CTCRC Pre 83 Rockingham

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Guys,

First race of the season this Saturday at 13:40 and on Sunday at 13:10.

First up is the Sprint driven by Duncan Leftley for his first season:

Second is Malcolm in the SC. The car is lightened with Perspex side and rear windows and window mechanisms and door trims removed. Malcolm is a lot lighter too.

Next up is the Golf Gti Mk1 driven by Chris Dumont. The car has been lightened with carbon Kevlar bonnet and rear hatch plus a Perspex rear window. Chris is much lighter too.

Finally, me driving the Trofeo. It has a go faster spoiler! I am slightly heavier. Tom has lowered and stiffened the car with new suspension all round. New large vented discs with four pot calipers. Suspension setup to legendary BLS spec. Very excited.

Brgds
Simon

[BS25]

That's a really good line up! i hope you all have a good fun race - I'll be watching on the TSL live timing page! You'll enjoy the infield section, the Suds will work especially well through there - the Turn 1 oval section and Deene Hairpin is an acquired taste that I'm yet to acquire!

Good luck

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for your advice. I am off to watch some rockingham footage to get an edge on the others.

Brgds
Simon

[PETROLHEAD]

That certainly is a classy line up, and i hope it goes well for all of you.

As for edge, you've had the BLS wand waved over it, so im sure it'll be magic, but it may take some getting used too, as i appreciate its quite a change from its uk debut now.

Its possibly a case of unlearning first, then build some confidence in the cars new abilities,

And that spoiler is already another 20 break horsepower, I'm sure of it!

[Veesix75]

Good luck Simon and team.

I always found Rockingshm tough going , but a great circuit.

The section on the oval is daunting first few times (or was for me), as its flat out down the straight and really fast around the bend......take a few laps to get a feel for it as the only place to go if it gets pear shaped on the bend is into the wall....

In field is pretty much all bends, some fast sweeping and some tight turns.

It great for viewing , especially on the roof of the garages.

Trofeo looks top notch.

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the excellent advice. I will be sure to build up as I don't know the car or Rockingham.
The suspension is absolutely solid compared to how it was. All set and ready for an early start.

All the best,
Simon

[PETROLHEAD]

Best of luck to all Simon,

Get used to it and bring it home safe n sound first order of the weekend,

But some nice results are always welcome too!

[Roch 1490]

Good luck to all of you,come on the Suds!! Good to see you back in the Trofeo Simon hope it goes well.
All the best.
Ian.

[Veesix75]

Well done in qualifying team Jeffs

Tracked it on live timing, everyone in the top 10 and Malcolm 4th on the grid.

Good result.

[BS25]

All had a great race! Well done Simon and Malcolm plus your teammates! Very competitive times posted by all of you - a great season opener - more of the same tomorrow!

[Kegsti66]

Good to hear the boys did well. I will pop over tomorrow to watch.
How do I watch on this "live timing" ?

[BS25]

Here's the link - to live timing, schedule and full results - http://tsl-timing.com/event/161421

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Guys,

We really had a great day today. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. Malcolm did really well trying to keep up with the lead pack. Me, Chris and Duncan were mixing it up between us. The Golf Gti beat me across the line by half a car length.

The Trofeo is handling beautifully. Magnificent job by Tom.

Thanks for all your kind comments.

All the best
Simon

[Kegsti66]

Here's the link - to live timing, schedule and full results - http://tsl-timing.com/event/161421

Thanks Bryan.

[Veesix75]

Great result all round, good luck for tomorrow.

As Bryan said, cracking lap times first time at the circuit, well done, my fastest rockingham lap in the old 33 8v was 1:43 so I'm expecting you all to have beat that by tomorrow

[Veesix75]

Well done in race 2, top 10 finish for all 3 suds...

[BS25]

Great result for all of you - 3 sessions, 4 cars in each = 12/12 completed and in one piece - a victory in itself!

Glad your happy with the Trofeo Simon, very much on the overall pace of the 1.6 SC now - and you'll have had a good comparison between the two in today's race - how did they compare?

[Kegsti66]

Good day at Rockingham. All the boys had a good second day racing, sorry for the picture quality.

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Guys,

Another really fun day. Great to meet up with Keith.

