Time Attack

[gambler]

I had decided that it would be best to head down to cadwell and do a track day on the Tuesday before the event. As the circuit is a bit of a car killer, I thought that if I broke it or binned it we would have more of a chance to fix the car before the weekend.

The 1st session Andrew Walsh ‘walshy’ from Carlimits drove a couple of warm up laps to show me the lines etc. A great effort considering he had driven 3 hours to get there despite a couple of fractured shins. We cruised round pretty slowly taking a good look at the circuit. We were getting passed by a stack of caterfields etc and I was warned that this was not going to happen later on! We headed back into the pits and parked the car up. Only for it to refuse to start. Colin ‘fix’ was right on the case and eventually diagnosed it as a wiring fault inside the dash board. It was caused by the Lambda sensor wire touching the manifold. Colin pulled the rest of his hair out while I paced around trying not to get in the road. After colin had taken the wiring loom to bits he managed to get it started and we were off  Great effort Colin. Unfortunately it was around half past 2 so time was limited. Walshy and I worked on the circuit and picked up my pace. Everything was going great until the fatal, ‘ last run’. I entered Hall bends way too quick. There was no where near enough grip so I decided to look into by bag of talent……empty! I knew there was no way I was getting round the corner and if I tried it I was going to spin and end up in the barriers. So I decided to just cut straight over the grass and take out the half dozen floppy bollards out. One of them giving the bonnet a good slap and putting a healthy dent in the bonnet. Walshy laughed and said, ‘ What the f**k were you thinking there. You have been going round that corner perfectly all afternoon, so what made you suddenly think you could do it without brakes? I knew you were going to bin it at some point on that banzai lap. (it was a lot of sideways fun)’ I just laughed and said that I now know how fast I can’t do hall bends ;-) We pushed the bonnet dent back into reasonable shape and headed home. Luckily James Nichols had kindly agreed to keep the trailer and car so we did not have to tow it home again.

Race day arrived and I was raring to go. I knew it was a must win race if I was going to win the championship. The weather was dry but looking a bit ominous in the distance. This was going to be a scary circuit in the wet.

Warm up –

I still felt like I needed more time on the circuit so I did a couple of laps to warm the car and myself up and then pushed on for a few more laps to work on braking points etc. This is always difficult to learn on a track day with all the traffic. Back in the paddock I was 2nd fastest over all with a time of 1.41.276 and 2 seconds quicker than anyone else if F/I 4WD. Not that these times mean anything as a lot of people were taking it easy and everyone was looking after their engine.

Practice –

I was really enjoying the circuit by now. Going over the hill at the park straight at 140 mph totally blind was just awesome. You brain is telling you to brake or at least lift off. The quickest way is just to keep it pinned till your well over the crest though. So it was time to engage the new extra large titanium balls! Brass ones would be too heavy and carbon fibre ones would be light but the splinters would be painful in the event of an accident. There were loads of spinners at Hall bends too. I had now learned my lesson and knew that if you entered the 1st corner too quickly. You ruined the next 4 corners. On the way in I was told to go and see the Clark of the course. A marshal had reported me for cutting the corner too much just before the mountain. All 4 wheels off the circuit????? No chance, I had at least 2 on the circuit at all times. We only need 1 according to the rules. There was no point arguing so I said I was a very sorry boy and I would not do it again. If I was reported again my lap time would be discounted. There was not much time to be gained by the cut anyway. In the time sheets I was fastest F/I car and 3rd fastest over all with a 1.40.187. Mattius Batchler was only 1 10th behind me though. I knew there was some more time to be found though.

