OT: Going Racing.. (2015-10-15) - Season Over - 7th :(
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That's still very respectable for your first season.

2015 - Round 1 - Silverstone GP

Over the winter I spent some time with Gary Feakins Racing, trying to improve the car as much as I could, for as little as possible. We changed the suspension, the brakes, wheels and made some setup adjustments. We also found that I’d been running huge positive toe-out on the rear, which was the probable cause of the horrid nervousness and snappy oversteer.

We arrived on Thursday lunch time at Silverstone, and entered the car for scruitneering. It failed - the rear of the car had a roll-bar between the rear turrets (and did have all last year) but the scrutineers decided that because it was mounted onto a mounting point of the roll cage, and wasn’t part of the original cage, it shouldn’t be there. We had to remove it - and weld up the hole that was left behind. This was a fun task to do in the paddock, but amazingly TopCatsRacing, a Marcos endurance racing team competing in the Britcar 24h had a welder, and one of our competitors (Rob Cooper) had some metal we could use. Gary lent a hand and welded up the holes, and the car was cleared for the following day’s racing.

I was a little apprehensive about the weekend because we would be sharing the track with over 50 cars - a combination of Production BMW, and the Toyo Tyres Racing Saloons - 31 PBMWC cars, and the rest made up by M3s, Jaguars and other random race cars.

Qualifying came by, and I concentrated on getting a good lap - last year I realised that I was spending qualifying subconsciously following cars around, and not really trying to set a hot lap. I managed a 2:44.8, putting me 4th in class. Not a bad start to the year. Unfortunatley, I forgot that we needed 2 hot-laps in qualifying because of the shared-grid, so I only managed 7th in class for race 2 because of a much slower 2nd-fastest lap. Still - both spots were better than any previous qualifying position I’ve managed!

Race 1 started really well - I dropped to 6th at the start, but battled my way back to 4th and was holding station without any real pressure, until the last lap where another competitor managed to creep up, get past and then I went for a gap that closed on me meaning we both span off and I ended up 8th. A rookie mistake from both of us. With hindsight I wish I’d just held 5th, but in the heat of the race I wanted 4th and the gap looked inviting! Shame about the damage (wheel, tyre, wing) but that’s racing.

Race 2 was damp to start with, and I dropped from the 7th position to 8th, but managed to end up in 6th position after a strong and error-free run to the flag - with an extra lap I may have even made it to 5th! I should have been braver at the start.

I left Silverstone miserable, wishing I’d performed to the car’s potential - I really think the car could be a podium finisher now, and I just need to learn how to drive it. That said - last year the car was holding me up and this year I can improve - that’s exciting.

We’re racing at Brands Hatch (indy) in 3 weeks.

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

Race 2 Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIQVy_S8A2U

good stuff

Excellent. I like the fact that there are still som E30s around :)

I think it's a great result moving up and forwards! PMA!

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

Round 2 of the Production BMW Championship was held at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, on the short Indy layout.

I arrived at the track on Friday morning, and enjoyed a nice sunny test day before the race meeting, with the aim of learning the track as I'd not driven it in anger before.

Sunday morning arrived and with it qualifying - with 34 entrants on track it was a traffic heavy session, and getting a clear lap was hard work. Annoyingly, I never managed to match my time from the Friday practice session, and ended up 7th on the grid.

Race 1 followed, and I started on the 4th row. I had an average start, and was in 7th or 8th going into druids. The race was close, and the leaders were in sight for most of it. Past champion Dean Spurr was right behind me for the entire session, and we shared very similar pace. About half way through I made a bit of a lunge on another competitor causing them to spin at Druids, and they rolled back into my car causing damage, but we were both able to continue, I then chased down George Sealey who made a slight error and let me slip by. In the final few laps I was chasing down Jack Gabriel and over the line we were just 4ths apart. A jump-start penalty for Matt Swaffer in 3rd allowed me to steal 4th position at the end of the race. My best result yet!

Race 2 was exciting - starting on the 2nd row! Unfortunatley I made a real hash of my start, and was back into 7th into Druids. Balls! I followed Sealey around for much of the race, who was being slightly blocked by Mark Palmer for the whole race, with Spurr again right behind me. I did get overtaken by Alex Osborne during the race, but kept the pressure on and he made a small mistake letting me past again. I finished in 7th.

