Paul Thompson 'Hooligan'
Admin
After Oulton Park with the Griffith, it was all change on the brakes, removing the new big vented discs / 4-pots that were eligible for the Swinging Sixties class of Classic Sports Car Club and refitting the old, period E-type calipers and solid disc combination which also required about 6 turns of the brake balance bar to correct for the less effective/efficient solution.
The car was entered into the Historic Roadsports Class of HSCC for a 20 minute race and things were looking good. The owner/driver (Julian Dodd) was unable to compete this weekend so had kindly offerred the drive to his long term racing parter, Matthew Truelove, who had also invited along a number of clients to entertain over the weekend, so no pressure then. Julian did pop along to support, spectate and lend a hand though which was great too.
After Oulton, where the brakes were strong, I looked at the handling and using laser alignment, I'd dialed out the 3mm offset to the left that was present in the rear, so they now were square to the fronts. I also dropped the -3.75 degs of neg camber on the front right to -2.5 degs to match the front left and also reduced the front toe-out from 4mm to 2mm. Fresh plugs, Mintex 1155 pads + Sunoco 600+ fluids and 4 fresh Yokohama A048Rs completed the basic setup in addition to the normal servicing requirements.
Qualifying saw Matthew go out about 5th in the pack but within a lap had passed the 3 or 4 cars ahead and so had a stab at a fast lap. Just as well as subsequent incidents and Yellow Flag conditions meant that much of the practice/qualifying session was a bit congested. Anyway, job done, Matthew qualified the Griffith (#63) in pole position by about a second, over a gaggle of screaming Lotus Elans among other cars.
http://www.hscc.org.uk/resources/Provisional%20Entry%20List%20Brands%20Super%20Prix.pdf
Post practice the car was set on stands to give it a check over and some slight rubbing of the rear LH inner tyre edge was detected and traced to the tyre wall touching the rear lower arm shock retaining nut. Uh-oh!, what was causing this??
Investigation then found the wheel bearing had developed some slack/play, with the outer bearing shell having slightly spun in the hub. So now it was a race to pull the drive shaft/hub assembly and strip/rebuild/repair before the now rapidly approaching race. As the event was local to Roy Smart - I'd invited him along and very handy that was too. The spacing / preload of the hub bearing assembly is controlled by a spacer/shim that I removed and gave to Roy, who promptly trotted off to an event resource for 'thinning'.
After a clean, some bearing retainer and re-grease, the hub was re-assembled and checked for function. Great - it was ok! 'Cinderella would go the ball'...
With some 20 mins to go, a final re-bleed of front brakes, setup of video cameras and off to the assembly area Matthew headed.
Normally I'd go to pit will for board data, esp if a driver change was planned but as this was a short event, it was considered not required, so I joined the guests on the outside of Paddock Hill to view the race.
The Griff launches great, with LSD and fresh rubber so it was no major suprise (but still a relief) to see Matthew dive down the hill from turn one, leading the gaggle of Elans over which he'd pulled maybe - 50 to 100 yds.
From the lead, he then controlled the pace, staying a steady distance ahead all the time watching his mirrors. The 2nd place Elan of Paul Tooms harried him till about lap 9, when the 3rd place Elan of Andrew Marler took up the fray. Speaking to Matthew post race, he told me that Julian had indicated to him that Andrew may try this, saving his tyres for a last minute dash, so he was ready for it and turned the wick up accordingly.
So that was it, a FIRST PLACE OVERALL for the first time this year. He and Julian had already had podium finishes and often lead from the start, but this one was cemented and everyone was well chuffed - (no-one more so than me probably!)
After the Champagne / buffet and much fun in the paddock, we made our way back to trackside to watch a bit more of the historic racing. The big 70s F1 / F2 and big-banger M8s etc were all just awesome. Whilst I enjoy all types of motorsport, I definately now prefer the historic scene. Lots of lovely cars, nice people and a really friendly atmosphere where likeminded people just want to go out and have fun... Bring on the next event and especially the longer endurance event planned at the full Nordschliefe in September, a cct that both Julian and Matthew have extensive experience of and are really looking forward to.
I will try to post a lap or two of video at some point and if I can get some pics I'll post them too. Malcolm was there as a guest of Matthew so I'm hoping he may have had the chance to snap a few...
