Clio 197 Cup - Time Attack Build Progress

[Alistair]

Baby update, car's up with JD now for the rest of the season.
He did a quick check over the car today before monday's preperation day for brands and found one of my suspension bolts (cant remember where) was loose which isnt ideal. So hopefully that stays tight!

my new poly front windows came through also and got fitted, I have some track door cards arriving hopefully next week and the doors will get shaved down to bare minimum for weight saving .. one week left till round 4 at brands

 

[Alistair]

wicked day yesterday, started off super wet and had a big spin which threw me off a bit, but it dried up and we got going .. 5th over all in class and almost on a 56 lap.

 

[Alistair]

What a day this was .. been a while since I’ve been at Brands Hatch so it was great to get back.
Session one was super greasy, ended up have a spin and an off a couple laps in which threw me off unfortunately. Session two was cut short by 18 minutes due to a crash (and then luckily given back 10 minutes) ..
Qualifying went super well, was up on my original PB from practice, but we ended up 7th over all with room to push.
Finals came round, small spots of traffic but averaging 57’s was great all session long! Ended with a 57.071 which is a new PB for me putting us 6th over all (5th if you don’t count the single entry) which is awesome. Ended up infront of both K swap clio's as well.

First race with the team along side which great, less stressed during the day and the car was kept tip top and ready to go for each round (and i was pretty well looked after as well) which was VERY nice haha

Had a new sponsor come on for this season, as well as my local brewery wanting to help and show some support for me in my local area.

Track door cards very kindly agree'd to coming on board this year, so i'm not running theirtrack door cards which where a big change from the standard cards, as well as making it look more race cary

 

[Alistair]

Oulton park round 5 of Time Attack done and dusted.

Session one went well, setting a 2:08 for my first ever outing of Oulton, I was happy with that but my 2:05 target was easily reachable once I got comfortable.

Getting back into the pits after session, we noticed steam coming from the engine bay, which turned out to be the water pump had given up and was leaking! Assuming that was going to be the end of our day I was swiftly told that we were going to be sacrificing FP2 and that the car would be ready for qualifying!
The guys & girls at JD motorsport_engineering had sourced the parts and had sent a team member on an hour and a half round trip to collect them, while the others started work on getting the car stripped ready to be repaired.

Qualifying brought me my personal best lap time of a 2:03.827 which put me 8th over all and 6th in championship points.
Finals turned out to get a little damp and greasy, so we finished the day off with a 2:05.236 which placed me 8th over all and 7th in championship points.

Here’s to Oulton Park, roll on Donnington.

 

[Alistair]

Round 6 - Donington Park. First time having been here, it was another learning curve but nothing I haven’t done before. With the hopefully achievable goal of 1:25, and a dream of 1:23 in mind, we went into it.
Warm up - Straight out, learning the circuit and getting to grips with the car again setting a healthy 1:25.322. A 1:25 being my first goal, this made me super happy already and gave me the drive to go quicker!
Practice - Settling back into the car and feeling good with the track layout, I started pushing a bit more to find a few more limits of the car and circuit which was fun to do. Setting a respectable 1:24.987, so slowly taking the time down to my goal.
Qualifying - With the car set and ready for quali we head out, 4 minutes into the session we got red flagged due to an incident, thankfully the driver was all good. The session got cut down to 10 minutes which meant I had to get a wiggle on. Setting a 1:25.143, which unfortunately was slower than practice due to not managing to find a good space and empty track.
Finals - Went out, ready to make the most out of the final session and get some good times set in, unfortunately there was another incident which meant another red flag. Back in the pits we realised the timer was still running, so time was definitely against us when I went back out. With the last push to be now or never, I had to drive as hard as I could, and in true style I set my fastest lap on the final lap of the finals, hitting a 1:23.987 which was my target for the day.
Huge thanks to @jdmotorsport_engineering for the excellent help as always, couldn’t have done it without out them.
Brands Hatch round 7 - let’s get it

 

[Alistair]

full write up to follow but .. Brands hatch round 7 was probably my best round yet

 

[Alistair]

Brands Hatch round 7 of Time Attack UK must have been my best round so far.

Warm up - Starting off dry and getting back into the swing of it and finding my feet on the circuit again was good fun, whilst setting the car back up for brands through this session, we hit a respectable 57.591 and knowing there was room to keep pushing.

Practice - With practice just around the corner the heavens opened, being the first time I’ve driven in the wet in years I was extremely nervous but very confident in my ability to be able to drive my best in what seemed to be a torrential downpour. Setting a 1:04.504 putting us third place, showed I had the capability to drive fast in the wet also.

Qualifying - With the rain still present and feeling confident with driving in the wet, I went out and pushed even more having quickly learnt a new line of a very wet circuit. Setting a 1:04.338 which put me 4th in qualifying which is the highest I’ve qualified so far, and being in the wet made me SUPER happy.

Finals - The finals ended up drying out and becoming a perfect circuit for some fast laps, having driven the day more in the wet I was confident I could keep pushing hard with knowing more limits of the car from the first few sessions to push into the finals, setting a 56.454 which put me in 6th place over all.

Extremely happy with how the day went, car was faultless and the guys at JD motorsport engineering did a fantastic job with looking after the car and it’s set up!

 

[Alistair]

Round 8 of Time Attack Championship held at Snetterton 200 was a tough but good day. A very greasy, wet and puddle filled day made for some good driving experiences!
Warm up - Warm up ended up being super greasy first thing, so we opted for the AR1’s as our choice of tyre to start with, due to it not being standing water. I headed out and set some good lap times, learning the circuit and conditions again. Going sideways through bomb hole as I passed Steven Wilkinson and Anthony Mann wasn’t part of the plan, but I worked it to my advantage to keep finding the limits and improving my car control. Setting a 1:40.381 in the greasy conditions was a good start.

Practice - With the rain inbound, we headed into a wet practice. With experience from Brands Hatch still in my mind, I went out and got to grips with a wetter circuit with the wet tyres on and a new suspension set up to test. With one red flag giving us a good break to have a chat and discuss the car before heading back out, I set a respectable 1:41.455 which I was happy with to start pushing into with the wet weather continuing.

Qualifying - As the wet weather was set to continue, it was time to get a wiggle on. With a fight for 5th taking place between me and Wilko, I had to push on to stay ahead of him throughout the next two sessions. Setting a 1:40.620 putting me in 5th over all was a great motivator for the finals.

Finals - The heavens opened shortly before the final session, making it the wettest it had been all day. With the car set up to suit the conditions we were ready to go for it. Managed to set some good times but unfortunately with 4 minutes left of the session it was red flagged due to a mechanical issue from one of the other competitors, the race was over. Putting in a 1:41.430 with set me 7th over all in the finals.

Having finished up the day, the results put us in 6th overall in the championship and only a couple of points from 5th. It was a good but hard push and we barely missed out on points but proud to have finished this far up in our first season being competitive.