Bigpower

My 50th trackday in the Sierra. Quite amazing that such a simple car can provide so much fun, be so durable and pretty handy now again :notworthy:
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Ok, self indulgent dribble over, here's the match report.

Pete and I were due to share the car but a sudden bout of illness ( I did not poison him) meant that I travelled solo for the 140 odd miles 'oop North' for the Trackzone event. I met with Steve and Kelly in the Shire as we set off at 5.30am. If traffic/problems were kind, we should arrive around 8.30am just in time for the briefing.

Roads were quiet with the sight of hundreds of Japanese cars making their way to Santa Pod the only thing raising the interest levels. Well that and Bladeys tales of hand brake turning a friends Mini soft top. I don't know what was funnier. Picturing Bladey squeezed into a Mini or someone getting their car back after James has been raping it up and down Colchesters highways and byways.

Steve and I got there (and Kelly) for to be greeted by Pablo, Bart and Gerry. We had enough time for signing on before the briefing and then on track for 9.20am. The weather was overcast but dry and we were all gagging to get stuck in.


Gerry, although mega experienced in performance driving, was a new guy to Donington. At least it was dry Steve had been many years before and always looked back on the track with fond feelings. Pablo and Bart practically live there and I'd done the track on two previous ocassions. Bring it on

I was trying a new bullet cam set up and was delighted with the footage. Once I've shrunk the file size and edited it, I'll upload some of the better sections of action. The first session, for me, was steady. I wanted to get the track clear in my mind rather than going out all guns blazing, my three month old notes in my head from my previous trips were bound to have 'dropped' certain important info. Traffic was pretty dense, a sign of how popular these cheap days are. This success brings baggage. There were some very questionable techniques and driving styles out there. To give you an idea, my Sierra has around 140hp. I overtook the same Audi TT 3 times in one session of 20 minutes Other than pillocks, the session wnet as planned. Not so for Gerry. Black flagged due to excess noise, a victim of Donnys strictly monitored 98dB ruling. Time for some exhaust swapping stuff. And a quick prayer too


The other incident from the first session was another new 'mod' to the XR4x4 of Team TNT. Their new smoke screen, engulfing all who followed them after severe right handers was both tricky to avoid and hugely distracting. I have renamed their car the XR Exon Valdes for good reason.


Bart trying to stem the tide


Pablo helping


The second session was very fragmented. Loads of traffic and some really crappy driving (stand up mr 911 driver) At least my lines were starting to become cleaner with more speed carried through the bends. The video footage should back this up to a degree. All I need to do now is to concentrate on being more consistent rather than just having a laugh all of the time.........or maybe that's what I'm doing right?

Time for a wander around the pits/paddock area and Christ, there was some tat! I know I'm supposed to be open minded, founder of the forum and all that, but this car was hideous and if anyone here wants to buy/drive or compliment one~ your out.........NOW!!

Steve was so appalled at the ride height on this mock amphibious car, that he put his Nokia phone in the gap to show the grotesque clearance The fit and finish looked like a primary schools paper mache model. Complete toot. Closer to our garage, was a most memorable man and his car. Let me introduce you to Ian.



Seeing this in the flesh was funny, but unusual. I can sometimes feel a little awkward around the disabled. I invariably think of how lucky I am, this then leads me to feel sorry for them and this is all wrong (We're no different after all). Ian soon dispersed my fears. The guy has a wonderful positive attitude and it was very humbling to meet him.

Back to the track, Gerry had been back flagged again. Not good news, so more resourceful efforts to try and get him some sustained lappage....Steve was going very well, Pablo and Bart were still smoking every where they went. I had adopted a slightly more aggressive approach to getting around those that straggled or dithered. The Sierra is not quick in most scenarios but it does carry a fair amount of speed through corners. I started to plan overtaking procedures much further in advance, gambling on my being able to get around cars on the exit. It worked a treat and I was soon picking off technically quicker cars for fun. Still felt guilty as the Sierra is Pete's now, but there you are. No time for that now, it was all about corner speed.


Lunch was cool, brief but cool and then it was back to the track for some very dubious photos on the grid, kindly arranged by Pablo. The 'beef' I have with this sort of thing is the way photo guys bark instructions like little chihuaha's......'do this, move there.......back a bit' Each staccato instruction makes my internal thermometer go up a notch. Then Pablo had the smart arse idea of getting into a 'sprint' pose.........For fucks sake!! So, much laughter ensued as Steve and I, both reluctant, joined Pablo and Bart already in their starting position. Oh the joy.

Fortunately, with that over, we could get back to driving and I was determined to go as quickly as I could. I put the tyre pressures up after discussions with Gerry and Alan. 36psi seems to suit the Toyos much better than the 30psi warm I had been using. (Oh yeah, over 800 track miles now and still life left in them :thumb: )

Random pic of Pablo/Barts wagon



Steve took Dean out for a pax lap, I took Kelly who had previously complained that Steve drives like 'an animal'

, well that sounds like an invite to try and scare her a bit in my book. 8 laps later, lots of grins, a few overtakes and I went back for a breather.

