Scottish Scooby In Time Attack

[gambler]

Oulton Park Update.

Things started in true motorsport style. At 2am of the day the track/test day the car was finally rolled out of my mechanics garage for a quick shakedown. Everything went fine, apart from the time attack sun visor blowing off at exactly 60 mph, honest gov! So I loaded the car on the trailer and headed off to bed. For an hour and a half. I think I must have slept for about half and hour as I was looking forward to the next couple of days.

After my great nights sleep I jumped into the tow vehicle(thanks to stan palmer subaru. http://www.stanpalmer.co.uk) and headed the 170 miles to Oulton Park for the track day.A quick breakfast at the circuit where i met adam and fee from track scotland. I had never been to the circuit before and thought a bit of acclimatisation would be a good idea. I had also managed to get Phil Glew who won the time attack series in 2007 and is currently doing very well in the clio cup, to sit beside me for a few laps. Phil was great in showing me some lines and working on general driving technique. This is where the 1st of the problems occurred. Pad knockoff, this is where the pistons get pushed back into the cylinder, I think , meaning you have to pump the brakes before they will work. I found this out after a few moments on the main straight when I found no pedal at 135. This could be resolved by a bit of left foot braking on the straight before to push the pads back into place. I had suffered a bit of pad knock before, but nothing major. I had just installed a whole lot of new bushings and control arms at the back to stiffen things up. I think this had made the knockoff worse. Later on in the day 4th gear decided to get a bit crunchy. In the 6 speed box I have the syncro's are a bit soft, just my luck it decided to get worn now! It was getting late in the afternoon anyway so I decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel and save the gearbox for tomorrow.

Woke up nice and early in the morning excited, like a kid on Christmas morning. We had to be at the track for the drivers briefing at 8 am. Myself and my mechanic mate, Ali was there for 7. Ali did his spanner thing over the car to make sure everything was fine. I just stood about like a spanner and drank tea. The drivers briefing was a bit like a track day. Overtaking on the left only but it can be done in braking zones and corners and does not have to be with the consent of the other driver. Although its advisable.I then had a look at the other cars in club class. Most of them seemed to have had a hell of a lot of money spent on them and they all looked like they were worth a lot more than mine. Lucky i had my hero flakes for breakfast as it looked like i was going to have to make up what i lacked in power on the bakes and corners.

Warm-up - This was a 10 minute session to just really warm up the car and make sure everything was fine. Apart from the gearbox and brakes. They are overrated anyway . I just did a few laps at a 70-80% to make sure nothing was going to fall off and headed back into the pits.

Practice - 20 mins. By now the heavens had opened. Really enjoyed this session as a lot of grip could be found at outlon park. Apart from druids which becomes a skating rink. My advice from Phil Glew for druids in the wet was,’ just survive that corner, don’t try anything fancy'. I really fancied my chances in the wet as most of the field were using the same lines as the dry and I passed most of them in that session. Back into the pits and I tried my best to do a rain dance to summon some of the wet stuff. Then the sun came out and stayed there for the rest of the day!

By now the crowds were getting pretty large is Time Attack runs alongside the Modified and Live shows. I think there was something in the region of 20 000 people there. Had a quick look about at some of the show cars and just got confused as why anyone would spend £20k on a saxo. Decided I was too old for that crap and headed back to the pits.

Qualifying - Lined myself up nice and early to get a chance to sit and focus. I don’t know whether it really makes a difference but I found in my international rowing days that it gets me into the perfect state of mind. I just sat with my eyes closed and visualized driving the circuit. Every braking point, turn in, apex and exit. The excitement started to build. Luckily I have never been bothered by nerves. I just sat there champing at the bit to go. We had to follow the pace car for a lap I cruised for another lap to get some heat into the tyres and make some space. Onto the start finish straight, lights on (to signify to the other drivers I was on a flying lap) and we were off. It was a rush of adrenaline ill never forget. It was no longer just pissing around on a track day but racing, all be it, against the clock. I had never felt so alive. Time to find out just what I was made of. I knew I had less power and than a lot of the other cars. 1st corner, perfect I was on a roll and loving every second of it. Round to druid’s right on the limit. Then the back end went big style. I must have hit some fluid. Wee bit of correction and we were back on it. Unfortunately I had forgotten to left foot brake before the last corner. NO PEDAL! few pumps and we were back in business. Ruined my entry as I missed my breaking point. Flew over the line to a time of 1:38. Just as the red flags went out. An evo had decided to make friends with a 200sx at the hairpin. Into the pits. I was in 5th place. I knew there was another couple of seconds to come off my time as the lap before was good but not perfect. Back out again, warm-up lap and I made plenty of space then I was out for another flyer. Lights on again and we were off. This lap was going perfect, I hit every point at just the right speed. Got to the chicane and some t**t on a slow lap decided not to wait for me to go through. I had to go round the outside loosing me a second on the split time. Crossed the line on 1:37. I then went in to save the crunchy gearbox for the final. Checked the times and everyone had improved again. I was still 5th out of 32.Just over half a second behind a guy in an inpreza with nearly 550bhp. I was happy with that result

