TC65 Austin Healey Sprite 1098 @ Barber Short/GP - Tue 5th Feb 2013

Stuart Thomson · Feb 1, 2013

Server name: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM GTL
Class: TC65 - Austin Healey Sprite 1098 (Download)
Track: Birmingham (Download)

See Main Forum for Official Race Time Clock
Practice start time: GMT 20.00 (20 mins)
Qualification start time: GMT 20.20 (single lap)
Race start time: GMT 20.30 (17 laps)
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Practice start time: GMT 21.00 (20 mins)
Qualification start time: GMT 21.20 (single lap)
Race start time: GMT 21.30 (17 laps)

Note 1: Race 1 - Birmingham Short // Race2 - Birmingham GP
Note 2: We are using the SIMBIN lobby for this event. See here how to switch lobby

Server password: click here
Racing rules: click here

Entry List:

Stuart Thomson
Rupe Wilson
Hans Sneep
Jack Smith
Tim Ling
Bob Hutchins
Warren Dawes
Carlos Diaz
Rene van Zijp
Dave Flower
Senad Subasic / Knut Omdal Tveito (timeshare arrangement)
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver

Rules:
This is being held in our Club, using Club Rules, and should be driven in that spirit.

Rupe Wilson · Feb 5, 2013

set up for the short track

Dave Flower · Feb 5, 2013

Yeeee! No blue flags collected at all in two races - thankyou all for turning up and for the great racing.

Senad Subasic · Feb 5, 2013

Got there too late for race 1, so decided to try and join race 2, I signed up after all.

Loved the track. I remember driving on it before, but no clue which car was that.

The Healey my cup of tea is not. Struggled to keep it clean, plenty of cuts

, struggled to get some speed. Was a second off the guys in front of me, no clue how many seconds off the leaders.

Was looking at XD on the longest straight, and I noticed losing up to a second right around the 3rd to 4th gear shift. Are default gears messed up a bit, or were my corner exits poor?

Thanks for setting it up, and to everyone racing. Hope to see you on track again soon.

Warren Dawes · Feb 5, 2013

Senad Subasic said:
Was looking at XD on the longest straight, and I noticed losing up to a second right around the 3rd to 4th gear shift. Are default gears messed up a bit, or were my corner exits poor?

Senad, the default gearing was the middle one, but it was faster along the middle straight with the shortest gearing. Knut was also using mid gearing and although faster than me in the early part, I was always catching (even passing sometimes) him down that straight.
There was a setup posted above (#21) which I and a few others were using. Only needed to add more fuel for race 2.

Senad Subasic · Feb 5, 2013

Ah, thanks. I thought (or hoped

) perhaps the jump from 3rd to 4th was too big, and everyone else ran different ratios

Knut Omdal Tveito · Feb 5, 2013

Yeah when I shifted to 4th it just stopped accelerating, no power! Warren gained around half a second on each straight. But it had really nice drive out of the hairpin and the corkscrew and I was suddenly back at his tail.

Jack Smith · Feb 5, 2013

Really nice car/track comb for me.

The Healy felt quite confortable and with Warren's help we got a good setup. A nice relaxed atmosphere made for serious but stress-free racing. I got to hang with the big guns for a while and had pretty clean runs with only one off that I remember. The second race was fun but seemed to wear on me a little, with that one bad off at the cork-screw( not sure of the proper name)
Thanks Stu for the event, well done podiums, cheers to all drivers.

Warren has won a date with my sister and she is simple, I mean simply beside herself. Uncle Bob is going to make her a new dress from the old tarp that we use to cover the pig feed with. Now I know what you are going to say but money is no object when it comes to something as big as this.

Warren Dawes · Feb 5, 2013

Jack Smith said:
Warren has won a date with my sister and she is simple, I mean simply beside herself. Uncle Bob is going to make her a new dress from the old tarp that we use to cover the pig feed with. Now I know what you are going to say but money is no object when it comes to something as big as this.

Woohoo!! Been looking forward to this Jack. Tell her I'll be on the first canoe from Australia to Canada, and she mustn't eat anything before I get there, were going to a swanky restaurant. Can't waste that new dress, so we'll be off to Hogs Breath for dinner.

Well, I guess I'm not going to complain about this car & track combo am I? I loved the little frog-eye, not too much grunt but handled like a dream. Birmingham is always a favourite, those lumpy hills and flowing turns were ideal for the Sprite. The trick was just keeping the momentum flowing once you finally wound the rubber band up.

Only dodgy bit in Race 1 was a cut track I incurred at turn 1 lap 1, I knew Jack was beside me entering the turn so I tried to give him as much room as possible (and wave to his sister in the passenger's seat), but overdid it a bit.

Managed to get a handy break early and just concentrated on keeping it clean.
WD to Stuart and Jack for the podium.

Race 2 was a cracker. I had a race long battle with Knut, which in itself was a surprise being able to keep with him. It was all the more interesting due to our different setups (gear settings). Knut was clearly faster over the first part of the track, but I could run him down over the second part. We had a ball swapping the lead a few times, such a pity we had a tiny touch through the "corkscrew" thing, I guess we were both optimistic entering that tricky little section side by side, but we almost pulled it off.

I managed to hang on (just

) to finish ahead of Stuart, but poor Knut lost too much time waiting for me. Great fun racing though Knut, thanks mate.

WD to Stuart and Rupe for the podium.

Jack, I'm on my way to your place, hope the waves across the Ocean are mild and I get a favourable wind.