Other Uses for Telemetry – Air/Fuel Ratio Analysis

Posted on August 4, 2008 by admin

One of the things I log on my data logger is air\fuel Ratio.  I use an Innovate Motorsports LC-1 wideband lambda sensor and log it to my DL-1 logger at a rate of 100hz.  The Lambda sensor outputs a range of 0-5v based on an air/fuel ratio of 10 -20 AFR.   Therefore in my Dl1 I can derive  the actual AFR ratio using the equation AFR=(v*2)+10.


The sensor measures the unburnt oxygen in the exhaust and is a crucial tool for getting the best out of an engine. This is the same similar kit that many rolling roads wi
ll use.

The sensor monitors the unburnt oxygen in the exhaust, in perfect conditions a ratio of 14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel will result in all the available oxygen being burnt with the fuel and therefore maximum efficiency and fuel economy.   This is the Stoichiometric ratio or “Stoich”.  But the world is seldom a perfect place and due to factors like flame front travel time across the cylinder at ignition it may be that all the oxygen atoms don’t get a chance to to meet a compatible hydrocarbon molecule and do their inciendary tango before the exhaust valve opens.   Therefore in performance cars or under heavy acceleration you want more fuel in the cylinders than the stoich ratio would suggest, to ensur
e that all possible energy is derived from burning a
ll the available oxygen. Because I can add more fuel but I can’t add more oxygen without either Nitrous
 injection or forced induction I use the AFR numbers to control my engines fueling via a Power Commander USB piggy back controller.  Max power for petrol is engine dependent and varies with the  engine’s combustion characteristics but is usually in the range 12.5-13.7 AFR

Since discovering I was running lean earlier in the year I been monitoring the AFR numbers in the logger and I was surprised to learn after Anglesey that I was running very rich  AFR approx 10 which is certainly costing me power.  The Power Commander allows me to tailor my fueling by adding or removing fuel in each of the throttle positions 2,5,10,20,40,60,80 and 100% at 250rpm intervals across the rev range. (some 376 cells)

So I’ve been doing some fairly extensive AFR analysis, which basically involves the following steps
  1. Export the data from the DL1 as a CSV file, typically this is 120000 rows of data
  2. Load into excel
  3. Write a few formulae to exclude any values that are not under acceleration, or not in the middle 50% of the target range for each rpm or throttle cell.
  4. Pivot table the results to produce an average of the selected valid entries
  5. Decide on my target AFR  (13.4) and produce a variance table.
  6. Using a multiplier (based on experience from earlier changes) to produce a table of changes that I can apply to my PowerCommander Fuel Map to hit the the target AFR across the range.
A graph of the the results is above.  
While this is not the best way to interpret the figures (staring at the table of numbers colour coded by variance from the target does that) you can see that there is lean peak at around 4000RPm at 20% throttle, and that there are also a couple of lean peaks at around 8000 RPM at 80% throttle. I need to add fuel here. I’m also pretty rich at the midrange where I need to reduce fuelling. I’m not really bothered about low throttle openings as in a racer you very rarely in this position.  You can also see that even at the 100% throttle position (closest to the view) the AFR value gradually leans off as you go from 4000rpm to 12000 rpm.  This I am looking to correct.

Mainly I’m interested in the 100% throttle range, but I am also progressively cleaning up the rest of the map to get a good clean throttle response.  Once I’m hitting my target AFR across the range I can then use the BHP and torque calculators in the DL1 analysis software to identify if my target of 13.4 is correct.  Is 13.6 better or would 13 give more power?  With the map dialled in across the board it’s a 10 second job to add a small percentage of fuel everywhere.  Anyway it is interesting stuff and I’ve learned a few things in he process

Posted in dl1, lambda, stoichiometric ratio | Leave a comment

A Class B Win at Cadwell Park & First Ever Laurels

Posted on July 8, 2008 by admin



As the championship is now getting pretty tight I thought I’d go testing at Cadwell Park before the next RGB double header

 In Friday testing  I went 3.5 second faster than my previous 1:46.8 Personal Best, 
 this is some step up from my last visit here i
n May.  I can’t really say I worked up to this as  I did it in in just one session as I parked the car  firmly in th
e barriers at the hairpin breaking the front body work and floor.  

The data logger later confirmed that I had firmly planted both the brake and 25% throttle at the same time at the Hairpin,  in what is fast becoming known as the “Hoverd Erratum” after my
 mate Tim who did this at Anglesey earlier in the season. Oops
Andy my local Marshall who lives in the same town as Me came over to commiserate and promptly helped me dismantle the thing… then he  took me into Louth to buy some plywood and also  spent the rest of the afternoon helping me do woodwork and put 
the thing back together. So against the odds we were ready for race day.  Top Chap there’ll alway be a beer in my fridge for him.

Practice was surprisingly dry… but it was heavy showers all day and so I did both race on my wets. as wets in the dry aren’t such a bad compromise as drys in the wet.

On the first race start .. I stalled…. the most fortuitous stall of my life…. no one hit me fr
om behind…
But it also meant I wasn’t terribly close to the first corner accident that wiped a wheel off both Henry Carr’s Fury and Rich Wise’ Striker… Unfortunately it also gave Pau
l Rodgers (class B leader)  a ding on the rear corner which had him retire. I felt sorry for the guys as their cars were very badly damaged poor chaps.

So we re gridded after the inevitable red flags and I noticed Stephen Dean in my
 mirrors… a class B rival, he exited up the pi
tlane… It seems my stall had caused a concertina effect and he had run into the back of Judy 3 or four rows back and has sufficiently damaged his fury so the Marshalls  wouldn’t let him restart.