Qualifying –

After Team Dynamics had made a bolloks of my order for new wheels, I had new tyres but no wheels to put them on. Kev Horsley and Mikee Singh kindly loaned me a set. A bit of arch rolling was required. It worked great, but, oh my god it was brutal to see. I tried not to watch, but like a kid watching a horror movie. I could not help myself. I took the car a run down the paddock and all was well. Right until I put a wee bit of heat on the brakes on the way to the pit lane and there was a big scary rubbing noise from the wheels. The problem was that once you were on the circuit at cadwell, you are not allowed off again. And once your pit crew were in the pits they are not allowed to cross the live circuit to get to the paddock to get spacers etc. So I was sitting there thinking that if I cant drive. I cant qualify, which meant no final and goodbye championship. Colin and Ali had a quick look and it turned out the spokes were just touching the hot calipers. I was told to do a couple of slow laps to let the calipers be milled and they would be fine. The wheels would not be damaged. If they were, they were not being used again and I would just have to buy another set to replace them. After a couple of laps I was given the all clear to put in a flyer. I put all the distractions to the back of my mind and went for it. I ended up behind Daniel Gannon in the lightweight M3 with lots of lovely carbon bits. Our lap times were almost identical and we were quicker at different parts of the circuit. The spacing was just right so we were not getting in each others road. Normally in Time Attack I like to have my own space and have no one around. Those 3 laps were the most fun I have ever had in time attack. I was absolutely flat out and so was Daniel. Its probably not the quickest way to do it though. He pulled over and I put in 1 more flyer which was slightly quicker than my others. More focus probably! The time sheets came in and I was 3 10ths behind Daniel in the M3 but still the quickest in 4wd by nearly a second with a 1.39.804.

Final –

After being quickest all day at brands, until the final, then coming 3rd. I knew it was far from in the bag. I also had my sights on Daniel and being quickest in club class over all. I went out and pushed as hard as I could and shaved a touch more off my time. Its strange going back into to the paddock as your pit crew are still stuck in the middle of the circuit until it is clear. You arrive back having no one to tell you the results etc. Luckily Daniels father came over with the time sheets showing me fastest over all with a 1.36.654 ¾ of a second faster than anyone else in F/I 4WD and under 1 1/10th quicker than Daniel. I was over the moon. I did feel sorry for poor fee who was in 3rd place until Walter Morris put in a blinder of a time in the B final to put himself in 3rd place.

It was awesome to be back up at the top step of the podium again. I was grinning like a cheshire cat. Right up to when Matt and Walter sprayed me right in the eyes with the wonderfull and not cheap champagne. I took a step back and nearly fell off the podium. That would have been embarassing.

I now have the fortunate position of being 21 points in the lead of my class going into the final round at Snetterton. Unfortunately this is the big power circuit. And I seem to be running probably the lowest power in the top 10. I finally put the car on a dyno at extreme in whitburn and it made 485Hp and 380lb/ft. It was what I had expected. Snetterton is going to be tough with Fee running over 600hp. Warren Kelly 550, Eric Holmes 650 and Walter Morris running big power too as he usually beats me in the speed traps. I’ll just have to do a rain dance!

Here are a couple of videos

Qualifying

Final

And some pictures

Landing after the mountain. Not too much air as i lifted off when the front wheels left the ground. I thought it was best to keep the gearbox in 1 piece. A few people had other ideas. And broken gearboxes!

Massive thanks as usual to –

Colin Telfer - for building the car

Alistair Colins - for all the work on the car

Andrew Walsh of Carlimits.com - for making me go fast. Even when he has to drive there with legs so battered he car hardly walk.

Andy Forest - for the mapping, support and all the great advice.

Usedcarparts.co.uk for sponsorship

My mum – for making the sandwiches

Edited August 13, 2010 by Gambler

[G.Mac]

Good write up and good vids

[Richie Cross]

Excellent. Congratulations

Always enjoy the write ups.

[ciaranrb5]

well done mate keep it up and do us classics proud

[lewisscoob]

well done and good write up Your car looks good too but one thing... are your carbon mirrors on the right way?

[TrackScotland]

Aye Aye Scott.

What TD wheels did you go for? I take it they are sorting out their cock up FOC? I eventually got my wheels through from them... about 1 month. Phoned up gave them grief and they were still in 'production' - 2 days later they arrived. b******s. 17"x9" wide for the Impreza though hehe.

Looking at your RR results... is that right you have 380lbft?

And you were doing 140 at Cadwell

[gambler]

Im getting a set of race 1.2 on 17-8 they sent 18-8 instead. Service from them has been terrible.

Torque is 382 and 383 lb/ft its only a 2.0 though. I did think it may have a bit more.

Correction on speed. It was 133. I thought the data logger said 138 Vmax. Just checked. I must have been tired when i wrote it.

Lewiscob - No idea if the mirrors are on the right way. They are not the bling biling carbon ones but the much cheaper plastic efforts from tweeks.Big weight saving from standard though. I can also get closer to tyre bails and bollards now

[arch]

Nice right up and cracking results this year

The mirrors are on the right way, I have the same much cheapness mirrors, no point in paying silly money for something that may not be there long . I have the 17x8's as well they work well on normal body classic.

