Dijon 24-26th June

[zefarelly]

Does anyone have any good hintsand tips or recommendations on the place ?

I know LAK's going as well, but we've never been there bofore and have little idea what to expect either location or trackwise.

I'd guess its in pretty good shape, it'll be either very hot, or very wet, the food and wine should be A1 !

[jamesl]

watch out for the armco on the sweeping right hander before the main straight.

[Slippy Diff]

The drive down is stunning if the weather is good, and finding the track can be 'interesting' . The track is great, fast and sweeping ( I was on pole for my last visit there!) and you will love it. Loads of great places to stay and eat and drink in. Stop in Reims overnight on the way back and try out the local champagne. Great place, I loved it. I may have some detailed directions somewhere on how to find the circuit, I will see if I can find them.

[zefarelly]

I spoke to a Mr Crossley earlier (live in the same town and works virtually next door) he said the same, fast sweeping/flowing circuit, and very enjoyable, Would I be right in saying that a fast flowing circuit like that will reward a smooth drive ?

after a DNF and a DNS, and given the possibility of high temperatures also, I may try the smooth approach (rather than rag it like a nutter because you made a mistake at the last corner!) and build up to it . . .and a finish!

directions wise . . .easy, maybe I should start rallying, I never get lost !

as for Armco James . . . .hopefully I'll see it . . .from a safe distance, it does look pretty close to the circuit on the video I've seen though

[Slippy Diff]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

I spoke to a Mr Crossley earlier (live in the same town and works virtually next door) he said the same, fast sweeping/flowing circuit, and very enjoyable, Would I be right in saying that a fast flowing circuit like that will reward a smooth drive ?

after a DNF and a DNS, and given the possibility of high temperatures also, I may try the smooth approach (rather than rag it like a nutter because you made a mistake at the last corner!) and build up to it . . .and a finish!

directions wise . . .easy, maybe I should start rallying, I never get lost !

as for Armco James . . . .hopefully I'll see it . . .from a safe distance, it does look pretty close to the circuit on the video I've seen though

The section after the start/finish is great. Very fast right hander followed by fast flowing up to a left hander that has its apex on the brow of the hill and then down hill to a right hander that then climbs up hill. Its bloody fantastic.

[zefarelly]

new tyres fitted last night . . . .along with virtually everything else . . gearbox, prop, front suspension . . . . so I'll start out easy in qualifying, and build up to the race I think . . . a few places on the grid won't make much difference to an hours race with a track like that I don't think (not for saloons anyway)

then adfter the flowing track we'll have plenty of flowing wine !

[zefarelly]

just got back . . .what a weekend, fantabulous circuit, 30+ degrees, cheap beer, good food, great race, grids and races to rival the Revival but without the tweed or expense (with the exception of my hotal bill - think bar tab !!!) and we met some great people old and new.

after an 11 hour journey home I'm knackered so just about to chill in the garden with a glass of vino

[zefarelly]

can't find any times or pics on line yet . . . but heres my report

We travlled down Thursday, we had a good run from Sussex to Dijon, watched the fuel gauge drop and the temperature rise, to 35 degrees C!. the Autoroute cost £20 and was like a billiard table and traffic free the whole way, money well spent in our opinion. The only hitch was the appaling lack of direction in Dijon, fortunately a local came up to us at a petrol station and directed us, we'd just misse the turning and where actualy on the ring road, although you wouldnt believe it, we took a well advised short cut and arrived at a packed circuit at 6pm, unloaded the car and headed to the hotel to cool off.

Friday, another scorcher, so after a refreshing dip in the pool and breakfast we made our way via Prenois to the circuit, spent a few hours in final preperation for quaifying, it was around 33-34 degrees and we went out at 16:45, from my seat the temperatures seemd to be reeking havock, was this going to be a reliability race? people where in and out the pits like yo-yos, I ran a little warm but the new radiator kept things below 90 degrees. I came in after 8 laps as I heard some untoward transmission noises, I figured we have spares and times, lets be a little cautious and make sure we get a good race. the pit lane was very busy, steam and hot water everywhere, Mr&Mrs LAK had misfires, there where cars doing 3 laps to get on the grid and stopping, others setting low rev limits to curb overheating. Apparently the circuit was slow due to the heat, track temps hit 60 degrees according to one team.

The only thing to do thereafter was return to the pool, and get a cold beer !

[zefarelly]

Saturday . . . hot again . .we got the car up on stands and drained the gearbox oil, all looked good, we refilled it with fresh, slightly heavier grade oil and ran the car in the air . . .all seemed fine, we think the oil got so hot it turned to water and being a new box it just jangled in an unfamiliar way. the minor vibration seemed to be nothing more than the exhaust hitting the floorpan. feeling a little happier I just did the usual pre race checks, fuelled up, and wandered out the back of the circuit to watch some racing, and maybe learn some better racing lines. Dijon has to be one of few places in the worls where I've found beer cheaper than water, and in that heat you need both!

