Donington GP - Roadsports and ClubEnduro - 750MC - 22nd - 24th September 2023

The Golf and TTDI had a 4 week rest from racing since the last 750MC RoadSports round at Brands Hatch (which you can read about below), it was time to go back to our home circuit of Donington for both the RS on Saturday and Club Enduro on Sunday.
It was going to be a much steadier affair for the guys, with just the Golf and TTDI out, the TTFSI and RS3 sat waiting for someone to get their wallet out and drive.
Dylan would be sharing with Ryan, and in the Roadsports race, we would be up against DannyDC2 in his Civic, still on the trailer from it's triple podium at Anglesey the weekend before.

A layout of the Donington GP Circuit is below. The only difference between the National and GP is the Melbourne Loop, so instead of a quick Right-Left Chicane, it is a Left-Right at The Esses, then the Melbourne and Goddards Hairpins before you are back on to the Wheatcroft Straight past the pit wall.

The Golf would be running in Class B, which is 240bhp/tonne without the driver. Diesels have a 1.05 power multiplier, so theoretically we can only have ~228bhp/tonne. We have 283bhp at the flywheel with a 1242kg minimum weight, bang on the money.
The TT TDI has a declared weight of 1140kg, and being in Class A can only have ~285bhp/ton, which works out around 325bhp on the Championship Dyno.
The 750MC uses TheResultsLive.co.uk for timing.

Full Race Day Vlog

We have a full Vlog from the weekend, with snippets of the races:

Testing

We didn't really want to do too much testing, as we would be using the Saturday race as a test for the main event on Sunday. Ideally we wanted to get both cars on for the afternoon, but it was sold out so Ryan went down in the truck with both cars ready for a few laps each.
It was a good job he did, as we found the V-Bands on the new boost pipe we had fitted were a slightly different taper to the previous ones, and very quickly worked loose. Better for it to happen during testing than in Quali or the Race! Ryan also had a very dicey moment with the Ginetta that had taken Danny out at Anglesey last year in the wet!
Other than those issues, it went pretty well, but the laptimes were nowhere near what we were expecting, which we put it down the the rain and damp kerbs.

Roadsports Qualifying

I'd obviously not driven the car as we came into Quali, so I expected to take a couple of laps before being right on the pace. I figured we would need to be in the 1:44s for Class B, and high 1:39s for Class A. Ryan had done a 1:46.35 the previous day, and I didn't get near it in the first stint. I'd gone out on used tyres, so pitted to put the new ones for scrubbing in ready for the race, and went back out to find some space.
With over 40 cars on track, getting a full clear lap was almost impossible, I did a 1:45.25 which put me on Pole for Class B, but then wasted 2 laps trying to get a clean run, just taking the chequered flag as I prepared for the final attempt. By this point, DannyDC2 had pipped me with a 1:44.91.
Ryan had basically the same issue and had to settle for a 1:41.05, which was 1.77s behind the Ginetta and over 1s behind the Area Golf.
I was summoned to the Dyno after Quali. Mathisse was confident it would be 4bhp under the limit. It was 2bhp, so very close! But these are the margins we need to work to!

As you can see with the Class A laps, there were not many super fast times, with most people doing just a handful of times anywhere near their best. On Ryan's quickest he had to overtake 6 cars, not ideal!

My lap was the only one anywhere near the 45s, let alone the 44s. Looking back at it, traffic cost me around 0.5s so I knew I had to pace to keep up with Danny in the race.

Qualifying Laps

Our fastest Quali laps are shown below:

Roadsports Race

The whole race was Live Streamed by the guys at AlphaLive which you can see below:

Ryan was just behind Josh on Row 2, with the RWD BMW at the side of him. It was going to be a fight to turn 1!

