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Donington Kit Car Show 2002

Three years after Jadzia first took to the track as a brand-new car, we were back to exact our revenge. On that occasion I saw bad oil surge on the corners, which slowed our progress quite a bit. Coupled with my unfamiliarity with the car, we didn't make such good progress as I would have liked.

This time is was very different. A baffled sump has fixed the oil problems completely. The pressure stayed at about 35psi throughout, as good as it ever gets when running and warmed up.

I've now got 6-point harnesses, due to the addition of a 'T-type' crutch strap to each side. This is a simple plug-in installation and helps a lot to prevent the lap belts riding up. This means you can pull the shoulder straps as tight as you like without ending up with the lap belt over your short ribs! I feel more attached to the car now.

We only had time for one track session of 20 minutes, but blasted past everything else on the track in that time, once up to temperature, including some fairly exotoc machinery. I was pleased to see that we kept up with everything through the corners but the best bit was when we saw a sniff of a straight and the raw grunt of the V8 simply pulled us past everything else! My AP-22 performance meter registered a maximum lateral G of 1.15 - not bad at all! I did try to push a bit harder on the penultimate lap and visited the kitty-litter briefly! No harm done and it showed me just how safe a track session is when things get out of hand. There was a stink of cooking brakes a few laps in and the brakes were a bit on the spongy side onthe trip home. Glazed pads anyone? Maybe this is an excuse for grooved discs or a complete front brake upgrade.

We had a chat with Chris Brice in the Paddock afterwards.

Pleasingly, the brake balance now seems about right. No more rear-end lock-ups now that Ashley's smaller master cylinder is installed in the front brake circuit.