#238 - UK based - project thread

[pat_t]

First event of the year and my first round in the BARC Speed Championship. I came away with a 3rd in class and 51st out of 110 classified competitors. Given that this included single seaters and sports prototypes I'm pretty happy with the performance. Due to a quirk of the scoring system whereby me and the top 2 in class all beat the championship "target time" I still came away from round 1 with maximum points which is good for my Championship hopes (best 10 scores taken from upto 25 events)

It was a really cold, gloomy day, really hard to get off the line with freezing cold tyres and staging burnouts were not allowed :(

I'm using a new Data App this year. HP Tuners TrackAddict and HP Tuners RaceRender. With my bluetooth OBD reader I'm getting really good data and with only 4 runs I really felt that being able to immediately review the data and video overlays was helping me find time on each and every run. This App is the only one I've found that includes a decent algorithm for calculating when you are on the brake pedal, seeing as brake pressure is not available via OBD data.

The below video was not my best, I ended up finding another 3 seconds on this, you can see just how slippery it was!



Next round...the iconic Goodwood racetrack in early May!!

[pat_t]

Nice engine shot for you!

[pat_t]

Then last weekend I had my 2nd Sprint race of the year at Goodwood. Classic, iconic circuit. A proper, high speed, "big boys" track where bravery counts for as much as talent. There's almost no run-off then you're into solid barriers on the outside of every corner.

I've only done 3 laps there before back when I was 20 years old in a dog-leg gearbox Ferrari 348 of all things! For the sprint we only got 1 practice lap, then 3 timed attempts. So on my final timed lap and hence only my 7th ever lap at the track I managed to lay down 101.6 seconds which got me a podium and a good haul of championship points!

140mph+ into Woodcote!



With another few laps (ideally a full trackday to practice, although my car won't pass the strict trackday noise limits there) I can get well into the low 90'second bracket. Still finding this car extremely difficult to launch consistently on standing-start sprints where a burnout is not allowed. I experimented with PTM5 and ALL OFF. The video is PTM5 but I'm not happy with how it interrupts power so next time I will go back to ALL OFF.

It was a beautiful spring day and the track is absolutely gorqeous. It's like stepping back in time with WWII planes (and even biplanes) taking off from the grass airstrip in the middle of the track even whilst the track is live. A real quaint "old english" experience and as much of a must-see for anyone taking a motoring holiday to Europe as the Nurburgring in my opinion. I was competing as number #111, so I threw a little Stars'n'Stripes flavour into the numbers, I'm sure you'll all approve!

Next event is a two day double-header at Coventry Motofest 1st/2nd June...much lower speed layout, but the crowds will be massive. Can't wait!

[pat_t]

This weekend coming sees my biggest event of the year, a 2-day event at Coventry Motofest. This event is pretty unique in that it was the first UK event to allow proper timed motorsport on closed city-centre roads since the 1980s!



The course is made up of sections of the City ring road, which is a mixture of flyovers and a couple of tunnels/underpasses, broken up with some temporary chicanes to keep the speeds sensible. I'll get 4 runs on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday, 1x-practice and 3x-timed each day.



Compared to the last round at Goodwood where I was hitting 140mph+ this will be a pretty slow track for the Camaro, 2nd and 3rd gear only I'm expecting. Crowds will be massive though, with a great atmosphere, last year they had 130,000 people over the two days. I'm sure the Z will go down a storm! I've gone full NASCAR and put massive numbers on for the big crowds, including on the roof for the benefit of those watching from the bridges!

Here's a couple of maps of the track for those interested. It's been nicknamed the "Monaco of the Midlands" due to the city centre layout with concrete and metal barriers lining the track!

Speedhunters covered it in depth last year for anyone that wants to read more (and see more cool pics!)

http://www.speedhunters.com/2018/06/...lands-streets/

http://www.speedhunters.com/2018/06/...ng-returns-uk/

[hammdo]

That. Is. AWESOME!

Looking forward to the report!

