RACING EXPOSURE :: Club level motorsport e-magazine

The Fuchs Titan MR2 racing series moved on to Mallory Park, Leicestershire for rounds 11 & 12 or of the 2011 series, 23 cars lined up for qualifying on a sunny dry track.

After qualifying the top 5 drivers were all in the 57 sec laps, with the following 6 in the 58 sec laps, racing was going to be close on this one with such a short circuit and a mass grid , pole position went to Jonny White from Aaron Pullan and Paul Corbridge.

Race 1
Pole man Jonny White led from Aaron Pullan and Paul Corbridge, two laps in Aaron took the lead coming out of the hairpin, only for Jonny to attempt an overtake back going into the hairpin on the next lap, Jonny lost control and spun out, Aaron then pulled a 3 second gap on Paul Corbridge and was soon catching back markers , unfortunately Aaron was unlucky when an out of control back marker caused him to take avoiding action Aaron lost control himself and span and he had to retire , so the win went to Paul Corbridge his first win of the series.

results
1st Paul Corbridge 2nd Ian Davis 3rd Jon Winter
4th Chris Shackle 5th Roger Pullan 6th Gary Lawrence

race 2
with the track now very wet from midday torrential rain Paul Corbridge lead this race closely followed by Gary Lawrence and Chris Shackle, the race followed this pattern until the last pap when Gary Lawrence got better drive round Gerrards and passed Paul Corbridge into the esses to continue and take the win.

results
1st Gary Lawrence 2nd Paul Corbridge 3rd Chris Shackle
4th Jonny White 5th Matt Smith 6th Aaron Pullan

the final race is at Pembrey on 9th Oct

for further details on this series or Red Dragon Race and Track Club please see the clubs web site
www.reddragonraceandtrackclub.com
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Race Report – Mallory- Academy – 28^th September  2011

Group 1

The sun shone over Mallory Park for the third Academy race of 2011.  King stole pole with a last chance saloon flying final lap, Corbellati started second, both shunting Norris to third. Corbellati launched off the line first then raced his socks off defending the lead with an immense lights to flag victory, fighting off advances from King and Norris who were taking it in turns to apply pressure to the young Italian, while also battling each other and trying to fend off the onslaught from Freeman. The chasing pack were not letting them get away easily, Rob Chappell set about hunting down the leaders and began moving up the order, quickly joining the five way scrap of inseparable cars for the lead.

Midfield action closed up the field even more as the spinning car of Freddie Galliers-Pratt, at the exit of the Esses was unfortunately collected by Simon Johnson who was left with no where to go. This brought out waved yellow flags slowing everyone down and prohibiting overtaking at a fundamental part of the track for a few laps. Once all clear the leading battle intensified but the pressure seemed a little too much for King forcing an error resulting in a spin at Shaws hairpin dropping him down to eighth. Luckily all four on his tail were able to avoid him, remain unscathed and continue fighting. Chappell and Norris fought tooth and nail to the end with bravery and guts in plentiful supply. Chappell made a move on Norris climbing the hill up to Shaws then set about trying to steal the win from Corbellati as they crossed the line, he was unsuccessful although with a mere 0.059 seconds separating first and second it was a great effort. Norris finished third, entitling him to claim the Championship win with Freeman inches behind in fourth.

Group 2

Due to Group 2’s race being stopped on lap 2 (on 2 separate occasions), the result is declared as a ‘no contest’ in accordance with article Q5.4.1 (MSA Blue Book)

Next Round: Silverstone GP – 30^th September

Pembrey 30^th/31^st July 2011 “Classic Thunder” Round 7 & 8

It’s been over 2 years since we last ventured to Pembrey, and those memories aren’t fond ones.

Coming to the 2^nd round of the 2009 Nippon Challenge, we had a freshly built engine to bed in. With a test day booked on the Friday before, all began well until mechanical gremlins crept in which meant we were unable to race. So apart from a few laps on the test day, we were yet to confront the track in anger.

Following a great weekend at Mallory, we’ve spent some time reviewing the information from the data logger, and we were able to see that the oil temperature was above where we’d like at 118°C.

To help rectify this, the air feed to the oil cooler has been removed and the bumper has been opened up to provide maximum airflow to the oil cooler and the air filter on the opposite side. Short of removing the bumper altogether, we won’t be able to get any more cold air to either, so hopefully this will have done the trick.

In addition to this, it was just a case of changing all the fluids in readiness for race day.

Race Day:

With no data to work from, it was a case of setting up the car in the way we thought best.

With feedback from the driver, and by checking the condition and heat of the tyres after qualifying, we would see if any changes were needed.

Qualifying:

Class A4 was made up of:

16. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza RA

32. Martin Davies Ford Sierra Cosworth

With scrutineering carried out, everyone was waved out on to the circuit for the allotted 20 minutes of track time.

