So I wasn't going to do another thread, as there isn't really much to tell - well, I didn't think there would be... but it seems its a whole journey of starting from nothing, and heading into racing, would be an interesting read for anyone else looking at going into it.

I don't own my own blog (so to speak) to keep updated, so thought I'd do a diary on here for those interested, to read.

Having sold my 'yellowcab' to Phil (aka Magic Beans) I thought I'd do another thread rather than keeping that one going. (however Phil is more than welcome to carry it on, and get it up to 100k views )

So I ended the last thread with this, which is where I am going to start the new thread:

quote:

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Originally posted by yellowcab
Here is the Busa replacement…

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So having been an avid track day goer for many many years, 13 in fact… I decided I'd take the plunge now whilst I could.

So I sold my Busa, sold my trailer, sold everything that wasn't bolted down… left myself with nothing, then bought the Spire.

First of all I needed to get kitted up ready for racing.

Firstly, I joined the 750MC, got my relevant documents through the post, membership card etc (comes in handy when getting setup as you get 10% discount with Demon Tweeks & GPR)



I ordered my 'Go Racing Pack' which is ultimately a DVD and a posh pen, in a posh box… but has the 'Application for a 2014 Competition Licence Application Form' which you'll need a medical for, aswell taking it to your ARDS test.



So, last Christmas my sister very kindly bought me an all expenses paid track day at Silverstone for 26th May… but as I had no longer had a car, I was fortunate enough to be able to transfer it into a credit for my ARDS test, which is taking place this Tuesday (20th May) at Silverstone, which also leaves me a little in credit for a test day later in the year.



So with all those booked, I went ahead and bought a race suit, gloves, and balaclava from GPR @ Silverstone, got a good deal as I bought last years stock saving me over £250, then I got my 10% discount furthermore which made the membership pay for itself 3 fold.




I scoured eBay and managed to get a new (but second hand) Carbon Fibre HANS device… and Demon Tweeks had an offer on the Bell KF3 helmet with HANS clips, which I couldn't pass up.




So I'm already rocking and rolling.

The intention when I set out - was to buy the car, sit this season out - and save save save for next season. My wife then twisted my arm to try and get out this year my first racing being Rockingham on 5th July… but I'm not sure how its happened, but I'm now racing next weekend (providing I pass my ARDS) at Snetterton on Sunday 26th.

I am testing on the Saturday 25th, which will be my first time driving the car, sometimes jumping into the deep end is the only way to learn how to swim with the big dogs, isn't that right????…. I'll let you know after the second race lol

[Edited on 18/5/14 by yellowcab]

So there is the initial setup into racing done, all in a relatively short space of 5 weeks… now onto the car…

So I get the car home and the first thing I do is take the body work off to familiarise myself with what is what, how things work, and generally understand everything

Some under bodywork photos of the car











So the previous owner was a slimmer guy than me, so the foam/ bean filled seat was slightly snug, as much as I could fit in it, and it felt comfortable, I can imagine being a bit achey after a race, so I took the covers off, and started carving out for my 95kg carcass













Job jobbed, the seat only weighs a total of 2.2kgs, so very light!




[Edited on 18/5/14 by yellowcab]

Next up was dash, and positioning.

To feel totally comfortable in the car, I didn't like the fact the digidash wasn't in immediate eyeline, and that when my hands were on the wheel, it was in the way of them… I wanted my shift lights over my column really, same as my Busa was



So this dash



Wanted to ideally be here… but wasn't the easiest with paddles, as there isn't a great deal of space



Not only did I want to move the clocks, but the dash needed changing around due to my knees touching certain lower parts of the dash, so I chopped them, and relocated the switches & brake bias



So where the right knee was touching, that got the chop, and moved the switch up (not cut in the photo)



Moved my paddles closer to the back of the steering wheel, giving me a little more room, and means I don't have to stretch my fingers too far in order to change gear



Just held in place, this is exactly what I wanted to achieve



Where the digidash was, looked a bit ropey, and removed the lower part of the dash when there brake bias was. but now the light switch looked odd - so removed that bit aswell…



So grabbed some carbon fibre and made a little covering plate, and mounted the lights next to the brake bias




Job jobbed, the overhang at the top is to fill in a slight gap in the front bodywork panel

So just a few before and afters… like for likes…

Dash layout




Gave everything a good clean up, now the plugs are slightly on show being mounted in their new position



Then I began to make a bracket to hold the clocks at the right angle so there were no reflections when sat in the seat, and the shift light LEDs were right in my eyeline… started to make up this



But quickly realised to KISS… and I was over thinking it, so ended up with this



Also with the seat carved out, it meant my driving position now is as low as it can be, and very comfortable (the helmet is the only one I had to hand in the garage lol)

So next up was the exterior of the car, I must admit, I dislike the colour blue - but it was too much hassle to change away from blue because it wasn't just the bodywork, but the cage aswell, and not just the cage, but the whole chassis - and I didn't want to just paint the bits that were on show, else it'd look rubbish.

So I decided if you can't beat it, join it, make it different.

Having been owned by a very well known driver and a good one at that, I wanted to put my own stamp on it, so it didn't remain the same guise as the previous two owners JC and JT.

I grabbed some new sponsor stickers from Nicky when I was at Silverstone, to freshen things up, as these ones had been on since the car was first built back in 2011, so were a little faded, and tyre marked












Called Nicky and explained that I wanted to enter Rockingham… but then changed my mind and tried to get out for Snetterton as previously mentioned, chose the number 30, as its my age now, when I started racing… how original!

So Chris (Proby) had got in contact via Facebook and we began chatting about me wanting to redesign my car, I knew what I wanted to do with the car, and he said he'd love to be associated with the car and offer his help with the makeover as him and his wife runs www.GraphicMonster.co.uk

I sent him an incredibly crude photoshop of what I basically wanted to achieve, and it was to extenuate the aerodynamics of the Spire, and make it look curvier… this was the awful job I did… which we named Bat-Mobile… or a Luchador Mask… or Rey Mystereo for the WWF fans amongst you…


We met up at Stoneleigh, and I grabbed some race number 30s off him, and we continued our chat face to face whilst wandering around the show, and said we'd be in touch, well a man of his word...

He came over on Tuesday night to offer up some vinyl rolls for a colour match, then went away, ordered everything we needed… considering the blue already on the car is painted, and its a Fiat/ Citreon blue, the colour match we got from the vinyl he had was better than we expected, the eagle eye amongst you will notice a slight difference, but not enough to worry me


He also dropped off my white names & flags, and fitted them for me… little steps, but each little step the car was slowly evolving into becoming my own



Chris said he would come back on Friday night around 5pm, where we worked throughout the night until about midnight… then he was good enough to come back the following day on the Saturday to finish off to make sure I was all set for Snett… a true gent, and someone who takes uber pride in their work… like someone else i know

In between him going away and coming back, I was chatting to daveb666 and sent him the photoshop who said advised that he felt a red pinstripe would set the car off further more, so after a dabble on photoshop, I had to agree, so cheers Dave - adding red certainly brought something

BAD PHOTOSHOP ALERT

And now we're nearly up to date…

After Chris' hard work on Friday night, and Saturday afternoon, here are the before & after photos of the subtle changes, which I still feel really extenuate the aero of the cars bodywork.

We opted for a happy medium in the red pinstripe only going down the centres see how it looks, and if I fancy it I can always add more at a later date








Said it already, but seriously anyone wanting any graphic work, decals, sign writing, t-shirt printing, new livery, stickers - any thing then Chris (proby) and his lovely with Kathryn at www.GraphicMonster.co.uk is the place to go!

Anyone that knows me will know how I like to get my camera out at every opportunity, no really, I do… so I did a bit of an impromptu photoshoot on the car after we had putting all the decals on… Enjoy…

Then after the photos and looking back through them, I decided I didn't like the gold mesh on the back end, so this morning I went down and changed it for black





And the wing mirrors when I bought the car had black gaffer tape around them, which I presumed meant they had broke… removed it all to reveal nothing wrong with them, but didn't like the chrome…

Oh and in between all this, I bought a caravan, and smashed the sh!t out of it…

"can yeee guess what it isssss yet?!"

Your neighbours must love u

From getting the caravan home, to it being dismantled and taken down the tip was 6hrs!

Then the chassis was also dismantled and stored

Looking very good

Total transformation in the looks of the car, looks loads nicer, job well done !

I bet smashing up that caravan was a most enjoyable job? often think about it whilst stuck behind them :p

Ha ha! I lolled at your "all the gear" pic.

I'll be keeping an eye on the 750mc live timing next weekend, to see how you're going.

Love the photos, keep up the good work.

So that's what a late night infront of the computer does, I don't half post some crap lol

I've photobombed considering I didn't think I had anything to talk about lol

Andy- I debated whether or not to put my thumbs up photo up, but it was around the Stephen Sutton 'Stephens Story' phase before he sadly passed away.

Kev- smashing up caravans is almost as enjoyable as starting fires and smashing glass for any bloke lol

#imnotanarsenist

The new car is looking great!

Let us know your race diary and we can come an support you.

Quote: "I would start a new thread about my Spire - but there isn't really anything that needs doing to it - so it'd be pretty boring lol"

I suppose there are only so many times you can sit in it and go "Brmmmm Brmmm"
As usual you are doing an amazing job Olly, especially so considering you have 10 thumbs

Thanks for the mention Olly, car looks great. All the best for next weekend.

Thanks chaps, lovely to see some regular faces & names appear

So unfortunately I've missed Donington and Silverstone National, but the rest of the race calendar is as follows:

25/05/2014 Snetterton 300
05/07/2014 Rockingham
26/07/2014 Anglesey
23/08/2014 Silverstone International
13/09/2014 Cadwell Park

Anyone wanting to come and watch, support, cheer me on or spanner for me is most most welcome.

I heard last night that my first race at Snetterton will be televised on MotorsTV, just for that extra sprinkling of pressure I needed


Cheers Dave, however I've not tried those noises, they sound quicker, so far I've only been doing 'neeee-ommmmm'

I'll try your noises out tonight and let you know how fast it is then

Looks awesome. But then it should.

Post ARDS report

For all those that said it would be a piece of cake, I challenge that especially when it starts to lash it down at 14:30 which had previously been a dry day. Couple that, with I let slip that I was racing a Spire and the examiner says 'oh you know JP Ivey and Tim Gray then!?'

He then smiled and says 'Ohhh you're not going in the Megane Sport then, you can have the RWD 370z'... Didn't really think anything of it... Until it come to get in the car and got in the passenger side to find a steering wheel infront of me!? WTF, panic, never driven a LHD car in my life let alone in anger, on track, being assessed lol

We swapped seats so he was driving, did 2 laps as a passenger then he wanted to swap, so soon!?!

The very first lap out I took Copse too fast and lost the back end but managed to catch it with flat out acceleration and a fist full opplock a drift/ slide down the straight lol… I glanced in my mirror to see him chucking to himself and nodding his head.

Throughout the first 20 laps he was apparently talking to me through the intercom but I didn't have it plugged in so I was just doing my own thing lol We stopped for fuel and he said 'you can hear me directing you, can't you!, because you tend to brake when you want, and turn in when you want, not on my say so'

I said, 'no I thought that was the test lol'

He laughed and we went back our where I could hear him and was far better, we did a further 5 laps with tuition, came in the did the practical driving test.

Constantly trying to use the window winder to change gear forgetting I was in a LHD

It had stopped raining by this point but after 4 laps he stopped me and wished me well for Snetterton.

I stupidly asked 'Does that mean I've passed'

Bang on. Passed!

On the way off the circuit and through the tunnel I about took out the passenger side of the car on a post forgetting which side I was on, again.

Oh, now the written test is a piece of cake! lol

[Edited on 20/5/14 by yellowcab]

"Constantly trying to use the window winder to change gear forgetting I was in a LHD"
That was just silly! It probably had Air Con, no need to open the window

quote:

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On the way off the circuit and through the tunnel I about took out the passenger side of the car on a post forgetting which side I was on, again.

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Nice one Olly!

I guess I'll see you in the paddock then!

Looks amazing!

Love the additional graphics!

Oh and the gaffer tape probably to keep the wing mirrors in Same position

Oli

Well done on passing your ARDS test, the car looks very impressive will be interesting to see how it compares to the Indy

quote:

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Originally posted by Digimon
Well done on passing your ARDS test, the car looks very impressive will be interesting to see how it compares to the Indy

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For any LCBers that are looking for something to do on Sunday,

I've just booked & paid for my first race at Snetterton, here are the finals with the itinerary of the day.

You won't see my name as I'll be on the late entry list when they get re-published.

Olly #30

http://www.750mc.co.uk/news,snetterton-final-instructions-and-event-timetable-available_238.htm

quote:

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Originally posted by yellowcab
For any LCBers that are looking for something to do on Sunday,

I've just booked & paid for my first race at Snetterton, here are the finals with the itinerary of the day.

You won't see my name as I'll be on the late entry list when they get re-published.

Olly #30

http://www.750mc.co.uk/news,snetterton-final-instructions-and-event-timetable-available_238.htm

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quote:

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Originally posted by Andy D
Night and day springs to mind?

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I'm sure the car is capable of more speed and commitment, it's the driver I'm concerned about lol

quote:

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Originally posted by yellowcab
I'm sure the car is capable of more speed and commitment, it's the driver I'm concerned about lol

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Congrats on buying a great GT3. Enjoying reading your progress to RACE CAR DRIVER and looking forward to seeing how you get on, keep posting.

[Edited on 23/5/14 by SCAR]

Great thread and fantastic looking car, will follow this with interest

Thanks for all the replies - I'm all packed up over near Mallory Park just about to get on my way to my first race weekend.

I'll document it here and now how I'm feeling, as I'm sure it'll be different the next time I update on Monday, I will have forgotten half of the jitters, nerves, butterflies and excitement...

