416 replies to this topic

[Boombang]

If I pull my finger out I hope to be in some sort of Westfield.  Just don't know enough about what's what to commit to buying one yet, given the selection on sale.

 

 

[AliM]

So, Oulton Park was the last race of the season for Duncan and I, and we were both looking forward to it as it’s our home circuit.  When I say home circuit, I mean it’s closest to where we live and not the circuit we have the most experience on unfortunately!  Over the years though I have racked up quite a few miles at Oulton and Duncan does have some experience there so that was a plus point over pretty much every other race this season.  I was especially looking forward to qualifying; normally on new circuits I have to follow someone round for a few laps to find out where the track goes, so knowing the layout I was ready to push on.   I was quietly confident that I might be able to put in a quicker quali lap than Duncan…..

 

I took the first half of the qualifying session, and got held up for the first few laps by a clio who wanted to test their brakes on the straights and warm up their tyres by weaving, all whilst seemingly not wanting to let me pass.  It seemed like every time I tried to go round him he’d start weaving again, and there was a very narrow miss when a quicker car behind tried to go round me and nearly went into the weaving clio in front.  Finally managed to get by and was on my way, setting a 2:12.2 before coming in to pit.  Duncan went out and knocked 2 seconds off my fastest lap, he did an excellent job placing us P24 on a grid of 30. 

 

It was also my turn to start the race, and I got a pretty good start as there was a bit of contact up ahead which I managed to avoid.  Sadly on the 2^nd lap there was an incident up ahead involving Lisa Selby’s Puma and  Mark Wallwork’s Clio 172 Cup at Shell hairpin, both cars suffering substantial damage meaning the safety car came out.  On Lap 6, in P18 and still under SC I started looking to the pit wall thinking my stint must be nearly up and I couldn’t see any of my team so thinking I must have missed the signal I decided to pit on the next lap.  Big mistake, the lights on the pit exit were red and they were holding the cars.  After the driver change,  and then waiting for the pit lane exit to open again we were a lap down.  The SC went in that lap, so If I’d have stayed out for one more lap before pitting we’d have possibly finished higher up the pack.    Once again Duncan set the fastest lap of our race, a 2:10.7 and we finished P22 another excellent drive by him.

 

Overall feelings from this season are that it’s been an amazing experience and a massive learning curve.  The little saxo is a great car for what we paid for it.  In truth, we more than hold our own in the bends, it’s surprising how well the car handles when it’s not had that much spent on it but it’s lacking in power.  This obviously means that there’s room for improvement, not just in terms of performance mods or suspension set up, but from experience too.  It might be a different story for Duncan, but personally I think we can really improve next year with some small mods to engine internals and a decent geo/corner weighting.  I know that I could still get more out of the car as it is, so adding a few extra bhp for straight line speed and a whole load of time behind the wheel means things can only get better.

 

 

So how much did we end up spending? 

For the series registration, car, trailer, getting the car up to FIA/MSA regs, tyres, brakes and race fees it came to £6,700. 

Add to that tow car fuel, race car fuel and hotels at about £200 a race.  £1200

 

Total: £7,900.   This doesn’t include our ARDS tests, licenses, race suits, boots, helmets and gloves. 

 

So all in all, under £4k each for a whole lot of fun and some cracking adventures!  Fingers crossed it'll be cheaper next year now all of the big purchase costs are out of the way

 

 

 

[rob999]

Well done Ali and Duncan. Really admire you for going for it this season, I hope you both enter again next year...just so I can come and watch and see the improvements to driver and car. ::

[AliM]

Well done Ali and Duncan. Really admire you for going for it this season, I hope you both enter again next year...just so I can come and watch and see the improvements to driver and car. : :

 

I'm definitely up for racing again next year, we had such a good time on our road trips and with the other teams in the paddock.  Duncan might want to trade me in for a faster model though

[Boombang]

Unfortunately on the Saxo you don't have much geometry to change.  On the rear you are limited to ride height unless you get very clever.  On the front you can change toe, if you go for some fancy top mounts you can also bring in camber/caster (depending which mounts).

 

The Saxo shells aren't always that straight either, so worth getting top mounts with free adjustment.  On the rear you are worthwhile changing to solid mounts (if not already), then aligning the beam on a Hunter alignment setup (literally loosen it and use the tiny amount of movement to align as best).

 

I cannot recommend enough you going for 325lbish front springs with 23mm bars on the rear - should have kept mine when sold my Saxo, dumb move there...

 

Other big wins are a well designed cold air induction kit (Green used to offer a kit car replica setup that genuinely gave gains, most do nothing), a 4-1 manifold (Janspeed or similar, not crap), a Saxsport exhaust (again stupidly sold my car with it fitted, expect the buyer to sell on as he needs a cat fitted for his racing).

 

Could go on forever...

 

 

[JohnTurbo]

Well done you two!

 

Racing is the future. ;-)

[AliM]

Unfortunately on the Saxo you don't have much geometry to change.  On the rear you are limited to ride height unless you get very clever.  On the front you can change toe, if you go for some fancy top mounts you can also bring in camber/caster (depending which mounts). [/quote]

 

 

We're looking at seam welding the shell too?