Tim - Duncan got a just under 1:43 in the Sprint.
Bryan - All the drivers were as good as gold with no bumping but good racing. The Trofeo can catch the SC in the bends but loses out during acceleration as you will see. i have found the problem though. The SC weighs 895KG with Malcolm in it and his min weight is 885KG. The Trofeo weighs 934KG with a minimum weight of 805KG.
Ian - Hope to see you out racing some time so you can put us newby's in our place. I learnt a lot from the Lotus Cortina in front of me in terms of how fast you can take particular corners.

My son is just finishing up the video. Should be published in 30 mins.

All the best,
Simon

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Guys,
Here is the Trofeo video. The rear camera runs out of battery part way through.
I think I shaved reverse three times! Oops.

https://vimeo.com/162282035

All the best
Simon

[Veesix75]

Very good, the trofeo looks to be a quick and capable car, you were strong on the braking and corners, and it looked to have plenty of speed.

Bouncing off the rev limiter a few times also

Well done.

[Kegsti66]

Great clip Simon, the Trofeo looks really planted now.
Thanks for posting the link.
Rockingham looks so different from inside a car.

[Oxfordshire driver]

I have been hiding too long..
Rockingham was a pleasant surprise, I was not expecting to enjoy the circuit much but during qualifying I realised that the Alfa's would show some respectable times against some of the other regulars in the pre '83 group.
Qualifying on a damp and very greasy track was perfect, the rear wheel drive cars were lucky if they could just stay off the grass!
Race 1 on Saturday afternoon was dry and sunny, I managed to scamper away initially with the lead pack but was dropped after the first lap but I maintained my gap over Simon, Chris and Duncan as they were all fighting with each other.
Race 2 on Sunday was dry but a bit overcast and windy. I was 2 seconds a lap slower than Saturdays race but could not understand why. Duncan was past me early on in the Sprint as he had the extra legs on the straight. I could see Simon in the distance about half way through the race and I could see he now had the measure of the grip in the Trofeo, he was gaining on me every lap.
I was working out where he would try and I was guessing he could outbrake me coming up to Deere hairpin/around Deere hairpin but he would need to be fairly close to me at the end of the straight which was unlikely. The other place he was strong was from Pif-Paf all the way down to and around Tarzan. This is where he pounced positioning his car on the inside heading down to Tarzan. Nothing for me to do except try to shadow him on the outside around Tarzan as there is an incline coming out of Tarzan up to the chicanes and luckily for me I was able to out drag him to the chicanes, through and down to take the chequered flag. All very exciting on the last lap!
A great weekend with good,close and respectful driving from all drivers.

Now for some excuses..
Around Gracelands (fast left before Tarzan) I was suffering quite badly from understeer.
Coming out of the Chicanes I was not able to get the power down until well onto the oval part of the track and in pretty much a straight line. The box has an LSD as does Simon's but watching/listening to his video he does not seem to have the same problem.
I will post my video up soon and identify which bit to compare to Simon's video. Any ideas welcomed.

Anybody like nerdy graph analysis?
Real racers would obviously never share this sort of data but amateurs like me and Lewis Hamilton are happy to
Blue line was my best lap time on first race on Saturday.
Please note- the mph axis is a little over optimistic but I don't have the skills to change that.

[BS25]

Simon/Malcolm - thanks for posting up the video and the lap traces - both were interesting! I'll take another look at the video and also yours Malcolm when available.

My initial thoughts on Race 2 was that Simon was clearly spurred on by the sight of the SC upfront - and especially so with it getting closer and closer. The 'win' over the Cortina was clearly also confidence boosting. Having the SC in his sights gave him something to aim for - a powerful tool! It looks to me that Simon had got confident on the brakes and with the turn-in on the Trofeo and was able to make good ground into the bends - though this did sacrifice speed on the exits. The lack of torque also wasn't helping and perhaps a lower gear was required at the hairpins - albeit very briefly before requiring an upshift. Were you in the same gear in the SC Malcolm? The additional torque of the 1600 would have added to the difficulty of getting the power down. I'm guessing you have a quaife LSD in the SC? It looks very progressive and user friendly but for dry grippy tarmac I found it less effective than the Tran-X of yesteryear and the Gripper I currently use. An overlay of yours and Simons best laps of the weekend would be interesting

The understeer through Gracelands - a later turn in here may have helped, especially as the car is pushed wider by the compression on the exit. Running wider on the exit of Pif-Paf 1 to sweep onto the Steele Straight would have given a bit more laptime - I could see Simon losing ground to the Cortina through that section initially.