Currently I am brimming with excitement at the prospect of actually competitively racing a car, something I've wanted to do since passing my test at the young age of 17… and now at the prime age of 30 I can't believe I'm about to do it.

Having looked at the weather forecast, it is forecast rain all day tomorrow in testing, with this being my first ever time driving the car, it's not exactly ideal, and makes me a little more apprehensive with not being able to know the cars dry limits…. until the race (as its forecast sunshine on the Sunday)

I'm most looking forward to sitting on the grid staring at the red lights waiting for them to go out - this will be quite a monumental moment for me personally. I've reached it…. But i'll probably stall it lol

I'll sign off now - as I'm about to make the journey, and kip in my car overnight in order to be bright and breezy for tomorrows test session.

Just as I've documented the journey so far - having passed the ARDS on Tuesday afternoon, sending off my licence application on Wednesday, the MSA called me and confirmed they had received it yesterday, and emailed me the cover note this afternoon (Friday) in order for me to enter the race - the MSA, and the 750 Motor Club have both been absolutely outstanding and incredibly helpful in my very strict last minute timescales.

Be sure to follow Live Timing results, but please don't look too hard haha

Take care all

Olly#30

Don't want to add to your apprehension but if the conditions are poor be very careful, are you aware of last years discussions about the use of the rgb class control tyre in the wet? There were a lot of opinions expressed on the rgb forum about its suitability for wet use which is worth a read.

quote:

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Phil is more than welcome to carry it on, and get it up to 100k views

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Good luck, we are not far from rockingham so will prob pop over for that one.

good luck

pretty impressive how quickly you've bought this and got into the racing!
something I'll be looking into myself once this wedding is out of the way!

Massive congratulations for finishing your first race! 14th place, no damage and a warning for exceeding track limits is an almost perfect start to your racing career!

exceeding track limits? whats that all about? :S driving better than he should have been?!

im sure he will be along soon to tell us all about it

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt21
exceeding track limits? whats that all about? :S driving better than he should have been?!

im sure he will be along soon to tell us all about it

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Exceeding track limits!
"Fundamentally, a driver is required to use the track at all times. If any part of the car remains within the boundaries of the white lines, he is deemed to be using the track. If he has all four wheels over the white lines, he’s off the track."

I was exceeding Knockhills limits on Friday too!

Seriously well done mate !!!!!!!!

Hey all,

What a weekend for me, all a bit of a blur but I've done it - I've competed in my first ever race… and more importantly I've had a go in my new car.

OK so I jumped into the deep end a little with going straight into testing with the big boys on the Saturday, but that was a purposeful choice as I couldn't have tested before hand with not having done my ARDS.

Friday 23rd May PM
First of all huge thanks to Paul & Tim @ Spire for lending me a trailer for the weekend
Got packed up on the Friday evening and got to Snetterton around 22:15 where I unpacked had a few drinks with a few other people and got my head down. 2 hours trying to get to sleep in drivers seat of my VW Golf, and getting cramp lead me to ditching everything out the back of the car in to the trailer, and sleeping in the back… which wasn't really any better.

Saturday 24th May AM - Testing
Thanks to Duncan for lending me some race boots for my first weekend, in order for me to be able to afford a test day, and Terry for all the help you gave me throughout Saturday
I woke up bright and early on the Saturday morning to it absolutely lashing it down, my first quandary of the day, do I go out having never driven the car before, it was torrential rain - over at signing on there was talk of not letting anyone go out until it brightens up - but this never materialised… it was on!

Completely under peer pressure and bended elbow from Terry, Tim Gray & John Cutmore, I grew some balls and got out there… it was awful, first test session in the rain spun twice but at least it broke the ice. Visor fogged up leaving me with no visibility, cracked it open a few mm, but then got water in my face… not ideal. JC was kind enough to hang around for me in the pits to slowly take me around the circuit, then Ben from Spire told JC to get out because I was just about to come onto the start finish straight where he could come out the pits ahead of me… but I spun it on the first corner - d'oh! So JC had to do another lap in order to get back in front of me to show me the way.

Having coming in from my first session, despite feeling pretty beaten up, I suppose things could only get better lol

Second test session much better, not raining anymore, but still alot of standing water, which I was told to be careful through… got around faster than the first time, and only spun once so that's 50% better in my opinion haha (every cloud and all that)… I just found that getting used to the car is very difficult in these conditions lol, didn't really get to feel the car much, couldn't stamp on brakes, couldn't turn in, could really accelerate to its full potential… but it did teach my that I need a new seat, as I have a horrid pressure point in the lower part of my back...

Saturday 24th May PM - Testing
Third test session in the dry much better, over lunch the track had pretty much dried out, albeit still quite greasy… still span off due to over exuberance but hey ho. Fastest lap was 2m 12s, lol Don't spose you've seen 12seconds lying around have you, as I need to find them lol Very slow, not as confident at mo, braking early and too much, but getting there.

Need stick shift ASAP, these paddles are shit, I kept getting major 'forearm pump' from constantly shifting up and down, and my fingers were killing, aching… and kept finding a false neutral in gear, due to fingers dying out on me and not pulling paddles hard enough

Final session of the day was cut short for me, driving around and I noticed my water temp was down at 20degrees, which I thought was strange, so only after 2 laps, I come into the pits where my oil pressure dropped right off to zero, and OIL came up on the digidash, killed the engine, waited for session to finish. Paul & Tim (from Spire) ran diagnostics on it, seems oil pressure did drop right off but it was because the engine & oil was so hot, and I had let the revs drop right off to idle fairly quickly, something I wasn't aware of that it's always best to keep revs high. Started car and have oil pressure so seems engine hasn't gone bang.

Saturday 24th May Evening
Everyone around the paddock was so friendly, everyone was asking how it went, and offering advice, telling tales, which was fantastic… such a great bunch of people.

Sunday 25th May AM
Up early, and Al Boulton very kindly took me under his wing for the morning by taking me over to sound testing, then onto signing on, and then had to go to my 'first drivers briefing' as I had never raced at that circuit before… came out straight into scrutineering, again, Al had his car done first then came back to assist me. Cheers Duncan for reminding me (twice, as I forgot the first time) that I needed £2.00 for them to approve my helmet and put a sticker on it.

The scrutineer asked me to put some cable ties around the fire extinguisher clips to prevent them popping undone, to which I did before my first outing - but other than that, sailed through with no problems, but it was good to watch over him to see what they check for

During scrutineering I had my friends turn up to help me throughout the day, so huge thanks to Chris (Proby), Kat (Mrs Proby), Mike (cosmick) & John, this instantly put me at ease, knowing they were there to help me, rather than me 'putting on' another racer, that had their own stuff to be doing.

Back to my paddock space, for a final check over before 15minute qualifying, so so nervous about this - especially considering my test day didn't exactly see me with any decent amount of dry seat time, but it was dry and sunny, a stark difference to the previous day… things can only get better… right? 2m 12s to beat… as that was my previous best.

Sunday 25th May - Qualifying

So we go out for a green flag lap, before qualifying begins, and everyone is weaving all over the shop, accelerating hard, and braking hard to get everything warmed up, so I joined in, felt like a real racing driver at this point, and not being accused of acting like a yob…. at the end of the green lap I think thats when we start to give it some welly, and go for our quickest time. Still trying to get used to the car hugely at this point, but all I could do was try my best.

Something that I noticed whilst driving around was my neck starting to ache because I didn't have enough padding behind my helmet, so I was having to hold my neck forwards, which got sorted later on thanks to Duncan for the padding

With Snetterton 300 being a 3mile circuit, and roughly a 2minute lap… a 15minute qualifying session only seen 6 laps for me, which wasn't really enough time to get to grips with things, but having glanced down at my dash I had seen that I did a 2:09.25 - fantastic I thought, I had made up 3 seconds in confidence… start to sit back, and relax in the car a little, and just take it slowly, and take in as much as I could. On the final lap of qualifying as the flag came out, I glanced down and thought I saw a 2:08.56… came in, and Duncan came over handed me the results with a 'well done mate'… I was right what I saw - I managed a 2:08.56 which made me start in:

Race 1 Fastest qual time of 2:08.56: 14th position out of 25 cars… 7th row on the grid out of 13 rows
Race 2 2nd fastest qual time of 2:09.25: 11th position out of 25 cars… 6th row on the grid out of 13 rows

Well chuffed - really happy that I had found 4 of the missing 12 seconds from testing into qualifying… After seeing the results Steve Malyon came over and said - please don't stall on the grid, as I'm directly behind you on both races lol… oh heck… famous last words!

Come in, clean up, fuel up, chain lube, bolt check, fluid check, and more clean clean cleaning.

Sunday 25th May - Race 1
I won't lie - I was more nervous than I had ever been (ARDS was a doddle now looking back lol), despite feeling I was rapidly getting used to the car, I was just about to compete in my first ever race (did I mention that?) I was petrified (did I mention that?)… I found I went toilet more times that morning than I did for the previous week in whole.

Onto the grid, out of the holding area, we line up (no green lap), I was told by everyone, especially Dave Watson to take no notice of the times on the boards that they hold up before the lights, as the 10minute board lasts for about 30seconds before they bring out the 1 minute board lol

Revs were high, as I was told, around 8krpm… red lights came on, lights went out - GO GO - STALL dammit - Just as Steve didn't want (sorry pal), I stalled on the grid… balls, smacked the restart button, got her started and off I went… from 14th on the grid, straight to the back of the pack, balls very sloppy driving from me having watched the video back, I won't lie, almost embarrassing to watch it back because I couldn't understand why I came off when I did… anyway… throughout the race I battled my way through the back with a very scary moment between Ed Scotney and I to which I got called up for, as all four wheels of my car were not on the track… oops… that happened on 3 (or 4) occasions… not my finest moments…

I managed to finish my race in 14th position, which I was happy with… but this was quickly tarnished by being asked to go and see the C of C, basically he took a very dim few of 'driving beyond limits' and basically a slap on the wrist, and said in my second race if it happens once, he wanted to see my licence… I drove back to the paddock with my tail firmly between my legs.

What made made it a little better was seeing my lap times… as I was keen to see if I was any fastest than in qualifying of 2:08.56… my Race 1 lap times were:

Lap 1: 2:26.66
Lap 2: 2:10.55
Lap 3: 2:12.11
Lap 4: 2:10.81
Lap 5: 2:12.04
Lap 6: 2:09.30
Lap 7: 2:06.52
Lap 8: 2:05.64

I was dead chuffed to be getting quicker as the laps when on, as my confidence in the brakes & car itself was building… from 2:12s in testing down to 2:05.64… I was happy

Sunday 25th May - Race 2
My nerves now were firmly at bay, I was comfortable that I could actually put in some decent times, and having only done around 20 laps in total, I was getting there…

Don't stall, don't stall, don't stall… we get on the grid straight from the holding area - again with no green flag lap… The red lights go out, I didn't stall - GO GO GO! Lost 1 position down the first straight to Steve Bells phenomenal start, but then managed to overtake someone else heading into the first corner - where unfortunately my gear cable snapped leaving my stuck in 2nd gear, where I had to retire from the race not even doing the first corner… balls - incredibly frustrating… but hey - thats racing apparently!

So there you have it peeps - first race weekend done and dusted… got no signatures on my upgrade card due to misdemeanours in the first race I got a 'withheld' and a DNF in the second race…

Now I hate paddles with even more of a passion, so this week is a change to a stick shift where hopefully I'll feel even more comfortable… oh, and roll on Rockingham on 5th July… between now and then I need to build a trailer, and get some more seat time!

Thanks for reading everybody, sorry for such a long report.

If I have failed to mention you personally in a way of thanks - please please forgive me… a lot was going on, it hasn't gone unnoticed… I thank everyone for making my weekend as easy as it was

[Edited on 26/5/14 by yellowcab]

For those on Facebook who want tot follow my instant updates as it's far easier to do on there… please 'Like / Share / Follow' my page:

https://www.facebook.com/emileoracing

Like and like!

Thanks Ben - video of Race 1 is being uploaded now, but as above, not particularly happy with my sloppy driving, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it too much, its my first time after all.

GoPro fogged up half way through which has really annoyed the p!ss out of me, so next race will use the skeleton back.

awesome write up
pretty inspiring

and a very well done

First few photos back from my brother in law who took these beauties

I would just like to say well done to olly on his first race at the weekend at snetteron.

Also it was a pleasure to meet you and speak with you.

Good luck in future races.

And a big well done from me.

Did you get any signatures towards losing the big X? I presume race two you wouldn't get one, but did your bollicking for race one stop a sig?

quote:

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Originally posted by yellowcab
So there you have it peeps - first race weekend done and dusted… got no signatures on my upgrade card due to misdemeanours in the first race I got a 'withheld' and a DNF in the second race…

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Great race report, well done, good result for your first race, just waiting for the video now

Motors TV coverage of both RGB races should be on Thursday 5th June @ 18:30 too.
<<LINK>>

Great right up and dont worry about your first race results, ITS YOUR FIRST RACE!

Your living the dream. I was nervous reading your report.

Good luck next time round and keep up the reports.

Here are my first ever race videos, fairly embarrassed looking back how sloppy it was, but hey ho… first time and all that.

Race 1
A few hairy moments with Ed Scotney at 53s and a nice tussle with Colin Spicer at 3m 12s along with a few offs, and a few catches, particularly proud of my catch and hold of a decent slide at Montreal corner at 11m 39s
Annoyed at myself, at getting called up to see the CofC and not getting a signature considering all the times all four wheels left the circuit were at relatively low speeds and were totally avoidable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0AA_H6ynN0



Race 2
A much better, but no means perfect start for me, in that I didn't stall.
Unfortunately race was cut incredibly short before the first corner with my gear cable snapping leaving me stuck in 3rd gear, I tried to grip the cable and push & pull it by hand, but it wasn't going to happen.

