The 2012 PCGB Club Championship
- Thread starter paulf968
- Start date
Neil Haughey
New member
I am sure you will go much faster when there are other race cars on track going for it, I know I struggle to keep a good pace if just driving around with no other cars to chase or hold off, maybe need one of those displays that gives your predicted lap time difference from the logger. At least you got on track Paul, I booked to do the circuitdays td at Silverstone last Friday but had to bail out with severe cramp in my right foot. Never had this before it was excruciating, I used to be young and fit and never had to worry about this sort of thing [
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]Neil Haughey
New member
Fiat Panda [] My left knee was aching on Monday as well. My plan to save money by commuting in the 50+ mpg Panda has so far cost me £200 for a track day I didn't do [] Might have got the seat position into something workable today, as you know I am not tall but I am now nearly sat in the back with the seat back rest bolt up right so my legs aren't all cramped up. Might book up either Rockingham or Bedford for Saturday tomorrow.
] My left knee was aching on Monday as well. My plan to save money by commuting in the 50+ mpg Panda has so far cost me £200 for a track day I didn't do [] Might have got the seat position into something workable today, as you know I am not tall but I am now nearly sat in the back with the seat back rest bolt up right so my legs aren't all cramped up. Might book up either Rockingham or Bedford for Saturday tomorrow.
I know exactly what you mean! In neither free practice nor qualifying could I get even close to my personal best at Oulton last weekend and I was grumpy and glum as hell! Come 2nd lap I was within a few hundredths! Still finished last in class though!
A fellow driver told me I need a "racing right foot" but I can't find one in the Demon Tweaks catalog!
Neil Haughey
New member
There is a school of thought that says the best preparation for racing is racing. Paul that car needs some decals on there, it looks all naked. I have cunning plan if I get any more, to stick them on the bottom of the rear quarters as a means of catching all the rubber and brake dust.
paulf968
New member
s'man - hi chris well done - I've just looked at your results on TSL (http://www.tsl-timing.com/brscc/2012/121331924.pdf) result, you have completed a race weekend (your first?) finished both races. How is the car? are you thinking about any further developments on it? If you went to Oulton again how would you drive it differently? Neil ..... lots of PCGB decals to go on the new paint, but I have a big space on each side though --- anyone suggest a sponsor for me in 2012 ??
Yes - first ever races - and two signatures on that little bit of card! The poor bank balance doesn't know what's hit it!
More sponsor stickers! I think I really need some shift lights. We bought a new set of tyres with the intention of scrubbing them in in free practice then keeping them back as wets - but ended up doing qual and both races on them. Still plenty of tread left though. It bounces and bucks about on the brakes a bit!
Faster! I didn't use 2nd gear at all - so the poor girl was labouring out of the chicanes and hairpin. I just need more cojones! Chris.
Steve Brookes
Moderator
I kept on eye on TSL timing Chris to see how you got on (unfortunately I came down with man flu last weekend so couldn't make it over to watch). Kudos for you finishing both of your first ever races and even more so for them being at Oulton Park. Talk about a baptism of fire! It is worth noting how fast the leading boxsters were in qualifying. Just over 1'55" is I believe faster than PCGB class 1 cars in recent years. Looks like the 968s/964s/993s are going to have some serious competition from the likes of Ben and Marcus in their boxsters this year.
But remeber that the BRSCC Boxsters are different and lighter and are in their 3rd competitive year (and I think there have been some 1.55's in our Championship at Oulton in previous seasons) and although it is encouraging - we have found out how different they are when set up to comply with our regs and our tyres etc. It will take time to dial out natural understeer and of course Boxster teams have little or no history to help with set ups before trying each track whereas many cars can just refer to previous adjustments etc. Personally I expect it to take some time before they become a serious threat - but time will tell. I would be interested if anyone has any feedback on the difference the weight change from class 1 to 2 in terms of lap times or top speeds. On that subject - does anyone know how the power to weight ratios used for our Championship are calculated - or what the principle of them is built around. While the older car ratios seem well balanced (and the different models that have won in recent years support that balance) there are a lot of changes (and some new models) for this year and changes for the shift to class 2 for some cars and even bigger changes planned next season. I just thought it important to get an idea how all that is worked out to ensure fair competitive racing for all? I don't think it is a simple as pure power to weight since the 993's I think had changes made to help overcome a tyre limitation a few seasons ago. We are so new to Club racing we have ittle background history of all this to understand the policies etc. Despite our initial optimism that we had plenty of time we are still a long way from sorting out our cars and the drivers are not yet fully familiar with them - so I guess Brands Hatch will prove hectic again - oh well - it's the way it usually goes. Looking forward to competing with you guys again and good luck everyone. Baz
paulf968
New member
Barry We are all looking forward to Brands on May 5th and having the Hartech team in the paddock. Best of luck with your final prep. Will you be there on the Friday 4th for testing as well? Personally, I cannot add anything to your questions on power to weight ..... there does not seem to be any strict formula for the calculations and some might say smoke & mirrors are involved in some way!! You are correct in saying that the permissible weight of the 993's when introduced was adjusted downwards twice in the first season BUT only because they were struggling to achieve podiums. So you know where that leaves you if you taste success early on! This is one good topic for a chat in the paddock when you have a moment............. NB why for years have 968's been running in the championship with a lower power to weight ratio than other models? (I guess it is because they are such a well balanced car that they needed to be handicapped a bit, to even things out ....)
