Another great weekend hillclimbing slightly marred by the weather on saturday. It started off wet so we were running on cut slicks for the morning runs. Dee really has put the demons of her accident to bed and proved it by some really brave wet practice runs.

I have been using these meetings to try to overcome some bad habits that I have aquired, like braking too early and hard for the entry into Karousel rather than concentrating on a class win each time. The thinking behind this is that if I can lose the bad habits then the times are going to be quicker automatically and then I can concentrate on chipping away at times, corner speeds and brake points.

As the first timed runs in the afternoon took place it was dry enough for the dry slick tyres so after Dee bought the car back to the paddock with a big smile, she had just posted a 45 second run again, I took the car up to the line.

A good start and just a lift off the throttle into hollow and Karousel was approaching. As I turned into the right handed Karousel 1 the rear of the car stepped out of line 2 wheels were on the grass. Undeterred I pushed on to the finish and stopped the clock at a respectable 38.82

I was happy with that time considering the episode in Karousel. There was only half a second covering the top 3 in the class.

 

The second run was a little different. As I sat on the startline it had started to rain and I frustratingly watched the rest of the class get a dry run. As I left the line it was raining hard enough for me to have the wipers on.

Needless to say the track was rapidly getting slippery so I was surprised to still post a 43 second run.

 

Sunday dawned wet. After spending an hour the previous evening planing my rear tyres in an attempt to get some more grip from them it looked like I was not going to need them today.

Again I was surprised and pleased to stop the clock at 39 seconds on my first practice. And even better the sun was out.

Second practice was a 37 second run and after the first timed run in the afternoon I was leading the class on a 36.97

I sat on the line for the final run and had convinced myself that there was no need to come off the throttle at all in hollow bend. It was a massive fight with my right foot to keep it planted on the throttle but  I succeeded.

Karousel was now approaching and I recall seeing two black skid marks leading straight on into the straw bales. I thought I have to get the car to turn into the corner and stood too hard on the brakes.

The rear brakes locked and started to slide, the front of the car turned into the karousel and for a brief moment I thought that I had got away with it but the engine had stalled when the rear wheels locked so I had no drive to push the car round the corner. Instead the rear of the car tried to overtake the front and we stopped at 90 degrees to the track but not damaged.

I restarted the engine and drove to the top of the hill hoping that I had done enough on my first run to keep the lead. Sadly the 5 ltr TVR tried 6 hundreths of a second harder and took the win from me.

 

I have to now fit a control valve into the rear brake line to restrict the amount of work that the rear brakes are doing to stop that happening again.

 

The next event is at Longleat on the 5th and 6th of July followed by Gurston on the 20th and then Wiscome(nr Honiton on the 26th/27th)

A busy month but hopefully we will have some dry days and I can get some tetsing done on the brakes to sort out a better balance.

 

Hope to see you soon 

Ben and Dee

 

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