Steve & Matt will be sharing the 1440cc Hayabusa powered SBD DJ Firehawk CT004

Carole will be driving her Hayabusa powered OMS CF08

Steve:
Saturday, National Circuit – 7th in BSC R3: 49.34s, 6th in BSC R4: 48.54s
Sunday, International Circuit – 7th in BSC R5: 82.00s, 6th in BSC R6: 81.23s
Matt:
Saturday, National Circuit – 3rd in BSC R3: 48.56s, 2nd in BSC R4: 46.57s
Sunday, International Circuit – 4th in BSC R5: 80.58s, 3rd in BSC R6: 79.50s
Carole:
Saturday, National Circuit – 3rd in BSC R3: 52.52s, 11th in BSC R4: 51.66s
Sunday, International Circuit – 10th in BSC R5: 85.07s, 9th in BSC R6: 84.38s

Report:
After Monday’s test at Llandow, when the cooling system, both oil and water is running a bit hot Steve spent some late evenings during the week to get some parts pre-made to fit to the car on Friday evening once we had arrived at Anglesey. Fortunately everything when on quite well, not perfect but it did the job.

Steve went first on the Saturday morning, the car seemed to be quite nice to drive but reported huge oversteer under braking and turning in. As usual, Matt reported the opposite with huge understeer on braking and turning in. Steve made a few adjustments to the car, Matt said it was better and Steve said it was worse. We were also having a few issues with downshifts being too slow so Steve spent a lot of time modifying the software to speed the gear changes up. This was due to the fact that there are 2 parts on the circuit, you come from quite a high gear going down to either 1st or 2nd in a very short distance. The gearchanges were improved over the weekend, this meant Steve could brake later but also at the same time increased the oversteer issue. Matt’s style of driving was showing this issue up until the Sunday, when he started to brake later and harder so finally agreed with Steve what the problem was. We were able to make minimal changes between each run due the rapid turnaround of either run.

The car is certainly showing some potential and it was agreed that it is far more forgiving than the SBD Dallara, but just not as fast in a straight line at the moment. The downforce is extremely good but the wings were designed for the lower speeds of the hills so even running them on their minimum settings is affecting the top speeds. Hopefully we can improve upon this over the coming events.

The engine performed perfectly since Steve had built it, it is an interim design and there is more development to come when his work load allows.

Matt broke the 1600cc record on both days, so the car is definitely showing potential and once all the improvements come along, we will hope to be able to challenge more for the overall wins.

Steve at Anglesey on the International Circuit

Carole at Anglesey on the International Circuit

Matt at Anglesey on the National Circuit

All pictures by Kim Broughton