A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

[Pushrod King]

Re: !

off the start as usually i pretty much held my own, and had a chuckle to myself as pushrod king did his usual round the outside at druids, richard brent also uses that line to great effect, i guess i might but never seem to end up on that part of teh track, probably because it often requires a risky round the outside line at paddock to set you up for it, anyway kept my foot in until quite late at graham hill thus demoting pushrod to back behind me .

That was the 2nd race Graham,in race one I was in front for nearly 3 laps

[Graham]

Re: !

yes your right nick, i just checked that lap charts,

thinking about it im sure you did the round the ouside line in both races, but it was race two it didnt really benifit you

[Pushrod King]

Re: !

I'd started on the inside for race 2

[david_white]

Re: !

How did cadwell go Graham??

[Graham]

Re: !

made me sick literally!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mervhill]

Re: !

Doesn't sound too good Graham?

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

prior to cadwell, i didnt do much pre event prep,

i dialed an extra 3/4 degree camber into the N/S/F and reset the toe, and went up 50lb on the rear springs, so theres now 450lb in the back, they are also an inch shorter, but for no other reason than short springs weigh less than long ones! resetting the spring platforms to suit the shorter springs i went to click a bit more stiffeness into the dampers, only to find i i was only two clicks off full stiff, no big deal but it does show i need to get the rear dampers re valved, no suprise really when you take into account they were speced for 250lb springs not the 400odd i've been running.

cadwell park is an awesome circuit, its up and down like a roller coaster, very tight in most places increadbly narrow with very little runoff, its so narrow in fact that if you drive down the middle of the track no one can get past! you would defiantaly have to go there several times or spend at least whole day if not more testing to master it

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

practise,

ok off i went with no more idea where the circuit went than what the blue book picture looked like, it has a section called the mountain, and it really does appear to rise vertically you reach it via a short straight and sharp left turn, which almost immediatly makes a tight 90 right, you go over a crest, caterhams will get airbourn, my car just went light at the rear and the revs would rise a bit as the rear slicks struggled for grip, and to put that into perspective my slicks are 245 wide! after that theres a tiny straight which leads you into a woodlands section, its nearly a chicane, but isnt quite, its a 3rd gear right left right left right, litterally yards apart which turns into 120 degree tight right which is , sharply down hil, this sections a killer my stomach didnt like so many violent direction changes, it literally made me feel ill, after that section you went down hill round a long curve, onto the start/finish straight, which then goes steeply uphill to the left, through a righthander which seems to go on forever, down a dip and then uphill again, over a blind creast, through another long righhander, into the gooseneck, another sharp left/right which is obscured by a marshalls post, the gooseneck goes very steeply down hill, steeply enough to make my stomach lurch again, into a nother tight left which leads you via a short straight back to the mountain,

i did about 4 laps of the 2.1 mile circuit, by which time i felt so ill i had to pull into the pits i gave it 5 mins and got back in the car, luckilly we had a long 25 min qualifying session, so i set off again, two laps later i couldnt contain things was actually sick mid corner and pulled off for good,

i did think maybe the sickness was due to early start and emptyish stomach etc, but then several marshalls told me its not unknown for the circuit to do that to some drivers.

with that and not knowing where i was going i expected to of qualified last but i haddnt, i had a silhoutte or two behind me and a bunch of TVR's, my class competitors, both caterhams were a couple of cars ahead grid wise but in terms of lap time way way ahead like 7 and 12 seconds ahead, but they did have the advantages of doing a test day the day before as well as not being sick.

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

race one,

made my usual start neither gaining or loosing any spots, i tried to hang onto my nearest class competitor, john chasey in his caterham, whilst fending off silhiloutte, i got into something of a rhythm but wasnt close enough to johns caterham to get a tow round so i could learn from his lines and braking points and he gradually pulled away, i have to say my car was behaving perfectly i was just my lack of confindence in where i was going that was hampering my lap times, this made worse by the fact that the circuit has very little run off so every corner you can see exactly where you will hit something solid if you go off, that said after a few laps i was in clear air all on my own, as i tired a bit harder into some of the corners a legacy of the new bigger brake calipers seemed to reoccur in that although the car stops better on the new calipers under very hard braking theres now too much bias to the rear and the backends rather loose, not loose enough to turn it round but loose enough to make things a bit scary, i dunno how many laps i did before sick feelings re occured, but they came back with vengence, being in clear air i backed off the pace and decide just to bring it home, well for a couple of laps until my mirrors were full of red TVR which was one that i had peeked at in the paddock so i knew it had a good dose of grunt as it was powered by a triple webered essex V6, not wanting to loose a place i speeded up again, pushing on up the mountain for the second to last time i though i might just make it to the end, passing the last lap board should of been a relief but it seemed to only increase the gag reflex, up the mountain and through the complex for that last time i actually had my left hand in my mouth and was driving one handed, as we hit the start straight for the last time i couldnt keep things in any more and literally my way over the finish.

back in the paddock my son stephen did a grand job of trying to clean things up, seat belst helmet overalls, balaclava etc etc,

the results sheets came round i cant remember where i finished and have lost the sheet, but i'd lopped best part of 7 seconds on my practise time, one of the other competitors gave me some anti sickness pills and i drunk some water, although it was doubtfull the pills would have enough time work before race two.