Neil Constable Berry (also a class b rival) also headed up the Pit lane to sort out a broken headlight that he’d acquired in the original 1st corner  accident.  Neil would join the race from the pit lane and eventually take second in class B behind me.

This time I didn’t stall and there then followed about 6  laps of terrific 10/10th dogfighting between me Stuart Tanton and Rob Grant… who if you remember was my nemesis at Brands.

  Eventually I got them  b
oth  by out braking them at Park and arrived at Clearways to see Tony Guant’s silver Wol
f on the side lines… that left me in class B 1st place… so I became a little more circumspect 9.8 10th to protect the points   haul and laurels and spent the remainder of the 18 minutes defending hard…. and searching for the checkered flag.  But they neither got back the places and I didn’t lose P1 in class B. A Genesis can be very wide :-)

Overall finish was 8th, and I wasn’t lapped by  the leader Derek Jones in a 20 minutes race.  Best time was 1:43.2  another 10th off my PB, and my highest ever finish …8th overall

Guy (a buddy in the stands) said it was a terrific battle to watch and I enjoyed it immensely. And Kate and the Kids got to see some success at the same circuit where I caught fire..  The kids were pleased as punch.

Neil just circulated but got the 2nd place point
s from the pit lane as the attrition meant he was the only other class B…Those 8 points will be crucial at the end of the year and I think he has probably secured the championship 3rd now.  Still he saved me from being the one and only class B. 

In the second race Neil and I were again side by side on the grid… except they gridded him up incorrectly 1 row ahead… this time I got a much better start and w
as flying up towards the first corner when he jumped into a half gap directly in front of me.  I had to brake to avoid a heavy collision and we still touched…  the loss of momentum meant I dropped a couple of placed and got caught behind Mike Allen from class A about 3 cars back from Neil.  I out braked him into Park but he forced himself onto the line for Chris and into the Gooseneck. In retrospect we were getting much to racy on cold tyres . Any way we  arrived at Mansfield with me crawling all over him.  He half span and I hit the brakes just a shade too hard and span down to the apex… the rest of the field streamed by to leave me dead last.   ARSE

So I spent the next 20 minutes clawing back places.  Driving the wheels off the car and notching off Mike, Tony Carpenter, Stephen Griffin and Judy (all on dry tires in what turned out to be a dry race)… . Memorably I out dragged both Stephen and Judy in 1 pass up the main straight and threw it into coppice in 6th after just a short lift.   None the less I still finished 4th in class B and 14th on the road with a fastest lap of 1:42.41 so another second of the PB. and a fastest theoretical lap of 1:40.7 I thin
k.  Its amazing what gritted teeth will do…. and in this session i felt i really got to grips with the faster section of the circuit.  Coppice… short lift and hard on it,  all the way from there to the Mountain…. Only the Hall Bends  and Hairpin still intimidating me a little.

So great to come home with some Laurels….. but you think I’d learn about cold tires and simply holding station on lap 1…. Mike pushed me into the mistake  of pushing to hard, to early and I won’t forget that lesson in a hurry.

Because of the depleted field in race 1 the win is only worth 9 points and second is worth 8.  So I took one point out of Neil’s championship  lead in race 1, and he got second in race 2 so took two points  back in race 2.  his lead is now 4 (allowing for drops) with 
only 5 round to go. If Stephen had started race 1 my win would have been worth 12 and second 9 and the tables would have been turned.

but hey ho… after hitting the barriers testing, rebuilding it, stalling on the grid, 1 fantastic race long dogfight, 1 spin and  1 huge “on it” race eating up back markers you could say I had a fab weekend. :-)
Oh and I’ve got a first in class trophy, a winners cap and some Laurels to hang in the garage… fantastic
Fab…. glorious season this Innit?
Never has it been truer “To finish first…. first you must finish”, but I did feel very sorry for Paul Rodgers, Richard and Henry.  At least for Paul normal service was resumed in race two and he took home the Laurals for Class B
This season of Personal Bests, First Podiums and First Wins just gets better and better :-)

Posted in Laurels | Leave a comment

Back To Brands Hatch for More Fun and another Trophy!

Posted on June 22, 2008 by admin




I arrived on Saturday Evening, a bit later than hoped due to being diverted through Yaxley as a new footbridge was being hoisted across my route to the A1. On route also discovered, that the Winnebago is only about 3 inches narrower that the Dartford tolls… which makes life interesting.


Anyway, after the storming performance at Anglesey I was actually a little concerned about Brands. I’ve proberbly done more track miles here than anywhere else and I was rather worried that I would drive it in my old comfortable (and slow) Style, plus I hadn’t tested so was bound to be a bit rusty

The Championship background was that may great mate Neil Constable-Berry and Stephen Dean are 18 and 14 points ahead of me in the championship respectively.  But they’ve scored points in every round so far and I’ve already had my two dropped results due to a failed driveshaft and a failed clutch.  So assuming consistency from here on in and allowing for their drops we’re really only three or four points apart for Class B championship 3rd.  I’ve beaten them both in races this year so I was on a mission to demote them again at Brands and get right on terms with them for Championship class B 3rd
Practice
We were first out in the  morning, but mercifully the track was dry and pretty grippy.  It took me a while but I worked up the track in a nice progression.  57.8, 57.5 ,56.8 ,56.5 ,56. .55.5, 55.3, 54.6,  and so on, actually on what I think would have been my fasted lap I moved over to let a flying Martin Brooks and Derek Jones through…. still can’t shake that back marker mentality! 
Most of the while the in car lap time kept me posted on my progress so I was pretty happy.
Anyway when arrived back at the Winnebago a Grinning Duncan shoved the stopwatch with 54.6 unde rmy nose.  Cool! previous best was 55.8 so that’s another 1.2 seconds off my Brands PB.

The results had me 18th on the grid and 4th in class B 1 place above Neil Constable Berry who is currently flying high in the class B table… but who is very much being hunted down by me.  Amazingly in the next two rows towards the front were Stephen Dean,Tim Hoverd, Colin Chapman and Josh Smith (2nd in classB) that’s pretty exulted company who breathing rarified air as far as I’m concerned! 

RGB is so tight that between 5th and 15th place every body is in the 53s.  ten places separated by less than a second!  She’s still a bit tail happy under power so I want to try and get a hold of this power oversteer before Cadwell

Race 1
We grid up and its a new experience for me to be staring at the back of one Mr T Hoverd through the gap between Colin Chapman and Stephen in the row ahead.   They hold us on the lights for at least three seconds, and due to Hi specs ineffective hand bake, I have to do a heel toe start to stop the car from rolling. This is basically crap. However on the Run to paddock I do see a gap between Tim and Colin that I’m going to go for … but Stephen Jumps in there quite decisively and in the first corner confusion I lose a place to Rob Grant….. Arse! Not being keen to repeat the crap performance of falling off in the Allcomers at Anglesey I’m being a bit too circumspect on the cold tyres, and Neil gets me around the outside at Druids next time round…. double Arse I left that door open!

Initiate Steely determination mode! Neil and I then spend the next few laps glued together… never more than two or three cars lengths apart  , and mostly a lot  less than one. Him defending like crazy and me crawling all over him, trying ultra hard to make a clean pass without contact… he is after all a good mate.  A couple of times I’m along side out of paddock but my tighter line hurts my speed and he gently closes the door. Similarly I’m going for the Apex at the Mcleans`Surtees complex and if I was more assertive I’d have made the pass. His motor is pretty strong down the straights and he can usually pull away a tad. It goes on like this hammer and tongs for 10 laps.  Kate and the Kids in the crowd said it was great to watch… real entertainment…. It was pretty fun in the car too! Eventually my better speed through the complex puts me right on his tail on the entry to Clearways, He runs slightly deep and is about half a car off the apex.  I’m alongside but cant make the pass stick as his strong motor starts to tell on the straight, but I’m much closer than before. I modulate my brake pressure at Paddock to be right behind him again and he runs wide and gets a little out of shape, I grab the apex and we’re side by side at the apex and on the run up to Druids,  this time I brake slightly later, hold the inside line and gently squeeze him on the exit so he puts two wheels on the kerb/grass.  The pass is made and I then hold the defensive line to Graham Hill Bend H to complete the job. However Neil is still there fighting back… now it is my turn to have my mirrors filled with yellow Fury. He’s not giving up.  

Looking at the video I’m plainly not fully on it… very defensive, and dont open up any sort of gap.A couple of laps later I run slightly deep into Druids, Neil closes up and we just tag on the right rear corner as I pull the car back to the apex.   It’s like that lap after lap…fighting hard but clean for every corner, every straight, every apex!All the defending has cost us time and we get lapped by Derek just before the finish… but I managed to hold Neil off all the way to the chequered flag and we finish 3 10th apart. Now I know what it feels like to be in a race long dogfight!  and even after all that defending  I’ve taken another 2 tenths of my time. 54.4!  Whooo Hoo!
When the results come out poor Josh wasn’t seen by the time keepers and has been given a DNF when he actually finishes second in Class B.  For a moment there was some excitement that I’d achieved another class B podium… but it was rightly awarded to Stephen Dean when Josh was quite correctly reinstated.   Neil and I congratulate each other in the paddock on some great fun and great driving.  Where we tagged the rear body work is broken, and Neil has some red paint on his yellow fury.   But the Kevlar in the carbon weave on my car has held it together  and means that it is basically just concave.  Duncan panel beats it back into shape!

Fab… now for Race 2.
Race 2 is the replacement race for the season opener that should have been held at Snetterton but was abandoned due to rain.  This is a bonus as if we had raced then I would have been nowhere near as fast as I am now and would have finished a long way further down the field.

This time I’m another place further up the grid and once again directly behind Stephen Dean with Neil  two slots and 1 row further back… This time Stephen is my target as I need to demote them both If I’m to keep moving forward in the class B championship. Once again we’re held on the lights and the whole grid is creeping and peoples engines revs are being bounced up and down as they touch the brakes to stop the roll. 
Again a carp start, and Rob and Andy Grant get between me and my quarry along with Stuart Tanton……grrrrrrr Rob in a brave move around the outside of Druids….. where incidentally Paul Rodgers has just outbraked himself into the Kitty litter promoting me into class b 3rd. As usual I’m way faster than the guys in front through the complex and I climb all over Andy in Clearways and out drag him under the Gantry to move one directly behind Stephen.  Josh Who is now in Class B first is only three cars ahead and less than a second away (he’s struggling with grip after a spring change) so If only I could despatch both Stephen (whom I passed at Anglesey and Rob Grant) and I’ll be duelling with Josh…. Wow!. 

