Dunlop SportMaxx Rounds 5 & 6 - Croft 14th / 15th June 2008

By John Thorne

Well, sometimes racing doesn’t get much better than that! The whole team had worked so hard on these cars that we really felt deserved a good result. After Simon’s first win the Astra VXR at Pembrey we wanted both for him to continue that run and get Leyton on the top of the podium with him.

Testing went well, the weather wasn’t the easiest to deal with and showers followed. The track was wet but with dry patches so the times from Simon and Leyton were good and we felt comfortable. In the weeks following Pembrey we pretty much re-built both cars. Both needed engine and gearbox mounts, (we have to use standard items under Dunlop SportMaxx regulations) and Simon’s Astra needed a new turbo after the manifold broke in the second Pembrey race.

The bigger issue at Pembrey was Leytons Corsa, we were struggling with handling issues which were both electronic and chassis related and whilst the second race in Wales showed we’d cured the electronic part we still had work to do on the chassis. Again our strong relationship with KW come into play and between us we made some changes in the spring and damper rates on the suspension and testing showed we’d sorted it. The Corsa was quick, we just needed to prove it.

Race 1

Qualifying went well. Leyton was on pole by over a second; ahead of Quentin’s Clio. Simon was third after some good times put in by Simon Wallbank in his Astra VXR and Simon Gusterson in his very rapid Megane.   Simon got a great start and was quickly fighting for the lead whereas Leyton struggled with the start ending the first lap just behind the Seat Cupra and Quentin’s Clio.

Simon did brilliantly, we were expecting a long battle with the Megane but after a couple of attempts Simon got past him and won the race by a comfortable 3 second margin.

In Class B, Leyton passed the Seat and reeled in the Clio. Watching the cars on track, it was clear that the Corsa performed extremely well in the faster corners and under braking, impressive when you consider the fact its so much heavier than the Clio. We really had got the suspension set up nigh on perfect. Pretty soon Leyton managed to pass the Clio and quickly built up a nice lead to win the class by almost 15 seconds.

We were over the moon, another win from Simon in the Astra following his first win in Pembrey and we’d finally sorted the gremlins affecting the Corsa to demonstrate that the car really is a championship winning platform, remember the Corsa Sri is unique, no-one in Europe (or the World for that matter) is racing one of these so we’ve had to develop the chassis from the ground up.

This has also meant that Leyton has had to work with us to develop his driving style to suit the high torque, forced induction power delivery something which he initially struggled with, at Snetterton and Pembrey we were shredding tyres and having to run massive pressures to compensate but Leyton has persevered, listened and learnt (which is sometimes not easy for a driver to do) and adapted his driving to suit the car – pretty impressive for a 16 year old. To give you an idea of the changes; at Pembrey we were forced to run front tyre pressures as high as 68psi to avoid the tyre rolling off the rim – far too high. At Croft we were down to 30psi, that’s evident testimony to Stirling work with KW on the chassis development and to Leyton to adjust his driving style to suit the cars characteristics.

We are equally proud of Simon. His win at Pembrey was his first ever full race win and the emotion was evident but once you get the first you really want the second and the third. The turbo manifold failure in the second race in Wales was a blow so we really wanted to come back fighting. Again we’ve worked closely with Richard from KW, the Astra chassis is absolutely spot on, we’re getting minimal tyre wear, front end grip is excellent and Simon is able to provoke the car to oversteer with ease. Simon has also shown the skill to adapt his driving style to suit the car, in testing we suggested running a higher gear at certain parts of the circuit and despite not being sure it was a good idea he did....with the effect of knocking 3/10ths off the lap time. For a driver to try something even when he feels it might not be the best is testimony to Simon’s skill and willingness to learn. We’re really proud of both of them.

Handling aside, we’re really happy with the power delivery. We’ve maximised torque whilst keeping power to within regulations. As both cars are relatively heavy in the class, this has meant we’ve needed to map the cars quite carefully to ensure they are competitive. Working closely with Superchips has meant that we’ve not needed to remap cars in between races once, this allows the drivers to concentrate on making time from chassis and suspension adjustments, forcing the driver to drive with a different power map between races will inevitably make it more difficult for them to adapt. Remapping cars is our business so it’s gratifying to know we’re getting it right in such a high pressure environment.

