Club race, South Yorkshire Raceway

Ok, so it had been a little while since I raced last; about a month.

So I decided, quite late Saturday evening. To go and visit my parents and then on the Sunday go race at a club meet.

Kills two birds with one stone, happy days.

I got a Carter's for 7am, where we met Big Rob who would drive us to to Sheffield for the race.

The track is much tighter than EWS where I reported from previously. But still decent bite.

Set up wise I started in exactly the same set up that I ended EWS on, all I changed was the gearing, going down from a 43 to a 40 pinion. And gave it a try from there. 

First round was alright, traction still coming up. But the car felt over geared and/or over timed. 

So for round 2 I backed the timing off 10 degrees to 40 rather than 50, this was an immediate improvement.

Round 3 I added 0.5mm under my front inner lines, this gave me much more corner speed and a very nice balance to the car.

Round 4 I went further with that change and added another 0.5mm under the front (1.0mm compared to EWS setting) and a 0.5mm to the rear inner links.

Again the car was really good, maybe a little too safe for the very tight nature of the circuit. 

Lap time wise there was an improvement in every round with every change. 

Plenty of things learnt with the car yesterday, and pleased with how reactive it was to adjustments :)

Until next time!

Ciao 

On the grid.

EWS rd1 set up

EWS Round 1

So then, the first race with the new car.

Let's start from the beggining.

I was working Saturday morning so after that (about 3pm) I set off to meet up with Jordan, (who is be travelling down with) he lives about 1 hour north of me, which means it's 2hours 30 to the track rather than 1 hour 30 from mine. Because of this we'd decided to travel down on the Saturday rather than a Sunday morning purely because it would make it a very long day.

So we made it to Essex for about 7pm. Got checked into the hotel, did a little car prep (for me it was just getting it set up) then headed off for some tea at the restaurant.

After filling up we headed over to the track to see how the build was going with the track. By the time we got there the track was all set up and a few locals were getting some laps in. Initially I had wished that I'd brought my equipment to give the car a quick shake down to ensure all was ok, I changed my mind after seeing how green the track was and noting that it was purely a track sweeping excersice rather than real testing.

We got our pit table put up though so at least we had pitting sorted :)

At about 10:45 we retreated back to the hotel to finish any remaining prep and get some sleep ready for what would no doubt be a long day.

Rise and shine at 7am, washed and at the track for 7:45.

Pit set up and booked in, just motors and wings to Tech before qualifying.

There was 1x 4minute practice before qualifying, this was going to prove very crucial to how the rest of the day was going to go.

I was still running on last years tires, knowing how much of a difference new tires can make at this venue, I figured I'd play things conservative.

With this practice being the first running I got to do, I took things very easy for the first few laps, checking trims, temps (as this was first time running 17.5 blinky.

All I can say is wow, the Awesomatix worked really well, general lack of grip due to the track, but also I could feel straight away that the balance wasn't right, the rear felt very soft and as if I had little confidence on power with the rear of the car.

Despite this, I still manged to top the time sheets during practice, based on the best 3 consecutive laps. For sure I was very surprised about that!

So back on the table, I gave the car a once over, all seemed fine, nothing loosened or suspect. All good!

I was reluctant to make too many changes as I knew the traction would come up a lot and improve the track. In the end, after a bit if deliberating I decided to go slightly harder in the rear spring setting, aswell as going up on the diff oil in the rear.

Round 1 of qualifying went well, still loose but better balanced so again came away pleased, also gaining the win for the round by a little over 2 seconds.

Round 2 was much of the same except the only change being a slight reduction in the rear spring rate. Again a round win, so that was the most of qualifying done with it being the best 2 out if 4 rounds to count. The only way to be beaten would be for 1 other driver to top the next 2 rounds and go faster than my previous 2 TQ times.

Round 3 went very well,  again with a diff oil change and rear spring adjustment, and for the first time I played with the motor settings.

Pace wise I think I was lucky to get the TQ for this round, the car was super safe to drive, maybe a little too safe. 

Round 4, with the TQ spot nice and safe, I decided to really go for it. Knowing that a number of drivers would run new tires, I decided to do the same so I could know if fresh rubber would be the way to go for the final. I also wanted to add a little more rotation to the car so I went down a little on the diff oil. But left the motor as it was.