I dispatch Stuart Tanton with a similar drafting move a lap later, and now I’m right behind Stephen Dean. Sadly its not to be, After I miss an opportunity to pass him as he runs wide into Clearways ,Stephen is not going to give up class B second easily and puts Rob Grant between us at Paddock.   I then spend the remainder of the race getting very frustrated behind Rob.  he’s defending well and I’m not being consistent enough to pressure him into a mistake. Plus Stuart Tanton is keeping me honest! Watching the video I eventually decide to take the points, as I can’t afford any more DNFs but I do manage another 54.4 on lap 13.  Neil was some distance behind and said later that he never really got up to speed and finished a lapdown.

So there we are another very succesful and improving weekend.
New PBs every time I went out, (-1.2 secs) and a best theorectical lap of 53.3 :-) I demoted NCB a place in both races which helped in the championship but Stephen D gained a point on me in both races which didn’t.

And I got another 3rd place trophy…. this one is rather an oddity.  It is inscribed with Snetterton rather than Brands (as this was a replacement race). But Snetterton is a circuit where I’ve never actually set a wheel on it in anger. 

This glorious season of improvement continues :-)    Another great weekend!

Next off too Cadwell where I beat Stephen last time out… but Neil was some 4 seconds ahead of me….. needless to say I’m going to test.
Now I’m 13th in the Championship
Posted in Winter 2008 Rebuild | Leave a comment

A "Moment" at Anglesey

Posted on June 10, 2008 by admin

It seems that blogger now supports video, so here’s a “moment” at Anglesey. The entry on the start/finish straight was problematical all weekend and here is a little clip of when I got it quite a bit wrong.  I distinctly remember thinking “Don’t Lift” as I was facing the pit wall as a big weight transfer in this slide would have had me spinning along the wall wiping both ends off the car.
One for the end of season blooper reel I think.
Posted in Winter 2008 Rebuild | Leave a comment

What fun in the Sun Anglesey

Posted on June 10, 2008 by admin


Thursday/Friday Testing

Duncan and I arrived at around 2am after a pretty long drive across the centre of the country. we simply crashed out until the  following day.  Arriving at night meant we missed all the scenery and the circuit is located in an area of outstanding beauty  I guess we saw it at its best over the weekend. And I’m so pleased that the club got great weather for it’s inaugural meeting at the massively remodelled track.  I expect it’ll be a firm favorite on the calendar for years.  It certainly will be with me. :-)

Fridays test got under way after Duncan and I had walked the circuit early in the morning.  the best way to describe it is like Cadwell, but with better run off and  better scenery and wider tarmac.  Like Cadwell it also features a split between a blindingly fast section and a slower technical section.  You need to be committed in both.. but in quite different ways. The Tarmac is slippy in places and the corners represent many different challenges.

So as I was bedding new F+R brakes with new compounds, and learning the track we didn’t time the first session.  The compounds required a tweak to the break balance and I spent most of the session sorting this stuff out.  It didn’t stop me having one rear lock up induced spin where I ended up facing the wrong way down the hill at Rocket 1 with two cars bearing down on me.  So I sat still and let them do what they needed to do to miss me and then got back on it.  Duncan wasn’t timing me but guessed at mid 1:25s ish.   The car was still very predictable in handling and I was provoking lift off over steer to get me around some of the corners particularly Rocket 2 which I just couldn’t find the right line for.  Rocket 2 and the entry to Peel proved to be my “Problem” corners all weekend.

In the next session with confidence growing and the car moving around nicely under me I start driving my times down.  the car is a bit tail happy but controllable and my times come down to 1:23,1:22,1:21,1:21, 1:20 .  As my familiarity with the circuit grows I’m simply getting faster and faster.  The nose is very pointy and I’m getting good grip everywhere except the entry to Peel and the S/F straight which everyone universally agrees are very slippy.  I abandon my confidence dab on the brakes for Church and start taking it with smaller and smaller lifts and experimenting with flat in 4th and snatch 5th on exit or short shifting to see which works best,  Apex speed is of the order of 104mph and I actually think it could be taken flat if only I had the balls.

Its an absolutely lovely circuit to drive and I’m having such fun… big grin-tastic fun all the time.  In this session my benchmarks competitors  do a 1:18.2 (Tim) and  a 1:19.2 (Neil Constable – Berry).  The front running boys are in the high 15s low 16s Championship leader Derek Jones is likely to post in 1:13-1:14s

We let some of the air out of the tyres to and I go out again fully resolved to get into the teens this time.
13 laps later I come in.  I’m confident I’ve got in the teens, and learned the circuit…. the tyres are going away a bit and I decide not to risk the car any more until race day, plus after the previous late night the mind fade is kicking in too.  I’ve achieved my objectives, namely learned the circuit, and gone waaaay faster.  My speed is evidenced by the people I’m barging past (formerly my peers at the back of the pack) and the few people who are coming past me… normally the top 10 drivers…. ooh this could be good.

Well, Duncan can hardly contain himself……”Your slowest lap was a 1:22″ and your fastest was 1:18.4  WHooooooo Hoooo! Damn that feels good :-) .

Top Top fun…. best day in a race car for a very long time well since Brands in fact :-) .  And I had one or two moments flat out through Church where I was indeed “whooo Hoooing” in my helmet through the sheer exhilaration of it.


Saturday Dawns bright sunny and Dry and I’m confident I can go even better.  We heed Derek’s advice and drop the tyre pressures down to  17psi to combat the heat  and head out to practice.  I’m pushing harder and harder and have a big sideways moment on the entry to the start finish straight, which I collect really well while keeping my foot hard in and then pass Duncan on the Gantry giving me the quit signal.  it takes me until the hairpin to decide if he is telling me to stop sliding it or if I should come in.  I opt for come in and it appears the front splitter is hanging down and wearing on the track after an ill judged exit that had me  straddling the curbs of The Banking earlier in the session. So we have to abandon the rest of practice
As a result my best time was a 19.9 and puts me 26th of 30 on the grid…. not the result I was hoping for and a bit out of position relative to my testing times Derek Jones Posts 1:13.4 having never seen the track before practice!  the man is simply a genius.