Finally - a couple of links to the calendars for the HSCC and CSCC series in case anyone is interested...
Historic Sports Car Club - Calendar
Classic Sports Car Club - Calendar
The car was entered into the Historic Roadsports Class of HSCC for a 20 minute race and things were looking good. The owner/driver (Julian Dodd) was unable to compete this weekend so had kindly offerred the drive to his long term racing parter, Matthew Truelove, who had also invited along a number of clients to entertain over the weekend, so no pressure then. Julian did pop along to support, spectate and lend a hand though which was great too.
After Oulton, where the brakes were strong, I looked at the handling and using laser alignment, I'd dialed out the 3mm offset to the left that was present in the rear, so they now were square to the fronts. I also dropped the -3.75 degs of neg camber on the front right to -2.5 degs to match the front left and also reduced the front toe-out from 4mm to 2mm. Fresh plugs, Mintex 1155 pads + Sunoco 600+ fluids and 4 fresh Yokohama A048Rs completed the basic setup in addition to the normal servicing requirements.
Qualifying saw Matthew go out about 5th in the pack but within a lap had passed the 3 or 4 cars ahead and so had a stab at a fast lap. Just as well as subsequent incidents and Yellow Flag conditions meant that much of the practice/qualifying session was a bit congested. Anyway, job done, Matthew qualified the Griffith (#63) in pole position by about a second, over a gaggle of screaming Lotus Elans among other cars.
http://www.hscc.org.uk/resources/Provisional%20Entry%20List%20Brands%20Super%20Prix.pdf
Post practice the car was set on stands to give it a check over and some slight rubbing of the rear LH inner tyre edge was detected and traced to the tyre wall touching the rear lower arm shock retaining nut. Uh-oh!, what was causing this??
Investigation then found the wheel bearing had developed some slack/play, with the outer bearing shell having slightly spun in the hub. So now it was a race to pull the drive shaft/hub assembly and strip/rebuild/repair before the now rapidly approaching race. As the event was local to Roy Smart - I'd invited him along and very handy that was too. The spacing / preload of the hub bearing assembly is controlled by a spacer/shim that I removed and gave to Roy, who promptly trotted off to an event resource for 'thinning'.
After a clean, some bearing retainer and re-grease, the hub was re-assembled and checked for function. Great - it was ok! 'Cinderella would go the ball'...
With some 20 mins to go, a final re-bleed of front brakes, setup of video cameras and off to the assembly area Matthew headed.
Normally I'd go to pit will for board data, esp if a driver change was planned but as this was a short event, it was considered not required, so I joined the guests on the outside of Paddock Hill to view the race.
The Griff launches great, with LSD and fresh rubber so it was no major suprise (but still a relief) to see Matthew dive down the hill from turn one, leading the gaggle of Elans over which he'd pulled maybe - 50 to 100 yds.
From the lead, he then controlled the pace, staying a steady distance ahead all the time watching his mirrors. The 2nd place Elan of Paul Tooms harried him till about lap 9, when the 3rd place Elan of Andrew Marler took up the fray. Speaking to Matthew post race, he told me that Julian had indicated to him that Andrew may try this, saving his tyres for a last minute dash, so he was ready for it and turned the wick up accordingly.
So that was it, a FIRST PLACE OVERALL for the first time this year. He and Julian had already had podium finishes and often lead from the start, but this one was cemented and everyone was well chuffed - (no-one more so than me probably!)
After the Champagne / buffet and much fun in the paddock, we made our way back to trackside to watch a bit more of the historic racing. The big 70s F1 / F2 and big-banger M8s etc were all just awesome. Whilst I enjoy all types of motorsport, I definately now prefer the historic scene. Lots of lovely cars, nice people and a really friendly atmosphere where likeminded people just want to go out and have fun... Bring on the next event and especially the longer endurance event planned at the full Nordschliefe in September, a cct that both Julian and Matthew have extensive experience of and are really looking forward to.
I will try to post a lap or two of video at some point and if I can get some pics I'll post them too. Malcolm was there as a guest of Matthew so I'm hoping he may have had the chance to snap a few...
Finally - a couple of links to the calendars for the HSCC and CSCC series in case anyone is interested...
Historic Sports Car Club - Calendar
Classic Sports Car Club - Calendar
