SMRC 23 June @ Knockhill

[andybell]

no stories? I missed not being out :/
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http://www.youtube.com/user/andybalcairn/ to see how bad I drive!!!

[AK]

SMRC Celtic Speed Scottish MINI Cooper Cup - 23rd June 2019

Quietly confident in the car now so sat out testing. Nothing to learn, but plenty to break 🤣
Been working on setups with Simon May at MB Garage Services & Motorsport and the car is now consistent (i.e put the same setup on and the car is the same) and responding as expected to setup changes which gives a massive improvement in confidence (last weekend was an unknown due to last minute 65kg weight loss plan).

Qualifying - Steady first few laps (a couple of little mistakes) and fired in a mid 62 which had me sitting in around 8th. Had a chat with Craig Dillon in the pits, talked about beer and stuff... then went out again. Slow out lap then 1 lap... felt good and showed 62.2 on dash. I was happy enough with that as it had no drama and wasnt 'balls out'. Was thinking I could go quicker but decided to just park it as was targeting around 5/6th before, so expected to be around there. Was only after whilst going through post qualy scrutineering that i found out P2... Of course I was happy with that but genuinely think others were perhaps a little slower than expected � Geeking VBOX data shows my speeds are a little crap on the straights too 😕

QUALIFYING - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxg0BU_qKEA

Race 1 - Ive started on the front row before (mini once 😂, Impreza several), so nothing new there.... bloody missed 3rd gear though - Gaaah!
I'm not fighting for a championship - race for fun when I can, so I dont put up too much of a fight with David Sleigh and Michael Weddell between McIntyres and Butchers, I was stuck on the outside so was just looking to get back in line for Chicane really. Ian and Vic get the run on me out of hairpin and on the inside into Duffus. A few laps go by and I try a half hearted move on Vic that leaves me hung out at Hairpin and allowing Ian Walsh through. Then this is where it starts to go a little wrong. Rear 1/4 of the car takes a thumping over the next lap with some avoidable incidents... and ultimately the business at the hairpin led to me retiring the car through damage. Annoying/frustrating but thats racing. Still fun... but still leaves me with more questions - DNF

RACE 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD9tDoFPIkE

Race 2 - Starting from the back so not much to do but go fwd. Conservative start.... dont want to bash Fee 👀 so take the escape road and lose some places whilst coming back on track in a safe manner (cough....). Made up some more ground then car started to overheat again. Backed off but stayed with Fee and Simon Holderness with the plan to go again if possible, Last lap... pushed on a bit and got by Ross and Simon. Apologies to Simon, but Ross wasnt leaving any room to give you room 🥴 P20'something to P15

RACE 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwdGTor_R7A

Race 3 - New rad, pipes and some other bits after some advice from David Long. Car seemed a bit happier and able to complete full race at normal temps.
Made up some good places, and wasnt willing to back off as much in this race. Some wee incidents but cleared the air with drivers afterwards - Finished P7

RACE 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClZJSzovWwY

Thanks again to everyone that helped on the day, Marshals/Medics too
Thanks to Simon for the help changing gearbox on Wednesday night too
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Impreza Race Car, 1200kg, 480bhp - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car x3 - SMRC, SMRC, SLS
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
X5 40d M Sport
Mini Cooper Park Lane
MB Sprinter Camper
Track Scotland

[nefarious]

Two fairly exciting races for me

Race 2 (less successful, due to a fluffed gearchange on lap 2, but lots of action)- https://youtu.be/SbMemZfOZww

Race 1 (less busy than race 2, but a better result)- https://youtu.be/pBLRGFNJj6E
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Strong Broo Racing

[Fee]

RACE REPORT
SMRC Celtic Speed Scottish MINI Cooper Cup - 23rd June 2019

Better late than never!
After the Kirkistown away round, we were back at Knockhill on Sunday 23 June for the next round of the SMRC Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup. With only 2 test sessions the day before I was keen to make sure everything was ok with the car to start with and then use the second session to scrub in tyres ready for race day.
I struggled with times on the first session and came in convinced the car felt slower than usual. Everyone seemed to say the track felt slower, but that didn't appease me. A quick check of some data and I could see I was at least 5mph down on the straights. Queue lots of head scratching and pondering.
I'm running a 128k mile road car engine, which is now in to its second season (with a Race of Remembrance thrown in) so there was always the chance that it was on its last legs...but me and the team were reluctant to just go ahead with an engine change without knowing first that it was the culprit.
A few things were changed overnight, but come qualifying there was still no improvement...putting me 21st on the grid (out of 23). More head scratching and more things changed.

