2013 Championship - Round 7 - Loton Park Results

[CaterBram]

A glorious day with most of the Lotus 7's being sheltered from the full force of the sun under the shady paddock,

 

In Class 1 Steffan Eldred dominated the timed runs with both being under the previous class record, with Paul Brown taking his first Edward Lewis.

 

Class 2 saw a battle in practice between Matthew Willoughby and Alan Bowler, who both succumbed to grassy excursions in the first timed run, Matthew however managed to huck everything together on the final timed run for a blistering run knocking 0.86seconds of the class record. Paul Collins secured his first Edward Lewis.

 

Class 3 saw Matthew Jenkins take the win over stiff competition from Richard Price.

 

Class 4 was taken by Micheal Sankey, with Edward Lewis going to Chris Gibbs

 

Class 5 saw a battle not only between competitors but Shaun Elwell fighting his 7 to keep it running, Shaun & Joy Hoyle played nip & tuck in the practice runs but Shaun Elwell managed to secure the class win & another Edward Lewis with his one timed run.

 

Class 6 saw Rob Margel & Simon Rogers withdraw, leaving a returning Simon Jenks to put in solid runs to take the class.

 

Ladies was taken by Joy Hoyle

 

Class 1 - Steffan Eldred - 62.23 secs - New Record

Class 2 - Matthew Willoughby - 59.26s - New Record

Class 3 - Matthew Jenkins - 57.23s

Class 4 - Micheal Sankey - 57.47s

Class 5 - Shaun Elwell - 55.81s

Class 6 - Simon Jenks - 56.17s

Ladies - Joy Hoyle - 98.23 points

 

Full results available here

 

as always please let me know any errors.

 

and of course the yellow trowel goes to Matthew Jenkins

 

Edited by - caterbram on 16 Jul 2013 18:49:12

[Mattj]

The below piece of research was awarded the Nobel Trowel Prize.

 

It is considered a paradigm amongst Loton Park competitors that the second, long lefthand corner known as 'Loggerheads' must be entered with some reduction in throttle application. As all good scientists know, paradigms must be tested.

So purely in the interests of furthering the boundaries of sprinting science, I decided to disprove this obviously over-prudent approach.

 

Methodology:

Four Kuhmo V70-A tyres in 'soft' compound (one with dubious levels of tread) were applied to one Caterham Seven car in '1600 Supersport' specification ('Vehicle X'). The vehicle was commanded by 'Driver A' (name protected for consideration of scientific fairness). The test was undertaken at 'T2' - an estimated 7pm on Sunday (when some competitors would normally expect to have returned home to excitedly watch Antiques Roadshow with a glass of Rioja).

Driver A pulled off from the start line in what was scientifically recorded as an 'outstandingly superb' launch, and took the first corner in a manner which would have been described by a knowledgeable panel as 'possibly the most unbelievably super-perfect ever observed'. In order to prevent conflict in perception of the test, obviously no video camera was attached to record this irrefutable driving perfection.

Upon the approach of 'Loggerheads', Driver A changed the transmission into '3rd gear', and embodied the 'blindly shove the right pedal down to the stops whilst gritting teeth' technique (as pioneered by Dr. R Cumming et al.) whilst turning into the corner.

 

Results:

Driver A quickly observed that the turning trajectory of Vehicle X was based around a larger radius than anticipated.

Resultantly, the surface under right side Vehicle X was observed to have changed from one composed largely of bitumen to one of vegetative composition. It was noted that upon this change, Vehicle X quickly rotated approximately 180 degrees about its axis, and concurrently driver A expressed their concern at the rapidly deteriorating situation with an unidentified expression (possibly the word 'bucket').

Upon realising that Vehicle X was approaching himself at approximately 26 metres per second in a backwards orientation, observer B, clad in orange overalls, left the ground reaching a peak height of 80cm followed by a fear-ridden movement away from Vehicle X at around 7.5 m/s. Please refer to studies in 'Activating an airhorn in the proximity of a cat' for further research in such types of movement.

It was also noted by Driver A that the vegetative surface outside of the test track had greater undulation than initially predicted, which was proven by the shearing of the rear exhaust bracket on Vehicle X and the embarrassing showering of vegetative matter upon driver A.

 

Conclusion:

Stupid idea. The IQ of Driver A was grossly overestimated.

 

 

For further and similar reading, I would recommend 'Studies in vehicle rotation' by Dr A. Bowler and 'It's not me, it’s that **** new tarmac' by Prof. J. Smith.

 

[CaterBram]

😬 Fantastic.

[Shaun_E]

😬

[Mark Durrant]

'Studies in vehicle rotation' by Dr A. Bowler

 

who has also published 'How to build a K Series with Water Injection' 😬

[Richard Price]

😬 😬

 

[Alan Bowler]

I will not bite.

I will not bite.

I will not... oh go on then.

 

Thank you Dr Jenkins for your detailed (but flawed) analysis, and Mr Snots for your ever helpful input. The variable which caused my flashback to a happier time entertaining punters at the "dads day out" with donut skills was believed to be a combination of deer "pellets", 2 stroke oil, and straw. Full results will be confirmed by my lab. At no time should my driving talent, IQ or experimaentally wired new engine be questioned. Yours, perhaps. My paddock comment of "its win or bust" should also be disregarded. And, under Loton Park rules (thanks Caterbram) my times for both T1 & T2 remain. There was never a question of me inheriting a yellow gardening implement from another competitor.

 

(I also note said carrier of the trowel was suspiously observed to be distributing large amounts of straw across the track at Fallow on her T1. In fact she visited several local fields at varying elevations to achieve this. At one point she was technically in Wales.)

 

As for Mr. Snots, the BowlerSport Mk2 engine is running well thankyou, with an adjusted level of water injection. So well that I had my eyes closed on T1 out of fear missing both the 100 and 50 yard boards. Tell lab technician Durrant that his tyre warming services at Curborough will be required, and on no account to considered self tranportation methods based on inferior 2 wheel derived technologies from Japan.

 

AB PhD MoD P45

[magister]

😬

I am still awaiting a link to see the video of said trowel carriers little indiscretion.

 

Who would like the badge of gardening honour for Harewood?

 

Perhaps we could make it spin round and round in recognition of Alans achievement

PaulB

 

 

[BeckyB]

While the current trowel carrier admits that there may have been some departure from the accepted line at fallow, and that some of the vegetation may have been perturbed during the 'excursion', it must be highlighted that at least all of the car remained roughly in the intended direction, without sudden rotational deviation from the desired trajectory (see Jenkins et al 2013).

 

It is hypothesised that the additional mass of the trowel over the rear wheels may have caused some unforeseen decrease in the expected handling and behaviour of the vehicle at high speeds, with the ensuing gardening incident resulting from a combination of this and the Driver's skill running out, although the latter may have a greater bearing on the data than previously believed. Experiments are still ongoing in this area.

 

As to the final location of the trowel carrier, Wales is, at best, a conservative estimate. Some reports place the final location as far north as Reykayvik. As such, we are still in the process of recovering the recorded video footage.

 

R. Boston TTFN, Pdq.

 

 

[Mark Durrant]

Alan attended the Surrey meet where local members, including the Chairman were very sympathetic following his off hill exploits at the weekend 😬

[Gill E]

So, to sum up, you were going too fast and grass has no grip!

 

[Mattj]

You evidently have notable confidence on this subject Ms. Elwell, to an unsettling degree..

 

Albert Einstein once stated that "The only source of knowledge is experience"

 

Would your knowledge on such matters have been attained through personal experience by any chance?

 

MJ GCSE, ASBO, .pdf

[NoLimits]

😳 This could get messy. I'm not looking anymore

[Shaun_E]

I think I may now be in trouble

 

Edited by - Shaun_E on 23 Jul 2013 10:42:33

[Alan Bowler]

BTTT

A timely reminder for the weekend.

[robmar]

I was so grumpy last year I must have missed this thread 😬