All in all not a bad weekend results wise, but I felt frustrated in both races because it was a hard track to overtake on - for me at least.

Now we have a 2 month wait for Snetterton in July.









Race 1:
Video lost by GoPro :(

Race 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0prFvEsCDj0

Love the write ups Alex. You are doing really well.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Looks like really good fun

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Looking at the track at first glance it appears comparatively wide ( 4 cars abreast racing), but in a closely matched field, and a technical layout, there is probably only one real race line for a lot of the approaches... so i understand the comment about being a hard to pass circuit.. It is a mind game when different cars have minute strength and weakness differences allowing glimmers of passing opportunity. Enjoying your write ups. My driving has been the rate determining factor rather than my car for some time, so always pleasing when improvements occur.

What lap times do these cars have at Brands?

Edited by Vegard on 23rd May, 2015.

My lap time in qualifying was a 59.112. Pole was a 58.something

Round 3 – Snetterton 300

This weekend was interesting - Gary (from Gary Feakins Racing) and I decided to enter ourselves in the TTRS relay race on Saturday in advance of the PBMWC round on Sunday, to get some track time. The relay race had a mandatory pit stop time, and we could decide when to do it - other than that, it was as normal.

Qualifying went well with Gary on class pole, and me in 2nd, meaning a front of class start for the race, and we went on to win both races - my first time on the podium! If only I could pull that off in PBMW! We finished off the day with a BBQ in the paddock - there are worse ways to spend a Saturday.

Sunday came around, and it was time for PBMWC. The important races.

We woke up to rain - as expected. I softened the car, upped the tyre pressures, and we went out for qualifying. The track was getting better with every lap, at the same time as confidence, and the lap times kept coming down. On the final lap of qualifying I was 1.7 seconds better than my previous best lap at the half way point, but frustratingly a spinning car in front put the lap to an early end as I had to take to the grass in avoidance, leaving me in 7th for the first race.

The sun came out, the track dried, and the race was due to start. I had been worrying about my starts since Brands Hatch 2 months earlier, and I really felt the pressure when sitting on the grid. 33 cars were starting the race, and if my normal bad starting trend was to continue I could easily drop from 7th to 15th or so before turn 1 - I had to get it right. I followed advice from Gary, Mark and Jack, and managed to get away without any drama, and actually kept my position for the first time in all my race starts. I thought I’d got a great start, until I had a nice speed-boost-shunt form behind pushing me forward - Mark’s start must have been mega!

The race was hard fought, and I had some brilliant battles with Mark Palmer and Ian Russell. I ended up finishing in 6th spot, after Dave Graves had a fuelling issue on the last lap - poor bugger!

Race 2 came around and the rain had returned. I was starting on the outside in 6th. I managed to get a good get away, and pulled along side Rob Cooper into turn one - I had a slight slip and dropped back in behind, but into turn two everyone seemed to slip around and I managed to get into third - I was hoping to keep it and to claim my first podium, but I managed to totally fail to use the wet line anywhere, despite thinking I was doing it properly at the time, and after a great battle with Rob Cooper and Matt Swaffer I dropped back down to 5th position. Still a solid result, but I can't help feel that it was a missed opportunity. Watching the video is painful - if I'd just done this-or-that differently I would have been right there to claim the champagne.

An enjoyable weekend, without any contact or damage, and some good points for the championship.











Here's the first lap in the wet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaBXBpgYvRw

Nice, as you say championship points are key and there are worse ways to spend a weekend!

I feel your pain with regards to watching footage back, easy to spot the could/should/would moments, but it's a good tool to help learn and improve.

When's your next race?

August 16/17 at Brands Hatch (GP!). :)

excellent write up alex . really interesting and fun .

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

You're certainly improving. Good results.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Nice write up

Round 4 - Brands Hatch GP

We were racing at Brands Hatch again for round four, but this time on the GP circuit. 37 BMWs racing through the Kent woods.. exciting!

