Well what a great weekend at Anglesey.
The trip started Thursday lunchtime when we went and picked the trailer up at the local hire place. Packed the car up and headed off the 100 miles or so to the Anglesey circuit, placed right on the edge of the Irish Sea. I had never driven the circuit since the layout was changed in 2008 so took the opportunity to get some practice at the Book-a-track trackday on the Friday before the weekend races. Dropped the car at the track on Thurs night, unloaded the trailer, and headed off for some sleep at a local B+B.
National circuit for whole weekend. Fri morning started dry so did some sighting laps using Toyo 888s. Tricky circuit; very technical at 'rocket' but very very fast at 'school'. 'School' is 5th gear, 80+mph, but the track then runs quite steeply up hill towards 'rocket', where you are braking quite hard whilst going over the crest of the hill into a 90-degree left....a recipe for a rear end lockup if there ever was one. The un-named corner heading onto the TP straight is a swine also; quite steep down hill from 'peel', brake before a late off-camber apex and up the hill again onto the straight.
After first run round, came in and adjusted tyre pressures. Out again and tried some different gear changes. Getting better but tyres were getting mullered by a very abrasive track surface. Changed damper settings. Another run and getting better all the time. Had a run out with a mate in his Lotus 211 - what a car - SO much grip. Awesome experience. Around lunchtime....rain. Reset damper settings and tyre pressures. Track was well slippy. Only thing faster than us on the wet track was an Ariel Atom. Passing some very nice Porsche race cars who were there for the weekend also. Came in after about a dozen laps to check tyres. Front nearside was getting very worn so decided to call it a day as needed to keep some rubber on there in case we had wet races Sat and Sun. One very quick couple of laps on Michelins as the track dried out a little before packing up.
Very tired so early to bed at the B+B. Felt good after trying the circuit out and had some starting setup data for the next day. Some great pictures taken by Book-a-track photographer so will put some of these up soon.
Race Day 1. Event run by Lancashire and Cheshire Car Club and MG Car Club. Weather forecast was for day in the am, and then heavy rain in the pm. So tactic was to get a really good run in straight after practice. We were in the usual 3b (Modified Production 1400-2000) with 2x Pug 205's. 3c had a ex-BBR Sierra Cossie and the BMW M3 from last week at Aintree (now wearing some tyres like mine). Format was to start from the pit lane exit, split time for first flying lap, then run finishes just before pit lane entrance (so nearly 2 laps of the circuit). Soft Michelins fitted.
P1 - 63.69, 129.04 - felt fine, taking it easyish, one corner could be taken in a lower gear probably
T1 - 61.48, 125.98 - absolute stonker - seemed to hook every apex up, gears perfect
LUNCH
T2 - 62.96, 127.40 - not quite as mad as the first run - when came in, noticed that rear hatch screen was trying to make an exit again after coming out at Aintree - obviously I had not given the glue enough time to set - decided to miss the final run to make sure car was able to compete on Day 2.
Result: first in class - 125.98 vs 130.26 in second place. Trophy.
Day 2.
Had duck taped the rear screen in to hopefully hold it in long enough to get some scores on the boards. Weather forecast was dry but cold and sure enough there was a bitter cold wind blowing. Good to see Daz (vrbanana) who came up for the day to take some pictures - I see he has already put one up higher up. Cheers bud! Plan was much the same as the day before. No practice runs were given to those who had been there on day 1 so straight into timed runs.
T1 - SPIN - on second corner 'rocket' - went in as previous but the back end just didn't stick and round it came as I ran out of steering lock. DUH. Need to settle it down a bit as clearly there was less grip than the day before.
T2 - 62.83, 128.46 - good banker lap at steady pace
LUNCH
T3 - 62.31, 127.31 - missed 2 gear changes - calm down!
T4 - 62.65, 127.27 - felt a lot quicker than it was....getting tired
Result: first in class - 127.27 vs 130.36 in second place. Trophy.
So overall a good weekend and because of good time difference to second place car, lots of championship points.
Results after rounds 3 and 4 can be seen here:
http://www.speedchampionship.com/
3rd place in Division 2 so far.
Anglesey results here:
http://www.ty-croes.com/ty-croes.co.uk/
Now to sort out the rear window and get the pickle ready for its next outing. More pics as I get them.
