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Posts posted by Shaun_E
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First Race
in Speed
For completeness I've now uploaded my
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For anyone interested, I've posted a brief write up of my first race event and a video of Race 2 on the Motorsport forum here.
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First Race
in Speed
After 10 years of sprinting and hillclimbing my 7, at the weekend I took part in my first circuit race.
I entered the BARC SE Sevenesque series at Brands Hatch on Saturday 30th July. The classes are based on power to weight ratios meaning pretty much any type of 7 can compete. The cars are mostly C400 racecars, R400/SLR or big power Duratecs so my car fitted neatly into class 4 (385 to 435bhp per tonne - weight is car plus driver). It's taken me a while to make the changes to the car required for racing including plumbing in a fire extinguisher, fitting a rain light, sealing the boot area (I chose to fit an aluminium tonneau) and sealing the front bulkhead but at last the car was ready. I had already bought a FHR which required a new helmet as well since I needed this for the sprint season.
I would be in the first qualifying session (09:00) so we stayed at the circuit Friday night to avoid a really early start. Sign on was at 07:30 and scrutineering for my class at 07:35 which all seemed a bit rushed but in the end sign-on was open early and I was first in the scrutineering bay leaving me time to have a cup of tea before qualifying. There were only 12 cars on our grid which was shared with an "Allcomers" class incluing a WRC escort, a mega-power Impreza and a 1970's Mach 1 Mustang. The track was dry but still a bit green and me being used to super-soft compound tyres rather than the mediums I was now running, my first couple of laps were a bit lairy but I soon settled down and quickly got into the 53s. One of the more experienced drivers caught and overtook me and by hanging onto his tail for a couple of laps I managed to clock a 52.643s lap to put me 8th on the grid.
Race 1 was at 12:35. It rained quite heavily mid morning and the track was pretty wet with the cars throwing up rooster tails. thankfully it stopped raining about 1/2 hour before we were called to the assembly area and the track began to clear. The green flag lap showed that it was still pretty damp out which is not what I'd hoped for on my first ever race
. Lined up on the grid, the one minute board came out and my heart rate suddenly increased as I realised that this was it, I was actually going to be in a race! The 30s board appeared and then the red lights were on - I raised the revs a bit but not much and then the lights were out - another car shot past me as it got a much better start than I managed and then we're all piling into Paddock Hill bend. The track was still really slippery and for the first half of the race I was just concentrating on not spinning off but gradually a dry line appeared and I started to gain a bit of confidence. Although I did start to get closer to the pack in front, my lack of confidence in the early part of my race meant I was never going to catch them and I finished in 9th.
Race 2 was at 16:15, the rain had stayed away for the rest of the day and the track was dry. Waiting in the assembly area, a few drops appeared on my visor but it didn't materialise - "psychological rain"
. Lined up on the grid I was on the inside this time and was determined to make the most of my sprinting experience and at least get a good start. Red lights on, I dialled in a few thousand rpm and as soon as the lights went out I was off the clutch and planting the throttle - it was a great start and I dived between the 2 cars ahead of me on the grid and hung onto 8th place into Paddock Hill. From there it was pretty uneventful but a couple of spinners and retirements meant I ended up in 5th place. As I was packing the car up the BARC SE co-ordinator came up to me with a trophy in his hands - it turned out I had got second in class
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The day was a great introduction to racing and I'm looking forward to doing some more events. Sadly the next Sevenesque race clashes with Curborough so I'm looking at maybe entering some MSVR all-comers races to get some more experience and try and lose my novice cross. Due to a new regulation for next year about power to weight, I'll need a National A licence to compete so I need 6 signatures by the end of this year!
Heres the in-car video from my 2nd race:
Results here.
Finally, I'd just like to thank Mark Durrant and Rob Jacobs for getting to the circuit early and being pit crew, my wife for letting me do this (and making lunch
) and to my fellow sprinters who came to watch and give support.
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My T1
, sorry about the stupid great mirror getting in the way of the view. Will move the camera this week. -
I could do with another 500rpm or so as I'm on the limiter quite a lot - changing to 3rd just slows me down though as it more than doubles the number of gear changes required
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K series will typically be a few kilos lighter depending on the spec of the engines.
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Don't think you'll do it for cheaper than this: /forum/sale/1999-20-zetec-caterham-7-classic although the Duratec car he's also selling would be quicker.
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Yes please for Team Elwell
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I've always used coppaslip
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Hi Jerry,
1) You can subscribe to receive notifications of follow-ups to all you content from within your profile. Just edit your profile and go to advance settings. Tick the box "Receive content follow-up notification emails".
You can't select/deselect this on an individual thread basis. This is a known issue and is on the list to look at as and when time and funds allow.
2) This is the default drupal behaviour. The creator of the link can select to open a new window/tab when they create the link but most won't.
Shaun
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A fix has now been applied so please let me know if you are still having problems with profile editing.
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Just had a reply from the developers as I was typing the above post. They have isolated the problem and found a fix. Once final testing is complete the fix will be made live. I'll post here when it's done.
Shaun
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This has been reported to the developers and they are looking for a solution. It does appear to be a timeout so they are looking to see what has suddenly increased the page time as it was never a problem in the past. I will chase up the issue as soon as I can.
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Hi Chris - So if Gill submits her PBs to you as appropriate for class 6 (our car is unchanged so this is the case), can she compete for Edward Lewis?
That would be great.
Shaun
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Dirty or misted lens cover - I cleaned it in the morning as well!
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This is a reply to comment 2 which should generate an email with your current settings. To get an email whenever someone comments then change the setting as in the PM I have sent you.
Shaun
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It's actually the endplate of the de-dion that needs to be ground - it's obvious when you fit the wheel. I did it years ago when I fitted those wheels to my 1997 car which has the over slung ARB. Its the drop link that's the real issue and it's hard to ensure that it doesn't touch the wheel/tyre in extreme cornering. There is a newer version of the de-Dion which eliminates the issues. Alternatively look at some 3 piece rims such as Image where you can specify the back-depth you require or chat to Simon at Meteor about the wheels he supplies.
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Wheel will probably foul the de-dion - take an angle grinder to it (the de-dion not the wheel
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Drop links will need to be reversed. i.e. moved to sit inboard of the ARB. Even then it can only be set on the 2nd softest setting and you may need to grind the end of the nut off. It's all a bit marginal but can be done.
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...and just as I posted this I got a "502 bad gateway". But, that's at work where I'm going via a proxy in Paris with lots of latency so it's probably an internet connection issue you are having. Have you tried somewhere else?
Shaun
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I've just edited your profile so no issue at the server end. Could have been a temporary glitch so please try again. You could try clearing your browser cache first.
Shaun
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Number Of Views Not Showing
in Test and Ideas
Posted
Have you got a screenshot? The views are showing for me.
There's an indexing issue being investigated at the moment which may be related.