Due to time constraints I was unable to even get the car out of the trailer since the last time out so developments on the car between events were nil. The weather was fantastic for the final round of the Championship and I was looking forward to just concentrating on getting a tidy lap without thinking about the track conditions for a change.
I decided that I would make a minor change to the front dampers and wind them to full soft in an effort to give more bite to the front end. During checking of the car before scrutineering I noticed that the one of the rear trailing arms was very loose, allowing the back axle to move considerably. I was quite sure this would be the reason the car juddered when taking up drive; something which has drawn comments from competitors in the paddock from day one. Still it gave me something to do – it just wouldn’t have been the same otherwise!
On leaving the paddock for my first practice run the juddering was gone but this meant the clutch engagement was vicious, very snappy, and I couldn’t move away without using lots of revs. I decided that the plan for the first run was to go flat out, no point cruising as I needed to learn the car on the limit. Turning in to the first corner the front had loads of grip and even stepped the back end out which woke me up! It was a similar story throughout the rest of the lap, the back-end kept stepping out and it was a real fight to keep it on the tarmac. It was particularly loose under braking, which was disappointing as I thought that with the rear axle tightened this problem might have gone away. I recorded a 61.60 lap at 97mph, not bad for a first run!
The n/s rear had been making some nasty noises throughout the run and going back to the paddock I could hear metal touching tarmac and assumed it to be part of the exhaust. On inspection the rear trailing arm mount had ripped itself of the axle. It is welded on and with no equipment on site there was no option than to pack up and go home to fix it. Unfortunately my welder had developed a fault which meant it didn’t have the power to create a strong weld and I knew that the temporary fix would not last another run. I returned to the track after missing the second practice run just in time for my first timed run.
I knew this would be the only run I would get so I had to make it count. Unfortunately the weld broke as soon as I left the line and the rest of the lap was a battle to control the wayward handling. The commentator was quite impressed with the sideways style but it didn’t help the lap time. I managed to record a 61.40 at 99mph which was better than I thought it might have been and good enough for 9th fastest time of the day. I was the only entry in my class so there was no competition to compare my time against but it would have been nice to have had a proper attack at getting under 60 seconds. Highlight of the day was John Bradbury in his Gould setting a new course record at 49.11 seconds at 135mph – wow!
There are lots of things to do on the car; I just need to find some time to get it all done. That’s it for this year, roll on 2012!