Early retirement and a DNF for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D22WonuOaP8



Best Lap - 2:05.64 (misted up GoPro highly annoying)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xut8lYAMhY


[Edited on 26/5/14 by yellowcab]

Welldone kiddo

Just got these from Chris (Proby) capture the nerves & apprehension absolutely spot on… great pics mate

I noticed it is running a blade style swaybar. If possible could you tell me the dimensions (Length and thickness) and manufacturer.

Well done Olly! You did very well considering the weather on Saturday. It was nice to meet you also.

James

Just watched the first video and very impressed. You've got the ability, you’ve got the car, but most importantly you have the race awareness and track courtesy that without could have caught out a lesser driver. Great start, I know you wont be satisfied “that’s the racer in you” but really think there is good things ahead for you. Ace!!!!!!

As above,Excellent write up and your car and you both look to have the ability to really do well

What a shame that cable snapped

quote:

---

Originally posted by unijacko67
Just watched the first video and very impressed. You've got the ability, you’ve got the car, but most importantly you have the race awareness and track courtesy that without could have caught out a lesser driver. Great start, I know you wont be satisfied “that’s the racer in you” but really think there is good things ahead for you. Ace!!!!!!

---

Thanks for all the words of encouragement guys - it does mean a lot.

I came home feeling pretty chuffed until I watched the videos back.

"why did I go wide there? brake there?"
"why didn't i turn in earlier?"
"why didn't I overtake when I had the opportunity?"
"coming off the track seems so avoidable when watching it back"

Hey ho - onwards and upwards like you all say… I'll learn a lot from the weekend… and move forward.

Next up guys is Rockingham on Saturday 5th July

I'll update later as I'm off down the garage tonight to remove paddle shift & gear cabling, in order to put a stick in, need to do some welding… also getting rid of the foam seat… it just wasn't for me!

one thing I have found from watching videos from trackdays... it doesnt give you a true idea of whats going on.

I watch them and think, 'blood hell how early was i braking?!?!' but in reality, im standing on the brakes with everything I've got and still thinking I wasnt going to make the corner!

It's what you feel is right in the car at the time, not what it looks like in the video

Olly I had a great weekend, you put all the effort you possibly could into it. Boy, you did good! Cant wait for Rockingham!!!!!!!!!! Emileo Racing #30 all the way!!!!!

Great report, well done, looking forward to watching the videos

Before you ditch the paddles, have you considered fitting a rod arrangement rather than cables? made mine with a rod
and its uber direct, click click click up or down. dead easy on the fingers too.

Only downside i can see is in the event of a big crash its something else that could potentially spear you.

keep up the good work, whens the next outing?

Al.

Rods from paddles going to an engine in the rear sounds like a right PITA lol

Paddles are now off and near the bin lol will go up for sale soon… along with the 3.5metre gear cable lol

Nice one!

Ha Ha my bad, didn't think that one through did I !



]Originally posted by yellowcab
Rods from paddles going to an engine in the rear sounds like a right PITA lol

Paddles are now off and near the bin lol will go up for sale soon… along with the 3.5metre gear cable lol [/quote

Just watched the videos and read your post Olly ; sounds like you had a great weekend.

I'll see you at Rockingham with my overalls in-hand ready to assist any way I can

Who just watched the MotorsTV coverage, couldn't be happier with the airtime, mentions and on board footage of mine that got used.

Well happy with that!!!

Roll on Rockingham!

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Who just watched the MotorsTV coverage, couldn't be happier with the airtime, mentions and on board footage of mine that got used.

Well happy with that!!!

Roll on Rockingham!

---

Andy get it on record for tomorrow morning (Friday 6th June) at 10:35am

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Andy get it on record for tomorrow morning (Friday 6th June) at 10:35am

---

It certainly was!

So it was about time I updated this thread with some progress… as you've read the paddle shift setup had to go - just didn't suit me, its all a personal preference, some people love them, I just don't get along with em…

So I picked up a bit of stainless steel FOC 25mm OD bar in order to make my gear stick support… in view of ditching the paddles



Next up paddles, rocker, gear cable & rose joints to be removed



I think my main frustration with the paddles was the amount of friction within the inner to outer cable itself due to the route it had to take to get to the gearbox… now the rear contour of the cable wasn't so bad as it was nice and gradual… but the front U bend was so sharp that it became a nuisance



The gear selector on the gearbox will have to be flipped in order for me to go up the gears by pulling back on the gearstick as the fulcrum will be beneath the pivot



Side pods off for a deep post-Snett cleanse, as it was filthy dirty from my off circuit antics!





Next up there as a 2.5mm thick high sided aluminium around my seat that wasn't really fastened to anything, so got rid of this saving 2.1kg



Gear cable was rather long at being as long as the car at 3.4m in total



So with having a foam set, I didn't want the gear bar to go down the centre of the car for no reason, so I placed it off centre to give myself more elbow room



Profiled/ Notched the ends as neat as I could with a grinder in order to get a decent connection between the two bits of metal



Going back to the selector… it needs to be flipped 180degree, but my Spire is the only one that runs a separate reverse gearbox / glorified starter motor - all the others have a posh Radical Quaife Diff with built in reverse… so I'm going to have to extend the gearbox shaft to clear the reverse box - no biggie… it's all done thanks to cosmick




The outer cable mount I was going to weld to the chassis was too close to a very convent bolt hole, so decided to ditch that and make a longer one to accommodate the M10 bolt you can see in this below photo



Job jobbed



Used the first outer cable bracket to make the front one I need to put on the diagonal bar, so notched it out agai and seeded it on, sprayed up the bar (masking taping the ends of course that need to be welded)



Dash bar cleared of powder coat, bar welded on, sprayed up and altered the dashboard to accommodate the bar coming through



Down on the floor, same again, all sprayed up with no overspray - win/win!



Before & after, from primary idea to everything done… rose joints, gear stick, gear cable & mount… and rear bulk head drilled to allow cable to pass through the engine bay



Dash back on, all wired up - and ready to rock and roll… all set for Rockingham now I think…

And my next project before Rockingham is…. can you guess?!

quote:

---

Dash back on, all wired up - and ready to rock and roll… all set for Rockingham now I think…

---

Ahhh What a gent - I was reluctant to buy an gear knob that weighs more than the stick!

Cheers for the info Pat - should pop around some time

Or I may be able to get you a snazzy push handle grip from a wheelchair that has ridges on it.

Was it 25mm OD?

U2U me if you want one with the ID you need and I will see what I can get. It wont be for this weekend though!!!

PS: following your blog so keep it up!

PPS Ill have a guess on your project. . .

Trailer?

Towing Dolly?

Traction control?

Gear set up looks good

Would a bike handlebar grip fit on the lever?

Loving the handle ideas!

I thought about tennis racket grip handle tape stuff too...

The diagonal bar is 25mm OD... I'll measure the gear stick itself in sec and post again

Thanks for the interest guys, nice to know some read my ramblings!

Bizzle - yep, trailer mk2... Longer and wider (hence hubcentric wheel spacers, 30mm per side)

16mm O/D on the shifter

I had to space my caravan wheels off aswell when I converted to a trailer.

Regarding the grip - 16mm is a little thin for wheelchair frames. 19mm is the norm but I can get 22mm or 25mm because I am good!!

Nevermind, at least I guessed your project correctly

Caught the Snetterton Motors TV coverage this morning.. you did do well.

Can't help thinking at some point in the future you'll be wanting to "upgrade" to paddle shift?

You could use bike handlebar tape for the grip. One pack should be good for 4 changes of tape on that. Standard cork will do it (£10ish a pack) but if you want extra grippy (but not cheap) go for "Lizzard Skins"

Have to say I had the same thought as Andy. I love my paddle change but I have to admit after a couple of days touring I do get cramp in my fingers.

It was the friction that put me off due to the harsh route to the engine I think...

If I was front engine, or electric (illegal in our regs) then I'd keep em lol

Ya wimp, all you need is some muscles!

I don't need muscles there!!! thats the problem…

This is what I need…





Isn't it amazing what one can find on the interweb!

For those that couldn't see it on MotorsTV - race starts at 3m 30s

http://player.vimeo.com/video/97451588

Well Done and keep up the good work

Good write up and some superb photos as usual

Cheers Perksy

Evening gang…

So putting the car to one side, as I won't be going anywhere until I've built this trailer… more parts turned up today, including mudguards, 4x LED marker lights, 10mtrs of 7 core cable & plug… and new tyres and got the old knackered tyres removed




I know its not interesting, nor exciting… but it is dead satisfying turning what looks like a bag'o'sh!t into something worth looking at… the drums were in a poor state, but tidied up nicely & painted




The beam, backing plates & indespension units also had a lot of surface crust on, brought them back to life




The wheels were manky filthy dirty both inside and out… cleaned them up, sprayed them silver outside, and black inside




Now where I come 'cap in hand' does anyone relatively local to me have a lathe… please? the hub centric wheel spacers I bought on a whim are marginally incorrect fit, in that the centre bore of the spacer is 56.1mm, the centre bore of the trailer axel is 56.6mm… so I need 0.5mm taking off the inner diameter… could anyone help out please?


[Edited on 7/6/14 by yellowcab]

No real update to speak of - other than trailer stuff, but thought I might aswell document it anyway, for those wanting to make one… like I did my last one.

This trailer has a 4 metre long bed instead of 3 metre, to accommodate overhang of bodywork, also it is 60mm wider bed due to hubcentric wheel spacers which was the cheapest way to do it… and also the bed steels are 350mm wide each, rather than 300.



So I received my gear shaft extension from Mike and it was a perfect fit in order to connect my gear cable… went for a test drive (or did I) and its perfect, feels so much more natural already.



Altered the fulcrum from pivot point to give me the desired about of gear lever throw, and leverage



Wanted the steering wheel closer to me, and cutting & welding the column was a bit too Senna for me, so spaced them out with 25mm brass spacers, with nuts on the back of the 12.9 high tensile bolts you can see here, this also now puts the steering wheel dead adjacent to gear stick - perfect!



So I got the call to say the trailer galv are ready, go and break my back collecting them but they all fit in the trusty Golf Estate, even the 2.5metre ramps! that night I laid everything out to double check measurements as I used the width measurements from before just adding on 60mm (to accommodate the wider track)…



You can see the basic principles of whats happening here… all very self explanatory



With the car rolled on, you can see we have ample room at the front of the trailer with still a good 500mm off the back should we not need to push the car right to the front… the 60mm track width has made a huge difference to how much more tolerance I have when loading the car




A design idea of mine was to double fold the ramps, and have them not as high as the inside edge of the trailer troughs so they can be stored like so, without the risk of them flailing around left to right under the car



Bargain £10.99 Lights on, courtesy of eBay… and started bolting the front sections together




Making sure they were running parallel took a bit of time but got there in the end after making up some shims to space out the end of the troughs inside the end capping



Thanks to Nat at RetroPower for turning out the inside of my spacers, they're now on the axel, with my painted wheels and new tyres ready and waiting to go on…



I'm offsetting the number plate panel to allow the ramp latch more meat on the steel, so edged it out by 7mm, then marked and drilled the rear panel, and also where I needed to angle grind the slot in the top, for the ramps to slot in… to double up the strength



Number plate capping ground out, slotted, trough on top, bolt resting through… just now need to cut some off the ramp to enable the lip to drop into the groove… thats all for now folks, quite noisy work and don't wanna pish off the neighbours

Nice work Olly!

Trailer MK2 looks like a real step on from MK1. Very well thought out.

You could have a nice side line building them to order

Like the cars new colour scheme, just need to get rid of that eyesore that is your novice cross. Good luck with the racing, I did club racing for over 10 years, still miss the thrill. Don't miss driving all over the country, or all the sitting about at the circuits waiting for your allotted times. Your mention of going to the toilet more times that morning than all the previous week brings back memory's too, that's why you always see Brundle chasing drivers down the pit lane trying to get an interview before they nip off for another number 1 or 2! Visiting the loo several times and racing will always go hand in hand.
I'm very jealous, you car seems great. Just wait until you get to some great tracks like Cadwell or Donington. I hope your season stays damage free and you really enjoy the experience.

Nice work Olz, if you stop fannying around taking pictures you might get a bit more done.

Sorry I am dragging my heals with things

No more pics from now on, until the next update!

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Sorry I am dragging my heals with things

No more pics from now on, until the next update!

---

I've done loads since the last time I updated, and didn't take a single photograph! Go me!

[Edited on 21/6/14 by yellowcab]

No pictures. No proof!

You best not be encouraging me to post the copious amounts of photographs showing the little progress I've made Dodge!

You don't normally need encouragement!

Get them posted. You know you want too!

Touché!

I bow to your wit!

So to continue with the trailer progress, Mike came up on Sunday to help and do the wiring for me - electrics scare the poop outta me!

Following on from last page, ramps were notched out to accommodate the extra overhang of the number plate board, they now latch in nicely, and don't go anywhere… and they there is plenty of clearance once they've dropped in between the drop down and the light cluster, thankfully




Before Mike came up I did all the drilling and prep so it was a case of wiring it up, and bolting it altogether, marker lights positioned as on trailer number 1, as it worked well last time



So on with the trailer itself, put together the Alko chassis again, connected the A frame to the axel, and worked out how much needed to be cut off - as, after all, the whole reason for this - is to be able to create a custom length trailer that'll fit inside the garage which is 5.31m long from door to end wall… it ended up as 5.1m long - with a 4m bed - well happy with that

Hitch weight calculated the same way as before, put car on the troughs on the trailer, with the scales beneath - we settled for around 58kg hitch weight so its easy to manoeuvre



Car on the bed, with it only strapped on - nothing bolted here, and the scales under the hitch



Take it all back off again once we'd marked where we wanted to bolt it all together, and make sure the caravan Alko chassis runs completely parallel



Mudguards on, same as before- just need some thin ally in order to make the inner mudguards to stop road dirt being flung over car whilst going along



So all done and dusted, now was time to figure out how to strap it down being full bodied… decided on C-bolts through the trough floors, without nuts on the top, so they fall through when not in use, and you can pull them up when you need them, so the car can roll over them when loading & unloading



Bits of wood sprayed silver as chocks, and obviously the C-bolt in front of the chock, is OK to stay 'up' at all times as the wheels do not pass over it



Test drive was successful - no bodywork on the car simply because putting it on, and taking it off is a two man job lol

Yay Pictures!

Well done Olly, it looks fantastic. Even better than the last one!

Brilliant!
I love the way you think things out, the disappearing tie downs are genius
Not so long before the next update. OK?

Cheers dodge, thing is, I was over the moon with mk1... But there are always shortcuts or improvements with everytime you do one...

So mk2 went together faster, it's wider, longer, nice balance to it

MK3 will be better still

The disappearing tie downs were Mikes idea, totally not taking credit for that little gem.

So I have done bits to car, only a few tweaks... Looking forward to Rockingham in 2 weeks!

I hope I can get the MK back on the road before Rockingham, would be nice to go down in it rather than the tintop

Today I have Phil coming down to hang out in the man-shack… Phil is the new owner of my Busa.

Was hoping he'd come down in it, so we could do a little photoshoot of the two of them, but its in bits whilst he's OCD-Cleaning it!

Thaddaboy!

Not sure about this Olly



There will be a lot of leverage on the bolt threads, it may be better to go with something like this: eBay or this type of spacer, modified: eBay
Of course it may be perfectly Ok and I am talking (writing!) borracks
I wonder if there may be a problem with the scrutineers?

I missed that bit!

Bloody hell Olly! Get those shitty bits of tube back in the scrap bin where they belong and make/buy a proper spacer!

quote:

---

Originally posted by 40inches
Not sure about this Olly

There will be a lot of leverage on the bolt threads, it may be better to go with something like this: eBay or this type of spacer, modified: eBay
Of course it may be perfectly Ok and I am talking (writing!) borracks
I wonder if there may be a problem with the scrutineers?

---

Those bits of tube are a temporary measure (You'll be glad to know) whilst a solid block/spacer is made. Prototyping I believe!!

(Olly said that without moving his lips too)

[Edited on 23/6/14 by Proby]

Firstly to let the folks know who are interested, the next race meeting is this weekend.

Details are:

Rockingham Speedway, Corby, Northamptonshire

Testing: Friday 4th - All day
Qualifying: Saturday 5th @ 11:20
Race 1: Saturday 5th @ 16:20
Race 2: Sunday 6th @ 15:40


So I stripped down the rear brakes, to have a look at the handbrake the didn't seem to work very well, to find these little cheese wedged beauties, it appears that the outer handbrake cable had melted in the past onto the inner, thus preventing the handbrake from releasing totally… (another excuse for being so sh*t at Snett lol)





Fresh pads delivered from Paul & Tim @ Spire Sport Cars the following day - fresh Mintex 1144 for the rears much more meat!





Inside the car looking tidy now, and stopped fannying around with it now, the antiroll bar adjustments you can see have been moved forward a good few inches, as they couldn't be seen whilst sat in the drivers seat with a helmet & HANs device on… as couldn't put chin to chest enough to see them they're now perfect





Back to trailer bits and bobs, same as old trailer, I made some inner arch guards to stop road crap being flung up the side of my car whilst being towed along





Chris (Proby) & Kathryn from GraphicMonster.co.uk has made me some custom visor vinyl sunstrips to go on my new tinted double glazed visor to stop it from steaming up in cold weather with the visor down





Phil (magicbeans) & Adrienne two other of my pit crew have also bought some team-wear







Front splitter freshened up again after Snett, and general driving around the paddock as it kept scraping along the floor lol





The wheel spacers on the Spire are no ideal, as they are the Halfords cheap universal jobbies that make it incredibly hard to get them bang central, so having so proper 4x100 PCD and 56.6 centre bore ones made





Car on the trailer full bodied, looks the part





Starting to deck out my trailer in preparation to make it fully enclosed, first off was to buy some 18mm WBP ply board, this large front section slides up from the back under the inside edges of the troughs, and sits on the A frame of the Alko chassis at the front





The centre pieces in between the ramps when stored, slide in last, all will be drilled, nut & bolted with M10 BZPs, just need to paint it in grey garage floor paint first, to make sure its waterproof & weather proof, including the drill holes, and edges to avoid any water ingress… I've walked up and down and 18mm is perfect with hardly any movement under foot





Oh - and my steering wheel spacer that I was having made will be with me tomorrow, to replace the brass spacers I had used to judge the distance of how far out I wanted the wheel




[Edited on 30/6/14 by yellowcab]

Ooo T shirts!

Evening all,

Another exciting weekend for Me & the EmiLeo Racing Team, before I start to ramble - I'd like to say a huge thanks to everyone that made us feel yet again so welcome - nice to meet yet more new faces, chat to more new people, those that made us bacon rolls (Della Rogers & Tricia Malyon), those that put us up for two nights in his hotel Brian James Shuttle (Kelvin Rawles), we'd have been screwed without you!

With Snetterton being a good 6 weeks ago, it had been a busy six weeks of development along with building a trailer - obviously ditching the paddle shift in favour of a stick shift was something I was quite keen on trying out.

I don't regret doing Snett, despite being a rabbit caught in the headlights, as it got all my 'first race nerves' out the way, leaving me to do nothing but enjoy, and look forward to racing at Rockingham… to which we did!

Thursday 3rd July PM
Another big thanks to Chris for taking time of work to come and support me on the Friday, on our way over to Rockingham the Golf got a puncture whilst towing, so had to pull over and pump the wheel up, thankfully we had a car full of kit so wasn't too much of an issue…

Arrived at Rockingham around 8pm, greeted by Paul Rogers and we pitched up next to him, all looking forward to sleeping in the back of Marc Nordons race truck… until we found out it had broken down and wasn't going to be at the race meeting - ooops!

Thankfully I had bought Jasons' gazebo so we set that up that evening, got the car unloaded, and slept on the carpark floor inside the gazebo with the car lol not a terrific night sleep due to the strong winds, and the gazebo almost taking off during the night lol



Friday 4th July AM - Testing
So up we get bright and breezy, having had around 3 hours sleep - our first test session we were out at 0900, so we went for sound testing, all good at 99dBs, and went to sign on…

0900 session, was ready to test my new gear stick, until the first corner where the extension snapped coming out of the gearbox, leaving me stuck in 2nd gear, again, so I coasted around the whole track back to the pits, where (once again) Tim Gray & Paul Nightingale came to the rescue and welded it back together for me whilst the session was still out - enabling me to get out for the second session at 1030 - thanks chaps.

1030 session, I went out tentatively, treating my new gear shift set-up with some respect and just finding the car again, having not driven it since Snett, still a little loose on the rear, a little oversteery, but I think I can 'deal' with that for now, steel seemed to the putting in 1:38s laps

1200 session, this session was a complete write-off due to the number of red flags out - we only manage a single lap in the whole half hour slot

1430 session, a little more confidence came putting in some 1:36.5 laps, however when we came in the front passenger calliper was binding/ stuck on - so we had a couple of hours to strip it down, remove the pads & clean up the outside of the pistons, to make them glide again - we thought we'd cracked it

1600 session, final session of the day - started to find my balls (that haven't physically been cut off for those that are wondering after seeing the lovely sticker - thanks Paul & Duncan…) I was flat through corner 1 in 6th gear which is something I'd been aiming to do, and having looked at my telemetry data, yep, I managed a 133mph top speed which I knew was a decent rate of knots from what I'd heard around the paddock… and ending the day on a 1:35.8s



Saturday 5th July AM - Qualifying
Saturday morning it was raining, from getting up at 0730am, through to about 10:00… our qualifying was at 11:20, the track had dried out by this time… so any little mental notes I had picked up on to change on the car incase we were in the wet, were kinda irrelevant…

Went out for qualifying, and my fastest lap of the session was 1:36.18s putting me 8th on the grid (4th row on the outside near the wall) for Race 1, and my second fastest lap time was 1:36.54 putting my 9th on the grid (5th row on the inside) for Race 2

Chuffed much - very happy with those grid positions… now… now… just don't bloody stall it.

Spotted that Richard Wise was starting immediately behind me on the grid, so I went and let him know that I'm not brilliant at starts, from previous experience (Snett) and I may well stall it, lol



Saturday 5th July PM - Race 1
So here we are sports fans, the moment of truth - we line up on the grid… I had ditched the Snett memory out of my head and just put it down to nerves, so decided to reset my mentality and just try my best…

Managed to get a stonking start from 8th right up to 4 position benign Matt Higginson, Al Boulton & John Cutmore… WTactualF… this isn't right… but unfortunately due to being on the outside, corner 2 was a left hander meaning I wasn't on the best part of the circuit to hold any kinda position, so Scott Mittell came up the inside, as did Paul Rogers to claim back his space, Duncan Horlor was on the inside of Paul, and David Wale was on behind Duncan, all on the inside of me, so by turn two I was back to position 8 where I started, but I thoroughly enjoyed being 4th for the 7 seconds it lasted

Screen grab time:


The race was good, I lost a position to Colin Chapman who was on my tail from the outside, and managed to defend of a good 6 laps before he nipped me at Piff-Paff… and then he held the position, which put me in 9th… but then Duncan ran out of fuel, and unfortunately Paul Rogers who was also ahead of me had a DNF, which put me up at 7th after a red flag close to the race due to Rob Gardener setting on fire!

Thrilled with my 7th place, very very happy… however always the self ciritic, I was annoyed that my best lap time were down to 1:37.04s… after sitting in Parc Ferme for 15 minutes and getting back to the garages, my tyre pressures were still at 26psi - shiiiiiiiiit too much man! Possibly explains the lack of pace in race.

Hey ho - so we have 23 hours before our next race on Sunday at 15:40...



Sunday 6th July PM - Race 2
I'll fast forward as not a lot happened during the early part of Sunday for us - but to the race… as we hadn't been out on the circuit that day - we have a green flag lap (my first) so we line up on the grid, wait for everything to be ready, then a green flag is waved for us to warm up our brakes/ tyres/ generally feel what the track conditions are like as they could possibly had changed from the previous day… the flag got waved annnnnnnnnddddd I stalled it doh! But again, rather now, than on the race itself, again, I didn't let it bother me - just cracked on…

So then, the sirens go, I'm now a row back on row 5, on the inside for turn 1 and 2… in 9th position, 'come on Olz' I was saying, the red lights are on, they go out - GO GO GO… another cracking starting putting me up past Paul Rogers on the inside who was in front of me, I'm now in 5th - AND on the inside line - yes, get in…. but then Colin Chapman is closing the door, the novice in me tells me to ease off and let him in - you can hear this on the video… but something told me to keep my foot in… I was 5th heading into turn two, but then David Wale in the yellow Spire gets his nose on the inside meaning I had to run slightly on the outside of him, but managed to get the power down that little bit faster giving me a better exit and run up to turn three….. where it all went horribly wrong… lol hey ho, I got excited and slammed on the power too aggressively - not gonna deny that I wasn't excited to be in among the big-dogs lol

Turn two…


Turn three…



So there we have it peeps:
I started Race 1 in 8th position, got up to 4th, and ended in 7th position
I started Race 2, in 9th position, I got up to 5th, and ended in 9th position.

Oh - and to top off already a brilliant weekend, at the Award Presentation, I was awarded the 'Driver of the day' for Saturday



Really thrilling weekend, great times, great weather, great experience - I'm kinda liking this racing lark - its great social thing too.

Thanks to my EmiLeo Racing pit crew - Chris Poole, Phil Grieve, Adrienne Turner & Dave Binns, with an additional hand from Luke Burgess

If I have failed to mention you personally in a way of thanks - please forgive me… a lot was going on, it hasn't gone unnoticed… I thank everyone for making my weekend as easy as it was

Well done matey! I saw the results earlier today, and guessed you'd had a good day.

Get the vids up.

great race there and i was there and saw you first race start it was a stonker of a start the best on the grid,

and was keeping eye on your times from the stands and yes i think you held them off well and got some great lines into the first corner as you say which is very quick,

great racing and car looked very well,

good job and glad your having fun,

sean

Think what you could have done if you had more sleep!

Well done, good results for a rooke!

Cheers Andy - nice of you to be following the live timings - its a cool little app that Yep - had a blast…

Videos are uploading as we speak

Cheers Sean - shame you didn't come and make yourself known and have a chat I enjoyed Rockingham, just the infield is incredibly tricky to get bang on, time after time, especially once you begin racing in the mirrors.

Carpmart - yeah, more sleep would have helped, I won't deny that… hopefully won't be slumming it quite as badly at Anglesey… but we'll see lol

Race 1 video - enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjVaMN6ba7w



[Edited on 8/7/14 by yellowcab]

Race 2 video… better start and better position for turns 1 and 2… shame about 3 lol hey ho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7snRYbzvdA

Also to follow my antics - please click 'Like' on my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/emileoracing

Watched your vids. You're going really well, just need to make fewer mistakes. Simple eh! A bit more seat time, and I'm sure you'll be up mixing with the big boys.

You had quite a nasty little moment on the banking in the second race? Back end loose at 110mph plus probably?

Coorrrrr you've got some good eyes and observational skills. +10 points

Yes that lap Tim H's engine detonated leaving an oil slick on turn 1, when in Parc Ferme it seems we all thought we were all going to die on that lap, horrible experience, and yes, circa 115mph, I will look at the telemetry later!

