Finally....

[dan]

I am become an actual real life racing driver.

Turns out playing computer games is sometimes worthwhile. A nice chap that I raced online with has invited me to come and drive his racing car with him. We tested it yesterday and we're racing it tomorrow at Castle Combe. Being my first ever race i'll be proudly displaying my novice cross, which is mildly amusing as the car is an absolute weapon.

We're in a series thats just called 'Slicks' and is basically anything goes as long as its got slicks. Tomorrows entry list is all 991 cup cars, GT3's, 458 challenge, Ginetta G55's, Touring cars and us in a shonky old lotus elise, albeit one of the original central seat motorsport elises that was converted to honda power by Lanzante after the series stopped 20 odd years ago. It has a hewland sequential that is beautiful to use, although yesterday the downshift blip wasn't working so we were manually heel and toe'ing and using the clutch. I managed to fix that today though so tomorrow I get my first taste of flat shifting up and down the box, not just up.

Its quite quick....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAI_CttgTuo

[dinny_g]

Great stuff Dan. Good luck.

(I’m probably not the only one here surprised that you’re a racing novice..)

[dan]

Thanks!

[mik]

Looks brisk right enough. Have fun!

[Rich B]

Looks like a nicely balanced car too - very cool!

[duncs500]

Sounds like a fascinating series, I love it when there's a jumbled up selection of cars like that. Looking forward to hearing about your exploits and seeing some onboards.

[Wilspeed]

Godspeed dan!

[speedingfine]

I thought you were only testing it when I saw your Facebook post! All the best Dan, is it a rolling start or off a grid? And in fact are you starting? When did you get your RACE licence, you kept that quiet

[V8Granite]

That will be an awesome race to watch let alone be part of.

Best of luck to you both

Dave!

[Jobbo]

Fabulous! How are the Elise’s lap times compared to the Porsches et al?

[mik]

Fabulous! How are the Elise’s lap times compared to the Porsches et al?

Thanks to @scotta and the StrongBroo RACING ACTIVITIES, I am now aware of TSL.

Live info for Castle Combe HERE. (Note - this covers the whole event, so if a race/quali for another series is live at the time you click - you'll see that instead - I was lucky to open it when race2 quali was underway).

I am not an expert using the site but there is good info there. I can see 3 classes - the Elise Dan is driving being in “B” so no surprise to see times slower than the Noble /458 etc.

I am watching quali for race 2 at the time of typing this. Don’t know if you can see historical info on there (ie result of race 1) ?

(I assume the Noble M12 RSR that grabbed pole for race2 is this one (note - footage from 2019) : I didn't really appreciate his pace until he starts lapping other cars (zoom to 9mins or so?)

[Gavin]

Good luck Dan

[Mito Man]

That’s cool, like our very own Jimmy Broadbent

[nuttinnew]

I clicked the vid link before reading the whole op and thought "wow, that camera angle makes the space to the right of him look huge".

one of the original central seat motorsport elises

Ah
Add me to the list of people who thought/assumed you were an old racing hand. It looks like the perfect situation for you to end up in, good luck & have fun

[Jimmy Choo]

That’s cool, like our very own Jimmy Broadbent

I was just thinking the same.

Good luck Dan.

[mik]

Just noticed - live stream

[dan]

Shitshow is how it was.

I did a three quarters of a lap in qualy before a brake line came loose and left me with no brakes into the final corner.

Fixed that and then the boiled itself after 6 laps in the race so I’ve not even driven.

The whole car was extensively rebuilt by an F1 mechanic over the winter and delivered to me last Friday to run the engine in I’d built. I spent the entire week putting shit right to just get it to run on Thursday but one of the things I didn’t get time to put right, but noticed, was the header tank being plumbed in to the wrong side of the coolant flow. It worked fine on Thursday but 6 laps sat half a second behind another car today was enough to boil it.

[mik]

Well that’s a bit balls

Have you committed to the next race meet?

[dan]

Turns out it didn’t overheat, it blew the boost pipe off and then boiled while it was sat in the pits because the fan doesn’t work. Added to the list of stuff that needs fixing or redoing.

I rebuilt the engine and spent the last week working on it for free as I got to drive it for free. I’ve said it needs a lot more work before I drive it again which I can’t afford to do for free and he’s agreed, so I’ll make sure it’s right before the next round at donington in September.

[Beany]

That's a bit shit, but at least you've managed to agree a way forward, and hopefully get to have some real time in it next round.

Must be frustrating as fuck though.