Time Attack 2024 Round 3 – Cadwell Park
Just like that it’s time for round 3 of this year’s Time Attack Championship at Cadwell Park. Cadwell is usually the opening round so things have been a little different this year. With only 2 weeks between the last round and this, there was not much time to work on the car but we found the time to replace the turbo to manifold V Band Clamp, stuck on a pair of new tyres and added some catches to the new fibreglass doors to stop them flexing at higher speeds.Â
Warm Up
Heading into this warmup session I knew there wouldn’t be much chance for a quick lap as the Honda Racing Championship class B cars were out on track with us. The plan was to give the car a little shake down and check it over after the session to make sure everything was in check going forward. As expected the track was super busy and with Cadwell Park being so narrow, there was no space to unleash the performance of the car.
After the the warm up we finally managed to pinpoint the source of the minor oil leak which had been apparent ever since the new engine went in over winter. It turned out to be a perished o ring in the rocker cover breather blanking cap. A quick, easy fix for the team in the paddock.
Practice
Without the Hondas it was now time to get some clear laps on the board and start discovering the grip levels around the track. Over the session I managed 7 laps in total but I was really struggling to get to grips with the track both mentally and physically. At the end of the practice the best time was a 1:41.491 which wasn’t bad but wasn’t where I wanted to be. The Garmin lap timer also decided it didn’t want to work, I never realized how much I relied on this until now!
Qualifying
Qualifying is the first session of the weekend where points are available so it was important to get some solid clean laps in early on. This time out I managed to register 9 laps with the fastest coming on lap 7. It was my fastest time of the day so far, a 1:38.015 which was some 3.5 seconds quicker than this morning but still around 2 seconds off what I know the car is capable of.
Sadly the session was brought to an end early due to a car from the Club 4WD hitting the tyre barrier and causing quite a mess. Without this I feel I could have gone quicker as my confidence came back. The time set was good enough for 4th in class.
Final
Just before our final runs we were informed the session had been cut down to 18 minutes from 20 as a result of red flags throughout the day putting the timetable a little behind schedule. The final session continued that trend with another red flag hampering my second flying lap after the first was compromised early on. With the stricken car recovered I headed back out on circuit straight into a flying lap, clocking a 1:39.332. Followed by a consecutive flying lap, there wasn’t enough time to be hanging around waiting.
Unfortunately, pushing slightly too hard I dipped a wheel off track and lost all the time gained in the first sector. With just enough time left on the clock for one more run I went again, only to find the chequered flag had been waved 45 seconds early leaving me with just one clean lap on the board and 5th place in class.
The only way I can sum up this Round 3 is ‘frustrating’ knowing the performance was available for a better result but not being able to extract it. The good run had to come to an end eventually. This was the first time in 12 months I hadn’t scored a podium and achieved a personal best lap time. Time for a little reset now ahead of R4 at Brands Hatch in 6 weeks time on June 16th.
