Mike Turner – Birkett 6 hour Relay Race – Silverstone

A surprise phone call from Clive in the week before the race resulted in me getting a drive in Patricks MCR as he was unavailable. I was to share with Matt Manderson so at least one of us would be fast!  (Matt not me!)
After a long day instructing at Thruxton on the Friday saw me home late thanks to the horrible Friday night
traffic.
Up early on Saturday and off to Silverstone. I have never signed on in the dark before!  Clive and Cindy had got the cars scrutineered on Friday afternoon so it was straight out for qualifying with a disparate hord of cars.  Everything from Radicals for historic Hillman Imps were on the entry.|
I had not raced on the historic GP track before so just spent the session finding my way round the bits I didnt know.
Matt put in a storming lap in his qualifying so the MCR team started on the front row with Clive on board.
Clive put in a fine first stint and MCR were running 2nd overall but about 102 on hadicap!
Scott Guthrie carried on the good work until a Caterham seemed to want the same bit of tarmac as Scott. Exit Scott with some damage to his car.  The team with Pete Williams, Steve Head, Clive and myself managed to keep things going. Matt put in another superb stint to get MCR back to 5th overall.
Fifth overall on scratch and nowhere on handicap was the final result-  I think we should just take the 5th on scratch!
Overall a really enjoyable end to the season. Many thanks to Clive and Cindy for the opportunity to drive in the Birkett and for all their help and support over the season.
Roll on 2012 sports 2000 season and maybe another go at the Birkett 6 hours?

Patrick Sherrington – Brands Hatch Indy 16th Oct


Qualifying
The track was unusually slippery and it was difficult to judge how well we were doing but a lot of others seemed to be losing control and the first few minutes of quali were a right off so I pitted to check tyre pressures. I couple of small changes and back out. The second flying lap we were on pole! This lasted for about 5 laps when Mike Jenvey put in a quick one so second it would be.
Race
Fabulous sunshine for race day so I was really looking forward to the race. It was going to be close at the front with the top 4 separated by less than a second.
Red lights out and I was challenging Mike Jenvey for the lead on the way into Druids although on the outside of the track. A quick check in the mirrors and there was a gap to third so I slotted in behind Mike and concentrated on driving a clean rest of the lap to try and maximise the gap to third.
For the first 4 or 5 laps I had a great battle with Mike and was able to challenge but he had great drive out of Clearways and managed to pull a gap going into Paddock each time. At this point the yellow flags came out at both Paddock and Druids and Mike did the right thing by slowing through the yellow flags. The chasing pack did not however and this reduced the gap to third to less than a second and the cars loomed large in the rear view mirror.
As the flags went back in the race proper was back on and I tried a lunge round the outside at Druids which meant that Neil Burroughs got up the inside. We both ran side by side down the hill and through Graham Hill bend only millimetres apart. This allowed Rob Oldershaw to get a great run through and I found myself in the middle of a Gunn sandwich with a car pining me on both sides. I lifted off and they both got by so it was head down and try and chase again. Soon after the cockpit was filled with a thick black smoke every time I went round a left hand bend although I couldn’t work out what it was as there was no damage to the car.
I continued to chase hard until the engine made a strange noise with a couple of laps to go and sadly exploded. It seems from the data that we had a small oil leak which resulted in surge round a number of the faster corners.
Thanks to Clive and Cindy at MCR Race Cars for a great season and to Alan Lusty and all at Systems ADI Group for their continued support. Thanks to Dad, Scott and Ken for providing the vital trackside and pitlane support.

Sebastien Bamsey – Brands Indy 16th October


After racing at the wide, smooth and flat Formula 1 circuit that is Silverstone, Brands Hatch was almost the complete opposite: a narrow, bumpy, roller coaster of a ride. Powering through Paddock Hill bend and up into Druids was even more awesome than I had imagined…
During the weekend, I learned three important lessons:
1)  How easy it is to end up in the gravel trap at Clearways and then spend the next 2 hours removing tiny stones from the cockpit
2)  Why you should never, ever take your foot even slightly off the throttle when pulling away at the start
3)  What it feels like to be Felipe Massa in India and retire with suspension failure
I lined up 14th on the grid for my third ever race, hopeful of perhaps breaking into the top 10 by the end. Unfortunately, my start didn’t help: after the lights went out, I lifted slightly instead of keeping my foot flat on the run down to Paddock Hill bend and ended up entering the first corner in second-to-last place (20th). Nevertheless, I stayed focused on finding a good rhythm and making my way back up the field.
After a couple of laps I was on the back of the car in 19th place and looking for a way past. Although I was quicker, initially I struggled to find an opportunity to overtake on the tight Indy layout. I then tried a slightly different line for Paddock Hill: braking earlier and taking a wider entry, allowing me to carry more speed through the exit. It worked a treat and I was able to pull alongside on the approach to Druids and dive up the inside as we braked for the slow right-hander.
I then set about closing on the next two cars ahead until the push rod on the right rear gave way as I flew over the kerbs at McLaren. Unfortunately that was the end of my race and my experience of racing in 2011.
Thank you again to the whole MCR team for their help and support. Also thank you to my family and friends who came down to support – next time I hope I can provide a full half hour’s worth of entertainment…roll on the 2012 season!

Sebastien Bamsey – Silverstone GP 1st October

The un-seasonal British heatwave continued into race day and, as I lined up on the grid for the start, I wondered how much grip I would have going into the first corner, Copse. As it turned out, I didn’t need to find the limit as the cars around me all braked quite cautiously into that first right-hander, although Wil Arif made a great start and swept around the outside to enter Copse ahead of me. The first few laps were brilliant, and I screamed into my helmet after executing my first proper overtaking manoeuvre with a classic late-braking move up the inside at Village Corner. I then felt I was on a similar pace or even slightly quicker than Anders Fredricsson and Peter Williams ahead of me, particularly through the high-speed sections.  Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to prove it due to a piece of bodywork lying on the start-finish straight: on lap 9, as I exited Luffield side-by-side with another car, I moved to the right-hand side of the track on the approach to Copse and hit the debris at full speed. I spotted it too late and felt a thud in the cockpit but didn’t realise that it had heavily damaged my front splitter. After that, the car developed high-speed understeer and I had to back off to make sure that I saw the chequered flag. In the end I made up two places from my starting slot and finished 14th. Also, pleasingly, my fastest race lap was another two seconds quicker than my best qualifying lap.
Thank you again to the whole MCR team for their support – the whole weekend was a fantastic experience and I cannot wait for the season finale at Brands Hatch, another classic track!

Mike Turner – Silverstone GP Circuit 1st October

After a frustrating weekend at Oulton Park when we had engine problems in testing it has been a hectic few weeks.
The day after Oulton the engine was out of the car and I took it down to MCR on the Monday. Clive stripped the engine while I was there and the diagnosis was that it had been over revved at some stage. After a few beers and a nice meal with Clive and Cindy I travelled back home the following day.
After 4 days the phone call came saying the re built engine was ready for collection. Fantastic service to get it turned round so quickly. John and I got the engine installed in the chassis and I went on holiday leaving John to do all the hard work!
On my return all was complete, on running the engine however we found that it was not running cleanly. An electrical fault had ocurred. I took the car to Hi Tech Motorsport in Dudley who got the engine running but there was still an underlying electrical fault.  A phone call to Clive at MCR and I arranged to meet him at Silverstone to try to sort things out. Once again MCR provided superb back up and with the hard work of Clive and Steve who makes the MCR looms the fault was rectified ready for qualifying on Friday.
I managed to somehow get the wrong gear ratios in the car – maybe too much holiday sun and wine! This meant I was having to lift of early and use higher gears in the slow corners.  Anyway I qualified 13th and 2nd in the Derek Bell class and was confident of a much better race.  John and Dave fettled the car and we fitted the right ratios on Saturday morning.
After a cautious start – my first proper start of the year  – I was not sure how much grip would be available from the new radial Yokohama tyres things soon looked good.
I managed to find a couple of seconds in lap times and enjoyed a good tussle with Scott Guthrie and Rupert Russell.  Although unable to catch the group who were battling for 5th – 8th position I seemed to be getting closer with reasonable lap times. Sadly the race ended early when on lapping a pinto car he was distracted and unfortunately hit the back of my MCR putting me into a spin and also resulting in some damage to the car. So end of race!
Overall though a good weekend after all our frustrations the car ran superbly.  It handled very well with good power and at last I felt I was starting to get to grips with racing again.  John will be driving the car at Brands, his first race there. I am sure he will enjoy the handling and response of the MCR on the challenging Indy circuit.
Then we join the MCR team for the Birkett 6 hour relay race at Silverstone Historic GP Circuit on 29th October.
I must thank all at MCR race car manufacturers for their back up, support and help during the year. I hope next season we can have a proper year of racing in the Sports 2000 Duratec Championship and the Sports 2000 Mini Enduro Series.  It really can to come too soon!

