E5TUS - 2023: Some turbo tinkering & Hillclimbing
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Before dad went under the knife, we were scrabbling around getting several jobs bolted up so everything in the workshop could be moved if needed. Grunty pig had been laid up since breaking a CV whilst buggering about at Farnborough. It has destroyed the outer cv cage, what was weird, the boot was intact and secure but when I removed it all, one ball was missing and never accounted for.



Nice quick fix once parts arrived, good to see the old girl back on all four. Still astounding how quick it is for an Ivor Searl recon 1380 with just a worked head and twin SU’s. The gearbox is starting to complain, it’s time for a rebuild, but nice to have a working spare car. Just in case.



Nevertheless, as it’s likely (hopefully) to not be used this year, we drained fuel and ran it up to get rid of the remainder. It then decided we should drain the coolant too, and did a self fluid change..



The Cinq rad has a plastic take off for the breather feed, and it has shit itself. Easily fixed with a brass one. Annoyingly little breakage, but 100% better to have it in the workshop (despite the mess and following clean-up) than on the road or during an event.





The joys of intermittently used cars! Especially when they are run hard when they are used.

Epynt hillclimb for me this weekend, first time our championship has been invited. Looks to be part of a rally stage through the Brecon military firing ranges. There is only three of us heading up, so don’t have a separate class to run in, looking forward to running with the Mod Prod boys, should be a lot to learn from them.

A good weekend in Wales, fantastic weather on Friday, shite traffic but worth the wait when I arrived.



Setup in glorious conditions, couldn’t believe the forecast was stating rain for Saturday so put the slicks on. Walked the hill, it was covered in gravel and sheep crap, but a nice course layout.



Woke up to a different season on Saturday, consequently had to swap over to the wets.



Convoy recce run was something I’d not experienced before, but it did help clear the worst of the gravel, the rain had taken care of the sheep poo. First practice I found a substantial amount of grip, but first time on wets and didn’t really know what to expect. Majority of the field was rally based, most using the event for shakedown or just local fun, I have certainly run in some varied batches this year!





Managed to improve on first timed run, ended up being my fastest of the day, at that point I was 10th overall which was phenomenal. It was alternating between drying conditions, then rain, for the whole day. I thought several times about to change to slicks, but then it would start raining again. I think the first timed run was quickest because I had optimum conditions for the tyres and my experience on damp surfaces.

Here’s Saturday’s best run. 56.29. Enough for 2nd in class and 15th overall by the end of the day. A great result for first visit.

https://youtu.be/njBH0bfWCDA

In the afternoon it was between moving onto slicks but suffering with any water on track or overheating the wets and starting to fill the cuts, so I bowed out of last run, cleaned the car down and cracked a beer. There was enough interesting cars to wander around killing time over!



That Darrian had a bad accident after lunch, there was some broken up tarmac past the finish line, he caught the depression wrong and it upset the back end, left the track, got airborne and then shed most of the bodywork coming to a stop. Driver ok, but the car, that was for sale, will need some serious work.



Terry actually had another car entered, continuing to compete in the escort in the afternoon taking the class win and reaching 4th overall, but the early timed run from the Darrian kept 5th overall and also took the class win. Those Welsh boys are build different!

Thankfully, by nightfall the weather abated and we were assured by the locals it would be dry on Sunday.

Sure enough, was clear Sunday morning. Slicks put back on and spent some time clearing out all the gravel that had accumulated in every nook and cranny.



We had an additional 20 or so turn up for the Sunday, track dried up nicely, plenty of grip on offer.



I found just over a second in the dry, most of the field found 3-4 seconds, but looking at the delta between the rest of the class, I just had no business being as quick as I was on the Saturday. Given it was the first event in the wet, I don’t really know how it compares to the dry. Fastest time was a 55.13, but unfortunately the video corrupted. Here’s the smoothest run of the day 55.58.

https://youtu.be/V2ts_PtmUh4

There was another entrant in our class on the Sunday, a hell of a machine, so got bumped to 3rd in Mod Prod, 26th out of the 76 running, some crucial championship points, but not the max score available. Mr Lugger found 4 seconds in the dry, allowing maximum points to be scored over both days for him. Closing the gap in the championship race to 2 seconds. They say multi class racing can't be close, but with a class record based scoring system it's allowed us to be very tight so far this year!



A good field of mini's in the entry, a proper wide range across several classes. Great event, well organised by the Brecon Motor Club, I will be back.





