 headline Britcar grids put together)

Went out to qualify with light rain / drizzle which never inspires all that much confidence but at least Silverstone has the advantage of large run offs compared to the likes of Cadwell or Oulton. The 30 minute session was a welcome change to the normal 15 minute qualifying which gave much more opportunity to try and remember the way round. I finished in a respectable 37th / 53 overall, 17th in class and 7th out of the 14 Production BMW's with a time of 3:09.885. I think it's fair to say the 16v mk2 golf gti's had the advantage in class F. 

Got a good start to race 1 but by lap 5 it was all going a bit wrong as one of my front wheels had come loose so I was forced to retire, glad I'd used wheel studs rather than bolts and avoided any serious damage. 

Luckily rather than staring the second race in the position we'd finished the first race there'd had been a change of plan and the grid for race two would be decided by the second fastest lap in qualifying, for me this was quite a fortunate change to our normal procedure.

Had great race with Tom Ibrahim, Rob Manger and Steve Carter and eventually finished 36th overall, 15th in class with a best time of 1:47.681

Brands Hatch - 17th August 2014 - PBMW rounds 9 & 10

After the 2nd race of TTRS I lined up at the front of the pack for PBMW qualifying with Harry Goodman behind, Initial plan was to let Harry passed and as one of the front runner try and follow him and hopefully lean a thing of 2. The firs part of the plan was executed with pin point precision the following (and keeping up) didn't go quite as well. A number of the other front runner came passed and  in moving off line to allow this I may have slightly hampered by lap times, Ended up qualifying 21st of 35 which was reasonable with a time of 1:55.302. Even if I'd matched my best time of the weekend so far I'd have only been 19th.

As with the first TTRS race the day before I got a good start and made up a number of places however due to a large pile up involving 10 or so cars on the exit of Clark Curve the race was red flagged after just 1 lap. The restart didn't go quite as well and the remaining time was spent battling over 21st and 22nd places with Steve Turtill, Lots of close and clean racing which was great fun and what makes these's long tiering weekends worth while.

Again got a good start in race 2 although whilst turning into Surtees to start the Grand Prix loop for the first time Steve carter moved across to the left to try and pass Ian Francis and in doing so didn't really leave me anywhere to go as I was on the inside, my front wing just caught his rear and resulted in a spin for Steve. Had another great race with Mark Palmer which again was close at times without any trading of paint. Ended up just about managing to keep Mark behind and finished 17th with a best time of the race and weekend of 1:54.241 if only I'd managed that in qualifying.