Created by Petrolheads, for Petrolheads

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pseOz8ulUm8

Footage from my first laps of Goodwood in the newly track-prepared SPR.  The brakes and the tyres have been sorted – the car now goes around corners and stops when you press the pedal in the middle!

Marcus and I have just got back from a very damp practice morning ahead of the Sprint on Easter Monday. I can safely say that Marcus’s Radical is VERY fast, while SPR is alot slower – no surprise there – however our little Lotus should be competitive in her class. For Marcus this was the end of a four month wait to drive ‘The Red Devil’ as the Radical has been nick named. He was more than happy with his purchase and it certainly lived up to expectation.

You can read full details on my runs on the SPR Race Diary page.

The wife has caught the bug. Here is Jo preparing to go out on track with one of Goodwood’s driving instructors. After a slow and nervous start she soon got into the groove. Trouble was at the end of the day Jo said “when can I go again”!

Also note SPR’s new light weight Rota wheels (shod with slicks), they look great and help with turn in.

Living in a county baked by brilliant sunshine for what seemed like weeks, it was hard to believe the rain forecast for the Brands Hatch track day at a venue not more than 50 miles away … but after consideration we loaded up the Golf-mule support car with the wet tyres on the outside chance they might be required.  We left Surrey on a bright summer’s morning and hit the M25, crossing into Kent around 7am, …. and an absolute monsoon.  Arriving at the circuit  we found it overcast and damp.  We also found it very, very, very busy and the facilities in the inner paddock lacking, with the Golf-mule being relegated to the outer paddock because of space constraints.

Briefing completed, we hurriedly prepped for sighting laps behind a pace car before finding some time to prepare properly for our first runs.  I drove next with PC as passenger, taking it cautiously to learn the circuit and also through a passing rain shower.  We then swapped for the next session, at the end of which we both agreed the need for some extra power to keep up with the competition!  (That’s next year’s upgrades planned!)

Next up were solo sessions.  Having learned the circuit, the 12.00 session allowed me to push the car further, and the GP circuit is fantastic with a huge variety of challenges – most enjoyable and rewarding.  A break for lunch and PC’s solo session then preceded my most interesting moment of the day as I sought to perfect a ‘backwards’ racing line out of Paddock Hill bend as it drops away downhill.   I have absolutely no idea how it happened – although I have a suspicion that it involved a lack of talent – but the back of the car snapped away just past the apex of the corner and I completed at least one 360 before collecting it up and completing the lap with the car intact but pride definitely wounded.

In summary, the Brands Hatch GP circuit is fantastic – although apparently rarely used for some reason – and I’d definitely drive it again, but the logistics behind the day are more than a little trying.

SPR took a trip to Silverstone yesterday to have a blast around the GP circuit. What welcomed us was a rather damp track after a night of heavy rain. To say it was like driving on glass would be an understatement, even on our sighting laps we spun at 40mph through Becketts – just crazy! With the track not drying out and a heavy shower at lunchtime the whole day was made up of driving at road speeds using a very conservative and smooth driving style to minimize the number of trips into the nearby scenery (at least a dozen red flags with one car going into the pit wall coming out of Woodcote). It also made us appreciate that SPR needs some adjustable suspension as we certainly could have done with softening the front of the car to try and maximize what little grip there was. One of the highlights of the day was managing to snag Vettel’s garage slot see pictures below.

Saturday 13^th November saw an SPR trip to Castle Combe  in Wiltshire, a very old style and very fast circuit with almost no run-off areas on some corners and minimal run-off at the remainder.  The reputations of the Avon Rise/Quarry corner combination precedes it and a YouTube search returned a multitude of high speed and high impact excursions.  The infamous reputation was further elaborated in both the Track Day joining instructions and the briefing session at the start of the day.

The day itself started out wet, with rain overnight and some light rain during the first session and continued to be damp throughout with grey clouds hanging directly over the circuit for most of the day.

We’d elected to run the road tyres again rather than the cut-slicks and found  the initial level of grip during a cautious set of sighting laps to be better than at Silverstone in October but the car still very nervous under braking and cornering.

On circuit, Tower corner rather than Quarry proved to be the more concerning challenge, coming at the end of a long, high speed section and requiring a greater than 90 degree turn to the right with absolutely no distance between the edge of the track and the barriers.

As the sessions continued, the track dried, the car became more predictable and handling confidence increased, allowing us to push for quicker times towards the end of the day – whilst still being wary of putting a wheel on the still wet grass.  Perhaps we’d just needed to scrub the road tyres in but they definitely worked better than at Silverstone.

There were a few spins from others but very few stoppages, making it both a challenging and hugely enjoyable day.  Castle Combe is already on the provisional track-day calendar for 2011, although this time on a baking hot day in the middle of summer with the slicks fitted.

So SPR took to the track at Spa on Monday 23rd May 2011. A day both Brian and I will not forget in a hurry. There is only one word for it: AWESOME! Flying through Eau Rouge at 100mph+ time and time again will live forever in ones mind. The whole four mile circuit is superb as it weaves up and down through a natural bowl in the forest.

The day was blessed with clear blue skies, a warm sun, and track temperatures which just climbed and climbed, this meant on went the slicks. They quickly got all lovely and sticky giving huge grip and covering SPR in rubber marks as the tyres marbled in protest to being pounded around the track for hour after hour. In fact we had 8hrs of open pit to play with.

Below is a small gallery of images which sum the day up:

Finally a couple of shots of the new run around: