SLS rounds 4 & 5 David's report

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David
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SLS rounds 4 & 5 David's report

Post by David » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:44 pm

Saturday - Round 4 (reverse)

With such a good spell of weather recently it was a shame the weather was so bad for round 4 of the SLS – but that’s the luck of the draw.

The only changes since the last round were some safety upgrades, namely a new harness and helmet to accommodate the HANS device I purchased last year. Otherwise the car remained the same as before. With a PB last time I thought it best to keep a bit of continuity rather than risk changing things just for the sake of it.

The the format saw us go out for free practice before scrutineering and under trackday rules. If it had been a trackday, I would have bailed out as the visibility was appalling. In particular, braking for the main hairpin was blind, the corner itself not being visible from my braking point.

My times were OK at 1.05 but eventually my luck ran out and I clipped the unsighted top kerb at Duffus and the back bounced enough to start it aquaplaning round. In hindsight there were probably things I could have done to reduce the impact, but essentially I was a passenger. My thoughts were that my weekend was over.

Watch on YouTube


I limped back to the paddock with some terrible noises coming from the front wheel. Assessing the damage I thought it was worth trying to make a repair so we stripped both front and rear wheel arches and bent them straight and taped them up as best we could then re-assembled them in time to be the last car through scrutineering. Free practice 2 then rushed up and I went out to assess the handling. All seemed to fine so pushed a little and got a 1.05 in similar conditions to the earlier session. I thought the tracking may have changed but the checks we did suggested it was in the ballpark of being acceptable at least.

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Fee Kindness (my main opposition in the class) was not having a good day either. She had left here MSA licence at home and just driven to Aberdeen and back with little time to spare before qualifying. Meanwhile Adam had broken her car and had gone off-site to get the alternator bracket welded up.

The weather got worse and the British Sprint guys sat it out in the pit lane garages while the timetable slipped. We were then called for our qually a little earlier than I had anticipated. Up to this point I had been using the soft compound Kumho’s, but felt AO21’s may work better, so put them on. That was a big mistake! My lap times dropped from 1.05 to 1.11 for Q1, and 1.09 for Q2. That put me second last overall. Not a good result. Q3 was cancelled due to timetable pressures so it was back to the paddock to lick my wounds and think again.

Watch on YouTube

Having qualified all but last, I was one of the first cars out for the final. With the Kumho’s back on, I made a half-hearted attempt to weave and warm them but knew it was too wet to make any difference so it was left foot hard on the brakes in the hope that some brake heat would radiate out for the flying lap. Out of Duffus I hit the kerb again and the car stepped out but it came back and it was just a case of squeezing on as much power as I dared. The visibility was bad again and I missed my braking point so the hairpin was a mess but the back straight had more grip as the tyres began to work a little. I chickened out of Railway Straight, but things started to come together at Clarks, and the Chicane, MacIntyres, and Duffus all felt reasonable – 1:03.92 appeared on the OLED, my quickest lap of the day. Now it was just a case of sitting back and waiting and, lo and behold, Fee did a 1:04.09. I had done it!

Watch on YouTube

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All worth it in the end but relieved and tired -1st in Class and 8th fastest of the day.

I handed over the car to Gordon for the TS track night, but we left early as the weather just didn’t get any better. I decided sleep was more important than fixing the car so off to bed with a plan to opt out of free practice 1 in the morning and take the tools do a full(ish) geometry check at KH.



Sunday – Round 5 (normal direction)

What a difference a day makes!

We arrived to a beautiful warm and dry morning with the sun soon breaking through. It felt really alien not doing a session (the first SLS session I’ve ever missed) but it got me in a relaxed mood and the car checked out OK. As we had a little time spare, we improved the cosmetic appearance of our hasty repairs of the previous day.

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Looking as good as new after our repair session


I had planned to use an old set of ZZRs to save the soft Kumhos during free practice 2. With temperatures soring, I knew graining would be an issue for the Kumhos, but in the end, I decided consistency was more important, so I opted for a short sessions with the hot laps spaced out. I put in a 56:01 in (3:50 on the vid) despite some traffic, so I felt confident.

Watch on YouTube

But the tyres were a mess when I got back to the paddock. So Gordon came to the rescue again with a scraper and file and cleaned them up beautifully!

Quallification

Qually is an out lap and two flying laps and we repeat that three times. I’d kind of worked out that the out lap with some weaving and braking was not really enough to get the tyres working but plus one hot lap was too much. So the plan was to have some gentle warming on the out lap, to keep it safe, but mainly using the first hot lap to warm the tyres then going for the time on the second flying lap.
The first qually went OK with a low 56 but the second produced a 55:73

Watch on YouTube

Fee got a 57:37 so a few points in the bag!


The Final

The tyres where a real mess after qually so Gordon cleaned them up again.
With the single flying lap format of the final, the key to a good lap would be getting tyres up to temperature on the out lap. Aggressive warming would be required.

Sitting in the car I drove the lap a few times in my head. So when I left the pit lane every action had been thought through. It all felt good and I was particularly happy with MacIntyres but braking for Clarks was a little too early, and I clipped the kerb at the hairpin and needed a lift but very happy with the lap – 55:69. That was a tenth off my PH and gave the 4th fast time. It also beat all but the Pro cars.

Watch on YouTube

The Championship is looking good with three wins and puts me 10 point clear in the class A and 5th overall - looking good.

Full results: http://www.mylaps.com/en/events/1050719

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Last edited by David on Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:16 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Sanjøy
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Re: SLS rounds 4 & 5 David's report

Post by Sanjøy » Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:10 pm

Well done, great result.
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Dominic
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Re: SLS rounds 4 & 5 David's report

Post by Dominic » Wed Jul 23, 2014 11:08 am

Well done! Good recovery from the mishaps. :thumbsup
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