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Matthew Willoughby

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Blog Entries posted by Matthew Willoughby

  1. Matthew Willoughby
    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 left to do to the car such fitting the headrest and aeroscreen, putting numbers on and taping up the headlights but essentially I'm ready to go.
  2. Matthew Willoughby
    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 an SLR. 
     
    The scope of what I wanted doing then started to increase.  While the dampers and brakes were off I thought it would be an ideal time to get the wishbones, wingstays, headlights and a few other bits shot blasted and powdercoated.  I then thought I may as well have the cage done at the same time as I wanted it to be red so that it would stand out a bit more.  Having got those bits off the car I bought a set of 8 spoke alloys so that I can run wider rear tyres.  Those bits are now all sorted and ready to go back on the car as can be seen below.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/118/Powdercoatedbits_thumb.jpg
     
    My next brainwave was to have the car re-sprayed while all the bits were off, my thinking being that there would never be a cheaper time and the paintwork is tired and needs doing anyway.  So, the car is currently in the state shown in the photo below which I took yesterday morning when I dropped the cage etc off.  It needs to be ready for the introduction to sprinting day at Curborough in 10 days time and then the first sprint of the year at Goodwood a week later.  Time is getting rather tight to say the least!  The new colour is a bit of a secret but I don’t know of any other cars the same combination as what I have planned. 
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/118/Inbits_thumb.jpg
     
     
    So, fingers crossed that it will all be ready in time.  Hopefully in my next update I’ll have some pics of my gleaming freshly painted car with all of its wheels back on.
  3. Matthew Willoughby
    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 corners.  It all worked pretty well and I finished 2nd out of 10, only beaten by Dad who went 6 tenths quicker than me.  At the time I was gutted as my timed runs were slower than practice and I had gone slower than 2008.  It turned out that I had remembered my 2008 time incorrectly and I had gone nearly a whole second quicker.  I had no reason to be disappointed after all.
     
    We then went on to Shelsley Walsh.  I absolutely adore that place – the history, the atmosphere, the setting – it’s wonderful.  I also felt very privileged to have been given an entry for the second year running.  But for all that, I never feel comfortable driving the hill.  I don’t know if it’s the proximity of the hedges and earth banks but I couldn’t bring myself to properly commit.  The result was a disappointing 4th out of 5, a second off the leaders’ pace. 
     /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/107/Shelsley3_thumb.jpg
     
    Shelsley was the first time I had done an event since getting a trailer and a new company car so even though I was frustrated with my driving on the hill I really enjoyed the drive there and back with my new “outfit”.  I was so pleased I had to take a photo.
     
     /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/107/IMG_8574_thumb.jpg
     
    As you can probably tell, I was not very happy with how my season was going and I was frustrated with my car’s lack of performance when compared with the K-Series cars.  So, when a 1998 Roadsport A race car came up for sale at a decent price I snapped it up.  The car was my ideal spec: 1.6 K-Series Supersport, 6 speed, dry sump, LSD.  It was a bit tatty but nothing that a bit of TLC over the winter wouldn’t sort out and I was pretty sure I could sell my tidy live axle VX for more than I was paying for the Roadsport.  I should, at this point, thank Dad for the bridging loan to allow me to buy the new car before I had sold the old one.  It might have have been his good nature or maybe he was just keen to move me on into a different class……  So I would be moving to Class 3 but before that I had one more event to do in the VX.
  4. Matthew Willoughby
    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 briefing.  As 9 o’clock and the first convoy run loomed, Dad disappeared to get a video consent form and was nowhere to be seen.  I decided to jump in the car and join the queue so as not to miss out.  On the convoy run the track was very wet but obviously drying quickly in the sun and wind.  On arriving back in the paddock, Dad tells me that we can do our practice run whenever we want so I may as well queue up while I’m in the car.  After about 30 seconds sat in the queue I twig that this is a very daft idea as I’ll end up wasting my practice laps on a wet track when it’s quite obvious that it’ll be dry for the timed runs.  I left the queue and parked back in the garage.  Nice try Dad.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/55/IMG_8425_thumb.jpgClass 1 cars parked up under the paddock shelters
     
