- 24,332
- It/It
- GTP_TheCracker
Plenty of luck ...all of it bad
Round 1 - Donington Park - March 30th
An engine re-build and reinstalation of the interior of the car over the winter ment the car was at least looking the part when we turned up at what is probably my local track, Donington Park. It is also the circuit that i last competed at in the back end of last Summer, so i should have at least been more up to speed this time.
Qualifying time came and i went out onto the circuit only to find that the brake bias was still mostly set to the rear. Itshould really be 75% to the front, 25% to the rear - but felt more like 45% front, 55% rear using the technically advanced bias checking method of feeling the heat coming off the brakes by putting your bare hand next to the wheels in parc ferme after the session. Still, i managed to qualify 9th on the grid, only a couple of seconds off pole. We wound the bias back towards the front before the race and began to get hopeful of a well overdue good result.
Out on the grid, lining up for the start, i found myself thankfully on a inside grid position. You can easily find yourself being pushed out onto the grass if you start from an outside slot. Unfortunately the rev counter decided to stop working as the lights came on and my 4500-5000 revs start was probably nearer a 6000-6500 start which just lit up the rears as the lights went out. By the time i'd got down to the first turn i'd been swamped and was probably 5th from the back with a couple of cars alongside but inside of me on the track. Naturally i got ushered out onto the grass and even as far as the edge of the gravel trap. Worse still the as i went down through the Craner Curves and started braking for the Old Hairpin, i found the brakes were now probably biased 80+% towards the rear meaning almost instant rear lock-ups and lots of frantic sideways action going into the corner. By the time i'd got to Starkey's Straight i'd clawed back some time but when i began braking for the Goddards chicane i suffered a massive lock-up at the back and had to swerve down the disused Melbourne Hairpin section of track to avoid taking out half the field! I rejoined the circuit but was well behind the pack by then.
As the rest of the race panned out in a similar fashion - me losing the back end almost everytime i went into a corner - i soon found myself running on my own with 2 or 3 slower cars someway behind me and everyone else spread out someway infront of me. It ended up being a lonely if exciting event in the end. My quickest lap was even a whole 3 seconds slower than the time i qualified with. I felt like i was going quicker, i was certainly carrying more speed through the turns, but struggling to get the car slowed using practically only the smaller rear brakes upto 5 times per lap was bound to take it's toll on my times.
Round 2 - Cadwell Park - April 13th
The weather forecast for this pretty Lincolnshire circuit was rain. Rain is not what you want on this tight hilly circuit with plenty of overhanging trees and precious little run-off areas. Still, by the time qualifying came around the rain had still not arrived which suited me fine having virtually no experience of driving here i didn't want to learn the track in the wet. Out on the circuit it became clear that the persistent brake bias issue had still not been resolved, the car was still braking mainly from the rear, although not as much as previously. I spent the first couple of laps slowing to let others past - not really wanting to involve anyone else in my sideways pre-corner activities. There are several tricky fast corners at Cadwell that take a lot of practice to master (or even find a half decent line through) mostly because they have either a blind entry or even a blind exit. It was such a corner, Chris Curve, that after about 5 or 6 laps in i found myself carrying too much speed through and not leaving myself enough braking room for the tricky Gooseneck 'chicane'. The following video shows just what can happen in those circumstances.
(Video to follow... watch this space)
I'd been following a couple of other Cortinas before this point to try and learn some suitable lines. After the spin they had obviously disappeared and i was left to find my own lines. Unfortunately it began to rain up at the top end of the track and i knew it was getting towards the end of the session so i pulled off into the pits. As mentioned before, Cadwell is a tight, twisty hilly track and i was also beginning to feel quite ill. In retrospect pulling in was a much better idea then carrying on in the rain with a balaclava full of sick. I qualified near the back of a badly attended field.
We had a lengthy gap between qualifying and the race, time enough to bypass the brake balance dial and try to reset it on the actual brake balance bar in the pedal box. This was done and the brakes were bled just to be sure that they'd finally be working in time for the race.
It had also hammered it down between race and qualifying but thankfully the track was starting to dry out by the time i went out on the grid formation lap. I pumped the brakes to try to get a feel for what they were doing but the engine seemed to be struggling slightly, almost stalling up over the mountain. Coming round the final turn and onto the grid the engine was really fighting to keep running, i wasn't overly concerned - it is a race engine after all and designed to run best at high revs so they can often feel fluffy when running around slowly.