 

To be honest, not being particularly well versed on the Saxo, we've no idea what can/can't be done.  I doubt either of us could tell you what our suspension settings are, or if the car is balanced properly. We still don't know what bhp it's got either, really we'll have to take it a bit more seriously next year.  The plan is to decide what we can afford, and then take it someone who knows what they are doing to make whatever set up improvements can be made.  As I said in my write up, the car is actually pretty good in terms on handling, it just lacks power.  

 

We've got a full list of mods from a car that won its class in the French Series at Oulton this weekend so we're going to pilfer some ideas from that  The nice chap who owns it is very helpful and has said we can pick his brain....

Edited by AliM, 01 October 2013 - 08:18 AM.

[AliM]

Well done you two!

 

Racing is the future. ;-)

 

JT get involved  You'd be in a different class to us though!

[JohnTurbo]

1.6 16V. You already have one in your class it seems.

 

Edited by JohnTurbo, 01 October 2013 - 10:06 AM.

[AliM]

1.6 16V. You already have one in your class it seems.

 

 

oh aye, there was a one that raced at Oulton with us

 

even better, sign up.  DO IT NOW!!

[SteveA]

1.6 16V. You already have one in your class it seems.

 

 

If you need a team mate John

[Mike (Cliffie)]

Fantastic achievement Ali and Dunc. A full season is a proper result and you should both be mighty proud of what you have done.

[AliM]

Thanks Mike, we've not been as successful as you but Dunc did manage to scoop a trophy  fingers crossed we'll pick up some more next year!

 

Good Luck this weekend!!

[Mike (Cliffie)]

Thanks Mike, we've not been as successful as you but Dunc did manage to scoop a trophy  fingers crossed we'll pick up some more next year!

 

Good Luck this weekend!!

Cheers Ali,

 

This weekend is more of a season finale and we intend to go out, chill out and have fun with the Dutch VX lot. So far Smiley and Exmantaa are the crew.

[Duncan_F]

Sadly on the 2^nd lap there was an incident up ahead involving Lisa Selby’s Puma and  Mark Wallwork’s Clio 172 Cup at Shell hairpin, both cars suffering substantial damage meaning the safety car came out.

 

Here's the footage of said incident.

 

 

And here's an even scarier view of it, you'll need to fast forward to about 3 minutes

 

https://www.facebook...151616846536441

 

Thankfully both drivers walked away.

[Duncan_F]

Fantastic achievement Ali and Dunc. A full season is a proper result and you should both be mighty proud of what you have done.

 

 

Thanks Mike.

 

Even now I'm still not sure it's quite sunk in yet that the pair of us have just spent the year as actual racing drivers racing on some of the most iconic and well known circuits in the UK.

 

I can't wait for next year, make the car a bit lighter, make it a bit faster, a years racing experience under our belts and learning how to set the car up properly and I'm hoping next year we might be in contention to pick up the odd class trophy, that's my aim.

[GeorgeBC]

Well done both of you! Wheel to wheel is defo where the excitement is. Wouldn't mind knowing the rough cost of a season after a car is bought, ignore buying car and race license + clothing. What have repairs, entrance fees, fuel, hotels etc etc cost.

[Goosenka]

Well done both of you! Wheel to wheel is defo where the excitement is. Wouldn't mind knowing the rough cost of a season after a car is bought, ignore buying car and race license + clothing. What have repairs, entrance fees, fuel, hotels etc etc cost.

So how much did we end up spending? For the series registration, car, trailer, getting the car up to FIA/MSA regs, tyres, brakes and race fees it came to £6,700. Add to that tow car fuel, race car fuel and hotels at about £200 a race.  £1200 Total: £7,900.   This doesnt include our ARDS tests, licenses, race suits, boots, helmets and gloves.  So all in all, under £4k each for a whole lot of fun and some cracking adventures! 

[GeorgeBC]

Sorry i didn't read the whole thread and hadn't realised it had been asked before. That seems like good value to me!

 

Great to see people doing things like this 

[AliM]

George, I think we could have been a bit cleverer with hotels if we'd booked further in advance or even camped during the summer, sometimes digs were costing us more than fuel.  Eating at the circuit is also really expensive, we could have been a bit more organised there too.  

 

Series Registration £99

Race fee: £365 per race

The only repairs we did all season involved gaffa tape and cable ties, and a light cluster that someone donated.  Total cost £0.

 

As for the other bits I didn't price up, this is what I spent (Duncan went for different kit)....

 

ARDS Test   £250

License  £60

Headtec Helmet (With Hans Clips) £300

Sparco Boots £120

OMP Gloves £40

AWS custom made 3 layer Suit £450   

Sparco Balaclava (optional) £20

Alpine Stars Nomex top (optional) £115

 

You can do the kit cheaper by buying second hand, or BNIB Headtec Lids start at £150, off the rack suits are £250 - £300. I only got mine custom made because the boy shape ones don't fit me properly, but to be fair though I do think it's awesome.  Racing at our level, you're not required to buy all the nomex underwear, that's up to you - I personally feel better having it.  

 

I guess you can make it as cheap or expensive as you want it to be, having a year under our belt now means we can curb the costs next year giving us more pennies to spend on the car .