Keith Smith's Brands Hatch race report

The second visit to Brands Hatch this season for the 750 Motor Club, was to answer many questions. This would be the first opportunity to test our new suspension setup; having up rated our existing springs to much higher rated items (350lbs front, 650lbs rear).

We acted on good advice from Andy Waters at AW Tracksport, who has successfully campaigned Mk1 Golfs in the past. I was confident in his opinion, and that anything would be an improvement over the spongy feel of the last 5 races. However, I did have niggling doubts as to weather such radical measures would have created a car as equally a handful as the last!

We were also running a complete set of new tyres, which we?d had scrubbed down to a 3mm tread. This provides better grip in the dry by preventing the tyre from overheating and ?going off? toward the end of a race like they did at Donington.

The moment of truth was here?.

Pre-race Testing ? Saturday 18th June, morning session

I had booked myself a place on a test session prior to race day. I didn?t fancy going straight into a qualifying session not knowing what the car was going to do into the first corner! The weather was hot and sunny, with temperatures well above 25 deg C by 10am! A little too hot for my liking, however, I couldn?t have asked for better conditions to test, what was now, an unknown car.

We went out in the first of two half hour sessions with soft settings, the idea being we would get firmer towards the end and note any differences. We decided not to time this session, but to use it purely to get a feel for things.

The difference to the old car was instantly noticeable! Virtually no body roll whatsoever, with a much more neutral feel turning into corners. With the back end now so firm, it was easy to induce over steer, a little too easy sometimes, but it was progressive and easy to keep in check. As the tyres came up to temperature, it was possible to push harder. Natural under steer was still present, as it always will be, but a slight release of the throttle, or brush of the brake, was enough to cancel this out into a nice 4-wheel drift. There was a tendency however, for the front to pitch and start bouncing, particularly through Paddock Hill bend where it was under damped. Time to firm things up a bit!

Rather than make small, incremental changes to the setup, and probably not notice any difference, we went from one extreme to the other. After all, we only had one half hour session left, hardly enough time to keep coming in and making tweaks here and there. We set the front dampers to fully hard, and the rears half a turn from fully hard in the hope this would cure the problem. Tyre pressures were also increased to reduce their damping effect.

Going out for the second, timed session, it was now much more pointy! On corners, where I used to be plagued with under steer, I was now able to get the power down cleanly and maintain an accurate line. Corners where this was most noticeable were Druids and, the most important corner of all, Clearways. Surtees corner, a fast left-hander, I was now able to take flat. This was not possible before because of body roll and under steer at such high speed. Paddock Hill bend was also much better. I could really throw the car into the corner and, at the point the rear started to break free, balance on the throttle and power out, using all the available width on the exit. The bounce was still there to a lesser extent, indicating that we were probably still slightly under-damped.

I was very pleased with the way the car handled, and felt the session went very well. It will take a few races before I?m really used to it, but first impressions are very positive! From my dad?s point of view as a spectator, the car looked flatter and more planted.

I achieved a lap time of 1:01.24. My previous best was 1:02.55. This was a big step forward around this short Indy circuit! The sort of times I was consistently getting was enough to place me in the top 30, going by times in the previous race here, and that?s in 30 deg C conditions!

It would have been nice to leave it on that note, but the day was not without its dramas. Firstly, throughout the session, I experienced juddering down the main straight. It felt like a wheel had possibly come loose, but inspection revealed that not to be the case. It was shortly accompanied by a droning sound, which turned out to be the near side front wheel bearing! Upon inspection, we considered ourselves very lucky it did not let go completely! It was that badly gone!

We knew it wouldn?t survive the race, so we immediately contacted Mike Dowsett of Service Point in Alresford, to see if he could source a wheel bearing through his various contacts in the trade, which we would fit on the morning of the race. With that, we packed everything up and left the racecar at the circuit. About 10 minutes into our journey home, Mike contacted us saying that we could not fit the bearing ourselves on the trackside, as a press machine needs to be used to push the old bearing out and the new one back into the hub. So, we did a U turn back to the circuit, dismantled all the brakes and hub assembly and took the hub back with us.

It was looking increasingly unlikely that I?d be racing at all, as trying to locate a wheel bearing for a Mk1 Golf on a Saturday afternoon at a moments notice was proving very difficult! After much ringing around, Mike found a company in Petersfield; A.R.E. Autospares. They had one in stock ready and waiting for us to pick up, so we took a detour.

We finally arrived home with the hub and new wheel bearing. Mike opened up his workshop and took time out of his Saturday afternoon, just for us, and fitted the new bearing into the hub. Thanks, Mike!! Now all that was needed was to re-fit back at the circuit in the morning. Phew!

Race Day! ? Sunday 19th June

The moment we arrived, it was chaotic! What compounded everything was the weather. The forecast was set to be hotter than yesterday at over 30 deg C! At this temperature, just standing up under your own strength leaves you feeling lethargic! I?m also a hay fever sufferer, the main symptoms being uncontrollable bouts of sneezing and a nose like a running tap!

We were fortunate enough to have Mike Dowsett with us. He had kindly agreed to help us out during the day and to hopefully impart some of his 10-year knowledge and wisdom into our working practices!

My dad reassembled the hub back together and also sorted out the exhaust which had become twisted and lost some if its mountings, while I made my way over to the race office to sign on.

Then it was immediately to scrutineering. By this time, we had consumed about 5 bottles of water and it was only 9:30am! We used the next hour before my practice session to go over routine checks, to stay cool and drink more water!

I made a point of only getting into my race suit at the last minute. Try to imagine being in the middle of the Sahara Desert sat in a greenhouse, and that goes some way to describing what it was like to wear a race suit in this heat!

