Hi everyone,
First of all, apologies for the lack of updates in the past couple of months. We have been exceptionally busy on the development of the Bio-Ethanol car, and this has left little time for anything else! Hopefully as you read on you will see it has all been worth it…
The season started way back in March at Snetterton, and although we showed strong pace in testing it became apparent that everyone else had a made a step forward as well, leaving me floundering on the outskirts of the top ten. A couple of errors later and the best I could manage from a difficult weekend was 11th place. Not exactly the debut we had in mind for the Bio-Ethanol power!
Mallory Park in April brought some reliability gremlins in qualifying and the race, a broken clutch cable limiting me to one flying lap in the morning, and a distributor failure stopping my race after just 4 laps!
Next up was the first visit to Brands Hatch, and with no major performance gains apparent, getting into the top ten was still proving to be a struggle! A mistake in qualifying saw me starting from the back of the grid, and although creditable, 12th place at the chequered flag was still not where we wanted to be!
After Brands there was a 5 week break in the racing before Anglesey, which allowed us to begin to resolve some of the problems inherent in the car. Thanks to some excellent work by TMC Motorsport (www.tmcmotorsport.co.uk) and a dyno session, the car was looking in better shape.
Qualifying at Anglesey was damp, and in a car now handling the way I enjoyed I was able to put in times good enough for front row starts for both races; 2nd for race one, and the first ever pole position for an alternatively powered car in UK Club Motorsport for race two!
Conditions were less than ideal for the first race, with a huge amount of standing water and spray, even when in the lead. Eventually the race became a survival exercise and I was able to keep things pointing moderately in the right direction to secure 2nd overall, the first podium for the alternatively fuelled machine!
Race two was thankfully held in drier weather, and although the car suffered a little from brake fade I was able to again stand on the podium, albeit this time on the lower step in 3rd. Not exactly what we had in mind after qualifying on pole, but a massive improvement over the early season form.
With the momentum from Anglesey, and several more performance upgrades on the car, we arrived at Brands Hatch last weekend in very confident mood. Qualifying was again cut short thanks to a slight oil leak, and overheating rear tyres, but before they passed their best, times were set which would give me second row starts, in 4th for race one, and 3rd for race two.
Both races were incredibly tight, with 6 cars all capable of winning. However, the Bio-Ethanol power gives very strong mid-range torque, and this means I didnt have to push as hard through the slower corners as the petrol equivalents, to maintain momentum. In turn this meant that while they overheated their tyres, particularly the backs, I was able to preserve mine and ensure I had an advantage going into the last couple of laps. This proved to be the case on both occasions as I moved into the lead with a handful of laps remaining and held on all the way to the flag! 2 out of 2 for the weekend!
This implies it was easy, but I was definitely made to work, particularly in the second race where I crossed the line just 0.03s ahead of the second place car, and less than 6.5s covered the entire top ten!
Needless to say we are all delighted with the results achieved recently, and it proves that alternative fuel can be successful against petrol equivalents. Next up is Cadwell Park on the weekend of 10th – 12th July, where we will be bringing a further improved car, and hopefully the success can be continued!
Until then,
Matt