The lights came on, i had the revs balanced at a perfect 4500, the lights went out and i dropped the clutch. You usually get a second or so of wheel spin at this point. I was left on the grid with the rear lit up like a top fuel dragster doing a burnout whilst the rest of the field disappeared off into the distance. Eventually the tyres caught and i set off after them. It soon became apparent things were not quite right, the engine was fighting to keep the car moving. I realized it was the brakes just a couple of seconds too late to pull off the track in a suitable location, before the front calipers totally locked and left me stranded on the almost blind apex to the first corner. The race was red flagged and i was left slightly red faced.
It turns out that the brake balance problems were not the complete story. The master cylinders had began to deteriorate inside and the pistons had been jamming. Still, better they fully jammed on the grid then jamming on a damp, curved heavy braking area as they could quite easily have done.
Round 3 - Silverstone - May 10th
My step brothers turn this time on one of Silverstone's many circuit layouts - the 'international' circuit. Some new master brake cylinders had been fitted between Cadwell and here, along with a smart new FIA approved (added whips and chains?) race seat with head protection 'ears' some new magnesium Minilites wrapped in a fresh set of tyres . Qualifying and the race were to be on the Sunday but we went down earlier on the Saturday since the club was hosting an awards ceremony do. This gave us plenty of time to give the car a really good valet - something it's been in need of for ages. Awards were given out to the previous seasons winners and booze and food flowed freely 👍 - we even had a projector set up showing in-car footage from last season and this, including my eventful Cadwell Park qualifying effort with accompanying cheers when i spun. 👎
Qualifying comes and goes whilst i stand watching from the complex after Bridge. He's not as quick as he should be so there must still be problems. Back in the paddock it would appear that the brakes are still not quite working right. This has been added to by the engine misfiring, the rev counter working intermittently and something else that i can't remember but got fixed before the race. The brakes were re-bled and bias adjusted at the pedal-box but the engine misfiring was a strange one. The engine would rev cleanly when stationary but would backfire when moving and under load.
Kindly supplied by friend-of-Famine
He went out for the race later that day with most of the problems solved or thought to be solved but as the race started it soon became apparent that all was not good with the engine. The car was still intermittently misfiring so he retired into the pits after a couple of slow laps. On the up side, the brakes did seem to be finally working as they should...
Round 4 - Snetterton - June 1st
We had a fair trek down to Snetterton, which included picking up the car from the engine builder where it had been dropped off after the last rounds misfiring problems and a detour back to Silverstone to pick up a fresh racing battery we eventually arrived in sunny Norfolk about seven hours after i got picked up.
Everything seemed to be coming right for us finally. The engine was running perfectly after it was discovered that the previously inconsistent rev counter had a piece of wiring where the sheathing had rubbed or burnt off and was shorting on the bodywork when the car moved around making the engine misfire due to a shorting power supply. We also had a secret weapon. My step brother is good mates with a young up-and-coming driver called Craig Dolby. He is highly likely to be driving in the new Superleague Formula, which begins later this summer, but in the meantime he's been employed by the Astromega team as a driver-coach to some of their other less experienced drivers. This weekend he was going to be our coach 👍 We walked the circuit that evening with Craig and he showed us the best lines and overtaking spots and a few tricks where time can be saved.
Come Sunday morning things were still looking good, the weather had kept dry (it was ment to rain) and we had worked out a race and qualifying strategy - it was a 40 minute, two driver race and i had elected to go out in qualifying first and also begin the race. With me being slightly bigger than my step bro it's quicker for him to tighten the seat belts then it is for me to try to loosen them (they tighten much easier then they loosen).
The qualifying session went well, i went out first and put us a very competitive 6th on the grid on my forth lap, before getting stuck behind another driver who seemed to have had inherited my previous sideways-into-the-braking-zone skillz. Things were looking good for the race. I'd been taking it easy on the car and had been using 3rd gear coming onto the long back straight where i should have used 2nd. This could have added at least a second onto my lap times. The brakes were also feeling much better now with no lock-ups at the rear, although they were still ever so slightly warmer at the back after the session had finished.
I'll let the following video sum up what happened in the race:
I spent thirty nine and a half minutes of the forty minute race stood behind the barriers
Turns out that the little metal screw on cap that holds the gear lever in the selector forks had unscrewed itself, probably just through vibration, leaving the loose gear stick in my hand like Harry Potter's wand. Not so magic.
At least it left no lasting damage.
On the upside of all this frustration, i've just found out that the club has shoe-horned in an extra non-championship round on the 5th & 6th of July at Silverstone. Apparently we'll be supported at this round by some obscure race series known as the FIA Formula One Championship - it will nice for them and their spectators to enjoy some real racing that weekend
Round 1 - Donington Park - March 30th
An engine re-build and reinstalation of the interior of the car over the winter ment the car was at least looking the part when we turned up at what is probably my local track, Donington Park. It is also the circuit that i last competed at in the back end of last Summer, so i should have at least been more up to speed this time.
