dbRacing - NSSCC Race Report Croft 11th September 2004

NSSCC Race Report Croft 11th September 2004

Car - 944 Turbo

Practice

I decided to test on the Friday so that I could make sure the rear dampers which had been rebuilt after Brands Hatch were working correctly. Testing went well, except that the car seemed to be sort of straightline speed and though the handling was reasonable I couldn't commit fully. The straightline speed problem was diagnosed as a faulty fuel pressure regulator but by now I was also getting comments from the marshals that the car seemed to be smoking heavily. After practice had finished I decided to tackle the source of the oil leak which was coming from the turbocharger. Not an easy job, especially when the heavens opened. I worked on the car until soaked right through and the light was fading before departing for home for a hot shower and our regular friday Night chinese.

Saturday morning saw me up before 6 - aren't the days drawing in, it was still dark, but not raining. I arrived at circuit around 6:45 and finished reassembly of the car. The leak seemed to be better, if not completely cured, and the new FPR was fitted.

Taking to the circuit for qualifying the car immediately felt better and I started to pass all the cars in front of me as I was already tuned into the circuit from the previous days testing. Going through the Jim Clark Esses toward Barcroft I gave the car full throttle when an all too familiar pop followed by a loss of power indicated that yet again one of the inlet hoses had become detached. There was nothing for it but to head to the pits where Gill was waiting. She knows the familiar hand gesture that mean bonnet off all too well. The leak was from the throttle valve, the first time the problem had been at that source, so I re-secured it and set off for the track again.

Fearing that it would come off again I wanted to be sure of at least setting one lap so I turned the boost down and set a couple of reasonable laps. After a couple of 1:39's waiting for the tyres to get some heat into them I started to go for a decent lap time. I found that each time I went round a right hand corner the right rear wheel seemed to tuck under and loose grip. Not the most inspiring feeling when exiting the chicane or Jim Clark Esses. It's amazing how much time a visit to the pits takes for it seemed like I had only been on track for 5 minutes and just turned the boost back to normal when the qualifying session was over. I had qualified 8th overall, behind the Renault Spyders and David Cox's rejuvenated Pug 205, courtesy of Wayne Schofield. It was going to be yet another busy race. Well done to Tony Caig though. His indecently fast Fiesta had taken pole, beating Pollock, Morrison and Ferguson.

Before the race I put a new set of tyres on the left hand side, as they looked past their best, even though there was plenty of tread left. Gill suggested that I checked the inlet hoses. I decided that if it had lasted the qualifying session it would last the race and disturbing it might cause a problem.

Race

This being an NSSCC race the green flag lap was taken at a pedestrian pace and I eventually took up my position on the fourth row next to the pit wall. I remember looking and realising that a good start would get me right up with the leaders. I had one of the Renault Spyders in front of me and I was also aware that they are not the fastest starting of cars. The lights changed and I set off at a rapid pace without extreme wheelspin or the car trying to turn from the rear. The run down to Clervaux was incident free but John Parton had also got a good start and he initially prevented me from moving to the right hand side of the circuit. I knew Harry Vaulkhard was nearby and as we entered the braking area he shot past, probably partly on the grass at the same time that the cars on the left hand side of the were busy trying to avoid contact with each other as they headed towards the gravel.

I was baulked and lost some ground, but came through unscathed. Terry Wright seems to have injected a real turn of speed into his "mustard monster" and he was the first car I had to pass. Wary of the fresh tyres on the car I didn't make any time on him until we exited Sunny Out. Yellow flags were waving as Guy Bloomer parked his car on the infield. I took the normal racing line, not worrying about Andrew Morrison who was right behind me and passed me on the inside at Sunny In. never mind I though, an observer is bound to have spotted that & he's bound to get a penalty. Andrew soon passed Terry as did I and by now there was some space to the next couple of cars which were Harry Vaulkhard in his mk2 Escort and Kingsley Ingram in the Renault Spyder. For two laps I simply kept pace with them, but then I started to make real inroads and on lap 4 passed Harry. Kingsley had made a break and extended 30 yards on Harry, but I soon made up that ground and as I completed the 5th lap I saw my laptime was the quickest I had achieved all weekend. The tyres were obviously working and i was about to take 5th place.

I exited the chicane and was rapidly closing on Kingsley and planned to pass him under braking. However it was not to be as that familiar pop happened again..............and I had no power. The rest of the race consisted of me carrying as much speed through the corners and having no power on the straights. It was just like racing the standard 924 again.

The end of the race caused more anguish as the next class B car was Tony Barrett. I kept the gap to him just about constant for the whole lap, but on the run down to the chequered flag his M3 had bags more speed and as he passed me on the line Andrew Morrison pulled into the collecting area with a huge oil cloud from below the car. This result was not going to be good for the championship, if only I had checked the inlet hoses. "If's but's and maybes"