Aintree Sprint - 28th April 2018

Yesterday marked another of our first forays onto new tarmac. I've never pedaled Aintree before but YouTube research suggested only one thing, it's fast. It might only be three corners, but bloody hell they are three very fast corners. In its heyday it was a Grand Prix circuit with it being graced with the likes of Clark & Brabham. The tarmac is bumpy and extremely wide, with some surprising hips. Everything that increasing speed highlights and adds to the danger/fun. When we arrived and set off to walk the track in the morning, we couldn't believe the size of it...

Very intimidating place. Even though there's lots of run off, it would be very easy to whistle very far into the distance and into disaster. Cars prepped and ready to rock.

Signing on and taking in some much needed advice from the old school training board.

Walking out of signing on we bumped into a familiar face, Mr Rowe. A veteran in the S2000 in the Sprints and Hill Climb scene, a very talented driver with a numerous of wins, trophies and records. He noticed we were registered in the 1D class and decided to change his entry join us. Originally destined to use his Peugeot, he thought he would have more fun tussling with a few more in his class.

Returning to our cars we get talking to a few more of the competitors, and its apparent that nearly everyone is seasoned drivers here with well equipped cars. One of the MX5's was running with some serious engine work, super glorious sounding cams in the 2.0 Duratec. These things can comfortably run 260BHP with solid cams, and I expected that's exactly what this chap had nestled in the bay. With all the veterans and cars with us, I felt like we were in for a smacking. Oh well, at least its a sunny day... hahaha

After all the briefings and certain amount of caution instilled, we tackled our first practice runs.

What an awesome stretch of road. Its terrifyingly fast around the bends, I had no idea where to effectively turn in, brake or power. Bit of a cluster for the first chuck around the circuit, but set a very reasonable time of 55.82. Into practice 2 I managed to shave another 1.67s off with a 54.15. Things were starting to drop into place however I was still struggling to find the right way to tackle everything comfortably. Before lunch break the first timed runs were called and off we went....

Unfortunately due to about 10 minutes sat waiting on the start line due to an issue on track I forgot to start my camera. Tyres were cold from the burnout due to the wait, but hey ho off we go. Set a very reasonable 53.60, which ended up being my fastest time of the day due to a series of calamities on the remaining tries. Run 2 I ended up with a tail out into the first corner, Run 3 I had a spectacular drift around Beechers and Run 4 I managed to find 5th gear successfully three times in a row instead of 3rd.

Dori Dori....

Despite all the little mistakes the day was amazing fun with some great company. It was great to have Mr.Rowe there to learn from and have a good bench mark of how I should be pedaling in the years to come. With the collected first run I managed to secure 2nd place (53.60s), and Ray managed to take 3rd (54.35s). Mr.Rowe took 1st (53.14s) meaning that it was a 1st, 2nd 3rd S2K finish. Really looking forward to tackling Aintree again. Its a lot of fun for three bends. Big thanks to everyone who came along and made the day special. Cheers chaps.

Colour Coordinating

Over the winter period we finally got around to tackling the rust on the drivers rear arch. Its something I wanted to do for a long time, but struggled to find the right opportunity. With a bit of break over the Christmas period, Ray had a spare slot in the garage before it was taken up by another restoration job. I booked some time off and did what I could under the advisement of Ray to get the job done. I tried to document the process as best as I could on S2KI (Rear Arch Repair - Daytona Autos), for a reference to other owners. 

Here's some snaps from the work;

Given the cost and price of paint, well at least a good paint job, wrap seemed like the right answer. With the time constraints and season upon us, I decided to wrap a basic livery to cover the primer until a full wrap next year. So far its looking good with quite a bit of work remaining. It was great to have the chaps down at Daytona give me a hand getting it done, especially Ray for the materials/help/garage time and Chris for his calm approach. Chris does this sort of thing for a living, so isn't prone to panicking.

More work to come with finishing details...... 

Loton Park Hill Climb - 14th April 2018

Yesterday marked our first championship outing under the ANWCC and our first competitive climb at Loton. A couple of years ago we attended a school day here as we were beginning our racing lives and fell in love with the place. Its a shame it took so long for us to return for an event, but it was most certainly worth the wait.

We arrived (as usual) early to the track so we could walk to course and get a feel for grip/corners. Walking up the hill it reminded us of how tight the course is and any mistakes into the scenery would likely involve a tow truck home. There is barely any room for error and in most places you could lay down and touch both ends of the tarmac. Under foot we could feel the wet conditions hadn't lifted over night, leaving a very greasy tree sap covered surface. 

Back down the hill we gathered ourselves and headed out for the new drivers briefing. Usual stuff, be safe, red means stop and oh yeah this is probably the UK's most demanding hill climb. Oh tits. As we discovered heading out on our first practice, what a scary place. The greasy conditions meant no grip and plenty of tail action on an already limited width. The launch felt fairly clean with an expected amount of slip but as soon as I hit the brakes for the 1st turn, I thought I was going to have to use the bailout gate. It just whistled on with the ABS going crazy making sure I was awake. Surprisingly at this point me and Ray were splitting the pack. I expected the FWD cars in this condition to slaughter us (also regulars at Loton), but we were holding our own. 

Que practice two with drying conditions from plenty of cars covering the track with accompanying sunshine, we both shaved a healthy amount of time of practice one. Ray chipped off nearly 5 seconds and with me seeing 7 seconds of the first outing putting me in 4th in class. Nerves bubbled over dinner waiting to start the first timed runs. Sat on the start line for the first timed run, I was nervous. Given the changes between practices, I wasn't sure where the grip was going to be or how/where to attack. Well this is how it looked.....

Amazing I had managed to squeak into 2nd placed just a head of a very fast MK3 MX5 by 0.05s. The fiesta had a blistering run setting a 62.68 (a PB I overheard, may be wrong). The super fast clio had a bad run, going off circuit. At this point I was expecting the MX5 and Clio to put in a solid second run, pushing me out of the top spots. Sun continued to bless the track, leaving a mostly warm and dry surface. Lining up for run 2 I was thinking the other chaps were going to push me out so try just push a little and learn more about the course. I again exceeded the first corner braking point as maximum grip had clearly not arrived yet on that bend. The rest of the pedal felt a bit scruffy, but surprisingly I shaved off nearly 2/10ths. Ray had a cracking final pedal apart from a mystery gear change we he felt robbed him of a 63s lap. Overall he managed to chip away a set 64.34 putting him in the 8th out of 18 cars. The spread for the top 8 was very tight over about a 1s difference. Unfortunately the other chaps failed to improve on 1st timings, meaning I took 2nd place in my first ever attempt at Loton. Chuffed is an understatement.

 I'm really happy with the days events and bowled over with the results. We both had a cracking pedal and its been a joy to final climb Loton. We both now have some datum points to work from and try improve over the coming years. I want to say a massive thank you to Ray for helping get the car prepared and making it such a fun and exciting day. Big cheers to my Dad for coming along to support as well as the usual reprobates (Lee, Alex & G). Thanks to Lee for the action snaps.