T'was a cold and misty morning on Saturday at Castle Combe. The track just became visible from the paddock during the drivers briefing and the sun started to appear as the event began at 9.00.
Andy was fourth reserve and by the time we signed on three reserves had already got a drive. Still a waiting game, but it looked hopefull for him.
Andy was first on track for his practice laps and came back in saying how well the car was going and asking what I had done to the ECU!
The only changes since last year are the ditching of the hydraulic pump from the engine, which would only account for a few horse power.
It must have been the cold dense air, the temperature still only being in single figures, and the remains of the mist making the intercooler work overtime.
Anyway, I went out for my session and sure enough it was going like stink. Pulling hard and strong, and revving easier up past 6000. It usually starts running out of puff, being a 10V.
On my second lap accelerating out of the last corner, there was a big bang and I lost, what I initially thought, was all power.
I soon realised I some power, as though a boost hose had blown off, and coasted around to the pits.
Everything looked fine under the bonnet, no hoses hanging off, wastegate wasn't jammed open, turbo seemed OK and was spinning up
.
We eventually found a massive split in the hose from the turbo to the intercooler, right around the back where we couldn't see it.
They are proper multilayered silicon hoses, but it is a bit close to the exhaust manifold which may have aged it and with all that early morning cold air being squashed in there, it let go.
Fortunately, the Merlin Motorsport shop is on site and they had a suitable silicon elbow, albeit in bright blue!
During our head scratching about the lack of boost, one of the paddock marshals came to us and said that another competitor had withdrawn, so Andy had a drive.
With a new hose we were both set to go
. It started to get very warm and the car didn't rev as freely in the afternoon but we still put in some good times.
After the first runs I was a couple of seconds ahead of Andy and leading the class.
A front wheel spacer came loose which was a bit disconcerting
.
He nearly caught me on the second run but I went a second quicker anyway
and took first place
.