It’s about time I updated this blog as my posts fizzled out after MIRA. So here’s the first of several updates. Castle Combe should have been my sort of track, being not dissimilar to Goodwood where I tend to go quite well. I was, therefore looking forward to an enjoyable day of competition but without huge expectations as quite a few of the competition had been to a track day there a week or so earlier. I had never seen the place before. I arrived nice and early having decided to
After the joys of Goodwood it was on to the rather less impressive surroundings of Curborough and MIRA. Curborough day dawned dry and relatively bright but the forecast promised rain in the afternoon. We weren’t expecting practice to be much use as chances were that the track conditions would be very different. My practice runs went well and I finished the morning in 2nd place behind Richard Price. I was chuffed to bits with that as I’ve never felt that I really gelled with Curborough.
Finally, the first event of the season had arrived. After a long wait since the last event of 2009 and a last minute rush to get the car ready it really was fabulous to be back at Goodwood. It is my favourite track of the season so I was really looking forward to it, especially as it would be my first time there in my Class 3 car. I won Class 1 at Goodwood in Dad’s car last year, my only Class victory thus far, with a 102 second run. I arrived nice and early with the intention of having a
Well, the car is back in one piece and I'm chuffed to bits with it. All of the rusty bits have gone, the numerous little dings have disappeared and the Dodge Viper Blue paintwork is fantastic.
Before and after pics are below:
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Only 3 days to go until Goodwood now and I'm getting very excited. I have a few minor jobs lef
I seem to have left it very late but what was originally due to be a spring check-over seems to have turned into a mini-rebuild! My car is currently with McMillan Motorsport in Hinckley with lots of bits taken off and looking very sorry for itself. The original plan was to take it in to get a spanner check and service for the start of the new season. I knew that the brake disks were getting old so I bought new pads and disks for all 4 corners and I also picked up some fresher dampers off
Back to Curborough. I had a rubbish day there in May and was determined to have a better one in the new, quicker, car this time around. The day didn’t start well when the car wouldn’t start. The problem was traced to a melted (literally) ECU fuse. At least once the problem was diagnosed it was easily solved. I had a bit of sneaky practice in the week leading up to the event so I had now got comfortable with the car. Practice went very well and I finished it with a time of 61.83, five
So, it was up the M1 to Harewood. I had never been before and I arrived mid-afternoon to see the end of the Saturday non-championship round and to put my tent up. Trouble is, the weather was dreadful and I hadn’t bothered to practice putting my brand new tent up before leaving home. It didn’t go well. I got very wet, the people in the motorhome opposite had a good laugh at me and in the end we gave up and I joined Mum and Dad in their B&B. Sunday was a much nicer day altogether. I
I just realised that I haven’t updated this for some considerable time, since Curborough in May in fact. Time for an update – a lot has happened. I was more than a tad annoyed with my performance at Curborough, and MIRA was, I thought, little better. MIRA is a quick track and my 1.6 Vauxhall was a good 20 bhp down on the quicker K-Series cars. Through the speed trap I was the best part of 10mph slower than the fastest cars in the class so I knew I had a lot to make up through the corner
A week after Llandow and we moved on to Curborough – not my favourite circuit by any means but usually one of the best social events of the season. Dad had done some sneaky practice at the BMMC sprint on the Saturday but I decided to give it a miss to spare the car (and the wallet!). The forecast was for mixed weather conditions with some fine spells but 2 significant bands of rain working their way through during the day. Practice 1 was dry and I started off fairly steady start with a 6
So, on to Llandow. I was very pleased with my Goodwood performance and was, to be honest, hoping for more of the same. Llandow is too far for Dad to travel (about 260 miles) so I drove ASBO the 160 miles each way. The alarm went off at 3.45am (!) and, having met up with Dave Grewcock at Tamworth services on the M42, we made our way to the circuit, arriving at about 7.45. Having taken the windscreen off and put the perspex aeroscreen on I got scrutineered and walked the circuit. /P
The day finally arrived and I was woken by rain on the hotel window. Oh heck, that’s the last thing we needed. A worried hour laying in bed, not sleeping and listening to the rain didn’t help the nerves but by the time I’d got washed and we’d booked out of the Travelodge, the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to break through as per the forecast. Phew. We arrived at the track at about 8am to find that Dad had already unloaded the car, so we signed on and attended the very brief
Final preparations for the season have taken place and ASBO is now stickered up and ready to go. I’ve been trying to get “Caterham Motorsport” number backgrounds for a while and finally managed it. They make the car look more like a racer but are a nightmare to get on without loads of bubbles. A few of photos are below. I think the paintwork looks fabulous in the camera’s flash. /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/51/IMG_8352_thumb.jpg /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/51/IMG_8350_thumb.jpg
It’s nearly 8 months since my last sprint outing at Aintree last year and I am well and truly ready for the season to start at Goodwood next Saturday. I’ve been looking at old Caterham Academy drivers’ blogs about their Goodwood experiences and to work out what sort of times I should be aiming for in an ex academy car. The best ever Academy time at Goodwood is 100.69 – I did a 104.78 last year without any testing (unlike the Academy guys) so I’m not a million miles off the pace but there is pl
This is just a test post really but I will take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Matthew Willoughby and I am about to embark my 3rd season of competition in Class 1 of the Lotus 7 Club Speed Championship. I came fourth last year and am looking to improve on that but to be honest, as long as I beat my Dad, a fellow Class 1 competitor, I’ll be happy. My car is a year 2000 ex-Academy Seven that is commonly known as ASBO due to its Ford Electric Orange or, as Clarkson named it
