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Last  on
Curborough long course sprint, July 18th 2004
1st in class 4B, and a new PB of 66.69 seconds (last years PB was 68.60s). A really good indication that the setup of the Fiesta is now heading in the right direction. Problem is that the weather turned on us in the afternoon, and my usual build up to the quickest run of the day being the last run, was spoilt as it started to chuck it down on the 1st timed run after lunch. And once the rain set in, we had around 40 minutes of standing under umbrellas, waiting to see if it'd stop.
My first practice run was quicker than my old PB from 2003 (by 0.3s) and on my second practice run I shaved another 1.7 seconds off. I actually managed to get round the first left hander quicker than ever before, and all the lines I took were really tidy. It gave me loads of confidence, and I knew I could go even quicker in the afternoon. However the weather had a different idea.
My first timed run, I guessed it was going to be wet later on as the rain drops just started falling on the windscreen as I queued in the assembly area. It was all or nothing, as to come 1st in class I had to really go for it, as I wouldn't have the opportunity to go quicker later on if it continued raining. My fastest ever 60ft time of 2.56s, the track was dry at the start area, but was certainly greasy further round, with the hand held video showing that it was raining quite hard at the far end of the circuit. I didn't let this put me off though, and stormed round to record a slightly slower 67.81 second run. John Beardmore also went round very quickly to record a new PB but I was 4 tenths quicker, and that was the run that confirmed my 1st in class.
The Michelin's are very impressive in the wet. On the last run, when the track was totally waterlogged, [and it started raining again as I lined up] I made quite a tentative start. The launch control worked very hard to get me off the line [3.9s 60ft] and once it switched off and I had full power the front end just broke traction again, and I finally started picking up speed once I'd shifted in to 3rd gear. John Beardmore in the 2.0 Morris Minor had just as bad a start using clutch control. I then started to enjoy the run, once I realised that the slicks had so much grip. I tried left foot braking to get the back end to step out round the slower corners, but the new Ferodo pads defeated me. The harder I pressed the brake pedal, the slower the car went, theres so much friction produced by the new pads on the front axle. I managed to get a nice drift as I turned right at the end of the straight to start the second lap, and just continued to grow with confidence with the Michelins. The rear anti-roll bar and damper settings were all left alone so I was running with dry weather settings and expected the car to be a real handful, but it wasn't the case at all. I crossed the line recording a 77 second run, and was really pleased to find that I'd gone round 3 seconds faster than the Minor.
Times were as follows:
68.32s 1st practice
66.69s 2nd practice
67.81s 1st timed
77.45s 2nd timed
Result: 1st in class, 28th overall from 75 starters
Weather: Cool, cloudy, raining in the afternoon, approx 12° C
Tyre pressures were 23.5psi [F] 21.5psi [R]
Tyres: Michelin N00 19/57R15 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.
Video footage using an the board camera and Mustek PVR-A1 video recorder.
 2nd practice run, 66.69s (3.62MB)
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