A personal blog transitioning into an exploration of the intersection of design, technology and ethics
I’m afraid that due to issues with recoding some of my videos to this website’s flash player I’ve had to stick with the Google Video system for some videos, at least for the time being.
A quick but not really that quick run up the classic Loton Park hillclimb course. It’s a real test of nerve in places and as I don’t know the place all that well I’m just a touch nervous of the trees, stream, and rocks.
I’m afraid that due to issues with recoding some of my videos to this website’s flash player I’ve had to stick with the Google Video system for some videos.
In this one I set what, at the time, was up there amongst the fastest times at Aintree for a road going production car under two litres. Incredibly, within less than a year the record tumbled to the high 50s times – sadly not broken by me but by Gary Thomas while I trailed behind by a couple of tenths. I do, of course, intend to take that record back and make it my own once more!
One thing that’s noticeable in this video is the amount of work I had to do when hitting the bump at Becher’s. Since this was filmed I’ve changed my suspension geometry and ride heights and once I get a newer video onto the site you’ll be able to see that I have a much easier time of it.
Google Video was shut down, this video is no longer available.
Getting into motorsport isn’t especially difficult, expensive, or even all that time-consuming. Of course – there are a few things you need to sort out first:
So – where to start? That all depends what you want to do. If speed is your thing, then sprints, in a roadgoing car, are going to be your cheapest way in to competitive motorsport. I’d recommend learning some track sense first with one of the better track day operators like the Gold Track Driving Club, or Book-a-Track. Once you’re comfortable that you enjoy the sensations, and that your car is capable of providing fun (at this level, it’s more about fun than winning anyway) you should start approaching some clubs to find out what events are running in your area. In the North West the ANWCC provides a directory and calendar of clubs organising events in various disciplines.
Other forms of motorsport that are cheap to start with include autotesting, production car trials and hillclimbing. Of course, if you want to compete at a high level costs will quickly mount up – just like any other sport.
Autotesting is all about maneouvering as quickly as possible around a set of traffic cones. You’re going to need a good handbrake and a good memory in order to take part.
Production car trials are slow-speed off-roading, around a set course marked with gates, in a production car. A lot of basic cars are suitable for this sport. I’ve long suspected that the Ford Ka would be brilliant for the job. It’s cheap, rides high, and has a nice wheel-at-each-corner layout.
In the video clips section of this site you’ll find videos of sprints and autotests.
I’ve been involved in motorsport since the end of 2002 after my inaugural sprint at New Brighton. Myself and my friend Gordon Holmes (a champion Autotester) set off in a pair of Golf GTIs with the aim of finishing approximately mid-field in our very standard, very ordinary cars.
It would have gone a lot better for me if I hadn’t clipped a kerb, dislodging the battery, which then bounced into the radiator and subsequently caused the car to overheat. A quick decision was made, and Gordon allowed me to borrow his car for the remaining runs. And that was the start. A year later I had an Elise, and then I accidentally took a corner off (thankfully with no chassis damage!) at the same track! Needless to say, New Brighton always makes me nervous these days – I’ve not suffered damage at any other circuit in the country. Yet!
We achieved what we set out to do, comparing well to experienced drivers in faster machinery. Gordon stuck to his Autotesting, while I set plans to compete in the regional sprint championships. I quickly established myself by becoming Novice Champion for 2003 in the ANWCC (North West) sprint championship. I’ve since gone on to take and hold the class record at Aintree, second overall in the Liverpool & Chester Championship. Although 2004 and 2005 were low-key due to other commitments, my aim is to attack the 2006 season with a little more determination and commitment. In the longer term I hope to take up circuit racing – at least for one season, and at a reasonably high level. If I don’t, I’ll never know for sure whether I had the potential to live up to my boyhood dreams.
I compete through the Liverpool Motor Club – a jolly nice bunch who organise the excellent Aintree sprints as well as other events in the North West.
When you compete in motorsport one of the peculiar things is the change in your perception of what’s possible. You do an amazing run and you just think to yourself “there’s no way I could go any quicker there.” And then next time out, you go that bit quicker again. And you wonder where on earth the extra time comes from. I have some theories – but more on that further down the article.
If you’ve followed previous posts you’ll know that having the car in a fit state for this event was a problem. The toelink had failed and gave the car handling that could most charitibly be described as ‘novel’. With the field at Aintree being full of quality drivers such as Bobby Friars and Gary Thomas there was no way to compete without a well setup car. At 4:30pm the day before, I collected the car from Christopher Neil in Northwich – Paul there had done a sterling job in getting the Eliseparts kit fitted in time for me. You have to give credit to any franchise dealership willing to fit a third party item to a car. Unfortunately, apart from a quick run on local roads there was no way to be sure that the kit was going to work properly or the geometry hadn’t been messed up.
After first practice at Aintree it was quite obvious that everything was just fine. The car still handled beautifully and I was able to post a first time of 52.40 – only a third of a second slower than the record which stood until this year. I felt good, though I noticed Gary Thomas had gone fractionally faster. We’d set out our markers and it was obvious where the battle was going to be.
For second practice it rained. I was able to go much quicker than Gary, but quite possibly that’s just because I’m much more stupid. If it continued to rain I might have a straightforward win, but frankly I wasn’t interest in just winning – I wanted my old class record back. It stood at 52.07, before Gary took it with a 51.84.
First competitive run… and… 51.44! I cheered the car as I passed the finish line – it was .63s faster than my best ever and a long way inside Gary’s best. I felt like I had the record! Which is a shame because when I came I was told Gary’s time… 51.07! How on earth….? I was wondering where this extra time was going to come from. I’d beaten my own target of breaking 51.5s but finding another half a second was going to be some challenge.
