|
|
Last  on
Aintree Sprint, June 26th 2004
A very very wet and windy day was spent at Aintree yesterday. We travelled up without seeing a drop of the wet stuff, and it was only after we arrived at 8am that it started raining. The organisers even stopped 2nd practice mid way through at 11:45am for an early 1 hour lunch break, to see if the storm would blow itself out. But it didn't really stop until about 1:45pm, and once the second timed runs commenced later in the afternoon, there were dry patches on the track, and times started coming down. A couple of offs from competitors having 'moments' caused a few delays (I was queueing in the assembly area for 25 mins at one point) but this worked to everyones advantage, as the strong winds were quickly drying the 2km track out. I'm really pleased with all the work that I'd done to the Fiesta during the previous two weeks. The new Vibra-Technics engine mounts have made a world of difference to the driveability of the car. Sure theres more vibration inside (the windows rattle at tickover!), but you can hear and feel the engine more, you certainly get a lot more feedback. Its hard to describe, but its definitely a modification I should have made when I first built the car. Stock engine mounts on a competition car just don't work.
The new Yokohamas have made a huge difference to the grip. I fitted the new A032's on the front, leaving the originals on the rear, and I must say I've probably never driven such a well mannered, better handling car in the wet. The grip levels now my that confidence is growing, far far exceed anything I've ever pushed round a wet track before. And the Ferodo DS2500 pads, once I'd bedded them in on the first practice lap (hence the 90 second time!), are also feeling very positive. You don't use the brakes much at Aintree, but when you do, it really feels like it wants to stop now. The disks back in the paddock were only 60° C after the 1st wet timed run, but even at low temperatures, the pads work really well. Bedding in took around 30 x 50% applications of the brake pedal, so I drove round in 3rd gear whilst left foot braking, off the gas, on the brakes, on the gas, off the brakes. Must have looked daft from the outside though, but the pads soon bedded in without glazing.
The gear linkage is still a cause for concern. I managed to change down instead of up again on my 2nd practice run, but I was half expecting it (the change didn't feel right), and so concentrated on the remaining runs and didn't have any more problems. Whats missing now is the spring underneath the car, that pulls the linkage in to the neutral position. The detent springs in the shifter just dont seem to produce enough resistance. I'm also going to move my seat a fraction, to see if a different seating position would help. The ball raced linkage makes for really effortless changes though, and the rubber mountings I've fitted to the housing also contribute to a quiter drive. I had no other problems, or reason to work on the car during the day. I did 'tweak' the ECU settings in the morning. I lowered the gear shift warning from 6750 to 6600 rpm, which meant when I changed in to 5th the car was just coming on-cam, but it happily pulled round to 7250rpm in fifth along the back straight, and I hit the rev limiter twice in fifth before the finishing line. You'd expect the engine to just sit bouncing along on the limit, but she climbs to 7250rpm (107mph), drops to around 7100, then climbs back up to 7250 again, and so on. Its a very long back straight! The wiper was useless over 80mph. It moved across the windscreen, but wasn't clearing any water off it. Good job I knew where I was going! 107mph with no visibility certainly makes for an exciting drive.
So another 1st in class and an engraved glass tankard for the cabinet, and a new Personal Best of 54.79s, finishing 37th overall from 126 starters completed a superb days motorsport. Liverpool Motor Club did a wonderful job in the conditions, one of the best run events I've attended in the past two years.
Times were as follows:
90.56s 1st practice (raining & bedding in new brake pads)
63.70s 2nd practice (raining)
61.98s 1st timed (raining)
57.86s 2nd timed (wet track)
54.79s 3rd timed New Personal Best (damp track)
Result: 1st in class, 37th overall (from 129 starters).
Weather: Very wet, cloud in the afternoon with strong winds, approx 17° C
Tyre pressures were 23.5psi [F] 21.5psi [R]
Tyres: Yokohama A032R all round
Rear anti-roll bar was on the 2nd softest setting. (5x stiffer than standard ARB).
Front shock absorbers MAX-2
Here is a PDF file with the report that appeared in Nottingham Sports Car Clubs 'Spinoff' magazine, and Loughborough Car Clubs 'Backfire' magazine.
RaceTechnology DL90 datalogger from the fastest competitive run. (Files are in Race Technology's own .run format, for use with DL90 software)
Timed run 3 [144 KB]
If you have difficulty downloading the .run files, simply right click on each link, and choose Save As. Then open the file from within the DL90 software.
|