Back to Wales next weekend, Llandow sprint, not done that for years. There was a new class record set last year, so unless it’s a really dry day it will be damage limitation on the scoring. I also believe Mr Mole will be making an appearance with his screamer 16v… stay tuned

Bit late on an update from the end of June, mad busy at the moment. The Llandow sprint was a long day leaving at 4am to head up, cracking day first thing. Quick practice in the dry and timed run one was also pleasant but there was a very dark cloud looming ever nearer across the water.





I’ve never quite got to grips with Llandow, only been there twice before, once suffering electrical gremlins and the other nearly making friends with the barrier. My previous PB was 100 seconds, which I think was the slowest class record at the venue for our championship. Practice was 91.09, first timed run was 89.03. Was plenty more to come, but the weather took a turn and once again the Welsh rain gave us a soaking.



With no cut slicks in a suitable compound it was just a case of survival. The rain came and went several times, with a wet track for the second timed run. Went into second rather than forth for the chicane before Jack’s corner, no idea why, should have been third. I was a bit confused by my own actions, made the shift back into third but I’d kinda lost my head at this point. Got onto the start/finish straight and gave it hell until the last marker board for Bus Stop, but this is 100% the dry braking point, so didn’t make the corner and bailed for a couple of corners to regain some composure.



I was very annoyed with myself, not entirely sure why I’d lost focus but it had gone out the window. I was very moody, but some piss-taking from my fellow competitors about being the only person unhappy with a 9 second lead pulled me back from despair.

Rain stopped and track dried quickly, with the majority of the classes ahead of us taking fastest times in the last runs, looking up for a final attempt. But the weather closed in as we lined up and we had the worst of the rain, standing water began to form on certain parts of the track. Quite fun on slicks, felt good enough to still push for the most part. 94.83. Some more data for the delta between wet and dry conditions which I continue to learn about!



It was a class win, not a big earner for championship points, but I’ve now met the minimum event requirements, so the rest of the season is all for improvement over the existing times.

So from a couple of wet events in June to a scorching weekend in July.. Return to Clay Pigeon Raceway for the Torbay Motor Club sprint. I’ve not done the mid-season event here before, but given the decent result in April, I came back to hopefully nibble at the class record again. Our championship records are set at the start of the year and any improvements aren’t “established” until the start of the next season, which gives you the opportunity to gain a few valuable points across the year if the conditions are favourable.

Practice was 82.21, a second off where I ended up in April. I’d used the harder compound on the fronts this time and moved the soft compounds to the rear, leaving the super-softs well away from the hot track. The hard fronts take a bit longer to get to temp, but are quite forgiving, the softs on the rear were a bit twitchy, but speaking to the single seaters, they said it’s the heat. Beyond a certain temperature they become a bit loose. Another new experience!

Timed run 1 was great, chicane was quick and clean and I found myself hanging on to a couple of corners. Pretty near the limit I feel, it was a good run. 80.37. Very happy, car has 100% got a 79 second run in it.

Second timed run was clean but I did not feel it was as grippy. 81.16. Final run I took easier, seeing what a smooth run would generate. Nothing to gain against the first timed run and a few events coming up in quick succession so no need to be a hero and damage the car. 81.25.

Very happy with the new PB, class 6 record and first in championship group. That’s the most championship points I’ve scored at an event, 2.67 second improvement on the previous record. Got the British Hillclimb Championship weekend at Wiscombe Park at end of the month (30th/31st) and the following week we are up to Harewood for the first time.

Here’s the best run of the day. 80.37
https://youtu.be/PV3D9PbC-7k

Excellent write up.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Excellent write up.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Sorry, missed a couple of updates, been mad busy with work and British Motor Show took out last week.

British Hillclimb Championship weekend back end of July at Wiscombe was great, brilliant turnout and plenty of spectators. Weather was very good and track was on top form, very well prepped by the organisers. The Interclub events each day were only three runs, one practice and two timed, due to National top 12 run-offs each day. Heading into event my PB was 44.82, personal target time was 44.80 as that’s what my mate in his Lynx R1 mini had done last year.

I had my best ever practice run, nearest to class record and PB on an initial run with a 45.36, so half a second off PB, very happy. Now, not entirely sure what went wrong from this point, but that was best run of the day! Second run, I bogged the launch, dropping 3 tenths, attacked the esses and made up a tenth, 45.55.

