Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

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erictharg
Posts: 680
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:50 pm

Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by erictharg »

Snetterton 25th May. Miracle - another warm dry day amongst the current showers. Hoping for no problems with the new LSD, or anything else major that will need fixing before Spa at the end of June. The Land Rover 110 tow truck ran well and I'm pretty happy with its new (=old - 125k miles) 300TDI engine. Sorted most of its oil leaks so its now just noisy.
Turned out to be two good, interesting races. We were racing with our old "grid sharers", the Sports Specials. Very full grid (43 cars) which was nice and also meant I was not the tail end car for once. No problems with scrutineering, and noise tested at 105dBA (and they tried to tell me I made 117 dBA at Silverstone?). I'd not driven the Snetterton 300 circuit before with the added twisty infield so spent most of the practice session working out half decent lines around that section. Diff was working fine. Just as well as there are 5 corners that need second gear and so would otherwise result in lots of wheel-spin on the exit. I did have one worrying moment when shifting from 3rd to 4th on the back straight where the clutch slipped for an age. Only happened the once so I put it down to driver error somehow. Bit of "deja vu" with Adam's experience at Silverstone 3 weeks ago?
Best practice lap of 2:30.6 put me 33rd out of 42 cars. Going to have to concentrate as I'll actually have cars behind me! As we line up for the start I'm planning to use the same revs as before the LSD assuming I'll have better grip and launch like a rocket. What actually happens is that I spin both rear wheels for what seems like an age and lose a couple of places. Bugger. However I soon catch up with the traffic jam that is the first two corners and end up having a really close race with one of the MEV150's (Mazda MX5 running gear in an Atom look alike frame), managing to take him on one of the infield corners and hold him off until the end (0.6 sec between us). End up 31st out of 35 finishers, so made up a couple of places and improved my best lap to 2:29.08. Enjoyed the race and feel I'm getting to grips with the twisty infield section - good Eleven territory. The MEV driver is amazed how my car corners on "those skinny little tyres". He's further dismayed to hear I've only got 1330cc! Chortle.
Race 2 and I'm one position further up the grid (based on second best practice time). This time I try less revs and of course the engine bogs down. Shit shit shit. Cars go past me before I really get going but there's a log jam in part of the grid in front of me that allows me to make up loads of places going into and around Riches and by turn two I'm right up behind the Taydec of Martin Tyman. Wow. Not quite sure how it happened but I then end up on my own for most of the race keeping an eye on the mirror expecting the cars I passed at the start to catch me, but they mostly don't (except for Mark Bowd's GT40). Car feels good and now knows its own way around with just a little input from me. The LSD is great, not just out of slow corners, but allowing you to use throttle to adjust your line around faster ones too. Finish a surprising 23rd out of 36 cars. A good result! I didn't improve my lap time with a best of 2:29.47 but a good run with that bit of luck at the start.
As the only Class D entrant (again) I pick up both Class win trophies but feel I've earned them this time. Video of both races on You Tube for your amusement:

http://youtu.be/c47zCjmCzEo
http://youtu.be/pbrMxrAp9-I

As usual the first few minutes of video are hanging around and lining up. But at least this time I got all of each race.
Dilemma now is whether I pull the engine to check the clutch before Spa. I had no slipping during the second race, so whatever it was is not getting worse. I'm sure the stock cover is marginal on clamping pressure for the power and grip I've got, but I'm inclined to leave it as is and just be gentle and precise with gear changes. Spa is rolling start so no problem there.
jonclancy
Posts: 942
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:30 pm

Re: Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by jonclancy »

Nice write up, Charles. And good to see a bit more silverware on your mantlepiece! 8-)

Do you run a competition clutch with your stock gearbox, or the standard item?

I'll check out your vids when I get some decent bandwidth. Thanks for posting them up.
erictharg
Posts: 680
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:50 pm

Re: Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by erictharg »

I'm still running the same stock 1275 Midget cover I built the engine with (and more importantly, balanced it with). I recently (Spa last September) fitted an AP racing uprated centre plate, more as a precaution than anything else. Given the weight of the car and its limited grip a stock clutch seems fine unless you are a "hard" driver. But I did notice when I fitted the centre plate that both the flywheel and pressure plate were marking up with hot spots. So I figure it will make sense to pull the engine, and have the flywheel re-faced and fit a new stock cover, balanced with the flywheel. Be very annoying to have it get worse over the Spa weekend! For road use you'll have no problem with a stock Midget clutch.
adamwilkinson
Posts: 187
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:17 pm

Re: Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by adamwilkinson »

Our clutch issue at Silverstone was, we think, down to using a standard centre plate rather than an uprated item when we swapped it out only a week before so no time to test it. New plate on order. That's what you get for leaving it to the last minute!

Looks like our mis-fire issue was down to a loose screw in the distributor which holds the earth strap in place (have I already said this? De ja vu feeling going on...), which would've been sending 'fake' signals to the coil to fire. Not something we ever experienced before so not something we'd have checked - screws now loctited in.

Looks like you had a good race Charles, were you impressed with the diff?

http://www.pivotheadshop.co.uk/ these look good as the next step for videos, not sure I can justify £200 on a pair, although a Go-Pro is a similar price. This is the kind of video you get https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejKYIx8-o8A
erictharg
Posts: 680
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:50 pm

Re: Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by erictharg »

The diff was excellent. Pleased it does not cause any understeer but still gives you the drive you need out of slower corners. As you've found, I think a stock clutch just about holds up for racing an Eleven but it is pretty marginal. I'm sure that refacing the flywheel and a new cover will restore it for now. I do recall both faces were somewhat marked up when I last had the engine out. I'll have the new cover balanced with the flywheel. Don't want to spend a lot upgrading when the 4 AGE is on the horizon!
adamwilkinson
Posts: 187
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:17 pm

Re: Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by adamwilkinson »

Our previous clutch plate was an uprated one and we had no issues with it apart from once it was needing replacement.

Will be interesting seeing how the 4age works for you.
erictharg
Posts: 680
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:50 pm

Re: Snetterton Race Report - A grand day out

Post by erictharg »

Good old Peter May! If you send your old cover to them they can balance a new one to match it using a slave crank and flywheel. Needless to say the old cover is on its way to them. Re. the 4AGE, it might just give me enough go to match your driving and experience!
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