Still we fix the splitter and then discuss the handling… what was fun yesterday is now costing me time so I want to dial out some of the oversteer without sacrificing the good front end grip. We decide on a slightly stiffer front ARB and 1 click off the rear dampers.

And we’re now ready for the best race I’ve driven so far. :-)

2 slots up the grid is Stephen Dean the next class B car and and 9 slots further up is Neil CB also class B and 3rd in class B.  These guys are my targets.

The race kicks off and I’m a bit circumspect for the first couple of laps until the heat comes up in the tyres.  I’ve lost no plac

es   but Neil Palmer  and Andy Grant  are between me and Stephen Dean.  I pass Neil Palmer with a good drive out of the Banking on the run up to Church and get Andy 1 lap later after he fails to hit the Apex at Church (where he brakes) and I nail the apex after a short lift , carry more speed and take him on the inside on the exit. The car is much less tail happy and totally predictable so the suspension mods worked like a charm.

Stephen and I are now fighting  for 4th in class B for a few laps.  Well, I reel him in over two or three laps.  My extra speed through Church and better braking at Rocket are really starting to tell and eventually I get a stronger run out of Church, Keep close along the back straight, out brake him on the out side, go round the outside of him  at  Rocket 1, steal the Apex for Rocket2  forcing him to run wide and complete the pass on the exit curbs by squeezing him gently.   That’s me in class B 4th and we’re about 10 minutes In.

The Next guy up the road is Matt Green, but he’s some way off and I’m having a tough time keeping neat and tidy without the focus of another car plus I’m bloody tired after yesterday, the heat and the late drive over.  I’m a bit mind faded for a few laps and lose some of my smoothness.  I’m in the wrong gear here and there… nothing major just not “on it” like I was. I lose a few seconds to the next group.

On lap 12 Derek comes by in the lead, and I regain my focus…. breath through the tiredness and get back in the game.  I breeze past a few back markers   and then a yellow Fury comes into sight.  That’s Neil CB!  The gap is about 10 seconds and I now spend the next few laps pulling him all the time wondering if I’ve got enough race time left to get on terms with him.  The lap times show I’m taking nearly two seconds a lop out of him and within 5 laps I’m right up behind him.  My extra speed through Church and under braking at Rocket making all the difference again and Neil did later tell me that he had a long brake pedal so that helped too.  On the last lap but two I’m climbing all over him, hes totally defensive  and runs wide at the exit from the Corkscrew and I’ve got the line for the pass into the SF straight.  As I’m completing the pass I get blue flagged and lapped by Tim Gray and John Cutmore.  But having fought so hard for the place I’m not about to give it up by jumping out of the way so John gets 1 cars width at the Apex to turn 1 by and that’s it.

1 more lap and then the last lap board comes out.  During these final two laps I’m broadly keeping pace with JC and he came over later to congratulate me on my performance which I thought was very nice of him.  Then its  the last lap. I’m being a little circumspect which allows Neil to take about half a second out of me.  But I concentrate on hitting the brake, turn and apex points and know that If I do that right then he can’t get past.

Then it’s the chequered flag and I’ve done it.  I’ve closed down and fought in live racing for a class podium and beat a guy who three races ago was  much much faster than me.  And he has a lighter car with the same power.  What a feeling!

Afterwards there was more to come.  I get complimented on my speed by various members of the paddock. Neil Palmer comes to tell me that he was very impressed because once past I just disappeared into the distance.  Best race lap 1:17.35 , just 6th hundreths off  Tim Hs time and best theoretical according to the DL1 1:16:35  WOW!  That prompted a “Bloody Hell Adrian” from Tim :-) and would have put me on class B pole had I done it in practice.

Icing on the cake… I won a free set of tyres in the post race drawer :-)

Sunday wasn’t so good but I don’t care. Flushed with success I span early in the Allcomers practice because I stupidly hadn’t allowed the tyres to warm up while chasing Radicals DOoh!  I still Qualified 6th on the Grid though directly behind Tim in a 1:18.5.  My plan was to try and stay with Tim in the early laps and then battle with him later

In the race I span out of 6th place  at Peel on lap 1 due to not allowing for cold tyres,  and over driving and not being used to running at that pace in a pack of front running cars. 

It was plainly a case of  Newly fast former back marker not having the race craft to run in company higher speed.  But I’ve learned that lesson now and will do better next time.  

Having spun and ending up last  last I fought my way back through the pack until I got behind Matt Jones from Kitcars. We spent the next few laps fighting tooth and nail for 6th place but I never made it past… His Zetec coming on Cam just as my Blade ran out of puff meant that my better corner speeds were nullified as I could never quite complete the pass.  He gave me an abject lesson in defensive driving and shut the door quite firmly on me a few times. Eventually I got bored, frustrated and did something stupid.. spinning again at Rocket…. with that I gave him the place and decided to keep the car for the RGB race, unfortunately with  only one lap to go a slipping clutch forced a DNF and lack of spares in the paddock forced a DNS for the last RGB race so I got to watch Tim from the hill and didn’t get to fight Neil CB for 3rd in class B again

SO I left Anglesey with a much improved reputation, it seemed every body I met commented positively on my improvement  (setting aside the overdriving thing as that is one reputation I will not reinforce)
A second class B podium although sadly no pot.
A race where Tim H didn’t lap me in 28 minutes of running, in fact I was only lapped by the top 4
A new set of race tyres
Much higher confidence in the car.  The biggest grin and worst case of Sunburn I’ve had in ages.

