But Rick, you've omitted the Super Coupe Cup from your career highlights, especially racing the "Greek" 5 turbo at Snet [
]I'll be at Goodwood on Saturday with JT and on Sunday with Mark so we'll come and find you. Any chance of a ride up the hill?
Fantasy RS/RSR/NGT/CUP ..>>>
- Thread starter carreraboy
- Start date
But Rick, you've omitted the Super Coupe Cup from your career highlights, especially racing the "Greek" 5 turbo at Snet [
]I'll be at Goodwood on Saturday with JT and on Sunday with Mark so we'll come and find you. Any chance of a ride up the hill?
DSCBoy
New member
At this time only taking the Primera up the hill, but since we're going for a time I can't take passengers... promise you wouldn't really want to be in there with me... it's pretty hairy.. 60 secs and you are soaked thru with sweat... you really wouldn't want to go off anywhere on that track I tell you! Look forward to seeing you all though!
Hahahaha, the Greek Super Cinq at Snett with the Av Gas in the tank trying to blow itself apart as it blew everyone away down the straights then did it's best shopping trolley impression in the corners... if he'd known as much about chassis settings as he did about cheating we'd have been unstoppable! Those were the days Paul....
GT4 is a bit of a trial not least because of the "equalisation" process that makes it difficult to run competitively all the time and also the SRO's choice of "cheap" circuits... the last circuit we raced at Adria comes a poor second to even Snetterton I promise you. Oschersleben next weekend, another go-kart circuit at the end of the earth but at least we get Spa and Algarve later in the year if the budget holds out!
The LMP2 car was actually probably my most succesfull but least enjoyable season, the car was an old LMP675 which was allowed to run with the rear wing chopped to make up the numbers, so had horrific oversteer and was relatively slow, fortunately everyone else broke down usually but that meant it was just a case of driving around trying to stay out of McNish's way for 6 hours! The stress of having the bring it back in 1 piece for the other drivers to get a go was a new experience I didn't really enjoy and the team was a hotbed of hassle between the 3 drivers as 1 guy seemed to get most of the track time (we discovered after he owned a chunk of the car and had cut a seperate deal) so it was only really at the last race at Spa that I felt like I was near the limit of the thing (143mph thru Blanchimont with a dash of opposite lock each lap!! Luckily didn't see it on the telemetry until AFTER my running was over!). The Primera however is a simply incredible motorcar and I think I'm more excited about racng it against it's peers in the Silverstone Classic than any race in years! Hope a few of you guys will be along... although I'll be coming direct from Spa and won't get a lap before the race so have had to apply for dispensation to start from the back.... should make 1st race on the Sat lunchtime v.exciting!
We've drifted off topic a bit! Apologies.
Hahahaha, the Greek Super Cinq at Snett with the Av Gas in the tank trying to blow itself apart as it blew everyone away down the straights then did it's best shopping trolley impression in the corners... if he'd known as much about chassis settings as he did about cheating we'd have been unstoppable! Those were the days Paul....
GT4 is a bit of a trial not least because of the "equalisation" process that makes it difficult to run competitively all the time and also the SRO's choice of "cheap" circuits... the last circuit we raced at Adria comes a poor second to even Snetterton I promise you. Oschersleben next weekend, another go-kart circuit at the end of the earth but at least we get Spa and Algarve later in the year if the budget holds out!
The LMP2 car was actually probably my most succesfull but least enjoyable season, the car was an old LMP675 which was allowed to run with the rear wing chopped to make up the numbers, so had horrific oversteer and was relatively slow, fortunately everyone else broke down usually but that meant it was just a case of driving around trying to stay out of McNish's way for 6 hours! The stress of having the bring it back in 1 piece for the other drivers to get a go was a new experience I didn't really enjoy and the team was a hotbed of hassle between the 3 drivers as 1 guy seemed to get most of the track time (we discovered after he owned a chunk of the car and had cut a seperate deal) so it was only really at the last race at Spa that I felt like I was near the limit of the thing (143mph thru Blanchimont with a dash of opposite lock each lap!! Luckily didn't see it on the telemetry until AFTER my running was over!). The Primera however is a simply incredible motorcar and I think I'm more excited about racng it against it's peers in the Silverstone Classic than any race in years! Hope a few of you guys will be along... although I'll be coming direct from Spa and won't get a lap before the race so have had to apply for dispensation to start from the back.... should make 1st race on the Sat lunchtime v.exciting!
