For Round 4 of the BRSCC Audi TT Cup Racing, we were at Knockhill (you can read about below), due to clashes with the 750MC races, I was unable to make it to Round 5 at Cadwell. Carl also missed it as he was expecting a new addition to the family around that time, and Luke had a fight with a concrete pump hose (he lost) so we were all back for the penultimate round at Croft.

A layout of the Croft Circuit is below. This track has a combination of some fast flowing corners, as well as some tight, technical areas.

For the TTCR everyone is in the same equipment, but there is a Masters Class for the 'more life experienced' racers. I would be in the regular class.
The BRSCC uses TSL for all the timing info, so the results can be found using TSL link.

Pre-Testing Testing

I was away in Edinburgh for Jenna's birthday, so the plan was to meet our mechanic Luke at the track ready to do the afternoon testing on the Friday.
The previous day Carl and Luke Handley had brought their cars to our dyno so we could compare the output for all of our TTs. Very long story short, when the ECUs was swapped between Luke and Carl's, theirs did identical power. My car, with the championship turbo, did a bit more due to a boost spike in the midrange. Other than that, they seemed pretty close, with mine just having the edge. I am running out of excuses now!

Testing

With a 3.5 hour drive from Scotland, I was not aiming to do the first session, which turned out to be pretty damp and greasy in places. The next 2 sessions looked like they would be more representative of the weekend's forecast.
In the second session (and my first of the day) the car felt pretty good, but I still felt like the front end was not biting like the others I observed. I'd finished up in the low 1:37s, with Carl easily in the 1:35s and Luke in the 1:36s, so I knew I needed to push harder and also look closer at the setup.
Session 3 looked to be promising, the setup changes Luke made seeming to help front end grip, but on my first flying lap, out of the chicane, the gearbox decided it did not want to carry on and expired, leaving me to roll around Tower and cut across the track into the pitlane and retire from the session. Further inspection is required, but with the chunk of gear that came out of the oil, we suspect 4th gear has stripped.
This meant we had a problem. Luke had been building the spare gearbox for the car back at the workshop that morning, but ran out of time before he had to set off for the 1.5hr journey from HQ to Croft. Luckily, there was enough time in the day left for Paul to finish the box back at base, and delivery it to the track later on. We decided it would be best if Luke removed the box, we all go and get some food, then he meet Paul back at the track to get it thrown back together. The plan worked perfectly and just before midnight, the car was back on all 4 wheels with a working transmission! Really grateful for the effort from Luke, Paul, Tom and Dave for making it happen.

Qualifying

I knew I needed to repay the favour to the guys with a good result, but missing a test session meant we were on the back foot both setup and practice wise. I don't normally need too long to get into the groove at a circuit, but this TT driving so differently to the Golf I am used to is proving to be a harder car to master!
I pushed hard and Luke was on the pitwall giving positions, a few times only needing 1 hand, so I was pretty happy considering. The track was getting better with each lap, so I knew it was a case of staying out and pushing. I'd got Handley in front of me, and was catching him every lap, so I knew I was at least in front of him for once this season, but eventually we were too close so I backed off, hoping a bit more space would help. It didn't, and I kept making mistakes, then just as I prepared for my final attempt, the checkered was out. That was it, P7 - not where I wanted to be!
You might recognise a new name on the list, Adam Blair, who raced with us in the TT last season, it's unreliability not allowing him to get the results he has the skills to achieve. He would be a contender this weekend if he could keep his car in good order (he'd debuted at Cadwell but had a load of power related issues that were hopefully solved!).

Carl, Andrew and Adam were all into the low 1:36s or high 1:35s pretty quickly. Richard, Ryan and Jon took a fair bit longer to get into the swing of things. Me and Luke peaked too early, with everyone else setting their best laps right near the end.

Pole changed hands a few times over the course of the session, with Carl getting there at the end. It was so tight at the top, only 0.082s separating the top 3.

Qualifying Lap

My fastest qualifying lap is shown below:

Race 1

I had a terrible start, struggled for 2nd gear and ended up getting swamped 5 places before turn 1. I made a couple up over the first lap, getting back to 8th by the end of lap 1.
Into Tower on the next lap I went down the inside of Paul then set about catching the leading pack (other than Carl and Richard - they were in a race of their own). I'd managed to get on the back of Morgan and Adam trying to get past Luke in his double wide car. This held them up enough for me to get alongside Morgan on the straight and into turn 1. He gave me a tap in the side as we turned in, which slowed us both down enough for Andrew Dyer to get down the inside of me then Morgan just as they got to the chicane. I could see it was going to end in tears so I backed off a little, but clearly not enough as instead of giving up the position, Morgan fought until the last minute then braked hard to avoid the tyre stack, leaving me nowhere to go other than into the back of him.
I could hear bits of my car flying off in all directions, but it seemed to be steering pretty straight so I carried on and hoped nothing major would fall off.
I managed to hold on to 6th for the rest of the race, so that is where I finished, battered, annoyed but it could have been worse.

