Steve: 2nd Overall 86.28s YouTube Video

Zoe: 2nd in Class

Steve’s Report: This is only the second time I have had a chance to drive the SBD 1.6L EcoBoost Westfield this year and the first time in the dry. Quite a few more small changes to the car for the weekend and couldn’t believe how fast it accelerates, particularly in comparison with the Dallara. The speed based boost control means it effectively accelerates as almost the same rate all the time. It is amazing fun to drive and we are going to have to work on the handling some more to get it to deliver all of its 376bhp. The good thing is that the new boost control strategy has meant that on the track surfaces that we could deliver good grip where the tracks are less grippy as you can see on the Abingdon circuit, there are a few moments where I am having to work quite hard.

On the Bentley sprint, which had lots of grip but tight turns, I was able to achieve 2nd overall up against a large number of single seaters, I thought it would be much harder to maintain this position on the Abingdon sprint with the large sweeping turns, where the cars with aero come into their own. I was surprised to still 2nd fastest overall, 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the field and only 2/10th behind Simon Wallis in his OMS3000, so extremely pleased with the day. I must admit it was exhausting double driving with Zoe having 2 practice and 2 timed runs on each circuit, which meant we were yo-yoing in and out the car all day and the event was finished by about 4pm. The event was seamlessly organised, as always, hopefully next year it will be able to be run under more normal conditions.

We were having fuel pressure issues during the day, the ECU was able to cope with this and make adjustments to compensate. When we got home we found a lump of metal had got jammed in the fuel line, that was almost big enough to block the complete supply off and this would keep moving, hence we were able to keep going. So a nice easy fix and back together again for Goodwood on Saturday.