Dixcelbrake
EK9.org Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2008
- Messages
- 282
All Nippon The Final â Brands Hatch
24th Oct â 2009
Since the last race from Snetterton back in September, we have done a few upgrades on the car to prepare the car for the final round. First we manufactured a custom made Carbon Fibre splitter as the original wood splitter kept braking every race due to the high down force. Brands hatch is quite a bumpy circuit so we decided to make a Carbon Fibre Splitter and see if it lasts longer due to the increased strength also giving us more stable down force. We have changed the wheels from 16s back to 15s as we believe this is more suitable for Brands Hatch from our data from previous races.
We arrived on track on Thursday morning for testing, we knew the track was going to be wet over th race weekend so we set the geometry to a wet suspension setup for testing on track, even though the track was perfectly dry and sunny on Thursday .We were still lapping mid 53 secs a lap with the wet setup so we are very happy with the results and feeling positive for the race.
Race day â
The weather report was correct, as expected we arrived the track at 6:30am and the track was already very wet. Our mechanics gave the car a quick check over and we were ready for qualifying.
Qualify â
We were the only ones running Semi slick tyres in the wet, all the others were running Wet cut slickâs. More and more rain started to fall, which started to worry us a little. We tried to go out early for a clear flying lap but unfortunately the track was unbelievably wet. We were the first group to go out in the morning, but by the time I had completed my outlap, I had unfortunately caught onto the back of the pack of carâs on their outlaps, who were obviously testing the grip levels of the track slowly. I spent my next 13-14 laps overtaking other slower cars and just before the session finished I only managed to pull a 59.5 secs putting me on pole in my GT250 class and 6th Overall, Kris Dunlop was only 0.1 secs behind.
1st â Dixon Cheng 59.5
2st â Kris Dunlop â 59.6
3rd â Michael Clark â 1 mins 2 secs
1st Race â
We decided not to switch to Wet cut slicks looking at the qualifying results we thought we would be able keep up as long as we didnât make any mistakes, again we were the only oneâs running Semi slick for the race.
I had a pretty good start and managed to keep myself in front of the Buddyclub DC5 for a lap until we hit the straight we could clearly see the power difference, The Buddyclub DC5 were in GT300 so were not racing with us so I didnât take any riskâs as I didnât want the same problem which happened last year. (engine blow up in the last lap in 2008 Brands hatch final) We let them pass us on the straight. After seeing Krisâs car disappearing from my mirror then the whole race was pretty straightforward without any problems. We finished 5th overall and 1st in our GT250 Class
1st â Dixon Cheng
2nd â Michael Clark
3rd Lee Bennett - Neal
DNF â Kris Dunlop due to an incident with the Subaru on the last lap.
First race Video - YouTube - Brands hatch Final 2009 Nippon
Race 2 â
Had a pretty good start again and over took the Js Racing DC2 in the Super GT class. We lead all the way until we hit the main straight, the Js Racing DC2 were running in the Super GT class, meaning they were allowed to run Dunlop Wet slickâs so they overtook us easily on the straight due to the extra traction they got from the last corner. They were in different class anyway so we didnât try to keep up with them. Again we were leading all the way from the start to finish 1st in class and 5th overall without any problems.
1st â Dixon Cheng
2nd â Michael Clark
3rd Lee Bennett - Neal
Race 2 Video -
YouTube - Brands hatch Final race 2, Nippon Challenge 2009
We also set the fastest lap in both Race 1 and 2 in our class.
It was a great weekend for us, and was a perfect ending to the season with 2 class wins. Our K20 DC2 will now be retire and we have already started building a new car for next season. We yet to decide if we will be racing in Nippon Challenge again or Brit car next season. We will announce next yearâs plans in January.
Special thanks to Buddyclub this round as they provided us with the new 15inch alloy and the ST1 touring car cams for our car.
Thanks again to our Sponsors â
Buddyclub â Wheels, Buddyclub ST1 touring car spec Cams
Artech Tuning â for supply K pro ECU and mapping
Carbonetic â carbon 1.5 way clutch diff, twin plate clutch
Camskill - tyre support
Opie oils â engine oil, gearoil, brake oil
Dixcel brake, for our full carbon disk and pad
Hybrid racing â full K swap conversion kit&
HEL â Brake hose
Dixon Motorsports for the whole build and race car setup
Team support
Japanese performance
Wincy Horological
Car built, prepared and developed by Dixon Motorsports
Thanks
Team Dixon Motorsports - Dixon Motorsport, Race and Track Car Preparation, London UK, providing tuning services and 4 wheel alignment, Honda and Mitsubishi Specialists
24th Oct â 2009
Since the last race from Snetterton back in September, we have done a few upgrades on the car to prepare the car for the final round. First we manufactured a custom made Carbon Fibre splitter as the original wood splitter kept braking every race due to the high down force. Brands hatch is quite a bumpy circuit so we decided to make a Carbon Fibre Splitter and see if it lasts longer due to the increased strength also giving us more stable down force. We have changed the wheels from 16s back to 15s as we believe this is more suitable for Brands Hatch from our data from previous races.
