Race Report 2 for Car 91! The new jockey wheel on the Brian James trailer did its thing again by winding down on the motorway. The tread was still in good condition when we stopped and wound the jockey wheel up again. We're now removing the jockey wheel completely on journeys. Weather was glorious sunshine for 3 days over the Bank Holiday. My new Porsche motorsport fleece was useful for the early start but only until the morning mist lifted. When will we get PCGB Motorsport polo shirts? Scrutineering was a workout for everyone on Satruday as it started at 0800hrs but race engines couldn't be started until 0900rs so a lot of pushing was required for our car and assisting other competitors. Even the lightweight cars are heavy when you start pushing them around the paddock. The car performed faultlessly in qualification but I experienced a 'knocking' late in the GT3 race initially on right-hand bends. It sounded and felt like wheel bearing noise. But in the last lap it was happening on every corner. Chris D could hear the noise from the engine when I pulled into the paddock. Chris Dyer, of Strasse, and Big Dave quickly diagnosed a faulty pick-up pipe/strainer in the sump. They carried out some simple checks to confirm by taking the cam cover off and turning the engine over without ignition. The oil was getting to the top of the engine and there appeared to be no damage so the only option was to remove the sump cover. Easier said than done. So there was no way we were going to get the job done at the track and so we had a DNS for Race 1 of the Club Championship. Chris D offered to do the job if Chris W and I helped. So we got back to Leeds at 1900hrs and finished at 2345hrs. Getting to the sump is a big job requiring disconnection of the lower suspension and the crossmember with steering rack. As we removed the sump cover we could see the pick-up pipe had a large fracture so much so that the pipe sheared off even with gentle work removing the cover. Strasse had a spare pick-up pipe and this was fitted. Paul Follett had suggested that the root cause could well be fault timing of the balance shafts. Lo and behold - one was 1/4 turn out and the other was 2 notches out. We drove back to the circuit and got in at 0130hrs. I slept until 0800hrs and was still tired. A HUGE thanks to Chris D for an expert diagnosis and much hard work late into the night. Chris was deservedly applauded at the prize giving for helping us. I felt dehydrated on Saturday night and made a note to drink much more water on Sunday. Very hot and felt light-headed with a heat rash on my hands. I had to keep in the shade all day but the lure of standing on the pit wall watching Chris W in the GT2 Race 2 made me stand in the sun again. The car interior is extremely hot even with the blower on full. The 3-layer Nomex suit doesn't help in the heat. In Race 2: I made a few mistakes. I power understeered after the chicane and I braked too late at Tower Bend. I managed to get by a very wide Paul S in Class 2 when he went wide at Tower Bend when the front runners passed us. Paul overtook me when I made the mistake at the Chicane. I managed to compose myself and caught back up and was trying to find an overtaking opporunity. Finally I over-estimated the braking ability of Paul S's 944 when he took a defensive tight line into Sunny In and nudged his rear left corner with my right front. That smarted and I backed off for the rest of the race. Paul was very kind with me as I was very embarrased and upset for damaging his car. Avoidable yes but it all happened so quickly. Chris W is going to upload some photos and we had some great photos taken by Paul, Mark Swales, Ed Whittle and Oliver to be uploaded later. So still learning and excited looking forward to Donington!
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