I had two race meetings in September at Donington and Oulton Parks. These were the first two tracks that I raced on last year after I bought the car, so my first opportunity to compare lap times.
At Donington I was driving alone for a change. The practice times were not too bad and I was ahead of 3 other cars in 25th, and only 1.5 secs behind a 968. Not bad for a car which probably has the lowest power to weight ration of any competing in the series.
My best race or practice time in 2013 was 1 min 31.6. My practice time this year was 1 min 29.7. A testament to improvement in me, the handling and, of course, the (Augmented) engine!
The race started really well with a great initial battle between a FWD Alfa GTV6, myself, a 944S2 and a 968. I was going really well until about Lap 5 when the car suddenly lost power and I limped round for one lap. There was no real "go" and the symptoms were just like fuel starvation. At about the same time, there was some fluid on the screen, but not much and I thought it was from the car in front. More later.
I resolved to limp to the pits but on the Wheatcroft straight I put my foot down again and the car picked up pace. It was still probably only running at what seemed like 85-90% but I kept going, although now I had lost ground completely on those I was battling with. I decided that if I had to take PH Sportscars up on their offer of a replacement engine for £350 then so be it!!! The routine pit stop for the simulated driver change (me, out of the car and back in again) passed ok and the second half of the race was uneventful, save for the excitement (!) of being lapped by the quicker cars. Truth be told this was a frustrating experience as I with some cars I would be easily taken on the straights but then catch them up under braking and be quicker through the corners and on exit, only for them to p!55 off down the straights again!
Despite all these issues, I finished the race and was relieved to do so with all the metal in the engine in the correct place! Much to my surprise I discovered that I had won my class trophy, probably by virtue of being less unreliable than my class mates. I think that I will rename myself "Tortoise and the Hare Racing".
Annoyingly my best race lap was 1 min 30.7, slower than in practice. Unusual for me. But I do put this down to the loss in power.
I like to look at my lap times compared to similar cars in the clubs sister "Future Classics" series, and also the BRSCC 924s. Robert Hardy's fastest lap in his 2500cc 944 in FC was 1 min 29.8 so we would have been reasonably well matched in the same race. There were several other cars around that time, too. The BRSCC have not held their Donington round yet this year, but in 2013 the fastest 2.0 litre 924 time was 1 min 28.4 with the majority in the 1 min 30s. I think that shows my performance up OK, as I reckon to have a similar power to weight to the BRSCC 924s.
I have also compared my lap times with those of me in my ex Works Toyota Carina Super Production car from a couple of years ago, and my times were very similar, despite the Toyota having about 30 Bhp more and a similar weight. To be fair though, I was having severe gear change issues. Ultimately the Toyota should be the faster car, but I actually enjoy driving the 924S more.
Nevertheless, before the Oulton race a trip to Augment Automotive was required to try to assess the loss of power problem. Tom plugged in his lap top but nothing was obviously amiss. Eventually we discovered the tiniest of splits in a radiator hose (remember the fluid on the screen?) and the fact that there was a loss in coolant. Odd that there had been no steam clouds but there you go. This was all fixed and we put the loss of power down to the engine running hot and the Augment ECU retarding the timing and increasing the fuel in, to try to cool things down. Me? I have no idea but it seems as reasonable an explanation as any.
On to Oulton Park.
Practice at Oulton was hideous - wet and greasy and an exercise in survival. I survived and handed over to Alan but even as the track dried he did not go faster. Last on the grid by a long way!
I got a reasonable start and managed to avoid a stalled MX5! I then had a great battle in my half of the race with a 944S2, a 968 and a Smart 4:2 Turbo (now with about 130 Bhp to propel its 750 Kg!) as well as trying to keep the faster MX5 behind me. It was a great battle and I really enjoyed myself but I got caught out under braking whilst letting the leaders lap me and the MX5 nipped through. Damn! I handed over to Alan who had a good stint to bring the car home with no issues, apart from a strange very dim oil pressure light coming on in the pits and on some left handers.
Our fastest lap was 2 min 12.7 (compared to 2 min 13.5 in 2013) but annoyingly was way off the pace of the BRSCC 924s who were lapping between 2 min 05.4 (crikey!!!!) and 2 min 11 plus. There was not a Future Classics race to compare times with until a week later, but even here things were a little disappointing for me. There was no 2500cc 944 to compare against but there was BRSCC spec 2.0 924 and that had a fastest time of 2 min 10.6. Oh dear. Maybe the car is still down on power, maybe I just wasn't committed enough (I do find Oulton difficult and intimidating!)
So, some good and some not so good, but all good fun anyway. And relatively cheap by racing standards. That's the season done for me. There is one more race at Snetterton to go but I am out of funds now. The car will be serviced over the winter but there will be no great handling improvements to be done like this last winter. I may consider Augment Automotive's full race cam rather than the fast road cam I have now, and a rolling road session but what I really want to do is sell the Toyota and the 924 and consider a 944 Turbo!!!!!!!!
If I keep the 924S maybe I will shift back to Future Classics as it may be that it will suit the car better to be surrounded by a few more cars of similar performance. We shall see.