RACE 1
Not that eventful, and still suffering from issues but managed to make up some places to finish in 18th

Vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfwsTD6mUNM

RACE 2
Much better...the problem I had been suffering from appeared to be cured (and without an engine change!) and I got a better start this time round. Some good battles with Simon Holderness and kept Adam behind me, finishing in 14th place.

Vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_k0hYPsMDQ

RACE 3
Another decent race, with some good battles. I was up to P10 but then messed up the last corner and let 2 cars past by the finish line...doh!

Vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyLOYFncf9w


Big thanks to the Minimax team for their persistence over the weekend to sort out my poorly car. It was a frustrating start to the weekend, but at least it ended better!

As always, big shout out to my sponsors this year...

KAY BUILDING CONTRACTORS
DRUMMOND DISTRIBUTION
BONTHRONE SECURITY SERVICES


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2010 Time Attack AWD Club Challenge Champion
2013 Rolly Polly Champion

R32 GTR: TimeAttack - Track Scotland

[AK]

Now that I'm breeding racelogic hardware as well as Minis..... I thought it would be interesting to fire 3 loggers into cars at same time....

some VBOX geeking from 3 minis... laps are the drivers fastest laps from Qualifying, so fairly comparable (same conditions etc)

Myself, Adam Morrison and Fee - all so bloody close when looking at VMAX's on the straights. And that was Fee down a couple of mph with issues :O


_________________
Impreza Race Car, 1200kg, 480bhp - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car x3 - SMRC, SMRC, SLS
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
X5 40d M Sport
Mini Cooper Park Lane
MB Sprinter Camper
Track Scotland

[Jackstrath]

i wish i knew how to read and set my data from the vbox do you do lessons? haha

[AK]

BASICALLY: Load your .dbn or .vbo file in Circuit Tools. You kinda need a few laps to be able to work out whats good/bad... I tend to save single laps that I know are decent and use them for future reference when at the track. Biggest gain I find is seeing X is possible... as i've done it before at that speed, with a certain line

Use longitudinal g force (braking) to identify how each driver is different on the brakes.

Use Lateral G force to gauge/view how/when you are tuning in. It the plot is pretty spikey you're a bit erratic and having several attempts or corrections. A later movement in G force means a later turn in (if plots anchored to track position), soon of cource means earlier turn in.

I like the Delta-T plot as it simply shows where you are gaining or losing time on a certain reference lap - in the case above the ref lap is my 62.2 - the red 0 line on the lower of the top plot (Delta-T). Anything above that 0 line is slower (or losing time relative to the ref lap) and anything below is faster. Moving along the X axis takes you along the lap (see top half of plot for labels of corners)

The top section (speed) and default display in circuit tools is simply trace of speed. Its useful for spotting things like lifting off/coasting before corners, hesitation... and generally seeing if the car is down on power (if trace doesnt have the same gradient you arent accelerating as before)

Circuit Map is useful for having a closer look at your lines for the selected lap.... i dont use it much, but it can be useful if you do something different and want to check how/where etc

Splits/SF - Set them via the wee chequered flag icon at top. SF should be detected if you have the circuit DB updated, but i tend to adjust KH as its at the Start line, not the timing line.

If you have a proper vbox or expanded perf box you can input revs/brake/steering angle etc and analyse further.

