In the short time between Round 6 at Brands Hatch and Round 5, Oulton Park, we have installed a new, cool running thermostat along with a complete coolant flush to keep on top of general maintenance. While the radiator was out, a new turbo to manifold clamp was fitted, something that has been a little headache this year with them breaking due to fatigue. The failed driveshaft didn’t need repairing as this got changed while we were still at Oulton Park so the car could be driven back onto the trailer. The final piece of the puzzle before heading down to Brands Hatch was a pair of new tyres for the front of the car which should now see out the remaining rounds of the season.
Warm Up
For warm up the plan was to complete three laps to get the extra point while focussing on scrubbing in the new tyres ahead of the sessions later on in the day. The overall target? A 50 something second lap time. However, the car didn’t feel quite right, difficult to diagnose mid-session so we cracked on with the plan to investigate after the session. Our focus was on the Turbo Clamp which had been changed between rounds. We took everything apart and re-installed, taking care to ensure everything was seated correctly. We also noticed a possible of a blow from the manifold to head gasket but there wasn’t enough time to look at that any further. it was nearly time to look towards Attack 1 and come back to that after that session.
Attack 1
As soon as the session began, it was clear that whatever was wrong with the car earlier wasn’t resolved. The car still didn’t feel like it had its usual power levels. After 20 minutes and 15 laps I managed to register a 52.089 leaving me 5th in class but what made that lap time impressive, after the session when the log was checked I was only getting 0.9 bar of boost. Now the session was over it was time to search for the missing power. We immediately targeted the manifold stripping it down and re-seating the gasket. While this was happening, Garry from GR Performance, who was at home for this round, logged onto the laptop remotely to check over the data to see if there was anything he could see to point us in the right direction. The manifold and gasket job was turned around quickly and smoothly which is always a bonus when in a rush at a circuit. In the meantime the logs indicated a possible boost control valve issue could be to blame but we didn’t have time to look into this before Attack 2.
Attack 2
All hope was that the power would be back but much like with Attack 1 it was obvious straight away that there was no improvement. There was an early red flag on lap 3 with 2 cars coming together. We took this opportunity to check the tyre pressures to make sure they were as close to ideal as possible. No sooner had the session gone green it was red flagged again. After another lengthy delay we were back out for a shortened session of just 5 minutes meaning there wasn’t a lot of time to get it right. On my first attempt I improved on the time set in Attack 1, registering a 51.846s lap. Mega considering the power losses. I gave the car 2 cool down laps before one last attempt but didn’t manage to improve. After the chequered flag came out, I had managed to haul myself into 3rd place in class.
Back in the pits we had one more attempt to find the lost power. The suspected failed valve controller was swiftly removed before we set off around the paddock to find a replacement. I also went digging through the selection of random parts I carry around with me. With a bit of luck, I found an old boost control valve, not the same as the one on the car and it needed a bit of modification but with nothing to lose we made it work and got it fitted to the car ready for the next session.
Super Attack
With the boost control valve retro fitted, it was time for the final session of the day, still in dark regarding the fixes carried out. However, to my joy, after a quick acceleration out of the pits there was boost and we had power! Things were starting to look positive but again, an early red flag brought the session to a halt. When we given the all clear there was no time to mess about we had to get straight onto the pace and what a lap it was. Setting 50.959 a new PB into the finally 50s, the target before the event. I knew there was more in the car but I couldn’t improve. Returning to the pits we had to pass through Parc Ferme which is where they informed me I had managed to secure 1st place which was the perfect end to a difficult day.
Once again, my never give up attitude paid off on a day where many would probably written off at the start of the day. Not only that but managing to set new PB and hitting my target lap time in the process! A little longer between rounds this time, with Round 7 at Knockhill just over 3 weeks away. I also have an event at Oulton Park on September 20th as a guest of MSV at Vaux Valves where the car will be on display and completing some demo runs during the day.