Final run I made sure launch was good, but it got a bit messy though the gate. Since going to a bigger steering wheel, the angle of the wheel means that at 12 o’clock when I want to go arm-over-arm, it is starting to become too far away from me. So, I’ve adopted an even worse habit of shuffling the wheel, which paired with the agro diff, occasionally results in the wheel being single handed or briefly no-handed. So basically, I momentarily let go of the wheel and it was a bit of a squiffy line, but I kept my boot in and over the next three corners I gradually ran wider and wider from the initial mistake until the offside rear corrected my approach by way of clouting the bank.



The run wasn’t bad asides from that, cost a bit of time, but at 45.43 I was a way off. Anyway, the top 12 run-off was amazing, with the overall hill record being beat by Alex Summers in his DJ Firestorm (32.94!!). Had a few beers and watched the big boys show us how it was done. Watched the onboards overnight with a couple more beers and decided it was probably the decent practice that made me rest on my laurels and assume I could find half a second. Decided that on Sunday my focus should be the current established record that I'm scoring against, the previous class record of 45.19.

This approach seemed to work, practice on the Sunday was 45.22. Launch was ok, but not the best. Added bonus of the National event is the further into the event, the more the big boys are trying, so the better the start line gets as they move from practice to the timed and run off sessions. First timed run and found half a second in the first split and managed a clean second half. New PB and class 6 record with a 44.75. Beating the R1 time too, I was very happy.

https://youtu.be/mlMwqN_8Rg8

Had made a real effort to be smooth, seemed to pay off. Still feel watching back that there’s time to gain at the gate, but in reality it’s hard to brake much later there without compromising the exit. My shift into third during the esses may seem early, but I’ve found that third pulls better from low down than second up high.

It was a very successful run for the majority of our championship class. Think everyone set a new PB or sub-class record. During the qualification run for the National run off, three drivers were nibbling at the former hill record, so conditions were clearly sublime. Final run, and genuinely not aiming to attack the hill, I lined up with a clear head. Launch felt phenomenal, and thought “I can’t waste that”, so powered on through the course, reaching the top in 44.33 which I could hardly believe. All in the second half too, so had got the two hairpins good and not missed a beat on the gears.

https://youtu.be/JZpI22SbNIU

Not as smooth as the first timed run, but that seems to be the route of progress.. Sketchy run with fast time, several attempts to recreate, smoother run matching time, repeat. Neverless, you can see I was happy with the attempt. Jumped out in the top paddock ready to celebrate with the next runner, but was only met with the sound of whistles up the hill and a red flag from his run.

Zak has been pushing the limits of the R53, beating his own class record a number of times this year, but for a second time, ran too far off-line through the gate. A big one for a road going car, he was fine, but it could have been a whole lot worse given the damage the driver’s side could have taken…







As I said, he was ok, but it was a big hit. Food for thought with the family running three of the cars, all without cages. He’s already sourced another car, a JCW this time, hopefully he’ll go down the modified class route and fit a cage..

Next up was Harewood, and that turned out to be eventful!

Wiscombe and Harewood were back to back events, so asides from cleaning tyres and grabbing fuel I just had enough time to steal the 70mm dished wheel from my turbo to throw on to try and alleviate the previous issues.

First time to Harewood, long drive for us on the Friday, over 7 hours, but worth it when we got there, what a venue! Top of hill paddock, drive down to startline, run the hill (1.4km) and then arrive back in paddock. Venues that don’t have to operate batch and return tend to run loads smoother and you can get more runs in.

Now, I’ll let you into my process for a new venue, mainly because it forms a vital part to the story later… I find someone who has done the venue before, preferably recently, and is kind enough to post videos online, and I watch them over and over until I can picture the track in my mind. I am lucky to have some very similar competitors up and down the country who are far more experienced than me and drive vehicles that are close enough that it takes out most of the guesswork. To the point that a particular driver/vehicle combination damn near matches my gear changes at both Prescott and Loton Park. With footage of Harewood available, why would I not binge said material, until I had nearly convinced myself I’d driven the course?!

The only downside to this method, is braking, you know when they are not accelerating, but not when they are braking, or how hard, this is the fill-in-the-blank kind of game we use walking the hill and practice runs for… So, Saturday morning, I’m confident, weather is great. Game time. Set a target of sub 70 seconds for the morning. First run, 69.66. Excellent, this preparation has paid off! Just need to push now…

Well, I did push, with nearly a second gained by the end of split 5, but then it all went a bit sideways, literally.