With Ryan's success at Brands, he had a 15s penalty to be taken at the pitstop. My DNF meant it had been reduced to 10s for me. My main rival Danny had none so I needed to push hard. Against Ryan, Josh had 5s and Graham in the BMW had none.
The start for me was pretty straightforward, I'd got the faster Class A car of Gadsby to my left, and he was making it hard for me to latch on the back of Danny. Into Old Hairpin I made a quick move on George Wright but his pace on the straights was too much and he got me back at the chicane.
From there mine and Danny's laptimes were similar until I was overtaken by the Compact and Cupra TCR on lap 6, costing me more time in relation to Danny. Other than Lap 1 and 6, up until Danny's pitstop, out laptimes were very close. If only we were not 3s apart, it would have been a great battle!
Ryan's was a little more chaotic, with the BMW getting in front at Turn 1 and him having to defend from Knibb in the TCR behind. Josh was out in front and away like a rocket, his A052s coming in immediately while the Ginetta's Dunlops were giving him a few brown trouser moments.
The BMW and Ginetta battled hard into the chicane, and Ryan almost lost 4th to the SuperCopa behind as he kept out of trouble. Into the Hairpin Ryan went to take advantage of the Ginetta's cold tyres and early braking, but was chopped off, nearly causing them to come together. Into Goddards he made the move stick and was into the podium places.
Ryan was then all over the back of the E46, with it definitely holding him up in the grip limited twisty bits, the BMW's Nankangs no match for the Yokohamas. He just didn't have the legs on the straights to push past. The traffic was not kind to him, and the Ginetta was back on his tail and a Class C Ginetta at the chicane let the G20 through, who defended with another aggressive move on the brakes into Redgate.
A few laps later the Ginetta had an issue through Old Hairpin and dropped back, allowing Ryan to get back onto the BMW. The gap to Josh out in front was also much less than it had been, traffic playing a big part in slowing Josh down. Into Old Hairpin, a Golf pushed Josh onto the grass, losing him the race lead a few corners later.
Ryan and Josh battled until they both pitted together, with Josh coming out 5s earlier.

After the pits, Danny was struggling with fuel surge, then with 5 laps to go, his brake pedal went to the floor. Somehow he managed to nurse it to the end, but dropped back to 4th, losing 2 places on the last lap, how frustrating!
For Ryan he was then in no mans land for the second part of his stint, with Graham and Josh up the road.

After 45 minutes of racing, 16 seconds separated the top 3. Had Ryan not spent 10s longer in the pits than Josh, and 15 more than the BMW, it would have been much tighter at the front I am sure, and maybe the order would have been different? This is why we are not massive fans of the success penalties. Yes they make it harder for someone to dominate in a series or championship, but when it is so tight, it means that even the quickest car might only finish 4th if the pace difference is so small that the penalty can't be overcome.
While Danny was 4th on the Road, John Munday in the Civic was DQ'd for overtaking under yellows, so he was promoted to 3rd.

Look how close the best laptimes were, only 0.06s separating Josh's quickest with Ryan and Graham.

There was nothing between mine and Danny's pace before the pit stops, save for a couple of laps I was caught in traffic and lost ground to him, that I would not make up until he started having issues around 19 laps into the race.

Fastest Laps

Our fastest race laps are below:

My fastest lap of the race was a 1:44.80 so I got the lap record for Class B. Ryan's lap was quicker than the 2015 record, but he was pipped by 0.07s by Josh!

ClubEnduro Qualifying

After our success on Saturday, the guys reprepped the cars ready for the main event on Sunday, the 2hr ClubEnduro Race. I was going into the the championship leader, and with a good result here, I could seal the championship with a race to spare. The TT was not looking good, sitting in 5th position, with the DNF from Snetterton not helping matters.

The weather had come in overnight, so the track was wet and there was rain threatening at any point. We took a gamble on a dry setup but with slightly higher pressures to get them to the operating pressure quicker. If it dried too much, we could always come in for a bleed down and go again.
As would transpire, this was probably the wrong way to go, as we both started off very well, but the track did get wetter and those on a more wet setup seemed to be able to push later when they had more temperature in their tyres.
Reuben was on the radio giving me the position, time and gap, eventually I needed to gain 0.65s to move up 1 grid spot, so I decided not to risk it. At the time I was P3 in class, but the Mk7 Golf of Jamie Hadley (who had just purchased it from Luke Handley) was suspiciously fast on the straights. This was sorted out after the race when it did a fair bit more power on the dyno than allowed for Class B. He needed to put 110Kg of Ballast to be where he should have been.
Dylan had not driven yet on this track, so struggled in the tricky conditions to put a lap together. Ryan jumped in for 4 laps and did a decent job, but was still a fair margin from Rob and Brad who set the pace this time. However it was looking dry for the race, so this was all going out of the window come 3pm anyway!

Brad and Rob were immediately sub 1:50s, it took the other guys a fair bit to find the grip, even though the conditions worsened. I think Brad did their best time as the track was at it's best.

I was chipping away but lost time to slower cars on some decent laps, but as I said, risking it all to jump 1 or 2 places up the grid was not worth it.

