

Posted: June 24, 2016
Tuesday gutted… Donington gets cancelled and with it another needed day of seat time. The team managed to secure Bruntingthorpe for the same day, so the fun is now back on. Perhaps not ideal as I’ve never driven Donington before and it would also have given us a chance to see how far behind we are some of the more established Fun Cup teams.
Well, it’s certainly true what they say. Every cloud has a silver lining. The more seat time I get in this 130 bhp monster J the more it amazes me. The morning session was spent exploring grip limit and handling characteristics. Using the white line in the middle of the massive runway at Bruntingthorpe as a slalom course and deliberately lifting and pressing the throttle at the wrong times to unsettle the car, was very informative. It really helped getting to know and understand how the car reacts when it's unsettled. This then instilled some confidence to attack the corners with a lot more speed than we had been doing. Purposely going into a few corners at the wrong speed at the wrong turn point and dealing with inevitable corrections needed on corner exit. This again had a massive impact on driver confidence in the car - well it did for me anyway.
After lunch the stop watch came out, which I suppose is always inevitable on days like this when it’s allowed and the VBox plugged in. Colin goes out first, his first time in the car all day, and his first since last weeks session at Bruntingthorpe. He had obviously listened to the detailed driver feedback from the morning sessions J as he knocks 5 seconds of his lap times from the week earlier. PB next up – wow 10 seconds quicker from last week - the man is grinning like a Cheshire cat, you can see how much more comfortable he is in the car now and how much that morning session has given him. Well I’m next up, pressure on as I’m also conscious this is a test session, nothing to gain, everything to lose, especially if we come off the black stuff. Again lap times reduced significantly from the week previous. I’m now getting used to that amazing gearbox and the handling characteristics of this very fun, Fun Cup car. Not seen any of the VBox footage as of yet, but I can’t wait to hear the feedback on more ways to improve.
Personally I’m now glad Donington was cancelled -,I feel we got so much more out of the car yesterday than we ever could have on a track day. If we’d have done some of the things we were doing yesterday, I don’t think it would have been too long before the black flag came out.
What a day.
Phil Marsh
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