Quarry, the last corner, is essentially too long to be considered one corner, with a curve then a corner, I’d tried to keep the power on from the straight through the first part, then scrub the speed, turn in and power across the line. But once I let off to brake and change down, the car span on me, quickly facing the wrong way up the track. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

















Right, here’s what happened… Once I got to 270° the slicks betrayed me, with their stupidly grippy sidewalls and my heft all on that side, newtons laws of motion took care of the rest. Once the car tipped over, it then rotated round to face back up the hill, I can tell you, that was an awful sound. It pivoted about the roof/a-pillar gutter intersection which took the brunt of the damage.

I hopped out pretty quick as I could hear some liquid dripping, which luckily was oil, not fuel. We tipped the car back over and I was led away for medical assessment. In my absence, the marshals did a great job of cleaning up, and the rescue crew and medical team were all top notch.





I didn’t get any shots of the damage pre-repair, but once we pulled out the roof corner, put the front/rear/side window back in and joined the two halfs of the front arch, the scrutineers signed me off to return to the track. The only real thing needing sorting was cleaning up and replacing the oil. Which had ran into and out of my catch tank from the rocker cover.



Lunch had been moved forward due to me taking up a fair portion of the mornings time. Sorry everybody! Meant I hadn’t missed a run and was invited straight out for first timed run. Now all pub bullshit aside, and I’m sure others tell a different story, I was 100% shitting my pants. Was ok with false bravado until I got to the start line, then when I cinched my harness up, I realised how tender my neck was where the HANS meets my fleshy bits. I said to everyone that I’d go easy and aim for a 70 second run, inside the car, I was doubting if I’d do an 80 second run, my heartrate was through the dented roof! Strangely, when the light went green, I was good, clean run at decent pace until the straight, when I bottled very early and sauntered around quarry to the line. A 70.78, nothing impressive, but I was over the moon. Getting back on the horse helped, and some very well received comments from other competitors, marshals and the scrutineers really helped.

Second timed run and I got down to 69.39. Third timed run I reached 68.26. Despite my incident affecting the running time, we were offered a 4th timed run, which I managed a 67.91.

We have a very decent party of competitors in our championship, given the distance we’d travelled, we had a group pizza and beer session that evening, a much need decompression after the day’s festivities even had a series competitor stop through on route to his family holiday. Obviously, I took a fair ribbing for thinking I could take the corner flat, but was a good night and I needed the liquid ibuprofen as I had started to ache.

Worth noting, when I hit the deck, I did two things before I really thought about them… firstly I hit the kill switch, then I grabbed my harness buckle. Hadn’t really given my orientation much thought, obviously I fell straight into the door, which is what broke it and popped the window out.



I rotated myself, got feet on the door bar, and pushed off to get out of the passenger side. What I hadn’t considered was the harness straps, in this case HANS specific; 2” to below FHR then 3” to buckle, which was still laid over my HANS device. As I stood up, I reached the end of the 2” free harness length and the 3” section jammed up in the HANS, essentially clotheslining me back towards my seat. Seemed like nothing at the time, but this did more damage than the actual crash. By Sunday morning it was very tender. But onward…

Managed a 68.54 first practice, 67.87 second practice. Progress was being made. I’d entered the weekend with a potential target of 66.64 in my mind, but it turned out that was the R1 time, my class target was 67.69 so I was in striking distance.

Was getting confidence back, finding gains across the splits with the exception of the final split. The hesitancy there wasn’t uncomfortable now, but I was unwilling to go balls out for the time being! First timed run and I hit 67.15, new class 6 record. Must have been some decent conditions as Derek in the Maguire beat his PB and class record too, by 6 tenths. He’d previously held a 63.09, getting a 62 only once when a meeting was subsequently abandoned. But his 62.43 will stand for quite some time I'm sure!

I continued to go from strength to strength, setting a new pb and class record each of the next two runs with 66.77 and 66.44 respectively. Eventually beating the R1 time and hopefully redeeming the terrible start to Saturday. I really enjoyed the hill, but also gained a huge respect for the venue. It is the longest in the British championship which requires more memory to get right, hence me cocking it up near the end! My best run below:

https://youtu.be/Z3O6suEu0B8

With some BMW hellrot in stock and some near-enough colour tape, I covered the worst ready for the British Motor Show, didn’t look too bad, but stuck the pictures of the incident in the window to justify the appearance…





Got one last weekend of Wiscombe at start of September. Will be my last two qualifying round for our championship Wiscombe Challenge, no chance of a drop score for me this year, so all my scores will count, hope the weather holds out. My first visit to Shelsley Walsh ends the season for me, have some research to do, but following Harewood experience, I may have to rethink my method!