You'll see my slipper clutch wasn't slipping orrrr too much rear brake bias locking up the rear axel and stalling the engine when down changing into the last chicane before I came back onto the main straight, and when down changing into turn 2 into the hairpin

Your very good under brakes, expecailly into turn 1 - you seemed to loose out slightly throughout the lap and then gain a lot back there. Shame about the two (and half) mistakes in a row in to the last chicane, as you would have been right on for another place or 2.

Time for a rear facing camera and some telemetry too!

quote:

---

Coorrrrr you've got some good eyes and observational skills. +10 points

---

The dash was always on, its actually the refresh rate on the LEDs on the dash, and the GoPro refresh rate that sometimes match which appear for the lights to not be on lol

You don't drive with your hand on the gear lever! Doesn't that slow you down?

Can you not just blip the throttle on down shifts to help counter the engine braking?

Got out the habit of heal & toeing from selling the MK lol

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
The dash was always on, its actually the refresh rate on the LEDs on the dash, and the GoPro refresh rate that sometimes match which appear for the lights to not be on lol

---

Some lovely panning shots from Daniel Sayles from Rockingham, capture the speed very well in deed

Our Rockingham race weekend will be televised on MotorsTV this Thursday 17th July @ 1825 and repeated on Friday 18th @ 10:35

Freeview ch240
Sky ch447
Virgin ch545

Just spotted this on ABs facebook page - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hMSyMnYPbg
thought to myself 'I recognise that blue car on the right!'

Ahhh yes the staller!

Final instructions are out for Anglesey Coastal Circuit, our next race weekend is:

Testing: Friday 25th July 2014 - All day
Qualifying: Saturday 26th July @ 09:25
Race 1: Saturday 26th July 2014 @ 13:35
Race 2: Sunday 27th July 2014 @ 13:20

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Ahhh yes the staller!

---

I'll take 25degrees

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/6296618

When (or) are you at brands or thruxton later in the year?

Neither this year - Brands was replaced this year by Rockingham, and Pembrey was replaced by Anglesey…

Two Silverstones this year, instead of two Doningtons

Maybe next year - there is talk of Croft (instead of / maybe) Cadwell Park

Post race weekend ramblings:

So where do I start the 3h 30min journey ended up taking around 4h 40mins which is always fun, groan...

Got parked up in the paddock next to the Mittels and got unloaded, then it was time to put up three tents before sunset… that wasn't fun, I despise camping at the best of times exactly because of that, so wasn't ideal but we made it.

The car had been to bits in between Rockingham and Anglesey for one reason or another, so it was nice to have it all back in one piece - felt much more prepared again this time - with the car being in bits, it was another reassurance that I knew what I was driving that little bit more.

The confidence I had gained in the car from Snetterton to Rockingham, probably doubled between Rockingham and Anglesey - still not actually driving the car between races due to strict budget, but just seeing how things work and understanding the car really helped a great deal.

We took testing a little more seriously this time around - at Rockingham you see - I changed nothing in between sessions, which wasn't a waste, I just used it as valuable seat-time to see where the car was at, and to see how I got used to it.

This time, we had an idea of what we wanted to do between all the sessions.

First test session out was a corker, and the car felt incredibly planted and actually went where I wanted it to, rather than feeling like a passenger… so we came in happy with our times… and made a few changes…

Went back out for second session, and no sooner than the first lap I came back into the pits where Mike & Chris managed to get front and back clams off, changed the bump, rebound on all four shocks, and adjusted the corner weights back to our 'Option A', and altered the ride height all within 3m 47s… all whilst I was sat in the drivers seat waiting to drive off again, very impressive… really well done, I actually got back out the rest of that session and pulled my fastest time of the day, with the 5 laps I had remaining, my best time during testing being 1:12.62s

The rest of the day we made smaller tweaks, but nothing seemed to get the lap times down, but having spoke to other guys around the paddock, we were all suffering from the same heat issue, the ambient and track temperatures were just too hot, tyres were getting too warm, our engines were down on power due to the warm ambient… but hey ho - it was what it was.

It wasn't until Friday night after testing that we had managed to speak to Tim Gray to ask his opinion on my setup - and he was pretty shocked at how it was arranged, and gave us some advice on how to get the car feeling and acting better… I was particularly nervous to change the car as the next time I would drive it - would due qualifying, but hey, in for a penny in for a pound.

We borrowed some corner weight scales (cheers chaps) and sat on the lovely flat floor of Anglesey pit garages to set it up again for a couple of hours again on the Friday night.

Saturday morning arrived, I was still feeling a little un-nerved that I had got used to the car, and its characteristics all day on the Friday.

Up for qualifying on Saturday, went out - and the car felt awesome, very nice indeed, however Mike had noticed a certain knocking whilst the engine was running which I was oblivious to, due to having my earplugs in, I couldn't recognise any unusual sounds from sat in the drivers seat.

I went out qualifying, and my two best times were:

1:13.32s which put me 9th on the grid for Race 1
1:13.40s which put me 7th on the grid for Race 2

Despite being happy with 9th and 7th respectively on the grid, I couldn't help but be slightly peeved that I had managed to lose the best part of a second overnight - hey ho… just the way it is, this would have moved me up to a few to 7th and 6th on the grid.

Race 1.
Got a good start, but so did everyone by the looks of things, managed to lose a couple of spaces from 9th back down to 11th to Adrian Moore and Colin Spicer with his after-burner starts off the grid… but clawed them back after a lap or so, then it was a hunt behind David Wale & Tony Gaunt who were in 6th & 7th respectively… I was in 8th at this point.

Managed to pass Tony Gaunt, who claimed back his space, a good tussle for several laps, and managed to get in front on the second to last lap which gave me a 7th place.

By far my best 'race' as it felt like I was 'racing' rather than just finding a place on the circuit, and being too slow to catch the people in front, but just quick enough to keep those behind me, behind me… so this was my first actual feeling of racing.

Having watched the videos back, we made a few more changes to the car to try and improve things further more for Race 2… famous last words...

Race 2.
Again, a good start, but it seemed everyone had one, the changes we made was to stiffen up the front damping to prevent the car from diving so much, but maybe dialled in far too much as it had horrid understeer, to which I'd use the throttle to prevent it, and it quickly changed to oversteer making the car awful to drive.

After 5 or 6 laps I had learnt how to tame the beast and learned how to 'deal with' the car, and managed to hold on for a finish in 6th, this wasn't so much of a race as such, as it was the same scenario as I was slower than the guys in front, but managed to get a good gap to the guys behind.

Very happy overall with finishing 7th and 6th - my best yet, and great for my 3rd race weekend… so the noise that Mike could hear developing was unfortunately the hard casing wearing off the primary gear of the crank - so engine is now out, and new crank/ engine needs to go in.

Telemetry and videos show that I was down on power both days - so makes me more happy with my results in hindsight.

Got awarded the 'Driver of the Day' again for Race 2 on the Sunday… maybe because of my 4-wheel power slides onto the start/finish straight trying to keep the car facing in the right direction lol

Happy chappy in EmiLeo Racing camp… next stop - Silverstone International on Bank Holiday Weekend, 23rd/24th August…

Huge thanks to Chris (Proby) and Mike (cosmick) for their support over this weekend, and patience - we did it chaps, we did ourselves proud as the newbies!

Now to rebuild the engine!

[Edited on 28/7/14 by yellowcab]

Some cracking photos from Dan Sayles:

Well done matey. I'd seen the results and thought you'd done well. But, you're saying you could have done better. Spot on! With or without testing, you're heading in the right direction eh!

What's happened the engine?

Got the death rattle, where the hard wearing casing has worn off on the primary gear on the crank

New engine or new crank time… engine is out now… I'll post some photos

Clutch cover off, to have a peak at the primary gear on the crank


Clutch plates out


All dis-assembled


Hard wearing coating worn off


Bendy radiator can come off, along with oil cooler


Could do with losing this radiator, fan and water capacity (7kg! from drivers side)


How it currently sits...




Only three weekends now, then Silverstone!

Are those the double adjustable protech dampers? If so where have you set your rebound damping? I have left mine as per race setup at force racing and never adjusted them since. I play with the bump a fair bit but leave he rebound @ +5 rear +8 front. This is mainly as I'm running a soft wide slick on the rear and the start is critical in sprinting.it enables the rear to squat off the line without rebounding too agressively but sill transfers weight well under braking

Race 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il9hP8z4QTw

Enjoyed that. You obviously got your braking / down changing / slipper clutch issue sorted out.

Cheers Andy - yes it appear I was running 100% rear bias, thus locking up the rear brakes - obviously only evident when I was really pushing on…

This was locking the rear axel and effectively stalling the engine, until I let go of the brakes, then the car would 'jump start' again so to speak.

Here is a little montage I made from my wires footage from the trackside which includes the commentary, with my Race 1 footage inset & synched.

My two fastest laps of the weekend of 1:12.62 in testing (right) and 1:12.73 in Race 1 (left)

Have you done comparison with your quali laps to see where you were loosing that 1 sec?

Interesting to see where you lost time in the race one, on the exit kerb of bend 2, then gain it back as you got caught in traffic on the final bend on the practice. Must have been 4 tenths. Can you get footage from any of the front runners to compare also?

Interesting you should say that - my best qualifying laps were:

1:13.32 (putting me 9th on the grid for Race 1)
1:13.40 (putting me 7th on the grid for Race 2)


It was in testing on the Friday that my dash said I had managed a 1:12.62…

Race 1 fastest was 1:12.93
Race 2 fastest was 1:12.73


So despite the car 'feeling' worse in Race 2… it was quicker

Race 2 is pretty boring in terms of overtaking, but from an analysis point of view, you can see I suffer badly from understeer very quickly changing to oversteer - but from 9minutes in, I settle into it, and my steering input reduces & improves lines (too late by then to make much difference, lol)

Love the kids 'go daddy' in the montage!
Just tell the wife to hold the phone the other way... It get so annoyed at mine for that.. lol

Yeah - here is the current champion Matt 'big balls no fear' Higginson - starting from 11th due to a failure during qualifying… getting from 11th to 2nd within 3 laps

Late braking, race craft and a well setup car goes a long way!

The front runners were doing constant late 1:10s / early 1:11s

LOL at Emily & Leo - true supporters huh

Oh - you'll notice by Matt's footage just how lack of grip there is at Anglesey in general lol

For all the 'live' updates when I'm at a circuit I tend to use Facebook as its a damn site easier, quicker and better for posting immediate photos… please feel free to 'Like' my page:

https://www.facebook.com/emileoracing

Race 1 Video:

Started 6th, got 5th off the line, but Paul Rogers and I had a nice drag race down Hangar Straight - his slippery number got me on the straight…

Then kept 6th all race with Tony Gaunt and Duncan Horlor all over my back end, until the last lap of the race annoyingly.

By far my 'biggest moment' so far is at 1m 03s when Paul Rogers gets me at Stowe, I run wide on the exit and my rear wheels on the astroturf… could have been nasty, but caught it in time…

They well and truly rattled me, good on them - cracking race!

Finished 8th, for my 7th race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC8pNhkVh5I&list=UUCpP5dFARRhF0vlmAKtEF4A

[Edited on 25/8/14 by yellowcab]

Race 2 Video:

Started in 6th, my best yet… got upto 4th for half a lap, remained in 5th for three laps with Paul Rogers all over my back end… and 6th for a further lap where Duncan walked through the door I left ajar for him.

Finally getting used to 'Village Corner' enjoyed my four wheel slide (however much sideways isn't forwards) at 12m 35s

Overall - finished 7th, very pleased for yet another circuit I've never been to in my life before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKj6B5Z6V0&list=UUCpP5dFARRhF0vlmAKtEF4A

Well done Olly
I've even signed up to that Face ache thingy, so I can follow you

u2u me your name then Dave so we can be 'friends' lol

Can't find you on Facebook

I'm feeling like an update should happen on here… as there has plenty been going on that I've took pics of, but I've not done anything with...

Crashed it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecgk-FqytrQ&list=UUCpP5dFARRhF0vlmAKtEF4A




Fixed it, raced it, came 5th - happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPlqj4FBEPM

Do you know what caused it? It just looked like you understeered off?

Cock on!

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Cock on!

---

No excuses - driver error, forgot to brake and turn in… entry speed too fast, ran out of talent, yar-de-yarrr…

Bent upper front wishbone, and three snapped rose joints

Worked through friday night, ended up corner weighting it and string lining it in the scrutineering bay around 10pm, in order to get out for qualifying.

Race was lonely, but satisfying that I was keeping a distance from DH & DW behind me, and not losing 'toooo' much time from PR & JC

My appalling Race 2 footage from Cadwell Park… Mediocre start to begin with, followed the pack through turn 1, and managed to get on the inside of Colin Chapman… but then I seemed to fall asleep going up Park straight and forgot to turn in for Park corner on lap one (what an idiot) regained the track, made up some ground.

Overtook David Watson, did almost did a complete lap but not quite (he crossed the start/finish line at the same time as me) got caught behind Austen & James… red flag came out due to Jason Stowes departure.

Restarted on the grid behind Dave Watson again, then we were told by marshals we are going to have a green flag lap… which they seemed to change their minds and didn't tell half the grid.

I then stalled it anyway, so it didn't actually matter, so set off last last, David Wale seemed to have a worse start than me squirming around on his own.

Made a knee-jerk overtake on Neil CB at the hairpin, but then I then came together with Ian Kempston (sorry) who I thought had moved left to allow me to over take at Barn, but then slammed the door shut after I had committed to take him on the inside, clinking his rear right with my front left.

