SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

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gambler
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SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by gambler » Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:46 pm

Rest of season round up.

Sorry to those of you who are mad enough to actually enjoy my ineligible write ups. I have just been too busy this year. I’ll round up the rest of the season which took donkey and I to the class F championship.

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Round 2
I decided to stick with the spending no money approach on improving the car and just fix the alternator. It would be interesting to see just how far I could take the donkey in the condition it was in. A year of lotus cup and 3 years of bouncing about on an airfield, used by Andy’s experience company.
I had arrived at the event completely on my own, which made a big difference when I was driving the car for RA and had 5 people to do everything for me. Only then did I realise that I had not changed a wheel on a car for 6 years! Lazy barsteward

Warmup and Practice – This was the 1st time that I had driven Knockhill in reverse so I had decided just to take it easy and pick up the circuit. Turns out that I was topping the time sheets on both sessions

Qualifying – I knew that getting the heat into the tyres was going to be the problem for the final so had decided to use lap 1 of qualifying as a practice run for the single lap final. I was curious to see if the chicane could be done at the same speed with relatively cold tyres. After turning in, I quickly realised that the answer to that was no. Very sideways on turn in which I almost caught ( in my own head anyway) and then the car unweighted itself over the crest and some major tank slapping saw me pointing in the completely wrong direction and I thought the gravel trap was the safer option than trying to take the now much tighter corner. I did think that I would have come to a nice slow stop in the gravel and add to the healthy collection of gravel in the nooks and crannies in the car. Looks like I was wrong again, we just barrelled through the trap only to be faced with a step up of about a foot to return to the grass. Poor donkey Donkey punched its way through the step up sending grass and mud everywhere. It had hit so hard that I really thought that the clam would be pumped, best get myself into the pits to have a look. I suddenly realised that there was no one in the pits to help out if there was any damage and that a good kick was the only fix on the cards. Luckily, I saw Rory Butcher in the pit lane and he had a quick look, saving me having to get out the car. I bit of a crack and some grass was the only issue. Back out on track and I then put the car in P1 for the final with a 1.01.9

Final – After the problems getting heat into the ADO8R’s in round 1, I had was going to try a slightly different strategy to get a reasonable amount of heat in the tyres for the 1 flying lap. Unfortunately, this was still not enough and the car was mega loose again on the back end. Finishing 4th with a 1.02.6 but was still the fastest road car. Enough was enough and it was time to stick my hand in my pocket for some much quicker heating 888s from Ronnie at Wheels Around. There was no way that I was going to get beaten again by not having enough heat in those bloody rears..... Hang on a minute, that gives me 1 less excuse, luckily there are many more in my big book of Racing Driver Excuses.

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Round 3 – Normal direction

Warm up and Practice :-These sessions were just used to get the pressures right in the 888s as I knew from using them in the Subaru that they were very pressure sensitive as they lack the sidewall stability of the Yoko’s. Turns out, I was fastest in both sessions.

Qualifying - Again topped the time sheets with a 1.00.6 comfortably in the top spot my 0.6s. It was looking like my season was about to turn around and get the win that I had desperately wanted.

Final – It had been a fine and dry day, right until 10 mins before my final, where the amazing Scottish weather had given us a nice 5 minute shower. The track would be damp but not completely wet but I would not be able to see the track until the warm up lap. I knew the warm up lap would have to be pretty much flat out to get any kind of heat into the tyres, whilst trying to work out how much grip was out there. There was no way that another final was going to be ruined and I went for a win it or bin it approach and just decided to strap on my big boy pants and go for it.
It worked and the 1st win of the year went to me and Donkey!!!!! Only by a baw hair though as Ian Pitman in the 4wd impreza was only 0.035s behind.

Round 4 – Reverse

I gained a S.E. Teammate for rounds 4 and 5. Andy G had decided that he had wanted in on some SLS action and after realising that the Honda Elise would only be allowed with a full cage, went out and Bought Stu Pollock’s 211 on the Friday and then raced it on the Saturday.... Never a man to shy away from a challenge. Andy was probably put in at least a class above where the 211 should have been but still managed a great drive and got a podium on both days. Pretty amazing considering that he had never driven the car, or possibly only had a small shot.

