Merryfield was the home of yet another thrilling race!
Superb racing all round with major weather changes and exciting battles for position set the day as a very good lead up to the final. Unfortunately however the team from Camborne didn’t fair too well.
Starting the day at 5 we reached the track a little over 3 hours later giving us plenty of time for our planned motor change. This went in hassle free so we then awaited scrutineering. With no major issues here the day was starting pretty good rising moral for the team.
We then hit the track for practice. With some higher than expected amps showing up on the dials worry started to creep in but the gearing speed was chosen specifically to achieve mileage qualification, so we had to go for it or there was no point racing.
The start of the race then loomed. We were placed at the front of the grid so had clear track ahead which was exactly what we needed. With the worry of the belt slipping a large delay was set on the controller acceleration, so we needed room to get up to speed. The flag was then dropped signalling the start.
As expected we started slow but as the car hit the downhill and out of sight back of the track we were sitting in 4th. However by the time the car had returned to view and after hitting over 30mph we were sitting in second, only behind the eventual winner Rotary Racer.
This didn’t not however last. With the large amount of amps pulled to achieve this speed the batteries just did not have the power to see out the 80 minutes they should last. With a worrying pit stop and driver change the second set lasted just as little seeing us install our final set before the hour mark.
Disaster then struck when the car was pulled in with the motor smelling of the unforgettable fried brushes.
Despite this the team pulled together and made the choice to put in the old iffy motor. With the new use of belt drive we had to keep the ratio as moving the motor to retention the belt was not an option the team wanted to carry out, so with no heat sink, the old motor when back out.
The job of picking the highest power batteries was then a job that was carried out numerous times for the remainder of the race, but the important thing is the car finished!
Ending 22 of 24 was not the result we were hoping for considering the start and having the 5th fastest lap but if the batteries can’t take the pull then there’s nothing to be done.
Through everything though, the fact the team pulls through no matter what the problem shows greater means far more than anything else.
With Castle Combe and the Final still to be raced in F24+ some light rebuilding will need to be sorted but next season will see a new sleeker M6. Designs are being drawn up for the rebuilding and will deem it almost unrecognisable, but hopefully help us get through our ever prominent race issues.
For the full race results see - http://www.bbk-online.net/gpt/race50.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment