The mini se7en season had ended, but I was talked into entering a sprint event driving my Westfield SE narrow 1800 zetec. I had never raced in any other car or championship so whilst I was intrigued, I was also full of many questions and concerns. The sprint event was to be contested on the Snetterton 300 layout and organised by Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series. It was their season finale so I hope I didn't affect their championship standings!


There was the big question of travelling back and fore to Snetterton in the westie, with only the passenger side to carry anything. I was used to travelling to race circuits with a van full of tools and spare parts, not to forget, also warm and dry. I did however prove the MWB Sprinter could not quite house the westie, as it does the mini - not without a couple of modifications - so close though! I almost had to pull out when I realised the MOT had expired but thankfully Kevin at Hunters Garage came to the rescue.


After selectively packing and securing things into the westie it was onwards to start my adventure to Snetterton. The fact I had never driven the car in anger or even driven it at all on a race track was a little daunting. On top of that I am used to FWD on a race track, not RWD! How many times do you think I could spin??


We were able to get scrutineering out of the way Saturday evening. I was thankful Tim let me park the westie in the pit garage to keep dry overnight and David taxied me to the hotel and back - one less thing to worry about. The weather certainly did me no favours in easing my tension of this new experience in a lairy RWD monster - it was horrid - very wet and windy!


Once signed on Sunday morning, we had a drivers briefing - it was a very busy event and fully sold out - 70-odd cars! Following briefing we were straight out for 2 group sighting laps to see which way the circuit went. Luckily this was one thing I did know already, having had my maiden race win here just a couple of months prior in the mini se7en challenge supported by Mini Spares. It was extremely wet!


I was in class B3, which was quite a popular category aimed at kit cars of different makes, models and power output. Class B was first out in the super wet conditions for one untimed run. I was shocked at how little grip there was in the westie with R888 tyres (maybe a bit old!) even on a wet racing line. A sprint is only one lap, starting with cold tyres/brakes, with no opportunity to get heat into the tyres on the wet track. With no heat in the tyres, I had to be super careful to avoid the rear end overtaking me - in fact that did happen just the once in the untimed run at the hairpin (and thankfully the only time of the day!), where I automatically put more power down (default action for FWD!) when the rear came out, leading me into a spin. I made sure not to make the same mistake again! I found it incredible how careful I had to be - I could not put any power down at all until the wheel was completely straight and even then it would still light up, similarly when changing gears too!


There was time for two timed runs in the morning session, which were both extremely wet conditions. It was quite an experience of driving super careful in the wet with the aim of getting from start to finish in the quickest time possible without falling off the circuit. I did manage to take to the grass on the exit of the last corner in my first run due to locking up. The start point was on the exit of the pit lane by the marshal post and the finish point was just beyond the last corner near the pit lane entry. It was all very new to me and a big learning experience. I was glad to see the lunch break - not just because I missed breakfast but a good time to reflect ready for the afternoon timed runs.


Following the lunch break, the track had dried a lot, allowing for a different style to driving and confidence to be built up on a dry racing line. I was able to do two dry timed runs - each time the track had more grip. The 2nd dry run was my quickest and was set to be my best of the day at 2m15s32. I was really enjoying building up the pace and learning the car in the dry and was looking to pushing more later in the afternoon. However that was not possible - the heavens opened and we experienced a rather tropical stormy downpour! Any hope of improving times were now squashed.


I still headed out for two more timed runs in the wet and thoroughly enjoyed myself, setting quicker times than a lot of faster classes - in fact one of the quickest out of a field of 70-odd cars! My best wet lap time was 2m42s14. The time in the car when the track was dry really helped me increase confidence and was more prepared heading out for the wet runs afterwards. I have far more to learn with the westie to push it harder and that's without playing with tyres, setup and brakes!


At the end of the day, I had a surprise to be presented a trophy for P2 in class B3 - very chuffed and not expected at all considering so many new experiences in this adventure to Snetterton. It was a far more relaxed event to what I was used to, lots of variety, very open and friendly, but overall good fun. Who knows, I may try one again in the near future. If you fancy a go - get involved and go check out the Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series website for more info and have a go in 2017 when it starts back up!

The Mini 7 Racing Club's season finale took us to Zandvoort for the second year running, although last year it was a non-championship round. I have fond memories with an extremely close 5-way battle, ending with two podiums, a P3 and a P2. Unfortunately this year the weather forecast was nowhere near as tropical. 

Thank you for all your invaluable support for helping us reach the prestigious P1 in the Mini 7 Racing Club:

Mini Spares
Simply Race
Selby Race Engines
Hunter Racetech
Classic & Custom Works
British Mini Club
MB Race Photography
Rainmac Crafts
Friends & Family (including those over social media)

 

Great pics from Matthew Barrington as always - check out his other photos on his Facebook page!!

Here is my in-car video for you to enjoy (camera angle isn't right causing brightness!):

Race 2:

Better late than never – a month has already passed since the annual Brands Hatch Mini Festival and yet somehow the sunshine is still shining as brightly in the UK.

There were a few things to sort with the car in preparation for the mini festival, following the poor luck we faced at Donington Park. Mini Spares were spot on in delivering some quality parts – motorsport is always last minute, yet the parts are always good and come through at the right time.  The radiator had to be changed as that had pierced after a tap behind Graeme when he missed a gear. Although I pulled over a lap later once the water temperature started rising, Hunter Racetech found some damage with a bent valve so clearly it had got a bit hot beyond the reading I was looking at.  Selby Race Engines soon had the head all back to normal and running sweetly again, ensuring the original performance.  Lewis managed to get my new windscreen installed, which was kindly sorted by Julian Proctor.

