ARB Motorsports
Goodwood Motor Circuit
8 May 2021
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Taking the FVL to the famed Goodwood Circuit for the Bailey Sprint event run by the Brighton & Hove Motor Club (BHMC). The 1st time at the track and the 1st time running a Sprint event (akin to Solo 1) was a steep learning curve. Practice in the rain followed by a drying day led to a 20 second improvement over the 4 laps, but it was still not enough to beat the guys who race regularly in this 1 lap format. However, I finished the day on 25th out of 87 entrants and 6th for the BHMC members.
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Brands Hatch
22 May 2021
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CSCC with a 1 day event at Brand Hatch with the Ka in support of the British GT Championship. Dry qualifying was interupted by Safety car and the race started wet and dried out towards the end, but was stopped short with a red flag. Despite the issues started 45th and finished 32nd with a 5.3 second improvement in lap time during the day.
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Knockhill Racing Circuit
3-4 July 2021
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First trip to race in Scotland at a track famous for its BTCC action. The Ka competed with CSCC in a 2-day event running both normal and reverse direction at the only FIA grade track to be permitted to run races in both directions. During Friday's test day the new Gaz shocks were adjusted giving a greater confidence in the Ka's handling. Saturday and Sunday proved this to be a great track. Times improved all weekend, with Saturday starting 21st finishing 19th, and on Sunday starting 21st finishing 17th.
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Aintree Motor Racing Circuit
21 August 2021
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Testing the FVL at the historic Aintree Motor Racing Circuit that previously hosted the British F1 GP. Rain in the morning meant that the 1st two session were on rains, while the afternoon session started on slicks in dry weather, but the heavens opened for the last session. The track is bumpy but has exceptional grip. It is scary to think of the speeds that were achieved back in 1950's and 1960's when the straight was almost twice the length since I was hitting 5th gear easily.
Brighton Speed Trials
4 September 2021
The Brighton Speed Trials is commonly held to be the oldest running motor race in the UK: the first race was held in 1905. With a change in the road it meant that the bikes were not competing and so the organizers were in need of entries. For fun I took the Aston Martin Cygnet. Times imprived with practise from a 19.54 on the Practice run to 18.46 on run 2 of 3 timed runs. Most importantly, the Cygnet was not last!
Pembrey Circuit
12 September 2021
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The Ka competed with the Welsh Racing Drivers Association which has a wide range of classes. The car handled well in 2 dry races, although lost a lot of time with losing momentum when letting faster cars through.
Donington Park GP
25-26 September 2021
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The Ka competed in 2 race series on the same weekend. First in class AT in the Welsh Racing Drivers Association's Welsh Sports and Saloon Car Championship consisting of a qualifying and 2 15 minute sprint races (qualified 18th, finished 15th and 15th). Second, in class E in the British Racing & Sports Car Club's ClubSport Trophy which had 20 min qualifying and a 45 min enduro with mandatory 2 min pit stop (qualified 39th, finished 29th). The GP configuration was new but over the day the lap times dropped while learning how to use the Predictive Lap Timer to work out which corners I was loosing time and changing the lines such that at the end of the day I had dropped over 6 seconds
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Zandvoort Circuit
10 October 2021
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The Formula Vauxhall Lotus ran in the Vrije Formule Klasse with DNRT at the famous Zandvoort circuit, which was the site of the Dutch F1 Grand Prix from 1952 to 1985, and is now used again from 2021. A busy day with qualifying followed by 3 sprint races. The race results were 2nd, 3rd and 4th with a decrease in lap time of over 7 seconds over the day. The last race was dampened to a certain extent by having the lead car slice a pigeon in two, of which half ended up in my right-hand side pod, while the other half was in the side pod of another car.
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Anglesey International Circuit
13 November 2021
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The Ford Ka was back competing with BRSCC ClubSport Trophy for the annual Race of Remembrance weekend on Remembrance weekend at Trac Mon race circuit in Anglesey in North Wales to support of the Forces' Motorsport Charity, Mission Motorsport. Tough day trying to overcome understeer and still getting a handle on the car. But a fun event and a worthy cause.
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