Turbos.
So last weekend was our first trip to the beautiful Dijon-Prenois, which was an F1 circuit up until '84. We started with a test day on the Friday, to get to know the circuit. My only indication of what it was like up until then was good ol' YouTube vids.
This was actually race one of the Lotus Cup Europe championship (opposed to Lotus Cup UK). All Lotus Cup series' around the world run to more or less the same regs, but the European series has more competitive cars, as my paddock photos show!
I'd like to think our Elise is still the best looking, of course!
In testing, our times seemed comparable with everyone else, but there were some cocky locals arriving on the day of qualifying, so we knew we couldn't get too excited...
Because of the limited time, my dad and i have to flip a coin for qualifying, and he got the nod. Unfortunately a 211 blew its engine resulting in oil in the in-field. Not ideal, because Dijon has a massive straight; we needed the corners to make up for our deficit in power (and 50kg ballast for having sequential etc.).
My dad didn't get a good lap, and we ended up a disappointing 16th out of 36, albeit 2nd in class. The more frustrating element was that we were out qualified by a French Exige with none of the aero we have!
Still, could have been worse...
More coin flipping was needed afterwards, as rather than a shared 1 hour race, we had a shorter 1/2 hour race each. I ended up doing the first race, which was a rolling start.
Rolling starts are a bit of guess work. The leader sometimes guns it, sometimes creeps along. We got a bit bunched up but i managed to get ahead of the French Exige early by getting a good run at him.
I was then surrounded by a load of 2-Elevens, which were frustratingly slow until we got to that massive straight, where they pulled away. It didn't matter though, as the priority was to stay in front of my class rival.
That was easier said than done though! As i chased a Black Exige and Red 2-Eleven, they had a near miss which resulted in me swerving to avoid them. The French Exige duly took the position...
Fortunately, on the next lap, Frenchie got a bit excited and went for a lunge at the hairpin on the Black Exige. I knew he went in narrow, so i took a wider a line and managed to get by them both in one move.
As they squabbled behind me, i was onto the 2-Eleven that had gotten away. Dijon wasn't helping me, as the in-field becomes quite narrow. Although i could get a nose in front before the straight, it was never enough to stop him getting past again.
My hope was to take advantage of lapping slower cars, and it was soon realised when an S1 Elise turned in on him, knocking his rear wheel. I was duly rewarded for eagerly waiting for his car to fall apart, he only bloody held on...
So, it was frustrating to not finish better (i only came 11th), but i got the class win and bonus of fastest lap.
The lessi say about my dad's race, the better.... unfortunately a slower Elise span in front of him, collecting the car in the process. It needs a new front end for the next race, as well suspension parts. Big shame, as my dad was catching Frenchie once more and it looked like it could have been two class wins. Wasn't all bad for the old man though...
I will endeavour to get some videos up soon, some of the onboard footage is pretty cool.
This was actually race one of the Lotus Cup Europe championship (opposed to Lotus Cup UK). All Lotus Cup series' around the world run to more or less the same regs, but the European series has more competitive cars, as my paddock photos show!
I'd like to think our Elise is still the best looking, of course!
In testing, our times seemed comparable with everyone else, but there were some cocky locals arriving on the day of qualifying, so we knew we couldn't get too excited...
Because of the limited time, my dad and i have to flip a coin for qualifying, and he got the nod. Unfortunately a 211 blew its engine resulting in oil in the in-field. Not ideal, because Dijon has a massive straight; we needed the corners to make up for our deficit in power (and 50kg ballast for having sequential etc.).
My dad didn't get a good lap, and we ended up a disappointing 16th out of 36, albeit 2nd in class. The more frustrating element was that we were out qualified by a French Exige with none of the aero we have!
Still, could have been worse...
More coin flipping was needed afterwards, as rather than a shared 1 hour race, we had a shorter 1/2 hour race each. I ended up doing the first race, which was a rolling start.
Rolling starts are a bit of guess work. The leader sometimes guns it, sometimes creeps along. We got a bit bunched up but i managed to get ahead of the French Exige early by getting a good run at him.
I was then surrounded by a load of 2-Elevens, which were frustratingly slow until we got to that massive straight, where they pulled away. It didn't matter though, as the priority was to stay in front of my class rival.
That was easier said than done though! As i chased a Black Exige and Red 2-Eleven, they had a near miss which resulted in me swerving to avoid them. The French Exige duly took the position...
Fortunately, on the next lap, Frenchie got a bit excited and went for a lunge at the hairpin on the Black Exige. I knew he went in narrow, so i took a wider a line and managed to get by them both in one move.
As they squabbled behind me, i was onto the 2-Eleven that had gotten away. Dijon wasn't helping me, as the in-field becomes quite narrow. Although i could get a nose in front before the straight, it was never enough to stop him getting past again.
My hope was to take advantage of lapping slower cars, and it was soon realised when an S1 Elise turned in on him, knocking his rear wheel. I was duly rewarded for eagerly waiting for his car to fall apart, he only bloody held on...
So, it was frustrating to not finish better (i only came 11th), but i got the class win and bonus of fastest lap.
The lessi say about my dad's race, the better.... unfortunately a slower Elise span in front of him, collecting the car in the process. It needs a new front end for the next race, as well suspension parts. Big shame, as my dad was catching Frenchie once more and it looked like it could have been two class wins. Wasn't all bad for the old man though...
I will endeavour to get some videos up soon, some of the onboard footage is pretty cool.
about the race two damage.
