Here's a little write up from Snetterton Tine Attack
Heading to Snetterton and the weather was looking as poor as predicted. It was definitely a day for keeping the aero on and it looked like wet tyres for the early sessions.
Warm up was started behind the course car as there was still standing water on the track. Quite handy as I hadn't driven there before, and also a new set up on the brake master cylinder meant I could give them an early test. The course car came in, and steadily built the speed throughout the session. Track was extremely greasy, so it was just about trying to get an idea of lines and where the grip was.
The session ended ended and I was 4th overall and 4th in class with a 1:40.3
Practice was still poor conditions, but slightly drying. As I gained confidence the times came down, but really struggled to get clear of traffic. As I was getting ready to put quicker times in the wets had started to go off. This meant that the guys still on semi-slicks were getting good heat in their tyres, do unfortunately I dropped slightly down the order.
9th overall 6th in class 1:38.8
With quite a few cars on track between practice and qualifying it was time to finally get the dry tyres on. A quick adjustment of the Yellowspeed suspension and we were ready. As we had no data for pressures we decided to get a feel for the track I the first 2/3 laps and then put in a banker. Then come in for a pressure adjustment before going hard in the second half of the session.
All was going to plan, got the tyres up to temp in the first few laps and tested where the grip was. Lap 4 and it was time to start building a lap. I managed to get a bit of space and put in a decent marker. Coming on to lap 5 and it was time to hit it hard...and then the rain came!!! Noooooo!!! Lap 4 was going to be my best and looking at the timings that was pretty much the same across the board. Ideally I would have gone hard from lap 1 but I really needed to see how the tyres and the car were going to respond.
All good data though, so next time we will be ready to go straight from the lights
11th overall 7th in class 1:36.91
The unfortunate incident with the jet car put the timings back slightly and the weather was extremely unpredictable. The rain started, stopped and then started again. With 30 mins to go we decided to stay on the semis and see what I could do.
My first finals of the 2015 Time Attack!!
The lights went green and as I rounded the first corner a faint dry line appeared ahead of me. There was no further rain due, so I again started to build some heat in the tyres and build some lap times. As I got to grip with the dry lines the times came down and down. 1.32..1:30...1.29... An unfortunate incident meant that with 5 mins to go we had a red flag. As I pulled into the pit lane I was told that I was currently 5th in class and needed another second to clinch 4 (the 4th place car had retired). We were back out with 5 minutes on the clock. As soon as we were released I went straight for it. I cleared some cars early on and then went for fast laps straight away. The car felt awesome, planted in the corners and awesome on the brakes. I managed 3 laps before the chequered flag.
I'd knocked 1.3 seconds off and clinched 4th on the last lap is the session
7th overall and 4th in class 1:27.45
Really stoked with the result. After only a handful of laps on a drying circuit and already the times were coming down.
Massive thanks for all that helped on the day, and special thanks my sponsors who have helped with such impressive equipment.
www.yellowspeedeurope.com
www.tdi-north.com
www.tegiwaimports.com
If anyone would like info on the spec of the car just drop me a line and I'll let you know where to get the parts from
