Formula Renault BARC

[Bob Pearson]

a test on Friday 4th Nov, both races and qualifying on the 5th

[Bob Pearson]

Sorry, forgot to say its Brands

[pantah]

Originally Posted by Bob Pearson

The cut off switch on a 97 Tatuus is in an awkward position, and it is probably no coincidence that they moved it to the dashboard bulkhead on the 98 and 99 cars. It has never been questioned by a scrutineer. I would imagine you can move it as you wish. Ian could always operate it OK, it was me that got my hand stuck when trying to. I did come to a halt at Croft once when I hadn't turned it on properly and it sprung into the off position.

Glad we moved the switch. We asked the Cheif Scrutineer if he would have passed us if it were in the original position, and he stated that he would not have allowed us to compete !!!!

Let this be a warning to anyone elese thinking of Hillclimbing / Sprinting an FR of this vintage !!!

[SpawnyWhippet]

Originally Posted by pantah

Glad we moved the switch. We asked the Cheif Scrutineer if he would have passed us if it were in the original position, and he stated that he would not have allowed us to compete !!!!

Let this be a warning to anyone elese thinking of Hillclimbing / Sprinting an FR of this vintage !!!

That surprises me, I have taken quite a few cars to scrutineering with strangely placed kill switches, eg inside roll hoop, on driver dashboard, in sidepod, and as long as they have a sticker, they are fine.

[Bob Pearson]

Hmmm, I think the guy was going out on a limb there. Bearing in mind that those cars have and still are raced all over Europe, he would need to be very brave as he would have been heavily outnumbered by all the other scrutineers that have passed them over the course of 8 years.

[Bob Pearson]

In fact, I've just realised, he was barking up the wrong tree. The emergency switch which is the only one marshals would use is the loop to the normal cable operated arrangement which is inside the roll hoop and labelled. If the driver is upright, it is his job to turn the mains off, so he has to operate the master switch. All emergency/ marshal driven turn offs are with the loop.

[RSportRacer]

Originally Posted by Spinner

No the injury was not from the shunt, it was an accident at home. Unfortunately he will be out for another 6-8 weeks, the car is ready to go and planned to be out for last two rounds. Were not sure whether that will be for the BARC or TOCA rounds. I will try to let you all know as soon as I can.

any update u could give us?

[widerviewphoto]

With the Formula Renault BARC races at Brands Hatch only 3 weekends away I wonder who will be competing in both of the two classes.

Names have been mentioned, but can anyone give me a clue to definate entries.

Cheers

[Bob Pearson]

I don't think there are any entries yet, closing date isn't until next week. the drivers I have heard of showing interest are;
Club Class:
Ian and myself, Simon Keast. Steve Hansleman, James Heffernan, james Green, Mike Read is hoping to have two cars out, Martin Bloss says he will either run someone or drive it himself. Bill isn't coming out, and I am not sure about Lee or Andy

I really don't know much about the championship class, Pierre is definately running, there was a rumour that Denis was doing the UK series and I don't know about Phillipe. Ali is rumoured to be entering, the remainder of the championship class is believed to be doing the UK series.
Ian won an entry for the UK series, but without a car that is eligable it isn't much help.

[Bob Pearson]

Well, thats it, all done and dusted now. 14 cars, given our historically bad turnout for winter series races that wasn't too bad. Interresting to see that Fortec ran their man Onidi in the BARC races as well as the UK series. That is the first time any of the "top flight" Renault teams has shown any interest.
We were certainly lucky with the weather, It must have been hell there yesterday if the rest of southern England is anything to go by.
The circuit was remarkably quick on both Friday and Saturday, lap record gone again.
Nice to meet a couple of the ten tenths marshals again.
It's going to be a long winter.

[widerviewphoto]

Were all the BARC runners happy with one qualifying & two races on the same day. If so this would seem to be an option for more races during a season even on single day meetings.

This might have brought more cars out to Oulton Park/Donington Park/Thruxton etc..

It will be very interesting to see just how many cars take to the grid on the first race in 2006.

Might there be more than 20 ?

[Bob Pearson]

I can't imagine anyone preferred it with one qualifying session for two races to the normal double header system. I suspect everyone was like me and accepted it that way as the daylight is limited this time of the year. The problem with that system, quite apart from the obvious lack of running for your money is that if you have a bad run in qualifying, then you are stuck with starting from the back in both races, whereas the normal sytem does allow you to have a complete new day for the second race. I don't think it could be used to change the one race per event rounds into two races unless we increase the rounds per year as Renault undertake to visit all the tracks that the UK series visits.
Mind you, thinking about that, why not increase the rounds and make it a 16 round affair with the one day events laidout as Brands was..............Yes, I like that, I will suggest it to Simon North.
There seems to be a fair bit of interest for next year already, but as we all know, converting that into cars on the grid is often a different matter. I have had three phone calls in recent weeks from people interested. One is pretty definate, the other two are Zetec boys and I am not sure where they are at with their plans.
Mark Terry, the new guy last weekend enjoyed himself ( damn well ought to have done, he beat me!! ) so hopefully he will be back next year with Reon. We need more twin cams really, the 8 valves have been in the majority at every round. It was good to see Steve and Simon back after their brief sojourn in Mono, lets hope they stay.

[JHMotorsport]

Congratulations again to Ian Pearson, solid in both races and hopefully proving against any critics considering you were in a different car etc. I thought it was pretty good little turn out and people I brought along were commenting on how they found the championship surprisingly friendly. Anyway, back to pulling apart the car for the winter rebuild:-(

[steveh_no4]

I didn't think that qualifying that way was too bad (and yes, I did suffer as my front wheel came off!)

I'd almost prefer a format where we had more races at each meeting and fewer series? say 1 qualy and 3 races, race 1 and 2 from your first and second fastest and maybe race 3 from the average finish in 1+2?