Then managed to catch the rest of the pack, overtaking Mark Betts, Richard Wise, Colin Spicer and settled behind Austen in 10th position…

Enjoy, or not…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blpx4cGl47g&list=UUCpP5dFARRhF0vlmAKtEF4A

Superb video, enjoyed that, nice brave overtake into "Park" at about 8 minutes. You looked a fair bit quicker in that video, when you have someone to chase down, than you did in the first race video

Cheers Paul - yes, its interesting the perception when racing, that when you're not overtaken people - its easily misconstrued that you're sandbagging.

I enjoyed getting back through the pack - but I have to admit I was fuming with myself for my first off on lap one, then the stall…

May have not been your best result, but 10/10 for entertainment value! Some nice passes there, particularly the two you out braked into Park, superb!

Cheers Andy, I feel red-mist got the better of me which I should have kerbed.

Never mind - onwards and upwards… end of RGB season now - but I have put together a race-team for a Birkett 6-hour endurance relay race at Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on Saturday 25th October

That should be awesome…

I must get around to updating this thread properly with my antics (and photos)

Evening strangers, I managed to find 10minutes so I could get some photos downloaded and up onto here for those following my progress… if not on Facebook - then here…

I may well have missed lots, but here is the general jist of things since the crank went in my Honda CBR1000RR, we whipped the engine out and searched high and low for a replacement crank to find they're as rare as rocking horse poo, expensive poo at that - which made it easier, and more convenient to buy a new engine - go figure?!

This was all after Anglesey, and before Silverstone late August… but unfortunately I fell into the 'well whilst its out, we might aswell do this' scenario, and one thing lead to another…

From when I bought the car, it was always running two water formula ford radiators, one in each side pod, which is obviously a lot of weight, water, and took ages for the water to come unto temperature due to it holding so much, it wasn't ideal and somewhat complicated setup, so I went about simplifying the cooling setup


Passenger rad



Drivers rad, you can also see the black oil cooler mounted quite far back behind the radiator, attached to the blue tab on the chassis



The idea was to lose the drivers radiator, convert to a single passenger radiator, and shift as much weight on the drivers rear, as forward as possible, so we were going to move the oil cooler forward, albeit only 6 inches, but every little helps… to here



This was just a small section of the water cooling pipework that was needed in order to link the two rads together



This was the whole lot… that we removed



Total weight of everything, without water (obviously) was 10kg dry weight



This was our plan

Ordered a new single thicker radiator with a bigger surface area



Mounted on the passenger side, and filled in any gaps where air could get through



New oil cooler had been delivered, and we decided to move the oil cooler even further forward into the side pod, thus getting as much weight off the drivers rear as possible, so this is where it currently sits



Single radiator in, and began plumbing it up



Whilst engine was out I did a bit of tarting up of other bits that needed doing

Loads I've missed - probably boring…

But here are my first seasons results:

Race 1 @ Snetterton 300:



Race 2 @ Rockingham International:



Race 3 @ Anglesey Coastal:



Race 4 @ Silverstone International



Race 5 @ Cadwell Park

Spire GT3 vs AB Sabre G1

"Onboard Oliver Hewitt in an RGB Spire GT3 with a Honda Fireblade engine with Yoko A048R tyres

The red car with headlights on in the drivers (wobbly) wing mirror is that of Adrian Moore (aka Adrain) in an RGB AB Performance Sabre G1 with a Honda Fireblade engine on full slicks

Fantastic race getting through traffic, fast, but safe - I'm aware I went off track limits to overtake the Orange & Black Seven at 1:00, but it was better than colliding as my exit through Vale onto Club straight through was greater than his

I was on the extreme limits of the A048r tyres, a lot of pointless gear changes for me, but was keen to keep revs on - Adrian pushed & pushed - cracking battle"


http://youtu.be/CMy1qGHCQls

Looks like you were having fun Olly

From the other side!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diS0LMDiOvU

Probably the best weekend's racing ever. Thoroughly enjoyed it and a big thanks to all the Team for making it happen.

Hi chaps, long time no speak...

2015 season is just about to kick off, we've done our first pre-season shakedown at Brands hatch yesterday... And we're out at Donington Park tomorrow.

Be sure to go on www.facebook.com/vrmotorsport.co.uk for photos, videos & progress.

Damn forum... http://www.facebook.com/vrmotorsport.co.uk

Early start to the season, wrap up! Good luck, and be sure to keep us non bookfacers updated.

So in brief after my 4th race at Silverstone International I was approached by a race team for my to drive with them.

We arranged a meeting to take place at the Cadwell Park race weekend, the last of the season to which it did.

We talked through the nitty gritty and come to the conclusion that it was gonna happen.

Throughout winter a lot of changes have happened to the car to keep the team ethos in sharing spares, engines, bodyworks etc... So we've come away from the Honda Fireblade in favour of the Suzuki GSXR1000 K7 as that's what the other driver already had, and they had a spare engine which I now have... We've bought another spare for the race truck so whoever a gives first, gets the engine.

The car has undergone a major diet and now we are on point with the weight limit rather than being 17kg over...

New suspension, brakes, carbon front splitter & rear diffuser among many other bits & bobs.

I'll be sure to update you guys on here of race meetings, results, ups and downs!



Olly

Is the 750mc website down?

It seems to be fine now Andy ?

Yep up and running now. How'd you get on at Donny today? I actually thought you meant you had your first race there today. Was it a trackday or a test day?

Just a track day Andy, as a good day - plenty of seat time!

The oil cooler split on us though… so the day ended prematurely!

How did the k7 feel compared to the blade? Not had chance to get out in mine yet but it's got a k6 gsxr1000 on dta and was 307kg on the scales (although there was no battery on board)

As Andy isn't on Facebook - I wanted to personally thank him for the time out he took yesterday in shooting me whilst testing at Croft

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
As Andy isn't on Facebook - I wanted to personally thank him for the time out he took yesterday in shooting me whilst testing at Croft

---

Lovely looking car, and some great photos in this thread! One day..

Well round one of the RGB Championship was last weekend at Brands Hatch, a mixture of ups and downs from our team with both new cars getting damaged in testing - but the team pulled together and got us out for qualifying on Saturday morning.

I managed to qualify in 6th position for Race 1, and 8th position for Race 2… and Rob Gardiner my team mate managed to qualify in 20th for both races.

A good weekend on the whole, managed to get my first podium with a 3rd in Race 1, but I was more happy with my drive in Race 2 despite coming 7th, as I managed to claw that back from being in 14th position at one point due to a spin, engine was in safe mode / limp mode so very far down on power which is obvious as other cars were pulling away on every straight, so the fact I overtook one car was an achievement, let alone 7…

In Race 2 we raced on our new 'wet' tyres however this turned out to be a wrong decision because from a few laps in the dry line was completely dry which pretty much cooked the tyres...

Anyway - enough ramblings, please enjoy some onboard footage:

My Race 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xo-fQ1ovNo

My Race 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW0vFVBj14E

[Edited on 28/4/15 by yellowcab]

great racing there, well done

I watched your vids earlier today, superb! ..you even spun off with style. ..as you say, it was a good recovery through the field in race two.

Thanks chaps - I was mighty pissed off with myself for spinning out in the first place, it shouldn't have happened - but it does, hey?

Usually I would have returned to the track in vengeance and red mist, but I kerbed that, and learnt from Cadwell Park last year - so just got my head down, and drove the nuts off it.

Having since learnt it was definitely in limp mode, and producing 40bhp less than the rest of the field - I was even more chuffed.

I saw you at croft yesterday, didn't manage to catch you in the pits though.
I was going to get some photos for you, but then you pulled back into the pits when I got my camera out! and by then I had to set off to aberdeen

Ahhh Matt thats a shame, would have been good for you to come and say hi

Where were you viewing from, and how was the cars behaviour looking from the outside? not necessarily speed wise, I mean behaviour, planted? loose? out of shape?

I know I was four-wheel drifting into the Complex which is a corner I felt like I had got right pretty early on

I saw you mostly hitting clervaux/hawthorn corner

looks very well planted!
After I had first clocked it was you you were stuck behind slower traffic for a couple of laps, then had a couple of clear passes.
And you were flying! didn't look out of shape at all.

I was shocked at how much faster than other cars yours was, hopefully I can get to watch some races as I bet its epic!

Are you planning on anymore test days? im toying with either blyton or cadwell 27/28th may, cant decide which though

Been through to Croft this aft to watch the 750mc test day. Mr Hewitt going very well.. mostly!

Nice lawn on the splitter there..











Shall be through tomorrow morning to watch the racing. Practice in the morning from 9-30 and racing from about noon. Sat & Sunday.

I might pop up Sunday for a look. I've got no events until 13th June!

Well, not the best of days.. I'll let the man fill in the details, but a dnf in race one, meaning he'll be starting from the back tomorrow. Could be a very enjoyable race, but won't be good for championship points I expect.
Good luck for tomorrow Oll

I saw on Twitter he only managed 6 laps. Which is a shame!

I couldn't make it though today, but eaves dropped on the live timing. Looks like we had a better day today, looking forward to the video!

Video shows the crash at Barcroft as I left the circuit and went from 124.1mph to Zero in 6.1 seconds into the tyres. Bodywork became loose and detached giving me no rear end downforce and thus getting spat off the circuit into a spin.

The brilliant VR Motorsport team turned it back around in 2 hours and sent me out for Race 1, which we had a DNF due to fuel pump disconnection after a spin.

In race 2 we have a 'green flag lap' in order to practice launches / starts off the grid, and to test the conditions of the circuit before the actual race… so then the green flag gets waved, practice your launches. I chose to see how the rear end of the grid gets off the line… I decided to change my line off the grid when it come with the race.

Race 2 was from the very back of the grid, managed to make up 14 places by the end of the first lap, then continued to cut through the pack as it got more and more difficult and finally taking home 4th position from Mark Betts on the last set of corners of the last lap in to the Complex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M558TGMbdQ

Blinding video/race that you must have been well chuffed with that,

Great job and i'm glad you was ok after that impact, scary moment that,

Best of luck for the next race

Cheers pal - I was happy with my start off the grid gaining 7 places, then to continue to take another 7 within that one lap awesome.

I felt relaxed, a completely different mentality compared to when I'm towards the front of the grid

Thanks buddy

Wouldn't have been possible without my team putting my car back together!

Some excellent driving and car control, nice lunge at the end to get you into 4th position

Guess you needed new undercrackers after practice!
Nice result from the back, mate.

I suppose it's that attitude that got you to 4th nothing to lose from the back and everything to gain,

But a blinding result from the back of the grid,

Some more podiums to come I think after as Paul said great car control and race instincts,

Well done to you and your team,

[Edited on 25/5/15 by INDY BIRD]

Thanks for the kind words chaps… Just need to dial in a touch more setup, to prevent me from having to catch it when it does let go.

We have a staggering 8 week break now, until Anglesey in July…

That looked like alot of fun. I bet the adrenaline was pumping at the end of the race.

I don't mind say that it felt like I had won the race… starting from the back meant I could go out and enjoy myself, rather than put pressure on myself to perform, which intern delivered a stonking result.

Needless to say, I think even if I had have started 6th on the grid, I wouldn't have had such a good result, because I would have probably over-driven the wheels off it

I don't think anyone could have caught that spin! It just instantly broke away,.

Cracking vid Olly.. well the race two bit anyway, no shortage of action there!

Well done.

A stark stark difference from the race at Croft where I overtook 21 cars… this race saw me not overtake anyone, and not get overtaken lol (no, I wasn't in the lead lol)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Utk6qLxCnk

Close at the end with the yellow car behind you?

Well done. Definitely established as a top sixer eh!

Qualified P3 on the grid for Snetterton 200, ever so chuffed with that result.

Blew my engine/ gearbox up on Lap 1, Race 1, which wasn't pretty… ending in a retirement & DNF - dammit.

My great team changed the engine overnight, and managed to get me out for Race 2 on the Sunday which I also qualified P3 for… stalled it on the grid (again - must be something to do with Snett) and dropped back to 16th position immediately.

Managed to fight my way back through the field resulting in a 5th, which I'm not overly happy with, but better than nothing.

My front facing camera packed up after I pipped Colin Chapman, so half the race shows rear camera only - sorry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5cGX3d7cUI

As the camera on Oliver Hewitts camera did not work during the second half of his race - here is just the last lap showing the tussle between himself, David Wale (Yellow Spire 12) and onboard with Matt Higginson (AB Arion) looking back.

Olly managed to get a decent exit of Chapman Corner onto the back Bentley Straight, then David Wale moved into the centre of the circuit where Olly followed to keep in his dirty air tow, then Olly went to move over again, but David squeezed again, and finally Olly got aside, just and out-broke David into Brundle under the bridge to take 5th position

https://youtu.be/5-u2KT-wArw

I watched that last lap pass on your rear view cam, but didn't realise how close you were to the car in front! Your crappy start may not be good for results, but it sure makes for an entertaining video!

Well done.

Nice drive and vids but shame the front camera packed up, Olly. The Arione is going well now as a class F car in among the top end of the class R field.

Cheers lads, yes the proximity to Higgo in his Arion made it that little bit more of a brave move lol

Glad he caught it on his footage though

Sorry folks - don't seem to have updated this since Snetterton… a couple of weeks after Snett - we were at Silverstone racing on the International Circuit…

A snippet & synopsis from Race 1… from the VR-Team

"Race 1 started well for #30 Oliver Hewitt who managed to get off the line cleanly.

Gained a position over Al Boulton who unfortunately stalled on the grid but everyone avoided him, well done!

Olly got upto 3rd position for the first lap albeit being very closely hunted down by the Contour of Paul Rogers.

Through Vale on Lap 2 John Cutmore made a slight error meaning Olly was up alongside battling for second place but couldn't quite get passed down the start finish straight

Paul Rogers then got a clean tow from Olly down the Hanger Straight and they went side by side around Stowe, then upto Vale.

