MR2 Racing - 2010 Season

[kezbabybabe]

For those of you that might be interested the MR2s start their racing season at Mallory Park this Sunday.

They run a 15 minute practice session and have 2 x 15 minute races.

I will be going along to cheer on Jon Winter, number 46 who Projectzip (Joe) is Race Engineer for.

It's my first visit to MR2s and also Mallory Park, so I'm looking forward to it, though not so much the camping on Saturday night. :(:p

Pictures of Jon's car:
Jon's MR2 - Picture 1 (http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs375.snc3/24051_10150156603040367_730075366_11987472_5431467 _n.jpg)
Jon's MR2 - Picture 2 (http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs435.ash1/24051_10150156603050367_730075366_11987473_1539091 _n.jpg)
Jon's MR2 - Picture 3 (http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs395.snc3/24051_10150156603060367_730075366_11987474_3050822 _n.jpg)

Here's the calendar for you:

2010 Race Calendar
Apr 18 - Mallory Park
May 30 - Snetterton
Jun 20 - Castle Combe
Jul 17 - Lydden Hill
Aug 22 - Cadwell Park
Sep 19 - Mallory Park
Oct 24 - Brands Hatch

Unfortunately some of the rounds do clash with BTCC, though it's good opportunity to visit other circuits and support smaller race series

[Eunos]

Lydden Hill is a Possible one for me, I only live about 40 Miles away from the Track :cool:

[kezbabybabe]

Good Good, Mr. Billington! :cool:

[mattlovestbs]

Doesn't Lydden Hill clash with WTCC at Brands?

[kezbabybabe]

Just a quick update from the racing on Sunday. With

Qualifying
Jon's MR2 showed a good pace in Qualifying by putting it 6th on the grid (out of a total of 36 cars that joined qualifying), even after the session was restarted due to a spun car on the hairpin. This left Jon along with 4 other cars on the start/finish straight with the other cars returning to the pitlane, this worked to Jon's advantage as he was able to build up the speed needed for qualifying without too much traffic getting in the way.

Race 1
Each race is 15 minutes long. Mallory Park for some reason didn't stagger the cars, as you would expect on the grid, and this was going to cause some mischief on the start, as there was a kerfuffle with three cars wide, with Jon getting a big shove after the lights. This has caused some body damage alongside the right hand side of the car.

Jon was running as high as 4th position and was looking good on pace, until he began to lose power and slowly dropped down the order to a respectable 8th place.

On return to the paddock area the car looked a little worse for wear, so was rolled home to its awning. Upon inspection the car was leaking fluid from underneath the engine bay. There was no easy way to see what was going on, however it was found out that there was oil in cylinder 3, which was not fixable at the track. :(:(

As a result of this we were unable to compete in Race 2 and had to sadly withdraw, I know that Jon and the rest of the team were very upset about this, particularly as Jon's race pace was looking good.

We're still unsure whether the start line incident caused the damaged to the engine, but we do know it's going to be a hard job to get it all fixed in time for the next race at Snetterton.

This was my first visit to Mallory Park and for those of you that haven't been there, you would probably akin it to Oulton Park, as it has two lakes, one larger than the other and is similar in shape.

The facilities were good, along with the viewing points. As Joe and I camped on the Saturday night ready for Sunday, we took a walk around the whole 1.3 mile track at night, which was great. Wouldn't mind cycling a bike round there one day. ;)

I have some pictures from the day so I'll get these uploaded shortly and will link them here.

Fingers crossed we make it to Snetterton!

[kezbabybabe]

Hey All,

It's that time again when the MR2s take to the racing track for the next round which is at Snetterton, Norfolk.

Jon and Joe have been working hard over the past month to get the car ready following the injuries it suffered at Mallory Park, it's still touch and go from last night, due to a misfire, whether the car will even make it to the grid. :eek:

Once I know more I will let you all know, in the meantime, have a think about coming along it's only £10 a ticket (online), £12 on the gate and there are loads of other race series taking part this weekend, though MR2s are only racing on Sunday.

Plus it's a good excuse to see the updated Snetterton. ;)

[kezbabybabe]

Forgot to give these to you earlier:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kezbabybabe/sets/72157623767127119/

[snetty_boy]

Hey All,

It's that time again when the MR2s take to the racing track for the next round which is at Snetterton, Norfolk.