Sunday, an early start, 8:45 race, but the main benefit of this was the temps where cooler, only 27-28 degrees when we went out, this made things a lot more comfortable. We's qualified 17th of 26 runners and where reasonably happy as its a new circuit, and a long race, I was surrounded by Lotus Cortinas and a 911, the front row was 911's, 2nd, row down to 9th where LC's, minis, and Alfa GTA's, a few yank V8's where scattered liberally as well as a Sunbeam, Merc, Vauxhaul, and a few others.

This was a rolling start, and my second, I got it right, for a change, although it became rapidly apparent I'm no match for many on the long straight, the grisd in front and one or two behind simple pulled away from me . . . . and then all smoked tyres, ran wide etc at the first corner .. .why ? theres 59 minutes and 30 seconds to go yet!

[zefarelly]

having dropped a couple of places I settled into my own rhythm and came to the cnclusion I was quicker than 6 or so ahead round the bends, but was loosing out on the straight, forst to go was the Vauxhaul, it was all over the place trying to hold me off and I was clearly quicker everywhere, when I got a full length in front at Virage de la combe, I got nurffed, a sligh touch ( or a clever sinister one) as the camber, and hill makes the rear end light, I held on to it with wa little opposite lock and drove off into the distance. ( there was no contact when I lapped him later!) next up came a threesome, no not that sort, 2 LC's and a 911, again, I passed an LC on the run to parabolique, lost it on the straight, after 3 laps I got enough to hold onit, but spun on oil at double droite de villeroy, and the bl00dy vauxhaul went past again, 2 laps later I was back in front of the Vauxhaul and LC, and got the 911 as well . . . very pleased with myself, but the other LC had gone, in the pits I guessed. I had planned to come in later rather than earlier, and it worked, the track was empty so I lappes for ten minutes alone before pitting . . .in a fashion! one of the front running 911's and a Galaxy had dropped their guts, marshalls flagging was sketchy to say the least, I and quite a few others where not warned and overshot the pitlane, I reversed the 10 fet or so and made a trouble free stop, some others totally overshot and had to do another lap.

[zefarelly]

I came out of the pits, to an empty track, I think I was lapped by the leaders when I stopped as I never saw any of them all race, this worked well as I had a free run for about 10 minutes to concentrate on my lines. watch out for oil ( pleanty of it!!!) I then lapped a few other cars, caught and passed a few sickies. on the second last lap I moved aside for the leading 911, I could have held my line for another corner but I knew we where on the last lap or two and didnt want anything silly to happen, the only mistake there was unbeknown to me there was an LC bearing down on me, the 2nd driver was abviously much quicker than the first. I just tried hanging on to the 911 for the last lap and a half (futile I know) and kept it tidy, finished 2 seconds ahead of the LC and 9 behind the 911.

the car ran like a dream all race and even ticked over during the stop, didnt overheat, the brakes where great and the result wasnt bad either.

we had to wait nearly 2 hours to get them but we finished 11th overall and I beat 3 LC's and a 911. we where pleased, and it just proved our point, you can do it yourself, the hard work and perseverance is starting to pay off, dissapointments of recent races are quickly forgotten. the icing on the cake was an invite for Drinks with the Lanfrachis and a pat on the back for my driving on the day.

my tails up !

also a big thanks to Stewart Imber for deputising so well in the absence of the Top Hat team.

[SZRacer]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

can't find any times or pics on line yet . . . but heres my report

Hi all,

Times and photos will be on the Top Hat website, as soon as I get them from Julius!

Regards,

James W
(TH webmaster)

[Slippy Diff]

That sounds just like the weather we had there in 2002. We went and played golf on the Saturday afternoon after qualifying and the temps were well into the 30's. Luckily we had golf buggies and a slab of Stella to help us along (and celebrate my pole in qualifying). Sounds like you had a great time. It's a bit far for me these days though!!

[zefarelly]

Originally Posted by SZRacer

Hi all,

Times and photos will be on the Top Hat website, as soon as I get them from Julius!

Regards,

James W
(TH webmaster)

I'd ask Stewart, as Julius was getting p****d on at Goodwood

I have a copy here, although theyre virtually illegible, and the classes are wrong, its difficult to work out who was in the TH race and who was in the Asave race !

[SZRacer]

Dijon results now up on the Top hat Website. Click on the link on the calndar page.

Regards,

James

Originally Posted by zefarelly

I'd ask Stewart, as Julius was getting p****d on at Goodwood

I have a copy here, although theyre virtually illegible, and the classes are wrong, its difficult to work out who was in the TH race and who was in the Asave race !

[zefarelly]

Tip Top, thanks James

hopefully the Photographer will send some pics over too . . .she spent half the weekend sitting on my car uninvited!