13th March 2007 Fradley Park, Staffordshire
The track at Curborough is shaped like a capital “B” with a bit sticking out the top. There are actually 2 courses, the Short Course and the cunningly named Long Course.
The 818 meter long the Short Course goes down the Start Line straight, once round the “B” and over the Finish line. The Long Course is exactly the same but you go round the “B” twice covering 1415 meters.
Having unloaded the Westie from its trailer I spent a while driving up and down the paddock road getting used to the car.
Having successfully covered one side of the car in mud whilst turning round I moved on to doing practice starts achieved by revving the car to about 4500 revs, dropping the clutch, spinning up the rear wheels and keeping the car moving forward in a straight line by correcting the steering.
First time out on the track was as a passenger with Pete driving and explaining to me what to expect on a Sprint Day. Next time out I was on my own.
I really enjoyed the whole thing, doing the burn out to warm up the rear tyres before the Start, the Start itself and then the run round the Long Course.
Went out a few times to get used to the car and the track before we started timing our laps. Pete was doing times in the 1m 07s* whilst I was doing 1m 14s*.
A few modifications were made to the car in our quest for more speed. The tyres changed to the stickier Yokohama A048R's purchased specifically for the Speed Series, the bullet cam installed to record our efforts, and mechanic Paul telling me to not bother with 3rd gear until the end of Shenston Straight.
By the end of the day Pete was doing low 1m 6s* whilst I was doing high 1m 7s* Though in Pete’s defence I went out much more often than he did.
Had a great time, wasn’t as scared or as slow as I thought I might be and I didn’t crash!
Video of 2 Practice Runs
For a summary of the entire WSCC 2007 Speed Series season click here.
* All times were recorded by hand with a stopwatch therefore 100% accuracy is not guaranteed.