Not really knowing the circuit, it was all about becoming familiar with the layout and the levels of grip available.

Coming into “Dibeni” on lap 2, it became apparent that grip was still a bit scarce, and despite Vaughan’s best efforts to hold the slide, the Subaru spun and came to rest on the outside of the circuit.

Back on track, and allowing for a few more progressively quicker laps, soon everything was ready for setting the qualifying times.

With the exception of the early spin, the rest of the session was trouble free, and the car ran well.

When the results came in we were really pleased to see that we had qualified well with:

Qualified 1^st in class and 3^rd overall. Fastest lap: 1.02.607 sec on lap 15 of 18

Back in the paddock, the tyre temperatures and pressures indicated the need for some fine tuning, but worryingly there was some play in the passenger side front hub.

With the wheels removed, the fault was found to be due to a problem with the front strut and not the hub. A simple fix, that once rectified, meant it was just a case of topping up the fuel and adding some more camber to both sides to try and get the car turning in a bit better.

The data from the logger was reviewed to see what had been happening during the session, and it was pleasing to see that the oil and water temperatures were positive, with a good safety margin before any limits were reached.

Round 5:

Placed in 3rd on the inside of the grid, Vaughan needed a good start to capitalise on the excellent result in qualifying.

With the hairpin of “Hatchets” being the first corner at the end of the long start/finish straight, it serves as a “pinch point” for the fast approaching racers.

With everyone jostling for position, it would be a close run thing to get everyone through unscathed.

When everyone was assembled on the grid, the course car led the pack around the circuit in preparation for the rolling start.

In 4^th place alongside us, was the RS500 of Craig Davies, and with the absence of Martin Davies behind us in his Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, Joss Ronchetti had a clear run at us when racing began.

With the course car peeled off into the safety of the pits, the racing could get underway. As soon as the precession rounded “Honda Curve” the Sierra of “Davies” was on full chat and chasing down the lead pair of “Butcher” and “Whittaker” before the lights had gone out to signal the start of the race.

With “Ronchetti” nipping at our heels, it was going to be a hard race to stay ahead. Already the local supremeo “Butcher” in his Nissan Primera ST was pulling out a commanding lead, closely followed by Garrie in his BMW M3.

The battle to hold off Ronchetti came to an end between the “Esses” and the “Brooklands Hairpin” around lap 5, when the black and orange Sunbeam got up the inside Vaughan and took 4^th place.

On lap 7, the “Esses” claimed the Sierra of “Davies”, when the back end of the Cosworth got sideways exiting the long left hander. The resulting spin sent the duo on a ride into the tyre wall, which ended up with a hard impact and a heavy repair bill.

This left Joss ahead, and Piers Grange in the XR8 hunting us down for the rest of the race. From about half distance the car was beginning to suffer with handling and cornering issues. The tyres were beginning to loose grip, meaning the car was under steering heavily and washing out on the corners due to the lack of grip.

Driving to try and conserve the tyres as best as possible, and not risk going off track meant it was a challenge to hold off the fast closing “Grange”.

With the last lap board shown, it looked like it would be possible to hold on to 4^th, but a massive lock up going into “Hatchets” allowed the Sierra to nip through while Vaughan corrected his mistake.

It was then impossible to close back up on the Sierra in such short time, and he held on to 4^th.

Finished 1st in class, Finished 5th overall, Fastest lap: 1.03.658 on lap 6 of 20

Upon inspection, the tyres had run their last race. Heavy wear was apparent across all 4 corners, with the outside edge wearing to the canvas on both front wheels. The pressures and temperatures also showed that there was some work to do with the settings.

It was decided that we would run fresh tyres all round, and try and dial out some of the handling issues with a revised set up.

In addition to fitting the tyres, it was decided to bleed the brakes for peace of mind, and check over the brake pads front and rear.

Round 6:

Despite the fine rain falling minutes before the start of race 2, it was decided that we would run with slick tyre choice.

Placed in 5^th on the inside of the grid, Vaughan was directly behind Ronchetti, with Denis Bassom and his Toyota Corolla on his left.

Rounding the “Honda Curve”, the XR8 of Grange began misfiring badly which led to his race ending before it had begun.

Chasing hard to “Hatchets” the BMW of Whittaker spun, allowing Vaughan to take the 3^rd place and follow the lead pair of Butcher and Ronchetti around the first lap.

Already recovering, Whittaker was carving his way back through the field and was back up to 2^nd by lap 5, dispatching Vaughan and Joss in the process.

Having missed race 1, the Sierra of local racer Martin Davies was also on a charge, and by lap 8 had caught and passed Vaughan.

For the rest of the race, it was a good honest contest between Vaughan and Joss for 4^th place.