Patrick Sherrington – Silverstone GP Circuit, 1st October

Qualifying   We had fitted some new rear anti roll bars but with no time to test it would have to be qualifying to try them out. For this race we would run with the Sports 2000 Championship Pinto engined cars which meant a massive 50 car grid but also some fairly heavy traffic with significant speed differences. The new anti roll bars worked well and one past the traffic I set a good time with my first flying lap which was just behind Mike Jenvey. I pitted for some set up changes and the car felt improved in the quick corners but traffic meant I couldn’t improve and Rob Oldershaw sneaked into 2nd place by the now familiar 2 hundredths of a second!

Race    Fabulous sunshine for the race day at Silverstone GP Circuit so I was really looking forward to the race. It was going to be close at the front with the top 4 separated by less than a second.
Red lights out and I was challenging Rob Oldershaw for second on the way into Copse although on the outside of the track. Craig Mitchell was also up my inside and challenging hard. A slight tap as he lost down force in the wake of my car but no harm done
and we all raced down into Maggots / Beckets. Oldershaw was challenging Mike Jenvey for the lead through the complex of corners and their fight allowed me to get a great run at them onto the Hanger straight.
I exited with a lot more speed drafted Oldershaw and swept round the outside into 2nd as we entered Stowe however he kept coming down the inside and I had to move out wide to avoid the inevitable contact so it was back into third but just behind the leaders. Oldershaw had a great run at Mike through Abbey and Farm and then dived down the inside into the loop. Mike was wide at the tight left hander as a result so I cheekily dived up his inside and into second again. Mike got a better exit though and we ran side by side through the kink at Aintree and onto the back straight. Mike edged into the lead and then drafted Oldershaw and moved back into the lead again as we thundered down into the braking zone at Brooklands.
Mike and Oldershaw both went for the inside. Mike braked early and Oldershaw went back into the lead and I ran down the outside of both of them and past Mike and nearly into the back of Oldershaw so back into second again. Oldershaw pulled
out a couple of car lengths running down the start finish straight and I concentrated on keeping up whilst keeping a watching brief on Mike Jenvey in the rear view mirror. It stayed this way for a lap but on the start of lap 3 both Mike and I ran wide at Copse and a loose bit of Astroturf nearly stopped the car dead and ripped off most of the front splitter. This reduced my top speed and gave me heavy understeer. I was a sitting duck on the Hanger straight and Mike swept by so back into third. To make matters worst Craig Mitchell was still there in the Lola and got me out of Copse on lap 6.
The remainder of the race was spent trying to keep the speed up whilst contending with every increasing understeer as the front tyres went off and a 4th place was a good result considering the damage to the splitter.
Once again we have made a step forward with the car and I am really looking forward to Brands Hatch for the last race of the season for the Sports 2000 Championship.

Scott Davies – View from the laptop


Scott Davies reportng on Oulton Park race 30th September 2011.