Practice Session

The practice session went much better than last time I was here. I was able to get good, clear runs. I quickly caught other cars up and just tried to get past as quickly as possible. The juddering sensation I experienced during testing still remained, although it was only noticeable down the main straight. This definitely points to a wheel out of balance. It didn?t seem to affect my performance however, and the car felt every bit as quick as it did yesterday.

When I finally got hold of the combined qualifying times, everyone was on average a second slower than last time we were here, due to the heat. The best time was 1:00.80. My best was 1:02.07, so nearly a second down on yesterday. This could be partly due to the fact I kept getting distracted by a screwdriver flying around the cabin, which we?d forgotten to remove from the car prior to going out! However, it was still sufficient to give me my best qualifying position ever! 33rd out of 84, well into the top half! Another 4 places, and I?d have qualified straight into the final! The next interesting fact is that my time achieved in testing yesterday, would have put me 6th out of 84, with the front-runners!

I was placed 5th on the grid in the first heat race.

Heat 1 Race

The hot midday sun, at any other time or occasion, would be a welcome blessing in this country. However for the club racer, it?s most cruel when you?re dressed in Sparco?s multi layer finest with a helmet and balaclava on, sat in a car radiating heat from above and below and stationery on the grid with adrenaline pumping! The sweat was dripping down my face behind my helmet and going into my eyes. It seemed to take forever for the grid to assemble behind me!

For the first time, I could actually see a bit of clear air in front, albeit through a 106 Rallye and a 205 GTi. The lights went out! Got a bit of wheel spin, but a lift of the throttle, and the front tyres hooked up to the tarmac and propelled me forward. I gained right up to the bumper of Pat Grove in his 106 Rallye and maintained my position around Paddock Hill bend. Pat went defensive up Hailwood hill, approaching Druids. I did the same, with an XR2 snapping at my rear bumper. My exit from Druids was compromised due to my defensive line, which allowed the XR2, either Luke Wood or Alistair Vannier, to get up the inside of me approaching Graham Hill. He clearly had the corner, unless I deliberately punted him off, so passed he went. But because this time he took an inside line, I had the upper hand on exit speed, and I was immediately looking to re-pass him up Cooper straight. He went defensive, so I abandoned the attempt, loosing momentum in the process. This allowed Nigel Grimwood in the only other VW in the championship, a Lupo, to creep up to my exhaust. A bad exit out of clearways allowed Nigel to get along side me, unfortunately the inside. We were side by side all the way up to Paddock Hill bend. I knew he would have the corner, but my plan was to turn in a lot later and possibly re-take him approaching druids. However, when I went to turn in, Nigel maintained his position. There was resultant contact and I had nowhere left to go but into the gravel trap!

The sensation of going from noise, speed and adrenaline to absolute silence and stillness was quite overwhelming! It took a couple of seconds for it to register that the race was over. I climbed out of the car and trudged through the gravel, which must have been at least 2ft deep! I watched the remainder of the race from the grandstand and was later pulled free of the kitty litter.

I was obviously very upset at the time, especially when I think I actually could have won the race! This was also my first DNF. However, this is motor racing and it was going to happen sometime and it will happen again. This has not discouraged me in any way. In fact, my determination is all the stronger. Despite not finishing the race, I can still come away from the weekend with a very optimistic frame of mind and a positive outlook. At last, we have a car that is competitive and able to mix it with some of the big boys. Just a little more development, including the driver, and there?s no telling how well we could do!

For the record, I?ve no hard feelings toward Nigel Grimwood. I could have avoided the incident and, again, it comes down to race craft and experience. One thing I?ve learnt is that there is a different breed of racer toward the front. Not so forgiving or easy to hand out opportunities.

I like a challenge!!


Acknowledgements

I?d like to thank Mike Dowsett for saving the weekend and helping us out on race day! I am very fortunate to have someone as willing to help as Mike; with the experience of motor racing he has and obvious garage facilities at his disposal, on board! Cheers, Mike!

Big thanks again to Andy Betson (aka Dex) for being my official photographer and for helping out and offering moral support so far this season! Andy works in the RAF, something to do with explosives (very handy), and whose knowledge of the Mk1 Golf is unusually vast! He is also a moderator on the Club GTI chat forum.

Well done again to Alex Dew, who lined up in his second final! Although his car died on him, he was doing extremely well and was looking to pass, of all people, Nigel Grimwood in the VW Lupo! I?ll always give Alex and his dad a mention, because we met them right from the start and they?re some of the nicest people in the paddock! And Alex is a future front-runner. Watch out, Blumson!

Absolutely brilliant write up there! sounds like the Mk1 is going very well  :clap:

Excellent write up - Better luck next time.
It sounds as though you have the car more the way you want it now, so the results should start improving eh!  :wink:

Well done keith sounds like you will be winning your firts race very soon- if only those other cars would get out of the way  

Nice write up and better luck for next time!

How did you set the camber up trackside?

Cheers
Rajan

dubboy said

Nice write up and better luck for next time!

How did you set the camber up trackside?

Cheers
Rajan

On this occasion we just marked the adjuster bolt so it went back in the same place.  We are running 2.5 degs neg which is a bit more than the standard max setting.  We modified the concentric cams on the top bolt and made the slots longer in the strut mounting.  Camber is the easy bit!!

Supporter1 said

dubboy said

Nice write up and better luck for next time!

How did you set the camber up trackside?

Cheers
Rajan

On this occasion we just marked the adjuster bolt so it went back in the same place.  We are running 2.5 degs neg which is a bit more than the standard max setting.  We modified the concentric cams on the top bolt and made the slots longer in the strut mounting.  Camber is the easy bit!!

There you go! I was about to say that!

Cheers for the comments everyone! Myself and the Golf will be back to do battle once more at Lydden at the end of July.

Keith