This was my first ever sprint in the Minor at a purpose made sprint track at Curborough near Lichfield. Details of the sprint track including track plan and aerial photographs can be found HERE
Curborough Sprint Track (from www.curborough.co.uk
)
My car in the paddock at Curborough. The cars along side me show the normal
competition in
my class. The car on the right of the picture has two motor bike engines!
They all run on slick
racing tyres.
Kevin Russell very kindly took these photographs. This is exiting the hairpin.
I remove the hood and frame to save wieght.
These two pictures were taken by Steve Wilkinson. He attends most meetings
and takes
pictures and then sells them for a very reasonable cost. Here I am going around
Molehill.
A very good picture by Steve Wilkinson. There is quite a bit of body roll
here,
I would be interested to know how much suspension travel I am using.
Car Set Up: The suspension set up was as per my Elevington test
session. Elvington is a fast open airfield so the set up is probably not ideal
for the twisty Curborough track.
Springs: Front 170 lb/inch, Rear 200 lb/inch.
Arb: Front full hard, rear no bar.
Dampers: Front: Bump 6, Rebound 4, Rear: Bump 4 Rebound 3.
I decided not to change the suspension during the day and concentrate on learning to drive the track.
The first practice run of the day (my first ever competitive run in the car) was damp and as I had never driven the track before I took it easy. I suffered understeer out of the last hairpin because I put power on when I still had steering to do. The ideal line would be a later apex and unwind lock as I power out.
My times were as follows: 64ft ........2.78secs, time 41.24
secs, speed over line 82mph.
Suprisingly only 3 cars (excluding racing cars and kit cars) went quicker
than me on this run, Mitsibushi Evo5.... 40.06 secs, Peugeot 205 1.9 ......40.18secs
and Lotus Elise.....40.44 secs.
2nd Practice run on a drying track: 64ft.....2.69 secs, time
....40.35 secs, speed.....83mph.
I missed 2nd gear away from the line and tried to hold 3rd gear over the line
but hit the rev limiter.
1st timed run on a dry track: 64ft......2.60 secs, time 39.82
secs, speed......83mph.
I started using the curbs on this run. I leave the line at about 2,000rpm
but there is still quite a lot of wheel spin.
2nd timed run on a dry track: 64ft...2.70secs, time....38.43
secs, speed...83mph.
I got very bad axle tramp off the line, it felt like the axle and gearbox
were going to be shaken out of the car.
Conclusions: A very satisfactory event. The car behaved (except for the tramp leaving the line). My first run was very competitive considering the circumstances. My lines require a bit of work. I am taking lines that I would take in a kart (my only previous track experience) but these are not ideal for my car. I came 59th overall out of 96. The twin motorbike engined racing car did the following: 64ft.....2.46 secs, time......32.42 secs (12th overall). Graham, who I will be competing against later in the year in a 2 litre sports libre Fiesta (details at ZETECINSIDE ), ran 37.29 secs at an event a few weeks earlier, plus he has been to Curborough many times.
One of the best parts of driving to an event is leaving and blasting past all the cars on trailers on the way home. I went home with the roof down and it rained, but at speed it stays dry inside the car.