I'd climbed back a few places early on, but then could not get any further, the crash had put me way off Luke in front.

Carl was untroubled at the front after lap 1, and towards the end he backed off. Dyer was on a rampage after his mistake the first time braking into Tower, and managed to claw back to P2 by the end.
My car can't have been too bad, I set my fastest lap of the race a few laps after the smash. Still 0.8s off the leaders to some way to go!

My onboard from Race 1 is here:

Race 2

The next day we were ready for another race. Luke had rebuilt the front end, as well as completely changing the geometry to be closer to Luke and Carl's setup, after we went a mile away from it trying to chase the missing pace, that was most likely the Turbo issue we resolved before Silverstone.
Adam and Forber had come together in Race 1, resulting in Richard receiving a 10 place grid penalty. This push me up to P5 on the grid.
I had an OK start this time, the guys in front getting away better but we all were bunched up by turn 1. I was alongside Luke at the chicane, but yesterday's incident was fresh in my mind so I backed out and would try to get him somewhere else!
There was oil down all over at Sunny, so it was like driving on ice for most of the lap after that. Carl was at the front of the pack, but as we were on Lap 4, I could see he had lost first place, and was slowing down, losing 2nd at Sunny, then letting me and Luke past on the main straight. It turned out to be another actuator failure. Such a shame as he was on for another win.
Dyer and Blair were fighting for the top step while I was on Luke's tail, trying to force a mistake. The next lap, Adam pulled into the pits (he had a vibration that turned out to be a snapped engine mount) and this meant we were both now in 2nd and 3rd. Who would end up on the higher step?
We were nose to tail for the rest of the race, until the last lap board was show. Through the chicane Luke lost the back end, and I have a real run on him into Tower. I went left, then right and just as we both braked, the ABS lockout pushed the brake pedal back and I was a passenger as the car nudged to back of Luke, sending him onto the grass and back into 4th place.
I finished in 2nd with Ryan just behind me, knowing that I was going to be called to the stewards for at least a telling off.
After reviewing the footage, they determined I had caused it and gave me an 11s penalty to put me behind Luke. This meant he was 3rd and I was 4th. Ah well.

So in this race, I only really made up positions with people retiring, not ideal but as they say, to finish first, first you have to finish.

Everyone's laptimes were significantly slower than Race 1, the oil definitely not helping!

My onboard from Race 2 is here:

Race 3

My penalty put me behind Edgecombe on the grid. I remembered he'd had a bad start so tried to position myself so I had a bit of an escape path. What I didn't factor in was Dyer also getting a bad start, so as I went right, Luke went left. Seeing as anyone who goes near him gets 3 points and a grid drop, I backed off, then missed 2nd gear for good measure. This dropped me basically right to the back. What a nightmare.
Adam had come from the right at the back and he was still in front of me by turn 1! I definitely need to get these starts nailed.
I got my head down and made up some places on the first lap, then ended up in no man's land for a while, needing some of those in front to trip over each other for me to gain ground. I made another place up then was back on my own again.
On the second to last lap, I'd caught the pack led by Luke, doing his usual double wide TT trick to back Adam and Ryan up. Adam pushed his way through (and was given a penalty for it) and I capitalised and got past Ryan. On the last corner of the last lap, I went to go round the outside of Luke, which was never going to happen. I went wide and it was a drag race to the line, with Ryan just pipping me for 4th!

The chart doesn't show how bad I had started, or that I got to 4th on the last lap, I had spent too long on my own not making progress.

I was still miles off the pace over a single lap. Hopefully we can find some more pace in the setup for next time out. Or I just need to learn to drive faster.

My onboard from Race 3 is here:

The last round is looming, we are heading back to Snetterton for another triple header, on my Birthday weekend. I really hope we can find the pace we need, whether it is the car or me. I have to say a big thanks to all the guys for working double hard to fix the gearbox from Friday and damage from Saturday. Without them my weekend would have been over before it started.
Also thanks to our main sponsor in this car, Partly, who are helping us with fitment data for some exciting changes to the website, coming this year!

All the details and dates for future races we are entering can be found on the Darkside Motorsport Page.