STEVE BURNS
Club Member
Sunday at Brands Hatch saw the Grumpy Old Men racing team doing round 3 of time attack in a 240Z
* For those of you who are unaware of “Time attack”, it’s a series of “race against the clock” events at various circuits around the UK, each round is effectively like the qualifying sessions in many motorsport events, ending up in a “final” where the quickest lap rules.
* We were entered in the “classic and retro” class consisting of anything built before 1991 (???) which consisted of things such as a Sierra 4WD with 500hp 2.9 twin turbo lumps or an Astra with a Saab turbo pushing over 370hp …..Understand and recognise, these were ALL properly prepped race cars with all the bells and whistles all trailered to the event often escorted by motorhomes and driven by well-seasoned race drivers….. As for the event, if you have ever driven on a track day, it’s like comparing apples and Aardvarks, this is racing all but in name and is a fully MSA sanctioned event. * So, Pete and I poll up on Saturday afternoon having driven the car down 140 miles, with Pete in the support car, much to the amusement of some of the well healed participants who have posh things like trailers, we get scrutineered, (even the material of wheel nuts was challenged), we set up shop in the pit garage and go to the hotel for the evening (separate rooms I hasten to add).
* Race day comes, and the lights go green at 10 am, there were around 20 cars on track in my group (one of which was Ben Collins driving a Focus ST) and the pace was furious and quiet honestly took me by surprise.
* Session 1 was the “warm up” and resulted in a modest lap of 60.03 seconds.
* Second session (Practice) came and went with a slightly slower time of 60.4 seconds Adjusting tyre pressures and inlet trumpet lengths during the lunch break we went into session 3.
* Session 3 (Qualifying) car felt much sharper and settled, so I gave it death, net result was a 57.8 second lap, I really felt that with better technique, more was to come.
* Session 4 (The Final) 15 minutes of madness, with some slightly frustrating driving by other competitors (totally unintentional baulking by not giving way quick enough) compounded by my 53 year old reactions resulted in a best of 57.7.
* Summing up The car behaved incredibly well. Better technique, better race craft and better anticipation of other drivers and we could have stood on the bottom step of the podium, with a sub 57 second lap without too much difficulty. * Me personally I am absolutely chuffed to bits that 2 old blokes, a greyhound and a 43 year old car easily held their own against much more modern, better funded and significantly more experienced teams.
* Quote of the day by a really nice chap in an RX8 “Excuse me may I ask you a question……What the F*$k have you got under the bonnet?”…..brilliant.
* Finally, massive thanks to the following people * Dean Halsey, Jonny Palmer, Jonny Mason and Rob Hughes who took the time to come along and support us, and to all the others who have offered kind words of support. Matt for his support on the day and racing advice.
* And finally to my mate Pete for ALL of his dedicated and hard work.
* For those of you who are unaware of “Time attack”, it’s a series of “race against the clock” events at various circuits around the UK, each round is effectively like the qualifying sessions in many motorsport events, ending up in a “final” where the quickest lap rules.
* We were entered in the “classic and retro” class consisting of anything built before 1991 (???) which consisted of things such as a Sierra 4WD with 500hp 2.9 twin turbo lumps or an Astra with a Saab turbo pushing over 370hp …..Understand and recognise, these were ALL properly prepped race cars with all the bells and whistles all trailered to the event often escorted by motorhomes and driven by well-seasoned race drivers….. As for the event, if you have ever driven on a track day, it’s like comparing apples and Aardvarks, this is racing all but in name and is a fully MSA sanctioned event. * So, Pete and I poll up on Saturday afternoon having driven the car down 140 miles, with Pete in the support car, much to the amusement of some of the well healed participants who have posh things like trailers, we get scrutineered, (even the material of wheel nuts was challenged), we set up shop in the pit garage and go to the hotel for the evening (separate rooms I hasten to add).
* Race day comes, and the lights go green at 10 am, there were around 20 cars on track in my group (one of which was Ben Collins driving a Focus ST) and the pace was furious and quiet honestly took me by surprise.
* Session 1 was the “warm up” and resulted in a modest lap of 60.03 seconds.
* Second session (Practice) came and went with a slightly slower time of 60.4 seconds Adjusting tyre pressures and inlet trumpet lengths during the lunch break we went into session 3.
* Session 3 (Qualifying) car felt much sharper and settled, so I gave it death, net result was a 57.8 second lap, I really felt that with better technique, more was to come.
* Session 4 (The Final) 15 minutes of madness, with some slightly frustrating driving by other competitors (totally unintentional baulking by not giving way quick enough) compounded by my 53 year old reactions resulted in a best of 57.7.
* Summing up The car behaved incredibly well. Better technique, better race craft and better anticipation of other drivers and we could have stood on the bottom step of the podium, with a sub 57 second lap without too much difficulty. * Me personally I am absolutely chuffed to bits that 2 old blokes, a greyhound and a 43 year old car easily held their own against much more modern, better funded and significantly more experienced teams.
* Quote of the day by a really nice chap in an RX8 “Excuse me may I ask you a question……What the F*$k have you got under the bonnet?”…..brilliant.
* Finally, massive thanks to the following people * Dean Halsey, Jonny Palmer, Jonny Mason and Rob Hughes who took the time to come along and support us, and to all the others who have offered kind words of support. Matt for his support on the day and racing advice.
* And finally to my mate Pete for ALL of his dedicated and hard work.
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