Ave it
Rob
ps - we gotta have a SCN track day here - its just a fantastic place to visit
The trip started Thursday lunchtime when we went and picked the trailer up at the local hire place. Packed the car up and headed off the 100 miles or so to the Anglesey circuit, placed right on the edge of the Irish Sea. I had never driven the circuit since the layout was changed in 2008 so took the opportunity to get some practice at the Book-a-track trackday on the Friday before the weekend races. Dropped the car at the track on Thurs night, unloaded the trailer, and headed off for some sleep at a local B+B.
National circuit for whole weekend. Fri morning started dry so did some sighting laps using Toyo 888s. Tricky circuit; very technical at 'rocket' but very very fast at 'school'. 'School' is 5th gear, 80+mph, but the track then runs quite steeply up hill towards 'rocket', where you are braking quite hard whilst going over the crest of the hill into a 90-degree left....a recipe for a rear end lockup if there ever was one. The un-named corner heading onto the TP straight is a swine also; quite steep down hill from 'peel', brake before a late off-camber apex and up the hill again onto the straight.
After first run round, came in and adjusted tyre pressures. Out again and tried some different gear changes. Getting better but tyres were getting mullered by a very abrasive track surface. Changed damper settings. Another run and getting better all the time. Had a run out with a mate in his Lotus 211 - what a car - SO much grip. Awesome experience. Around lunchtime....rain. Reset damper settings and tyre pressures. Track was well slippy. Only thing faster than us on the wet track was an Ariel Atom. Passing some very nice Porsche race cars who were there for the weekend also. Came in after about a dozen laps to check tyres. Front nearside was getting very worn so decided to call it a day as needed to keep some rubber on there in case we had wet races Sat and Sun. One very quick couple of laps on Michelins as the track dried out a little before packing up.
Very tired so early to bed at the B+B. Felt good after trying the circuit out and had some starting setup data for the next day. Some great pictures taken by Book-a-track photographer so will put some of these up soon.
Race Day 1. Event run by Lancashire and Cheshire Car Club and MG Car Club. Weather forecast was for day in the am, and then heavy rain in the pm. So tactic was to get a really good run in straight after practice. We were in the usual 3b (Modified Production 1400-2000) with 2x Pug 205's. 3c had a ex-BBR Sierra Cossie and the BMW M3 from last week at Aintree (now wearing some tyres like mine). Format was to start from the pit lane exit, split time for first flying lap, then run finishes just before pit lane entrance (so nearly 2 laps of the circuit). Soft Michelins fitted.
P1 - 63.69, 129.04 - felt fine, taking it easyish, one corner could be taken in a lower gear probably
T1 - 61.48, 125.98 - absolute stonker - seemed to hook every apex up, gears perfect
LUNCH
T2 - 62.96, 127.40 - not quite as mad as the first run - when came in, noticed that rear hatch screen was trying to make an exit again after coming out at Aintree - obviously I had not given the glue enough time to set - decided to miss the final run to make sure car was able to compete on Day 2.
Result: first in class - 125.98 vs 130.26 in second place. Trophy.
Day 2.
Had duck taped the rear screen in to hopefully hold it in long enough to get some scores on the boards. Weather forecast was dry but cold and sure enough there was a bitter cold wind blowing. Good to see Daz (vrbanana) who came up for the day to take some pictures - I see he has already put one up higher up. Cheers bud! Plan was much the same as the day before. No practice runs were given to those who had been there on day 1 so straight into timed runs.
T1 - SPIN - on second corner 'rocket' - went in as previous but the back end just didn't stick and round it came as I ran out of steering lock. DUH. Need to settle it down a bit as clearly there was less grip than the day before.
T2 - 62.83, 128.46 - good banker lap at steady pace
LUNCH
T3 - 62.31, 127.31 - missed 2 gear changes - calm down!
T4 - 62.65, 127.27 - felt a lot quicker than it was....getting tired
Result: first in class - 127.27 vs 130.36 in second place. Trophy.
So overall a good weekend and because of good time difference to second place car, lots of championship points.
Results after rounds 3 and 4 can be seen here:
http://www.speedchampionship.com/
3rd place in Division 2 so far.
Anglesey results here:
http://www.ty-croes.com/ty-croes.co.uk/
Now to sort out the rear window and get the pickle ready for its next outing. More pics as I get them.
Ave it
Rob
ps - we gotta have a SCN track day here - its just a fantastic place to visit
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excellent thread!