I overlay those thing to vids via Syvecs Sview - Export CSV


this graph is prob more telling



Gives a bit more info on the difference between the red and blue traces (driver input).
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Impreza Race Car, 1200kg, 480bhp - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car x3 - SMRC, SMRC, SLS
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
X5 40d M Sport
Mini Cooper Park Lane
MB Sprinter Camper
Track Scotland

[AK]

Also - have a look on racelogic's website. I've seen links to tutorials and such like in the past
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Impreza Race Car, 1200kg, 480bhp - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car x3 - SMRC, SMRC, SLS
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
X5 40d M Sport
Mini Cooper Park Lane
MB Sprinter Camper
Track Scotland

[Jackstrath]

Il have a donder, i did manage to lap one of Fee's laps over my cadwell data, but my start point was diffrent from her's and that just kinda threw everything off!

You should still have a file or several from my focus , would be interesting if you had them saved somewhere and next time im on track i can overlay them with my current!

[AK]

i'll have a quick look for your files on my laptop but they are now spread over multiple machines so potluck

If the s/f isnt same it must be a single lap file or something.... the software should set all files to the same S/F on loading - you can then change it.

Feel free to send over your files (KH/Cadwell) and i'll see what i can compare against
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Impreza Race Car, 1200kg, 480bhp - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car x3 - SMRC, SMRC, SLS
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
X5 40d M Sport
Mini Cooper Park Lane
MB Sprinter Camper
Track Scotland

[AK]

a bit off the original topic, but what the heck

Jack - I found some old old data of yours, and compared to what I think is Fee's laps in the blue Impreza. 20th July 2014 - SLS Clockwise

low 56 lap vs low/mid 57lap from you

I've highlighted some things ive noticed with the laps (only looked at the quickest so may be better parts of laps in the files). I'm by no means an expert, so just showing things i'd look at to see why X is losing/gaining on Y in certain areas.

Two things I picked up on the laps - you are early on the 2 big braking areas and shy at Chicane. Tight lines at Clarks and Haiprin may also be costing you on exit too. G force traces show you are on/off throttle a bit on adjusting steering angle on the exits

Again - old laps so may be ancient history LOL


Simple display - Top shows speed vs position on track, Bottom is the lap Delta relative to reference lap (fastest by default - Fee's in this data). Below 0 is quicker, above you are slower. Upwards gradient = Making time up, Downwards = losing time.
Showing simple VMAX speeds at end of the 3 straights




Same as first display with some text on the LapDelta to try and explain why/where the time is being lost.




Same as first display again, with more text and I've tried to colour code it a bit darker red is worse, blue is good for you. Added in Corner speeds too.





Longitudinal Acceleration - Brake/Accel G Force and Lap Delta

I find this shows how you brake... as well as when/where you brake. Clean smooth is better... jerky is on/off brakes with inconsistent pressure - possibly nae great for balancing car/weight transfer etc. Some comments on most obvious issues. When above 0 the jerky is on/off power = same result, not good



Lateral G Force (Cornering G force) & Lap Delta

Similar plot to above but looks at how you turn, when/where you turn. Again smooth is prob best, with jerky showing several bits at the corner or corrections to line.


_________________
Impreza Race Car, 1200kg, 480bhp - SLS/SMRC
Mini Race Car x3 - SMRC, SMRC, SLS
911 - 1981 Air Cooled 3.0
500 - 1969 Fiat 500 L
X5 40d M Sport
Mini Cooper Park Lane
MB Sprinter Camper
Track Scotland

[Jackstrath]

Really interesting to see them side by side adam, even more so when i know fee is a super smooth driver and im more like a rallycross driver launching the focus about!

There was a few things wrong with the focus here that i remember, main one was the NS rear caliper wasnt working, didnt find that out untill end of season strip down and the pads were still like new ,so i was fully aware of the brake issue but with out you known that its clearly clear to see on the graphs! i wish i had the 55s lap on vbox from last year, meh im sure more will come like it and now i have my own vbox i can record every lap and see what the predictions say and hopefully tidy up my driving!

Il have to see if i can find the M4 lap on my laptop, as i really do think even though it was only a 1.00.4 i was nice and neat and alot better on the brakes, i had only 30 mins in the car but was only .9 of a second of the days "pro" driver (which i also have his file)

Thanks for doing that and explaining it! opens my eyes up and i now know what to look for/at