We've drifted off topic a bit! Apologies.
Please continue to drift off topic, it makes very interesting reading. You really have done some interesting things. I bet the drive up good wood is great, I've always imagined its a bit like harewood, but longer. Plus hillclimbs, with cold tyres and brakes, are always a tricky prospect, I was never very good at it. perhaps I scare too easily.
The GT4 stuff does sound interesting, at least with the equalisation process you are guarenteed plenty of in the pack racing. And I think it would be fun to try lots of different circuits in the Europe. That said, its not quite the same as going to spa to race i guess. And racing in LMP2 is a fantastic experience, even if not ulitmately as enjoyable as the more mundane stuff. At least you've been there and done it, some of us never will!!
The GT4 stuff does sound interesting, at least with the equalisation process you are guarenteed plenty of in the pack racing. And I think it would be fun to try lots of different circuits in the Europe. That said, its not quite the same as going to spa to race i guess. And racing in LMP2 is a fantastic experience, even if not ulitmately as enjoyable as the more mundane stuff. At least you've been there and done it, some of us never will!!
timarnold
New member
I'm thinking in terms of road cars for this thread Rick, so I wouldn't really expect to be reaching the speeds on public roads where proper aero is going to make a lot of difference. And I think a well set up chassis with the right geometry, damping and rubber, should easily handle the power I'm talking about. And it is 'fantasy' as the thread title suggests! [
] I'd like your car though, and a agree, the Speedlines look great! []I didn't realise who you were before, Rick - you were run in Clio by Mark Fish weren't you? [8|] You won't remember me from racing as most of mine was done while you were still at junior school. I never raced in any tintop series myself (all of mine was single-seater - FF1600, FF2000, FRenault and very nearly F3 in70's and 80's) until four years ago, which is why I can sympathise with you having a sh*t car in LMP2, because I did a one-off Britcar race on the Silverstone International Circuit in a BMW M3 and it was a bit of a disaster!
A Belgian team offered me a free drive as they were trying to make a name here because their cars were out of date for Belcar. They had two M3's, one and ex-Johnny Cecotto European Touring car and the other was an M3 Compact (weird!). There were three other drivers ad I was to supposed to share the Compact with one of them. One of the other guys was Paul Howells who is on other parts of this forum! On the Friday test it became apparent that guy who had first choice on the proper M3 was too big for Paul to share with him as they couldn't get a mutually acceptable seating arrangement, so there was a last minute switch and I was put in the M3 while Paul and the other guy tried the Compact, thought it was crap (which it was) and decided to pull out.
The main driver had done a full season in Britcar the previous year but prior to that had only done track days for two or three years, so he decided he needed more time in the car. He was plodding round quite a few seconds off the pace of the likes of David Leslie and I thought the car mustn't be good! I finally got in it late in the afternoon and did three 'installation' laps.When I came in the team manager came over smiling like a Cheshire cat - my second lap had been six seconds faster than my co-driver! LOL
The following morning was qualifying and the plan we had worked out was my co-driver would do his minimum three laps first to build some heat in the car then as I was obviously faster I would go and do my three and try for a good time,and then if it looked reasonable we would call it a day and save the tyres - because the team had no money! Like all good plans it all went wrong! My co-driver went out and did one lap, then a second, then a third - at which point, as he passed the pits there was a 'flap-flap-flap-flap-flap-flap' noise coming from the car... 'flat spot' I thought... then he went past a fourth time! FFS! Then he came in and didn't get out of the car, instead he said he needed more time! Meanwhile the team inspected the car and one of the guys drew my attention to the front left tyre - it had the biggest flat spot I've ever seen! It was the entire width of the tyre, the size of a football, and there was a round patch he size of a tennis ball in the middle of it that was down to the canvas! [>:] And I was going to have to qualify on it because they didn't have a spare! Then my team mate went out and did another four laps, on the flat spotted tyre before finally handing the car over to me. Well as you can probably imagine on a circuit where most of the corners are right-handers a flat spot on your front left isn't what you want, and sure enough turn-in was a major problem! I did a total of four laps but on my third lap (which might have been my quickest had this had not happened) I caught a slower car going into 'Farm'... my fault entirely, trying not to lose any time, I tried to pass it on the outside at the exit of Farm, rode up the kerb, which pulled me in and fired me straight into the gravel trap... I didn't stop, I managed to keep it going and rejoin the track, but, the gravel had ripped off the front bumper which was now sitting on the ground, on its splitter, ahead of and pushing back onto the front wheels, making steering difficult... I managed to drive round one more lap slowly, pushing the bumper, because in the confusion I wasn't sure whether I had done enough laps to qualify. Fortunately I had and despite everything my second lap was still over a second faster than my team mate's best, albeit 4 seconds slower than I had done the day before! We qualified 18th out of 23 cars which I suppose wasn't too bad given the circumstances - the car I had caught on my third lap actually qualified just ahead of us, which would suggest if I had completed that lap without incident or hold up, we would have been much further up the grid.In fact if I had done my Friday time we would have been 11th behind Nigel Greensall in a GT3 Cup!
