TNTRacing - XRCosworth
-
jap.slapper
- Posts: 985
- Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:55 pm
- Location: On top of my Welsh mountain
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth
Coolio
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth
We arrived at Rockingham at 7am Saturday morning and to be honest there wasn't the usual banter going on between us. I think the pressure of it all and the fact that we had to win the final had gotten to us. We quickly and silently got the car off the trailer, unloaded the truck and got set up in the garage.
Once Alan had signed on he took the car to scrutineering, this is even more stressful than taking it for it's mot. With that all done there was just enough time for a cuppa before Alan had to go for the drivers briefing.
The preparation for this round had included service items, repairs and upgrades. In the final of the last round at croft we had split a power steering pipe, so had to get a replacement and fit it. We were a bit paranoid about braking another one at Rockingham so I got the split one repaired so we could take it with us as a spare. The next job had been to fit new spark plugs as the ones in the car had been fitted for a while so needed changing. The other job was something which we had talked about for a while now, we fitted new poly windows. The guys also gave the car a full nut and bolt check.
Warm Up
Alan had decided to go out towards the back of the pack as he wanted to use the session to check the car over and settle into the day. However this didn't quite go to plan after just a couple of laps he returned to the pits complaining of a basd vibration across the front of the car. After taking the front wheels off the problem was soon found, one of the wheels had lost it's wheel weights. Not a real issue as these were the Bridgestone tyres as we had planned to keep the semi slicks for use in qualifying and the final.
Practise
We got Alan out towards the front of the pack. After the short warm up this was effectively Alan's warm up session and we were both feeling a little nervous. The session went without issue and as expected our main competitor had come with an engine up grade making him noticeably quicker. When Alan came in at the end of the session he was noticeably feeling the added pressure but as I mentioned to him, this was effectively our first session and as long as he did what he did the day would come to us.
Qualifying
The first of the points scoring sessions aand again Alan went out towards the front of the pack. I was continually talking to Alan on the pit to car radio giving Alan continuous updates. For most of the session he was some 1+sec behind the time of our competitor. With 5mins left I gave the call to Alan to push and the next lap he closed the gap by over a second so he was now only 0.1sec behind. Then a nightmare happened and someone had an off causing the red flag to come out. Shortly after they announced that the session would note be restarted meaning we lost by 0.1sec.
This was a dissaster and meant if we did not win the final we would loose the championship.
Final
As Alan put it 'go hard or go home'. From the start of the session Alan lead in the battle for the win and never looked back. He pushed the car hard and as he said after it was messy but it got the job done. As I waited in the pitlane at the end of the session with Wayne we could barely contain ourselfs as we new Alan had won by over 1 sec.
The championship was ours, even though we were tied on points we 4 wins to his 2 wins, so on count back the title would be ours.
When Alan came into sight the car sounded rough and once in the garage we soon found that a bolt which holds the wastegate on had snapped.
Team TntRacing
2015 MSA UK Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
Once Alan had signed on he took the car to scrutineering, this is even more stressful than taking it for it's mot. With that all done there was just enough time for a cuppa before Alan had to go for the drivers briefing.
The preparation for this round had included service items, repairs and upgrades. In the final of the last round at croft we had split a power steering pipe, so had to get a replacement and fit it. We were a bit paranoid about braking another one at Rockingham so I got the split one repaired so we could take it with us as a spare. The next job had been to fit new spark plugs as the ones in the car had been fitted for a while so needed changing. The other job was something which we had talked about for a while now, we fitted new poly windows. The guys also gave the car a full nut and bolt check.
Warm Up
Alan had decided to go out towards the back of the pack as he wanted to use the session to check the car over and settle into the day. However this didn't quite go to plan after just a couple of laps he returned to the pits complaining of a basd vibration across the front of the car. After taking the front wheels off the problem was soon found, one of the wheels had lost it's wheel weights. Not a real issue as these were the Bridgestone tyres as we had planned to keep the semi slicks for use in qualifying and the final.
Practise
We got Alan out towards the front of the pack. After the short warm up this was effectively Alan's warm up session and we were both feeling a little nervous. The session went without issue and as expected our main competitor had come with an engine up grade making him noticeably quicker. When Alan came in at the end of the session he was noticeably feeling the added pressure but as I mentioned to him, this was effectively our first session and as long as he did what he did the day would come to us.
Qualifying
The first of the points scoring sessions aand again Alan went out towards the front of the pack. I was continually talking to Alan on the pit to car radio giving Alan continuous updates. For most of the session he was some 1+sec behind the time of our competitor. With 5mins left I gave the call to Alan to push and the next lap he closed the gap by over a second so he was now only 0.1sec behind. Then a nightmare happened and someone had an off causing the red flag to come out. Shortly after they announced that the session would note be restarted meaning we lost by 0.1sec.
This was a dissaster and meant if we did not win the final we would loose the championship.
Final
As Alan put it 'go hard or go home'. From the start of the session Alan lead in the battle for the win and never looked back. He pushed the car hard and as he said after it was messy but it got the job done. As I waited in the pitlane at the end of the session with Wayne we could barely contain ourselfs as we new Alan had won by over 1 sec.
The championship was ours, even though we were tied on points we 4 wins to his 2 wins, so on count back the title would be ours.
When Alan came into sight the car sounded rough and once in the garage we soon found that a bolt which holds the wastegate on had snapped.
Team TntRacing
2015 MSA UK Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
Re: RE: Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth
Really pleased for you all. Well done
Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk
http://www.auto-genie.co.uk
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
07733 527430
stuart@auto-genie.co.uk
Valeting, detailing and undersealing
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth
cheers stu, its been a long hard season, it seamed at every round we had a problem at some point.
snetterton, I was not fit and I struggled through the day.
brands hatch, damaged a slick tire in practice so had to run on road tires rest the day.
oulton park, broken gearbox
croft, power steering issues all day.
rockingham, think it was a relatively good day apart from wastegate breaking in the final.
feel that I only really got back to my old self in the final at rockingham as it was do or die for the final or as I put go big or go home.
I really have to say a MASSIVE thank you to Gary at APT as without what he did with our car I doubt we would have won the title.
Gary you are the man mate.
snetterton, I was not fit and I struggled through the day.
brands hatch, damaged a slick tire in practice so had to run on road tires rest the day.
oulton park, broken gearbox
croft, power steering issues all day.
rockingham, think it was a relatively good day apart from wastegate breaking in the final.
feel that I only really got back to my old self in the final at rockingham as it was do or die for the final or as I put go big or go home.
I really have to say a MASSIVE thank you to Gary at APT as without what he did with our car I doubt we would have won the title.
Gary you are the man mate.
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
A little insight into 1 of our new sponsors for 2016 can be found in this weeks MSN magazine. As a half page advert 
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
Tease!
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk
"Does the mullet make the man?"
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
I'll get my copy tomorrow and post the picture, I've only got as a pdf file. I will say it's an insurance company
Re: TNTRacing - XRCosworth Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
tried to mail you a few times Pablo but some issues at your end i think??