Since Round 3 of the BRSCC Audi TT Cup Racing, at Donington (you can read about below), we had the car back at the workshop to figure out what was going on. We found the bolts were incorrect in the subframe, so were allowing it to twist slightly, throwing out the toe. With that and some radical geometry changes, we hoped the car would be better after the 6 hour drive north to Knockhill.

A layout of the Knockhill Circuit is below. I've never driven it before and only looked at the track as a spectator two years ago. It is only short, with expected lap times of around a minute, but it is constant, with no rest before the next lap starts!

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.

Testing

Having never driven the track, we opted to test on Friday. It was immediately apparent that we had not fixed the understeer on the TT, and some other changes we made had caused the ABS to kick in as soon as the brakes were touched. We spent both sessions trying to figure it out and whilst we made it better, I was still struggling and not looking forward to qualifying.

Practice

There was a 45 minute practice session first thing Saturday, which would be the first time we would be able to compare data with the other drivers. Not everyone did it so it was not fully representative, but it was still clear that I was over a second off the pace of Makar and half a second from everyone else.

Qualifying

I went straight out and beat my best time from practice by a couple of tenths, but with brand new tyres on the front I expected more. As I was on another hot lap, the red flag came out due to a car in the gravel, so we waited for that to be recovered before going back out again. I eventually broke into the 59s, but it seemed much harder than it should have been to get there.
It was tight at the top, with less than 0.2s separating the top 3 and Luke up there as well. I was 0.7s off, which on a lap this short is an age.

Most were easily into the 59s, whereas I was pushing super hard to get there. We needed to make some more adjustments

I was losing most of the time in sector 2, almost 0.5s of it was there alone. Another chunk was sector 1, with 0.2s there. Sector 3 I was pretty much matching the front runners.

Pole changed hands a few times over the course of the session.

Qualifying Lap

My fastest qualifying lap is shown below:

Race 1

I got off the line well, with Morgan Wroot in the DSG car basically stood still. Into turn one, Luke and Paul Maguire came together, promoting me to 3rd as I dodged the carnage and kept that until I under steered into the chicance, hit the massive kerb on the right and let Luke round.
I managed to improve my laptime again during the race but it was still hard work. The gap increased every lap no matter what I did. I was lucky to hold onto 4th.

You can see how everyone in front were easily in the 59s.

At least this time the 1st and 3rd sector were improved, but I was still 0.4s off in the middle, where I needed the grip to get me through the twisties.

The race was live streamed here:

Race 2

A few rows further forward was good, and I made the best of it by getting ahead of Luke at the launch. This time I did not let it go and defended for my life for 15 minutes solid. This let Ross and Richard run away with it, but got me on the podium!
The setup changes we made were terrible, and it felt like the car was destroying the front tyres no matter what I did. This meant by the end of the race, Ross was still 0.5s in front despite having a 15s penalty for track limits. Had I pushed a slight bit harder on the last few laps, I would have had 2nd and Luke would have had 3rd.

Despite defending into most corners, I had not lost that much time, with most laps will in the 1:00 zone.

All the defending and the setup changes meant I dropped right down the order for sector times.

The race was live streamed here:

Race 3

Race 3 and another position further up on the grid, but all this meant is that I was at the right instead of the left side of the track at the start. I made the most of it and was right along side Makar into Turn 1, and managed to get him into turn 3. I kept him behind despite a love tap for 6 laps before he snuck past out of the hairpin, his car seeming to be much quicker in a straight line. I then had Robb behind, and he tried a nudge and a shove to get round, but I held him off then he dropped back. With just Luke behind me, I thought I was safe, but he sent it down the inside at the last minute and stole 3rd. Guess it is every man for themselves on the track.

With all the defending again the lap times were pretty slow, and I saved my best until the last lap trying to close the gap to Luke.

Again the sectors were terrible from defending.

The race was live streamed here:

After qualifying it could have been a weekend from hell, but we persevered and kept making changes between each session or race to try and move forward. Some things did not work, but the car finished all 3 races so that is progress from last time out! We are testing shortly at Donington to see if we can make a step change forward before the next round.
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!

Photos courtesy of BRSCC and Jon Elsey Photography, KRFPHOTO and Flat Out Motorsport Photography

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