Sussex/South Heat
For once things started badly and then got better, read on….
After loading up Saturday afternoon we left as usual bang on 6 am. Within a few 100 yards, and the first hill, it was clear that something was wrong with our ‘bus, it was driving like a snail!! (not the Greenpower one though!!). Our normally ‘sports car like’ (even with a trailer!) Transit (turbo duratorque) seemed to have lost the benefit of its turbo, and drove accordingly….slowly. Our normal 1 ½ hour trip to Goodwood took 1 hr 50 mins.
Scruitineering was fine, but the telemetry had stopped working and so had one of the GPS modules. Of course, these had all been fine the day before!! With 4 new trial drivers to trial, James, our new-to-post TSR-1 manager, had a busy time getting them out for a lap each. One declined to continue (which is fine, not the first to say ‘no thanks’ and probably not the last, but when asked what he had driven previously, he replied, after some thought, “Well, I had a go in a rowing boat once”!!) so the driver orders needed re-jigging. In TSR-2, also out for a couple of trial laps with new drivers, whoops, someone forgot to switch the data loggers on and the second driver stopped out on track, how, we (and he) still don’t know why.
So, when exactly does it get better?? Pretty much as soon as the race started. Both cars got away cleanly with no problems and from then on away we went, running a slightly modified strategy from the Handicap race. Pretty soon TSR-2 was up to 6th place and although the cars in front were flying, apart from Slippy Trug we suspected they were over-doing it. As the race unfolded our strategy started to pay off as firstly Fireblade faltered, followed by Compact Pussy Cat. At this point the Woggle looked out of reach and so too did Captain Cuttle, turning in sub 5 minute laps. At the 5 hour point we realised we were closing on CC and when they stopped going past, we went into third place. Could we nab a podium?? As the last hour ticked away, Woggle was clearly slowing, but by how much?? By the time they had done a couple of 7 minute laps, we knew they were in ‘flat-battery’ mode. Could we close the gap? Yes, as it turned out, first we were on the same lap as them, then while they pitted we went past, knowing we could keep up our 5:20’s until the finish. 2 laps to go we were just 30 second in front of them, 1 lap to go we were 1:30 in front of them and we knew we had it in the bag!! This was despite someone turning off our charger, whoever you were/are, if that’s the only way you can beat us, (which you didn’t) would you really feel happy with a ‘win’ knowing you had cheated??
Post race evaluation……
So, the race went well….we retained the Surrey Shield (well TSR-2 beat TSR-1 which won it last years after TSR-2 retired with a dead motor), got a podium (and a place in the final) all the new drivers did well and both the ‘upgrade’ drivers did very well in their first outing driving TSR-2, the smallest one clocking the fastest laps by a few seconds. Since he is about 25 Kg lighter than our other ‘best’ driver, weight does have a small bearing on things. Anyone care to work out our rolling resistance??
However, the GPS data logger failed after just a few readings (??WHY – it worked fine in my car all week??), but the current logger worked fine. The motor temp sensor failed straight away (why, they all tested fine on the bench the week before, but the motor compartment temp sensor worked fine, showing that although hot, we probably don’t need to do anything about letting in extra cold air. The communications worked well too, except when the car radio got put on the wrong frequency!! (make a note, read the manual and find out how to lock the controls!!).
Could Woggle or Captain Cuttle have beaten us?? Almost certainly yes, their ‘need for speed’ was their undoing (as happened to us on several previous occasions) but I’m sure they will learn form their experience.
Our next race is the Kent heat which will be used to further train the ‘L’ drivers and to try (again) to get the GPS & Telemetry working reliably. As the whole circuit is in view of the pits, we may try our on-car camera too.
Castle Combe will see those drivers selected from TSR-1 take a try-out in TSR-2, as part of our policy of getting some good “small” drivers ready for 2007. And so it goes on……