race two

normallish start except me pulling off in 3rd on the green flag lap! amazingly the car did albe it a bit slowly, this time i stuck closer to john chaseys caterham, a mistake on my part allowed teh red TVR through, determined not to allow it to stay ahead i pushed on hard, a bit too hard and got very out of shape going up the mounting, i caught it but the engine had died, i still had dash lights and it cranked, thinking it was dead i rolled back/was pushed by the marshalls onto the grass by the pit entrance and unbuckled my belt to get out when i spotted somehow i'd turned the ecu off, i dunno how as the switch is almost behind me and difficult to reach intensionally, flicking the switch back on and hitting the start button she fired up and a buckled up, that whole sequence felt like it took 5 mins but it was only about 90 seconds as i rejoined the track just behind (although a lap down) john and infront of the red tvr, i knew i was now last but what the hell i was there to race and race i was going to, my guts had other ideas through and a lap later i reached big time and yes you guess it more with nowhere to pull off safely i finished the lap gagging the whole way round and pulled off.

so to sum up a great track if you can stand going round and round on roller coasters ( richard brent who had come up to do the tin top race had the same problems as me just not quite such drastic consiquences) we didnt take any tire temps, simply because i was either ill or its such a long way from the finish back to the paddock its pointless, but the changes i've made to the car bode well for the next meeting at brands which is only a week away

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

it was nice to meet jon betts at cadwell,

he took some nice pics, there on his facebook http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...6672224&page=5

gary has linked some of them too mine http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...?id=1183878718

[mervhill]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

Ah jeez, that's not nice Graham, I expect the motion sickness pills will probably work better if you take them with plenty of time. As I'm sure you know, it's the reason a lot of rally drivers/co drivers get sick because of the constant direction changes etc. You'll know for next time!!

[Pushrod King]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

Graham I feel just reading your reports! Well done on finishing race 1 I haven't got a facebook account but will try and look at the pics through one of my daughters accounts....................Hope they don't show any puke

[david_white]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

Sounds like an interesting day Graham At least the car is fit and well for Brands next week, just make sure you dry clean your suit and let some air get to the car before I go near it

[Tristan]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

Air sickness tablets will sort you out Graham . Most rally navigators have had to use them , one good brand is Quells , over the counter in the chemist . My navi was in an awful way after our first road rally , taking Quells sorted him ever after .

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, 240bhp Atmo M10

prior to brands i did very little prep to the car, in fact all i did was to tweek the length of the pushrod for the front brake master cylinder, lengthening it a bit, which should give a bit more front bias.

once again numbers were a bit short in my class, dunno why a class which can have a 16v 2.0 should be bursting at the seams with cars, anyway practise went without any incident or drama, i qualified with a 55.3 second lap, which was ok but not great,to be honest i wasnt being brave enough on the brakes into paddock, but having been playing with the pedal box i wasnt going to really push them and most laps i never got a really clean lap in anyway, classwise this qualified me 2nd in class behind martin johnstones cive type R which was actually being driven by greg rose, a very quick man in any car, and ahead of lee mcnair's integra type r,

race 1, the rolling start was a fairly slow one, the pace being set by rod birley who was on pole as usual, i suspect the slow, still 3rd gear though! was deliberate on rods behalf, knowing that it would catch the skylines off boost, for me the start speed was spot on, just on cam in 3rd leaving me plenty of gear left, so i was right in the thick of it when we hit the first corner paddock hill bend, which dissappeared in a cloud of cement dust as there was a great trail of oil round it right on the racing line, keeping my foot in and my nerve i'd made several places up, notably i was ahead of both bill richards and richard brent, and ahead of a 2.7 4wd Audi, despite the car still showing a lack of traction out of graham hill bend and clearways i held my position, even tucked in right behind me taking advantage of the big hole my car leaves in the air richard couldnt do anything about be down the straight, lap 3 he tucked in really tight and pulled out just as we hit the braking zone, i could of probably forced the issue and kept my place but i was still rather weiry of the oil slick on circuit, i didnt want to risk a trip into the kitty litter especially as richard and i arnt in the same class anyway. i kept bill behind me for a bit longer, but his KAD engined 500kg mini is really hard for me to live with and he slipped through, well for a few laps anyway when it developed a missfire and i retook the place, too my suprise i was still holding off the 4wd audi with relative ease, near the end of the race his tyres appeared to wake up he too passed me, and thats about it i had started 18th and finished 12th, best lap of 54.6, still 2nd in class.

race two,

this was set up to be class wise a tight one for me, having lee mcnair in his honda just behind me and greg rose in the other honda just in front, i know i should be able to get into the 53's but getting to a low 53 as required to catch greg was going to be hard, and i know that lees honda could match my lap times, the start was pretty static position wise and i had lee on my tail,
a few laps in pushed a bit hard into clearways and went a little wide, giving lee a gap up the inside, that wasnt a great issue as such but struggling for traction robbed me of vital acceration and alowed lee right alongside me, as our cars have identical straightline speed it gave lee the inside line into paddock and the place, im sure i would of been able to catch him and had a good chance to retake the position but an almighty shunt redflagged the race and that was it race over after only 7 laps, my best lap time had improved to a 54.4 with more to come, after the purpertrator of the shunt was excluded from the results i finished 9th overal, which ordinarilly id be delighted with, but due to the incident it was nothing to smile about.

theres some on board footage from lees honda

http://www.youtube.com/user/leemig

http://www.youtube.com/user/leemig