After an S.E. appeal, I also had a 2nd set of wheels, kindly loaned from Dom which made life a lot easier as I could save the 888s for qualifying and final

Qualifying – I had pushed as hard as I could in qualifying but could not match Marshal Wisharts time of 1.00.3 and the best I could do was a 1.00.7. The RX8 had recently had some aero, suspension and power upgrades and was sitting right at the maximum power for the class. Donkey and I could loose 40kg or gain about 50hp. I did think that there was some time to be found in reverse for me though and I was not really getting the most out of it. One area where the car was struggling against Wishart was the kerbs. His car rode them smoothly where as we launched into the air and bounced about. I had known the suspension was really in need of a refurb, buyt where is the fun in having a fully working car.

Final – Pushed as hard as I could but again could not match Wisharts time. The tyre pressures were getting better in qualifying but I had not got them right for the final and lost a lot of time coming out of the hairpin. At the end of the day, I had a chat with a mate who runs Le Mans and Can Am cars and he had some ideas about the 888s so these were going to be implemented the next day when we returned to the normal direction.

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Round 5 – Normal Direction

Qualifying – After the chat with Simon, the 888s were working much better and I was sure that I could beat my previous best time of 1.00.6, my aim was to get the car under a minute. TBH, I was not really sure if there was that much more time to be found but it was going to be a laugh trying, the conditions were also perfect for it too. Looks like my bag of talent did not contain a sub minute lap and we finished with a 1.00.08.... so close and yet so far. The time was a good 0.9s faster than Wishart in 2nd place, job well done then.

Final – I knew that I was not going to equal that time in the final as it had taken 11 laps to get the heat into the tyres to put in that lap. My practice lap 1 in qualifying had been a 1.00.8 and I had thought that was going to be the target . The final time was 1.00.6, taking the win and maximum points and giving me the championship lead.

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Round 6 – Reverse- The final round.

I had been in the situation of going into the last round of a championship in the lead before. In 2010 I had been winning the UK Time Attack Club Class when the engine blew up on the final round, costing me the championship. I would have to make sure this did not happen again.... I was running a K series... what could possibly go wrong.

Warm up and Practice –
I knew the car and circuit so there was going to be absolutely no heroics here at all. It was just a matter of making sure that everything was ok in the car. I luckily had Andrew Baird of Automek there to help out and the car had been in Craig Moncreiff cars for a check over. So was pretty confident, or as confident as a K series owner can be, that things were going to be ok.
During practice there was an accident were Rab Jobson in the disability motorsport Scotland sponsored car had hit some oil and lost most of the front end. Rab is a really good lad and will always be the 1st to lend a hand to me in if I ever have any trouble. Rab runs the car for Disability Scotland and it allows disabled people and help for hero’s to get out on track and involved in motorsport. The car was not going to be out on track again and Rab had explained that a decent finish in the championship would see him receive more funding. He could only score points by using a car registered for the class though and could not just borrow any one from the paddock. I knew he would have done exactly the same for me and as no one else in the class of 16 cars were forthcoming, I offered him the use of my car. He knew what was at stake for me so was allowed to do a couple of laps in qualifying to register a time and then go out in the final after me and could do what he wanted with the car then. Toria also told him that she was going to punch him in the dick if he broke my car!! Not a woman to be messed with. She had that horsey lady strength.

Qualifying – With the dropped scores taken into account I knew that I was 11 points in front or Pitman and 23 points ahead of wishart. There is a maximum of 15 available in qualifying and 25 for the final. The plan was to go out and do so quick but safe laps, beating Pitman and getting close enough to Wishart to give myself space for a safe final. I had been just behind Wishart with a 1.00.7 and was well ahead of Pitman. A quick pressure check and I went out for one last banzai lap, logging in an 1.00.4 but was still beaten by Wisharts time of 1.00.2 , good enough for 2nd place and should give me a comfortable position for the final.

Final – The championship was now mine to loose, spin off in the final and I would throw the championship away, the good news was that I only really needed a top 5-6 finish after Pitman had problems in qualifying. The circuit was a bit damp so I just put in a safe 1.01.3 it was good enough to give me 2nd place and the overall win in the championship. Happy days!

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I have really enjoyed my year in SLS, it’s a well organised and friendly championship with 60 odd drivers and plenty of decent competition. Donkey the Lotus has been an absolute legend and had ran pretty much faultlessly all season. Pretty damn impressive as its had a very hard life and is in need of a lot of work. Suppose I had better get my wallet open and have some work done for next year. I’m not sure what championship we will be doing but we will be in competition one way or another
S1 Elise - Shed spec
330d - Dog carrying spec
640d - Grown up spec
Astravan Sportive SE - Supervan spec

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hendeg
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by hendeg » Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:05 pm

Toria also told him that she was going to punch him in the dick if he broke my car!!
:damnfunny

Congratulations on the win and the sportsmanship in lending your car. Hopefully the good karma will carry over to whatever you do next season.
Exige GT

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mwmackenzie
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by mwmackenzie » Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:15 pm

Well done mate and a great write up! The only unanswered question in your post was what was Rab's time in your car? sounds like you had a blast and a fantastic overall result! :thumbsup
Mark MacKenzie

BMW Z4 3.0si, [R14 MMK] To be Ring ready soon

Fancy Ass Merc thingy S [R4 MMK] 85% MacKenzie'd Family Spec

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gambler
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by gambler » Tue Sep 27, 2016 2:18 pm

3.5 seconds slower Mark. Not a bad time though, he has an S2 exige
S1 Elise - Shed spec
330d - Dog carrying spec
640d - Grown up spec
Astravan Sportive SE - Supervan spec

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Dominic
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by Dominic » Tue Sep 27, 2016 3:32 pm

Great effort, and top skills! Well done!

Very sporting of you to help out the disability guys :thumbsup

Had forgotten about the loan of wheels... until you mentioned it :mrgreen:
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1999 Lotus Elise Sport 135'99

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C7Steve
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by C7Steve » Tue Sep 27, 2016 4:53 pm

Well done Scott on winning the championship and with helping out Rab. Good to hear that the K gave you no problems and I really enjoyed reading your write up too. :thumbsup


Steve.
Last edited by C7Steve on Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mwmackenzie
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by mwmackenzie » Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:26 pm

gambler wrote:3.5 seconds slower Mark. Not a bad time though, he has an S2 exige
Awesome! You're an absolute gent for lending a competitor your car :thumbsup Keen to have take my car out to see what you can get out of it at Andy's track day, if you're up for it that is.. be good to know what it's capable of lol :wink:
Mark MacKenzie

BMW Z4 3.0si, [R14 MMK] To be Ring ready soon

Fancy Ass Merc thingy S [R4 MMK] 85% MacKenzie'd Family Spec

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Stu160
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by Stu160 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 11:02 pm

Well done Scott, great result for the old donkey :D

Stu
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Ferg
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by Ferg » Wed Sep 28, 2016 6:55 am

Top banana! You did it in style too. I doth my cap sir. :-D

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campbell
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by campbell » Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:00 am

Smashing writeups. And not too shabby a result. A racer AND journo? You'll be instructing next...oh wait a minute... ;-)
http://www.rathmhor.com | Coaching, training, consultancy

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StiflerMR2
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by StiflerMR2 » Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:22 am

Great write up and congratulations on the win!

Very sporting offering your car too, sign of a true gent :thumbsup

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mwmackenzie
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by mwmackenzie » Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:05 am

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I trust you're invoicing Walshy for the championship winning advertising? :lol:
Mark MacKenzie

BMW Z4 3.0si, [R14 MMK] To be Ring ready soon

Fancy Ass Merc thingy S [R4 MMK] 85% MacKenzie'd Family Spec

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Scotty C
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by Scotty C » Wed Sep 28, 2016 5:07 pm

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup
"Here for a good time not a long time"

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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by JohnStewart » Tue Oct 04, 2016 3:15 pm

Only just spotted this - great write up and well done on the Championship win :)

Hopefully see you at the Awards Ceremony (huge piss-up!) in February.

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gambler
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Re: SLS - Donkey punches it's way to a championship

Post by gambler » Tue Oct 04, 2016 3:16 pm

campbell wrote:Smashing writeups. And not too shabby a result. A racer AND journo? You'll be instructing next...oh wait a minute... ;-)
I'll try and keep away from instructing. Don't mind helping people that I know out but hate the thought of being stuck in the car with some twat who is not listening to you. People often say that i'm brave for doing the atom stuff, 130 mph in the pissing wet.... I am not as brave as the guy who is sitting next to the 12 year old in a lamborghini
S1 Elise - Shed spec
330d - Dog carrying spec
640d - Grown up spec
Astravan Sportive SE - Supervan spec

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