Competition: Win passenger laps around Rockingham in a Touring Car

[snyperal]

Gutted I missed out on entering! Have an amazing time and as above, take plenty of pictures!

 

[Tygernoot]

Just a quick first pic

Thanks so much for the day Mark! Despite freezing temperatures, oil leaks, misfires and a reprimand by the track marshal, they managed to get the car out on track for some laps in the afternoon!

Guess you jinxed it by saying you wouldn't go off though... That poor splitter is still laying somewhere in the gravel in T3

 

[Mark Reynolds]

It was a tough day, all those problems in the start of the day, after lunch at least we finally got out and smoked some rubber and had some thrills and laughs tho.......hard hard day.

I will post up a proper post later on, just returned from another big day at Race Retro in Coventry supporting our race club stand, busy weekend, shattered after yesterdays bother as well !!

 

[Mark Reynolds]

As if a misfire all morning had not been enough to depress the mood we finally got out and did around 4 or 5 laps with Ed in the car and came back in with an oil leak from the Turbo Oil Feed return pipe, another hour fixing that after scrounging some pipe from somebody and we finally got out and managed to rip up some laps and have some thrills and smiles to finish the day.

Towards the end of the day and with Ed in the car we had been chasing down a Ginetta for several laps and finally made a clean pass in T2 the hairpin only to then brake a meter or so too late for T3, run wide as the rear stepped out and I gathered it up, get onto the grass and have a bounce along the edge ripping the small front lip from the bottom of the front bumper, no big harm done, and no great cost to replace, first time my car has been anywhere near the grass, and in fact I think it is one of only about 2 times I have left circuit limits in many years of trackdays and other track activities, oh well.....

Sadly our other guest Dan had to leave before we even got the car out, was a really bitter pill to suck seeing these guys come up for the ride and then stand around waiting all morning while we dealt with these issues, what is more bizarre, and something I cannot get my head around, how do spark plugs, and an engine which were perfectly running at the last race suddenly end up completely bad, just from sitting in the garage ? madness, still cannot get my head around that one, the spark plugs had twice the gap they should have had !!.

Utterly gutted for Dan, hopefully I can find a way to make it up to him another time in the future !!!

All of the above said, the new differential we had fitted worked brilliantly, and the small adjustment we had time to make on the suspension made the car much more balanced in combination with the new differential, so not all was lost, a blessing in disguise maybe, if this had all happened on race weekend I may have missed qualifying or something, or even a race maybe......

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Few pics my friends took....

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Some vid from one of the other lads, I think Ed was in the car with me on this first run when the turbo oil return pipe let go.

 

[Dan ONeill]

Love the corner exits

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Taking some frustration out on the rubber.....!!!! and trying out the new differential naturally

Next time Dan, next time my friend.......there will be another time .

 

[Tygernoot]

Finally time for a bit more proper reply

Thanks again so much for the invite. No worries about having to stand around and wait, it's not like you owed us anything. It was extremely nice to give us the opportunity to join you! I'm happy the problems were resolved after lunch - and not just for me . Nothing more frustrating than being stuck in the garage for the entire day after getting the car and everything to the track.

While the car was being repaired (or at least attempts being made at it ), it allowed a good look around at the track. It was the first time for me at a track day, and it was fun seeing the atmosphere around there. It was very amicable, with everyone checking out each others cars, helping each other out with repairs, laughing at the extremely slow driver in the fastest car (Ferrari F430) getting lapped by everyone except a tiny Clio , etc. There's no competition or hostility, just everyone sharing a hobby and enjoying what they love doing.

The laps we managed to do were great. It's always a great feeling being out on track. You also seem to handle the car very well, despite its twisty/drifty nature. (I'll just avoid mentioning that mishap in T3 again .) It's also interesting to see the way the car behaved. I was pretty amazed by the amount of grip it produced despite being on a cold track with grooved tyres. I expected the low speed corner exits to produce some slides, but the grip through the quicker corners was pretty good. Curious to see how it'll go on slicks

I have a few pictures that I'll post later, but they were taken with my iPhone, so it's nothing compared to the shots above

Thanks again, and I'll definitely try to come to support you at Thruxton later this year!

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Just don't mention the splitter

These semi slicks are very good indeed, best I have driven on so far, the reason we didn't test the slicks was as you know because I couldn't quite afford the rims for them yet, plus some other prep needs to take place to make sure they do not destroy the car , namely a strut brace up front, fit the baffled sump, and maybe fit stronger springs and damper, the list of improvements and evolution this car has been through since I got it, and jobs remaining is quite exhaustive when I look back in reflection.