Paul at Brands today...
Discussion
Had a good day, nice to meet everyone again and have a chat. 
Dear Martin, Tony F, Justin, Adrian and Saucyboy,
Thanks for all turning up to support, Martin great photographs. I judged the day to be a succes especialy for the LOT club, their first event and even for the spectators wildy exciting racing. Their Lotus races had massive grids with every sort of driver from Andy Walshe in his 330 bhp honda powered elise down to complete novices who were driving their road cars home after the races. They had a brilliant race, loads of action, close racing and considering the range of cars and skills no "events" to speak off. I suspect this is going to be a very good year for LOT and Paul Golding.
If only we could field a few more Nobles to pad out a grid for them........
Anyway it was my first time ever on slicks and first time back in the seat for almost 6 months so a lot to learn and catch up on. The compound we had was a bit on the hardish side so as to last the full 3 races and as it was so cold they never really got hot enough but the offside front did begin to melt as they should. When cold they are like driving on marbles but once warmed up I did a best qualifying of 53.2 seconds. My best ever lap on Yoko 48s was a 57.8 so the slicks are worth a good 4 seconds a lap and probably more when really heated up. The race was a bit of an eye opener and the grid a bit on the silly side; there were manic radicals, a couple of Nemesis' and a Jade all doing 45 second laps and a brace of Mazda MX5s at theback with me stuck in the middle. I went too fast too early on the slicks and spun in both races coming down from Paddock, the first time I managed to keep it going off of the gravel and the second time stayed on the road. After that I had a jolly good scrap chasing and re-taking a few cars ending up ahead of a Chevron and one of the Radicals. The leading radicals were just mad, at times I felt like a complete novice on his first track day, they just appeared from nowhere and scarred the s**t out of me (yes that's you Tony F!). Anyhow I managed to keep it on the track and not hit anything and nothing broke so alls well.
The final race was at 5:40pm, freezing, dark and drizzling. I went out on full wets and tip toed around doing 59 second laps. How Tony did it on slicks is just beyond me.
Thanks as usual to Plans for keeping eveything running and commiserations to Richard for his broken box.
Can't wait til the next one!
Regards
Paul C
Thanks for all turning up to support, Martin great photographs. I judged the day to be a succes especialy for the LOT club, their first event and even for the spectators wildy exciting racing. Their Lotus races had massive grids with every sort of driver from Andy Walshe in his 330 bhp honda powered elise down to complete novices who were driving their road cars home after the races. They had a brilliant race, loads of action, close racing and considering the range of cars and skills no "events" to speak off. I suspect this is going to be a very good year for LOT and Paul Golding.
If only we could field a few more Nobles to pad out a grid for them........
Anyway it was my first time ever on slicks and first time back in the seat for almost 6 months so a lot to learn and catch up on. The compound we had was a bit on the hardish side so as to last the full 3 races and as it was so cold they never really got hot enough but the offside front did begin to melt as they should. When cold they are like driving on marbles but once warmed up I did a best qualifying of 53.2 seconds. My best ever lap on Yoko 48s was a 57.8 so the slicks are worth a good 4 seconds a lap and probably more when really heated up. The race was a bit of an eye opener and the grid a bit on the silly side; there were manic radicals, a couple of Nemesis' and a Jade all doing 45 second laps and a brace of Mazda MX5s at theback with me stuck in the middle. I went too fast too early on the slicks and spun in both races coming down from Paddock, the first time I managed to keep it going off of the gravel and the second time stayed on the road. After that I had a jolly good scrap chasing and re-taking a few cars ending up ahead of a Chevron and one of the Radicals. The leading radicals were just mad, at times I felt like a complete novice on his first track day, they just appeared from nowhere and scarred the s**t out of me (yes that's you Tony F!). Anyhow I managed to keep it on the track and not hit anything and nothing broke so alls well.
The final race was at 5:40pm, freezing, dark and drizzling. I went out on full wets and tip toed around doing 59 second laps. How Tony did it on slicks is just beyond me.
Thanks as usual to Plans for keeping eveything running and commiserations to Richard for his broken box.
Can't wait til the next one!
Regards
Paul C
gadgeroonie said:
paul - have you converted to a chargecooler ?
how does it cope with temps on a long race ? do they creep up ?
how does it cope with temps on a long race ? do they creep up ?
Engine temps were fine - remember this was England in springtime! so it was bitterly cold - 10'c and a nasty biting wind.
More importnatly what happened to the chargecooler temps? Well the cooler return temp rose as high as 46'c during the races and fell to 38'c on the slow down lap. Pootling about in the paddock, ligning up on the grid etc the return temp was never more than 2-3 'c higher than the flow in which itself was on ambient.
I have a thermostat in the chargecooler outlet side that senses the air temp and this controls a large red light on the dash. throughout the 2 qualifying sessions and the 3 races (20 minutes) I only saw it come on once and that was in the final 2 laps of the wet race. That's odd as I was driving more slowly and using less power. Perhaps that suggests a slow heat soak effect even for the cooler? So given the cold ambient temps I'd say the chargecooler is still not fully proven. More racing needed.
Regards
Paul C
Hi Paul,
I'm glad somebody else had problems with these slicks. Where they the Dunlop ones? I was at Silverstone on Saturday doing the Britcar PS1 and spun off on the first lap whilst leading! Couldn't get temperature in these things all day!
name said:
I went too fast too early on the slicks and spun in both races coming down from Paddock
I'm glad somebody else had problems with these slicks. Where they the Dunlop ones? I was at Silverstone on Saturday doing the Britcar PS1 and spun off on the first lap whilst leading! Couldn't get temperature in these things all day!
kinetic said:
Hi Paul,
I'm glad somebody else had problems with these slicks. Where they the Dunlop ones? I was at Silverstone on Saturday doing the Britcar PS1 and spun off on the first lap whilst leading! Couldn't get temperature in these things all day!
name said:
I went too fast too early on the slicks and spun in both races coming down from Paddock
I'm glad somebody else had problems with these slicks. Where they the Dunlop ones? I was at Silverstone on Saturday doing the Britcar PS1 and spun off on the first lap whilst leading! Couldn't get temperature in these things all day!
Dear Steve,
Yes I heard you were on pole - well done. They were the Dunlops and mine just would not get hot enough. Do you think Graham did a sneaky deal on a duff set?????
Regards
Paul C
Arthur Daley's got nothin on Graham 
I reckon the compound was too hard for the weather conditions and I think these tyres were designed for heavier cars than ours! Some of the M3's were flying on them but they are 1200kg plus so they can work the tyre alot harder and get some heat into them. Well thats my excuse anyway!
Problem is it can get seriously expensive to use a softer compound that only last 1/2 hour and then is knackered!
I reckon the compound was too hard for the weather conditions and I think these tyres were designed for heavier cars than ours! Some of the M3's were flying on them but they are 1200kg plus so they can work the tyre alot harder and get some heat into them. Well thats my excuse anyway!
Problem is it can get seriously expensive to use a softer compound that only last 1/2 hour and then is knackered!
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