On the lost laptime between the two races - did you feel that you drove in the same way? I've found in the past that its very beneficial to be sucked along by faster cars but once adrift I've settled for position and just back everything off which does leave you with a much slower laptime than previously achieved. Did the car feel the same?

[Veesix75]

I tend to suffer from what Bryan describes, when a target is in sight you push on, when alone I drop off, or worse you drop off by getting distracted looking in the mirrors at the car chasing after you.

I think your mph looks ok, if not slightly conservative. I can't remember fully my experience on the circuit, but I assume you pulled 5th gear before braking on the oval section ?

Good results all round.

[Oxfordshire driver]

Bryan, you are spot on with your analysis.
In race 1 on Saturday I was battling for most of the race with the Triplex Capri, I was certainly a lot more 'on the ragged edge'.
On Sunday I had already accepted my position after the Sprint, Capri and Mini were past and only started to think a bit more about my lines and covering off when I started seeing Simon gaining ground.
If any of you have youngish children then you may have seen 'The Fantastic Mr Fox' or indeed read it yourself many moons ago.
Duncan and I are planning a raid on the Trofeo depot, Simon may well be lacking in twin 48 Webers and lovely adjustable Leda suspension come the Donington weekend.

Tim, I have a 1.2 ti box so I was in 5th just under the start/finish gantry just before the turn in for the sweeping oval bend!
I did get a back-end twitch at full chaff just exiting that corner about 3rd lap from the end. That made me think about concrete and its vastly superior hardness qualities when coming up against dodgy Italian mild steel

Thanks for your comments guys, the video is in the ShakerMaker right now. About one hour to go.

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Bryan & Tim,

Following the Lotus Cortina MK2 taught me not to brake before Chapmans Curve and to take Gracelands in fourth. Its frustrating watching the video back when you can see quite a few places where second was needed but I am having fun learning the craft. The Trofeo does need to be kept on song. It really helps chasing someone else. I am not sure if you noticed but it was popping and banging around Tarzan due to the fuel sloshing to the left. I will fix that and save some weight. Any advice on that gratefully received - 20 litre foam filled racing tank in the boot?
Overall the car was absolutely magnificent and instills so much confidence because of the way it handles.
As Bryan said earlier, we all had a good time and no knocks even though there were plenty of opportunities. If you watch the video rear view at 03:10 you will see a Mini slide into the Anglia at Gracelands and he leaves the track at speed kicking up a lot of dirt. That could spoil your weekend.

Malcolm wants the SC to go to Tom for big brakes and suspension setup. I am sure Tom is too busy

All the best,
Simon

[Kegsti66]

I am having fun learning the craft. The Trofeo does need to be kept on song.
Overall the car was absolutely magnificent and instills so much confidence because of the way it handles.

All the best,
Simon

Hi Simon,
Your footage must be really useful to you all as you clearly now have the confidence to brake later and steer in at a quicker speed.
It is also great that your fellow racers watch and offer advice from their experience.
I really enjoy watching all your clips and reading the helpful communication between you all.

[Marlow Sud]

Hi Keith,

Really pleased it is interesting for you and thanks for coming along. Its great fun showcasing the Suds. One of the scrutineers and also a marshall in the assembly area were so excited. I asked him what he had been drinking as he was jumping up and down and he said that Alfas were his favourite cars. He was beaming.
I have a feeling there are quite a few Sud racers tucked away and i am hoping that more will turn up to meetings.

All the best,
Simon

[Veesix75]

Simon, my fuel tank is fairly low tech. It's an original sud tank cut in half, foam webbing stuffed in and a plate welded to the end to seal it back up. It sits underneath in the same place (but just on the passenger side) held in with an original tank strap.

My first sud was the same, my 33 had an aluminium custom made tank but positioned in the same place picking up the original filler. I bought it from Tom many years ago.

Brimmed, I reckon we have 4 ish gallon, we use approx 2 to gallon per race, bit more if 20 mins.