Morris Lubricants 2010 Loton Park Championship.
Our Current Loton Park Record – 62.32 sec (set 08/06/08)
Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th September – National A Meeting
The Saturday started cool, dry and bright and stayed like that all day! In fact it was very sunny during the afternoon! Robs first time was 65.51. Not great, but the track was a bit “green” still. Also to a road sweeper leaked hydraulic fluid all over the entire course the day before, so we were adived to take it easy to start! The second practice run was 63.92. This improvement was partly down to the fact the we had reduced the tyre pressures from 26 f / 24 r to 24 all round. Rob felt as we now are running 309GTI bottom arms the 1 to 2 degree negative camber made the car a bit more lively, so the lower pressures helped a bit! The final run netted a 63.91 – a 100th of a second quicker, now that is consistent!
The Sunday, competition day started off dry and bright, and stayed like it for the day. The first competition run netted a 64.81 – but after lunch Rob acheived a 63.69, best result of the weekend.
So that concludes the 2010 season at Loton Park. Bring on 2011! We really need stiffer springs mind, as there is too much body roll.
Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th June – National A Meeting
The day started off dry and remained so all day. Excellent conditions, and lots of sun! The first practice acheived a 64.47, not bad. The second run resulted in 63.65, and the final run of the day was 63.24 – Rob was impressed. Sunday was not good, mainly due to Rob having awful hay fever.
The first timed run on Sunday got a 65.36. That was it really for the day, as just before the final run it started to rain very heavily. A large number of drivers did not go out, as they had set the best time of the day, and no one was going to beat the time in the wet! Being in Modified Production class we did all go up however! Rob got an 81 sec time, which when you consider he was suffering with hay fever and was extra cautious with the rain it was not too bad!
Over all a good weekend, a couple of the big single seaters came off, one driver ended up in hospital with back injuries, but by all accounts are ok. On the Saturday night evening all drivers and marshals were invited to a buffet at the local village hall, put on by Hagley & District Light Car Club (who organise Loton). This was to celebrate 50 years of Loton Park! It was a great event, and good weekend of motor sport, except for Robs hay fever, and downpour on the Sunday!
Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th May – National A Meeting
The weekend started off dry and sunny, and it stayed like that for the weekend! The first time up the hill acheived a 65.24 – not bad, the second drive acheived a 64.92, then finally a 64.26. We wanted to get into the 63′s however it was not to be.
Sunday were the timed runs, and first out we got a 64.15 – an improvement from yesterday! The final run netted a 63.61 – task acheived! Rob put the vastly improved time down to not breaking as much into fletchers dellow, thus carrying more speed down to triangle. Rob also used a trailing throttle around keepers, thus allowing a higher entry speed up cedar straight!
Great weekend overall – it looks like Rob is getting back to his regular times before the major accident! The time is there, it just takes time to find it, and to have the confidence to push really hard again! Tyre pressures were 26/24 for the entire weekend.
Sunday 5th April – National B Meeting
The day started slightly damp, but the bright blue skies soon dried the track out. The first time of the day was 67.81 after a rather cautious start to the season bedding in the new tyres. The second practice run was an improved 65.43. After lunch the competition started, and Rob managed a 65.70, and on the final run managed a rather disappointing 66.79 down to Robs concern that the track was slightly slippery after a brief shower.
Our tyre pressures were 26 on front and 24 on rear. However, we did these first thing in the morning when the car had been standing all night (something we never normally do) when we checked these pressures when “cold” later on in the day they were around 28 front and 26 rear – too high! We dropped them to 24/24 which then were too low! We never got the pressures right during the day. However, in future we need to remember to set them at 26 front and 24 rear after a run or drive when they have cooled down a bit, but not stone cold, as in standing all night.
Looking back on our times we have noticed we are sitting around 2 seconds behind what we should be. However, we must consider than between June 2008 and April 2009 we never raced. And at the April 2009 meeting Rob rolled the car, putting us out until August 2009! So over a 14 month period the car had only been driven at Loton once (when it was rolled!) so we should not be too hard on ourselves!
It is positive to remember that last meeting in 2009 we managed to get a 63.97..only around 0.5 seconds off our best average times! We should really be consistently getting 63.5′s with the car in this set-up.
