TNTRacing - XRCosworth

[maff]

Just goes to show the importance of having the engine set up and mapped properly.

And Alan's driving might have improved too... hard thing to quantify I know.

[pablo]

Slight change to the original plan for Saturday, we are now in pit garage #5.

[Bart]

Well the car is all back together and took it out to bed the clutch in today but on the test drive heard some knocking, turned to Paul and said it sounded like the exhaust hitting the front propshaft as I know it's a close fit.
Got the car home and lifted the bonnet then noticed the engine mount under the manifold had got hot and deformed over the last couple events no doubt.
So Paul straight on the phone to flo-flex and ordered a new one next day delivery.
So tomorrow is all hands on that job to get sorted, fingers crossed.

[pablo]

All done and changed car loaded on trailer ready for the morning. Well done Alan and Wayne.

[jap.slapper]

Good to hear it's sorted, what time are you guys kicking off tomorrow?

[pablo]

Warm up - 08.45
Practice - 10.30
Qualifying - 14.25
Final - 16.20

We'll be there fro0m about 07.00

[maff]

Good luck [FOUR LEAF CLOVER].

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

[pablo]

Things didn't go quite to plan today. After checking the weather forecast which was forecasting rain from 4pm and with the final being at 4.20pm we made the decision to take all 3 sets of wheels with us to make sure we were covered no matter what the weather.

Warm up session and Alan rolled out into the pit lane to queue up with the rest of the group. They had to wait for some time before the circuit was opened and they all rolled out to start the session. Outlap done an Alan came straight back into the pit lane and straight into the garage. Not good. 3rd gear was gone......

Alan and Wayne jacked the car up and got it on axle stands and set about prodding and poking the car to try and confirm what the failure actualy was and 3rd gear had said enough is enough. So where to from here as we could not afford a DNF not with only 2 rounds to go and the Championship at stake, so the decision was made that Alan would go out and still run but would have to go from 2nd to 4th and 4th to 2nd. This would also have a knock on effect on the brakes as he would have to use them harder without the benefit of engine braking.

It was definitely hard work and slow going but Alan managed to keep the car out there and running for the next 2 sessions. That left just the final anhd we really needed the points. At this stage we were about 8 secs off our main competitor and this playing on Alan's mind. So the time came for the final and the main thing now was to just set a time and bag the points. Which Alan did. Then the competitor in him took over and he went for it, 1 lap use 3rd just not full revs. He took a massive 6 secs off his lap time which put him only 3 secs behind bour main competitor, who had also improved by 1 sec. The down side was he had to be towed backed to the pits after the session finished after stopping out on track due to a not being able to select any gears, the box was shot. But 2nd in class will do under the circumstances.

[pablo]

Alan Tolley : Ford Sierra XR4x4 The TNT Racing Sierra lost third gear on the first lap of the warm up at Oulton Park. The Championship fight is close, so Alan pushed on and drove the rest of the day shifting straight from second into fourth! Driving this way, he set a best of 1:52.338, which is an impressive time considering the problem. When the final came around, the competitor in Alan came out. He couldn’t resist going for third again and with some effort, he could use it momentarily. The result was a lap time six seconds quicker (1:46.708), and a tow back to the pits! Still, Alan and TNT had managed to score 13 important points from a day that could have ruined their Championship there and then. Let’s hope they get it repaired in time for the next round at Croft, on Saturday 22nd August - See more at: http://www.timeattack.co.uk/event-repor ... GLqac.dpuf

[russ979]

What a bummer!
Well done guys for pushing on though.