I cannot thank the Scottish Subaru community enough for their generosity. Andy Forest offered to loan me a twisted setup, John Stevenson offered to loan me an external wastegate and Colin (playsatin) offered to loan me his turbo. These guys could not have been more helpful. I ended up buying the headers and a used Billet GT30 from Mikee Sing. Used parts of course in keeping of my ' Keeping it real' approach to racing. What should have been a pretty simple bolt in job turned out to be a much bigger job than we thought. The up/down pipe did not fit past my 6 speed gearbox so all had to be re-done by a grown up with a welder. My new Team Dynamics wheels had finally arrived. I went with an 9inch rim with a et23 offset to help widen the track and added some more track with longer bottom arms on the front and adjusting the rear arms. The wheels were not sticking outside the arches so we fitted some arch extensions. A bit of Andy Forest magic on the mapping and we were good to go. Colin 'fix' also removed the brake servo and moved the mounting point for more feel on the brakes.
I had not driven the car in anger and was not sure about the setup of the suspension/geo so I went to see a man who knew, Andrew Walsh 'Walshy' from Carlimits.com. He fitted me in on one of the excellent airfield days. Perfect as I would get to test the handling and see any teething troubles without pushing the engine hard. In the morning we did the highly entertaining high speed oversteer exercise and to be perfectly honest, I was making a proper a*** of it. Slides that I can catch easy on track I was spinning out on and i am usually a big fan of oversteer
I suddenly had a Yoda moment, only with a welsh accent. I realised that I was thinking about what I was doing rather than just doing it, ' don't think, just do!' and it worked. Much sideways tomfoolery was to be had after that. We then worked on the high-speed bend steering the car on the brakes and loosing a stack of speed. Just like the end of the big straight at snett.As I had not driven Snett in a year and had not properly shaken the car down on track I booked some time at the MLR day before Time Attack. I was only going to run low boost and short shift and not push too hard. With a whole lot of pipe work changes it was a good idea to get any teething troubles out of the way on sat. And I quickly found one! One of the circuit instructors had jumped in the passenger seat for a couple of laps. After my 1st 3 laps at medium pace I noticed a bit of condensation/fluid at the bottom of the windscreen on the outside. I cruised into the pits and when I slowed down there was steam pissing everywhere. I pulled up next to the guys and jumped out the car.... well, tried to. I forgot the windows have to be held closed by Velcro so I just nutted the window! It turned out the problem was just a broken bracket for the header tank. Colin Fix and Super Ali were right on the case while I kept out the road. After that I did another couple of short sessions showed everything else to be running fine and the car handling great. I was ready for action.
Back to the hotel for a couple of pints and I slept like a baby. Wet myself and woke up crying! Only kidding. Woke up bright and early and champing at the bit to get out on track.
Warm-up - Before we arrived I had ordered some brake pads from Questmead. They arrived nice and early in the morning so I could bed them in during practice. 5 mins before the session started they turned out to be the wrong pads. 1mm too thick and we had to put the old ones back in. Not exactly how I had wanted to start the day. It’s always best to get the problems out the way in the morning though; I hoped that this would be the only problem. I managed to get 4 laps in gently bringing up the pace. I just felt like there was no grip at all. I was not sure whether the circuit was cold or if it was something wrong in the setup. It had felt fine the afternoon before though. For a decent result the lap time in the final would need to be a 1.14/low 1.15. I had only managed a 1.17.879. Not good, I just hoped that it was just the circuit being cold. I had expected to be well down the timesheets. Luckily it had been the same for everyone and I was 2nd by 0.02 seconds and over a second quicker than Fee who was my main rival.
Practice - Colin had got busy with the grinder and fitted the new pads. We were buggering about with the ride heights trying to get a bit more front end grip so we missed the 1st half of the session. A few laps to bed them in and I was ready to try and bring up the pace. I knew I did not have too much time so I just did 4 flying laps getting slightly faster each time. At the end of the session I knew there was still a stack of time still to be found as I was now conscious of not binning the car as I knew I was well on pace to take the championship. Everything felt awesome the car was just amazing, I just had so much confidence in it and I was dying to get a safe lap in the final then really push it and see what it will do. I was 2nd top of the timesheets again by 0.22 secs to Walter Morris with a 1.16.552 and more importantly 2 secs faster than Fee. Happy days! You can never tell how much faster people will be when everyone cranks up the boost in the final though. I am not a big fan of having a whole stack of extra power on the high boost setting. I think that if you have learned your braking points accurate enough another 100hp will just make a mess of them and make your time slower. I had a look at my phone after practice to see a message from Andy Forest, 'Take it the oil temps were ok, 4 flying laps in a row!' So, be warned! Your mapper is watching! The temps had been below Andy’s specified maximum. 1 fast lap 1 slow lap is always better on the tyres anyway when you are pushing hard.