    As expected, the track dried quickly and we went for our practice run, which consisted of two laps with only the first being timed (the proper timed runs are only over 1 lap).  Dad went out first and his lap was pretty much on the pace straight away with a high 105 second lap.  I then had my go and was pleased to find the track perfectly dry.  My timed lap was a 106 which was 1 second slower than Dad’s and 2 seconds off the time we both did last year when we were separated by just 0.02 seconds.  I found the second practice lap fairly useless – without time to mull over my first lap (you spend a lot of time mulling laps over when sprinting) I didn’t really drive any better.  However, Dad and I were pleased to see that we had a 5 second gap to our nearest competitor.  It looked like another inter-family battle was afoot.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/55/IMG_8393_thumb.jpgCars and planes.  Just like the Goodwood Revival meeting - honest
     
    After a lazy lunch thinking about where to go faster, chatting with fellow competitors, watching aerobatics overhead and lounging in the sun on our outdoor sofa (yes, really) the timed runs came round quickly.  My first run was much more committed than practice.  My only real concern was Woodcote, a double apex corner with the second apex being much slower than the first.  In Dad’s car, if you carry enough speed through the first part of the corner you have to change from 4th to 3rd, while still turning and slowing down, for the second part.  The pedal setup in the car is quite poor so I can’t heal and toe, which means the downchange momentarily locks the rears, sapping confidence to attack the corner.  Despite that, I do a 104.2 (or thereabouts), which is faster than I went last year so I’m on the right track.  Dad’s first run is another 105 but slightly quicker than practice.
     
    The 2nd timed runs came around quickly and Dad goes out before me.  He had a cracking run (he claims!) until Woodcote when the nasty downchange caught him out.  He ran wide and span.  I’m looking forward to seeing the video!
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/55/IMG_8428_thumb.jpg Whoops – you can see the tyre tracks on the grass on the right hand side
     
    Having checked that Dad and the car were OK (they were) I jumped in, but then the timing equipment broke!  During the 20 minute wait for the equipment to be fixed I found out that Paul Winterbottom had come from nowhere - his first run was over 110 seconds - to post a time of 102.9.  Oh heck.  My goal for the day was to get into the 102 second bracket so the pressure was now on, especially as we weren’t assured of a 3rd run due to the down-time.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/55/IMG_8418_thumb.jpg Lined up for my second (quickest) run
     
    Visor down and off I went, only a brief lift into Madgwick and back on the power before the crest, which makes the car go very light and skittish.  Flat through Fordwater and another short lift for no-name.  St. Marys felt sweet using loads of the road on the exit.  I braked too early for Lavant but realised and carried plenty of speed in.  Woodcote was a bit compromised by the same issue that troubled Dad, but the chicane was tidy.  Result was a 102.5.  Phew.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased with a lap and I did shout a few words of encouragement into my helmet as I crossed the line.  I’m looking forward to seeing the video when Dad downloads it from the recorder.
     
    The third runs came around very quickly.  My run didn’t quite go as well after I tried to take Madgwick flat but bottled it and I just wasn’t as committed for the rest of the lap.  Dad did another 105 and Paul Winterbottom spun so I had my first ever class win.  I was a very happy bunny.
     
    So, all in all, a very enjoyable day in every respect.  It was great to catch up with the usual suspects, meet a few new faces and enjoy close competition at a great venue in wonderful (in the end) April weather.  It was also fantastic to see such a large entry for class 1 with 11 drivers taking part.
     
    Llandow is next in a fortnight’s time for ASBO’s first outing of the year.
  5. Matthew Willoughby
    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.
     
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  6. Matthew Willoughby
    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 plenty of room for improvement.
     
    During my best run last year I got a rubbish start with too much wheelspin and didn’t carry enough speed through Madgwick (the first corner). After that I had a cracking run through Fordwater (easily flat in a class 1 car) St. Mary’s and Lavant but I forgot to change down to 3rd for Woodcote and was slow through the chicane. All of that meant I was 0.02 seconds slower than Dad which left me in 2nd place. With a decent start, a bit more commitment to Madgwick, remembering to change gear for Woodcote (maybe trail breaking through the first apex which is not as tight as the second) and throwing it through the chicane I should be able to knock a fair bit of time off.
     
    Time to set some targets for myself. Time wise I’ll be a bit disappointed if I don’t make it into the 102 second bracket - remember I will still have only had approximately 10 laps experience of the track by the time I leave on Saturday evening. In terms of position I would like a top 3 in class but achieving my time target is more important to be honest. More than anything though, I hope for decent weather, healthy banter and close competition.
     
