Bell's Banter 2021

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

The trick is repeating the performance when there's no-one to tail

And is keeping the performance when you've someone tailing you…

[andy97]

My best (least bad) performance have all been when I have been out with an instructor in the car a few days before hand. Hmmm, there’s a lesson there!!!

[Gerard C]

Each time I go to a track I dont know or if I'm returning to one known, my first visit is to the local racing school. Ask to those who know all the tricks save you a lot of time. Only one inconvenient though, if they only use single seaters running on slicks there are differences with a tintop on threaded tires. Works fine, people met are mostly helpful and often the advice is free. The "payment" they get is in your improvements. Fair deal, is it?

[midgetman]

We try to tell kart team members that there is far more performance to be found from a couple of hundred quid with an instructor rather than thousands on the latest engine. But they don't listen.


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[Gerard C]

Right, always the engine is blamed and mechanic sometimes too. When I instructed at Montlhéry, moons ago, I used to say "right foot first, then right foot and then the chassis settings". Hard to be understood by some.

[midgetman]

Oh yeah, it's always the team's fault when they lose and the driver's skill when they do well

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[Gerard C]

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Oh yeah, it's always the team's fault when they lose and the driver's skill when they do well

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Were you Nigel Mansell's manager in a previous life ?

[delta]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Oh yeah, it's always the team's fault when they lose and the driver's skill when they do well

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Sounds very familiar Max.

[andy97]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Oh yeah, it's always the team's fault when they lose and the driver's skill when they do well

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In my previous life it was always , “intelligence failures, operational successes” and now, in my current life, it is always “business development failures, project delivery successes”!!!!!

[S griffin]

Back in the day a lot more of those at the top could take responsibility for their actions, but there were exceptions. Now it seems to be businesses doing all the hardwork and leaving others to do the job and those at the top taking all the credit and absolving them of blame

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Very interesting point, even though I can't help with any of your tracks. What I see is that when the surface is redone with new macadam, sometimes you can find a new trajectory compared to what was efficient before.
Dijon is a perfect example, Spa too (Bruxelles and Pouhon corners for instance).

I know what you mean about the surface grip etc , and with practice /experience you can feel the best line & see when you are losing / gaining on someone who is just in front .

But Shell bend Oulton Park does not seem to follow any logic .
It is a double apex hairpin which has /had a very steep banking .
The normal line of using most of the track width does not seem to work , & the best idea I found was to stay in about the centre line & the banking allowed a higher speed to be carried through the corner .

But I guess a few hundred practice laps might be needed to find the real optimum.

[Peter Mallett]

I think the killer is the bend before, unless you can go flat out through there and get back to the left hand side Shell makes little difference to lap times because it is a slow corner anyway.

[Gerard C]

You know the proverb, Tel, always ask a native. "My" secret revealed: In all cars, it’s flat out before we get to Druids. There are a few variations of line here depending on what car you’re driving. Generally, you’ll make two apexes and you’ll need to be careful on the exit as it’s located on a crest. The normal mistake here is to misjudge your racing line then need to tighten steering and lift off the accelerator as you head over the crest.

Crystal clear… My sources?
https://driver61.com/circuit-guide/oulton-park/
https://www.raceoptimal.com/OultonInternational

[Gerard C]

My thought too, Peter, you can't make a huge difference in a hairpin. Just out of curiosity when teaching at Montlhéry, we made a lot of tests in the single hairpin of the 3.4 km layout, called Les Deux Ponts. From perfect line to full interior trajectory, no difference at all. When you gain speed the travel is longer, then at the end of the day no difference at all. A little bit different at Adelaide hairpin of Magny-Cours which is faster.

[lotustwincam]

Its easier to remember the corners I got right as there were far fewer than the the wrong ones . I once got Copse perfect!!

[Gerard C]

Castle Combe:
Miata for Andy: https://www.raceoptimal.com/maps/CastleCombe/Miata
amateur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0Jp6oPOAM

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by lotustwincam

Its easier to remember the corners I got right as there were far fewer than the the wrong ones . I once got Copse perfect!!

Back in the old days of French Enduro Championship, the maximum allowance was two hours plus ten minutes, in a raw. Each time I wondered how many goods laps I did during those hours! Video analyzing helps, sometimes. But its always after the race!

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

You know the proverb, Tel, always ask a native. "My" secret revealed: In all cars, it’s flat out before we get to Druids. There are a few variations of line here depending on what car you’re driving. Generally, you’ll make two apexes and you’ll need to be careful on the exit as it’s located on a crest. The normal mistake here is to misjudge your racing line then need to tighten steering and lift off the accelerator as you head over the crest.

Crystal clear… My sources?
https://driver61.com/circuit-guide/oulton-park/
https://www.raceoptimal.com/OultonInternational

We never had things like that when I was a boy ??
But from your circuit guide video , he seems to be going in early and not using the width of the track until the exit onto the next straight .

So perhaps my attempts at that corner were not that far out .

Although , as you say , the slow corners do not make as much lap time difference , if you get a better line out you can use it to pass someone on the next bit of straight .

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Castle Combe:
Miata for Andy: https://www.raceoptimal.com/maps/CastleCombe/Miata
amateur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0Jp6oPOAM

Combe is my local circuit and I used to do every raceday there. That was before the chicanes though, when it was really quick.

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[Gerard C]

I find the race optimal vids quite interesting because several very different cars are used, Miata, understeering Golf, Caterham and GT3 which seems to be a 997.

[Paul D]

Can't speak for anyone else, but I suspect I can explain my own inconsistent approach to Shell Oils Hairpin quite easily: I reckon it's because I've generally got my eyes closed & breath held as I try to negotiate the previous left-hander at Island as close to flat-out as I dare!

So the moment at which I open my eyes again generally depicts my line into Shell Oils, as I'm never quite in the same place.

But I always tend to think that I could have taken the first part faster than I do, but getting on the power too early does result in oversteer, despite the banking (which is levelling out by then). I have spun on the exit before now, so I am trying!

[midgetman]

I have never done the Shell corner. When I raced regularly Cascades was a right hander heading down to where that chicane is now. I did do a couple.of races with a really sharp hairpin some.distance short.of the current.one - think Cadwell Park.short circuit. That would have been 1985/6 I reckon.

Just shows how old I am.

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[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by midgetman

I have never done the Shell corner. When I raced regularly Cascades was a right hander heading down to where that chicane is now. I did do a couple.of races with a really sharp hairpin some.distance short.of the current.one - think Cadwell Park.short circuit. That would have been 1985/6 I reckon.

Just shows how old I am.

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That's the circuit that for some reason BTCC use - I guess its just because it shortens the circuit so spectators can see the cars more times....


As for Paul's comment - we really ought to run a book on "how many corners I haven't spun at" My friend is a very quick driver, but never knowingly travels in a straight line

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Paul D

I reckon it's because I've generally got my eyes closed & breath held as I try to negotiate the previous left-hander at Island as close to flat-out as I dare!

Even when racing, les Britanniques sont hantés par le bon vieux dilemme shakespearien: flat out or not flat out that is the question…
I remember Simon H teaching a female racer, his advice was to enter pedal to the metal, keep it all way down while shouting mee-mee-mee-mee-mee-meeeeee………