First race....

[PaulFinch]

Well today, after literally years of dreaming, research, knuckle skinning preparation and lots of money spent, I finally drove my first race.

I learnt many things. First, if you're using alloy spinners, make sure you lock wire them!
Second, when someone turns up and out qualifies 6 other elans having never seen the track before it tends to polarise opinion. I met a few fellow competitors that were complete gentleman, helped me out massively when one of the rear wheels tried to fall off in qualifying, were generous with their time, advice and tools at the same time being so encouraging, I cannot thank them enough.
And then I 'met' some others that gave me the cold shoulder and then nicked my position in the rolling start which not one of the officials did a thing about. Not wishing to converse with me I can handle, but jumping two places on the grid is infuriating!

Unfortunately the lead Elan had a moment at Paddock Hill on lap three, I came round the corner to see him rolling backwards across the racing line leaving me nowhere to go but the gravel. I bogged down, dug in and stalled and that was that. He rejoined and went on to win.

So I managed a total of eleven laps for the day but, while I can't help thinking what might have been, I'm so happy that after all this effort I wasn't completely humiliated.

Many people on this forum have been very helpful and kind enough to share a lot of useful information which is greatly appreciated.

I now have a list of things to sort but fully intend to be out again soon...

[rgh0]

Welcome to the joys of racing with all its highs and lows. Practice being smooth and quick and learn how to assess what those around you are going to do so you can avoid the stupid moves that some will always try to make.

cheers
Rohan

[patrics]

Well done Paul,
Never had spinners come loose - normally I couldn't get the bloody things off - have changed to bolt-on which in my opinion was a good thing.
The list never gets shorter.

Regards
Steve

[vstibbard]

If the spinners came loose i'd check the following:

1. Are hubs on the correct side?
2. did you grease the thread and the taper on wheel? If so only grease one, I typically grease the thread
2. Do you have the correct spinners for the wheel taper? There were some soft alloy spinners going around about 5 years ago.
2. What torque did you tighten to, I use 220ft lbs on my 26R and 180ft lbs on street Elan and I've never had one loosen.

Cheers

V

[batfish]

The joys of racing, when it goes well your buzzing all week and need another fix asap.
What series are you running in?
Good luck for future races
Andy

[PaulFinch]

Thanks for everyone's comments. The Monday morning office seems awfully mundane in comparison to the weekends activities.

Hubs are correct, no grease on any of it. Tightened to 200 lb/ft. Spinners came from TTR around 3 years ago.

Only thing I can think is wheels were brand new and maybe the coating on the mating face stopped it seating properly. Either way that's one knackered wheel and I shall be lockwiring, or changing to bolt on hubs in the future.

I'm in the CSCC Swinging Sixties, seems to be a great club. Aiming to be out again at Thruxton in August.

[S3FHC]

Hello Paul,

congratulations on your first race and better luck next time out!
I can only imagine the adrenaline rush you experienced - payback for all your hard work!

good luck for your next race,

Mark

[Fredtech]

Paul. Interesting to hear about your exploits. I?m prob? a year or so behind you with the car we are building. However, as the FIA are changing the rules faster than I can build the car, its one step forwards and two steps back at the moment. Adjustable Platform Springs seems to be their latest favourite issue !....

Went to Castle Coumbe couple of weeks ago and looked at Peter Shaws car as well as some of the cars running is HSCC. Seems most were FIA compliant. They all got hammered by the Chevrons though, that race the same series.

So I?m thinking CSCC Swinging-Sixties might be a better option. Just wondering how ?Picky? they were when you had your car scrutineerd ?.

Will make a point of getting to Thruxton in August. Good luck with your next race.

[PaulFinch]

Hi Fredtech,

I'm guessing if you're looking to the races with the Chevrons you're talking about the Guards Trophy? I've spent quite a bit of time looking over cars at HSCC and Paul Tooms from this forum (Guards trophy racer and former roadsports champion) was kind enough to give me a lot of very useful advice over the last few years.

I decided to go for the CSCC route for a number of reasons, primarily I liked the pretty much total freedom of regulations and, despite my complaints regarding what I saw as unfriendly behaviour, generally speaking the club and the fellow competitors could not be more pleasant.The Swinging Sixties regs state the car must be the same silhouette, use Yokohama list a, b or c tyres, have the same type of induction system as original and that's about it. While that means people can turn up with two litre twin cams dripping in magnesium, any winner then has a 30 second penalty applied to each of the next races they enter. In theory this acts as something of a leveller.
While my car probably isn't worth as much as it would be if it conformed to HSCC Roadsports regs, I wanted to make it as fast, reliable and as drive able as I could. Weber 45s, bigger valves, a dog box, an lsd, a Kevlar floor all wouldn't be allowed in the HSCC. Being a 68 S4 it wouldn't have been competitive with the S1s as I'd have to carry another 60 kilos. As for arguments about adjustable spring seats this is a very good example of why it wasn't for me.

With regards to scrutineering, all they wanted to see was the usual msa safety regs. Rain, brake and side lights, extinguisher, seat, harness, roll bar homologation sticker, crash helmet and suit. Had a quick look in the engine bay but that was literally seconds to check the breathers went to a catch tank.

Happy to chat at Thruxton, assuming I get an entrance, I'm told demand is going to be sky high due to the event being televised and also rumours of allowing unsilenced machinery....

[Fredtech]

Hi Paul. Thanks for posting that info. Just PM'd you. Freddie....