In fact everybody in our corner of the paddock left with something…

If I remember correctly
Colin Chapman   2nd in Class C  Richly deserved after a weekend of intensive spannering :-)
Neil 3rd in Class B (race 2)
Me 3rd in Class B (race 1)
Tim 3rd in All Comers
Paul 2 x 1st in Class B. Obviously!
Derek 2 x 1st in Class A, 2 x Out right wins and Lap Records…. again obviously :-)

Top Top weekend … roll on Brands :-)

My challenge now is to go to Brands and use my new found speed rather than drive it in the slow safe way that I’ve taught myself to do previously.  AND  get better at running at high speed in a gaggle of cars.

Posted in Winter 2008 Rebuild | Leave a comment

A little improvement… and A First Ever Trophy!

Posted on May 10, 2008 by admin


 Well its been two years since I was last at Cadwell but today I achieved a first…. I bought a car home from  Cadwell in one piece :-) breaking my succession of coolant failure, fire and 

blown engine experiences at this great little circuit

The day was baking hot  >25 deg c, so going out early for practice at 9:50 was a bonus.  I got through scrutineering fine, although this particular scrute did tell me that I couldn’t have a cockpit adjustable brake bias that I could use in the race.  He wants it locked off…. I think this is sloblocks and so does Tim but I need to check the blue book.
Anyway practice came around and even by then it was blisteringly hot.  In the last three years I’ve done precisely nine laps of Cadwell due to various mishaps, so I expected to be rusty… but not this rusty.

I spent most of practice being amazed by how narrow it was and being constantly surprised by the speed of the events and how quick the corners, shift points etc rush at you “Bejesus a corner, now another, oh and a brake point … missed that, cripes another corner” etc etc.  Pretty crap really but I did manage to get it together after a few laps and post a time of 1:48.76 on lap 6.  After that my brakes turned to blocks of wood which led to a couple of interesting moments at Park corner at the end of the long straight. But I really failed to establish any rhythm and never really managed to get proactive enough to attack the circuit.

I also put a wheel off the left hand side of the track at Charlies 1 with a resounding bang, so I cut my losses and cut the last couple of minutes off the session. As I wanted to check the car out, check the brakes, also  I could feel the heat from the engine bay and I was concerned that I may only have a finite number of changes in my bodge welded gearshift.

Result I had qualified 21st of 27 and my time was about a second inside my best qualifying time when I last came here with the Kwacker (which has about 25 more bhp).  But I drove pretty poorly in my humble opinion,  the big change downs under heavy braking at the Hairpin and Mansfield were probably the worst of the season…. Heel and toe not working at all well, holding the clutch out while I concentrate on braking, spiking the revs etc :-( .  Still I’ve moved up the grid from where I had been,  but not as far as Neil Constable-Berry (the next class B) who is now some 6 seconds ( and 4 grid slots) down the road from me with the same power. Hmm

I had however out qualified Stephen Dean who was the last of the class B field and behind me on the grid

Duncan and I set about deglazing the front pads, using a bastard file, and bleeding the brakes in the intervening gap between practice and the race.

Other notables in practice were Judy and Colin Duce (also in class B)  both losing clutches, and Neil Palmer in his new Raw Fulcrum not making practice, but qualifying at the back of the grid by virtue of racing on the circuit in the last 12 months. Oh and Derek attempted to drive the area at the bottom of the Mountain like he did with his old class C engine… Not his new class A car.  ie turn left  at end of short straight, boot it  and chuck it right up the Mountain.  The extra 60 horsepower kicked in and he shot straight on and across the exit road stopping inches from the barriers and laying down two solid line of rubber across the foot of the Mountain.  I think he somewhat surprised himself :-) .


Judy it seemed just needed new frictions, but Colin’s clutch basket has disintegrated,  so they fitted a new clutch and flushed out the engine as best they could so he could start the race.

The race came round and we gridded up in some of the hottest weather I’ve ever raced in.   Judy arrived in the collecting area just as we left for the grid and I think Fenn still had a spanner in his hand at the time!

Boy did she cut it fine.. This  was an 18 min plus one lap race.

I got a decent start (7.5K and progressive clutch) and think I gained a couple of spots at the start and ended up right on the tail of NCB…. But he pulled out about 3 10th on me on every lap and I eventually lost him  (damn).  I was still struggling with lack of circuit knowledge and lack of intestinal fortitude.  Unsurprisingly Colin Duce’s run of poor luck continued and his engine expired on lap two and left oil on the main straight but had got it off the line pretty quickly.  (in the paddock later he had a big end sticking out of the side of the block :-( … he’s not yet completed more than 3 lap in 3 races this season and blown 2 clutches, 1 throttle cable and an engine in the process :-(

I then had a few frustrating laps where I didn’t feel I got much right at all.  The brakes went away again as they bedded in but came back to me but with fairly poor feel.  To take the load off the fronts, I dialed in a couple of extra clicks of additional rear bias using my apparently illegal adjuster.  Another first for me in a race I’ve never had the time of the free head space to think about this before

I let a blue Raw Fulcrim through, thinking it was Tim Gray leading ( I actually thought “Where’s Derek then?) … but it was Neil Palmer… Damn that was for position…. A couple of the faster guys I had passed at the start also regained their places and for one of them I let him through too (thinking I was now being enveloped by the pack)  I wasn’t actually lapped until sometime later by Derek Jones   who was flying as usual (1:33s at which I can only boggle)

I really must lose this back marker attitude. :-(

So I had a few laps on my own trying to establish a rhythm… but never really getting it.  I was doing the Gooseneck, Chris and the Hall bends better…. but never really hooking up the important corners like Charlies or Barn…. Most most frustrating.

