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

Carole will be driving her Hayabusa powered OMS CF08

Zoe will be driving the 1.6L EcoBoost SBD Westfield

Steve: 5th in BSC R11: 68.16s, 6th in BSC R12: 68.48s
Matt: 7th in BSC R11: 68.56s, 3rd in BSC R12: 67.44s
Carole: 10th in BSC R11: 72.63s, 10th in BSC R12: 72.80s
Zoe: 12th in BSC R11: 83.41s, 12th in BSC R12: 82.36s

After a good event at Blyton where the car started to go well, we knew there were limitations with the rear grip under braking and turning and Alan Mugglestone had suggested, the car could be much stiffer, which would give a more stable platform. Toby Phillips had suggested from the information Steve had given him, the roll centre height on the rear wasn’t ideal and suggested a change. Steve was able to make a few simple parts one evening to carry out the necessary changes. We also found some stronger springs in our spares ready for use during the day at Lydden.

Steve went out first in practice and said that the car did exactly what was expected from the changes to the set up, which gave amazing braking and turning in, but then from apex to exit the car was truly horrible again exactly what would be expected from the change done. Matt came in after his run and said ‘what have you done, this is truly awful’! On a positive note, Steve was much faster than Matt and wasn’t quite as worried about the result. With the limited time between the runs due to the slick efficiency of Borough 19 and Roger keeping all the drivers in check meant we could only make quick small changes to the car. Each change had a positive effective and the car improved with each run. Some changes produced a lack of rear end grip on the apex of the corner but this pointed us in the direction we needed to go. During lunch break, we were able to change the rear springs, this was again another benefit but because we were making small adjustments, which were required due to the spring rate change, it didn’t necessarily show significantly in the times but we can see from the videos and Kim’s photos that the car is going in the right direction. Steve is going to lower the car down to the minimum ride height, which we haven’t been able to do before due to the spring rates. He is also changing the rake of the car ready for Pembrey. This should all be positive and give free gain from the floor and allow us to decrease the wings to optimal settings thanks to information from Simon McBeath, who designed them. Steve will be driving on his own as Matt has to work abroad and can’t attend.

This was the first time out for the Westfield since its rebuild, the geometry had been set up completely differently along with completely different spring rates and damper settings and apart from being driven 2ft out the front of the workshop, the first go that Zoe had in the car was as she drove it down the paddock and then left the start line taking it very gently in practice. The boost levels had been trimmed back because we didn’t know how the car was going to work. Everything performed perfectly on its first run and in fact for the whole day. Zoe got down to just outside her previous best but it was running at least a Bar less boost pressure so at least 100bhp down over what she had before and since Zoe hasn’t driven a racecar in 2 years either, we were really pleased with the way it went.