[gambler]

Thanks Arch

Deffinately no point spending £3-400 on some mirrors that might well get twatted on thier 1st outing. I cant imagine they will be that much lighter anyway.

[arch]

Thanks Arch

Deffinately no point spending £3-400 on some mirrors that might well get twatted on thier 1st outing. I cant imagine they will be that much lighter anyway.

Carbon fibre ones def not much lighter if at all but a better fit, dont know about yours but the fit is rubbish on mine but the price is just right a £28 a pair but I can see to reverse out of the garage and into the paddock which is all i need them for. As long as you can see who you have just passed then they are up to the job for you to

[gambler]

Exactly right. When not on flying laps I tend to use the rear view mirror mostly. I did not see the point of the expensive carbon ones as I used to regularly smack the stock ones off bollards and tyre bails and these onese have survived a few knocks.

The bad fit goes with the rest of the car! It's more of a " keeping I real" finish to the whole thing. I had to file the top of the mirrors as they are razor sharp. The 1st time I washed the car, I just brushed the top of them but put a big gash in my hand. That will teach me to wash the car

[TrackScotland]

yup, no point paying 5x the price for Carbon LOL

ABS or GRP is just as light

Scott - Your rear struts/susp. EXE-TC yup?

Fee had to fit some 5mm shims to the rear of the Impreza today so the tyres would clear the struts. How much rear camber are you running? Do you have any issues like this?

This is with the STi7/8 gold 17"'s (bloody Advans dont clear my brakes when heated up (like yours LOL)). Tyres are 215 888's. Car was setup with the RG1's on which are a lower offset so would have not been an issue.

[arch]

yup, no point paying 5x the price for Carbon LOL

ABS or GRP is just as light

Scott - Your rear struts/susp. EXE-TC yup?

Fee had to fit some 5mm shims to the rear of the Impreza today so the tyres would clear the struts. How much rear camber are you running? Do you have any issues like this?

This is with the STi7/8 gold 17"'s (bloody Advans dont clear my brakes when heated up (like yours LOL)). Tyres are 215 888's. Car was setup with the RG1's on which are a lower offset so would have not been an issue.

I had very similar issues last year with my coilovers. I had a set of eibach coilovers on and had no issues at all, they sprung a leak at the back and then my issues started. I had massive problems getting any negative camber without the struts rubbing on the wheels. This was with 17x8 Pro race 1.2's ET48, I had the same issue with the gold STI alloys but they were fine with a small spacer. In the end I went to an inverted coilover set up which solved the issue with the team dynamics but I still run a 5mm spacer if I have the gold STI wheels on for mapping or on the road.

[gambler]

I have the same problem Adam. I need to run a 5mm spacer and still can't get much in the way of camber.

[arch]

An inverted coilover moves the spring platform above the inner sidewall area which then allows more space for camber adjustment. I dont have any camber issues at all now.

[TrackScotland]

We have roughly about 2deg neg on the rears, and the 5mm spacer gives just enough clearance.

The new wheels are et23 so should be fine.

[colin_ross]

Great result mate.

Hope Snet goes well, looking forward to that write up now.

[johns]

Great write-up Scott. It sure is looking very tight overall going into the final round at Snetterton. I would expect the big power cars to have a distinct advantage on the longer straights - maybe you can borrow Andy.F's engine for a day

John

[gambler]

Thanks colin. Fingers crossed for another good result.

John, I'll deffinately struggle against the big power cars. I'll just have to try my

best. I'm usually a fair bit down on the speed traps anyway

[TrackScotland]

Fee writeup - http://trackscotland.co.uk/timeattack/2010/2010round4.htm

Saves making a new post

[gambler]

Great write up from Fee. It must be nice for everyone else to hear about time attack from someone literate (I did have to spell check literate!)

lol at me hiding! I was not deliberately hiding, or in the road at hall bends as I was caught on the last corner. I did learn my lesson at oulton though!

[Fee]

I'm quite worried that I might kill myself at Snetterton!

[gambler]

I'm quite worried that I might kill myself at Snetterton!

Why is that then? Mahooosive big run offs at snetterton. It was Cadwell that was the dangerous one.

[Fee]

Because I'm so determined to beat you that I will probably lose all common sense!!!

[gambler]

I usually try and drive without my common sense anyway! Not that i had much to start with.

I think i will be driving with the same determination