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James Cater Racing

~ Realising the childhood dream…

James Cater Racing

Tag Archives: donington

Post Race Analysis – Snetterton 300

18 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Technique

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ambition outweighed talent, analysis, donington, first race, formula vee, going faster, improvement, rookie, snetterton, trail braking

Post Race Analysis – Snetterton 300

Overall, I’m very happy with the weekend!  I brought the car back safe and well, didn’t take anyone else out, and got 11th place in the first race!  You may have noticed me punching the air when I saw the chequered flag, there!  It felt like I’d won!

For my second ever race weekend, that’s not bad going!

I am still playing it safe on track, because I don’t want to kill the car, and realise that I am still learning, and have a long way to go.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m pushing harder than I’ve ever pushed before, but as I’m doing that, it’s like I’m stretching my own limits, and I’m fully aware of how much harder I can use the car and still be beneath my own ragged edge.

At Snetterton, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I could be 5 seconds quicker per lap and still not be overstepping my or the cars limits.

I actually didn’t drive very well, and most of that is due to lack of preparation.  I simply didn’t study the track to know it well enough before I got there. Testing the day before as many other drivers did would have helped, of course, but we have a very tight budget to work to.

Watching my own onboard videos and seeing myself on the videos from other cars is a brilliant learning tool and very entertaining, but there’s no hiding your shortcomings, either.

My lines through the infield were a bit shoddy, and I should have been turning in much harder just about everywhere, lifting off less, braking later… The first corner alone I was pretty terrible at, and it’s exactly the kind of wing-and-a-prayer corner that I love and am good at!

I also wasn’t trail-braking enough, and I KNOW that that’s where massive chunks of time can be had!

And I love doing it!  That’s where I get a proper buzz of satisfaction from racing a Vee – being right on the edge, sliding it into a corner…

Tim Probert actually came up to me after having followed me in a race on track (before he pissed off into the distance!), and said “We’re going to have to teach you trail-braking!”.

This was backed up speaking to Paul Smith (note: He started dead last in race 2, having spent most of the night rebuilding his engine after killing it in race 1, and then was in the lead by lap 3!  Truly amazing stuff – and he clocked a 2:09 lap time to my best of 2:17!) who said it was weird being with us lot at the back end, as we were braking so much earlier into the corners.

I guess that easing into things this way and not going all-out is the sensible approach to be taking. I don’t want “my ambition to outweigh my talent” until I know for sure I have the practical skills to back up the theory that I’ve studied.

Donington Park is the next race and season finale on 3rd October. Again, we won’t be testing there before the race, but I know the layout well and have been on a bike track day there. It’s also my ‘home’ race, so there should be some people I know coming to watch – and qualifying and both races are all on the Saturday.

I’d like to get a top 10 result to close the season, but in reality this is the first track that all the other drivers will know very well, so it will be tough to get inside the top 20!

Whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun!

Firing up the Sheane

12 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing

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Tags

anglesey, bearing, cadwell park, damage, donington, driving, end flaot, engine, formula vee, set up, spin, testing

Firing up the Sheane

So what happened last October at Donington when I had my first ever test?

Finally getting the engine apart for a look, it turns out that the rear main bearing had a bit of a tantrum, taking one of it’s dowels through part of the engine casing and ultimately seizing everything solid.  This may also go some way to explaining the spin, if it all went direct drive on me!

So, not brilliant, but it could have all been a lot worse.

Glenn thinks he set the end float too tight.  Luckilly, he just changed the bearing, drilled out a new hole for the dowel, and the rest all looked ok.

We had a brief drama with a relay on the ignition, but that was quickly sorted out.

A few days ago I finally got to hear the sweet sound of a 1300cc Formula Vee engine firing up again:

The high-pitched rattle in the video is just the pulley.  It ran a little rough at first, but then seemed ok, although it was popping and banging a little at lower revs.

One thing Glenn noted was that both nearside manifolds were running much cooler than the offside ones.  Hmm.  More investigation needed, then!

We will almost certainly miss the Cadwell Park round of the championship on 20th June, but we’re hoping to be able to book a test somewhere around that date.

With a low budget, it’s really not worth driving hundreds of miles, paying lots of money for test days and races, and then finding the car dies on the third corner again!

We should be ready for Anglesey on 18/19 July – another challenging circuit, and I’m looking forward to jumping in the car and seeing what it’s all about, soon!

I will try and get as much footage as possible from any testing, and I’ll update this blog with what the plan will be…

Thanks for everyone’s support and interest!

Testing The Waters

26 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing

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Tags

closed wheel, donington, formula vee, james cater, llandow, open wheel track day, rookie, starting out, test day, testing

Testing The Waters

We’ve had a few setbacks to our very tight, last minute testing plans.

The car wasn’t ready for Mallory Park on Wednesday.  No problem – Llandow is cheap and are bound to be quiet on Saturday, right?

Wrong.  They’re fully booked!

I did some desperation research to see if we could get testing anywhere else…

Bruntingthorpe was our original plan, but it seems they will only let you test there if you have full public liability insurance in place.  You try finding that for one day, for something that isn’t a road car!  It isn’t happening…

There are lots of small tracks around England – mainly airfield type ones.  Unfortunately, I suspect the story with them is much the same.  I think they’re all more geared up for the ‘Driving Experience’ days and corporate events that they run.

Track days are plentiful all over the UK, but what you might not know is they don’t let ‘open wheel’ cars mix it with their average customers.

Even Mallory Park’s infamous Wednesday test days run separate sessions for open and closed wheels.

I believe this was originally because of the risk of a closed wheel car riding up over a wheel and getting airborne.  That kind-of makes sense, until you have a think about open wheel cars on the track together, anyway.  Or things like Caterhams, Locosts and Ariel Atoms, which are all allowed out with closed wheel cars!

Either way it’s not going to help, though – the fact is we can’t test before Donington Park on 4th October.

Apart from the official test day on the Thursday before, right?

Umm… yeah… except I waited until I was back off holiday, and was horrified to be told it’s fully booked!

I managed to wrangle the morning, so at least that’s something.  It’s also an open pit lane (you basically go out on track when you want and do as many laps as you want), so potentially we have up to 3 and a half hours of track time available.

Then I ‘just’ have to turn up on race day and qualify…

Obviously a higher power thought I needed a bit more of a challenge!

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