It’s a long way to Anglesey, a really long way.
We set off at 1830 on Thursday evening and got to the circuit at about 0015. Friday was a test day and we were expecting to find a mostly empty paddock. As it was, just about the entire 750 club had clearly decided that some testing was in order and the paddock was already absolutely packed.
Still, we found a space, with Colin and Adrian who arrived at about the same time, although nowhere near the RGB bit (which was about as big as would be needed for 10 cars). On the bright side, we were in reach of the power sockets.
The big thing at Anglesey is the weather, and the forecast was none too encouraging. Friday morning, though, looked fine. We signed on and were rather dismayed that, I guess as a consequence of the popularity, we only had four 25 min sessions in the day. What’s more, in the morning we were in a session with the 750 Formula chaps, making a total of 17 cars on track. That was OK but in the afternoon we were on track with the Locosts, with a total of 37 cars on the track. Gulp. What’s more, the locosts are a lot slower than us which was going to be hard on both them and us.
Still, it was out for the first session at the start of the day. The car immediately made a funning ticking noise. It sounded like something was being fouled by something rotating. My first thought was a stone stuck in a wheel/caliper/disc. However, the frequency was too high for that. I came along the pit lane and listened and it seemed to be slightly better so I had another go.
Nope, it was horrid. So, I came back to the paddock. I’d been thinking that it might be the prop and I’m a bit sensitive about propshafts for some reason…
Back in the paddock I started looking at the wheels and driveshafts and then remembered that I’d adjusted the reverser which hadn’t been working properly at Spa. I bet that was it. So, I just backed it off a mile so that nothing would foul and went back out, just in time to see the chequered flag deployed. Rats!
That was 50% of the best testing time used up and I’d done two out laps.
Back on track in the later session and at least the car wasn’t making a horrible noise. I set about learning how to drive the circuit with the CBR1000. My FL before this day was 1:16.44, surely i could go faster? However, as usual, it took me ages to get up to speed. (I have to work out how to do this better…) By the end of this session I’d managed a 1:16.1.
Problem is, I’d forgotten that Anglesey is another vomit-tastic circuit and I’d forgotten to take the sea-sickness pills. Consequently, I felt really grim when I came in. Luckily, I could sit and take stock. That is, I sat in the car until I was sure I could get out without throwing up.
After lunch, I was feeling a bit better and set off again. This time I started getting the hang of it, and the Locost boys and girls were very good about not holding us up too much. I did worry that we were rather mugging them all the time.
By the end of the day I’d not done too much fiddling with the setup, as I just wasn’t on top of the circuit. However, I was now down to 1:15.31 which at least on track for a decent time.
However, there was a small problem in that the car was running hotter than it usually does. Normally, it sits at around 80° for the water temperature. This time it was more like 92° 0r 93°. I suspect that this is because of the splitter changing the airflow into the radiator. In fact, one of the things I still want to do is to change the way the air is ducted into the radiator. According to the estimable Mr Smith the size of the hole in the front of my car is way too big and causes much more drag than is necessary. (I know I bang on about Carroll Smith a lot, but his books are very, very, highly recommended.) 
In fact, this all came to a head after the last test session, when I’d gone fastest. When I stopped in the paddock the temperature was pretty high, as it always is when the car stops as the airflow has been dramatically reduced. (Hmm, perhaps I should buy a bigger fan?) I assumed that it’d be OK (it always had been) but when I got back later there was a lot of coolant all over the floor.
On investigation later the coolant temperature has shot up rather more than usual, as you can see by the far right hand of the temperature log here. What’s more, there was a leak from the water line that goes into the oil/water intercooler which clearly wasn’t helping. So, I sorted the leak by replacing the hoseclip and all seemed OK again.
One thing that I might try before the next race is to add some ducting. A tweak that Duncan is using is to duct some air from the front of the car directly onto the oil/water intercooler. Apparently he reckons it drops the oil temperature by about 10°, and that’s bound to have a consequential effect on the water temperature. What’s more, it sounds rather simple to do! I even already have some suitable ducting.
So, race day 1 dawned. Well, it didn’t really because it rained all night. Well, “rained” isn’t really the right word. It teemed down. It absolutely threw it down. There was a chap up on the hill building a big wooden boat and trying to keep his cargo from eating each other.
Now, I actually quite like driving in the wet. But, I don’t like getting wet… Still, I put the wets on, disconnected the rear ARB, softened the front one dramatically and softened the dampers. That is, I forgot about yesterday’s results and set off to see what it was like in the wet.
Not surprisingly, it was wet, and slippery, and wet. What’s more, I had another problem in that my throttle pedal foot was sticking on the throttle pedal. I’ve had this before and it causes a problem in that it’s hard to control the throttle at low openings. Of course, this is disastrous in the wet. Practically every lap I was sideways at Rocket Out, there’s an example in the video just below, because when I tried to open the throttle slightly it jumped to 50% open and I spun up the rear wheels. The marshalls must have wondered what I was playing at.
As a consequence, I qualified a lowly 15th and 13th for the two races, although they were both 3rd in class. There was never going to be a chance to get past everyone and up to where I ought to have been. By the time the race came around it was still raining prodigiously. They took pity on us and gave us a green flag lap. I got a not too awful start, probably because it was wet and set off.
To cut a long story short, starting from 15th I made my way up to 7th by the end of the race passing loads of people on the way. (Miraculously, there was only one DNF and nobody broke anything serious.) The circuit was in surprisingly good condition. It was very, very wet but there was a surprising amount of grip in some places, in particular up the hill to Rocket In which is one of the main overtaking spots. Mind you, I was looking at the video and driving a light car at 110mph in the soaking wet just millimetres from the white lines and (shock) grass is really bonkers. Fun though.
Here’s an edited version of the video:
The next day dawned overcast but it wasn’t actually raining. Colin and I went for an early morning bike ride round the circuit and it was clearly going to dry quite quickly as it was mega-windy. Assuming, of course, that it didn’t rain again. We managed to get a forecast from RAF Valley which is just up the road and that said it wasn’t going to actually rain so we set about putting the settings back to where they had been.
Out on the circuit I got my traditional absolutely awful start. I have to figure out a way of getting the CBR1000 off the line, I’m clearly doing something wrong at the moment. As a consequence, half the field passed me. However, it was immaterial as two laps into the race there was a major coming together on the back straight. Apparently Duncan had got off the circuit onto the grass (very easy because you’re trying to take as wide a line as possible at that point) and spun back onto the circuit where he’d collected Tim Gray. Also, Rob Grant had had to take avoiding action and piled into a tyre wall as a consequence. Afterwards he was speaking very approvingly about his HANS device. I do keep wondering about getting one.
So, they re-gridded us and away we went again. Yet again an awful start and half the field passed me. Also, yet again, I got stuck behind a slower, but faster in a straight line, class A car in the shape of David’s BDN. Try as I might I couldn’t get past and I essentially spent the entire race trying various lines to get around him. We were going reasonably quickly though in that I finished with an FL of 1:14.84, although this time I’d only made it up to 9th place. Of course, after the race, I figured out what I should have done to have got past David. I seem to be awfully clever after the event these days.
Again, here’s an edited video of the race:
So, at least the car’s not bent and in goodish order. The only problem is that a bit of the undertray came loose duing the second race, perhaps as a result of kerb damage. It folded under the car and was scraping alarmingly as I got back into the paddock. Of course, that could have slowed me down, or even speeded me up as a consequence of blocking some of the underbody airflow… I’ll need to sort that, and a few minor things, before going to Brands Hatch next…