My other pax lap of the day was Gerry. He'd been black flagged again so that was it. Game over. I was gutted. Gerry was gutted, but rules are rules (no matter how daft) and I was determined to give him a good show with the Destroyer. I hope/think I did the trick, but then Donny does suit the car very well.

In summary, today was a great day. Some good mates, some great laughs and some very committed driving from the 'team'. It was a fitting way to celebrate 50 trackdays in the Destroyer and the car lived up to its name. The only downer, as such, as that when various people wandered over to ask what the car was, they completely blanked me and walked off when they heard it was standard engine wise

:?
It was like being having the automotive version of Leprosy.....snobs.

A great day. Thanks to all who made it what it was :thumb:

It certainly was a great day and another great write up Stu. Despite suffering the PC brigade and 'jobs worth' one man noise abatement society that left me a passenger/spectator I really enjoyed the day and the company.

The pax laps with Stu were entertaining, exhillerating and educational. What a car and what a driver We were following a Golf GTi and Lotus Elise for most of the session and they were far from hanging around. The Sierra felt very quick in Stu's hands. I found myself rocking back and forth along the straights, trying to encourage some more forward motion, but through the bends and corners it was sooooooooo rapid I just braced my feet into the footwell and hung on to the roll cage.

As a measure of how quick it was, the Elise indicated for Stu to overtake, mid-corner, FFS an Elise giving way to a Sierra in the twisties

A brilliant experience and worth the trip for that alone.

As for my first time, I had taken a 'quiet' exhaust in case of problems so when I was black flagged for hitting 99.9 dBA I swapped the exhaust and thought that would cure it. Not so, next time out, the black flag quickly followed and I was told I was even louder. A futile attempt to lessen the induction noise with some padding and turning the boost controller down from 1.6 bar to 1.2 didn't achieve the desired result.

Despite that, I did enjoy Donnington and can see why everyone raves about the place. Shame as I was just beginning to find my way round.

It has just occurred to me that some of you may take it the wrong way. The Thunderbirds soundtrack is playing from his van and this is his own idea to generate awareness for other people that may be interested in this sort of mobility products.


Thanks for the compliments Gerry. I'm sure that you will not be the only one affected by shrinking noise limits over years to come. I think with careful planning and design the noise restrictions needn't hamper our fun. As BigFil would put it, this is only an opportunity rather than a problem :thumb:

Donny is still on my list of tracks to do - got to pop that cherry soon

great report Stu and cant wait for the video action.

Were you quicker this time than last?

No idea Dunk. I'll check the video footage but I would say no, if I'm honest. I struggled for consistency in the quest to overtake as many cars as possible Childish maybe, but it was very difficult to go for quick times with all of that traffic, so overtaking and corner planning was the best bet in the circumstances.

I guess for that price, the track was always going to be busy.

Gutted for Gerry though - we need to get all cars noise tested in both static and drive-by ideally at a meet if that is possible to save these kinds of problems.

1'33" seemed to be the order of the day, which makes me slower by around 2 seconds. I suppose another factor (cue racing excuse #112) was that the last time I drove the Sierra here, I owned it. This time I was driving someone elses car and believe it or not, that did have a bearing on my driving even if only subconciously.

Currently awaiting confirmation of the dB meter being available for us to use on Wednesday night for static testing. No driveby's allowed!

I've been static noise tested with bth systems. The Magnex is 97dB and the Revolution is 93dB so, I was trying harder as I learned the track so maybe that accounts for it. The final session I was deliberaely holding back and not giving it WOT so much.

Suppose I could have stayed under by toodling round but what's the point of that?

Odd attitude from the 'noise' marshall. When I asked him where the noise meters were situated he refused to say. His comment was something like, Oh, I can't tell you that. If you employed me to do a job, you'd expect me to do it properly. WTF Other tracks I've been on, they tell you where to lift off or keep away from other cars to avoid excess noise. Seemed to me he was out to catch you rather than help :x

A very enjoyable trackday. Having done a trackday here before around 4 years ago it all came flooding back. Anyone serious into their trackdays have to experience the craner curvers my god, i wasn't really looking at the speedo, but think i was hit around 100mph+. A real mix of cars on track and drivers!!!! Like Stu mention, a real mixed bag.

A real shame about the noise limit and Gerry, doesn't make sense when you have Midlands airport next door and jets are screaming over the top of you every 5 minutes :?

Nice to meet Bart and Pablo in person and their famous Sierra. A few oil problems but still enjoyable to watch.

A good (long) day had by all, and looking forward to some more track time soon :-D

An appropriate way to end our year. At donny with some new friends from a great club.
As stuart mentioned we had developed an oil leak...what we had originally thought to be a problem relating to the oil catch tank turned out to be a massive failure of the engine oil seals. Fortunately the oil was only escaping on right handers and was dropping straight on the exhaust causing the smoke screen.

We were the first to arrive (of anyone) so we grabbed 2 garages unloaded the car and put the kettle on




It was a shame for Gerry as I didn't think that his car was that load. Inspite of the various ups and downs it was a great day, the car felt great revving all the way to the red line and pulling strongly.
Typical the engine of late has been feeling great yet we now have to rip it out and take it apart to find out went went wrong or what failede and why.










Team BigPower