Again from the mid-race point, the car had gone past its prime, with the tyres loosing grip and not providing the required confidence to allow the car to be thrown hard into the corners.

Not being able to push hard for fear of an off track excursion, it was a case of driving to get to the finish, rather than for position.

Finished 2nd in class, Finished 5th overall, Fastest lap: 1.03.857 on lap 9 of 20

Again all four tyres were showing signs of hard use, which meant we didn’t get the set up correct for this technical circuit.

Both race’s had been hard fought, and had close battles. The main thing being the car was in one piece (Unlike quite a few from the weekend’s event)

Words: Jonathan Fletcher

Pictures: Jonathan Fletcher & Ben Jones

The Masters Series meeting due to take place at Mallory Park on the 7th August has been cancelled due to low entries.

Javelin Trackdays have taken over the last minute slot and are running an open pitlane trackday instead.   105dba – £ 99.

Modsports & Special Saloons once again returned to the track of the Iconic Leicestershire circuit of Mallory Park.

An event which has been organised by the Classic Sports Car Club will see many period racing cars from the 1970’s and 80’s UK Club Racing scene. The race will be held on August Bank Holiday Monday, 29^th August 2011. Many car owners that thought that their cars were eligible to enter the racing on the Bank Holiday weekend event got in touch with the CSCC who then selected a final lot of cars to be in the race. It can be confirmed that Joe Ward has entered the ex Gerry Marshall Baby Bertha, Jon Lee has entered Tony Hazlewood’s Dafnee and Dave Taylor has entered the ex Mick Hill Beetle.

A Sunny Wednesday morning at Mallory saw 29 cars hit the track in three separate sessions. At 9:23 the first lot of engines fired up to the delight of the many spectators that had turned up to see these cars return to track in the glorious sunshine. With only one red flag throughout the day which came in the first session the cars were soon underway once again all making improvements in speed as the session progressed.

The session ended and the cars returned to the paddock to an increasing crowd of nostalgia fans grinning ear to ear. Conversations between top drivers back in the day were taking place all around. Three included the Mini racing legend that is Peter Baldwin, Gerry Taylor the Swish Curtains Anglia racer and the well known Capri driver Vince Woodman all reminding people as well as each other  events that took place back in the day.

Two more sessions then took places with no red flags and very good reliability considering some of these cars have only just been built, restored or not been run in so many years. With both runs over passenger rides started but only lasted minutes as the other cars soon piled into the pit lane ready to line up for the pack shot at the Esses.

At 13:30 the cars lined themselves up round the back of the famous 1.3mile circuit. Crowds gathered onto the track along with the many photographers and media trying to grab a great shot of these iconic cars all lined up together. It was a sight you don’t see everyday these days and a great prospect for a race series which is planned for 2012 if the interest is there.

The day ended on a high with people really looking forward to this event on the August Bank Holiday Monday. If you are a fan of the Club Racing Scene in the 1970’s and 80s and loved the Modsports and Special Saloons, get yourself down to Mallory for this special weekend of racing action. There will be plenty of other racing going throughout the weekend organised by the CSCC.

For more information visit their website at http://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk

Report: Matthew Barrington
Photos: MB Race Photography

Mallory Park 18^th & 19^th June 2011 “Classic Thunder” Round 5 & 6

Vaughan Fletcher: No:16  Class A4 Subaru Impreza

It had been well over a year since the team last visited Mallory Park, and a lot has changed in that time, for both the circuit and the car.

The Leicestershire circuit was playing host to the annual CTCRC festival, which had moved north from Lydden Hill in Kent for this year’s event.

Qualifying:

Class A4 was made up of

12. Ian Froggatt Subaru Impreza RA
16. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza RA
32. Martin Davies Ford Sierra 4×4
33. Paul Nevill Ford Escort RS2000
97. Andy Wilson Ford Escort Cosworth

With the weather being decidedly “wet” tyre choice would be critical. With two heavy down pours prior to qualifying, the track conditions were changing by the hour. With rain falling in the distance, and time running out we had to make a decision.

With a damp track, and the possibility of further showers during the session, we opted to run with the Toyo 888 tyres and a wet setting on the suspension. Only our lap times would tell if we’d made the right choice.

With the circuit still holding onto a bit of moisture, the set up on the car worked well initially.

Towards the end of qualifying, the tyres were beginning to loose traction when pushed through Gerrards and the Esses, so we knew we’d got our best time recorded.

When the results came in:

Qualified 1st in class and 6^th overall*

Fastest lap: 52.262 sec on lap 16 of 16

Back in the paddock, the tyre temperatures and pressures indicated that the set up hadn’t been working at its best, so there was still some more to come from the car.

The telemetry was downloaded from the data logger, which showed our lap times were consistent, with overlays showing almost the same data on each lap.

*After the first results were published, the driver on pole was later disqualified, which moved Vaughan to 5