Thanks if you stuck through all that! Stu

glad you are alright after the tip......I have been sent pirouetting at about 130kms/hr in the car mumbling don't grip tyres, don't grip tyres.

Oh my!! That was an update and a half

Sorry to see the incident and I hope you aren’t still feeling sore.

Otherwise please keep up the good work and updates.
I hope the damage isn’t too severe

Mixed bag of weather at the weekend. Saturday started with spots of rain, but track was still in good shape from the nationals. Bit slippery off the line but a solid 45.71, only half a second from the target time for points, and only 2 tenths off Derek Kessell in his spaceframed Maguire. I also had added competition of James in his 16v this weekend, and as he’s an old hand at Wiscombe knew it wouldn’t be long before he was breathing down my neck.

Dried up and stayed dry for the rest of the day, which was nice given the forecast earlier in the week. Firs time run saw a better launch and improvements across the run. 45.08. still two tenths off the Maguire, but James had found nearly a second. That target score kept me in the running for the Wiscombe Challenge, many entrants already meeting the 6 scores for the venue, but this weekend would make up the last to scores needed to meet the criteria.

The day remained steady, no drama, bit of an early change into third through the esses on timed run 2, solid time 44.71, but the Maguire opened up the gap to nearly a second. I improved to 44.57 on last timed run which was again 2 tenth off the Maguire. James found another second, reducing a 48 second run down to 46 within the day. Happy with the day and consistency, which was a comfort following Harewood and not feeling 100% confidence after tipping over.

Overnight the weather came in, as predicted and heavy. I’d opted to put the wets on the car on Saturday evening, typically it then stopped raining at 7am and dried out enough to warrant the change back to slicks for practice. Was a wet track, but ample grip (asides from the startline which was 8 tenths down from the dry). Happy with a sub-50 run of 49.79, my experience at Wiscombe in this car has only included one damp run on slicks, so very happy with that. A second off the Maguire in the wet, not entirely surprising, I’ve seen him take FTD at a wet event!

The rain came and went in heavy downpours, I opted to switch to the wets, if nothing else, I’d get a delta time for slick and wet in similar conditions. Despite a slower launch than the first timed run, I found 2 tenths on the practice, really good fun too, the wets have a very different feel, but had some more feedback that the slicks. 49.53. Maintained within a second of Derek, it would be down to me v him on the Sunday’s score for the Wiscombe challenge. Although he was faster, I’d just need to maintain a small gap to not loose too many points.

Second timed run, I pushed the wets to see what they could do, there’s more in them too, but I need more seat time to adjust my style in the wet, reduced my time to 48.42. This reduced the gap to the Maguire to 0.66sec, which I'm especially happy with.

A good battle was occurring for third place in our championship category, James (who secured third on Saturday) was ahead of one of the R53’s by 9 hundredths, with the R53 having fluffed a gear change at one of the hairpins. I opted not to take the final run, felt there was nothing to gain and with another weekend approaching, needed the car in one piece. I instead grabbed a pint from the bar and watched the battle for third unfold.

Both competitors found nearly a second on previous runs, with the R53 just edging the 16v by 7 hundredths.

Second place in our championship running both days and a decent battle with the spaceframe Maguire, leaves a weekend at Shelsley Walsh on 17th/18th to close out my season, close running in a number of the scores. Believe this weekend secured me the Wiscombe Challenge I’d coveted last year but lost at the last event.

Haven’t got round to uploading the wet run video yet, but will post once I have. Cheers for now.

It was a hugely enjoyable weekend, with small battles everywhere. Great watching you chasing Derek, but I had no chance of competing on Yoko A032’s - still trying to light them up at the top of 2nd gear in places!

If I am still eligible to compete next year might be time to try to get the car log booked, bolt some slicks on and come play in class 6.

Another delayed update... Just sorting photos now and should have the report on the season finale at lunch.

Shelsley – 17th/18th September. My first visit to Shelsley, been on my list for a while and it did not disappoint. Venue is fantastic, great amenities on site and very welcoming.

