Apologies for the late Blog, I went away to the USA the day after getting back from this weekend and did not have chance to get it sorted. I am writing it whilst on another race trip, so things are a little 'busy' at the moment. We had a 2 week rest from the last round at Oulton in the 750MC Club Enduro before taking the short trip down the M1 to Donington for Round 3 of the BRSCC Audi TT Cup Racing, and another round of the ClubSport Trophy on the Sunday.
Luke Handley and Carl Swift, who we race against in the 750MC races were entering the TTCR races as well. Luke has built my TT for me, and since killing another engine at Snetterton, his car seemed to be doing pretty well, and was the quickest of the three cars on the straights, much to mine and Carl's annoyance, considering Luke's engine was delivered from Bradford (to Snetterton!) at Midnight and fired in at 6am, whilst ours were treated to servicing, walnut blasting and all new seals and gaskets etc. It seems it is better to just get a 110k+ engine and throw it in!

I'd had a bit of a stinker in the TT at Snett, with the car lacking pace compared to Carl's all weekend - you can read about below:

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.

For the TTCR everyone is in the same equipment, but there is a Masters Class for the 'more life experienced' racers. I would be in the regular class.
For the ClubSport Trophy, TT would be running in Class B - Sport Pro, which is a maximum of 205bhp/tonne with the driver. Class A - Elite is 206bhp to 235bhp/tonne. Tyres are MSUK 1A / 1B/ 1C so I will be using the Yokohama A052 instead of the TTCR spec Nankang NS-2Rs.
The BRSCC uses TSL for all the timing info, so the results can be found using TSL link.

Testing

Again we just tested in the afternoon, as being our 'home' track, I was pretty confident I knew where the track went so it would be a case of getting the tyre pressures right and that should be about it.
On my first session and first real flying lap, I managed to match Carl's time, so I was pleased with that. However the ABS issue that had popped up during the ClubSport race at Snetterton reappeared (despite us changing the pump as the fault codes had suggested), and with the NS-2R tyres, the car was pretty much undriveable, as with 50/50 bias, the rear tried to come round at the heavy braking zones.
I scoured he internet, searching for the fault, and came up with this very helpful page on the Ross-Tech Wiki - 01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64): Electrical Fault in Circuit - Ross-Tech are the creators of the amazing VCDS / VAG-Com Tool that everyone with a VAG vehicle should own. We'd already checked all the fuses and changed the pump, and Paul had checked the wiring before we changed the pump, so we knew that was all OK. I then spotted this right at the bottom of the page - When found in the VW Golf/Jetta/Bora (1J/9M) platform, check the fuse panel on top of the battery for damage - whilst this is not the 1J Platform, it was worth a try. Lo and behold, the strip fuse had a hairline crack in it, which explained why everything was fine until you ran over an aggressive kerb. Fuse changed and I was confident we were good to push.
I put on my new front tyres and went quicker still in the last session, so was again confident that tomorrow would be pretty good.

TTCR Qualifying

I struggled to find space for the first few laps, then put in what I thought was a decent lap, but without a radio had no idea where it was position wise. I then spent the rest of the session chasing that. Tom was on the pit wall and told me I was 5th. I was hoping it was super tight at the top.
It was not. Carl was almost 0.6s quicker than Ross in P2. Luke was a bit behind in P3, then Harry in P4. I was 1.3s off Pole. In the same car. I needed to dig deep for the race.

Everyone was trying to find space, but I think pushing hard constantly is still the way to go on the NS-2Rs.

Pole changed hands a few times over the course of the session.

TTCR Race 1

I had a decent start, matching a few of those in front of me. Ross Makar had a terrible one, dropping right back and promoting me to 4th. I was in 2nd position for a brief period after jumping Harry and Luke at the Chicane as they tustled. I thought Luke would then be happy for us both to chase Carl and get the gap, but there are no team orders in our awning, he sent it down the inside at the last corner and I lost both positions.
I stayed in 4th until Lap 3 when Ross bullied his was past just before the Safety Car was deployed. I was hoping that would be it, but on lap 5, as I ran over the exit kerb at Old Hairpin, the car cut out and would not restart. I tried turning the ignition on and off, then the dash went black. When I stopped at the top of McLeans, I noticed the kill switch button was flashing, like it had been pressed from the outside. A quick reset and I was off again, back in last position.