Jon and Joe have been working hard over the past month to get the car ready following the injuries it suffered at Mallory Park, it's still touch and go from last night, due to a misfire, whether the car will even make it to the grid. :eek:

Once I know more I will let you all know, in the meantime, have a think about coming along it's only £10 a ticket (online), £12 on the gate and there are loads of other race series taking part this weekend, though MR2s are only racing on Sunday.

Plus it's a good excuse to see the updated Snetterton. ;)

Basically a large muddy bank is the only real update that is visible.

I should be up their at some point on the sunday as i have cricket on the saturday and need to get some revision done :mad:

[kezbabybabe]

Thanks for that, will take a look around, if I get time.

Car update: It's ready to race, fixed yesterday! Phew... So will be packing it all up tomorrow for the trip down to Snetterton tomorrow night. :cool:

[snetty_boy]

Wow what a cracking little series it is. What 38 cars i think their was for the start off race 1. Dragged on a bit due to the 2 red flags at the start of race 1 but after that there were little gaggles of cars all down the field. Number 46 had a cheeky little spin at the esses's though :p

It's well worth a watch thats for sure. :D

[kezbabybabe]

Thanks Snetty_Boy, yes there was 38 cars on the grid for race 1. :cool:

I'll come back and do a small race report for you when I have a little bit more time. :)

[kezbabybabe]

Okay I failed to find the time to write a race report for Snett, sorry about that one. :o

The general gist of Snett was that Race 1 was restarted 3 times after being red flagged twice due to a bit of a pile up on the circuit going through turn 1.

Jon finished 17th in that race and in Race 2 finished 18th and had a great laugh with another driver Jason Jesse, who races a Sheffif branded car so they had a bit of a spin and game of who can brake last into corners, very amusing...

So results stand at: 7th, DNS, 17, 18, not too bad considering the number of cars on the grid. :D

CASTLE COMBE

Weather: Absolutely gorgeous! :cool:

Qualifying: Jon's never raced at Castle Combe before and only done a track day on a motorcycle, so the plan was to take it easy and get to know the track. Castle Combe is very bumpy on quite a few sections of the track and it's a similar style to Thruxton, so it's got to be treated with respect. ;)

Jon qualified 13th, which was a great effort when you take the above into account. Jon also didn't want to push the car too hard after some engine trouble which had been fixed since Snetterton.

Race 1
Jon had a good race 1 and gained a number of places by the time they got to Quarry, I have a video of the first lap which I'll link to soon. Everyone more or less kept a clean sheet and Jon made it up to 7th!

Race 2
So starting from 7th place a very hot Jon Winter had a cracking race two, battling with Jason Jesse and car number 69, who pushed him all the way to the end of the race (reduced to 13 minutes, due to a bad Formula Ford crash earlier in the day), Jon finished a tight 4th place, best result so far!

So after Castle Combe the results are as follows:
7th, DNS, 17, 18, 7, 4 - This is an average of an 8th/9th place. :D The team are very happy with that result and the car is still in a great condition, so hopefully there isn't much work to do on it in the meantime.

Next Race: Lydden Hill, Kent - July 17th - Tickets cost £12 for adults and Children under 12 go free.

Kerry

[kezbabybabe]

Saturday is race day for the MR2s this weekend at Lydden Hill, so do come along to cheer us on!

Tickets are £12 per day with camping for £25, as it's on Friday too:
http://www.lyddenhill.co.uk/
(You probably should know that this is a Classic Touring Car event, so right up our alley. ;))

I do believe that the car is looking good, so lets hope Jon's able to improve even further on 4th place that was received at Castle Combe. :D


You can even make it a double and attend the race day of World Touring Cars on Sunday at Brands Hatch. ;)

[kezbabybabe]

It was my first visit to Lydden Hill, so didn't really know what to expect, except that it's a little track at a mile long.

Upon arrival, it was pleasing to see that you could watch about 95% of the track from the top of the hairpin, so was easy to keep track of the cars going round.

Quali
All the cars were out for qualification (with the exception of a few that race in the earlier Nippon quali), so the track was a bit packed. Jon managed to get near the front of the queue and this was to be a help throughout as getting track space wasn't easy. Joe was on the timer clock 51.7secs laps, so all looked to be on for a good qualification from the number 46 car.

Results from the quali session: 5th Fastest. Resulted in 7th place in Race A, taking Nippon qualifiers into account.