Qualifying - It was decision time now regarding boost levels. I was well aware that a close result could come down to a single point in the championships with Fee so the point in qualifying could count. There was definitely a lot more time to find out on the circuit so I decided to go out in low boost and do 1 safe lap and a quicker lap then come in and have a look at the times, only using high boost if I needed the extra power. Out I went on the outlap and got some heat in the tyres and brakes and found myself a bit of space, round the 1st couple of corners and down the back straight then disaster struck. The car started running on 3 cylinders. I could not believe it, my heart totally dropped. I limped into the pits and saw the look of horror on the faces of Colin and Ali. Steven and Mark from the lateral car also came running. It was not sounding good. I was absolutely gutted. I took of the helmet and HANS device and threw the hands away. Only into a seat though as I could not afford a tantrum that would have broken it. We then decided, that as so many cars had already packed in that I would limp round 1 complete lap to at least get a lap time and maybe, on the off chance get the car fixed for the final. I did the out lap and then a stunning flying lap of 1.44.1 and killed the engine as I crossed the line and pulled up on the grass and waited for a tow to the pits. When we got back to the pits the guys did a compression test and it turned out there was no compression at all on no.4 either a piston or rod had gone. Game and championship over.
Afterwards we had a look at the timesheets and even limping round would not have made a difference in the standings. I was already safely in 3rd place so I would have to content myself with that. I spent the rest of the day hanging about for the podium presentations trying not too look miserable! My rowing career did teach me to take the rough with the smooth. There is no point feeling sorry for yourself and wondering what should have/ could have happened. You just have to pick yourself up and learn from any mistakes. After all, its not my job or anything life threatening, its just going round in big circles as fast as you can for some fun. I got lucky when I won the British rowing championships by 0.2 of a second. Still my proudest achievement and would have remained so even had won my class Time Attack.
Despite the unfortunate end to the season I have still had an amazing time. The competition this year in Club has been so close that every point has been hard fought and therefore more enjoyable. I started the season just hoping for a couple of podiums so I can't really complain. As for next year, I have no idea. If we are to be moved up into club pro I may take a year out to save up and get the car ready as I don't really see the point of being there spending a fortune just to make up the numbers or try something different. It would be nice to have some free time and money. I am well and truly bitten by the bug though.
Well done to Fee and Warren for coming 1st and 2nd in the championships. It's been a pleasure to fight it out with you guys all year.
Massive thanks to the people who do all the hard work behind the scenes while I get all the glory. I really appreciate all of them, as it would not be possible without them.
Colin Telfer - Building the car
Alister Colins - Helping build the car and being head of entertainment in the team bus
Andyforestperformance.co.uk - Loads of advice and awesome mapping.
Carlimits.com - Walshy - Helping make a monkey like me go fast
Usedcarparts.co.uk - Sponsorship
Party Pete Rallying - Use of his bling race shuttle
Malcom from Mabiehouse.co.uk for the fabrication work
Rob the welder - Welding genius
Mum - Head of catering
Dad - Looking after my business when I am away
John Stevenson and Colin (Playsatin) for offering to canabalise their own cars to help me.
Everyone else who has helped me along the way. Far too many to mention
Here are a couple of pics. No video yet as i have not bothered to get the camera out of the car.
My best happy face. Looking a bit 'special'
Its all gone Pete Tong
.They have changed the structure slightly, including a new top teir class which will mean the top Club Pro guys will be moving up to pro. Its going to be an expensive start to the season and i am having to seriously consider a year out to get the car ready. Unless i can find a sponsor for the year.
and do corporate days where i could take yoursleves/customers/friends etc out on track in a 600+hp subaru that should lap Knockhill in sub 54 seconds. PM me or call me on 07710 732 377
