Cadwell 8 May

[erictharg]

Cadwell 8 May Race Report

Arrive about 19:00 Saturday and set up on Cadwell's rustic mixed tarmac and grass paddock area. Had a couple of beers and some food in the cafeteria and met up with Ken Culverwell, one of the SR&GT regulars who regaled us with stories from his many years of racing. He raced an Eleven for 18 years so lots of useful tips. Swears he mainly got by on scrapyard bits and his maintenance was an oil change and check the valve clearances once a season . So maybe I'm underestimating the durability of the Eleven and its drivetrain.
Poured down all night so not much sleep, and still raining at 07:30 scrutineering. What am I doing here? Still raining for 09:00 practice so decided to keep the road tyres on. Not a good decision. Treacherous to drive. Wanting to let go everywhere and when it did there was no getting it back. Spun once at Barn, but fortunately just nudged the bank with no damage other than a clump of soil on the indicator lens. Horrible. Not looking forward to the races. Contemplating going home rather than risk the damage. Best lap 2:27. Think I could have cycled faster.
But then things started to look up. A full cooked breakfast started the process, then the rain stopped and the sun came out. On with the race tyres and first race at 11:45. This is more like it. Great fun. Cadwell is just so entertaining. Never a dull moment. Even the "straight" is a roller coaster. As our race was combined with the Allcomers there was a good mix of cars out there. As usual I was the smallest engine and the slowest, but not by too much. Even got overtaken by a Ford Ka (1600cc though). But enjoyed it and was presented with a trophy for 1st in class. OK - so I was the only one in my class, but you have to take what you can get. Best lap 1:53. About 6 seconds behind Ken in his Mamba 23.
Second race was scheduled for 16:35 but a big pile up in the preceding Locost race delayed things by 30 mins. Second race was good - used it more as a practice and working out where I could squeeze a bit more time out of the laps. Knowing my brakes are not up to much I probably tend to go easier on them than I need to so braking later and harder is one area I know I can do better.
No mechanical problems with the car. I have added a small foot rest for my right heel that sits on top of the cross tube by the accelerator and brake pedals, and move the pivot point for you foot forward by about an inch (instead of the cross tube being the pivot point). Makes throttle control much better, and full throttle less of a stretch for my foot. It's 1.5mm aluminium at present and has bent over the weekend so it needs making in something a bit beefier but worthwhile otherwise.
Cheng and Jane came up to offer support (Cheng runs Thunder Road Cars and is a regular race winner in his Cobra, and key organiser of SR&GT) and tea and biscuits. He mentioned that he'd just finished building an Eleven for a lady customer. She plans to drive it to France so sounds like a candidate for the register and forum. I'll pass our details onto him and hopefully she'll be in touch.
Next event is Snetterton in two weeks. Two races - one Sat and one Sun.

[techbod]

Sounds great! Are there better (road legal?) tyres you could get for the eleven in case of rain?
Was Ken's Eleven an original or a Westfield? If its an original that's even more remarkable.
I assume that's the first trophy - better start building a cabinet.

Good luck for Snetterton - look forward to the report.
Should we be archiving the reports in 'the Marshalls post' bit?

[erictharg]

Yoko A021's are designed as an intermediate tyre so would be ideal for the wet. But that's another set of wheels and tyres to buy. Maybe one day...
Ken's was one of the first generation Westfields. I don't think you'd get by with a Lotus for long on scrapyard bits.
I forgot we had the Marshall's Post bit. Will post race info there in future.

[sgrant]

Sounds like you had a great time there Charles.

You need another eleven to race against.....

s

[erictharg]

Spot on. And you need to go racing instead of all that wasted track day time...ho hum.