gambler

I wee video of a few laps from the practice session at Snetterton

Awesome results Chris. Car must be going like a train now

Adam - Exactly as mine used to be. It should be plenty fast. Not that anything is ever fast enough! It is a Uk non-DCCD box. A lot cheaper than a dog box and seems to be much more reliable. The only weakness in then is the syncros. I have had the box 3 or 4 years now and they have only had to be changed once.

Adam - You need a six speed box in your life. It will much that 5 speed in no time. Mikey - Thanks mate. I can go even quicker now that i have got smaller wing mirrors. Used to catch the old ones on the tyres all the time! John took a couple of excellent pics of the car on 1 wheel just landing on the chicane. I'll post it up when i get a chance to find it

:DGood luck mate. Your engine should be doing time attack next year

Thanks for the kind words guys. We will be fighting it out to try and remain in club as we were 5secs off the CP pace. After moving up last years batch we came along and posted pretty much identical lap times. I keep thinking of doing project threads. I always forget to take pictures etc. Too busy fetching spanners and making tea!

I left Cadwell with a 21 point lead in the championships but I was well aware that Snetterton was a big power circuit and by the looks of the speed traps all year I was a bit lacking in power. So I decided to go looking for a few more horses. The plan was always to have extra power available but only use it if it was really needed, as I did not want to strain the engine. I cannot thank the Scottish Subaru community enough for their generosity. Andy Forest offered to loan me a twisted setup, John Stevenson offered to loan me an external wastegate and Colin (playsatin) offered to loan me his turbo. These guys could not have been more helpful. I ended up buying the headers and a used Billet GT30 from Mikee Sing. Used parts of course in keeping of my ' Keeping it real' approach to racing. What should have been a pretty simple bolt in job turned out to be a much bigger job than we thought. The up/down pipe did not fit past my 6 speed gearbox so all had to be re-done by a grown up with a welder. My new Team Dynamics wheels had finally arrived. I went with an 9inch rim with a et23 offset to help widen the track and added some more track with longer bottom arms on the front and adjusting the rear arms. The wheels were not sticking outside the arches so we fitted some arch extensions. A bit of Andy Forest magic on the mapping and we were good to go. Colin 'fix' also removed the brake servo and moved the mounting point for more feel on the brakes. I had not driven the car in anger and was not sure about the setup of the suspension/geo so I went to see a man who knew, Andrew Walsh 'Walshy' from Carlimits.com. He fitted me in on one of the excellent airfield days. Perfect as I would get to test the handling and see any teething troubles without pushing the engine hard. In the morning we did the highly entertaining high speed oversteer exercise and to be perfectly honest, I was making a proper a*** of it. Slides that I can catch easy on track I was spinning out on and i am usually a big fan of oversteer :-) I suddenly had a Yoda moment, only with a welsh accent. I realised that I was thinking about what I was doing rather than just doing it, ' don't think, just do!' and it worked. Much sideways tomfoolery was to be had after that. We then worked on the high-speed bend steering the car on the brakes and loosing a stack of speed. Just like the end of the big straight at snett. As I had not driven Snett in a year and had not properly shaken the car down on track I booked some time at the MLR day before Time Attack. I was only going to run low boost and short shift and not push too hard. With a whole lot of pipe work changes it was a good idea to get any teething troubles out of the way on sat. And I quickly found one! One of the circuit instructors had jumped in the passenger seat for a couple of laps. After my 1st 3 laps at medium pace I noticed a bit of condensation/fluid at the bottom of the windscreen on the outside. I cruised into the pits and when I slowed down there was steam pissing everywhere. I pulled up next to the guys and jumped out the car.... well, tried to. I forgot the windows have to be held closed by Velcro so I just nutted the window! It turned out the problem was just a broken bracket for the header tank. Colin Fix and Super Ali were right on the case while I kept out the road. After that I did another couple of short sessions showed everything else to be running fine and the car handling great. I was ready for action. Back to the hotel for a couple of pints and I slept like a baby. Wet myself and woke up crying! Only kidding. Woke up bright and early and champing at the bit to get out on track. Warm-up - Before we arrived I had ordered some brake pads from Questmead. They arrived nice and early in the morning so I could bed them in during practice. 5 mins before the session started they turned out to be the wrong pads. 1mm too thick and we had to put the old ones back in. Not exactly how I had wanted to start the day. It’s always best to get the problems out the way in the morning though; I hoped that this would be the only problem. I managed to get 4 laps in gently bringing up the pace. I just felt like there was no grip at all. I was not sure whether the circuit was cold or if it was something wrong in the setup. It had felt fine the afternoon before though. For a decent result the lap time in the final would need to be a 1.14/low 1.15. I had only managed a 1.17.879. Not good, I just hoped that it was just the circuit being cold. I had expected to be well down the timesheets. Luckily it had been the same for everyone and I was 2nd by 0.02 seconds and over a second quicker than Fee who was my main rival. Practice - Colin had got busy with the grinder and fitted the new pads. We were buggering about with the ride heights trying to get a bit more front end grip so we missed the 1st half of the session. A few laps to bed them in and I was ready to try and bring up the pace. I knew I did not have too much time so I just did 4 flying laps getting slightly faster each time. At the end of the session I knew there was still a stack of time still to be found as I was now conscious of not binning the car as I knew I was well on pace to take the championship. Everything felt awesome the car was just amazing, I just had so much confidence in it and I was dying to get a safe lap in the final then really push it and see what it will do. I was 2nd top of the timesheets again by 0.22 secs to Walter Morris with a 1.16.552 and more importantly 2 secs faster than Fee. Happy days! You can never tell how much faster people will be when everyone cranks up the boost in the final though. I am not a big fan of having a whole stack of extra power on the high boost setting. I think that if you have learned your braking points accurate enough another 100hp will just make a mess of them and make your time slower. I had a look at my phone after practice to see a message from Andy Forest, 'Take it the oil temps were ok, 4 flying laps in a row!' So, be warned! Your mapper is watching! The temps had been below Andy’s specified maximum. 1 fast lap 1 slow lap is always better on the tyres anyway when you are pushing hard. Qualifying - It was decision time now regarding boost levels. I was well aware that a close result could come down to a single point in the championships with Fee so the point in qualifying could count. There was definitely a lot more time to find out on the circuit so I decided to go out in low boost and do 1 safe lap and a quicker lap then come in and have a look at the times, only using high boost if I needed the extra power. Out I went on the outlap and got some heat in the tyres and brakes and found myself a bit of space, round the 1st couple of corners and down the back straight then disaster struck. The car started running on 3 cylinders. I could not believe it, my heart totally dropped. I limped into the pits and saw the look of horror on the faces of Colin and Ali. Steven and Mark from the lateral car also came running. It was not sounding good. I was absolutely gutted. I took of the helmet and HANS device and threw the hands away. Only into a seat though as I could not afford a tantrum that would have broken it. We then decided, that as so many cars had already packed in that I would limp round 1 complete lap to at least get a lap time and maybe, on the off chance get the car fixed for the final. I did the out lap and then a stunning flying lap of 1.44.1 and killed the engine as I crossed the line and pulled up on the grass and waited for a tow to the pits. When we got back to the pits the guys did a compression test and it turned out there was no compression at all on no.4 either a piston or rod had gone. Game and championship over. Afterwards we had a look at the timesheets and even limping round would not have made a difference in the standings. I was already safely in 3rd place so I would have to content myself with that. I spent the rest of the day hanging about for the podium presentations trying not too look miserable! My rowing career did teach me to take the rough with the smooth. There is no point feeling sorry for yourself and wondering what should have/ could have happened. You just have to pick yourself up and learn from any mistakes. After all, its not my job or anything life threatening, its just going round in big circles as fast as you can for some fun. I got lucky when I won the British rowing championships by 0.2 of a second. Still my proudest achievement and would have remained so even had won my class Time Attack. Despite the unfortunate end to the season I have still had an amazing time. The competition this year in Club has been so close that every point has been hard fought and therefore more enjoyable. I started the season just hoping for a couple of podiums so I can't really complain. As for next year, I have no idea. If we are to be moved up into club pro I may take a year out to save up and get the car ready as I don't really see the point of being there spending a fortune just to make up the numbers or try something different. It would be nice to have some free time and money. I am well and truly bitten by the bug though. Well done to Fee and Warren for coming 1st and 2nd in the championships. It's been a pleasure to fight it out with you guys all year. Massive thanks to the people who do all the hard work behind the scenes while I get all the glory. I really appreciate all of them, as it would not be possible without them. Colin Telfer - Building the car Alister Colins - Helping build the car and being head of entertainment in the team bus Andyforestperformance.co.uk - Loads of advice and awesome mapping. Carlimits.com - Walshy - Helping make a monkey like me go fast Usedcarparts.co.uk - Sponsorship Party Pete Rallying - Use of his bling race shuttle Malcom from Mabiehouse.co.uk for the fabrication work Rob the welder - Welding genius Mum - Head of catering Dad - Looking after my business when I am away John Stevenson and Colin (Playsatin) for offering to canabalise their own cars to help me. Everyone else who has helped me along the way. Far too many to mention Here are a couple of pics. No video yet as i have not bothered to get the camera out of the car. My best happy face. Looking a bit 'special' Its all gone Pete Tong