Race 1
Jon's never raced this circuit before as with a number of competitors, but he made a good start from 7th place, despite not being able to see the lights clearly. Jon had good pace and was able to catch up with the front of the grid and was challenging for 3rd place when Jon took a wide line from a corner and went bouncing through the gravel trap, this in turn made the exhaust pipe come away from its connections and Jon was running around with the exhaust bumping on the circuit. A couple of laps later (Jon not able to see his Black/Orange flag in time) the exhaust pipe fell off at the other side of the circuit, Jon lost power and had to call it quits on Race 1.

Joe and I had a tiring walk to retrieve the fallen exhaust pipe with the hopes to reattach it before the next race.

Thanks to another team, they loaned us a spare exhaust pipe, which the lads were able to reattach in time for Race 2.

Race 2
Due to the way the races worked this time, Jon was placed 7th on the grid based on his qualification time. Jon was able to make a better start, but we weren't sure how the exhaust pipe was going to affect the power of the car. However Jon was able to put in a good race and finished 6th in the end.

Unfortunately Jon suffered a kick up the bum at one point over the day and the engine problems that resulted after Mallory are back, but let's hope that Joe and Jon are able to fix it ready for Cadwell Park on 22nd August.

So after Lydden the results are as follows:
7th, DNS, 17, 18, 7, 4, DNF, 6 - This is an average of an 7th place.

[kezbabybabe]

Hi All,

The MR2 racing is on it's way to Cadwell Park in a couple of weeks to join in the racing with the MSVR Championships! This will include a packed weekend of racing action that includes the Lotus Elise Trophy, Gaz Shocks Production BMW Championship, Toyo Tires Racing Saloons, Golf GTi Championship, VAG Trophy, Club MSV Trackday Trophy, Nippon Challenge, MR2 Race Series (racing Saturday), Sports 2000 and the Northern Saloon and Sportscar Championship.

If you are in the area, maybe you would like to come along and cheer on number 46 Jon Winter in the tiger striped car? ;)

Tickets can be found here:
http://ticket.motorsportvision.co.uk/calendar/2010/august/100822-msvr-cp.aspx

Look forward to seeing you there!

Kerry

[Daz-NCFC]

Does this racing series get any sort of TV coverage, whether Live or Highlights package etc?

Wouldn't mind giving it a look.

[kezbabybabe]

I don't think so, if it did it would be shown on Motors TV. I can PM you the link to on board footage from some of the drivers if you would like?

[Daz-NCFC]

I can PM you the link to on board footage from some of the drivers if you would like?

Yes Please Kez, that would be great ;)

[mattlovestbs]

PBMWC and TTRS with MR2's? That'll be fun as PBMWC and TTRS is pretty mega (unbiased of course...)

[kezbabybabe]

Yep, or more likely the other way around. ;) I'll try and have a lookie, but I don't get a lot of time to watch much racing bar the MR2s...

[Marc W]

I've seen MR2's on tv before, Not sure if it was Raceworld on Sky sports or Motors tv. I think there are a couple of series though so it may have been the other one.

[Marc W]

I just checked and it was Motors Tv. I think it's the other series to the one Kerry is involved in though.

[kezbabybabe]

Yeah, there was one that ran at Castle Combe in April that Joe and I saw.

[kezbabybabe]

So the MR2s visited Cadwell Park last weekend, which for a couple of drivers was a brand new experience, particularly for our driver Jon Winter.

Qualifying didn't go too well with Jon experiencing a electrical problem, meaning that he was only able to complete 3 laps, which set him down in 21st on the grid out of about 30 cars, not a good start.

Anyway the car was fixed and off to Race 1 it was, a tough challenge to be had, but Jon was getting more confident with the track and knowing the gears for the corners. He's good off the line, so we were all hopeful of a top ten finish. Jon had a reasonably incident free race but managed to drag the car up to 12th place.

A couple of cars were DQ'd for being underweight, so Jon was 'promoted' to 10th place, this cheered us up immensley as we waited for race 2.

Race 2 again was going to be a challenge, however Jon proved that his race craft had improved immensely as he was able to get back up to 7th to finish the race.

So what turned out to be a possible let down weekend turned around nicely to produce some strong results.

Next stop is Mallory Park again on 19th September. So if you aren't planning to be at Donington, then do come along and support us, you'll not be disappointed.

- Kerry