28/08/2019
When race cars want to play up, they play up. Sometimes it doesn't matter if you pump in millions like in F1, or you are simply minions like us.
The plan for Donington Time Attack was to run with the recently acquired "Professionally built and maintained" Radical SR8. We had done 2 track days at Donington in the car in preparation and bought a set of Pirelli medium compound tyres specifically for the event. We even bought a set of tyre warmers in case it was cold. The medium compound has virtually zero grip when cold as it is only designed to operate at over 70 deg C
Final prep, a few days before the event included getting soaked at a windy/rainy track night at Knockhill, bedding in new brake pads so we were ready to hit the ground running at Donington. Then the car just said NO. It wouldn't engage reverse gear, not a problem you may think but when we checked the gearbox oil filter, we found bits of broken gear in there. With no time or specialist Radical spares available, we had to go with plan B, the shed built Westfield.
Problem with plan B was it was sitting without an engine, box, clutch, or brakes after the gearbox had been out for repair (after losing 5th gear at Brands)
Not to worry, there's 24hrs in a day, yea, x3 days, should be fine! Car was basically thrown together, best of a bunch of used brake pads fitted, second-hand turbo from the old Impreza spares pile and then treated to some new oil (woooo new oil) Saturday night and it's ready to run so I take it for a drive down our local coast road on the Pirelli wets (yea, car is stock officer, honest) Clutch doesn't disengage properly, brakes are shocking, only have wastegate boost and paddle shift isn't working, oh and there is a fuel line leaking and a smell of hot oil from the turbo. Late night ahead on that snagging list.
Car loaded Sunday AM and we set off to Donington, wondering why the hell we do this sort of stuff. Race fuel hasn't arrived in time so Paul Rankin kindly brings some down with him to the event, Paul also strips bits of boost control stuff from his Impreza to help us hopefully sort out that issue before morning warm up. Then the tyres, we have no mediums or hards, just the softs that have already done Cadwell Park and Brands Hatch rounds, plus a set of Ultrasofts that are already starting to melt, just sitting in the trailer. In summary, preparation level "SHOCKING"
Race day and we head out for warm up, never having run this car at Donington, so we are not sure what to expect from it. Brakes are still shocking and vibrating badly and there is still smoke coming from the turbo but no sign of where from exactly. Just a bit off-putting seeing the smoke each time I turn left. Shakedown done and nothing fell off....bonus. Brakes inspected and it looked like they were still bedding in, so will give them another chance.
Practice session comes and after a further pit stop check for where the hell the smoke is coming from, I just try and pretend it's not there and go to set a lap. The car feels ok'ish, a bit loose at the rear and brake limited but driveable. The traffic is not ideal and most of my laps are aborted part way round. Then there is a red flag. I get decent track position on the restart, not far behind Luke in the Bentley, at least he won't hold me up! I manage a full lap without traffic and post a 1:06.9 wow, nice, already faster than the existing Pro Extreme 4WD lap record, I go for a second lap and hope the tyres don't go off before the end, the last lap I was 130mph through Craners and it was planted, lets go for 140mph this time 😄 by turn 3 the lap timer is showing I am one full second faster but I have fallen into the Craners trap of coming through too fast to get the correct line for the old hairpin, I turn in optimistically at 100mph, giving it a bit throttle (perhaps too early but if I pull this off it will be an amazing run out the turn) nope, the only thing running out was talent as I go mowing the lawn on the exit, hitting a big bump that I'm still feeling the pain from 3 days later. So much for being 1 second up by turn 3!! It was looking good for later though, now I know where the car (and my own) limits are!
Quali comes and the track temp is 46 deg C. I can't keep the back of the car in line on the squidgy soft compound tyres and I'm really lacking traction in the low speed corners, so I turn the boost up a little bit to compensate in the high speed stuff (man logic) The tyres liked that even less though and our best lap was 1:07.48 an official new Pro Extreme lap record (the faster practice time doesn't count towards records)
Lisa cleans the rubber pick up off the abused tyres for the final and notices that some tyres have 4 dots (wear markers) and some don't. Yup, that will be as they have no rubber left on them 🙁 I check track temp and it has dropped to 42 deg, still way too hot for the Ultrasofts but they are all we have, so we put 3 of them on and the best of the destroyed softs on to the left rear (the corner that was melting tyres first)
Final comes and we go out slowly, keeping the heat out of the tyres whilst trying to find track space to do that "one perfect lap" I turn the boost up another click and we clock 146.5mph on the TSL timing back straight speed trap. 153 mph at the end of the pit straight in to T1, our start/finish line speed was also a good few mph up on the next fastest car, so no power worries...…. or so we thought, back straight and the car feels slow, across the line and I'm 20mph down at the end of the straight...… aaargh, wtf. It all sounds ok so I give it another lap and then pull into the pits and we check the car over, eventually finding a broken earth wire on the cam control solenoid (Vtec yo) but there is no time left to do another lap, even if there was, the Purple wall, Ultrasoft tyres would have just fallen apart. Oh well, shouldn't complain, considering the complete lack of prep, a new Pro Extreme lap record is not a bad result!
A big thank you goes out to Paul Rankin for the car parts and fuel, to Steve Henson for taking some heat sleeve off his own actual Time Attack Porsche to help us shield a toasted boost hose! To James Dover for the locking wire etc to allow us to secure some further heat shielding. To the other competitors, in particular Dan Colquitt, for being so observant in the mirrors and making our laps a bit less stressful. Finally to Luke Clayton for supporting the series so well, including the live video feed and also for becoming a target for me! The tables have turned, the score is now 2 - 1. Mallory looks a bit tight for a Bentley though 😉