At Donington I was driving alone for a change. The practice times were not too bad and I was ahead of 3 other cars in 25th, and only 1.5 secs behind a 968. Not bad for a car which probably has the lowest power to weight ration of any competing in the series.
My best race or practice time in 2013 was 1 min 31.6. My practice time this year was 1 min 29.7. A testament to improvement in me, the handling and, of course, the (Augmented) engine!
The race started really well with a great initial battle between a FWD Alfa GTV6, myself, a 944S2 and a 968. I was going really well until about Lap 5 when the car suddenly lost power and I limped round for one lap. There was no real "go" and the symptoms were just like fuel starvation. At about the same time, there was some fluid on the screen, but not much and I thought it was from the car in front. More later.
I resolved to limp to the pits but on the Wheatcroft straight I put my foot down again and the car picked up pace. It was still probably only running at what seemed like 85-90% but I kept going, although now I had lost ground completely on those I was battling with. I decided that if I had to take PH Sportscars up on their offer of a replacement engine for £350 then so be it!!! The routine pit stop for the simulated driver change (me, out of the car and back in again) passed ok and the second half of the race was uneventful, save for the excitement (!) of being lapped by the quicker cars. Truth be told this was a frustrating experience as I with some cars I would be easily taken on the straights but then catch them up under braking and be quicker through the corners and on exit, only for them to p!55 off down the straights again!
Despite all these issues, I finished the race and was relieved to do so with all the metal in the engine in the correct place! Much to my surprise I discovered that I had won my class trophy, probably by virtue of being less unreliable than my class mates. I think that I will rename myself "Tortoise and the Hare Racing".
Annoyingly my best race lap was 1 min 30.7, slower than in practice. Unusual for me. But I do put this down to the loss in power.
I like to look at my lap times compared to similar cars in the clubs sister "Future Classics" series, and also the BRSCC 924s. Robert Hardy's fastest lap in his 2500cc 944 in FC was 1 min 29.8 so we would have been reasonably well matched in the same race. There were several other cars around that time, too. The BRSCC have not held their Donington round yet this year, but in 2013 the fastest 2.0 litre 924 time was 1 min 28.4 with the majority in the 1 min 30s. I think that shows my performance up OK, as I reckon to have a similar power to weight to the BRSCC 924s.
I have also compared my lap times with those of me in my ex Works Toyota Carina Super Production car from a couple of years ago, and my times were very similar, despite the Toyota having about 30 Bhp more and a similar weight. To be fair though, I was having severe gear change issues. Ultimately the Toyota should be the faster car, but I actually enjoy driving the 924S more.
Nevertheless, before the Oulton race a trip to Augment Automotive was required to try to assess the loss of power problem. Tom plugged in his lap top but nothing was obviously amiss. Eventually we discovered the tiniest of splits in a radiator hose (remember the fluid on the screen?) and the fact that there was a loss in coolant. Odd that there had been no steam clouds but there you go. This was all fixed and we put the loss of power down to the engine running hot and the Augment ECU retarding the timing and increasing the fuel in, to try to cool things down. Me? I have no idea but it seems as reasonable an explanation as any.
On to Oulton Park.
Practice at Oulton was hideous - wet and greasy and an exercise in survival. I survived and handed over to Alan but even as the track dried he did not go faster. Last on the grid by a long way!
I got a reasonable start and managed to avoid a stalled MX5! I then had a great battle in my half of the race with a 944S2, a 968 and a Smart 4:2 Turbo (now with about 130 Bhp to propel its 750 Kg!) as well as trying to keep the faster MX5 behind me. It was a great battle and I really enjoyed myself but I got caught out under braking whilst letting the leaders lap me and the MX5 nipped through. Damn! I handed over to Alan who had a good stint to bring the car home with no issues, apart from a strange very dim oil pressure light coming on in the pits and on some left handers.
Our fastest lap was 2 min 12.7 (compared to 2 min 13.5 in 2013) but annoyingly was way off the pace of the BRSCC 924s who were lapping between 2 min 05.4 (crikey!!!!) and 2 min 11 plus. There was not a Future Classics race to compare times with until a week later, but even here things were a little disappointing for me. There was no 2500cc 944 to compare against but there was BRSCC spec 2.0 924 and that had a fastest time of 2 min 10.6. Oh dear. Maybe the car is still down on power, maybe I just wasn't committed enough (I do find Oulton difficult and intimidating!)
So, some good and some not so good, but all good fun anyway. And relatively cheap by racing standards. That's the season done for me. There is one more race at Snetterton to go but I am out of funds now. The car will be serviced over the winter but there will be no great handling improvements to be done like this last winter. I may consider Augment Automotive's full race cam rather than the fast road cam I have now, and a rolling road session but what I really want to do is sell the Toyota and the 924 and consider a 944 Turbo!!!!!!!!
If I keep the 924S maybe I will shift back to Future Classics as it may be that it will suit the car better to be surrounded by a few more cars of similar performance. We shall see.
] No more £350 engine replacements that's for sure.. of course another route might be into a 924? 