The race was even more of a disaster - team mate started but at 3rd distance came to a stop on the pit straight; he got it going again but with a bad misfire. He came in and it was discovered that the fuel pumps had packed up; so new ones were fitted and I got in the car, by now it was half-distance and it had started to rain - so on went the wets... I go out under safety car and there's a metallic banging noise coming from the front wheels... the wheels with the wets on were catching on the callipers!! FFS! I came in and had them checked and was told it was only a small amount and would be OK, so I rejoined still under the safety car. It was now raining quite hard and what I didn't know was that to save money the team had brought wets that had never been used but were three years old - they were like lumps of wood! They's have been more suited to Fred Flintstone's car! The safety car went in and the race restarted - as the rest of the field tiptoed through Copse I went for a detour through Whittlebury Village as the wooden wets failed to hold on to the wet tarmac. I pressed on for a few laps but the tyres just weren't getting any grip, and the noise from the wheels was getting worse not better... so I came in and parked it! Bizarrely, despite the early stop, we were classified 18th out of 22! But still a disaster! And that so far was my only race in something with a roof on!
Sorry... that post wasn't meant to be that long when I started!! [
]
DSCBoy
New member
Cripes Tim, I think you've managed every experience I've had in tin tops in the space of one race!!! I've had the wooden wets that someone had stored "for a little while" and I've had the team-mate do the "yup car's perfect, tyres are great, don't need changing" so that I then go out on cr*p rubber for 1.5 hours and therefore can't show him up on the timing sheet... soul destroying. I even raced the Clio V6 that was converted to a GT car (hahahahah) in the Brit GT's at Knockhill, the thing was crabbing down the straights as everytime they dropped it off the jacks the toe was changing on one of the rear wheels... they were lethal cars at the best of times, let alone thru Duffus with all 4 wheels pointing in different directions!
But yes, I was the Rick that ran with Mark Fish in the Clio's in 2000-2002, great years.
Also I think you'd be surprised how low speeds need to be to need aero... you should be able to feel benefit around 90mph... and I'm guessing we're taking our fantasy motors on to the Autobahn to "see what she'll do mister?" right??? ;-)
But yes, I was the Rick that ran with Mark Fish in the Clio's in 2000-2002, great years.
Also I think you'd be surprised how low speeds need to be to need aero... you should be able to feel benefit around 90mph... and I'm guessing we're taking our fantasy motors on to the Autobahn to "see what she'll do mister?" right??? ;-)
timarnold
New member
I was assisting in the running of the GT Team, Brookspeed, in 2000... that was kind of frustrating because I had taken a few years out of racing to concentrate on a business and honestly didn't think I would be doing much again, so like a prat I allowed my competition licence to lapse. 2000 came along and the team owner approached me and asked me if I could try to find a sponsor - I agreed and lo and behold found one who paid for the whole season. But I couldn't drive because I couldn't renew my international license, it had lapsed too long! [>:] So I ended up helping to run the team instead!
Apart from the Formula Ford 1600's, everything else I raced had downforce of one degree or another, including recently (and currently) Radicals, so I'm totally familiar with aero and what speeds it works at, and I still don't think it would be essential on this fantasy RS machine; unless it was done in a visually subtle way with a flat floor and diffuser helping out the standard flip up spoiler.
Apart from the Formula Ford 1600's, everything else I raced had downforce of one degree or another, including recently (and currently) Radicals, so I'm totally familiar with aero and what speeds it works at, and I still don't think it would be essential on this fantasy RS machine; unless it was done in a visually subtle way with a flat floor and diffuser helping out the standard flip up spoiler.
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