Paul finally got Olly on the fourth lap which put Olly back in 4th position.

Continuing to fight for 3rd position allowed Scott Mittell & John Cutmore to gain a bigger lead.

Through back markers saw Paul Rogers pick up some damage and Colin Chapman & Tony Gaunt had a coming together which left Chapman in the middle of the circuit through the Link.

On the last lap of the race Olly managed to regain his third position from Paul Rogers, however then the red flags came out which means that on the 'count back rule' the race positions go back to how they stood the last time the cars crossed the finish line.

Therefore Olly came away with 4th position and 9 championship points."


From the above text - you should be able to make sense of this video, and how close the race was all race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHxtxMydjE0



[Edited on 6/9/15 by yellowcab]

Race 2 didn't go so well, I don't claim to be anything special, far from it - I just do what I can…

Here is Race 2 video… not at all proud of going for a gap that was closing… but Al Boulton (red Spire GT3) had David Wale (yellow Spire) on his outside, so needed to get to the apex for turn 1… and my eye was on my wing mirror at Matt Higginson coming up my inside (white Arion) which made me completely misjudge my braking…

Couldn't beat myself up any more about Race 2…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WgKhrGPhI8

I wouldn't beat yourself up about that mate - have been in the same situation a few times (both where you were, and where the red #6 was) - it just takes a tiny 'mistake' or someone not being 'careful' (personally always leave a gap to the inside on the first corner, unless I am right on the inside or nose-to-tail with the car behind) to end up in a ding like that. At least you got away with it and the pack didn't collect you! No real harm done = learn from it and crack on

Rest of the race looked ace fun, picking off cars left right and centre! Good save at 4:15 too

Cheers for keeping us updated on your progress!

From yesterday:

"Olly started 3rd on the grid after a relatively decent qualifying… he managed to maintain 3rd off the line for the first couple of laps.

Gained a position over Al Boulton at Tower, and held 2nd position for a lap or so until Scott Mittells front left wheel bearing collapsed and Olly had boxed myself into a corner at The Esses allowing Al Boulton back through

On Lap 9, Olly's clutch cable snapped leaving him stuck in gear, which he thought was going to end in a DNF, but decided to persevere and did clutchless down changes, and brought home 2nd position - his best yet, he also got awarded 'Driver of the Day' for this race too."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P56XO8zgS4Y

I love the casual way that you catch the slide at 1:43.

The back end starts to drift so you just let the wheel feed through your hands before straightening back up.

Skills.

Couldn't see anything happening at 1:43

What's the plan for next year Olly?

You've had some great results lately, well done.

Bought a Mittell MC-53 to continue racing in RGB Class-R

"Race 2 at Castle Combe - Olly got off the line cleanly but not as good as the others, especially Duncan Horlor who came up approaching Olly on his right hand side and they travelled within inches of each other down to Quarry for the first time… approaching John Cutmore, one went either side of him around Quarry and headed down into the Esses.

Side by side Olly & Duncan travelled around Camp corner around 100mph both giving each other plenty of room, but heading up over Folly again saw Duncans rear wheels lock up momentarily almost sending him into a spin before Quarry which would have collected Olly - thankfully he caught it and continued ahead for another lap.

Olly gained the place over Duncan and was on the pace, following John Cutmore who was in 3rd position, but oil exiting the Esses left Olly almost on the grass which gave JC a gap which Olly couldn't close - so he took home 4th position.

The lap record was set by John Cutmore in this race of a 1.08:551, and Olly only 1/249th of a second behind him with a 1.08:580"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMMyXYQL8JE&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5cGX3d7cUI

In this vid.

He he.

You are on the limit most of the time actually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMMyXYQL8JE&feature=youtu.be

Here at 1:40 you also go a little wonkey, the car in front gets loose going in and I think you get all excited with a potential overtake. You show your frustration with yourself after at 1:50



[Edited on 6/9/15 by bi22le]

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Bought a Mittell MC-53 to continue racing in RGB Class-R

---

Mittel Cars

LOL Andy you cheeky bugger!

Cheers for the link Dave

Yep - thats them currently running a Mittell MC-52B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHbqiVp0vWA&feature=youtu.be

Nice one Olly.

Just watched your race two vid.. unlucky mate. Was it getting a bit toasty at the end eh!

Yep - incredibly hot, and getting dehydrated quickly too - I was ready to retire but saw the last lap board lol


Race 2 link for those who are interested

https://youtu.be/Pgr8yjbvPso

All the good bits… 2015 Race Season Highlights 750MC RGB #30 Oliver Hewitt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmdE6RUJ87g&feature=youtu.be

Excellent.
Good luck for this year's season Olly, hopefully I'll catch up with you at some point.

OK - not the greatest start to the 2016 RGB Championship for me in the new Mittell MC53 car… first weekend was at an incredibly wet Oulton Park… having never really driven a race car in anger int he wet before, I wasn't totally sure how much of a handful it'd be… and how much visibility would be reduced… I'll let the video do the talking… one word - horrendous show!

"Started in 6th grid position and managed to run alongside fellow Mittell driver Dan Larner to gain 5th down towards Cascades for the first time, getting a little out of shape on the exit allowed Dan in his 52b to take back his 5th position where Olly followed him for 3 laps.

Unfortunately, Dan span at the chicane, Olly ran out of right lock to drive around the front of him, last ditch attempt to go around the back of him seen him lock up and T-bone Dan…

Lost three places to Colin Chapman, Tim Hoverd & Paul Rogers… but managed to gain one place back from Chapman… on the hut of Hoverd seen an error which lost all the hard work…

Finished the race in 7th position"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOxNOAZ0V8

Race 2 dried up that afternoon, but apparently the first time in 10 years or more saw the first time an RGB race abandoned after two red-flags and multiple cars damaged… unfortunately I didn't escape unscathed either...

"Olly started from 6th on the grid alongside Daniel Larner - clean get away got him upto 4th position with John Cutmore putting the pressure on for the first lap…

Heading down start finish straight for lap two, JC went inside to the apex, as Olly turned in to make the turn caught a glimpse of him which made him take a wider line to avoid contact at apex which sent him wide, over the outside kerb, trying to balance throttle meant the rear wheels lit up, causing him to make contact with JC as he was on his inside.

The Race was red flagged due to another incident which meant a restart in original grid positions… due to not being 100% on what damage other than bodywork the car had incurred, Olly then drove the restart overly cautiously, another clean get away on restart - but second red flag meant abandoned race - results Null & Void."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk2Hg8-7eLk

Onwards and upwards huh...

Brands Hatch Indy Weekend / Race 1 Report:

"Olly started off in Race 1 in 5th position, got a good start but had no where to go and shorted shifted to stay in place, but losing out to Matt Higginson leaving Olly 6th…

A careful first lap, and very cautious after Oulton Park happenings, Olly continued to pursue the front 5 for the first lap until Higginsons brakes seemed to work considerably better than Ollys (1:44) at the entry to Clearways on Lap 2 causing Olly to get out of shape, and leave the door open to Paul Rogers (1:50) putting him down in 7th position with his work cut out.Brands


A few laps behind Rogers & Higgo, saw Olly workout his plan of attack and figure out where he was gaining & losing on the two immediately ahead… it seemed Surtees/Clearways was the point to take Rogers, so offered it up for a couple of laps before (4:26) making the final move at 5:08

Olly had already in his head to just outdrag the ex-champion Matt Higginson in his Arion due to aero advantage of the Mittell MC53 down the start/finish straight on his next lap, but Higgo left the door ajar which caught Olly out at Graham Hill (5:45) a better run out of Clearways saw the overtake happen at 6:11

Getting a little excited at the prospect of pushing on, and getting a gap on the ever pursuing Dan Larner, Olly takes Druids sideways completely controlled at 6:25

A few laps then trying to catch the front runners saw Olly take the Paddock Hill apex slightly too early and clip the kerb on the inside sending him a little sideways on the way down at 7:09

The back markers came around 8:00 but managed to get through without causing too much scare or hassle from either party, but every glance Olly made in his rear view mirror was full of Larner!

Approaching Sian & Max at 9:30 was a dicey moment as Olly originally thought he was going to run out of road before catching Max, but wanting to gap Larner furthermore meant Olly had to try and make the move without ruining Max & Sians race

10:30 brought a first… the strangest sights ever… seeing champion Scott Mittell with smokey bellowing from the back of this car, from what looked like the front end of another car… one of the works-Spires

13:35 saw the last lap and Ollys fastest lap of the race with a 48.93s, and took home 3rd position, behind John Cutmore who won, and fellow VR Motorsport team mate Al Boulton who took 2nd."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x2Hj7JPMoA

Brands Hatch Indy Race 2 Report

"Sundays Race 2 presented in a similar way that Race 1 did – Olly on the 3rd row of the grid in 5th position next to fellow Mittell Cars driver Dan Larner
~
An awful start from Olly seen him drop immediately back to 9th position before Druids on lap one
~
As Brands is notiorious for Lap 1 being hellish, so driving overly carefully with no last minute decisions until all drivers were in their swing of the race before making moves.
~
He managed to do the cut back on Austen at the Surtees/Clearways at 0:55, then Charlie was never going to be caught in a straight line in his super slippy MC51… so it had to be an drive out & exit of Graham Hill on the way upto Surtees (1:35)
~
Then a sense of deja-vous as Olly found himself yet again behind Rogers, one of the most experienced racers on the grid, and his car also is a rocket in a straight line, but a gap appeared at Clearways entry again at 3:20 allowing Olly to make the pass
~
To hunt down Higgo again… who wouldn’t leave any gap at Clearways was going to be a straight line jobbie again… or the entry to Paddock Hill at 4:19, only after the apex did he spot a car in the gravel, which made him realize he must have passed under yellows despite not seeing any flags being waved… so held his hand up to give the place back to Higgo, but reds flags come out anyway - a restart on the grid.
~
(having watched the footage back, there is a glimmer of a yellow flag waved on the outside of Paddock Hill (behind Matts car) as Olly shoots down the inside and therefore his eyes were on the apex)
~
5:15 sees the restart and a better start for Olly allows him to retain his 5th position, Olly notices John Cutmore run slightly wide at Clearways 6:48 and decides to very tentatively make a move and keep his foot in for an outright drag-race with JC at 6:56, but somehow John swoops by Olly as if he’s stood still and takes Higgo down the inside of Paddock Hill
~
At 7:50 Olly gets a tow from Higgo and has a drag race down the start/ finish straight but doesn’t even manage to out-drag the Arion –could there be an issue? Down the outside of Paddock… and to re-address tactics with a better exit from Graham Hill with a tow, Olly pops out to take the inside line at Surtees at 8:24 but Matt slams that door firmly shut, which sends them both wayward, but neither lose a position thankfully… so the battle continues for another lap when he managed to make the pass down the start finish straight, but notices that pesky Larner take Higgo down the inside of Paddock…
~
With Larner hot on his heals, he’s conscious not to make any mistakes, which slows him up a little, then the last lap board comes out – and the defensive driving comes out – Dan steps out of the tow from Olly on the approach to Surtees, Olly spots this, goes wide and gives him room, two a breast… but the apex for Clearways happens to be a right hander… another drag-race to the finish where Olly (only just) beats Larner to 4th positon by a mere 0.11seconds."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWVnwRVSJ0o

[Edited on 27/4/16 by yellowcab]

Just watched the last vid first.. Did you not see the yellow flag!! . you know, this handkerchief sized bit of rag I was fluttering at you as you were doing 100mph plus into paddock hill ..

That's an amazing looking car.

Saw you at Oulton between races but you looked busy and stressed so I didn't butt in to say hello.

quote:

---

Originally posted by adithorp
Saw you at Oulton between races but you looked busy and stressed so I didn't butt in to say hello.

---

Great vids and great action. I was shouting advice at it like you could hear me and the race wasnt several days ago!!

Please reverse/hand the rear view camera - I keep expecting to see a car come up on one side only to find it on the other when it gets to front view!

What are your plans for next year as I noticed the team are moving away from RGB?

Adi - Oulton wasn't our finest weekend, double headers are always stress, not to mention the atrocious weather t-boot! LOL

The plan for later this year, and 2017 onwards is to race in 6hr Endurance Races across Europe in the Dunlop Britcar Championship & Pirelli Superlights Challenge in a Praga R1-Turbo

We shall be competing in the final two rounds this year at Snetterton & Assen

Wow! Want one http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/reviews/a5438/praga-r1-a-slovakian-supercar-arrives-on-our-shores/

http://www.pragaglobal.com/cars/praga-r1/

[Edited on 28-4-16 by 40inches]

Watched race 1 at Brands from the bottom of paddock. Looked good. Well done on your podium Olly.

That's the one Dave &#128522;

Cheers Brian, rather happy with some of the race craft I pulled out the bag, always learning

Andy, we're up at Croft next on 21st May if you fancy hooking up for a coffee in the race awning?

quote:

---

Andy, we're up at Croft next on 21st May if you fancy hooking up for a coffee in the race awning?

---

Yes sir, there all weekend from Thursday night through to Sunday &#128077;&#127995;

Then off to the Slovakiaring to test the new beast

Shall probably drop in on the Friday.. if I remember.. and if it's not still snowing.

International licence upgrade eh?

I've never heard of Praga R1 turbo, it looks fantastic.. what the spec?

So its basically a carbon fibre honeycomb composite monocoque which isn't dissimilar to the one used by F1 cars. The design sports a front and rear mounted crash box, and side mounted crumple zones

Single-seater super sport interior, with optional two seater configuration for passenger ride days

Power is 390bhp @ 6750rpm
Torque is 400lbft @ 4200rpm
Rev limit at 7000rpm

Engine is a F4R 832 Turbocharged 1998cm3, 4cyl, 16v, mid & longitudinally mounted

It generates downforce at 1.5x of its bodyweight, so theoretically enables it to drive upside down, which means it generates upto 3G of lateral force in corners

It weighs 670kg, roughly 580bhp/tonne

F4r is a Renault lump. Same as my clio.... minus turbo and 200bhp!