Another interesting highlight was finding a complete, apparently undamaged fury bonnet halfway down the main straight with no car or accident visible anywhere nearby! Colin Chapman had apparently removed it from Andrew Grant;s car at Barn and dragged it all the way to the start finish line, Andrew said at one stage it was double deckered on top of Colin’s own bonnet.

After 18 minutes (and not a moment too soon as I was now melting) the checkered flag came out. And I returned to the paddock most disappointed with my performance and frustrated at my lack of skill it was only due to the fact that I hadn’t seen Judy that I thought I may not be last.

 lasted until the results came out.  I had finished 18th of 23, so allowing for the retirees a nett 1 place loss on my start position (Dammit I let Neil Palmer through)…. but crucially thanks to Colin Duce’s 3rd DNF in a row I was third in class B.

SO I GOT a POT!   :-)

Slightly embarrassing to be awarded a pot by finishing 18th and at the expense of another competitors engine….. but hey I’ll not be giving it back :-)

Better still I took another 2 seconds off my quali time..doing a best lap of 1:46.7 only 1 10th outside my best ever lap with the kwacker and its extra horsepower. But I need to find at least 6 seconds (1/2 a sec a corner if I’m going to move on from here)

So the take home messages are.

1. You can’t flush a sump  and oil cooler out adequately without fully stripping the engine. Put it on the trailer…. kiss good bye to your race fee…. but save the cost of an engine
2. I’m  as fast now as I was previously with more power so hopefully this is an indication that I’m getting better. But I need to do much more
3. I need to test at Cadwell next time, in order to get better circuit knowledge… I need much more practice on this tight circuit if I’m going to get closer to Neil CB
4. Lose the back marker attitude…. and get a better rear view mirror so I can judge how people arrive at my back door and see if we are racing for position or not.
5. I seem to have taken a consistent 6-10 grid place jump at both here and Brands
6. I need to fit some brake ducting or get higher temp pads, with better bite and feel.

So a frustrating and rewarding weekend… but hey did I mention that the car is in one piece :-)
and I got my first ever trophy
Fab.

Posted in Trophy | Leave a comment

Pre Cadwell Tweaks

Posted on May 5, 2008 by admin

Following the drive shaft failure at Brands one of the main jobs to do was get some new drive shafts made up… as plainly my Cut N Shut Welded ones weren’t up to the job. These I got made up by Jonathan Weston Taylor a fellow 750 MC racer who also runs an engineering business.


I sent JWT a sample of the splines and the length required and he turned the new shafts around in about a week.  They seem to be made of some new “unobtainum alloy” which actually machines up to a very shiny and somewhat corrosion resistant finish.

The old shaft was most definitely not up to the Job, as this picture shows, you can see how both the outer tube has spiraled and distorted under the load and that the inner welded section has distorted and damaged the outer sleeving tube.

I did have one problem in the week before Cadwell,  At Brands I had noticed that getting it into gear was becoming problem and that the shifts weren’t smooth or sweet.   Something that the CBR Engine is renowned for.  It seems I’m   bit of an animal and had neary torn the gear shift mount out of the central support tube, no wonder the shift was going floppy the pivot point had nearly 6 degrees of freedom.    The damn thing was covered in powder coat so it was impossible to clean properly and  welding was pretty pidgeon sxxt too.  Tube is only 1mm thick (20 guage) so blew lots of holes due to poor access and visibility…. god knows if it will survive practice and an 18min race. That tube is going to get cut out post Cadwell.  

Posted in driveshafts | Leave a comment

A Fantastic weekend at Brands Hatch

Posted on April 22, 2008 by admin

Simply the best day at a Circuit since the Birkett 06.  And finally some payback for all the garage hours and development work.


Friday testing was cold  but the track was dry… It was immediately evident that resolving the fuel issues has made a huge difference, as  have the suspension settings courtesy of Dave T and all the mods over the winter. The car now has pin you back in your seat accelleration.. It’s a real handful.
Best time of the day  55.2!   
LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN 55.2!  Whoo Hoo!
Previous best was 59.98 and Tim is in the low 54s…. within a second of Tim now that feels good.!    The driving god that is Derek Jones is doing 50.xx at new lap record speed.  I was boggling at the lap timer’s indicated 56.3 in the car but when the data showed 55.2…. well big big grins all around :-)

The car is planted, reliable and driftable.  I can control yaw with the throttle all the way around Clearways…And I’m actually faster than Tim through Graham Hill.  Analysis of the data logs shows that I can make up almost all the lost time between me and Tim in Paddock (where I’m 15mph down at the apex  as I’m such a coward) and in the braking zone at Druids where although I brake later, I also brake harder and get to the apex speed too soon and hold it longer than Tim… Hence the time loss.

Still two sessions in the afternoon were fantastic fun.  In the last one I was nailing GH so well I was spinning up the wheels on the exit, and the hot rubber still hadn’t forgiven me at the complex  as tail out squirms both ways through the complex showed that the rears were still way  to hot.

Best save it for the race.   Don’t want to wear out all my big grins too soon :-) a Fantastic Afternoon…. 55.2 Fab!