Arrived on Friday, knew I had arrived in hillclimb country when I turned off the A44 and was greeted by a 17% hill. Paddock is decent, like Goodwood you get a little covered garage, not the widest, but ample for a mini.

We had a small championship group in attendance, but with the Maguire, a Lynx R1 and a Vetechbusa powered cars, I was a bit down on power. Outside our championship the other Mod Prod cars were also twinkams I’d battled with in the past. Also Matt Clarke was there in his A1 car that I’ve been using as a yardstick across various venues.



Walked the hill, incredibly steep, especially as you turn into Bottom Ess. for those who aren’t familiar with the hill, here it is.



At first glance, it doesn’t appear too complex, but in reality, there’s a fair bit to it. All made or lost through the Esses, as they are the only braking points. Given the gradient, the brave can just lift and shift, but get it wrong and the armco is waiting for you.

First practice and I erred on the side of caution, braked early for bottom ess but a nice clean run. 36.39. Thought there was room for improvement, but took me all day to beat this run. Because it was clean and smooth it was quick. Second practice I tried to brake later into the esses, but ended up braking too hard and killed all momentum. Shame as I had a better launch and was 2 tenths up into Bottom Ess, but ended up across the line in 36.64.

First time run pretty much replicated the first practice, entering Esses exactly the same time with the same sector time too. Tried to hang out 3rd gear for the final straight, was 1mph slower through the speed trap (78 v 79) and it cost me a tenth with a 36.47.

Just needing now to apply what I’d learned throughout the day, less braking into Bottom Ess, carrying as much momentum as possible through the steep section and getting through 3rd and into 4th for the straight. All came together nicely, 36.09.

I didn’t know how I would fair at what is a new venue and widely considered a “power hill” so I’d not set a firm target. I knew Matt Clarke’s PB was 36.15 so that was a good marker, it was nice to meet and chat with him, I’ve used his onboards as a reference for many venues, he’s a hell of a driver, especially as he’s on road tyres. On his final run, he had a storming run and set a new PB, dipping into the 35’s with a 35.91. Was a storming drive and set a new target for the Sunday.

The other car I’ve battled against elsewhere is the Ex-Martin Depper car that’s now in allswage livery and driven by David and Nick West. The car is incredibly well prepped and got some significant power via the twinkam lump. I pipped them at Loton earlier in the year, but Nick has since improved my time by 3 tenths. Think my PB at Prescott is just ahead of Nick, but no doubt at risk on his next visit. I’d been just ahead of him for the day, but his final run he dropped his Ess sector sub 10 seconds and with a couple more mph on the straight he knobbled me by one hundredth.

It's not much, with two tenths of a second separating three very different cars, but that’s the joy of hillclimb and sprints. I love this kind of close competition, I wasn’t in with a chance of giving the Maguire or R1 cars a close run here, so you find a suitable contest elsewhere. Anyway, with a great day done it was to the bar for a couple of cold ones.

Target for Sunday was a sub 10 second Ess sector and that should bring a 35 second run. Sounds so simple.

First practice was good, bit slippery in the esses till it dried out, 36.61 with a 10.51 Ess sector. All my Saturday runs were 75 mph through the speed trap at the entry Esses and this run was the same. The quicker Mini’s were all carrying a bit more speed, guess this is due to flat out Kennel and Crossing as well as having a bit more oomph.

Sunday batch order put me in good company in the top paddock with the Pirelli Ferrari Championship.


Second practice I pushed pretty hard through the early sector, managed 76mph through the trap this time, matching my previous best Ess sector to the hundredth 10.06. but the run was clean and with a touch cooler temp the engine was a bit happier. 35.78. I’d got to the 35’s, but the sub 10 middle sector still evaded me.

Now, I’ve been in this position before, second practice being a belter, but having to replicate to gain points. Sat down and reviewed the footage (I record practice runs too now since Harewood!), we broke for lunch so I had plenty of time to get round the whole car to check everything was optimum. Matt Clarke wasn’t competing, but was spectating and came and congratulated me on my new PB, there’s a good camaraderie in the paddock.

Crunch time, first timed run. Little down on the launch and Kennel, halved the gap by Crossing and maintained the 76mph from previous run into the Esses, finally managed to thread the two corners together nicely and got a 9.86 sector, maintained pace up the straight and secured a 35.60. Was very happy.



Given I’d met my goals for the day, thought I’d try something different on the final run. Rather than braking, I’d try an earlier downshift and see scrubbing speed by the gradient alone. It worked well, but I started the deceleration too soon and lost some momentum, clean run 36.16, I can see how you would push for a better time, but the corner is pretty daunting with a 75mpg approach.

