2015 Time Attack Champions
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TA 2008 2009 2012
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 169
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From: West Midlands
2015 Time Attack Champions
After many years and various issues we've finally done it.
Tnracing - 2015 MSA Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
We arrived atRockingham at 7am Saturday morning and to be honest there wasn't theusual banter going on between us. I think the pressure of it all andthe fact that we had to win the final had gotten to us. We quicklyand silently got the car off the trailer, unloaded the truck and gotset up in the garage.
Once Alan hadsigned on he took the car to scrutineering, this is even morestressful than taking it for it's mot. With that all done there wasjust enough time for a cuppa before Alan had to go for the driversbriefing.
The preparationfor this round had included service items, repairs and upgrades. Inthe final of the last round at croft we had split a power steeringpipe, so had to get a replacement and fit it. We were a bit paranoidabout braking another one at Rockingham so I got the split onerepaired so we could take it with us as a spare. The next job hadbeen to fit new spark plugs as the ones in the car had been fittedfor a while so needed changing. The other job was something which wehad talked about for a while now, we fitted new poly windows. Theguys also gave the car a full nut and bolt check.
Warm Up
Alan had decidedto go out towards the back of the pack as he wanted to use thesession to check the car over and settle into the day. However thisdidn't quite go to plan after just a couple of laps he returned tothe pits complaining of a basd vibration across the front of the car.After taking the front wheels off the problem was soon found, one ofthe wheels had lost it's wheel weights. Not a real issue as thesewere the Bridgestone tyres as we had planned to keep the semi slicksfor use in qualifying and the final.
Practise
Wegot Alan out towards the front of the pack. After the short warm upthis was effectively Alan's warm up session and we were both feelinga little nervous. The session went without issue and as expected ourmain competitor had come with an engine up grade making himnoticeably quicker. When Alan came in at the end of the session hewas noticeably feeling the added pressure but as I mentioned to him,this was effectively our first session and as long as he did what hedid the day would come to us.
Qualifying
The first of thepoints scoring sessions aand again Alan went out towards the front ofthe pack. I was continually talking to Alan on the pit to car radiogiving Alan continuous updates. For most of the session he was some1+sec behind the time of our competitor. With 5mins left I gave thecall to Alan to push and the next lap he closed the gap by over asecond so he was now only 0.1sec behind. Then a nightmare happenedand someone had an off causing the red flag to come out. Shortlyafter they announced that the session would note be restarted meaningwe lost by 0.1sec.
This was adissaster and meant if we did not win the final we would loose thechampionship.
Final
AsAlan put it 'go hard or go home'. From the start of the session Alanlead in the battle for the win and never looked back. He pushed thecar hard and as he said after it was messy but it got the job done.As I waited in the pitlane at the end of the session with Wayne wecould barely contain ourselfs as we new Alan had won by over 1 sec.
Thechampionship was ours, even though we were tied on points we 4 winsto his 2 wins, so on count back the title would be ours.
WhenAlan came into sight the car sounded rough and once in the garage wesoon found that a bolt which holds the wastegate on had snapped.
Team TntRacing
2015MSA UK Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
Tnracing - 2015 MSA Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
We arrived atRockingham at 7am Saturday morning and to be honest there wasn't theusual banter going on between us. I think the pressure of it all andthe fact that we had to win the final had gotten to us. We quicklyand silently got the car off the trailer, unloaded the truck and gotset up in the garage.
Once Alan hadsigned on he took the car to scrutineering, this is even morestressful than taking it for it's mot. With that all done there wasjust enough time for a cuppa before Alan had to go for the driversbriefing.
The preparationfor this round had included service items, repairs and upgrades. Inthe final of the last round at croft we had split a power steeringpipe, so had to get a replacement and fit it. We were a bit paranoidabout braking another one at Rockingham so I got the split onerepaired so we could take it with us as a spare. The next job hadbeen to fit new spark plugs as the ones in the car had been fittedfor a while so needed changing. The other job was something which wehad talked about for a while now, we fitted new poly windows. Theguys also gave the car a full nut and bolt check.
Warm Up
Alan had decidedto go out towards the back of the pack as he wanted to use thesession to check the car over and settle into the day. However thisdidn't quite go to plan after just a couple of laps he returned tothe pits complaining of a basd vibration across the front of the car.After taking the front wheels off the problem was soon found, one ofthe wheels had lost it's wheel weights. Not a real issue as thesewere the Bridgestone tyres as we had planned to keep the semi slicksfor use in qualifying and the final.
Practise
Wegot Alan out towards the front of the pack. After the short warm upthis was effectively Alan's warm up session and we were both feelinga little nervous. The session went without issue and as expected ourmain competitor had come with an engine up grade making himnoticeably quicker. When Alan came in at the end of the session hewas noticeably feeling the added pressure but as I mentioned to him,this was effectively our first session and as long as he did what hedid the day would come to us.
Qualifying
The first of thepoints scoring sessions aand again Alan went out towards the front ofthe pack. I was continually talking to Alan on the pit to car radiogiving Alan continuous updates. For most of the session he was some1+sec behind the time of our competitor. With 5mins left I gave thecall to Alan to push and the next lap he closed the gap by over asecond so he was now only 0.1sec behind. Then a nightmare happenedand someone had an off causing the red flag to come out. Shortlyafter they announced that the session would note be restarted meaningwe lost by 0.1sec.
This was adissaster and meant if we did not win the final we would loose thechampionship.
Final
AsAlan put it 'go hard or go home'. From the start of the session Alanlead in the battle for the win and never looked back. He pushed thecar hard and as he said after it was messy but it got the job done.As I waited in the pitlane at the end of the session with Wayne wecould barely contain ourselfs as we new Alan had won by over 1 sec.
Thechampionship was ours, even though we were tied on points we 4 winsto his 2 wins, so on count back the title would be ours.
WhenAlan came into sight the car sounded rough and once in the garage wesoon found that a bolt which holds the wastegate on had snapped.
Team TntRacing
2015MSA UK Classic & Retro Time Attack Champions
Must be a good feeling, after all the hard work through a race season?! 
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