[Edited on 30-4-16 by loggyboy]

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
So its basically a carbon fibre honeycomb composite monocoque which isn't dissimilar to the one used by F1 cars. The design sports a front and rear mounted crash box, and side mounted crumple zones

Single-seater super sport interior, with optional two seater configuration for passenger ride days

Power is 390bhp @ 6750rpm
Torque is 400lbft @ 4200rpm
Rev limit at 7000rpm

Engine is a F4R 832 Turbocharged 1998cm3, 4cyl, 16v, mid & longitudinally mounted

It generates downforce at 1.5x of its bodyweight, so theoretically enables it to drive upside down, which means it generates upto 3G of lateral force in corners

It weighs 670kg, roughly 580bhp/tonne

---

Hi guys - not sure if anyone follows this thread anymore, but thought I'd update it.

It was nice to see Andy D at Croft cheering me on and supporting the rest of VR Motorsport.

If you follow us on Facebook then you'll already have read all about it
https://www.facebook.com/vrmotorsport.co.uk/

If not - Race weekend synopsis as follows:

Race Report: #30 Oliver Hewitt / Croft Circuit

Qualifying:
Olly had some decent free-air in qualifying having got to the front of the queue immediately behind fellow VR team-mate Al Boulton - they lead out to the circuit, where Olly stuck with Al for a couple of laps before Al realised he was probably holding Olly up a little so let him through.

After 4 laps we had a red-flag, very unfortunately caused by Al Boulton who'd misjudged the exit to the chicane taking out the tyres, at this point sat in pit lane Olly was currently on pole P1 (for his first ever time)

After the circuit restarted, the two works Spires of Billy Albone & John Cutmore managed to get down to business and get some cracking laps in, pushing Olly to the second row of the grid on P3 for both races.

Race 1:
Olly got moved up to the front row of the grid in P2, after Billy got a 5-place grid penalty for the happenings at Brands Hatch.

His first ever time of staring down an empty circuit in P2 front row was a little daunting, but Olly got off the line cleanly, but no better than John Cutmore who had been promoted to pole.

Turn 1 seen Olly slot in behind Cutmore, and with Al Boulton not giving Olly any room to make any error, a few laps unfolded when Olly felt lack of power and the engine note change, before he realised his exhaust had come off…

With visions of Donington Park of last year and the fire - Olly had to make the very tough decision heading into the Complex of Lap 3 to retire from the race giving his P2 away, and finished with a DNF.

Race 2:
Olly this time started in his rightful P3 on the second row behind the works Spires, and alongside fellow MC53 driver the of Scott Mittell.

The red lights went out, and Olly hooked up really well threading the eye of the needle and driving straight between the two Spires and managed to get to Turn 1 first - leading the race for his first time

Conscious not to make any rookie errors, Olly very gingerly got through turns 1, 2 and 3 before harpooning out of the chicane heading down towards Tower.

He lead the race for 4 laps before making a slight hiccup exiting the chicane due to Al Boulton dropping oil and Billy got a tow on him down to Tower sending Olly to P2, then on the following lap the slippery surface of Hawthorn caught Olly out giving Cutmore & Mittell a gap resigning Olly to P4 where he took it home.

Adrian Moore the Committee Representative awarded Olly with the Driver-of-the-Day award, his 5th so far… but still no win!

Onboard race footage to follow shortly
Photographs courtesy of Aaron Lupton

[Edited on 24/5/16 by yellowcab]

[Edited on 24/5/16 by yellowcab]

Second race was a cracker! I was standing over by the chicane, so got a good view of the start.. proper job!

Now you've got a taste for the front, I expect you'll be up there a bit more often now Olly?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy D
Second race was a cracker! I was standing over by the chicane, so got a good view of the start.. proper job!

Now you've got a taste for the front, I expect you'll be up there a bit more often now Olly?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
Hi guys - not sure if anyone follows this thread anymore, but thought I'd update it.

---

Due to it being a 20minute race, and starting in P3 and finishing in P3, we have cut it down to a short 10minute highlight video including onboard, front, rear cage, rear & external footage and end of race footage, celebrations, parade lap car & podium at the end of the video.

Race Report:
Olly got invited by father / son racers Darcy & Josh Smith to race at the CCRC Sports Trophy at Castle Combe on bank holiday Sunday.

Typically in the 750mc RGB formula, Olly thought it'd be a good idea to have a dabble on full slicks, opening out the front louvres on his MC53, fitting a tonneau cover and add some downward strakes onto his rear diffuser.

Olly's previous fastest lap in RGB trim was a 1:08.580 in his Spire GT3, and in free practice and first time on the circuit in the MC53 he managed a 1:07.528.

In the couple of hours between free practice and qualifying, they made some changes by winding off some camber, and adjusting the front toe to suit… and also a gearing change as Olly was hitting the limiter in 6th gear too early over Folly towards Avon Rise just before Quarry Corner.

Out in Qualifying, Olly managed to knock another 4 tenths off his PB and got a 1:07.138 putting him first in class, and 4th overall on the grid (but P3 failed to turn up on time)

During the race, Olly did his first rolling start which went according to plan, managed to maintain P3 off the line, and hold position for the first lap, and maintained the position throughout the race getting an overall P3, and 1st in class C

Driver: #30 Oliver Hewitt
Team: VR Motorsport
Car: Mittell MC53
Engine: Suzuki GSXR1000 K8

Massive thanks to all that turned up to help, support, cheer on, thanks to Al Boulton for the external footage, which makes this video what it is. Also Darcy & Josh for the invite!

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_tpi3hEit8

Cracking result Olly, and a great vid with some nice touches at the end.

Looking at the photos, did you lower the car for this event?

Yeh we ran a lower ride height, but in hindsight it was too low, as was stalling the air to the rear diffuser

Hey ho, learn something all the time

https://vimeo.com/168959872#t=800s

quote:

---

Originally posted by yellowcab
https://vimeo.com/168959872#t=800s

---

Not a BEC, infact I don't even drive the Spire anymore which is the title if this thread, but I'll keep it all in here anyway

This weekend, this happened

https://youtu.be/LoV8Q8qO5wA

Just like your old play station eh? Superb!

Onboard with #30 Oliver Hewitt for Anglesey Coastal Race 2 in the Disklok RGB Championship.

Starting at the back of the grid in 31st position due to qualifying out of session, gets a mediocre start gaining a couple of places before turn 1.

Makes a tentative line down to the Banking behind Jason Stowe&#8203; & along side his VR debut teammate Joe McCormick&#8203; who took the wider line around the Banking.

Sitting behind Jason Stowe on his way through Church, in the dirty air he looks both ways to see which is the clearer route through, which happens to be the outside of the kink which leads up to the inside of Rocket In alongside Doug Lague&#8203; & Ian Kempson&#8203;.

Around Rocket Out side by side, Olly tries to follow Doug through, but Doug's Spire gets a little out of shape and clinks the back of Kevin Bolton&#8203;s Arion, where Stephen Bell&#8203; passes on the outside down the to Corkscrew… Doug & Kempston retain positions.

Sitting behind Steve Bell down the start finish straight, Olly has a look but Steve shuts the door, so sits & behind and heads down towards Banking where Olly has another look, and Bell gentley closes the door again, so Olly gets a slightly better run out, and overtakes Bell on the outside of Church on the run up to Rocket In, where he passes Bolton, Lague, Kempston & Max Windheuser.

First bit of clean air upto Tony Gaunt where Olly catches him just before turn 1 of lap 3, and Dominic Gulotti&#8203; in the Banking as he left room (ta). Clear run up to Rocket In allows Olly to catch James Walker&#8203; & Jon McGill , but with similar speeds… he's unable to make the pass until the following lap, again on the brakes on the run up to Rocket In of lap 5, and runs wide at Peel allowing Jon McGill to almost do the undercut.

Onto Lap 6, behind Sam Cook&#8203; at Banking, Sam leaves plenty of room (thanks), and Olly gets traction out alongside Mark Betts&#8203; and sees Richard Webb&#8203; battling with John Whatley&#8203; at Church, overtakes on the outside and out brakes Whatley into Rocket In… and caught Tim Hoverd&#8203; after he made a slight error down into the Corkscrew.

Second bit of clean air allowed Olly to reduce the gap between him and the next two cars, which were Matt Higginson&#8203; & David Watson&#8203;, took a lap to close the gap, but on lap 8 he got the run out of Banking on Higginson, and took the inside line through Church and Matt snuck in behind to get the tow from Olly.

The presumption was Olly would have enough closing speed to get to the apex of Rocket In before Dave Watson, but he quite rightly defended, and put his car in the middle of the road, so Olly sat behind for Rocket In, and Rocket Out when Olly tried to make the move at Peel, only to overcook, run wide… immediately apologising to Watson by holding his hand up.

Now laps 9 and 10 were hunting down Colin Chapman&#8203;, which was no mean feat - a cracking battle but managed to pip him on the exit of Banking on the very last lap 12 - but no time left to catch Daniel James Larner&#8203; & Paul Rogers&#8203;! who finished in 5th & 6th

Top four finishers:
1. Billy Albone&#8203;
2. John Cutmore&#8203;
3. Scott Mittell&#8203;
4. Alastair Boulton&#8203;



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K5LneVHuqQ

Rather than a 13minute single race video, thought we'd split it up into best laps in rather different conditions.

Fastest lap in testing on Friday 19th, followed by fastest lap in qualifying on Saturday 20th… putting Olly on the front row of the grid in P2… then a fairly short (3 lap race before a glance with the barrier)

Then the start of Race 2… until it gets boring to watch - finally with his fastest lap of the weekend with a 1:09.84s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7hRwsRpB14

The season finale - qualified 4th with a 1:36.99

Relatively good start and got upto 3rd before turn 1, but being on the outside I came out 4th… down Craners for the first time, saw Billy & JC come rather close (0:33) into Old Hairpin which unfortunately for JC seen him on off the circuit (0:40), gifting me 3rd position which I maintained.

Car felt strong, and got a tow from Billy down the back straight a little at 1:09, down to Melbourne Loop, nice control exit and tried not to get over exuberant so a short shift to keep the wheels from spinning.

Lap two, same again, smoothly does it, then I felt brave at 1:58, but BA did the cutback… I'll try again… then Scott appeared to have a problem (2:18) which saw Me & Billy over take on either side… until I realised he must've seen the red flags before us! lol

A restart from original grid positions

Restart not so well, back upto 3rd then back to 4th, a busier first corner this time with Al Boulton & Dan Larner in the mix.

First lap all in 4th position, until the start of lap two at 4:03 when I got alongside Al all the way down the start finish straight, but on the outside for turn 1… giving plenty of room for him to have his apex… around the outside we go together… and down the Craners side by side 4:30 then the intention was to try and catch JC & Billy but I knew my clutch was slipping with any slight breath on the pedal or even bumps in the road.

Got squiffy out of the chicane at 5:20 which gave Al a run on me, I let him have the apex with the intention of doing the cut back… but Dan Larner clinked me into a spin at 5:33

Tried to keep revs high and spin to carry on, but I did a 180, then had to rejoin as quickly as possible I was on the racing line and would have got cleared up.

Took the first few corners to settle myself and to not overdrive or lunch anyone, but clutch started getting worse chasing Dave Watson around 6:40 ish… got a run out of McCleans upto Coppice, then Chapman down Starkeys

Around Melbourne Loop, tried to be gentle on the down changes whilst using the clutch, and alongside Doug Lague at 7:41 but gave him a very wide line as I thought he was on my inside at the next hairpin (looking back at footage, he wasn't)

At 8:14 I could see I had approached Hoverd pretty quickly and seen that he was having issues with his mirrors, as he was moving them, so waited until 8:44 on the straight before passing him, to be sure he could see me. Caught Higgo at the chicane, but again, was tentative going through side by side at 8:45

9:18 sees the start of my fastest lap of the race, which was my first lap without any traffic but clutch on up changes was getting very laggy and sloppy as you can hear especially at 10:01 and 10:26

I could see Whatley was ahead of me, but couldn't judge how long we had left my time was on 20minutes, but we'd had a big red flag delay, so was keeping my eye out for last lap board, another clear lap chasing down Whatley to catch him, but cocked my lap up with a large moment at Coppice at 11:53 (thought it was going proper)

A cheeky point ahead at 12:40 to Whatley to say 'I'm coming to get you!" but knew clutch was on its way out - just hoping it'd last me unfortunately for John, a 94mph entry speed into Old Hairpin seen him touch mud and spin at 13:06 so I kindly call him a w….ker as we do when we get things wrong.

14:17 was last lap, and I knew I wouldn't catch Paul Rogers despite being able to see him up in the distance, but I didn't expect to gain a place by seeing Dan Larner sat at the side of the circuit playing doughnuts at 15:25 I also gave him the w….ker sign out of courtesy

Then to take chequered flag of my final ever RGB meeting… ending with 5th!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxu71B-9QYY

Good write up.
You've come a hell of a long way in a relatively short time. From shonky trackdayer to international jet setting sportscar racer! (There's the title for your novel.. )
Cant watch the vid at the mo, as my bloody tinternet is playing up!

BB held together enough to view the vid. Excellent!

quote:

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Originally posted by Andy D
From shonky trackdayer to international jet setting sportscar racer!

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It seems I've bought a Phoneix to continue racing in RGB

Swapping classes from R to F

quote:

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Originally posted by yellowcab
It seems I've bought a Phoneix to continue racing in RGB

Swapping classes from R to F

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Saw this on FB.. good news and good luck!