June 2025
29June
Cadwell success
I managed one practice and five timed runs yesterday, getting my time down to an 82.21s run on the old pirellis. That was good enough for first in class and FTD. This is only my 3rd visit to Cadwell in the Mygale, and only the second full dry event. The first visit in 2023 was wet, and in 2024 I managed a 82.54s run. Today I took 0.3s off that time which given the extreme temperatures I was quite happy with.The Plex dash worked perfectly, allowing me to see all the channels, and select gears using the paddles. Aside from the bonkers 30 degree heat, it was a very enjoyable day, blasting around the Cadwell Park circuit. I've still not learnt it, but I was making huge improvements, getting more and more confident. Again, swapping from the two year old Avons to Pirellis gave a big improvement in grip on the final two runs, and it was only then that I could really push the car.
27June
Cadwell this Saturday
The car is all packed up and ready for the trip over this afternoon, for the JTSS competition at Cadwell Park tomorrow. Just hope I can get a decent spot in the tarmac paddock.Plex has featured my dashboard install on their web site, it's a very impressive read.
Plex SDM-330 article
22June
Mallory Park BSC round 13 & 14
I went to Mallory Park on Saturday, to watch Ethan Faulkner pedal his OMS around the circuit, and I wasnt disappointed. He managed a 2nd place in the one and only run off in the afternoon, proving how adept he is at learning tracks. This was his first visit to the Leicestershire circuit.
It was another day beset with problems. Mallory Park just doesnt seem to lend itself to smooth running sprints over the two lap format (not when there are multiple accidents anyway). The circuit is great, but the venue desperately needs a revamp! A drastic shortage of marshals, and temperatures peaking at 29C didnt help. A crash in the morning involving a Lotus delayed proceedings by 30 or so minutes. A couple of rain showers made things interesting, and after the commencement of the T2 run after lunch, the BSC drivers had just completed their runs at the head of the batch, when a further short shower made the track very damp, sadly catching out one of the Radical drivers. As they crossed the finish line, braking heavily, the car did a 180 and then hit the tyre barrier on the left just after the Edwina chicane. The driver was carted off to the medical centre, and after an hour the organisers announced the meeting had been abandoned since the ambulance needed to leave the circuit to take the driver to Leicester Royal Infirmary for further checks.
I was sat in the cafe downloading images from my camera when I heard the impact. It sounded horrible. When I looked across the track, the driver appeared to sit for quite a while before anyone turned up. A young marshal was first on the scene, and others soon followed. The tyres on that tyre wall made short work of the Radical. I dont know how old the tyres are, but they're bound together tightly, and have gone very hard having sat exposed to the elements for many years, and they just dont offer the protection of recticel/foam barriers.
I hope the driver recovers quickly, and gets back behind the wheel again soon.
As for the eleven BSC drivers, Steve Browns supercharger failed on the Empire EVO at the end of his first practice run, leading to him missing the T1 qualifier run whilst he swapped chargers over. Steve Broughton's gearbox shat itself on the line in practice, and he also missed the T1 run, but had the car running for the one and only run off. It was good to see the new F4 EcoBoost running. It sounds and looks like it needs a lot of work on the tuning, particularly with the launch control as it often bogged down and stalled on the line. But they've only just started the journey so I'm sure they'll get it running smoothly in time.
There was another EcoBoost, the ex-Sutton car, running around at the back of the group, so aside from Smiles and Ethan, Pete G wasnt really troubled and picked up yet another win. Chris Jones had COVID, so he sadly missed the event, which he may regret later in the year. I had a few welcomes, good to see you's, and a very frosty 'youre not welcome here' from one of the more senior drivers; it's a championship with a definite PR problem.
14June
Tyres cleaned
I cleaned the Pirellis today, which are 3 years old but still have loads of life left in them. I'm going to fit the new Pirellis to the other set of rims, to replace the two year old Avons. Just trying to find someone in Leicester that can fit tyres to split rims, after the last experience where one particular shop managed to bend an outer, I'm just not sure who to take them to. I asked Graham Goodes but they declined. I may have to take a trip over to BMTR if I cant find anyone locally. Thats not too bad as they're 45 minutes away, but it'd be easier to find someone local.I'm at Cadwell Park on the 29th June, so I need to get the fresh rubber fitted before then.
Plex are going to write a feature on my 3D printed dashboard solution for the SDM-330. I've been asked to provide photographs and some notes on what I've achieved, so hopefully I'll be sharing a link to their web site in the next week or so.
9June
Extra CAN
I added four more channels to the Life ECU Datastream, as it was still only sending 48 channels (48 is the maximum the Dash4Pro could work with). I've added gpsTimeHour and gpsTimeMin, as well as engineEnable, and LaunchMode.The reason for adding the pair of gps channels, is that I now have a digital clock on the pits/paddock page, so when the engine is idling and I'm either warming the engine up or sat in the car in the queue, I can a) see the time, and b) have confirmation that the GPS board has aquired a satellite lock and therefore the car will have a track map for me to download when the run is complete.
engineEnable is used for a new icon, which shows if the ignition is on or off. I had to create a flag and invert the logic, because the channel returns 0 for igntion on, and 1 for off. The reason for that is the ECU needed a 1 to kill the engine when the switch is turned off, so the ECU outputs the reverse to what you think it would for ignition on and off.
Exciting Shelsley
I dont know if you were following the live stream from Shelsley at the weekend, but the footage from the Hillclimb TV livestream was incredible. Alex Summers took the first run off win, and Matt Ryder the second. The footage can be seen here.Ethan nearly takes his first win
Ethan Faulkner, the teenager from N.Ireland, on his first visit to Pembrey, finished 2nd overall in the final run off on Sunday, beating several champions in the process. He's an amazing talent, and I look forward to seeing him in action at Mallory Park in just two weeks time. The EcoBoost is fuelled and ready......1June
