Goodwood Spring Sprint

uncle benz · 09-04-2015, 10:55 PM

Not BMW related, but this might be of interest to some, as well as allowing me to blow my own trumpet just a little bit, ha ha!

As some of you know, I am involved a bit with the preparation of some track and race cars. One of my customers had entered the GRRC Spring Sprint event, with his Nissan R35 GT-R. I spent a week and a half fettling the car in readiness, and on Monday we all pitched up at Goodwood for the event. We were a little disheartened to discover Anthony Reid, the professional racing driver, had entered with a Noble M600, and had brought a huge entourage with him. His car reputedly had 750bhp, and weighed 1200kg. To compare, we had 550bhp and 1600kg and he would be running in the same class as us. Our driver felt discouraged, to say the least. A bit of a pep talk later, and we lined up for morning practice. The event comprises one practice run, and two timed runs per competitor. Garry put in a good practice run for us, and we clearly had Reid rattled, as after his practice his car disappeared. We lined up for our first timed run, but a problem with Goodwood's gear meant a time was not recorded, and we were told we'd have to run again. Our second try saw a respectable time of 86.68 seconds, enough to give us fastest time of the day. We were ecstatic now!
Anthony Reid reappeared and delivered an 86.25, pushing us to second place. Garry lined up for his final run. We had reduced the tyre pressures slightly, and Garry had gone for a big poo. The fine tuning worked, and he pushed the ragged edge to bring us home in 85.45 seconds, retaking the lead, and we thought we had it in the bag.
Mr Reid then threw his toys from the pram. He appealed to the officials that we had had three runs instead of two, despite the first one being abortive, due to a timing fault. Goodwood granted him a third and final chance to beat us.....
Beat us, he did not. His final run produced an 87 second time.

We won our class, and fastest time of the day. Quite an achievement, and all of us were whooping with joy, as you can probably imagine!!!

Some pictures...

The car on my lift, the week before

Garry, looking tired and emotional...

The car, with winners wreathes

Lifting the trophy

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09-04-2015, 10:55 PM	#1
uncle benz S4 - Getting the hang of it Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: West Sussex Posts: 155 Casino cash: $5680	Goodwood Spring Sprint Not BMW related, but this might be of interest to some, as well as allowing me to blow my own trumpet just a little bit, ha ha! As some of you know, I am involved a bit with the preparation of some track and race cars. One of my customers had entered the GRRC Spring Sprint event, with his Nissan R35 GT-R. I spent a week and a half fettling the car in readiness, and on Monday we all pitched up at Goodwood for the event. We were a little disheartened to discover Anthony Reid, the professional racing driver, had entered with a Noble M600, and had brought a huge entourage with him. His car reputedly had 750bhp, and weighed 1200kg. To compare, we had 550bhp and 1600kg and he would be running in the same class as us. Our driver felt discouraged, to say the least. A bit of a pep talk later, and we lined up for morning practice. The event comprises one practice run, and two timed runs per competitor. Garry put in a good practice run for us, and we clearly had Reid rattled, as after his practice his car disappeared. We lined up for our first timed run, but a problem with Goodwood's gear meant a time was not recorded, and we were told we'd have to run again. Our second try saw a respectable time of 86.68 seconds, enough to give us fastest time of the day. We were ecstatic now! Anthony Reid reappeared and delivered an 86.25, pushing us to second place. Garry lined up for his final run. We had reduced the tyre pressures slightly, and Garry had gone for a big poo. The fine tuning worked, and he pushed the ragged edge to bring us home in 85.45 seconds, retaking the lead, and we thought we had it in the bag. Mr Reid then threw his toys from the pram. He appealed to the officials that we had had three runs instead of two, despite the first one being abortive, due to a timing fault. Goodwood granted him a third and final chance to beat us..... Beat us, he did not. His final run produced an 87 second time. We won our class, and fastest time of the day. Quite an achievement, and all of us were whooping with joy, as you can probably imagine!!! Some pictures... The car on my lift, the week before Garry, looking tired and emotional... The car, with winners wreathes Lifting the trophy [/quote]