Qualifying time came and i went out onto the circuit only to find that the brake bias was still mostly set to the rear. Itshould really be 75% to the front, 25% to the rear - but felt more like 45% front, 55% rear using the technically advanced bias checking method of feeling the heat coming off the brakes by putting your bare hand next to the wheels in parc ferme after the session. Still, i managed to qualify 9th on the grid, only a couple of seconds off pole. We wound the bias back towards the front before the race and began to get hopeful of a well overdue good result.
Out on the grid, lining up for the start, i found myself thankfully on a inside grid position. You can easily find yourself being pushed out onto the grass if you start from an outside slot. Unfortunately the rev counter decided to stop working as the lights came on and my 4500-5000 revs start was probably nearer a 6000-6500 start which just lit up the rears as the lights went out. By the time i'd got down to the first turn i'd been swamped and was probably 5th from the back with a couple of cars alongside but inside of me on the track. Naturally i got ushered out onto the grass and even as far as the edge of the gravel trap. Worse still the as i went down through the Craner Curves and started braking for the Old Hairpin, i found the brakes were now probably biased 80+% towards the rear meaning almost instant rear lock-ups and lots of frantic sideways action going into the corner. By the time i'd got to Starkey's Straight i'd clawed back some time but when i began braking for the Goddards chicane i suffered a massive lock-up at the back and had to swerve down the disused Melbourne Hairpin section of track to avoid taking out half the field! I rejoined the circuit but was well behind the pack by then.
As the rest of the race panned out in a similar fashion - me losing the back end almost everytime i went into a corner - i soon found myself running on my own with 2 or 3 slower cars someway behind me and everyone else spread out someway infront of me. It ended up being a lonely if exciting event in the end. My quickest lap was even a whole 3 seconds slower than the time i qualified with. I felt like i was going quicker, i was certainly carrying more speed through the turns, but struggling to get the car slowed using practically only the smaller rear brakes upto 5 times per lap was bound to take it's toll on my times.
Round 2 - Cadwell Park - April 13th
The weather forecast for this pretty Lincolnshire circuit was rain. Rain is not what you want on this tight hilly circuit with plenty of overhanging trees and precious little run-off areas. Still, by the time qualifying came around the rain had still not arrived which suited me fine having virtually no experience of driving here i didn't want to learn the track in the wet. Out on the circuit it became clear that the persistent brake bias issue had still not been resolved, the car was still braking mainly from the rear, although not as much as previously. I spent the first couple of laps slowing to let others past - not really wanting to involve anyone else in my sideways pre-corner activities. There are several tricky fast corners at Cadwell that take a lot of practice to master (or even find a half decent line through) mostly because they have either a blind entry or even a blind exit. It was such a corner, Chris Curve, that after about 5 or 6 laps in i found myself carrying too much speed through and not leaving myself enough braking room for the tricky Gooseneck 'chicane'. The following video shows just what can happen in those circumstances.
(Video to follow... watch this space)
I'd been following a couple of other Cortinas before this point to try and learn some suitable lines. After the spin they had obviously disappeared and i was left to find my own lines. Unfortunately it began to rain up at the top end of the track and i knew it was getting towards the end of the session so i pulled off into the pits. As mentioned before, Cadwell is a tight, twisty hilly track and i was also beginning to feel quite ill. In retrospect pulling in was a much better idea then carrying on in the rain with a balaclava full of sick. I qualified near the back of a badly attended field.
We had a lengthy gap between qualifying and the race, time enough to bypass the brake balance dial and try to reset it on the actual brake balance bar in the pedal box. This was done and the brakes were bled just to be sure that they'd finally be working in time for the race.
It had also hammered it down between race and qualifying but thankfully the track was starting to dry out by the time i went out on the grid formation lap. I pumped the brakes to try to get a feel for what they were doing but the engine seemed to be struggling slightly, almost stalling up over the mountain. Coming round the final turn and onto the grid the engine was really fighting to keep running, i wasn't overly concerned - it is a race engine after all and designed to run best at high revs so they can often feel fluffy when running around slowly.
The lights came on, i had the revs balanced at a perfect 4500, the lights went out and i dropped the clutch. You usually get a second or so of wheel spin at this point. I was left on the grid with the rear lit up like a top fuel dragster doing a burnout whilst the rest of the field disappeared off into the distance. Eventually the tyres caught and i set off after them. It soon became apparent things were not quite right, the engine was fighting to keep the car moving. I realized it was the brakes just a couple of seconds too late to pull off the track in a suitable location, before the front calipers totally locked and left me stranded on the almost blind apex to the first corner. The race was red flagged and i was left slightly red faced.