Final - I knew the times were close with the cars in front. If I got a clear lap I was not held in traffic I knew I could take another second off my time to put me hopefully in the high 1:35's.If I could do this I may even get into the top 3. I went out and q'd nice and early to get me some clear space at the front of the field. As the series controllers had decided to let all 32 cars out into the 15 min final and just to go out in whatever ordered you wanted. I was sitting focusing away. Quick look at the fuel gauge and it was a lot less than it had been in the paddock, must have been on a hill. I decided I did not want the distraction of worrying about fuel so I decided to stick some in. Schoolboy error. I was really annoyed with myself as I was now near the end of a long q. I had to just get that out my mind and concentrate on the job in hand. What followed was the most frustrating 15 mins of my life. With the concern of the brakes overcooking as they had done a couple of times the day before I was trying to just get 1 quick lap and cruise round to save tyres and brakes. This lap never came as everytime I was on a flyer I was seriously held up. I suppose this is the key to doing well in time attack. Session finished and I headed back to the pits. Raging that I was held up so often. Best time in the final 1:39 and 10th place. If I had have managed a 1:36 I would have been in the top 3. I was really frustrated that 1 clear lap was all I needed for a great result.

Loaded up and jumped into the jeep for the 3 hour drive home. It gave me time to reflect that this was a learning process and to qualify 5th was a pretty good effort considering I was well outgunned in the power stakes by the cars qualifying around me. I was still buzzing on adrenaline all the way home. It was a real experience of a lifetime. The mechanical issues are already being sorted. I cant wait for the next one. Roll on Knockhill

Massive thanks to Colin Telfer for Turning the car from an insurance write off to what it is now. Ali Collins for coming down to oulton and doing all my spanner work. Joel Payne for comming down to oulton and running around for a whole load of stuff and making the car shiney and my sponsors

http://www.stanpalmer.co.uk

http://www.usedcarparts.co.uk

It was also nice to meet JohnSt and thanks for the brake fulid and the guys from AWD, thanks for the advice and the offer of the loan of the gearbox, very kind! Good to hear that fee is ok after her off in practice. Hope you get the car back to 100% before our home leg at knockhill

Some Pictures

http://www.timeattack.co.uk/images/2009 ... 1_174.html

http://www.timeattack.co.uk/images/2009 ... 1_126.html

http://www.timeattack.co.uk/images/2009 ... 1_081.html

http://www.timeattack.co.uk/images/2009 ... 1_042.html

[ANDYJDMSTI]

Great write up.......well done on your outing!

those links for the pics don't work.

[paul555sti]

Nice right up mate, look forward to seeing you in action up at knockhill.

Hopefully your local knowledge will help.

[dan_jess]

Brilliant read, sounds like you had a great time, good luck at Knockhill

[G.Mac]

Nice write up, car certanly looked as if it were running well on the day, hope im hope for Knockhill

Graeme

[micra_wrc]

great write up, felt like i was there with you

had to lol at some bits

good luck with the rest of the TA rounds, it sounds like you know what you're doing

[st3ph3n]

Knockhill is the home event Scott so hopefully you can get an even better result. I'm sure a lot of us will be heading up to watch. No pressure though!

[stuarted]

well done mate. Sounds like an excellent weekend.

Look forward to seeing you in action at Knockhill.

Plenty time to the get the car ready

[Maxxed_Ross]

sounds like you had a fun time

You'll have a fair bit of support behind you at Knockhill anyway

[gambler]

Thanks for all the support folks. Roll on knockhill. It will be good to be on a track i know

[sparky_sj04]

Nice write up mate, and well done..

Fingers crossed everything goes well for you at Knockhill. Another write up after that please! For those of us that can't make it!!

Cheers,

Mark

[TrackScotland]

nice to meet you

Some good times there!

[johns]

Nice write up, and good to see both the car and driver have lots of potential

When I had my classic, pad knock off was quite common when the wheel bearings were on their way out, especially when everything was hot. A set of APs more or less cured the issue for me, with much less heat going into the hubs from the brakes but under repeated hard use, the bearings (mostly passenger side front) did need replaced about once a year.

[braveheart]

Brill read, and best of luck the next round..

[gambler]

TrackScotland- Nice to meet you guys. I followed the skyline on the track day on fri and it looked like it was going well. Hope its all up and ready for knockhill.

John - Thanks for the advice. Got some new bearings on the way and also some knockoff springs