MrKnifeys Road to Racing - Build/Progress thread

Good luck chap, Donington is a compete hoot with the Craner Curves.

Had two sprint races already this year, third coming up this weekend. Last place in the first one, second to last in the next, by the end of the season I might be mid table !
 
ahar said:
Good luck chap, Donington is a compete hoot with the Craner Curves.

Had two sprint races already this year, third coming up this weekend. Last place in the first one, second to last in the next, by the end of the season I might be mid table !
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Yep good luck OP.

Craners is an awesome little bit of track, just be careful in the damp, it's quite easy to get a tyre or 2 off the drying line and have quite a spectacular little ploughing session off track. Not that I know from experience. ;):cry:
 
Good luck , my friend Paul luti races these now from mgs. Looks a right hoot following his live stream when he races
 
Done a test day at Donnington yesterday ready for the race. Having never been to Donny before I didnt know what to expect and we had 4 half hour sessions to get some running in!

We were put into the "Closed" wheel group, for which I was expecting Civics, Fiestas etc, however there was all sorts from Ferrari GT Cars, R8 GT Cars, E-Type Jags, some old Lola thing which was MENTAL fast. So found it VERY VERY intimidating at first. First session I kept moving out of the way for them so I was just all over the place, as the session went out I kind of learnt the track and was looking forward to the second session. The second session was a bust, two red flags called that one!

Lunch time came so we had a check over the car, upped the tyre pressures and went back out. Managed to get the lap times down and decided at this point I was going to hold my ground more, obviously let them past where I felt I could, but they honestly dont care! I had a GT40 race car over take me on the straight, cut instantly infront of me and brake earlier than I did, which resulted in me nearly crashing into the back of him! I also had a moment where the E-Type jag literally came up the inside of me and ran me off track! Nothing like a track day! The only issue I had was a Fun Cup car came up the straight slowly, then on the last chicane drove across me, which we very nearly had a crash and he got black flagged for it!

Anyways, race day is Sunday, weather looks rubbish! My fastest lap time I managed was a 1.37.50. I got a 1.36 in me, but traffic was ruining running!

Link to two small videos, go pro coming soon

https://imgur.com/I9Xjh6S + https://imgur.com/HMGuoPC

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HMGuoPC.mp4


I9Xjh6S.mp4
 
What can I say about my first race? Amazing, loved everything about it.
Qualification didn't really go my way, we had to complete 3 full laps regardless of time set to make sure we could race, first corner there was three people off so it got red flagged, then when I went back out I played it safe for the three laps, on the fourth lap I started to get upto the pace I knew I had from practice and it got red flagged again, leaving me down in 22nd! I was pretty annoyed with myself about this but had to make sure I pushed forward in the race.

Race 1, sat at the lights go out and I had a bad start, literally sat there after the lights went out
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got passed by a couple of cars and was in around 24th after the first corner, not good! Got my head down and started to claw some places back, learning how to actually race side by side, getting close to people and trusting them is an eye opener! Made my way to around 15th and came up against some people on similar pace so took a while to get past 14th, managed to get a good run on 13th place and got him down the start/finish straight, he tried to fight back and we touched a bit, but all good. We finished race 1 in 13th, pretty please with that considering.

Race 2, we start this race in finishing position of race 1, I managed a good start off the line,l and made a place into the first corner, had a really good run down Craners and managed to get another place, then the safety car came out, couple of laps behind the safety car and we got going again, my restart was a little poor and I had pressure from behind so lost time to the leading pack defending a little, once I got a groove going I managed to fight back to the pack and managed a good couple of over takes and finished 3rd in class and 5th overall.

Lesson learnt when doing qually now, just got my pace to start with, as my laptimes show I have the pace to be at the sharp end at this race!

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Link to Live Stream from the Full Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9g1QFei5t4
 
Will do a better report tomorrow, but raced Oulton on the weekend, managed to Qualify in 2nd place, finished 4th in Race 2, 2nd in Novice class, then managed a 2nd in Race 2, 1st in Novice Class. More importantly I was 2 tenths off Nics race pace in race one before I picked up damage, so hopefully got the car in the right setup!
 
Just seen your post in the other thread about writing a car off? Hope you're ok at least...

Also you never did do a report way back in June :p
 
SKILL said:
Just seen your post in the other thread about writing a car off? Hope you're ok at least...

Also you never did do a report way back in June :p
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Sorry buddy, just been mega mega busy with work and a new addition to the family.

As I said, managed a 2nd and a fourth at Oultan

Then we went to Donnington again, this time supporting the British GT, we ran the full circuit this time, I managed a 3rd in race 1, but got myself a 5 place grid penalty for the next race. Then I somehow managed another 3rd in Race 2!

That's where the good news ends, I got a new car for Snetterton due to some damage and engine issues at Donny, done testing at Snetterton all ok, had a poor qually and started 10th, first two corners got upto 7th, then on lap 2 I made an error, went too deep into brindle corner, turned in, back end went and I basically hit a barrier near enough straight at ,70mph. The bumper/crash bar was stuck in the barrier! The car is destroyed. So I'm now basically trying to rebuild the original car in time for Oultan!
 
No worries, glad you're ok at least and hope you can get everything ready for the next round!

Sounds like some good results, congrats.

What did you get the 5 place penalty for?
 
Interesting read!

I was surprised they put you out in the M4 for your ARDS. Mine was in the 308 and rather dull, in fact I got told off when I got to Paddock on my first flying lap and it didn't want to turn in. I have no experience of a FWD car on track, so instead of fighting the car, I just let it run all the way to the edge of the run off on exit and scared the instructor a little. He told me that had I not driven well after that, he might have failed me for it :D I don't think I'd have lived that down, as it's nearly impossible to fail an ARDS test.

Good to see you progressing and getting good results really quickly!

I've always thought endurance races in the likes of C1s looks fun, I'd really like to give it a go some time.
 
mikehhhhhhh said:
Interesting read!

I was surprised they put you out in the M4 for your ARDS. Mine was in the 308 and rather dull, in fact I got told off when I got to Paddock on my first flying lap and it didn't want to turn in. I have no experience of a FWD car on track, so instead of fighting the car, I just let it run all the way to the edge of the run off on exit and scared the instructor a little. He told me that had I not driven well after that, he might have failed me for it :D I don't think I'd have lived that down, as it's nearly impossible to fail an ARDS test.

Good to see you progressing and getting good results really quickly!

I've always thought endurance races in the likes of C1s looks fun, I'd really like to give it a go some time.
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lol, I was a bit surprised by the M4 as well, nice for some :D

I did my ARDS at Castle Combe in a Fiesta ST, and he didn't want me to rev over 4.5k, or use the kerbs, it was easily the slowest I've ever lapped the track :p
 
SKILL said:
lol, I was a bit surprised by the M4 as well, nice for some :D

I did my ARDS at Castle Combe in a Fiesta ST, and he didn't want me to rev over 4.5k, or use the kerbs, it was easily the slowest I've ever lapped the track :p
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I think being miserable is the number one prerequisite to work at Combe, so I'm not surprised.

The last time I did a track day, I was black flagged for touching the exit kerbs and then black flagged again for a little, well-controlled but unintentional oversteer through Tower.

The Marshal told me to calm down so I went back out, intending to absolutely send it in to Camp, only I ended up spinning instead :D They sent me home for that
 
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