Little end of season update!
Leinster Trophy weekend two weeks ago was the last two championship rounds of the season. I wasnt really in the running for a place in the championship with missed rounds and a few DNF?s.
I couldn?t resist getting back to Mondello as I hadn?t raced there all year, and it should suit the car better than the big power circuit?s up north.
I had put a lot of effort in beforehand to make sure the car didn?t suffer the heat issues it had all year, and made some setup changes.
I had fitted a new front splitter too and the car was good to go.
We had two races over the weekend, qualifying and race one on Saturday with race two Sunday.
I went out for qualifying Saturday morning and the car was shocking!
Could not understand why I was having such issues with rear end all year, any this day was no exception. The issue was always the slow right hand turns, it would just snap around like it had casters under the back axel.
The session was red flagged after two laps or so. While in pit lane a marshal came running to me and said there was fuel leaking onto my rear passenger wheel!
The sudden realization that he had just found my issue all year[emoji22]
Can?t believe I was so stupid not to have fitted a roll over valve on my fuel cell breather. I never thought it would leak with the foam filled cell, or just pure lack of experience on my part. But this 100% crippled me all year and led to a complete lack of confidence in me and the car. On the right hand turn while on full tank the fuel moved to the left and up the breather pipe. This pipe just went to ground but was landing in the rear diffuser and funneling onto the back wheel. So silly but at least it?s a handy fix and I can say I have learnt a valuable lesson this year.
Cool shot from qualifying shows me fighting the car at South Side! 2nd gear corner and should never be sideways here..
Between race one and qualifying i just fitted a longer breather to miss the back wheel and re adjusted the back ride height. I still wasn?t sure what difference it made but just kinda wanted to reset everything. I removed rear slicks and fitted old AO50?s, I just wanted reassurance that I?d have max grip in the race and not take someone else out of the race if things got loose again.
Race one started badly!
My gear shifter cable had came loose and left 1st,3rd and 5th very hard to find. I have a habit of taking the car out of gear and back in on the grid. I normally release the clutch to make sure I have bite, but this time I didn?t. I was left on the line then had to play catch up.
When I did get going I started to pick up a few places. Managed to pass my main rival in the Civic but could not defend against his power advantage. My car is 185 bhp per tonne with driver and his is 209. I can get the work done in the bends but he can pull me down the straights.
The car was feeling good and I was getting some confidence back, times were getting into the low 59?s but sadly the race was red flagged. Pats lotus had taken damage at 7A luckily the driver was ok and hopefully he gets her sorted soon. Very sad to see it damaged on the edge of the track.
Race 1 finished P3 in class.
https://youtu.be/0EbJ4h6h8-Y
Race 2 was a different story.
It was absolutely soaking on the Sunday afternoon. I didn?t have wets so reverted to fitting old AO50 on the front and two old cracked Yokahama wets in the rear.. they were completely useless!
But I started good and kept the lead of my class for most of the race. I passed one class A car as he also didn?t have wets. Eventually the Civic on full wets got passed me despite my best efforts to hold him off. I did enjoy wet weekend and can?t wait to get back at it next year.
Race 2 finished P2 in class.
https://youtu.be/_Zu5DELvj3g
The plan as you probably have seen is to fit a super charger for next season. The car needs more straight line speed, it?s in its absolute limit with available power.
I?ll be trying a lot harder to get a little more sponsorship if possible. My lack of racing budget doesn?t help when trying to compete against others who clearly have it. It will be a short six months so work has already started . The engine is coming out for refreshing and fitting the super charger, I haven?t sourced this yet but hopefully I?ll have it before Christmas. I will also revert back to power steering as I have the stuff at home for this. I miss the short rack ratios and I think it will be important to have this with the faster pace next year ? hopefully ?
That?s it for now and I?ll try keep the devlopments updated here over the winter.
Sent from my iPhone using my finger
all of great work done 