The only downside I can see from an organisers point of view is that if you have a big ding in an early race you're left with a sparse grid.

Steve

[Bob Pearson]

Yes Steve,
That is exactly the problem. At least with the normal format you can work late if you have problems and have a new day for the second qualifying and race.
It would be tempting to try to get two races and a single qualifying instead of the events where we only have a single race. I would think our present double header system is probably about as good as it gets.

[steveh_no4]

Agreed, but if you consider all the things people can do nowadays, motorsport has to compete with these, and there have been times (Snett in the not too distant past for instance) where they'd had a test day on the Thursday or Friday for a race on the Sunday.

There's a personal cost of time that comes in, I remember racing at Lydden years back and the race was an 8 lap race, now on a circuit with a sub 40 second lap.......

It would be worth holding Saturday up as an example and see what can be done on the single headers. They seemed fairly lucky with time in that there weren't any major stoppages (wonder if they were as lucky with the trucks on the Sunday!!!)

Still, I've come away with a better appreciation as to why the wife can't push a shopping trolley in a straight line...!

Steve

[Bob Pearson]

Yes, I recall the Snetterton situation, I went to Cromer for the day and sat on the seafront. I think with the might of Renault now on our side we are unlikely to be treated that badly again.
That must have been a bit of a fright with those camber bolts shearing, we change them frequently, as their length to diameter ratios does encourage stretching when tightening.

[steveh_no4]

It wasn't too bad when the one went in qualifying as it was on the back straight and I felt it let go.

But the one in race 2 was a bit more interesting popped as I turned into Clearways, and it explains the wobble through paddock that lap as well, I'm eternally grateful to the car for not letting it go there....

I think we'll be adding a few of those to the lorry!

[DSM]

Originally Posted by Bob Pearson

Yes, I recall the Snetterton situation, I went to Cromer for the day and sat on the seafront. I think with the might of Renault now on our side we are unlikely to be treated that badly again.
That must have been a bit of a fright with those camber bolts shearing, we change them frequently, as their length to diameter ratios does encourage stretching when tightening.

Wasn't the test day at Donington on the Thursday this year? I seem to recall driving up on the Friday when a track day was being held.

BTW Bob, any more info on importing FR2000s with regard to log book etc.? I think we have sold our car now but from what I have seen in the UK the prices are a bit over the top. Cars seem much more affordable and available across the water, which is odd considering the way the FRUK grid has diminished over the past couple of years.

We have seen a couple of 3 to 4 years old cars for sale. How long does the tub last?

[Bob Pearson]

At Snett this year there was a test on Thurday and Friday I believe, we did the Friday test, I thought you did as well.
You've put me on the spot a bit re the twin cam cars, I haven't got anywhere deep enough into it yet to be anything approaching a useful source of info.
However, for what its worth, I understand some, if not all of the top teams replace their chassis each year. The question is, is it necessary?
I had a meeting with Simon North and Allen Cohen of Renault UK on Friday re relaxation of rules for imported cars. In short, I have made no progress at the moment.
It seems widely acknowledged that there are a lot of cars in this country doing nothing, but I guess they are paid for and so sit around waiting for someone to offer a couple of grand for a test and so earn their keep that way.
I agree with you, there are no decent buys around at the moment. It seems after talking to Allen that cars with chassis numbers under about 250 will be inspected very carefully before a log book would be issued, on the assumption that they must have hit something sometime and so may not have been correctly repaired.
Personally I have views on this whole scene, but this isn't the right place to air them

[Bob Pearson]

I spoke with Simon North and Pauline at the Race cars Live event at Brands on Saturday, no calendar finalised yet. The only news that did come out of that was that they are planning to replace Pembrey with Knockhill as part of their undertaking to follow in the footsteps of the UK Renault Championship. Any thoughts on that?

[widerviewphoto]

Originally Posted by Bob Pearson

The only news that did come out of that was that they are planning to replace Pembrey with Knockhill as part of their undertaking to follow in the footsteps of the UK Renault Championship. Any thoughts on that?

I am not sure some of the Club racers would be too happy replacing a trip of say 3 hours with a 6-7 hours trip. Though I can understand those FR2000 teams leting a young driver getting a feel of one of the circuits used by main championship

Neither track has any garages, though I did like Knockhill from a Photographers perspective.

It will mean a flight/car hire for me which would probably count me out

Cheers

[THR]

both tracks MILES from most places!!
ok for people with lots of money and time to travel of course.
but then motor racing is for people with lots of money innit??

[Bob Pearson]

I think, THR that the majority of people at the organising end of Motor Sport do think they are aiming it at people with lots of money. The strange irony of it is, that by my observations over the many years of involvement that 95% of any club grid is made up of drivers who can only just afford to be there. Eventually, I fear, the constant efforts of those on high to wring more money from competitors will drive most if not all of the 95% away, and the remaining 5% with money will never be enough to sustain the sport.
And your right, both tracks are miles from most places, but I suspect only 3-4 hours for the majority to Pembrey.
The real problem other than the tedium of travelling for drivers in the midlands or the south is for self employed or similar workers. Going to Scotland for a race would mean leaving work on Wednesday evening, travelling back on th Monday and re-starting work on Tuesday. That is a lot of working hours and so a lot of money lost.

[DSM]

I agree with all of that Bob.

I appreciate that we are, being 1 hour south of Brands, probably furthest away from Knockhill of anyone, but the distance, cost and time involved for us would be prohibitive.

At a guess it would cost £250 in truck fuel, at least 3 days, probably 4 off work, plus accommodation, entry and other running costs. Pushing £2K for 1 hour track time? Even if we wanted to go, we'd have to say no.

Compared with Pembrey, Knockhill is almost twice as far for us.