Race Day - 
Practice was wet and the track was squirmy and I hate the wet, It was also the first day back a school for the RGB field and there where lots of nervous folk out there but to every body’s credit no one fell off big style and the session completed with out incident.  I also drove on our new Wet tyres (basically our mandated A048Rs but with additional tread cut into them. I’m happy to report that these are much more progressive and confidence inspiring that the “Skating in ice” feeling from the dry’s . I followed Dave’s advice and left the suspension well alone.  And the car just behaved the same, although obviously grip and speeds where lower, but still nicely recoverable when the back end stepped out. Now I like the wet. :-)

Tim curtailed practice due to  loosing a coolant hose and reverting his blade engine to an air cooled model.
It was such such a hoot, and it was also apparent that I was in amongst the pack much more than previously…. and keeping up with people who normally left me for dead.

For  race 1 I qualified 22th out of 32 and for race 2 I was 20th… in both cases 10 spots and 5 rows further up the grid than I’m used to and in the centre of the pack.  And because of the curtailed session Tim’s second best lap wasn’t great and so I had out qualified him for Race 2. This really is a day for firsts. Derek qualified on pole in 57.56, I did I did 1:04:74  (   I used to struggle to do that in the dry ). Time did 1:03.38

Race 1.
The track had dried a bit and the whole field went out on dry tyres. I was hopeful of a good start, however when the lights went out my left rear drive shaft also left in a huff  as I launched the car 10K.  A loud crunching noise and the car bouncing off the rev limited showed me no drive.  So I tried again… still no drive… by now 5 rows of cars are funneling by me… on last time.. throttle revs.. drive!  I’m away but its still not right.  I’m trying to evaluate if it is Diff failure again or clutch, as the revs keep spiking the limiter when I put the power down. Right I’m dead last so it’s time to get after the pack.  I shove it unceremoniously up the inside of  new boy Daniel Croft (1:14s) at Druids  and then get after Judy and take her at Maclaren on the turn in to Clearways.    However, getting the power down  is hard as the revs keep spiking after the upshifts so I have  to retire at the bottom of Paddock Hill due to lack of drive, joining Colin Duce whose throttle has failed.  

It appears the cut n shut drive shaft has failed, and then friction welded itself inside the sleeving tube  to give me some drive and then  finally given up again… Hmm! Steve, Jonathan and I fettle it out of the car and Good old Andy B re welds it ready for Race 2.   I also failed the noise test so we spent some time repacking the exhaust too  (111) DBa  

Sunday dawns cold and dry and promising Sunshine at some stage.   For this race I’m another row forward, but I warn the guys behind me that I may not get away fast as I’ll be protecting that welded driveshaft.   I take it easy at the start and lose a few places,  but we get racing. I’m having a tussle with Robert Grant  and Matt Green (who had fallen back a bit from his 12th on the grid) and somebody else in a yellow Fury.  This get a bit entertaining as Matt  gets it badly wrong at Graham Hill and ends up on the grass.  I nearly get by as he recovers…. but he loses it again at the Surtees Maclaren Complex and gets a good couple of feet of solid air, and as he’ bouncing around on/off the grass  and verge I nearly got him… but didn’t quite manage it.  Unfortunately the race is red flagged as Darren Gay firmly stuffs his yellow Fury at Clearways (breaking his little finger and the entire front chassis ).

As we reform I’m treated to the unnerving  spectacle of being called forward through the partially assembled grid to fill a hole some around 18th with a fair gaggle of cars behind me. At the restart I’m still being a bit gentle but no nearly so much, and off we go again.  This time its a 5 minutes plus 1 lap sprint.  And it’s me and Matt again pulling away from Mike Allen, Tony Carpenter and Peter Brown.  Matt has the lead for a couple of laps,  I’m trying to get past but He has track position, for a couple of laps running I  position for the pass under the Gantry into Paddock.   But due to my habitual early lift and braking here I don’t quite get him…. Next Time around I get great drive from Clearways tuck up right behind him in the tow, jink right at the gantry and leave my braking just late enough to get the inside line to Paddock….. Damn  that felt good (and I try not to worry about the waved yellow that I caught in the corner of my eye as we went round but hey I was committed.   

Matt is all over me a Druids I cover his move up the inside but he has the outside line at the exit and hence can get up the inside at Graham Hill, I know the place is lost so I let him have it.  I also know his tighter line will run him wide at the exit, so I run a bit wider  and turn in later, but on the correct racing line to get the power down early So I ” switch back close”  behind him with great drive all the way up to Surtees and MClaren. I now have 3/4 of a car length the  and inside line so get  the first apex and can squeeze him out of the second thus keeping the place… he’s all over me at Clearways, but I can tighten the line a little to close the door and hold him off.:-)

After a lap or so I’ve got about half a second on him, and I’m getting after a yellow Fury who it turns out is Neil Constable Berry In class B.  Unfortunately carrying more and more speed through the back straight complex mean that I  run to deep into Clearways and have a couple of slow times around  and as I pass the last  lap board Matt is pretty close again.  He tries one last time around Clearways, but I have the line and the grunt to hold him off, and take a hard fought 21st place 0.9s ahead. 

Oh and other than passing me on the original start I didn’t see Tim again… so I didn’t get lapped in either portion of the race and Infact  I only finished  12 seconds behind him (although in fairness it was a short race) So at Last, long last I’m competitive and moving up the grid :-)  Best lap time 55.48, Tim was 54.5. Big…. VERY BIG Grins all round.  And the first race completed in over a year, 
AND and My 17 Year Old son said he was Proud of the way I fought for the places.  How cool is that!:-)
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