Rockingham, 28 April 2007
Amazingly my initial diagnosis as to why the kappa was slow at Oulton Park was correct! Mark at Owen Developments confirmed that once water temperature reached 105 degrees, the Motec ECU would cut down the boost, and up the fuelling - might have helped save the engine but was doing nothing for power output! But at least this meant we probably hadn't trashed a coil pack, these are so hard to diagnose anyway.
Now its like we haven't known that the kappa's cooling system isn't a bit marginal at best. So in the close season we measured up the space available, drew up the biggest radiator (100mm wider, a fair bit thicker too) and ordered it up from Allisport, a company who advertise in our associate sponsor's magazine Practical Performance Car. Unfortunately in typical motorsport supplier fashion, the fact that I ordered the radiator before Xmas, and sent up the original from the kappa first week of January so they could measure up the inlets and outlets meant nothing. The original estimate was end of February giving us decent leeway before the season started. Of course it didn't happen, after Oulton it became desperate to get the new radiator installed in the hope of improving cooling. More phone calls ensued, promises were made and missed. Finally I received a call on Tuesday, they were making the radiator and it would be sent out that night to arrive at Auto Integrale on Wednesday. Not ideal but at least we would have time to install it.
Well, we might have done if it had arrived. I was stuck in meetings all Wednesday, an early afternoon call to Keith at Auto Integrale found that it had yet to arrive. When he didn't call back I assumed it had turned up. Stuck in more meetings on Thursday, it was lunchtime before I was able to check back with Keith - it still hadn't arrived. A call to Allisport found that the couriers (Interlink) had decided they couldn't find Auto Integrale (funny everyone manages to deliver there) and had returned the radiator to the depot. And of course in typical idiot courier style no-one there had the initiative to contact the customer and tell them. Bastards! Interlink promised to deliver by 9:30am on Friday, in the end the radiator arrived at 10:00am. But despite best efforts at Auto Integrale, too much was different, new brackets were needed to attached the radiator to the car, the fans and intercooler to the radiator, etc. So late on Friday afternoon we had no choice but to withdraw from a race where we had expected to go well. After all, with a long run round the oval part of the circuit, surely power would tell and the kappa could get away from those pesky Clios?
Anyway, we went up to watch the race unfold and dream about how well or otherwise we may have done. Another excellent entry, it would have been a full grid of 34 cars if we had not pulled out late Friday night, saw 33 cars out in qualifying. Timing glitches, with cars being "lost" from the times, or drivers appearing twice, meant that qualifying times were not released, and the best effort at timings was released only as a grid formation. This showed Pete Challis' Nissan Primera on pole (despite having spent the qualifying period bedding in new brake discs) and 1.5 seconds clear of second place man and class B leader Stephen Taylor in the supercharged Lotus Exige. Joss Ronchetti's Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was just 2/1000ths behind Taylor in 3rd place with Nick Williamson's Escort Cosworth in 4th. The remaining class A cars took the places down to 7th, the "best of the rest" and some 3 seconds further back, was Simon Taylor's Class D Honda Civic Type R again punching above weight and beating all the Class C cars and all but two of the Class B cars. Simon Parker headed Class C in 11th place in his Vauxhall Vectra, with Class E headed once again by Simon Jackson's Vauxhall Nova. A good day's qualifying for the Simons.
Race:
After such a display in qualifying, it was hardly surprising Peter Challis elected to play his joker. The wisdom of which was already in question by turn one as Nick Williamson launched from 4th on the grid to the front. Taylor and Ronchetti also made good starts and as the leaders entered the infield section, Challis was already down to 4th. And then it got worse as Challis clipped a kerb and lost the back of the Primera, spinning off onto the grass. By the time he able to rejoin, he was back in last place of the 30 runners who made the start. And so started an epic climb back through the field which made it difficult for the crowd to know where to watch!
Up front, Nick Williamson was looking strong, but Joss Ronchetti was chasing him down relentlessly, with Stephen Taylor's Exige slowly gaining until it became a three way battle for the race. A few laps in, Williamson was visibly struggling, the Escort was suffering fuel pressure problems and was not pulling well out of the tight infield corners. Taylor had caught the front pair by now, and much swapping of places ensued before Williamson started to fall backwards. Challis was storming through the field, by the time he reached 4th place with a daring move between Richard Gould's Noble and Tony Soper's Harrier, he was still a good 9 seconds adrift of the lead. He was taking a second a lap off the leaders, would there be enough time. The last lap flag came out and Challis had moved onto the tale of Taylor's Exige, but the Exige seemed more nimble in the tighter turns. With just the final chicane leading back onto the oval to go, Ronchetti led from Taylor and Challis, with barely 3 lengths covering them. Then it all went wrong for Ronchetti who outbraked himself allowing his two pursuers through. Taylor went high, Challis stayed low in the drag to the line. Taylor triumphed by just a quarter of a second. Ronchetti recovered to bring the Sunbeam home in third two seconds later, but it was a race he should have won.
Gould and Soper had been swapping places all race, they eventually got past Williamson to finish 4th and 5th, John Hammersley also passed the ailing Escort late on to take 6th place. Simon Taylor had a relatively untroubled race and won Class D by 30 seconds from Jim Mepham while finishing in the same 8th place in which he qualified. Completing a good race for the Simons, Simon Parker took Class C honours, with Simon Jackson taking the Class E win.
New for this race, Mark Fish Motorsport announced a Renault Clio Cup challenge to run internally within Class B. The first race in this challenge was won by David Pierce from Anthony Allitt and Fergus Trenholme.
The championship moves on to Pembrey in two weeks time for the first of four double header races for this season. We plan to be out at Brands Hatch next weekend to run in the Dunlop Motorsport News series and give the kappa a runout before moving onto Pembrey the week after.
Visit the LMA site for details of the LMA Euro
Saloons championship and standings so far.
Check out the current points
standing.
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