Blyton Park 2014-11-02
early morning drive to blyton. not been there before so followed tomtom to their postcode DN21 3PE but it took me to a wrong road n failed to notice a private property sign saying no access for motorsport track and tis a dead end.
remember andy n colin mention bout the rough entry into the track so when I drove in the wrong road it got really rough n muddy n looked like a scrap yard. naa this ain't right, turned back out, noticed the no entry sign, oops.
went further down the road using the phones satnav and now noticed the blyton park signs
arrived too early at 7:00 in the pouring rain. decided to goto nearby tesco for cash n umbrella but was closed till 10.
back at the track found andy n colin had arrived, signed in, briefing, unloaded tools, setup car n cameras but took too long and just missed the sighting lap with the guys.
rain stopped.
cars arrive back but track was held up cos someone broke down.
ahh see the recovery vehicle and just being towed behind...oh gawd its andy
we were joking earlier that our number stickers were indicating the number of breakdowns on the day
mine was 24 and his was 2 but we didn't expect it to happen after his first corner. oh poor andy.
I was asked to do 3 steady'ish laps once group comes back to get used to the layout then pit.
although the track was damp, the car n tyres were really stable with loadsa grip
set dampers 15/10 clicks front/rear to sharpen the feel but have enough complience for the wet tarmac. noticed at 3bars the tyres only touching 3/4 the area so reduced to 2.7bars for more contact patch
at 5:40 we were following behind bmw m5 that liked power sliding out the corners till he spun at 9:45
times:
1.41
1.43
1.33
1.36
1.48
1.38
1.37
looked at andys car, had no spark. plugs were rich, ign coil had 12v but the lead going through the condensor had no resistance although andy said it even worked before without that wire connected. abit puzzled, left other guys to look at it while I go back out.
set dampers 20/15 front/rear to further stiffen the handling. tyre still not fully touching yet so reduced to 2.5/2.7bars front/rear.
track feeling better and some sweeping corners getting grippier n faster.
was overtaking a red escort at 7:00 under braking but trail braked too far n had to countersteer, that was an exciting moment for us
times:
1.42
1.32
1.30
1.28
1.27
1.32
1.37
1.43
1.30
1.28
1.25
was running low on fuel so needed refuel and me gf was getting abit queezy (i don't blame her cos I'd feel the same as a passenger, sorry hun
) but she enjoyed herself. went to nearest station for super unl but since twas near 12:30 and track would close for lunch, decided to have a nice lunch at pub with gf.
on way back as I arrived andy had just been pushed back into pits. it was working on track till I just arrived
jinx, I'll just pop back out to pub with me lady eh
he said it was tweaking his ign coil HT lead that made it work for abit. we check afew things but was baffled again.
so in the mean time to cure it, lets take him out in mine to think it over
times:
1.36
1.31
track felt really good n grippy n can go flat out on most corners. Port Fraid is my fav corner pop in 4th WOT and the 595rsr has enough grip to stick with it before the deep braking into Ushers.
brakes need fixing cos i'm double pumping and at Ushers I sometimes sense the brakes fading or boiling.
caterham spun so track stopped for recovery.
cam didn't rec next good session with andy.
went for a run by myself, adjusted dampers to 15/20 front/rear to see if it makes it more towards oversteer to help turn-in, yup abit more twitchy on fast bends but felt good n fast.
times:
1.23
1.21
1.24
1.23
1.19
1.25
1.22
1.25
1.21
looking back at andys car, he checked loose ign switch, ign coils, wires but nothing worked.
recalled the ign coil/dizzy HT lead connector was broken/damaged off so perhaps wrap it with copper wiring for better contact. it worked
we all decided to go home now since it's late n andy needs to get this working car back to homebase to fix it proper.
it's been a fab day out and caught this last wallpaper shot