News from our racing driver following the Oulton Park meeting last weekend:-
Well what started off as a very promising race day ended in complete disaster.
As I mentioned last week the car was ready and I was happy with it during qualifying, I had no one around me that was quick enough to follow (the trick is to let them drag you around so you learn the racing lines and braking points) so I made my own way around and tried my best – I recorded a time of 2.08m, over 2 seconds quicker than anyone in my class which I was obviously very happy about.
It was a mega hot day and I was afraid the tyres might start to lose their grip towards the end of the race so I adjusted my tyre pressures accordingly. The hot weather meant there was little cool air to flow through the radiator so I would have to keep an eye on my water temperature gauge as well.
When the race got underway I started well and held position into the first corner, I soon caught the cars in front and started picking my way through them – I had started in 10th place overall at the beginning and by the 4th lap I was up to 4th overall!
The car was going really well and I had pulled some pretty outrageous manoeuvres to get to 4th place on much faster cars when I slightly over revved the engine whilst changing down the gears for a slower chicane. As I accelerated out of the corner I changed from 3rd to 4th gear and the gearbox got stuck in 4th so when I went to change into 5th on the long straight up to the fast Druids Corner it wouldn’t go in and the engine got over revved again causing the con rod bolts to snap clean in half. The con rod exited through the top of the engine leaving a piston sized hole in the engine block.
The next round is in only 2 weeks and I need to completely rebuild the engine block.
Wayne our hearts went out to you. Good luck with the re-build and we will be routing for you again at your next meeting in a couple of weeks at Rockingham. As that old Latin saying goes Illegitimi Non Carborundum – in other words Wayne don’t let the bastards grind you down!
Well what started off as a very promising race day ended in complete disaster.
As I mentioned last week the car was ready and I was happy with it during qualifying, I had no one around me that was quick enough to follow (the trick is to let them drag you around so you learn the racing lines and braking points) so I made my own way around and tried my best – I recorded a time of 2.08m, over 2 seconds quicker than anyone in my class which I was obviously very happy about.
It was a mega hot day and I was afraid the tyres might start to lose their grip towards the end of the race so I adjusted my tyre pressures accordingly. The hot weather meant there was little cool air to flow through the radiator so I would have to keep an eye on my water temperature gauge as well.
When the race got underway I started well and held position into the first corner, I soon caught the cars in front and started picking my way through them – I had started in 10th place overall at the beginning and by the 4th lap I was up to 4th overall!
The car was going really well and I had pulled some pretty outrageous manoeuvres to get to 4th place on much faster cars when I slightly over revved the engine whilst changing down the gears for a slower chicane. As I accelerated out of the corner I changed from 3rd to 4th gear and the gearbox got stuck in 4th so when I went to change into 5th on the long straight up to the fast Druids Corner it wouldn’t go in and the engine got over revved again causing the con rod bolts to snap clean in half. The con rod exited through the top of the engine leaving a piston sized hole in the engine block.
The next round is in only 2 weeks and I need to completely rebuild the engine block.
Wayne our hearts went out to you. Good luck with the re-build and we will be routing for you again at your next meeting in a couple of weeks at Rockingham. As that old Latin saying goes Illegitimi Non Carborundum – in other words Wayne don’t let the bastards grind you down!
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