I do quite like it. Deffinately needs a spoiler and the rear bumper looks like a cheap aftermarket body kit. Price is way off though. For that money you could have an M3 CSL or an E90 M3 that will depreciate much slower. Should have been more like £25k

Sorry to dissapoint some of you. High speed internal footage of a 4 stroke engine working http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73e_1192001762

Thanks for the link Jac. Its going to be a great read Good luck Andy. And if you need any help with the powertools. Dont ask me!

With her....I wouldn't care if I was quickest. A bit like motorsport. I would be quite happy to come 1st or 2nd. I would just be happy to be in the competition

I am thinking that myself. One thing is for sure though. Regardless of the result. There is no way i will be appearing in lycra! Even if i wanted to, which i dont, i doubt it would be streatchy enough.

Ha ha ha. I dont think anyone would really want to see me in that outfit. It would be a bit of an incentive to win though! Im no stranger to lycra though. I spent 10 odd years rowing. My stuff did not look like that though. Comfortable - Yes, flattering - NO!

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

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

I would love to take a trip back across. I will just have to see how it ties in with other commitments. My advice to anyone who is thinking about going to spa is, just do it. Its the best circuit on earth!

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!

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

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

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

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.

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

Looking forward to seeing how the build goes. Looks like its going to be very impressive

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

Thanks mate. Big shame about mass' car. Hope he gets it fixed soon.