    Pop along to see what it is all about - entry was free for spectators last year and it is the most atmospheric venue that we visit.
     
    I’ll put another post up (with some pictures) when I get back home next Sunday to let you know how we got on.
  7. Matthew Willoughby
    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, ASBO Orange, paintwork.  ASBO is a live axle car with a 1.6l 8 valve Vauxhall engine – perhaps not the quickest spec in class 1 but not so much slower than the standard 1.6 K Series cars as to be uncompetitive.
     
    My first event of the year will be at Goodwood in 3 weeks time.  I’ll be sharing Dad’s K Series car for that event as I haven’t got a trailer and don’t fancy the long Friday night drive from Leicestershire to Sussex.  Last year’s sprint there was the most enjoyable I have done so far so I can’t wait to be back there.
     
    In the mean time let’s try out the picture function with a couple of ASBO photos.
     

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  8. Matthew Willoughby

    Llandow

    By Matthew Willoughby,

    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.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/59/llandowcircuit_thumb.gif
     
    There had been a track day the day before and three of my five class 1 rivals had attended (the cheats!).  I, on the other hand, did about a quarter of a very wet track day there (before giving up and driving home) in 2004.  Anyway, enough of my pathetic excuses.
     
    Practice 1 went reasonably well but I realised that, apart from knowing which way the corners went, I couldn’t remember much else from my previous visit.  Result, a 95 second run compared to the 91 second runs of the fastest runners, i.e. the aforementioned cheats ;)   That first practice run had been my first time on track in ASBO since a wheel came off following a halfshaft failure at Curborough in February, and I had an irrational fear of the same thing happening again at any point.  Fortunately, by the end of the second practice run I had got that out of my system and I knocked a couple of seconds off.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/59/LlandowMay09_thumb.jpg Heading towards the bus stop
    On to the timed runs.  We had a short briefing before the timed runs started and we were all told to expect 4 timed runs.  I was really pleased, as this would give me a much better chance to close up on the 3 leaders.  The first timed run went well and gave another improvement to take me into the 91 second bracket.  The leaders were now in the 89s but that didn’t seem impossible.  My next run felt much quicker but I actually only knocked 3 hundredths of a second off. 
     
    My 3rd timed run got off to a bad start.  The start light went green far sooner than I expected and I left the line in a hurry with far too much wheelspin and my brain not quite in gear.  The first half of the lap was just plain slow.  I then made a conscious decision to brake much later for the bus stop.  Too late as it turns out.  I failed to make the turn so didn’t record a time.  One chance left and still 2 seconds to find.
     
    As I lined up for my final run I had a couple of ideas of how to go faster but wasn’t feeling particularly confident.  Then, as I was third in the queue, somebody in another class dropped oil over most of the track.  Having sat there for about 15 minutes as the marshals tried to clean it up I realised that there was no way I was going to go quicker with the oil down so I decided not to risk damaging the car and went back to the paddock and put the windscreen on ready to go home.  So, a bit of a disappointing end to the day but I was never going take enough time off to challenge for the win.
     
    So, congratulations to Nick Chan for a brilliant debut win and well done Ian Keen and Al Gibbins for keeping him honest.
     
    Curborough is up next in a week’s time.  It’s not my favourite venue (mainly because I know Dad is better than me there!) but we’ll see how it goes.
  9. Matthew Willoughby
    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 69.29 which left me in 4th place out of 15 so it all looked promising for later on.  Little did I know at the time, but that was to be my only properly dry run of the day :(
     
    It started to tip down as we queued up for second practice and the only good thing I can say about that is that at least I had predicted it and taken my brolly down to the start line (unlike some of my soggy classmates).
     
