OT: Going Racing.. (2015-10-15) - Season Over - 7th :(
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Hey man nice banger car! ..... only kiddin.. some cheeky gits out there!

Lydden Hill - Round Report

Lydden hill is a small track in Kent, full of cambers, hills and late apexes. For a short 50-something second lap, it's quite complex. That, and the track surface is the most abrasive one we race on, it also has pot holes and other strange tarmac dotted around. A challenge!

9am - Practice: We started the day with a 15 minute practice session as most of us hadn't raced (or driven!) at Lydden before. 15 minutes, the first group out on the dry (and dirty) track. The session went well, and I ended up 5th out of the twelve guys in the practice.

10:40am - Qualifying: Now slightly warmer, and still dry, the track was looking perfect for qualifying. I decided (somewhat stupidly, with hindsight) to use my old worn tyres as they felt OK in the practice. I managed three laps before crashing my car into the tyre barrier after a moment of oversteer I failed to catch. Bugger.



Initially I thought my weekend was over, Simon and Rob from Gary's squad came to help pull the dents out, check the car and steering over, and gave me the all-clear to re-scrutineer and get back out for the race. Dave and I then checked the tyres, scooped out some gravel and we were ready. Fantastic!

13:15 - Race 1: The first race was a struggle for me. I wasn't confident in the car after my qualifying excursion, and I had decided to use my old tyres just in case I had another issue and didn't want to ruin my good set. Let's just say that 7 year old tyres don't work too well at Lydden.

I slipped down straight away after another bad start (something I really need to sort out), had a good battle with Rob Cooper, but then slipped back from him and brought the car home in 11th. Points, but not a good finish after a 9th place start.



14:45 - Rain: Oh my word, this was proper rain. Sideways. Puddles. Lagoons! I had already decided to swap the car to the newer tyres for Race 2 since I felt I had no grip at all in the first race, but now it was a no-brainer.

15:20 - Race 2: Starting 11th on the grid is still a good place for the series. You can see the front, see the 'fast guys' and have a good view for rhe first corner. Normally. In this rain, as soon as the race starts, we would be able to see nothing. Very exciting! I really like this part of a wet race. Wet is a great equaliser and it gives everyone a chance to get points because the good and bad cars become more closely matched in performance.

The lights went out and we were off. I made an average start, but luckily started on the inside for turn 1 and could simply hold my line to not lose out. The whole pack turned into the first corner as one with spray everywhere. I love it like this.



Wet driving in our E30's makes them feel like they actually have some power. You need a smooth throttle, quick steering and full concentration.

The race was one of two halves for me - the first half of the race was exciting with some overtake on some guys and also losing out to others. I then fell back a bit from the pack. At this point I decided that I was not going to sit by and let another top ten slip through my fingers, and pushed. I clawed my way back to the pack of cars in front, in the last 3 minutes of the race I caught, and overtook three cars putting me 7th. YES! Finally I had made it into the top ten.



Yet again I wouldn't have even made it to the races without the help of Gary Feakins, and his fantastic team - so many thanks to Rob Howe, Simon Turner and my friend Dave Gill who all helped massively over the weekend.

We're back out at Snetterton in just 3 weeks.

Qualifying video (and crash): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG1ytdXwuJI

Race 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfznR7KUv3k

Race 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFjZhM2PueQ

Nice write up, wish i had the money to do this sorta thing

If you're good with spanners it can be fairly cheap.

Good with spanners yes... got a grand for each weekend no..

I spend a grand because I am an idiot though - you can do it for entry fees plus food and travel if you don't mind camping and can fix things yourself

Will look into certain racing for next year, me n my friends will definitely be doing loads of trackdays, hillclimb, sprints n 1/4mile runs in 2015

Today I spent a few hours giving the car a quick check over, as well as fixing a couple of issues and making sure we were ready for Snetterton.

I replaced the towing strap, which annoyingly got destroyed by the marshals pulling me out of the tyres at Lydden - it had torn the fabric of the strap.

Replacing the strap meant pulling the entire frontend off the car, essentially. Bumper, grilles, valance, and a few other bits and bobs. No major incidents along the way, but a bit of a pain to access just one bolt.





After that I gave the car a bolt check, checked the pads and fluids, and then fitted the new bootlid and shift light I had bought over the last few weeks.





I think I could do with replacing the rear pads already which is a bit of a shock since they've only done two rounds of the championship, but they're not expensive.

Oh, and I didn't bother to replace the front wings - I thought that if I got rid of the dents now, I'd probably only go and smash it up at Snetterton. I'll do it over the winter break instead.



