Thursday 23 September 2010

Snetterton September 10

Snetterton again. I've booked in for the extra race with the bikesports so it's a double practice and two races in a day. I'm up there on the Saturday night with the trusty Bongo.
Turns out the Bikesports is oversubscribed so RBG have got an additional race all to ourselves.

So it's a busy day, but great fun. I have a two epic battles especially with Austen, Dan and Bob. There is some great video footage, especially of the first race. (see end of this post) Watch out for Ben flying past as he forgets to break at the end of the straight (about 6mins in). Oh and notice how someone nicked Dan's black 'stealth' fury while he wasn't looking and drives it like he stole it.

I think it is quite interesting that my times over the weekend are my personal best at 1:19.15 (previous best was about 19.4), (so clearly the new engine is no dissadvantage), but I seem to be much slower than Bob's fury down the straight, and I can only just keep up with Dan's class B fury. It was also interesting talking to Austen after the first race. I could get past him on the straight, but he could then get in my slipstream and stay with me. He said he could almost lift off and still stay with me! It just shows how much drag my car generates. It's no wonder I'm slower than the fury's. (Did you see what I did there - racing driver excuse no.37!)

So I really enjoyed the weekend. Fantastically close racing, awesome fun, and a real improvement in my own performance.
The downside though, as I think about it now, is that my car is very clearly hopelessly uncompetitive as a class A car, even against the other front engined cars (ie the fury/phoenix type cars). I struggle to keep up with class C furys never mind class A ones. So a serious rethink is needed for next year, especially since I reckon my own driving capabilities have probably now caught up with the car's performance (or at least I would have to be a far more talented driver to go even a tiny bit quicker now).
I quite fancy having a go with a class C car - that would really show up my driving inadequacies and hopefully force me to go faster!
Anyway, that's all for next season. I'm going to do the Birkett and then work out what I do next year. So if anyone out there wants a Megabusa - get in touch!

Enjoy the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7fM_Qm6y9A&feature=player_embedded