The electrical engineering side of things has finally come together with an update from Race Technology and the final pieces of the puzzle coming together.  We had a solid weekend of data and analysis, making my job a busy one.  Now that the bugs have all been worked out, including the ones in the engineer’s head, we have a system where we can configure the dash to suit the driver.  A full suite of alarms and notifications have been applied, in addition to the “performance” meter finally working!  Based on a lap marker that I drop into the car, the driver can get an instantaneous update on how well they are driving against their best lap of the session.  For the arrive-and-drive customers, I am expecting that this should add to the “surprise and delight” factor of the MCR cars and also give the driver a fantastic heads-up to how they are performing and where they can improve.
In addition to the dash and car setup, there is a new website in town, setup just for the race weekends.  TSL timing Ltd. has set up a website with a java script enabled link to have a live table of timing for both laptops and internet enabled smartphones.  The applet looks exactly the same as the analogue TV signal normally seen on the pit wall, but now it is free to view both for the punters trackside but for the ever important race engineers and crew!  We have made extensive use of this and as long as we have a mobile internet connection at the pit wall, we are able to give Patrick exact positions and gaps now, making Paul’s job of timing much easier.  Patrick commented over the weekend stating that it was great to be able to get a detailed stream of info both from his dash and the pit wall!!!   Since this was our first weekend of solid data gathering, I have had a great chance to see how we stack up and compare our data to some of our other competitors who use Race Technology.  I even was able to export the data and compare it to some Farringdon Instruments data, giving us the freedom to put a stake in the ground, so to speak, for our performance against other manufacturers, regardless of the data hardware.
Patrick’s data continues to show that he is king of the late-brakers.  His consistency in car control is great from an engineer’s perspective because we can change one or two items and see a corner-by-corner change in the car which just makes our jobs easier.  Over the weekend we addressed a few racing line selections out of the data and found over half a second in one of the sectors!  Based on our data analysis, it also shows that gear selection is critical to this competition series.  Even by as much as a tooth difference, it can make as much as a second’s difference in lap time.
Oulton Park always proves to be a challenging track.  If it isn’t the new layout, it’ll be the weather that changes perspectives on why this track is so intriguing.  Sitting behind a laptop whilst making heads-or-tails of squiggly lines has given me the great perspective of seeing a team come together.  Over the past season, MCR race cars and the ADI Group sponsored #66 car of Patrick’s has been a great example of seeing teamwork and ingenuity come together to make a spectacular car.  Even though our race was hampered by weather related tyre choices, it was fantastic and very encouraging to see a well-oiled team deliver through a busy weekend, even in spite of some of the mechanical issues we saw.  Even in the face of adversity, we managed a finished race and a raft of data from the car and driver so we can continue to improve on a winning car.

Patrick Sherrington – Oulton Park 3rd September

Qualifying  A days testing the day before mean’t that the car was well dialled in for qualifying and I was soon down to some decent times with Dad showing the P1 board for the first few laps. Mike Jenvey then got going and seized the pole position slot by a decent margin. Seeing him in the mirrors I decided to see if I could get a tow for a lap but he went into the pits and I followed him in also to check tyre pressures.  I went to exit the pits for one last try for pole but the rear drive shaft bolts decided to go on strike and after showering the pit lane with shrapnel I coasted to a stop.  This allowed Craig Mitchell to sneak the 2nd grid slot by 2 1/100ths of a second so into 3rd but on the right side of the grid.

Race   Yet again the weather decided to play tricks and it began to drizzle whilst we were preparing for the race.  The race beforehand slowed by 20 seconds a lap indicating it was indeed slippery.  The weather forecast suggested it would dry but the sky and ever increasing drops of rain suggested otherwise.  I went for wets as did most of the rest of the front of the grid with Mike Jenvey
opting for slicks.  It was therefore either going to be win or nothing.

Red lights out and Craig Mitchell had a bad start and I was straight into second and on the tail of Mikes Gunn.  The track wasn’t as slippery as I had hoped for and I knew I would need to make a move quickly if I was going to make the most of my wets tyres.  I tried a lunge at cascades and got alongside but didn’t have enough momentum to make it through.  I was clearly quicker at Shell Oils and the 2 chicanes but there was no way past and Mike was suitably rapid down the straights to keep me at bay.
Things soon began to change however and by lap 3 the balance had swung.  Mike clearly had found grip in the slicks and I could feel the wets starting to go off.  I then had to go into survival mode and be as gentle as possible on the tyres which was destroying my lap times.  This led to a frustrating race as those further back that had chosen slicks began to come past.  A number of times I
questioned continuing fearing that the tyres would fail as I could hear the chunks of rubber flying off at every bend.  This was confirmed by Craig Mitchell who had parked his Lola at the chicane and advised after the race that swathes of rubber was flying off the car every time I came by!  I managed to salvage an 8th place which wasn’t too bad and with Rob Oldershaw not finishing and Paul Tickner also having a bad race championship wise it wasn’t too bad.
Roll on Silverstone!