Second run. I’ll mention now that Gary went a little slower. But me… I had to nail it. The first corner was slightly wild, but still quick. The rest were great, everything coming together. As you come towards the finish line at aintree you can see the clock ticking up for what seems an age. 49… 50… and as I crossed the line it flicked over to 51… point 14. Damn!
Third and last competitive run. I had to really be perfect this time. And I was – the start was great, the first corner utterly perfect, the second just right… and then I decided to go asleep for a second. Really – I was so angry with myself. As I approached Bechers I braked just a tad too early. It’s not a huge problem, but perhaps worth 1/10th of a second. But what really messed me up was that as I turned in I realised I’d not shifted down for the corner. Now, in a race, if you’re followed by someone slower they still won’t pass you if you make a mistake like this. And if you’re chasing someone slower… well, you’ll make up the lost time on the next lap. But in a sprint at a simple (ish) and fast circuit like Aintree you have no chance of recovery. So what did I do? Well of course I made things even worse by changing down to third, mid-corner…. corrected the resultant slide, and headed for the finish line.
Stupid stupid stupid. Now, let’s go back to my first paragraph – when I set the 51.44 time it felt rapid. Really good and it was hard to see how I could go faster. And now, in spite of rampaging stupidity and careless driving I’d managed a 51.40. Huh?!
But it was game over. Gary drove a stonker on the next lap and is now the first to take a road-going production car around the sprint circuit in less than 51s, with a 50.97s time. Damn – he was the first to crack 52s as well! We’d pushed each other so hard that we’d smashed up all the old records. Gary has a distinct power advantage over me, but it’s possible for me to drive better still. I believe I’ve managed to develop the car to a point where its handling is pretty much perfectly balanced and benign. I could add more power – the underbonnet engineering is done now to handle over 200bhp and I guess that would bring me in line with Bobby and Gary’s cars.
Theories on speed
At some point I’ll write up an article on what I think it takes to get quick on the race circuit. But for the time being I’ll expound one little theory I’ve been building up.
I reckon there are three phases that you go through in becoming a decent driver, maybe more. I can only really speak from my own experiences.
But it’s kinda hard to explain. You get through these three step changes – from first fumblings in a kart you realise that winning isn’t always feasible – so you learn to maximise what you have. Then you discover that a ‘moment’ won’t necessarily turn nasty if you keep cool. So then you go a bit quicker again because you’re not scared of the car. Then suddenly something else happens – a smoothness develops, along with courage over recovering the car, and so on. And suddenly you’re getting there. I guess there’s more still to come, but I’ve no idea where it comes from. If it happens to me… I’ll let you know!
A bit of a long time since the last update, but here we go…..
At the end of May I did the MGOC Anglesey weekend sprint and, on the day before I did a trackday at the same place. All seemed great at the start of the trackday – the Elise going beautifully and showing itself well even amongst sticky tyred race cars. I was confident about the sprint.
But then, about half way through the day, the handling seemed to go somewhat awry. I put it down to the tyres going off, but the handling never seemed to return to where it should have been. Oh well – I continued on. The next two days I competed in the sprint but as there was only one Elise (me!) I accepted a class amalgamation into the mod-prods. All slick shod race cars and there’s me with standard road tyres. But I do like a challenge :o) Day one I did ok and came second, and day two I won it by a modest margin. Happy enough I went home, parked the car up, and didn’t think about it. My times hadn’t been amazing, but I didn’t worry.
Two weeks pass and the car is unused. I have enough to deal with on my house refurbishment without stressing about the car. I hopped in and drove off to Anglesey for another sprint – this time with Chester Motor Club and just for the Sunday. I was a little late and going at an, erm, modest pace along the A55 when I hit a bump and…. weave. Weave?! That was a new feeling. I wasn’t sure if it was me being tired or the car but it certainly did feel a little out of sorts.
Once I arrived I started checking over the car and then found the source of all my problems – the rear nearside toelink was rattling around like it was about to drop off! Not good for handling, and potentially dangerous too! I managed to tighten it a little, and others were a great help offering parts and assistance. In the end it was tight enough to nervously compete for a single run before I decided to cut my losses and head for home. As the Elises were once more under-represented I ran alone this time and got my win and, more importantly my championship points – though if you run alone you can only get the equivalent of second place.
This coming weekend I’ll be at Aintree and there’s a great field, including four Elises. That’s more like it! It should be a fun event, so long as my toelink can be sorted by then. I’ve ordered the Eliseparts kit as Lotus are all out of replacements. It means spending £280 instead of £30, but this is the problem with competition cars. Sometimes you need to spend in order to keep alive in the championships and compete effectively. The upside is that the new kit is substantially stronger than the old and should put up with years of track abuse.
Hi there – well, where do I start?
Let’s just say this isn’t intended to be a daily blog or journal of my life. I really really don’t think that what I do is quite that interesting. If I start posting up anything that says “Not done much today, had a drink with Roger and quite liked a girl we met but not sure if she’ll meet me again…” then please, shoot me.
Instead I’m going to add stuff on topics that might be of interest. Current things will be:
Motorsport – events I’ve competed in, work I’ve carried out, and what I’m doing. This is as much to share information with other people who are interested in the sport.
Work notes – anything I do in my work (currently a ‘resting’ PeopleSoft consultant) may be noted if I think it’s of interest either to myself in the future or to other PeopleSoft types. Other projects I’m working on may also be documented here. Not because it’s the best way, but it is the easiest way!
Travel journals – the main reason I’ve set this up. Now I can easily post up news and information about my travels from web cafés around the world. And no need to arrange paper stuff – something I’m terrible at.
Thank you for looking!