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Update 62 - Track Day Castle Coombe March 2017

Life having settled down, I'm keen to get out with the race cars. Its been two years since they were finished and for a variety of reasons they had to be tucked up in bed for a while.

I'll be back sprinting this year and whilst the Taster Day has been a traditional March haunt, this year I decided to take part in the RTCC Castle Coombe Track Day.

So on the morning of the 23rd, the trailer was dusted off and we tried to iron out the, somewhat familiar, yet somehow new all over again procedure of getting the race trailer all loaded up.

First challenge was quite frankly getting out of the house. It seems silly but in the last two years we have sold the family business and there has been a house move. Whilst we moved the race trailer in, we've never actually had to get it out again.

Good news is that the trailer is facing the correct direction to exit. The downside is that we found when we moved in that a 27ft trailer and a Range Rover on top is not a short rig. In the context of residential houses and the slight curve in the drive with an odd road exit angle it was going to be interesting..... now the good news is that it came out pretty smoothly, the bad news is that in the smoothness the trailer wheels ploughed a 20ft long furrow in the lawn. ooopppsss.

We arrived and signed on, through the drizzle and trying to avoid the puddles in the paddock... I was put with the experienced drivers.. ok by me... we up second batch then - erm, no, out first in the wet.

Good news though was that it was going to dry up as the day progressed and there was a good group of novice 70's 4/4's through to a new 4.8 +8. There was a Class B +8, Lightweight Roadster and the infamous Super Sport GT3 having just been re-built and present for low speed running in.

Following the drivers briefing which consisted of a guide to the track, the rules, flags and the new tarmac/old tarmac - both slippy tarmac warning. The experienced drivers were out on track.

The pit crew, still a bit rusty, had put up the paddock tent (wrong side - more on that later)..... but had not broken the car down to track ready.

So a hasty strip down and fueling - we were last in the queue for track time.

The 6 car snake bumbled through the pit lane, a couple of cars stopping to wave me up to behind the Roadster and +8..... and we're out.

Now - I took this pretty gingerly, Me, Castle Coombe and my car have history and its also wet. So with messages of "don't crash the car - take it easy" ringing in my head it tip toed it around as car 3 as we all took our initial laps pretty easily.

Having been out of things for a few years, I was not sure how I would feel about this day, especially given the history at the track and the life changes in-between. Well that lasted about 1 lap - the feel and exhilaration of driving the car returned and the focus of; throttle, lift-brake, heel&toe, downshift, trail brake, turn in, flat throttle....slide.... flick... flat throttle... returned. Its an addictive focus, trying to nail turn in points, peg braking zones, remember gearing positions and muscle memory of driving a manual box returning.

The initial 15 min session flew buy - confidence growing in the car and track beginning to dry.

As groups 2 and 3 flowed through the track was drying off. I was very interested to see how the little Blue and White 4/4 stood up to the likes of the experienced racers with the Roadster LW and the Class B +8.

As open pit lane came, I had a few opportunities to see how more confident and focused laps might fare, the 4/4 quickly dispatched the Roadster LW and the various other V6's present though the +8 racer was mainly scrubbing in tyres so it was not really an opportunity for direct comparison.

Then a real opportunity presented itself. I came up to the last bend before the pit straight, the track day having installed the temporary chicane and there was the Lightweight Roadster trailing the 4.8 +8. I managed to split the two before the braking zone and followed the +8 by a few feet onto the main straight. We both must have had the same thought as we both nailed the throttle drag racing past the pits onto the main straight.

Now - I was expecting to put up an honourable effort but tbh get mashed by the brutal 4.8 - especially as we sped up.

The reverse was true, we were neck and neck to start off with and then I literally drove off. I've put this down to the gearbox of the 4.8 +8. I've experienced it with my Aero's. The shift is long and it drops the engine off the fizz point.. with a short shift box, I'm getting more power down and have more revs to play with. Whilst the V8's got torque, it runs out of puff and the gearbox does not help. After all it's a road car - but it was still very surprising.

Whilst this was all very exciting it did get me black flagged due to tripping the drive by noise meters - so back in to the pits and summarily failed the static noise test, the volume having increased since the morning by 5db. In to the pits to cool off.

Luckily, I'd asked in advance if the yellow and grey car could also be used.. so having brought it with me - we cracked it out and went through a full prep. It sailed through noise check and whilst I could definitely do with moving the seat back it was ready to go out on track.

Now - this is the first time this car has been out since it was finished so we were definitely treating this as sighting and testing.

Whilst not as brutal as the Blue and White car having 195bhp on carbs to the B&W car's 275bhp+ on injection. Its still a quick car.

A couple of laps then in for a check over - everything is A1 so back out for a few more laps. It's cutting its way through what ever is on the track... so its quick. Its tight, flat and the gearbox is extra snicky. The hydraulic clutch on this car is like a switch and the quick release race steering wheel is grippy and small.

Back into the pits, there were a couple of people who had asked for a passenger ride, one of whom helped me put this car together.

So we did about 5 laps with each - the first chap had a Caterham and he marvelled about the gearbox and how it makes a massive difference in comparison to his road car. Whilst the corners were slower than his Caterham the straights were quicker due to the better ratio's.

We experienced what happens when a considerably quicker car is spotted by a slower driver in front. The slower car in front nearly stopped on the circuit, they were in the braking zone which meant I could not overtake and had already factored in politely following them through the chicane. So after a slightly uncomfortable momentary pause, we proceeded in single file through the corner and out onto the straight where I passed them on the inside as per rules.

The second passenger admitted to trying to find the brake on the straights. Applying his road sense of the braking zone, we were blasting right through this and braking much later. It was very exhilarating and he loved the experience.

Now I mentioned the paddock tent earlier - it was a pretty windy day and whilst we anchored the tent down - the wind picked it up and vaulted it (including ground weights) over the trailer. It mangled the frame and unfortunately put a hole in the canvas, luckily nothing too big..... Lessons learned.

We packed up around 1600 whilst the GT3 car was putting in some shakedown laps - its an awesome bit of kit and I look forward to seeing it out again with a little bit more room to breathe.

Thanks to RTCC for laying on the event.

My takeaway from the day is that I will be putting in my for my Go Racing Pack - I'll do a couple of sprints this year but will aim to be out with the Challenge in 2018.

Sounds like you had a fun and productive track day. Good to see you back.

Brilliant report, well done you..!

Great report, thanks for sharing the day.
Who was driving the GT3?

Was Greg D-S at CC?

Nope it was the owner - the rebuild was done by RTCC rather than the factory.

Many thanks for a brilliant report. You have been missed.

Great to see you back on track literally and that domestically the upheaval is over.

Sounds like you had some good competitive fun out there .

Junior must be 2 now I guess and getting ready for a drive ..

Hi

Very interesting thread, thanks for posting. What happened next - did you continue competing with both cars or perhaps this was replaced by other commitments or projects?

Cheers
Mike

Still got the cars…. Keen to get racing again. In the interim… moved house to a basket case and am just in the final stages of building a new race HQ with machine room, car build, maintenance and storage facilities. Will get some pics up when I get the race gear unpacked and the cars moved in.