Mallory Park - Podium?????

[Malcolm]

Mallory Park

At last our prayers were answered with the skies overcast and rain falling, conditions ideal for our significantly underpowered car! A week before we had made the terrible mistake of rolling road testing our car and being told we had a whopping 64.5 rwhp! Perhaps enough to remove the skin from a rice pudding but not a lot else. But if it rains……

[Malcolm]

A hearty breakfast in the paddock canteen tees the team up for the day. No real prep issues although since our rolling road we had made some investigations into drive train drag but not found anything unusual. Dave Parker at Bordon Tyre and Exhaust was most helpful here. Thanks for your time Dave.

Without a pit garage we are sheltering in my trailer with the car under a tarp. Neither of us have driven Mallory before so having only read the books on how to drive the circuit anxiety was a little high, certainly with me, perhaps less so with Glenn as he just loves racing in the wet.

28 cars go out for practice which is red flagged half way through. Fortunately Glenn is also driving in a later race so another practice session allows us to get at least some practice in between us. However I am not calmed by this shortened session even though Glenn is in a Bring It On kind of mood!

However the soft setting of our car plus a better choice on tyre pressures means we are 7th on the grid, our best effort all year! Could be fun in the race. Video recorder is playing up so frustration with that as well as the lap timer gets its channel changed and I don’t realise this until we are back home late at night so no in car lap times!

[Malcolm]

Mallory is a simple circuit but challenging to drive quickly nevertheless. It technically only has 4 corners! Think of a frying pan with two straight sides! Off the start straight into Gerrards, a huge radius 190 degree corner that has a hump right on the exit so as you build up your exit speed, you go light and slide to the outside of the track. Once you get used to it, it is ok but the first time it happens it does make you wake up! Especially if you are trying to keep inside of another car! Short straight down to the esses where you need to avoid quite harsh kerbs. Short uphill straight to the hairpin which is really tight but fortunately it is banked a little so you can throw the car in and nail the throttle. Going downhill now there is an undulating left hand corner back on to the start finish straight which is flat out and then you do it all again.

By the start the rain is just a drizzle and by the end of the race, not enough to keep a wet track although at the start it looks like it could rain more. Half the cars are on wet tyres and the other half are satisfied with their dry tyres, not being slicks our dry tyres are more an inter than a slick. Slicks are not allowed in our series. Most use Yoko A048 or Toyo R888 or the Dunlop equivalent.

Our usual start means that by the first corner Glenn has dropped to 10th but by lap two is up to 4th! He just drives round the outside of everyone through Gerrards and up the inside at the hairpin! He is on a roll and is revelling in these damp conditions. By the time the safety car comes out after about 15 minutes he is in 2nd place. A lovely Lotus Cortina is in our race but is way off the race pace by about 14 seconds per lap, not good when the lap is just 1.35 miles long! However with the safety car having picked up the leader and then restarted the race, the Lotus Cortina cannot keep up and so with no overtaking allowed before the start line Glenn loses about 30 seconds before he can pass it. P***ed off is an understatement here for Glenn! The race is coming to its half way point and we didn’t change drivers during the safety car period. This may cost us. However Glenn is positively flying and so I leave him out a bit longer. Someone else’s misfortune saves us as another safety car period is called. We change drivers well but as I leave the pit garage I am held at the pit lane exit to allow the crocodile to pass. I rejoin at the back of the crocodile after waiting what seems an eternity but perhaps it is only 45 seconds? I have no idea where I am in the race.

[Malcolm]

2 safety car laps and the safety car pulls in and we go green. My confidence in these wet conditions is not as high as Glenn’s. I am perfectly happy but not Glenn happy! We have 15 or so minutes of the race left and our little car is doing great. Because we are now racing I realise we must be doing quite well so I take no risks by going around people in Gerrards. I don’t feel I know sufficiently what would happen on the outer edge of the track if I tried it and if it goes wrong, it would be big. I only overtake on the inside at the exit of Gerrards where I get a run on the car in front or at the Hairpin where it is really easy to out brake others. And it is a busy time passing people. Most satisfying when you keep passing Porsche 944 turbo’s who claim to have 230 bhp! Our soft set up works a treat. To help give an idea of how wet it is and how unsettled this makes the grid, our friend Stuart in a 911 Carrera who so far this year has always been in the top 3 is nowhere and finishes the day 16th.

However the race is over all too soon and as Glenn’s next race is within 10 minutes of this one so it is panic mode to get him refuelled and back to the grid in time.

Still no idea how we did but eventually the results are published and amazingly we have come 3rd overall with 27 finishers! Wow! And only 4.75 seconds behind the race winner. I think that the way Glenn was driving, had he done the race solo he may well have won it. It was his day. Respect to the Rain Master!

[Malcolm]

So we now know what a good wet race set up is on the car. Just need to improve dry times which will be a combination of stiffer set up and more engine grunt required. I think we have both been sucked into this racing lark enough to say yes we want to develop this car more.

Next race is Sunday 8th June at Rockingham, another circuit with a distinct lack of straights and lots of corners. And with luck, it may rain again…..

[Julian West]

Great Result Malcolm, well done to you & team. I always think success in the rain is the sign of a great driver!!

I've had a few good races at Mallory, but have yet to visit the podium like yourself!! Do you believe those that say they go into gerrards flat??

Regds,

[Malcolm]

Very much car specific I think. Maybe for our car in the dry but no chance in the wet. A 40 would be heavily on the brakes.

[Ross Nicol]

Well done Malc 3rd with 64.5 rwhp not bad.The wet takes away hp advantage alright. We had the worst case scenario in my videoed race, on slick tyres with only parts of the track wet and some dry, so the $500k Lambo drivers found even 4 wheel drive couldn't help them stay on the track. I'd say from the layout of Mallory Park horsepower wins in the dry.

Ross

[Malcolm]

BHP always helps in the dry and hinders in the wet. Had it been dry we would have been about half way down the field by race end. There is more track in the turns than on the straights at Mallory but if you go to say Snetterton that place has the longest 2 straights in the country, one being 900m. We got left behind and it was a comparatively boring race.

Just got my finals through for Sunday and I see for the first time this year we are up against another MX5 and seemingly to be driven by an ARDS instructor! Hey ho! Still hope it rains....

[Martin]

Nice one Malcolm,
My regards to Glenn. Thanks for the invite up to support you guys. I didn't get a pass out unfortunately. Great result...
Cheers,
Martin