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Bad Luck testing for the first race this season.

Dean Halsey • Sep 06, 2020

This is an abridged version of all the issues we had at Thruxton on the Friday testing that put us out of racing untill the September race.

We started the Truxton Friday testing with very promising lap times that would have put us on pole position for the race on Sunday. Scott my race coach took the car out for 3 laps to set a fast lap for me to use as a V-Box reference to improve my race driving. He was just due to finish a 1:29:00 second lap when we had what has now been diagnosed as oil serge, this meant that no 3 big end bearing shell spun and seized, consequently the conrod broke and came out of both sides of the block, so there was no Sunday race for us.

We now had to start rebuilding the spare engine we had worn out testing our new engine set up in May. This required a very minor re-bore, so we decided to step up our game and produce a torque block for this re-bore, to get a more assembled cylinder bore accuracy.

Finally the engine was rebuilt and on the 2nd of September we began to run it in, plagued with carburettor problems and learning that our camshaft would mean that we could not have the engine running good at low RPM and it took nearly 2 days to complete and run in.

But now we are ready to set up and complete the power runs for Monday the 6th of September. Based on a quick 5000 RMP test power run we have more power and more torque so 7800 RPM should bring even more. Many changes have been made to the cooling system and the air intake that will no doubt increase the performance considerably, especially on race days.

We intend to make the September race but may have to rely on the engine dyno setup as we will not have enough time to tweak it on track. We have set up the V-Box to record the inputs from the sensors such as water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, throttle position and braking to mention a few. We will be able to see all this data charted and time stamped to the video footage. We intend to use all this to make our engines last longer and tell us when we need to rebuild them. This is data acquisition only but at a pretty good level for club racing. This data will also help identify improvements I can make on my driving skills, as someone nearing the end of their life season for racing, has to improve quickly. Time to get back to the car now but I will be following up around the time of the next race that later in this month.

Why all this work you may ask.

Well as some of you that follow me know that I can win my class but a race podium, meaning in the first 3, well that is a different issue. With a few cars at 5000 CC to 7500 CC out there in a different class of course but racing against me, that is very difficult. However, the gap is not massive and with our lost BHP we have found and my driving improving all the time with my experience and the help of Scott Gillam, it just may be possible. So, if any of you are reading this watch out in your rear-view mirror, I will be coming for you, I hope.

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CSCC Swinging Sixties Season Win for the second year

by Dean Halsey • 12 Feb, 2023

My lovely god daughter holds the cup for Swinging Sixties G2 over all winner for the second year running.

First Race for me in 2020

by Dean Halsey • 08 Oct, 2020

Well a great weekend racing at long last but it was not without its issues as usual. The data collection went great every sensor was being logged by the ECU and fed via CAN buss to the V-Box. We arrived Saturday afternoon and I had booked 2 motor homes to stay in to save the COVID-19 risk at hotels. They arrived on time and were a great idea, we moved into the garage late afternoon and got everything ready for our Sunday qualification. Come Sunday morning the qualification went well as this was my first race of the season, I qualified 12 th on the grid with a 1:23:68 , and I felt there was a second at least in my time for the afternoon race. We lined up and followed the pace car round for a rolling start and after the first lap I was eighth. I started to look how I could pass some of the faster cars and it appeared my best chance was at the chicane. So I decided to break 50 yards later something I know is possible but this time the brakes faded and I ended up being too fast to turn in so I pointed the car through the gravel trap straight onto the start and finish straight. I only lost 2 places but this made me conscious of the brakes and when I tried it again I barley made it through the chicane broad siding left then right to slow down. I decided to come in when the pit lane opened so as I could report the brake issue and we had 2 minutes to check the car out. During this pit stop I dropped 19 places. I came out passing cars as quick as I could, but the Mustangs were wide and difficult to pass when I eventually did the safety car came out. The clever teams out there already decided to wait for a safety car, and it worked most of them lost only 6 places as the safety car was very slow. It was then difficult to pass with my suspect brakes, but I managed to claw back to 13 th place. I stopped outside the garage and when I re started to enter the garage it needed a lot of revs to move the car, and when we put the car away the brakes were seized on and we had to winch it on. When you look at the pictures below, I do not know how I managed to stay on the black stiff but I am glad I did, it was the automatic cadence breaking my brain must of decided upon as it would have done for most drivers “on and off braking” for those who don’t understand, that kept me out of the barriers and in one piece.