It turns out that the brake balance problems were not the complete story. The master cylinders had began to deteriorate inside and the pistons had been jamming. Still, better they fully jammed on the grid then jamming on a damp, curved heavy braking area as they could quite easily have done.
Round 3 - Silverstone - May 10th
My step brothers turn this time on one of Silverstone's many circuit layouts - the 'international' circuit. Some new master brake cylinders had been fitted between Cadwell and here, along with a smart new FIA approved (added whips and chains?) race seat with head protection 'ears' some new magnesium Minilites wrapped in a fresh set of tyres . Qualifying and the race were to be on the Sunday but we went down earlier on the Saturday since the club was hosting an awards ceremony do. This gave us plenty of time to give the car a really good valet - something it's been in need of for ages. Awards were given out to the previous seasons winners and booze and food flowed freely 👍 - we even had a projector set up showing in-car footage from last season and this, including my eventful Cadwell Park qualifying effort with accompanying cheers when i spun. 👎
Qualifying comes and goes whilst i stand watching from the complex after Bridge. He's not as quick as he should be so there must still be problems. Back in the paddock it would appear that the brakes are still not quite working right. This has been added to by the engine misfiring, the rev counter working intermittently and something else that i can't remember but got fixed before the race. The brakes were re-bled and bias adjusted at the pedal-box but the engine misfiring was a strange one. The engine would rev cleanly when stationary but would backfire when moving and under load.
Kindly supplied by friend-of-Famine
He went out for the race later that day with most of the problems solved or thought to be solved but as the race started it soon became apparent that all was not good with the engine. The car was still intermittently misfiring so he retired into the pits after a couple of slow laps. On the up side, the brakes did seem to be finally working as they should...
Round 4 - Snetterton - June 1st
We had a fair trek down to Snetterton, which included picking up the car from the engine builder where it had been dropped off after the last rounds misfiring problems and a detour back to Silverstone to pick up a fresh racing battery we eventually arrived in sunny Norfolk about seven hours after i got picked up.
Everything seemed to be coming right for us finally. The engine was running perfectly after it was discovered that the previously inconsistent rev counter had a piece of wiring where the sheathing had rubbed or burnt off and was shorting on the bodywork when the car moved around making the engine misfire due to a shorting power supply. We also had a secret weapon. My step brother is good mates with a young up-and-coming driver called Craig Dolby. He is highly likely to be driving in the new Superleague Formula, which begins later this summer, but in the meantime he's been employed by the Astromega team as a driver-coach to some of their other less experienced drivers. This weekend he was going to be our coach 👍 We walked the circuit that evening with Craig and he showed us the best lines and overtaking spots and a few tricks where time can be saved.
Come Sunday morning things were still looking good, the weather had kept dry (it was ment to rain) and we had worked out a race and qualifying strategy - it was a 40 minute, two driver race and i had elected to go out in qualifying first and also begin the race. With me being slightly bigger than my step bro it's quicker for him to tighten the seat belts then it is for me to try to loosen them (they tighten much easier then they loosen).
The qualifying session went well, i went out first and put us a very competitive 6th on the grid on my forth lap, before getting stuck behind another driver who seemed to have had inherited my previous sideways-into-the-braking-zone skillz. Things were looking good for the race. I'd been taking it easy on the car and had been using 3rd gear coming onto the long back straight where i should have used 2nd. This could have added at least a second onto my lap times. The brakes were also feeling much better now with no lock-ups at the rear, although they were still ever so slightly warmer at the back after the session had finished.
I'll let the following video sum up what happened in the race:
I spent thirty nine and a half minutes of the forty minute race stood behind the barriers
Turns out that the little metal screw on cap that holds the gear lever in the selector forks had unscrewed itself, probably just through vibration, leaving the loose gear stick in my hand like Harry Potter's wand. Not so magic.
At least it left no lasting damage.
On the upside of all this frustration, i've just found out that the club has shoe-horned in an extra non-championship round on the 5th & 6th of July at Silverstone. Apparently we'll be supported at this round by some obscure race series known as the FIA Formula One Championship - it will nice for them and their spectators to enjoy some real racing that weekend
- shame about the misfortunes, though, but still a great experience nevertheless, I'd imagine!!. I bet it makes you appreciate the frustration any driver must feel if they are forced to retire from a race, esp. so near the start, and when you've gone to so much effort even just getting to the start. Still, hope you enjoy more success in the future, and great news about the extra meet. Perhaps Max Mosley can inspect your car for you, if he's not too busy...
...same as everyone else, 1965...