Classic & Custom Works turned around the front end repair, new grille, bumpers and arches in a matter of days at last minute. Rob did a great job as always and I love the way the car looks now.

The weather was scorching at Brands Hatch and I made the mistake of starving and de-hydrating myself prior to quali!! Unsurprisingly I didn’t feel completely “on it” but settled for qualifying 7^th and 6^th out of 34 cars for Race 1 and 2 respectively. No issues and the car was ready to go again. I wish I could have said the same thing of myself – dehydration had caught me out and did not feel at all well. Come Race 1, the bottles of water had started to pick me up a little. Big lesson – make time for eating and drinking at race weekends!

Race 1 went reasonably well but I just didn’t feel like I got into the groove until too late. It was eventful with a safety car period and when the race resumed I felt more with it and could feel things coming to me a bit more. Unfortunately, a late lunge from Tom up into Druids led to a big thump and some sideways action, dropping me back. I managed to finish the race and finished P7 so not too bad considering.  The car was all over the place – the main impact was to the rear right wheel leading to a bent stub axle pin. The alignment was well out on the front and rear and incurred some body damage. Tom, bless him could not apologise enough and helped loads in fixing the car. In true Mini 7 Club style, all hands were ablaze helping me to fix it ahead of the next race on the Sunday.  Big thanks to Endaf for the spare parts. Great work getting it stripped and back together by Lewis, Rob, Greg and Tom. Setup was nicely returned to where it was by Dunc and Greg. Top work guys. Race 2 started 6th and had a really close battle with Tom and Charlie.  It was a shame we were slowing each other up causing the front pack to edge away. I hung back waiting for a mistake but a red flag ended any hopes of getting past so remained in P6. I felt I had the run but didn't want to make any lunges. The car felt good again following the work the previous day – a very positive end to a challenging weekend.

The next event is Oulton Park 20^th August – it will no doubt be a great event but a shame to say I cannot make it. I look forward to watching TSL and watching everyone’s footage afterwards. The next races for me will be Snetterton and then Zandvoort.  Even though we cannot make Oulton we still arranged another really fun “testing” event at Simply Race via our Racing Events Facebook page. Along with some mini7 racers, we had some from the Metro Cup and also British GT, in the young star of Ross Gunn, Beechdean AMR GT4 driver. It wasn’t just race drivers though – there were mixed abilities and the aim of the events we organise are focussed on fun. Simply Race is certainly the best UK race simulator – very well priced, 15 well kitted pods and great service.  If you are ever around Milton Keynes pop in and have a go – from just £8 gets you a drive around a circuit of your choice in a car you choose.

Thank you for all your invaluable support:

Mini Spares
Simply Race
Selby Race Engines
Hunter Racetech
Classic & Custom Works
British Mini Club
MB Race Photography
Rainmac Crafts
Friends & Family (including those over social media)

 

Here are my in car race videos for you to enjoy:

Race 1:

 

Race 2:

The Leicestershire circuit of Donington Park hosted rounds 7 & 8 of the Dunlop mini se7en challenge and mini miglia, both supported by Mini Spares.  In the lead up to the event there had been severe flooding across the UK but luckily it was forecast to be dry during the event.

Bank holiday 29/30 May took the Mini 7 Racing Club back to the previously water-logged Wiltshire circuit, Castle Combe.  This time however it was a different affair - no rain in sight.

Oulton Park was once again the host to the Northern Mini Festival, only a month following its counterpart in the South at Brands Hatch. The Dunlop Mini Se7en Challenge, sponsored by Mini Spares, is nearing the end of 2015 with the Championship standings leaving things wide open. Rounds 11 & 12 were always going to be hotly contested with everyone’s eyes on the top steps. The Oulton Park Mini Festival was run over a single day with a whole host of mini specific events and stands, although this does leave things a little tight in the schedule for the race teams; we are lucky to receive great support from the Hunter Racetech team to keep things in check.

The weather forecast was spot on; it was a scorcher – maybe not the right choice to adorn jeans for the morning track walk, especially as it was the full International circuit of 2.692 miles! I do enjoy Oulton Park but last year was a difficult one, as clutch problems put an end to running either race. It’s got a bit of everything – plenty of high speed, winding, cambered corners – even a Nurburgring-style corner, Shell Oils, which resembles the infamous Carousel.

With sign on and scrutineering out of the way, it was straight into qualifying. With such a long busy circuit it was always going to be difficult to clock a clean lap, although I clearly picked the wrong time to go out onto the track. I only clocked 6 laps and was held up for almost all of that even with blue flags waving. My last lap was unsurprisingly the quickest, once I had got past but was still with traffic and without ability to build up high speed confidence ahead of a quick lap. That put me in 11th on the grid for Race 1 and my second quickest time placed me 12th for Race 2. I felt quite confident I had plenty more to give so was looking forward to the challenge in the races.

Rounds 9 & 10 of the Dunlop Mini Se7en Challenge, sponsored by Mini Spares, was held at the East Midlands circuit of Donington Park; National formation. A great high speed, flowing circuit and not too close from our Milton Keynes base BUT not so great being woken by low flying planes in & out of the airport! The event was headline by the Trucks, so little and large, with us in minis. If you haven’t seen the Trucks in action, I’d recommend to watch them some time – plumes of smoke, whistling turbos and lots of sideways action.