Brands Hatch Races on YouTube

Coverage of the two Sunday races from the Brands Hatch round we took part in are now available on YouTube.

Going on a diet

Before our next race at the Rockingham International Speedway in August we  are looking  seriously at weight savings.  All of the front running cars are below the minimum weight and carry ballast.  At Brands Hatch we were still weighing in at 1360Kg's including driver at the end of the race (although we did overfill with fuel for one race which didn't help).  This was 60Kg's over the minimum weight and is costing 1-2 seconds per lap based on our track day experiences with 1 vs 2 people in the car.

In order to level the performance across the different Boxster 3.2S model years / engines (250-280 BHP) the regulations have also recently been adjusted and we now need to target 1280Kg's as the minimum weight for our 2001 250 BHP model. So now even more stuff needs removing!

Hardtop and Trim

The hardtop roof still had the full head lining and plastic trim pieces in so these were removed. We also removed more plastic trim from inside the car, including the centre console plastic and the heater blower motor.

Air-con

The original air conditioning compressor was next to be removed. This required changing the ancillary drive belt for a shorter non-air-con model one.  The belt change was straightforward but removing the compressor itself took several hours.  The bolts holding the compressor in place are easy to remove, but the metal pipework connections are obstructed by the intake manifold and were extremely tight.  There is some pipework running under the car still to be removed when time permits.

Battery
The heavy duty Bosch S5 battery weighs 17KG's and is high up under the windscreen.  A light weight replacement (Odyssey 30 Racing @9Kg's) has been purchased and relocated lower down on the floor of the front boot.

Windows

With the door glass in the "door-open" position (it drops by 1" to clear the rubber seals) the electric window motors and and mechanism have been disconnected and removed along with the associated wiring. 

The glass itself is being replaced with light weight Polycarbonate (plastic) with sliding vents.

Brands Hatch Race Event

Our second race event was at the famous Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent on the 9th & 10th of June. Leaving home at 5am Saturday morning we arrived and setup in the paddock. After signing-on and scrutineering we headed out for qualifying.

The last time I drove the circuit was over two years ago when the car was in standard road form so I took most of the 15 minute qualifying session to get up to speed setting a best time of 58.5 seconds - good for 15th on a nearly full grid of 30 cars.  This was 4 secs slower than pole position, but a full 10 seconds faster than I'd ever been before. This was also my first experience of the Toyo 888 tyres in the dry. 

In the first race I got a great start, holding my position round paddock hill and up to the druids hairpin. Unfortunately several cars went off track later in the lap and in avoiding them I was overtaken by 4 or 5 924 drivers. My race didn't get much better as I ended up with some minor front wing damage from an aborted overtake at Druids. This knocked out my ABS and later in the race I lost the rear of the car at the bottom of paddock hill, spinning a full 360 degrees.  I finished a disappointing 19th which would affect my grid position for Race 2.

On Sunday the forecast rain held off for Race 2. Multiple cars went off at Paddock hill bend and were damaged which resulted in several laps behind the safety car.  I managed to get past a few of the 924's and was promoted to 9th position overall due to some blatant jump starts from several cars in front of me on the grid.

For Race 3 on Sunday afternoon it start to drizzle with rain as a depleted grid lined up. Before the race I took some advice on passing slower cars from the more experience drivers and quickly passed the 924 cars - lining each pass up one lap at a time.  I was lapping consistently and catching the Boxster in front of me however had to yield to blue flags to allow the leaders to lap me. In the end I ran out of time (and nearly fuel!) to close in - finishing an excellent 10th.

Snetterton Races on YouTube

Coverage of the two Sundy races from the Snetterton round we took part in are now available on YouTube.

Performance Exhaust

In preparation for our next race event at Brands Hatch we finally got around to replacing the standard exhaust back-box with a Cargraphic sports exhaust (ebay bargain).  Most of the bolts on the original exhaust were rusted so it took several hours to remove.

 

The performance exhaust turned out to only be a few KG's lighter than the stock exhaust so we will need to look elsewhere for the weight savings we need to make.

Th new exhaust was fitted with new clamps and stainless bolts all round and allows the engine to rev more freely.  It is definately much louder and will provide a useful BHP & Torque increase.

 

We also replaced and re-wired the electrical cut-off pull switch.  The pull handle was a poor qualifty one and cutting the fuel-pump allowed the engine to run-on for a few seconds. It is now wired into the DME fuse (C1) and kills the engine instantly.

Snetterton Race on Motors TV

The Snetterton race event was filmed and is being shown free-to-air on Friday 18th May @ 5:50pm on Motors TV UK (Sky Ch 413).

All of the cars have bright green Logson Group windscreen banners which advertise the title sponsor of the series. This sponsorship helps pay for the filming, production and TV air-time.

A full TV schedule for the season is here. The race coverage is also put on the GoRacingTV youtube channel a few weeks after being shown on Motors TV.