Qualifying Laps

Our fastest Quali laps are below:

ClubEnduro Race

The whole race was Live Streamed by the guys at AlphaLive which you can see below:

I started Row 6 with Kevin on the inside to my right. Ryan was on Row 4 on the inside, hoping for a good start. I had a 30s penalty added to my pit stop for winning the last round. Kevin and Luke only had 20s and Chris 10s, so I needed to make that time up as quickly as possible. Ryan had none due to the DNF at Snett.

As the lights went out, Ryan positioned his car perfectly on the inside behind the Ginetta, and held off those around him to come out of turn 1 battling for 3rd. By Old Hairpin he was well clear as the others battled, and getting onto the back of Knibb in 2nd. Into the hairpin, Ryan sent it down the inside and was up into 2nd position. 7th to 2nd on the opening lap, it had to be Ryan's best yet!
I was all over the back of Kevin in the Jabba Golf, and as he made a mistaken into the chicance, I capitalised on it and was in front by the Melbourne Hairpin.
Ryan was catching Bradley, ready to make an attempt on 1st place, when as he entered Hollywood, the car seemed to misfire and lose all power. He frantically tried to restart it in case it was an electrical gremlin, but in the end he coasted to McLeans and had to retire the car. Further inspection showed a damaged cambelt, but no obvious sign of what had caused it. Hopefully there is no major engine damage!
I was now clear of Kevin and set about pushing to increase the gap, as I needed a decent margin before the stops. This was all going to plan until a safety car was called on lap 17, reducing my 6s lead to nothing, and Kevin right on my bumper!
At the restart I made sure Kevin couldn't get a run on me before the line, and the carved my way through the lapped cars. I took a few more risks than I wanted to, but I needed to get some air between us. It worked out perfectly and by the end of a few laps, I had a comfortable gap again to push.
As we cannot Pit under the safety car, normally I would pit early, get it out of the way and then allow any later safety cars to reduce my penalty disadvantage, however I felt I had to pace to keep them behind, and I also wanted to have as much tyre left as possible at the end. If I had pitted too early, the tyres would need to last well over an hour. I am sure they could have done it, but I did not want to take the risk.
With 32 laps down, I decided I was coming into too much traffic ahead, and got on the radio to say I was ready to stop.

The guys did an excellent job, 20L of fuel and a pair of new tyres on with over a minute to spare. I was back out and right on the tail of Kevin, who had yet to stop and swap with Luke, which he did on lap 36.
From there it was pretty straightforward, the laps I did leading up and just after my stop meant I came out ahead of the Jabba car, and then it was a case of not taking too many risks until the end. I still pushed, remembering Oulton and needing a decent gap should anything go wrong.
I lost radio comms with about 30 minutes to go, so the guys were holding the pitboard out with the gap and how many laps. It was well into the 20s by this point, and I think they wanted me to slow down. I did get a little worried when the fuel level was showing 0, so I did some lifting and coasting towards the end to conserve a bit of fuel. It worked, as I crossed the line after completing 65 laps!

Such a shame with the TT again. It is rapid, but we need to get on top of the reliability. It was faultless in Roadsports, then only just finished a lap today. I felt so bad for Dylan, travelling all this way for nothing. At least we got to Ghandis the night before!
I was pleased with the result and surprised with the gap, normally we are neck and neck with Jabba. Speaking to them later, their new spoiler had changed the balance of the car too much to understeer, so they struggled to keep the front tyres in the window.

The TTs first lap was epic, and Ryan recons he could have easily got into the 39s, which no one did all race. Maybe it was on for it's first CE win on UK soil?

I just tried to keep my laps consistent, with the traffic slowing me down in various parts.

Fastest Laps

Our fastest laps from the race are below:

Ryan thinks he could have got the lap record for A. I think I could have been close, but I was too concerned with fuel usage by the end to go for the lap record. Maybe next year!

So in Class B it would not go down the the final round. My best 5 score is 75 points so far, which no one can beat even if I was to score 0 in the final round. This means I have unofficially won the championship, both for Class B but also overall. I guess this means we need to pay for a night out at the awards evening again for all the team!
Unfortunately with another DNF, the TT is going to struggle to get a decent position in the championship, but next year we will have hopefully ironed out all the creases and have a fully incident free season in 2024!

The final round is at Silverstone on the GP Circuit on the 29th October, the day after the Birkett Relay Race. The Golf and TTDI will be there, and hopefully the RS3 or TTFSI.