This was a really good run. Gaining TQ again for the round making it a clean sweep, but this round, feeling confident to push the car every corner every lap, the balance was perfect coupled with the fresh rubber, I set a time 1.6 seconds ahead of everyone else, and nearly made it to the elusive 20 lap mark.

Onto the final.

Flag to flag win, I had turned the timing on the motor down ever so slightly to ensure I was safe with motor temps.

Again the car ran faultlessly and with the fine tuning of the motor, I was able to build up a very comfortable 4.5 second lead

The video of the final can be found here.

EWS Rd1 17.5 A main

Until next time!

Luke

New Season, New Car, New Views.

So then, its been a little while since I've posted anything of substance on this.
It's time to rectify this, and on a more regular basis.


Plenty of things have changed since the last post(s), Obviously was lucky enough to do some work with Radio LeMans at Silverstone WEC championship, done loads of painting, few changes with job etc

And the big news, I'm back racing! Its taken a lot of work this past few months to sort out but I am extremely pleased to announce a tie up with Russian Company Awesomatix.

As this was sorted out so close to the start of our Indoor season, it has left no time for any testing what so ever. First practice will be the first time the car turns its wheels, no pressure there then!

I'm running in 17.5 blinky class this winter, for a few reasons, reason number 1 is purely down to lack of previous running, and the availability for testing, at least I know I can rock up each month and be competitive, whereas in 13.5 boosted, and Mod even more so, I would be needing to do a great deal more testing to be fast and at the sharp end.

Wow it's been a while!!

Jeez! How have I allowed it to go this long without a blog update?

It's time to start getting back into weekly updates, or at least per project updates! 

WEC Silverstone round up

So, I totally forgot to blog at all from about the half way point in the race, partly due to my phone running out of juice, and partly due to me forgetting... Doh'!

As a bit of a round up I can summarise things a little.
In all, I had a lovely day. Can't thank Radio Le Mans and Eve Hewitt enough. Was certainly an eye opener as to what sort of effort goes into producing the show.
Post race was really exciting as got to meet Mr Le Mans himself, Tom Kristensen!
Walking down the media corridor after the race and podium celebrations was ace, so many famous drivers, Bruno Senna, Sebastian Buemi to name just a couple. I'll upload all the images after I'm home from work today, but suffice to say, it's not a day I'll be forgetting shortly.

Ciao

WEC 3hr 20 min in.

Here's the positions just over half race distance. Rain now looks to be gone for good but it's Silverstone in April so who knows!

WEC update,

Just over 3 and a half hours left and it's raining and full course caution after John Martin put his LMP2 into the start wall on a wet track.

WEC, Radio Lemans, hour 1 round up.

So 1 hour down, the running order being;
Mcnish
Treluyer
Davidson
Wurz
Belicchi
Jani
Kane.

In P1 not too much changing apart from Audi and Toyota switching position quite early for the top 4 positions, with Wurz seeming to have a problem and simply not having the pace of the rest of the hybrid cars ahead.

In P2 it's a Delta ADR 1-2 but everything is very close indeed.

In GTpro Aston Martin have a lead of about 4 seconds ahead of Fisichella in the Ferrari.

GTam seems to be dominated by 95 Aston.

WEC Silverstone, Radio Lemans

So, it's just gone 12 here at Silverstone and I'm interning for the day with Radio lemans.
I've been here at the media center since 9am this morning and it's great. Been having a good long chat with Eve Hewitt, aka "the responsible adult" as she is also known on the midweek collective and RML.

I've been around the pits for a look around and had a tour of the Delta ADR put garage and the lovely prepared Oreca LMP2 cars which were Q1&3 in LMP2 after qualifying.

The race began here at 12noon, and there's already been a few position changes and on track action already. With the Audi's switching positions with the Toyota's for 1st to 4th respectively.

Various issues for the Lotus LMP2 cars with both having been in the Garage for approx 5-6 laps already now.

I'll be coming back with on the hour updates so stay tuned.

All quiet on the Godzilla Front!

Well I've been fairly busy and as such neglected you lot.
Just been really busy painting and also building and setting up a mardave ready for GT12 national at tonbridge in a couple of weeks time.
Only had a chance to put some laps on it last night but it worked a treat.

