Morris Lubricants 2008 Loton Park Championship.

Our Current Loton Park Record - 62.32 sec (set 08/06/08)

News Update - 28th July 2008. Due to an oil pressure issue our 205 will not be competing for the rest of 2008.

September 13th & September 14th - National A Meeting.

Despite the wet weather we have been experiencing the last few weeks, we were very lucky as both the Saturday and Sunday were fantastic. Although fog early on Sunday caused slight delays. Once the fog lifted the racing restarted. As our Peugeot 205 project car still has its engine in bits, we had to use on of our staffs car, a Peugeot 207 GT HDI. As you can guess the times were massively off the normal times. At the sound test we were the most quiet car (74db), but also the slowest! Incidentally the course record went on Sunday by Martin Groves in an F1 beating single seater. The course record now stands at 44.53 secs!

We did not record exact times but our best was around 75 sec and slowest being around 77 secs! One the Saturday we used the ESP and found it quite intrusive and cut in well before the grip limit was exceeded – great on road, but not good on track. We tried on the Sunday with ESP off however, half way around the track we found it had switched itself on again!

This was the last meeting at Loton Park for 2008. It was a shame that the 205 was not ready, but we have learnt that although the two cars are very different the weekend gave us an appreciation of how good the cars are at what they were designed to do. The Peugeot 207 was no good on track, but is great for sitting in traffic, giving 50+ mpg and starting first time on a cold December morning! The 205 is hopeless at all these, but great on track. It’s all about understanding and respecting the car for what they are. Experiencing a car outside its comfort zone is ideal for this.

We have beat our PB time this year, which now sits at 62.32 sec. For 2009 season we aim to have a much more reliable 205 (after the engine rebuild) and may even venture to other hill climb and sprint circuits across the UK.

June 7th & June 8th – National A Meeting.

Both days Motors TV were filming at Loton, as they are making a one-hour program about the course/meeting and hill climbing in general – This is to be shown on this channel 21st June 2008 at 8pm.

Saturday 7th June.

Practise Day - The day started off fine, bright and dry – which was to be the backdrop for the entire weekend . There was a slight concern as we pulled in to the paddock due was a strong smell of petrol from the car. Upon investigation the fuel regulator had started to leak slightly, which was resolved by tightening a bolt on the underside. The first run of the day netted a rather disappointing 64.54 secs. We have shortened the gear shift a little too much which resulted in some fumbled gear changes. The second run was a vast improvement getting up a time of 62.98 (Robs PB to date). The final practise run got a 65.20 thanks to Rob having a too higher entry speed in to Fallow – resulting in a lock up.

Sunday 8th June.

Competition Day - As yesterday, but even warmer. Rob managed to smash his personal best, which now stands at 62.32 secs on the first timed run. A very impressive time when you consider we are still running road tyres! The second time got a 63.49 – ok but the driver and tyres had succumb to the increasing temperature. We were very please to have won our class, and received an award from the boss of Scania (lorry manufacturers) which was filmed by the Motors TV crew (as were hopefully lots of us on the track!). The course record, which has stood for four years went this weekend also. The record, now held by Scott Moran is now an incredible 44.56 secs (a Formula 1 car would be doing well to hit 46 secs)

We can only put these impressive times down to only using 2nd gear to triangle corner (and not bothering with 3rd) and being able to get on the power earlier, due to the increased levels of grip available. However, as we learnt, warm weather is only so good for tyres to a point, as if it is too hot the tyres will not stick as well.

The only slight twist in the weekends meeting was at the end, as one of our team accidentally dropped our 1st in Class award, smashing it. We are trying to rebuild this! Well what can we say……a smashing weekend for all..!!

Sunday May 18th - National B Meeting.

The day started off dry and bright and to our delight stayed like it. Our first practise run netted us a time of 66.49 secs - a disappointing result. However, Rob was still in "wet mode" following the events the day before. A couple of missed gear changes also added to the time.

The new Grp A rose jointed gear setup is good but Rob thinks it will take some time to get used to, as he put it from 2nd gear to 5th on a couple of occasions - it goes into gear without much movement, so you often find you are fighting a gear you already have! The second timed run was completed in 64.05 secs - getting there....

After lunch the timed runs were done in the dry, as were the practise runs. A time of 63.88 secs was later bettered by a time of 63.68 secs which represented the last drive of the day. No prizes won, and no records (PB's) broken. Rob suggests that blocking off 5th gear may help solve the gear issue. We will let you know after the June meeting.

Saturday May 17th - National B Meeting.

The day started wet and remained wet all day. During our first practise run Rob got a time of 77.10 sec. This was about the norm for our group. The next run resulted in a time of 75.40. The two seconds were gained by reducing the tyre pressures to 18 psi all round.

The timed runs were not much better, Rob missed his breaking point at Fallow and ended up on the grass - a time of 81 secs was not a true reflection of the efforts made.

The final run gained a time of 73 secs. Although an improvement, it was not good enough to win an awards. The day was long and the event finish at around 18:30 thanks to so many cars going off, due to the poor conditions.

Saturday April 5th - National B Meeting.

The first event of 2008 was a success and at the same time a slight disappointment. The successful part was that our driver, Rob Morgan beat his personal best time. But the disappointment was the fact that a class above us only had one competing car, and so was merged with out class. The real problem was the fact that this car was a 600+bhp Audi Quattro Turbo, which as you can guess won the class by a long way. Overall we came 4th (or 3rd if we were to only count the cars that should have been in our class!). We missed out on a trophy but still remain optimistic for the season ahead.

The day was very cold, and the first practise run was taken nice and easy. Rob managed to get a time of 67.89 sec. The second practise run equalled the record of last year - 63.77 sec. There was the odd spec of rain but nothing serious. As the track temperature increased, and driver confidence did likewise, we were pleased to note that on Robs first timed run he got a time of 63.72 sec. The final run was even better, netting us a time of 63.15 sec. Apart from the Audi (which broke a driveshaft on its final run) the cars which beat us in our class were two Mk1 Escorts, running 200+ bhp with Avon Slick tyres and straight cut gear boxes (slicks will take around 2 seconds off your time, due to the increased levels of grip)

The problems of last season with the rear brakes locking up have been resolved as we have totally disconnected the rears. Although some people will be alarmed by this, the level of braking stability has hugely increased and there is no longer that dreaded rear locking/sideways motion to worry about. The alteration the braking shows to us how well balanced the front brakes are. To add to safety we have new copper brake pipes fitted along with Goodridge steel over braded brake hoses.

No real drama except for an MG-F over cooking it badly at Fallow and launching all four wheels off the ground and almost rolling! Plenty of duck take was applied to the front of the car, and it competed again after!

By the next event in May we want to have improved the quality, speed and feel of the gear change, which is not great at the moment. We should by then be running Group A rose jointed gear levers, with a short shift component and bronze gear levers bushes (standard ones are nylon). At Loton Park, Rob will make six gear changes. If we can save 100th of a second on each gear change, we should in theory take around six 100th of a second off our final time. So a time of 63.15 could come down to 63.09. In the real world this is a difference of just a few inches, but in the world of hill climbing and other speed events can be the difference between 1st and 3rd.

Archive: 2005/2006/2007 Season