Having Thorney Motorsport fill the podium was an enormously proud moment for us all.

Race 2

After wiping off the fizzy wine (this isn’t F1 I’m afraid so no bottles of Mumms) we set about preparations for race 2, this didn’t take long. We even used the same tyres such was the set up on the cars. Both Simon and Leyton were on pole so we had high hopes and I wondered round the pits mumbling ‘4 wins would be acceptable I suppose.’ Much to the annoyance of the team.

The race start didn’t go to plan. John Harrison, debuting both himself and his M3, pulled off a flyer. He jumped from 5^th straight into the lead which was very impressive, especially as John’s M3 failed scrutineering. An electrical problem saw him stumped, so we stepped in and sorted it for him. We did all hope that wasn’t going to bite us back at that point. However we know from our own M3 that the tyres quickly overheat from the extra weight and John subsequently ran wide letting the Megane and two Astra VXR’s of Simon and Wallbank through.

The second race was 30 minutes with a 45 second mandatory pit stop. As the pit lane opened Simon had managed to sneak past the Megane and was gaining on the other Astra VXR so we waited until the other VXR pitted before bringing Simon in. Wallbank came in so a lap later we pulled Simon in and after an uneventful 45 seconds got him back out to slip in just behind Martins Astra. We could see from the pit wall that Simon was quicker through the corners but on the straights Martins Astra was pulling away slightly so it was going to be a fight. Coming down the main straight Martin pulled a defensive line and Simon left it nice and wide to maximise his mid corner speed; it was a classic overtake and lovely to watch, sadly Martin came across to shut the door on Simon and the inevitable contact occurred with Simon hitting the other Astra squarely on the side, the next run saw them side by side taking out a bail of tyres for good measure – very BTCC we thought. With Simon having the inside line through the corner he made it through and we could breathe again. However next time past the pit wall we noticed his front bumper was hanging off, normally this isn’t too much of a problem but you’re always nervous of something piecing the radiator so three laps later when it fell off we were relieved. Simon went on to win by just over 3 seconds – fantastic – first double win for anyone in the series and it meant that Simon now had more wins than anyone else in class A in the championship.

Leyton’s race was equally traumatic, another poor start left him behind the Seat and the Clio but he quickly got his Corsa past the SEAT to chase down Quentin in the Renault. Leyton was certainly committed, at one point he lost his brakes contacting Quentin in the side damaging his rear wing and popping a rear window, sorry about that Quentin, but eventually Leyton got past and built up a 3 second lead so we decided to bring him in for his pit stop.

The pit stop was interesting, the contact with Quentin had flattened the offside front wing onto the tyre which was slowing shreading the sidewall, while we dealt with this the brakes caught fire so it was a long 45 seconds for us. As it turns out it was too long, Leyton failed to appear after one lap and we eventually see him walking down the pit lane, the cars clutch had overheated in the pit stop and the release bearing had failed. Seeing as the clutch was fine in the race this was a blow most of all for Leyton as he knew he’d not only had his first race win but a double win in the bag – a cruel thing racing sometimes.

So, in summary? We’re delighted in almost every way. The Astra is developing into really special car, handling, power delivery, reliability are all brilliant. Simon is adapting with the car perfectly and is able to exploit its handling to the point where he’s thinking about lines and overtaking rather than how to overcome the car, he’s using the car for what he needs rather than having to drive round the car. We’re even happier with the Corsa, preparing a race car when its been done 100 times before is easy, just use what other people have tested but to take a chassis, engine and drive train and develop them to race specification without any help from the manufacturer we are very proud of.   Add to this a driver who at 16 years old is relatively young and inexperienced but both willing to learn and clearly has a lot of talent and we’re delighted with how things are developing.

Next race is at Castle Combe on July 18^th.

 

John