THE STORY CONTINUED. -  25 June 2010.

Pro Cup Series – Friday 18 June 2010.

The practice schedule for Friday indicated five 20 minute sessions throughout the day and we had planned on using three from the Friday practice rather than flog the car throughout the day just for the sake of driving around a circuit. Our reasoning being if you cannot get the car set within three sessions then there are some really major problems afoot……..

The first practice session went well, since our previous visit to the circuit we had added two aero packages to the car in an effort to try and rid the understeer problem that I had on our previous visits to the circuit. Though we still had understeer it was much less than before and given that we were on old tyres and the track was green with no running, we were happy with the result of a lap time of 1min 30.4 seconds first time out which was a tenth or two quicker then my qualifying time last month at Kaeng Krachan.

We made a few changes to the suspension settings and tyre pressures and went out again for the second practice session, this is now where the weekends problems began to develop………. Straight away the engine had developed a misfire when at or above 7,500rpm, so the session was spent doing an out lap from the pits and an in lap back in to the pits throughout the remainder of the session with the mechanics trying to locate the problem.

Back to the pits and much time spent trying to locate the fault. The problem continued throughout the day for every session and we just couldn’t identify or cure the fault. We finally left the circuit at 8.00pm on Friday evening after replacing the last of the electronic engine sensors being the cam sensors and hoped that the problem was cured.

So much for completing three practice sessions and heading for the beach at Cha am for an early dip in the sea. Thomas did suggest we go for an early morning swim on Saturday morning before going to the track but an extra 30 minutes in bed seemed more appealing at the time.

Saturday 19 June 2010.

There was to be just one practice session on Saturday morning (30 minutes) followed by qualifying in the afternoon, so with fingers crossed I headed out of the pit lane on the first of the practice session laps. The misfire was still there but at 8,500rpm now and I had just completed the first lap when the engine decided it had had enough and let go, the problem being, a dropped valve and the engine finished which will require a new cylinder block as well as cylinder head, plus new valves, springs, pistons, bearings etc etc. The engine had obviously been trying to tell us something throughout Friday but we were focused looking down the lines of an electrical or sensor fault rather than something more serious.

So literally bang went the weekend of racing. We had originally intended to carry one spare K20 engine which would be available to Ray and myself should either of us encounter problems on race weekends as we both use K20 engines, unfortunately last time out Ray blew his engine and also the spare K20 so we were left with no alternative but to sit out these particular rounds, or so we thought………..

Mr. Carlo who normally runs in the Jazz one make series had his car at the track but was out of country and had lent it to Khun Dun to drive in the Jazz race. Carlo was in the Bahamas on holiday or something and Thomas after a few telephone calls managed to track him down and he confirmed we could use the car, but don’t bend it………..

So the plan of attack for Sundays two races would be to start at the back of the grid as we hadn’t taken part in the qualifying sessions for both races and drive around in the first race to try and pick up the odd Championship point. Lets hope for rain…….

Sunday 20 June 2010.

Race 1 -  With 30 odd cars on the grid it was kind of difficult to see the lights but it didn’t make much difference in trying to make a lightening start as the plan for driving the 1500cc production jazz against the full blown 2000cc race engines was to drive around conservatively (without bending the car) and see what points I could pick up for the Championship. I also didn’t want to do anything stupid with the car as Khun Dun had his second race of the day following me completing, this our first race, his day would have been spoilt for sure if I had bent the car and he couldn’t race again this day.

So I toured around and managed to pick up 2 Championship points for the first race and was lapped twice by race winner Khun Todd. Never mind two Championship points are good points, lets not lose track of the fact that I lost the Championship last year by just two points……

Race 2 -  Just before the race was due to start the heavens opened and it poured down with heavy rain for nearly an hour…….. my prayers had been answered. Once the rain had subsided the organizers decided to start the race by using the pace car and it would be a rolling start, single file. Again I was starting from the back of the grid and once underway new that I was much faster in the wet than just about half of the field. I didn’t have the restriction of knowing that Khun Dun needed the car to race again that day just not to bend it for Carlo, so I was driving at probably 95%. Driving as I was whilst the track remained wet I made up a load of places and think at one point I was running as high as 15^th overall, not bad considering driving a standard production racing Jazz from the one make race. As the race wore on the track inevitably started to dry and running in the Jazz had a massive power disadvantage to everyone else.

Anyway I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself in the Jazz and the wet track conditions and finally brought the car home in 17^th overall 6^th in class, to earn a further valuable 4.5 points towards the Championship.

So 6.5 points from a weekend of racing doesn’t sound much, but it is 6.5 points more than I expected after blowing the engine on Saturday morning and as I mentioned earlier I lost the Championship last year by a much less margin than 6.5 points……..

Next week we have the Supercar Rounds 3 and 4 at Bira, I am currently leading the 2000cc Junior Championship race after the first 2 rounds but unfortunately will not be able to compete at Supercar Rounds 3 and 4 as the engine will not be rebuilt in time. A sickener for sure but I guess I will just have to try that bit harder throughout the course of the remaining season to see what can be salvaged………Last time out in the Supercar Round 2 I was sitting third overall, first in class with 3 laps to run when 4 of the 5 wheel studs broke on the front offside wheel.

In the Thai Touring car Round 4, when in fourth place overall and 2^nd in class the gearbox final drive decided it had had enough and a further DNF.

Last weekend in the Honda Racing Fest Series driving the Jazz in the first two Rounds was far from being ideal but OK, satisfactory. From having a great start to the season, we have suddenly gone in to a tail spin and stall mode, lets hope we can resume business as normal soon and put these last few failures behind us and manage to salvage something out of the season ahead.

So the next race for me will be 24^th and 25^th July at Bira racing in the Thai Touring Car series, which will be for Rounds 5 and 6.

I would just like to add a footnote and thank Carlo for the kind use of his car, thanks Carlo if I can ever help you in some way let me know, chow for now and grazzi.