I entered the Racing Saloons races on Saturday to get some extra track time, as I hadn’t driven on the GP track since 2014’s BH GP round. I qualified 3rd in class with a 1:53.1, a way behind Gary Feakins and just behind Mark Palmer who beat me by just 4 hundredths! The race went well with me finishing just behind Will Davison in 2nd place (Gary decided to start from the pits and got held up by traffic), and whilst I was annoyed at not winning, I had found another second from qualifying and was pretty happy with the car.

Sunday rolled around, and it was time for PBMWC qualifying. The car was the same as the previous day, fuel was in, and I was ready to go. With 37 cars scheduled to race I knew it would be busy, so promised myself that I would be ‘on it’ from the get-go, and would overtake rather than hanging back for a gap. We had a delay whilst a few crashed GT cars were scooped up by recovery vehicles and it gave me time to think about the track, and my plan. The pit exit opened and we were out - I tried to do what I could to get past some slower cars, but frustratingly they didn’t yield even with blue flags and I felt the session was busy with traffic and it was hard to get a good lap in.

I pulled back into the pits at the end of the session very disappointed with my performance - I was hoping for a 1:51.x, but only managed a 1:52.5, so thought I was probably going to be outside the top ten. It was a lovely surprise to be called into the weighbridge, which is normally a good sign, and even better when Nicky sent me a text message with a screen grab showing that I was in third position for the race. Unexpected! I was in disbelief for the lunch break!

During the lunch break I was nervous - my starts are normally rubbish, and I really had to nail it - this was the best chance I had so far of a good result and I didn’t want to throw it away. Over and over in my head were clutches, handbrakes and hill-starts.

The race came around, and I was sat on the grid, waiting for the lights. They came on, and went off and it was time. Amazingly, I got a great start, and actually had the chance to challenge for 2nd place into Paddock, but decided to not take the risk, and followed Will Davison round, whilst defending a little from the gaggle of cars behind. After we got out onto the GP loop through the woods, the pressure from behind had started to relax and I focused on looking forwards and putting in good lap times, beating my qualifying time on over half of the race laps. The race was long, hot and hard, but the lap times were consistent, and while I was dropping by a few tenths per lap from the two out front, I was also breaking away from those behind me. Matt Swaffer and Matt Wileman were the closest to me, and kept the pressure constant for most of the race, but held on and came home with a very excited scream of joy to my first podium in 3rd place. So much work had gone into getting this from myself, Nicky, and the guys at Gary Feakins Racing. My first podium. A trophy I will treasure forever!

The second race was going to be fun. My aim for 2015 was a podium, and having achieved that, I was now high in confidence, and planned to fight for every position. The race started, and I got an average start - I was overtaken by Matt Wileman into Paddock, but held my spot from everyone else. The race 20 minute race was then hectic - Matt and I battled for the whole race, swapping positions almost every lap, with some hard but mostly fair racing. We finished with Matt in 3rd and me taking 4th position, separated by just 0.161 seconds across the line. I was annoyed at not getting a double podium, but it was the best race I’ve had so far, my eyes were aching from being out on stalks for all of it.

To come away from a track I don’t love, with a 3rd and 4th feels amazing. The car was loose but fun, and the speed is coming together now. Gary, Rob, Hannah, Clyde, Rich and Grant at Gary Feakins Racing all did a great job helping me during the weekend, and the car was faultless. Their help and coaching has been invaluable over the last 12 months, and my progress is a real credit to them. Thanks to Ric and Mads for coming to watch - perhaps a good luck charm? Also want to thank the wonderful Nicky who puts up with my tantrums and moods when things aren’t going so well.



We’re out in 5 weeks time at Donington on the GP circuit and I wish it was tomorrow. I can’t wait!









Here's my race 1 video, please excuse the noise at the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlMJ56EG6Jo

Race 2 video soon, having issues uploading..

Edited by AlexB on 18th Aug, 2015.

And here's race two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyeoyOHPh00

Great stuff!

I do recommend you head back and read the first few pages to remind yourself where you started... The podium should be more frequent the more practice you get.

Well done Alex. Fantastic progress!

Congrats on your podium!

I think I may of seen you heading clockwise around chertsey junction. I was heading home from mitp going anti clockwise.

Excellent! Well done Alex!

In the 13's at last!.. Just

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!

Well done mate !!!

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett