After some last minute fettling on Saturday we were finally on the road and managed to get to the track in good time, time enough in fact to watch the last laps of day from some awesome sports cars, a great education for the drivers on what lines they should be taking when it was their turn the following day.
Sunday morning began with the now traditional egg and bacon breakfast and then it was on the track. The pits were a much more professional affair than we are used to, we had an enormous garage all to ourselves but we quickly made it feel like home with our flags and banners.
After a nerve-wracking time at scrutineering (the new system is certainly thorough!) and Jacca taking the car out for some practice time, it was on to the race. First out was Harrison, our own version of the Stig, who put in some very consistant lap times around the 5:30 region, almost exactly as predicted. A driver change at the half hour mark got Ben out on the track but no sooner had he made it out he was called back in by the marshals. A problem with the car's transponder cost us a couple of laps but the team handled it brilliantly, they stayed calm, took control and got the car back out as soon as the yellow coats stopped faffing around with the only part of they car they are responsible for!
A few more laps from Ben and it was then Gareth's turn to see out the last few joules from the batteries. With very little left in them, speed was way down but we had our most consistant driver in to make the most of it. A recurring issue with the drive shaft saw our batts empty 10 minutes early but we had done enough to claim 28th place from a field of 45, a great result for the first race with the uncertainty of the new batteries.
The team can be proud of their performance and they have shown a level of independence that we have not seen before from any of our greenpower teams. This team and this car certainly have a great future ahead of them and we will see what they come up with at our next race at RAF St Mawgan in June.
What an absolutely amazing day!
ReplyDeleteGood lap times. We had very similar, the fastest we got was about 4.50 I believe. Would have been able to go faster if we could see the amps but the rewire in the morning didn't leave us time to put in the watts up meter so we had to run blind but 31st in the Corporate Challenge considering that wasn't bad. We made the full 4 hours.
Should be interesting come June.
Sorry I didn't get a chance to catch up with you on the day, Ben said he managed to have a chat with you guys though.
ReplyDeleteThe car has now been stripped down to its component parts and as it goes back together each bit will be optimised to try and get that few percent out of it. Lots of small improvements will hopefully add up to one big one.
No worries, catch you at Newquay. Yeah we meet Ben. Will Matt Arney be coming? Would be nice to catch up.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a really good plan, also theres something very satisfying about stripping and rebuilding. Hope it pays off for you. It would be great if we both got through to the Final. Wont be easy though from what I hear, theres a lot of cars participating and some look very good.