Another visit to Curborough Sprint Course

Around a year ago I went to Curborough Sprint Course with the cars running in being completed on the journey up there... It was a good day organised by Dan and Rich from http://www.sprintandtrackday.co.uk/

I was pretty happy with how I got on last year, but over the last couple of months I've noticed a Westfield (dare I say it) is closing in on my laptime, so I thought it was time to go back and set the bar a little higher.

I deliberated for a while about which tyres to take, CR500's or ZZR's... I couldn't make my mind up, and with the ZZR's still fitted from Cadwell, I made a lazy decision and took the ZZR's... That turned out as a bit of a mistake with them taking too long to warm up and not giving me the front end grip I wanted, so I spent a lot of the day fiddling with the rear anti-roll bar, suspension settings and tyre pressures... After a couple of calls to Rob at Rat Race Motorsport, we got to a decent setup with the turn in I was looking for, but (as you'll see below) I didn't really get the exploit the car at the end of the day.

Here's a picture from the day... Not the fastest way around a corner, but probably the most fun way!


Not the fastest way around Curborough, but probably the most fun way!

I set a slightly quicker time than my previous best, a 1:20.1 - which was two tenths faster than my best last year... I think if I went with the CR500's I could've got into the 1:19's or quicker, but the day ended a little prematurely with my gearbox oil leak returning with a vengeance.  I decided not to take any risks (or drop any oil on the circuit) and got the car home in one piece instead.

Here is the video of the two best laps I could put together, if somewhat scrappy...

Here is a video Nigel Pugh took using his Hexacopter... It's nice to see the car from a different angle - well at least I think so!

And the star attraction for the day was this beautiful Porsche 918 Spyder.  Here's a video below of his first laps taking someone for a passenger ride, and using launch control...

The R500 is booked in with CC midlands for collection tomorrow (Friday 26th June) for it's first annual service.  Whilst the car is with CC they'll be investigating the gearbox seal / leak issue and this time I hope they resolve it once and for all.