Results can be found here.

http://southcambsrc.co.uk/race-results-020416/

Going to be fairly busy coming up to tonbridge too as I'm taking roughly 10 Pre painted shells to sell whilst there, hopefully it can make the weekend pay for itself... Maybe... Possibly... Probably not lol.

I'll leave you with some random gt12 pictures :)

Summing up.

So, another week (and weekend) has come to an end. It's been lovely not being at work (mandatory paid leave to take before April) but I'm really looking forward to be back working tomorrow.

This post isn't really an update to do with painting, it's more a case of my musings and reflections of the past week.
Since I've painted both those Ginetta's I've not painted anything else yet, I was waiting for those to sell before doing any more as not wanting to flood the market at all. (Both are now sold btw)

Over this past week I've had 3 extra customer orders, which always helps! So just waiting on those bodies to arrive and I'll get cracking on them :)

After painting so many GT12 shells these past weeks I've really become a fan on the class, as you do when trying to promote your products/business I've been taking more of an interest in the class and it looks mighty good fun.
Note to self. Must look into it!

As for me I've been having a cleaning day. That's all I've been up to, cleaning house top to bottom and doing the laundry (very rock & roll)

Anyways I'll leave things for now, it's 11pm and I can't be arsed to stay awake any longer as been up since 5:45am for the F1..

Ciao

Ginetta part 2!

So I've painted the 2nd Ginetta today!

Yeah yeah I've blatantly ripped off Keven Hebert but so what ;)

Let me know what you think

Ginetta!

So, I had a couple of Ginetta's arrive

They're lovely. Really well moulded and I think they look very scale!

Here's the first one I did this morning.

£30 posted (via PayPal, you pay the fees)

Luke

Another update!

So, time for another update!
This shell was for a young lads' 12th birthday, got the order last night and just couldn't wait to get painting. So I did the whole thing in 1 sitting.

Let me know what you think

Ascari Pre paint for sale.

Up next is a Kamtec Ascari for GT12.

£27 posted in the UK

Godzilla paint,

So then. Time for a bit of an update.

Godzilla paint is up and running, working out of a spare room in my house, compressor set up nicely. Proper good little work station.

Painted the first couple of shells last weekend. Decided to start out by painting GT12 bodies, mainly for a couple of reasons.
1. The shells are cheap and I can sell them as Pre painted to build up a portfolio.
2. It's a class on the increase and without being mean to any of the drivers, alot don't have their "own paint scheme" they seem to like something different each time... Perfect for a budding painter.

So far the response has been good. Up to about 20 Facebook "likes" and with in hours of painting each of the first two shells they were sold. I'm learning new things everytime I hook up the air brushes.

I've ordered 2 more shells and they arrived today, one is already Pre sold now and the other is mid way through paint to be sold as another Prepainted body.

I'm not charging much for the painting service at the moment because as I say, I'm only just starting out, I think I worked out I "made" about £14 from each of the shells. Which after you take into account time and supplies means I earn bugger all, but.. And here's the big but...(haha big but)... It's all practise. And that's what I'm wanting right now :)

Few sketches!

Here's just a few doodles of potential lights n grilles for future projects!

Postman hurry up!

So, the postman brought me a few goodies today! Well alot actually, it was like Christmas all over again.
Had my RCS order come through, my paints, cleaner and other sundries! Hoping the postman brings me more goodies tomorrow!

Pic update

Here's the work station nearly ready to roll! Just waiting for more deliveries from Mr postman!

Godzilla Paint Cont.

So, I'm going into painting. This won't be just RC, but primarily it will be. But the doors are open to paint anything that gets put infront of me.
The first few items should start rolling out at the end of this week, or beginning of next week. Just waiting for all the small parcels to arrive here. It's like Christmas so far!

Godzilla Paint!

So, after much deliberating and consideration I've decided to launch the paint shop of Godzilla Paint.

"Team Godzilla" has been a long running joke between myself, Juho Levanen and Stefan Chodzynski. There is a story behind the name but that's better left in the past haha.

Now I don't have major experience in the painting world but have been doing extensive research and gaining as much advice as possible, the main advice coming from long term friend and painter, Chris Holden. He's a great guy and founder of Ginga Paint. One day I hope that Godzilla Paint can gain the same level of respect that people have for Chris and his work.