Ouch :(

Other than that, I think we're as ready as we're going to be without spending any serious money.

One week to go!





(The car looks much nicer in photos than it does in real life..!)

Great write ups Alex, had a good read catching up to now! Shame about the crash but the sideways photo does make you look like a hero! :)

My build thread: http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=454802

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85313398@N02/

just a thought... on the sideways video, the back stepped out two corners before as well as the tyre wall encounter, maybe at the end of qualiying the back pressures were too high or those back brake pads requiring a little more distance to squeeze causing the backs to lock earlier.... observation was that in both those events you seemed to be just as consistent as the previous times, so just for your thoughts .. it did look like a nice and busy track .. onward and upwards

Did you check it was in neutral after the crash? - just jesting. Get your ok and the car lives to fit another day. Excellent write up as always.

that will do it too :)

Replaced the pads on the rear yesterday, and found the old ones only had 2mm of material left - so you were right there too.

Good luck for Snett buddy

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

The final round of the championship was held this weekend at Snetterton.

I was racing in both the Production BMW Championship and the Atom Cup, so had lots to do and think about. I've covered the Atom Cup already here.

We arrived at Snetterton and set up the car and marquee on Friday, then went to play with the Atom and left the BMW to it's own devices. I had a text message from Gary whilst sitting in our hotel room later that evening, saying that he and the guys had saved my car from being eaten by the marquee. The wind was so strong it destroyed the frame, and it was only good for the bin. The car was fine, though, and apart from getting wet, this was the only BMW related disaster all weekend!



Saturday, 4:30pm: Qualifying was on Saturday afternoon. We were to be last out on track, just as the sun was starting to set. I hadn't driven the BMW on track yet, but had spent almost 2 hours in the Atom. Boy was it different. I out-braked myself into the final turn on the first lap in qualifying, meaning I had a scruffy start to the session. I got my head straight, and put in a time for 8th best, which is my best qualifying of the year. There were just 4 tenths covering 4th on the grid to 9th, so it was going to be a super close race.

Sunday, 11am: Race 1. I started from 8th on the grid, and as the lights went out had a good initial get away, until I cleverly slotted the gear stick into 4th instead of 2nd. This was a feature of my car from Brands Hatch and Lydden Hill, which I had forgotten about after driving the Atom. It put me back down into 13th, and I had to race my way back up to my starting position of 8th. Argh! I would have loved to get a top 6 finish, which I think was achievable if I had not ruined the race from the start.

Sunday, 3:30pm: Race 2 was another frustrating one. I started from 8th again, as that was where I finished race 1. I had a good getaway, and was fighting around lap 1 - I made it up to position 6, and then made an error while having a great fight with Andy Gay and Andy Bailey - and fell right down to 12th after slipping off the track at the same point that I had done in qualifying. I battled my way back up to 10th.

With the final race of the weekend complete, the season was over. Stu Waite had won the championship, with Gary Feakins 2nd and Harry Goodman 3rd. All three had dominated the year, with fantastic speed and consistency. Well deserved and many congratulations to them all. I think I have secured 10th place in the championship (out of 43 entrants) which I am over the moon with for a first attempt at racing, and only doing 5 of the 7 rounds (I'm not 100% sure, as I find it hard to work out the points with dropped scores).

It was almost exactly 12 months since I had bought the car, and now I'm sat here writing this with a year under my belt, a top ten finish in a championship, and an amazing bunch of friends that I have made along the way.

I can't wait for 2015.

Many thanks to everyone that helped along the way. Nicky, for being an amazing wife, and Lucy for being the perfect daughter who never complained about being sat at a cold race track. All the PBMWC competitors, organisers and families who made me and the girls feel very welcome, and the people outside the series who gave great advice and encouragement. You're all fab.


Race 1 Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93_W6wwxE2c

Race 2 Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs45SeGgorg

Edited by AlexB on 27th Oct, 2014.

great job buddy, I bet next year will be lots more expensive, knowing how competitive you've been this year you'll want to spend the cash next year to go faster and make the lap times come down

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

Cracking result for your first season. I've enjoyed reading the ups and downs of the year and am looking forward to next year. Well done.

Well done really good first season.

Look forward to next seasons updates.

Thanks chaps.

Just been putting together my shopping list for next year... probably shouldn't show it to Nicky.. ha ha!

Great Stuff Alex!
Start saving your pennies for next year LOL

Certainly a successful year... And following a dream, well done!

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

It's been a great read. Well done. That's a good result.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

It's been a great read. Well done. That's a good result.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

The official points are in now, and I was wrong, I placed 11th. Damnit!