Neil Haughey
New member
There are loads of oddities. We could talk about this for hours so I am sure it will be a big part of the Paddock chat. I would like to see the 968s handicapped some more of course [].
].Thanks Paul, We will be at Brands Hatch on Friday and this will be the first time the cars will have been driven in the dry by the team drivers - so we will have lots to do and to cope with. I look forward to meeting up with you again then. I would have thought that the intention of the weight ratios was to make it possible for people of equal driving ability in cars of reasonably equal preparation and specification -find they are driving around more or less together - so the choice of which car to use is not so preferential for any one model that this becomes the only model on the grid and instead the Championship has model variety and fairness incorporated within it. There will always be drivers of different abilities and people who can spend more on their cars than others - and prepare basically a better car - so within the framework above I don't think there should then be another adjustment to allow for either the quality of the preparation of the car (within the rules) or the skill of the driver - that would be too easy for the driver to scam - either going slow early on in the season until a benefit is passed to them or holding back and having an easy ride if their car just happens to be overall superior just because it was given too much of a power to weight ratio advantage from the outset. These days it is easy to run extremely accurate computer analytical models to predict lap performance and straight line acceleration and so it should not be possible to need smoke and mirrors (although nothing would surprise me). and generally it is possible to run all the models through such a number cruncher and predict the differences for equality of car and driver. That previous good ratio balance is probably why the winner for the last three seasons has been in a different model. I have actually tested out these systems with the models and used my own road dyno software system to compare the present ratios and they all consistently reveal a very good balance for all the models in class 1 (except one - which has a huge, obvious and in my opinion an unfair advantage) - for some inexplicable reason and that a new model in class 2 is a bit light. The weights presently carried surprisingly seem to make a relatively small difference round short circuits like Bands Hatch but a benefit of 3-4 seconds round say Silverstone GP circuit (which is too much in my opinion). The problem is if nothing is done about it until the results for that model are too good - anyone complaining looks to be doing so out of jealousy and somehow it seems that they are just winging and they will be disliked for doing so and may even suffer consequences. There is a lot of muttering at present but due to the potential problems with club politics etc - no one seems to have the guts to do anything about it for fear of repercussions. I - myself - am not sure if I should risk simply passing on my results to the organisers with a request that they look at the problem and if there is no good reason for the out of balance - that they fix the problem before the season starts - as I have been around long enough to know how such genuine, well intentioned and fair mindedly motivated actions can backfire big style. And before you all start shouting "foul" can I also make it absolutely clear that I don't seek any advantage whatsoever for our team and prefer the weighting to be as accurate as possible and for us all to compete fairly. I have been involved in Championship winning motor sport before and would find no satisfaction if it was unfairly achieved and anyway have some plans to use the model I have found out of balance in the near future. I like fair play - that is all We have very good drivers and well prepared expensive cars and should naturally do resonably well anyway (wishful thinking?) - but it would irritate me if we were then penalised just because as a result of all that hard work and money - we might be doing well as a result. It would also irritate me - no annoy me - if purely because of a clearly unfair initial weight ratio advantage - one particular model was having an easy ride over everyone else (especially if it was disguised) and having been established from the outset - it was felt wrong to change it and means everyone else in the Championship is handicapped unfairly. Oh well - I guess whatever happens we will all have to just put up with it and do our best and accept the outcome (well that's how things usually seem to pan out). What do you think I should do about it? Baz
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