Carl had kept the lead all the way through, and had a pretty straightforward race. Luke did great to maintain P3 despite a lot of pressure from behind.

My laptimes were still 1.3s from Carl, so the changes made since Quali didn't help.

The race was live streamed here:

TTCR Race 2

The following race grid is determined by the race positions, no reversing or messing around, so basically on the back row as Ryan and Paul's cars were too damaged to make race 2.

I made up 5 places on the first lap, then was struggling to get past the guys in the mid pack. I made another few positions on lap 3, one on lap 4, then I was in 8th position where I stayed for the rest of the race. A race to forget I think.

Luke and Carl had a great battle, with Luke leading the race most of the way until he made a mistake into the harpin, allowing Carl through.

Again I was still ~1.3s off the pace, nowhere near fast enough to get any further up the order. We strung the car again after the race and it was out, but not by enough for the time difference. I was sure it was not me, and looking at the data vs Carl's, it was all mid corner speed. I could not carry any more speed in the areas I was way down, so there must be something fundamental with the setup, that would need more investigation back at the workshop.

The race was live streamed here:

ClubSport Trophy Qualifying

The CST race was the following day, so there was no stress for preparing the car and swapping the Nankangs to the Yokohama A052s.
I messed around finding some space again, with over 40 cars on the grid, even the Donington GP circuit was pretty crowded, and with 5 classes, there is a big difference in speed. When I did find space, I punched in a 1:48.097 which I knew would be good enough for Class B, but I was not quite so sure it would be up there overall. I pushed again and improved by over 1.5s. Luke said that was P1, then James Alford in the Class A Golf put in a 1:45.1, which was miles ahead of what I think was possible for the TT.

You can see the M3 was a fair bit off until the last 2 laps. He said he had quite a bit of traffic so found clear air near the end of the session.

Again, pole swapped a few times during the session but ultimately I had to settle for 2nd spot on the front row.

ClubSport Trophy Race

This is my 4th front row start out of 4 races in the ClubSport Trophy.

Alford was on A052s the same as me, so my plan was to let him go and try to gap the rest of the field, however Bolton just behind was also on the Yokos, so his launch was going to be pretty good.
I was a little too hesitant into turn 1 and dropped back behind Tom Stanway in the white BMW as well, however through Old Hairpin he took the corner way too fast for cold tyres and had a tank slapper. I managed to avoid him coming across the track, however the Scirocco was not so lucky and smashed into it. Ant Park in the TTCR took to the grass in avoidance and ended up into the barrier as well, completely writing the car off. This brought the red flag out.
In the end they shortened the race by 15 minutes, but crazily the pit window would not open for 15 minutes then stay open until the end. I think it should have gone the other way round.
As expected on the Restart, I was down to 3rd immediately and over 4s off the lead by the end of lap 1. On lap 2, as I rose over the crest before the Melbourne hairpin, Alford was in the middle of the track going slowly. Bolton thought he'd missed a safety car board, so also slammed on. I took advantage and jumped them both.
I pulled a decent gap by lap 7, then disaster struck. I lost all boost. Carl had the exact same issue in testing. I pulled into the pits hoping it was a pipe that was off, but I was not hopeful.

I went back out after doing a full power cycle but it was exactly the same, so retired from the race.

The gap was decent before the issue, and I am sure I would have been able to hold the lead.

My last 3 laps were super consistent, and with a lighter fuel load, I am sure I would have improved even more, getting closer to my Quali times.

I held the fastest overall lap of the race until Bolton got into the swing of it.

The race was live streamed here:

Back at the workshop we got the Turbo off and confirmed it was the actuator rod that had snapped. We'd been told that removing the balance shaft on the crank would cause this due to the harmonics, so hopefully with a new one it won't happen again, otherwise I will need to get it put back in!

A weekend to forget for me to be honest. Thanks to Luke, Tom and Dave from Area Motorsport who supported the car this weekend, as well as Luke and Jack from our workshop for helping out.
Big shout to Luke Handley, who did the majority of the build on this car.
Also thanks to our main sponsor in this car, Partly, who are helping us with fitment data for some exciting changes to the website, coming this year!

Photos courtesy of BRSCC and Jon Elsey Photography.

All the details and dates for future races we are entering can be found on the Darkside Motorsport Page.