Sebastien Bamsey Castle Combe 14th August


Seb testing for 1hr Endurance race                                (left Eddie Waring, (right) Sebastien Bamsey
I arrived at the circuit on Thursday morning under a grey sky covered with thick cloud and a light drizzle – not what I had wanted for my first ever experience of a racing car…  Nevertheless, the immense, childish, Christmas-like excitement I felt about driving a fully fledged racing machine overcame any concerns I had about a wet track. Having familiarised myself with the layout of the track and the car (the various cockpit switches, lights and displays), it was time to fire her up…  I flicked the starter switch, blipped the throttle and the 2.0 litre Duratec lept into life. The awesome rumble of the engine and the gearbox whine as I selected first gear using the sequential shifter immediately made clear this was a million miles from the Westfield which I had used on a couple of track days…  I ventured cautiously out on track with a full wet setup and wet tyres.  As I left the pit lane, I gingerly put my foot down and was absolutely blown away!  The acceleration and sense of speed was incredible. I barely had time to think before I was braking hard into Quarry corner and thumping down the gears. This was what I had been missing out on all this time!!   I struggled to wipe the grin off my face for the rest of the day.  I had another run in the wet before the weather started to clear and Clive felt it was time to put on some slicks…  the unbelievable grip levels on slick tyres was another revelation. Roll on race day!
I opened the curtains early on Sunday morning and was greeted with a blue sky.  At least I wouldn’t have to worry about the weather for my first race…  Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to run the car in qualifying because of a minor exhaust glitch but it was resolved in good time for the race.  Nevertheless, Eddie Waring, with whom I was sharing the car, did an excellent  job and managed to grab 7th slot on the grid.  Patrick gave me some very helpful advice about the parade lap and the start procedure (like keeping my visor open when sitting on the grid to stop my nervous heavy breathing misting up my helmet!) before I headed out for my first ever motor race: a 1 hour endurance, with a driver change.
As the five red lights went out, I managed to pull away cleanly and avoid a slow starting car ahead of me. I then focused on keeping it on the track and staying out of trouble while the pack settled down.  By the end of my 25-minute stint I came in the pits for the driver change over  in 3rd position, I was mentally and physically exhausted and ready to hand over to Eddie for the second half of the race.  Eddie did a fantastic job and brought the car home to finish us 4th overall and 2nd in our class – it was great to go home with a trophy since it was my first time in a race car and the first Sports 2000 race for both of us.
Needless to say, I am completely hooked and will be back in the car at the next available opportunity!
Thank you to Clive, Cindy, Patrick, Scott and all of the MCR team for their advice and support, thanks to Eddie for being a great and quick team mate, thank you to my father for the support and fantastic photography and a special thanks to my wife Liv and Nick who came to watch my race debut.

Patrick Sherrington Castle Combe 14th August

Sherrington and Jenvey, Castle combe S2000 Endurance

For the endurance race I was to be joined in the car by fellow frontrunner Mike Jenvey who was interest to see how much the car has changed since we last ran together in 2009. With the weather finally improving we were hoping for a strong result.
Qualifying   Mike went out first in order to reacquaint him with the car and was soon putting in some strong times. Mike Turner and John Owen were also running strongly in their MCR S2 and Seb Bamsey and Eddie Waring were also up in the top 5 despite this being their first ever car race!
Mike handed over and advised the car was under steering a little due to a broken roll bar link (we later found out) and I set out to try and get pole in the dying minutes. The final 2 laps were good enough and into the 1.07s with the final lap putting us on pole from Peter Williams and David Pittard in Peter’s trusty MCR.
Race  It was decided that I would take the start and we also took the decision to start on full tanks meaning we wouldn’t have to risk refuelling at the half way point. Thankfully I managed to see the red start lights in time as they were neatly hidden behind the mirror. Got a great start and blasted into the lead. Craig Mitchell was in close attendance for the first lap but as the race moved on I began to build a gap.
I managed to stretch the gap to about 13 seconds until losing 5 seconds on just one lap thanks to Louis Jones defending his line as I came round to lap him.
I handed the car over to Mike at the halfway point and he set about getting back the lead as Craig Mitchell had stayed out on his stint and therefore taken the front running slot at the changeover. Mike was busy chasing him down with a hard charging David Pittard (although a lap down) right behind him when disaster struck as the rear upright cried enough and we were out.
A shame because the win was on but well done to Craig Mitchell who took a well deserved in the Lola and with Peter Williams and David Pittard in the MCR third. A special mention to Seb Bamsey and Eddie Waring who were 4th overall in their MCR S2 not a bad start for your first ever race.

« Older Entries