    It stopped raining just before lunch and the track was just damp as class 1 lined up for the first “proper” run.  The first people through all did times around 72 or 73 seconds which indicated that the track was several seconds off being fully dry.  Then Dad went out and did a stonking 68 second run – barely any slower than his dry practice.  I was next up and asked the startline marshal what his time was (you can’t see the timing board from the line).  On hearing that it was a 68 I assumed that the track must be dry and set off on that assumption.  Unfortunately I didn’t really set off at all. My dry starting technique left me wheelspinning on the evidently still damp surface.  Drat.  Looking at the figures it turns out I’d lost well over 0.5 seconds to Dad before I even reached the 64ft line.  The rest of the track was relatively dry apart form the exit of Fradley which compromised speed down the straight.  Given the conditions my run felt ok but it was nearly 3 seconds off Dad’s!  It must have been down to the LSD he fitted over the winter……  After my run the track continued to dry out and several others beat my time leaving me in 7th with Nick Chan being the only one to better Dad’s time.  The rest of the classes all got a dry run in before we went to line up again.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/65/CurboroughMay2009_thumb.jpgIt may look dry in the photo but it isn’t - honest
     
    It looked likely to rain so I took my brolly again but I was really hoping it would hold off so I could get a proper dry time in.  Unfortunately though, the brolly got yet more action as it came a few drops at first before tipping down.  By the time I went out it was proper wet.  I was pretty fed up and as it was evident that I couldn’t beat my 1st run I decided to have some fun going sideways through the hairpins.  But I couldn’t even do that right and found myself understeering wide instead.  Note to self: must use more throttle when being silly.
     
    We had the option of a 3rd run if we wanted it, but as it was very wet still only about half of us took the organisers up on the opportunity.  I was disappointed with my performance to that point so set myself the target of being the fastest Class 1 runner on that run.  I managed it but still left feeling very disappointed with how I (and the flippin’ weather!) had performed.
     
    Anyway, congratulations to Nick Chan (who won and is becoming a bit of a pest!) and Dad for a fantastic damp run. 
     
    On to MIRA next.  It is a far quicker layout than Curborough and much more to my taste. 
  10. Matthew Willoughby
    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 wasn’t expecting to do very well as many of my fellow Class 1 competitors had been to the Hillclimb School.  So, with the pressure off, I was determined to enjoy my last event with ASBO. And I did.  The weather was lovely, the atmosphere was delightful, I really enjoyed driving the hill and I got quicker with every run.  I even met my target of beating Dad’s time from 2008, when he was a Harewood virgin (in fact I went over a second quicker than he had). 
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/108/Harewood3_thumb.jpg 
     
    I finished the day in 4th out of 10, just 1.5 seconds behind Dad who had picked up another win. I left Harewood very satisfied and pleased that I had enjoyed such a fabulous final day with my old car.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/108/Harewood1_thumb.jpg
    The following weekend I was more excited than I had been for a long time – the day had arrived to pick up my new car.  I know it looks tatty in the photos but the price was irresistible and mechanically, it seemed fine.  So for a couple of weeks I was the proud owner of 2 Sevens.
     
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    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/108/IMG_8753_thumb.jpg /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/108/IMG_8752_thumb.jpg
     
    2 weeks later ASBO had been sold and I had to get the Roadsport A (RSA) ready for Loton.  I got a set of Kumho V70a’s, the list 1b tyre of choice, and took the car for a quick once over at McMillan Motorsport.  The car got a clean bill of health apart from a nasty crack in the driver’s side, top, front wishbone mount.  This was the day before Loton so a couple of stressful hours were spent trying to find a decent welding company to fix the mount.  Fortunately the partner of one of my work colleagues came to the rescue and the car was sorted in time.
     
    I turned up at Loton having done about 10 miles in the car and absolutely none on the new tyres.  I decided that I would use the event to get used to the car.  No heroics.  I ended up having a really enjoyable day.  I got quicker with every run and, by the end of the day, I was really enjoying, and making the most of, the extra power and grip.  I even had a little 2 wheels on the grass moment in front of the crowds on the last run to show that the “get used to the car” plan had gone out of the window.  I finished the day with a time 5 seconds quicker than I had done in my old car in 2008.  I was quite pleased with 8th out of 13 for my Class 3 debut too.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/108/DSC_00421_thumb.jpg  /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/108/MW1_thumb.jpg
     
    Back to Curborough next.  I hoped that I would enjoy it more than I had in May.
  11. Matthew Willoughby
    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 and a half seconds better than my previous best.  I like power and grip!!  I didn’t go quite as quickly in the one and only dry timed run but I was thrilled with 5th out of 16, about 1.75 seconds off the pace.
     
    On to Anglesey and another attempt at putting the tent up.  I had Mel with me this time and even though it started to rain at just the wrong moment we got set up nicely for the weekend.  Thanks Mel.  A tent on Anglesey in October may seem like a daft idea but we actually enjoyed the whole camping experience.  And the facilities were actually very good.
     
    The Saturday sprint was on the shorter National Circuit and started wet, then damp and then, finally, dry.  Not great conditions for learning a track.  I had a lot of fun but never really got to grips with everything.  I was still improving by the end of the day and my last run was my fastest - 1.5 seconds better than I had achieved earlier in the day even though I had a very lurid moment that can be seen in the photo below and cost a chunk of time.  There was much more still to come.  I ended the day a slightly disappointed 7th out of 13, 3 seconds off the pace over a fairly short (60 second) run.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/109/MW10_thumb.jpg
    After a lovely evening meal and a couple of pints of Guiness in the circuit’s bar we retired to the tent for the night and got ready for another day’s competition. 
     
    We woke to find another wet morning and conditions very similar to the previous day.  This was the longer circuit and I was very comfortable in the wet practice runs.  We then got 2 timed runs in on the damp track before lunch.  I wished that I had a video recording my second run as everything felt fantastic.  I ended up in 2nd place, just a few tenths away from Mike Sankey.  I was a very happy bunny over lunch time.  And I prayed for rain.  But it didn’t come.  We got a further 3 timed runs in the afternoon and I never managed to get Church Corner right.  It should be flat out but I never was.  In fact I was never even close to flat and that cost a lot of time down the long straight that followed.  I ended the day in 5th place and 3 seconds off the winner again.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/109/MW2_thumb.jpg  
    So the season was over and I am really pleased with how it went.  The new car is fantastic and great fun to drive.  It will be getting tidied up over the winter with new powdercoating and, maybe, some paintwork.  I just need to save some pennies for a ported head and some vernier pulleys and it will then be the ideal Class 3 specification.  As it is though, at least I have some excuses ready for 2010.  Hopefully I won’t need them….
  12. Matthew Willoughby

    Goodwood

    By Matthew Willoughby,

    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 jog around the track but in the end I couldn’t be bothered! At least it meant I had loads of time to take the car of the trailer, sign on, set up the video camera and get noise tested. In fact, I managed to get all of that done before Dad had even arrived. For once I was nice and relaxed at the start of the day instead of being all stressed that I had too much to do and not enough time.
     
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/125/25095_380181982110_605467110_4526422_718688_n_thumb.jpg 
    Ready for the off

     
    After a lot of queuing I finally lined up for my 2 lap practice run. I was feeling good so decided to try hard straight away. I had a very good run but there was still a lot to find as I had got too much wheelspin off the line, braked too early everywhere and used the wrong gear at Lavant. I was amazed to find myself fastest in Class 3 and only a second off the winning time from last year.
     
    A video of the practice run is below. I’m sorry about the sound but it’s not bad for an £11 camera.
     
     
     
     
    The first timed runs came along and I had an absolute stormer for the first half of the run. The start really hooked up and I carried more speed through Madgwick, No Name, St Mary’s and the first part of Lavant. In fact I took far too much speed through the first bit of Lavant and ended up going over the exit kerb and onto the grass. I tried to keep my foot in but it was obvious that the only way I was going to steer it back towards the track was to lift. This cost me loads of time down Lavant straight. The rest of the lap was clean enough but my heart wasn’t in it. I was therefore amazed to find that the lap was a second quicker than I’d gone in practice and that I was in the lead. I later found out that both of my main rivals had forgotten to use 6th gear between Madgwick and St Mary’s.
     
    My second timed run took another second off but, apart from staying on the track at Lavant, didn’t feel as quick. I managed to get some charge back into the camera for the 2nd run so the video is below.
     
     
     
     
    That run managed to keep me in front but Jeff and Grahame were now only half a second away.
     
    The third run was fine. I didn’t take any chances and went a bit slower. Jeff tried taking Madgwick flat but changed his mind halfway through the corner with oversteery consequences that lost him a chunk of time. Grahame had an excellent last run and beat my fastest time by 3 tenths. Having led since the start of the day I was a bit deflated but I cheered up a bit when I realised that the 3rd runs didn’t count for the organisers (although they would for the Club – I thought) so I would get the trophy.
     
     /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/125/25095_380181957110_605467110_4526419_8193956_n_thumb.jpg
    Over the line

    It was only the next day that I found out that not all of the 7 Club members had managed to get a 3rd run in before the curfew. As a result it was decided that the 3rd runs would not count for the championship. I had won! It wasn’t the way I wanted to win as Grahame had beaten me fair and square.
     