Stu Lugger in his lynx R1 mini was up into 6th before the entry and on one run was clocked at 85, two downshifts and a big broadside later, with a lovely save, was a big crowd pleaser. Nick West had been running a touch down on his Saturday’s efforts, he was pushing hard in the afternoon to drop into the 35’s. Entry into Ess was a bit hot, late on the brakes and unfortunately the lock-up pushed him into the barrier. Rim damage and a couple of scuffs but not the way he wanted to end the weekend, I’m sure.



Car has been so consistent, although I feel like the tyres are no longer as grippier as they were mid-season, but there’s still tread on them, unsure when to change. If we are back to double-driving next year, they won’t last a couple of events, so maybe time to change in the new year after a shakedown event.

Only thing that’s been noticed was the additional engine steady appears to be cracking.



So that’s end of my season. The Downton class record at Shelsley was 37.06, so taken nearly a second and a half off for next year, will certainly make points a little harder to gain! Couple of events left in the championship, Prescott, Clay Pigeon and Castle Combe. Which opens the doors to a few people reaching the two sprint minimum for the championship. I’ve done all I can to challenge for the title, out of 18 events; 12 new PB’s that will establish 7 new venue class records.

Here’s my best run from the weekend, 35.60.

https://youtu.be/kdObniHsAuI

Thanks for keeping up with my exploits, now to decide what to tinker with over the winter…
Stu

Well done for that effort up Shelsley. Driven it a few times and found it VERY narrow and scary.

'Where does the engine go?'

Enjoyed the detailed updates this year. Fantastically driven (except when it was on its side)!

I enjoy your updates too, quite a hobby!

And that last movie, have to agree with Steve, thats damn narrow...brave stuff there!
Well done

Dazed and Confused....

Hello, well this is a post I didn’t think I’d find myself writing… I won the championship!

I did set out to challenge this year, with a known competitive car it was a good opportunity to find out if we were good drivers or not. Gelled with the car very quickly and it suits my style (except trying to take corners flat that should not be taken flat). Shame my dad only made 5 events before needing his shoulder rebuilt, will be interesting to see how he gets on next year with both arms working!

I don’t get my filthy mitts on the silverware until the awards presentation next year, but once again the TT2 is a championship winner (my deepest apologies for it not being a turbo, but works are in progress for the next generation of mistake in my silver car).

So, I secured the Wiscombe Challenge in September (best 6 Wiscombe events), scooped the Downton Speed Championship (best 9 events – 2 sprints minimum), also the Richmond Trophy (most points gained across the season) and the Mainflow Cup (highest score from top 5 events with Maniflow fitted equipment). To say I’m chuffed is an understatement, it’s been a great year competing with some good mates. Fantastic to try some more venues, Prescott, Harewood, Epynt and Shelsley all incredible, bit further on the travel mind you, some 3008 miles covered in transit to and from events.



Can’t see me competing as much next year, we have our second child due in February. My goal next year is to finally use my circuit license and do an endurance event.

Have finally started working on the turbo too, a year of having the engine in bits before I managed to gain some enthusiasm on it. More on that to come. For now, it's mostly nose to the grindstone and earn some play money for next season!

A cracking result for the year, congratulations.
This has certainly been a good read to follow.
Shane

Congratulations!

'Where does the engine go?'

excellent .

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Enjoyable read and great season well done

Bit quiet on here again ☹ so I’ll make an effort to keep this thread up-to-date..

Long story short, was going to throw the 998T straight into mine as an interim solution, but started fiddling with it, some mission creep has occurred and here’s where I am..

Final drive was 3.9:1, suited for hills, but with a want to tackle more circuits a bit short for my needs. With 3.1:1 final drives for LSD not available, I bought a standard crown wheel and pinion to modify. Hadn’t considered the physical size difference between the crown wheel, which then given the amount of meat required to take out to fit the plate diff, decided it was not leaving enough on the crown for my liking.







This left some thinking, either a taller ratio than 3.9:1 available in LSD format or ATB diff and utilise the standard 3.1:1 standard CW. I could only find 3.47:1 or 3.44:1 available for LSD fitment, which still left me a bit short on top end. So without much option, a call to swiftune resulted in an ATB.



So that’s the gearbox sorted. Already over budget and behind schedule. So business as usual!