-Don

[MrRaZ28]

I am so envious of you, Pat! That is sick! I would love to drive that. Hope you have a great race!

[Z28#69]

Hey Pat

I also have a Z28 in the UK. I am based in Beaconsfield. I do a lot of track days but not in the Z yet. I don’t think it will pass any noise tests as I have a Hennessy upgrade and it is loud.
The only options are probably SPA or the Ring. Let me know what you have planned maybe we can meet up.
I am doing Modball in the Z at the end of June. London to Ibiza.

[Z28#69]

Ok great, let me know when you are found any track days.

[Z28#69]

How do I find the U.K. group on here?

[j o n]

Originally Posted by Z28#69

How do I find the U.K. group on here?

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

[pat_t]

Ok then, time for a full write up of last weekend!

Got there nice and early Saturday morning, luckily this event is very local for me, only about 10 miles from home! Had plenty of time to sign on, have a coffee and bacon roll, do a full track walk and even got a sighting lap in after scrutineering which is a rare treat for most of these Sprint events. First impressions were... "whoa this is a tight track for a 2metre wide Camaro!" Most of the chicanes were ok, but the two bottom hairpin corners were very tight. The whole course was 2nd gear for me apart from a brief moment in 3rd off the start line.

4 runs on Saturday, 2 practice, 2 timed. All dry and sunny. My two timed were only 0.03s apart from each other. Video is my final Saturday run:



(Go-Pro mounted on the splitter, sync'd with phone in the cockpit running HP Tuners TrackAddict App. Then final video put together in RaceRender. Sorry if the chimes are annoying - I have discovered a programmable shift chime in the App which is useful for competition. In the video it's set to 6500rpm but I've since upped it to 6800rpm)

All 4 runs on Saturday I ran with traction control fully off. As you can see there's no room for big errors, metal barriers and concrete walls await you! A bit like at the 'Ring you just have to try to not think about it. As you can see I was needing more than a full turn of lock to get around the hairpins in the dry!



My 60ft times were a little better than they have been at previous events on the Saturday, I got down to 2.5secs which was in line with most of the other rear wheel drive stuff competing.

Sunday was dry for first practice, damp for 2nd practice and then fully wet for the two timed runs. Immediately before the timed runs, a racing truck had a diesel spill which made the course even more treacherous! I
experimented quite a lot, 1st timed run I ran in the PTM wet mode, but I was a bit over cautious. 2nd timed run I tried PTM3 but over drove and was too aggressive on the brakes. PTM3 was also too lenient in these conditions and I had to hold on to keep it out of the walls a few times! If I was to go back and do it again I would have stuck with PTM WET mode as I was quite impressed with the way it managed the traction in such slick conditions.

Here's the video for that over-aggressive final wet timed run. Warning it's not pretty! (much steering wheel input needed lol)



Despite not finishing particularly highly on either day (I placed around 40th out of 77 on both days) I had a great time trying to hustle the Z around a true street circuit. The course really favours smaller cars through the chicanes... Caterhams, Lotus Elises and Renaultsport hot hatches were hard to beat on this one! Fastest time of the event was a Radical.

Overall though this was an absolutely cracking weekend. Motofest have confirmed they had 230,000 visitors this year which makes it now the second largest car show in the UK after the iconic Goodwood Festival of Speed.

I'll finish up with some nice pictures from the Saturday - I'm sure more pictures will come to light over the next few weeks. The NASCAR style numbers were a huge hit with everyone!

[MrRaZ28]

Super jealous! That looks like amazing fun! Well done!

[LeftCoast32]

So great following you and your Z28 on social media and your forum posts.

[pat_t]

Originally Posted by Chevy2tehBone

Super jealous! That looks like amazing fun! Well done!

Thanks, yes great fun. Making so many brilliant memories with this car.

Originally Posted by LeftCoast32

So great following you and your Z28 on social media and your forum posts.

Thanks Joe! It might go a bit quiet for the next few months as we have our first baby on the way very soon... but I hope to get out in the car at least a couple more times before the end of the year.