dbRacing - NSSCC Croft Race Report 28th April 2002

NSSCC Race Report - 28th April 2002

Practice

The opening round of the NSSCC Championship was held at a very cold and windy Croft, with practice late on Saturday and the race last thing on Sunday. Strasse had just performed a preventative head gasket replacement for me as this weekend was to be the first of 4 consecutive race weekends. All the usual NSSCC competitors were there, though there had been some car changes, most notably David Cox in his ex BTCC Honda Civic and Simon Blankley in Dougie Andersons Peugeot 205. I went out on track and with only 7 cars in front of me I decided to try to get in front of them to have a clear track. This was successful at first and I passed 5 cars, including George Tweddle in his Escort. But by the time we were coming up to completing our second lap Steven Ferguson was pushing hard and George Tweddle dived up the inside at the hairpin allowing Ferguson past too. This was only supposed to be a practice !. I followed them, knowing that these would be the cars to beat but ran onto the rumble strips on the exit of Sunny Out. This in itself was no problem, upon arrival at the entrance to the Complex I found the vibration had knocked the brake pads back and I had no brakes. Well, almost no brakes. The near side front seemed to be working and I lost some speed before turning in but I entered the corner without sufficient power on and promptly span round 180 degrees and continued backwards onto the grass. I think that's what they call a "learning experience". The next car round was Terry Wright who gave me a cheeky wave before I got going again.

Next time round Tower however was interesting as another car (I think an Escort Cosworth) had laid some oil on the track. This guy obviously knew the track as the line of oil went all the way round Jim Clark Esses, Barcroft and Sunny, right on the racing line. The next 5 laps were impossible to get a good time on but eventually we dissipated the oil and I got a good final lap qualifying 3rd

On the slowing down lap however I noticed a misfire. Coming into the pits the car died, then restarted, then in Parc Ferme stopped and refused to start again. Fairly quickly we identified that the problem was a lack of spark, and the the problem was lack of voltage at the coil. I ended up spending about 5 hours on Saturday and Sunday in all, trying to find the cause of the problem, without success. I therefore simply rewired a new loom for the coil and was ready to race. (Thanks to Wayne Schofield (www.chipwizards.co.uk) for the loan of his soldering iron)

Race

It's nice to be on the second row ! With Steven Ferguson just ahead of me I knew he would be quick off the line with his 4WD Nissan. George Tweddle was alongside and I knew a good start would leave me in second or third by the Clervaux The light changed, the wheels scrabbled for grip and I launched forward almost overtaking Dave Pearson. Suddenly a white streak went past both of us. One of the Escort Cosworths had obviously been fixed and was making best use of his 500hp. As we approached the chicane I knew that Tweddle was right behind me and that the superior power of his car would probably mean he could overtake me by Tower. I carried my speed through the Chicane, but the cold tyres meant the car understeered and drifted from the track, onto the rumble strip and then the grass. The little lift I gave was enough to see George Tweddle pass me on the exit from the corner.

I pursued the cars of Dave Pearson and George Tweddle for the next 3 laps but lost some ground when the other Escort Cosworth came past me. On the fourth lap I gained ground on George and was closing visibly as we approached Clervaux. He then outbraked himself and departed for the kitty litter, drove straight through it and collected some of the bales of tyres used to make it more difficult to negotiate Hawthorn bend. I overtook him on the approach to the Chicane, but he immediately retired when he saw some liquid coming onto his windscreen. I was getting prepared to chase Dave Pearson when it happened........ the misfire returned. For the next 6 laps I had to drive as quickly and smoothly as possible because every time I went over the kerbs the engine coughed and spluttered. Fortunately the gap I had built up in the early laps allowed me to retain 5th place to the flag. Class B is going to be tough this year, with two Escort Cosworths putting out 500 bhp I'm going to struggle with my measly 210 bhp........anyone know of a 924 Carrera GT-R I could borrow ?

We immediately put the car back on the trailer and left for home, worried about the cause of the problem and hoping Strasse would find the problem and fix it before Brands Hatch next weekend.