TA Rd3 Snetterton

[Startline Al]

Driver line up

http://www.timeattack.co.uk/driver-entr ... XnxBA.dpbs

[Danny@APT]

Both Phil Reed (Club Pro) and Pete Cook (OHW Pro) from the APT stable are all ready to go tomorrow!

[ndwall]

Looking forward to this. Booked me a 20 min session on track midday ish to pretend I know what im doing

[maff]

http://livetiming.tsl-timing.com/142770 Live Timing...

[pablo]

So how did the day go then gents?

[pablo]

Those bloody hot dog kerbs are dangerous and need removing. Thankfully the driver was unhurt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNHEq-UNsLQ

[jap.slapper]

Those bloody hot dog kerbs are dangerous and need removing. Thankfully the driver was unhurt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNHEq-UNsLQ

@ 7:53

Is that a bolt in cage as the passenger side seems to collapse slightly on impact? It's good to hear that the driver is ok, it appears to be quite a slow speed roll as I dare say it could have been a lot worse at higher speed.

[pablo]

Yes it's a bolt in cage and it bent about 2-3 inches. It bent at a bend in the cage.

[Danny@APT]

So how did the day go then gents?

It was...... eventful!

With both Phil Reed (Club Pro) and Pete Cook (in Pro for his first go at TA) having our support for this round, it was a day out for the whole of the APT Team to cover both cars, as well as some time out of the workshop after a busy few weeks.

With the rain falling fairly steadily, it was a no-brainer to fit the full wets to Pete's car and the cut R888's to Phil's for the morning warm-up, and we decided to hold-off for breakfast until the first run had been completed to avoid the rush (little did we know we wouldn't be eating anything before 1pm!). Pete was keen to get going, and was first in the queue to get out for the Pro session, with Phil right on his tail. There was no certainty if any of the sessions would be dry, so it was worthwhile getting in some wet laps to understand the car before having to find the limits in the Qually/Final.

Pete stuck a GoPro on his front bumper, so you can get a good idea what they were all facing at the time -



You may have noticed Phil having some fun out there

The on-board footage is here, and includes an off after he locked the fronts into the hairpin (unfortunately no sound as the mic was unplugged )-



After getting back on and continuing for another lap, a fault developed in the gearbox which caused the drivetrain to momentarily lock as he rounded Riches, pitching him into a spin which ended in a slight brush with the inner guardrail. After limping back to the pits, we quickly determined the box was unrepairable at the circuit and the best course of action would be to fit the spare unit back at APT. Cue a mad dash to load the car onto the trailer and trek back over to Lenwade to perform the swap, while Chris and Steve would stay to look after Pete.

After leaving the circuit at 10am, we returned at 12:45 having missed Practice, but ready to go for Qualifying after lunch (or a late breakfast as it turned out in our case!).


As the time drew near, the weather struggled to make it's mind up- initially drying, but with 5 minutes to go, a large grey cloud loomed overhead and began to sprinkle the track once again. It was far too dry for inters, so Pete settled for slicks, while Phil likewise chose his dry tyres.

Pete went out about a lap later than the main pack as he got himself ready, and took the opportunity to play with the higher boost settings towards the end-



Meanwhile Phil was having a close battle with Andrew Barbour, and despite having only done a few wet laps in the morning, managed to find good pace in the dry to post the quickest time in class.



Onto the now fully-dry Final- Phil's boost was turned-up, and Pete rolled out to join him. A few laps in, and Phil reported a throttle issue and returned to the pits. Gary quickly found the electronic throttle body's potentiometers had somehow gone out of sync and defaulted to a 'safe' setting. Gary recalibrated it, and Phil was back out again. During this, Pete had returned to the garage, having decided to end the day early due to the ECU cutting power because of an overboost situation.

Phil continued to pound round, and had been building up to beat his current time which had put him 2nd behind Barbour. Unfortunately, after posting the quickest first-sector time, the Pro Extreme Beetle of Granville Taylor dumped it's gear oil into Murrays, causing another off-track moment for Phil and the time was gone-



So 1st in the Qually, and 2nd in the Final for Phil giving him 2nd on the podium-



And the trophy for fastest One Hit Wonder for Pete kept him happy too-

[jap.slapper]

Nice informative write up there mate

It really shows how invaluable that kind of on hand technical and mechanical support is in order to be seriously competitive, I'm sure many others would have had no choice but to thrown in the towel when the initial gearbox issue became apparent

All things considered they were phenomenal results