Hillclimbing and Sprint Racing

[rocketrichard]

I'm all packed up and ready to go to Hillclimb School tomorrow near Salisbury.

Does anyone have any tips for a complete novice at speed events? I've done a few track days at Goodwood but, now I've bravely entered a Sprint Race in a few weeks time.

[johnp]

You're paying for it so make sure you listen to the experts. Apart from that, don't go all out immediately - build your speed if you can.

[welshy1]

This im entering into the javelin sprint series several class structers including a kit car group relaxed rules and no msa interference. Just good honest fun competition.

Check out the javelin sprint series site hope to see another mev on track this year.

www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/JTSS/

[rocketrichard]

Apr 11, 2016 20:03:18 GMT welshy1 said:

This im entering into the javelin sprint series several class structers including a kit car group relaxed rules and no msa interference. Just good honest fun competition.

Check out the javelin sprint series site hope to see another mev on track this year.

www.javelinsprintdays.co.uk/JTSS/

I would love to enter but they are all miles away from the South Coast - if only they had a few closer to me.

I'm lucky to be close to Goodwood and they run a few event, Gurston Down is close enough for Hill Climbs and I really want to run in the Brighton Sprint this year. So, I hope I can get my speed fix this year.

The only anxiety I have is over scrutineering. I just hope the roll bar is satisfactory for the MSA, looking at the regulations it appears to be compliant. And, don't talk to me about tyres, it's almost as if the MSA are trying to make things as hard as possible.

[kiwicanfly]

I started that this year just as soon as my Rocket had passed certification and before the WOF.

That was in early March and I have done a total of three sprint days, one was almost a hill climb. Plus a track day.

The sprint days see me getting about the same amount of driving time in a day as I did in one session at the track day but there is no question as to which is the most fun.

I reckon these events are perfect for the Rocket, tight turns, short straights no time for the big boys to wind up their cars fully.

I never did any training, just entered the club events, turned up and let it rip.

Tips?

Try and keep it on the road, way faster than on the grass verge

Don't fluff gear changes.

Get a ride with one of the top boys over the same course if you can, they will show you what going hard means! Doesn't mean you have to or will be able to do it like them but it really shows what it takes to be at the top.

What is the problem with the tyre regulations? I am using normal road tyres but I am getting a set of road legal race tyres in soft compound. No-one has looked at my tyres from a regulation point of view though.

If you were to join a local club you could get advice on scrutineering requirements, I had to have my roll cage approved by MSNZ and get a log book in the process. In order to get the homologation completed I had to show pictures of it without paint on it so that might be interesting for you.

The other thing I had to have was a fire extinguisher and a 1 litre oil catch can.

Whilst the regs might be different between UK and NZ I have looked at regs in other countries and motorsport seems to be sharing common regs.

I have posted a couple of video in my diary from last Sunday, not sure if you have seen them.

mevowners.proboards.com/thread/2342/nz-rocket-build?page=51

I would suggest getting a camera with data collection, unless you have a logger, you can then run videos side by side and compare runs to see what went well and what didn't.

This video is from the almost hill climb last month, I though the final run of the day was going to be the fastest but when I ran that and the actual fastest together you can see there was minimal difference at all points until it went badly wrong.

mevowners.proboards.com/thread/7807/road-sprint-racing-rocket-video

Have fun

[rocketrichard]

After the battle of M27 was won, school has started well. Lots of quality tuition and interesting feedback.

Highly recommended course and fun too.

[rocketrichard]

I had a brilliant day at Gurston Down learning how to drive up hills fast.  The organisation of the day was second to none and even if you don't intend to do any racing, this is a excellent day out. 

[kiwicanfly]

Any update of whether your car will pass scrutineering?

Any tips to pass on?

[rocketrichard]

Apr 13, 2016 6:02:43 GMT kiwicanfly said:

Any update of whether your car will pass scrutineering?

Any tips to pass on?

It appears to be good to go, the roll protection should be more than acceptable according to the folks at the hill climb school yesterday.

The tyres are OK for the sprint race next month but, are on the wrong list (1b) for hill climbing. I'll have to find some rims and put some standard road tyres on.

[kiwicanfly]

I have not come up against mention of tyres here in NZ, just had a quick look and can see nothing.

What tyres have you got at the moment?

I am going for Dunlop DZ03G's in the softest compound if I can get them.

However with the roll bar we have some hill climbs where a cage in mandatory, certainly in an open car like the Rocket.

[rocketrichard]

I'm running Federal 595 RSR and I do like them, grippy and not too expensive.

The MSA have lists of acceptable tyres, 1a are standard road tyres, 1b are 'performance' road going tyres.

Toyo 888 and my lovely Federals are 1b. Some sprints will require 1a tyres and other events allow 1b so it seems I'm gonna buy some new wheels and tyres

[kiwicanfly]

Sounds like an effort to even the field out a bit so I suppose its a good thing in some respects.

Due to the total unavailability of decent wheels in the Ford 4 x 108 stud pattern I am going put the new Dunlops onto my standard rims.

Was going to buy 15" but the availability was zero unless I went for cheap OEM wheels which is wrong for good tyres.

[rocketrichard]

Today was my first Sprint Race, the weather was good and the competition was pretty fierce.

I need to carry more speed through the corners and I was a little disappointed top speed, just over 100 mph. Should I expect more from a 1800 standard engine with standard ECU and throttle?

[kiwicanfly]

Can't say what a 1.8 will top out at but I too was surprised with my 2.0 top speed limits.

In theory both of our top speeds should be the same and as fast as anyone with a turbo or any other fancy go faster add ons. Top speed is a combination of revs, gearing and tyre size, assuming no slippage.

I figure with more power available then you will just be able to get to that limit faster.

What will limit us is distance to get to the cars limit, in my last event I was told that many were not getting above third gear, I briefly got to fourth.

This is why I like the sprint races, I was within ten or so seconds of the fastest cars in the field whereas on similar length events that were less twisty I was 20 or 3 seconds behind.

At some point I am going to find a nice long flat straight piece of road and measure my limits in various gears at various revs. Note that unless it is a private road, unlikely though due to length requirements, I will only be measuring up to 100 kph

By the way I see the Gopro in the picture, you will be posting footage won't you?

[johnp]

I don't know if there are any stats on it but I suspect if the Rocket is not significantly better aerodynamically than the Exocet then the limiting factor on top speed would be drag. (or am I off with the pixies?)