We arrived on track on Thursday morning for testing, we knew the track was going to be wet over th race weekend so we set the geometry to a wet suspension setup for testing on track, even though the track was perfectly dry and sunny on Thursday .We were still lapping mid 53 secs a lap with the wet setup so we are very happy with the results and feeling positive for the race.
Race day â
The weather report was correct, as expected we arrived the track at 6:30am and the track was already very wet. Our mechanics gave the car a quick check over and we were ready for qualifying.
Qualify â
We were the only ones running Semi slick tyres in the wet, all the others were running Wet cut slickâs. More and more rain started to fall, which started to worry us a little. We tried to go out early for a clear flying lap but unfortunately the track was unbelievably wet. We were the first group to go out in the morning, but by the time I had completed my outlap, I had unfortunately caught onto the back of the pack of carâs on their outlaps, who were obviously testing the grip levels of the track slowly. I spent my next 13-14 laps overtaking other slower cars and just before the session finished I only managed to pull a 59.5 secs putting me on pole in my GT250 class and 6th Overall, Kris Dunlop was only 0.1 secs behind.
1st â Dixon Cheng 59.5
2st â Kris Dunlop â 59.6
3rd â Michael Clark â 1 mins 2 secs
1st Race â
We decided not to switch to Wet cut slicks looking at the qualifying results we thought we would be able keep up as long as we didnât make any mistakes, again we were the only oneâs running Semi slick for the race.
I had a pretty good start and managed to keep myself in front of the Buddyclub DC5 for a lap until we hit the straight we could clearly see the power difference, The Buddyclub DC5 were in GT300 so were not racing with us so I didnât take any riskâs as I didnât want the same problem which happened last year. (engine blow up in the last lap in 2008 Brands hatch final) We let them pass us on the straight. After seeing Krisâs car disappearing from my mirror then the whole race was pretty straightforward without any problems. We finished 5th overall and 1st in our GT250 Class
1st â Dixon Cheng
2nd â Michael Clark
3rd Lee Bennett - Neal
DNF â Kris Dunlop due to an incident with the Subaru on the last lap.
First race Video - YouTube - Brands hatch Final 2009 Nippon
Race 2 â
Had a pretty good start again and over took the Js Racing DC2 in the Super GT class. We lead all the way until we hit the main straight, the Js Racing DC2 were running in the Super GT class, meaning they were allowed to run Dunlop Wet slickâs so they overtook us easily on the straight due to the extra traction they got from the last corner. They were in different class anyway so we didnât try to keep up with them. Again we were leading all the way from the start to finish 1st in class and 5th overall without any problems.
1st â Dixon Cheng
2nd â Michael Clark
3rd Lee Bennett - Neal
Race 2 Video -
YouTube - Brands hatch Final race 2, Nippon Challenge 2009
We also set the fastest lap in both Race 1 and 2 in our class.
It was a great weekend for us, and was a perfect ending to the season with 2 class wins. Our K20 DC2 will now be retire and we have already started building a new car for next season. We yet to decide if we will be racing in Nippon Challenge again or Brit car next season. We will announce next yearâs plans in January.
Special thanks to Buddyclub this round as they provided us with the new 15inch alloy and the ST1 touring car cams for our car.
Thanks again to our Sponsors â
Buddyclub â Wheels, Buddyclub ST1 touring car spec Cams
Artech Tuning â for supply K pro ECU and mapping
Carbonetic â carbon 1.5 way clutch diff, twin plate clutch
Camskill - tyre support
Opie oils â engine oil, gearoil, brake oil
Dixcel brake, for our full carbon disk and pad
Hybrid racing â full K swap conversion kit&
HEL â Brake hose
Dixon Motorsports for the whole build and race car setup
Team support
Japanese performance
Wincy Horological
Car built, prepared and developed by Dixon Motorsports
Thanks
Team Dixon Motorsports - Dixon Motorsport, Race and Track Car Preparation, London UK, providing tuning services and 4 wheel alignment, Honda and Mitsubishi Specialists