    It was a wonderful event and a great start to the season. I am very satisfied with my performance and amazed that my standard 1.6 K-Series Supersport managed to do the business against those with 1800s and 1600s with ported heads, on what is more of a power circuit than any other we visit.
     
    My next event is due to be MIRA but following on from Goodwood I may yet be tempted by Curborough in 3 weeks.
  13. Matthew Willoughby
    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.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/139/DSC_00861_thumb.jpg
     
    For the timed runs the weather somehow managed to stay dry so the knowledge gained from practice would be useful after all.  I managed to forget to learn anything and didn’t manage to match, never mind beat, my practice time.  As a result I dropped to 6th position but still only ended up 0.55 seconds off the winner.  So, it was a bit of a disappointment in that I didn’t get quicker as the day progressed but I am still surprised to be so close to the pace of the class leaders.  
     
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    So onto MIRA – one of my favourite venues and somewhere that I’d always done reasonably well at in the past. Practice went quite well but I knew there was plenty more to come as, although I’d pushed quite hard on my 2nd run, I had used the wrong gear in a couple of places, hit the rev limiter in others and made a complete hash of the left hander after the control tower.
     
    My first timed run felt really good.  I hadn’t pushed too hard and it had been a nice tidy run.  I made no real mistakes and was expecting to have knocked a big chunk of time off.  I was wrong.  I am beginning to realise that comfortable and tidy just doesn’t cut the mustard.  I was slower than my full of mistakes, but pushing quite hard, practice run.  Having learned my lesson I got all psyched up for my final run.  Before the run I adjusted my belts and seat to get as comfortable as possible and lined up.  I got a reasonable start but as soon as I took second gear there was a click-click-click-click-click as my seat shot back on its runners.  This gave me a bit of a fright, sent me kangarooing through the first corner and left me with slack seatbelts, unable to reach the pedals properly.  I cruised round cursing, packed up and went home in a bad mood. 
     
    I finished with an appalling score, about 2 seconds off the winner.  I’m not expecting to do many rounds this year so I’ll only be able to drop 1 or 2 scores at the end of the season (only your best 7 results count towards the championship).  Hopefully MIRA will be as bad as it gets and I’ll be able to discard that score come season’s end.  Looking on the bright side, I think that I leaned a valuable lesson about how you need to drive a Class 3 car to be competitive.
     
    Next up is Castle Combe.  I’ve never been there but it’s my sort of place – like Goodwood but with a couple of chicanes thrown in.  I don’t expect to do too well against competitors who know the circuit so I’ll be determined to just enjoy myself and make sure that I go faster in the timed runs than the practice ones for a  change.  
  14. Matthew Willoughby
    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 do the 100 mile journey on the morning of the event.  The only problem was that I thought I’d forgotten my boots but I later managed to find them in my helmet!
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/168/WLW-CastleCombe_108D2-Combe3.jpg Enjoying the sunshine

    Practice went well and it turned out that Combe is very much my sort of track – wide and fast.  I finished practice not as far behind as I had anticipated and was helped by being given a re-run, as were several others, when the timing gear failed to work on the 2nd practice run.  The biggest problem we all faced was trying to find shelter.  Not from the usual wind and rain but from the sun.  It was absolutely boiling hot.  Not that I’m complaining, mind.  The food of choice was very much ice cream, so I had several.
     
    /Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/168/WLW-CastleCombe_108D2-Combe13.jpg Feel the width – there must be an apex somewhere

    Amazingly, after the first timed run I was leading Class 3 but with both Graeme Wardall and Michael Calvert hot on my heals with Jeff Smith just behind.  For the final run I managed to find a bit more time again and, after waiting some considerable period for the times to be published on the notice board, I found out that I had just edged the win from Michael with a run of 70.90 seconds.  I was over the moon with the result – it more than made up for my disappointing performance at MIRA last time out.  It was just a shame that we weren’t given another run as there was plenty of time left – we were easily finished by 3 o’clock.  However, if there was another run I may not have done so well so I shouldn’t complain too much.
     
    See the video of my quickest run below.  There is still more time to be found in 2011.
     
    My 2nd timed run – 70.90 seconds



    I then had a break before my next event at Harewood at the beginning of August which was the first event of 4 in the space of a hectic 5 weeks. 
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