HiFi Lounge Goes Motor Racing!

[HiFi Lounge]

Thanks Guys, yeah feels scary quick in the car until you see the other guys times

Unfortunately for some reason the brake telemetry has stopped working, need to get that looked at before Donnington as really helps when looking back at the video's.

[HiFi Lounge]

Donington Race Weekend Report!

Hi Everyone,

So a couple of weeks ago we raced at Donington Park, I have to say that is one of my favourite tracks so far, we actually had 3 days there so 2 days of testing which we shared with taking our competition winners out in the car and then qualy and race day, I went in to the event determined to throw caution to the wind and to try and make some real progress which I feel I did at the end of the 2 days of testing then we got to race day where it all went horribly wrong.

Basically the weather was pretty mixed, when full wet on the Thursday I tip toed round without any mistakes but on race day for Qualy we had a damp drying track which was interesting trying to find the grip but in the end I got pole in both races in my ‘Fangio’ Class which I was happy with, but that was the last time I was happy with anything for the rest of the weekend as for the first race we went out on dry tyres and the rain really started to come down and I actually spun 3 times on my out lap, more a lack of skill than anything to be honest, doh, that really took being a novice to a new level, once I settled into the groove though times weren’t too bad but the damage had been done but at least we finished the race which quite a few didn’t, then for race 2 I went out on wets as it had been raining a fair bit and although it had stopped I thought the track would be damp but in the end it was really dry so I made a bad choice there.

It was such a shame as I really felt we were going to have a good race day but in the end it was a real weekend of ups and downs, we found more speed in the dry but was rubbish in the wet and in this country racing in the wet is a skill that needs mastering, more experience learned I guess.

So there is only one race weekend left now, Brand Hatch in November, really can’t believe it is nearly all over, it is all still to play for though in the Fangio Trophy as we are 2nd just 9 points of the lead, here’s hoping for a dry race day

Fastest Lap of the Weekend which I was reasonably happy with -



A few pictures from the event.



















Ah yeah and it fell on my 50th Birthday so maybe all the cake slowed me down



Cheers,
Paul.

[HiFi Lounge]

End Of Season Brands Hatch Report, Missed The Fangio Title By 0.2 Sec, Doh!



Hi All,

So almost as if it was all a dream my first season pretending to be a racing driver is over, talk about all over in the blink of an eye, I wish my driving was that fast Seriously though it really does feel like only the other day we were at the Autosport show in January signing on the dotted line to join the Radical SR1 Cup championship.

So how has it been? In all honestly it has been great fun but it has transpired that it is most definitely a lot harder in real life than it looks on the TV, I am no longer an arm chair critic when watching motorsport on TV

I really thought I would be a lot more competitive than I was and I think I really did underestimate the task at hand, I think the main issue was getting used to a downforce car, it really is a matter of how brave are you, I have no problem with acceleration and top speed but going into a blind corner at say 90 MPH really makes you take notice.

Saying all this once I got to Donington, the 2nd from last race meeting of the season, I felt like I was starting to get somewhere, even though the races were not the best in the build up I found some time and it felt like I made some progress, funnily enough it has turned out that I like chasing lap time, ie going for a fast lap but come the race I seem to loose some speed, maybe I’m more suited to hill climbing

And even though it is supposed to be fun it really does play with your head, you just can’t help but get caught up in it all and end up feeling really disappointed and down when you don’t perform too well where the reality should be that you should be buzzing from driving a racing car round some of the best racks in the UK, I guess it is just the competitive edge coming in.



Brands Hatch Report, The Fangio Title Up For Grabs.

So our season finished at Brands Hatch last weekend, another circuit I had never driven before, we were in the shorter Indy layout but we still had to deal with Paddock Hill bend which I was dreading before I got there, I had seen enough cars go off their over the years on TV, it looked terrifying, as it turned out I loved Brands, seemed to suit my driving, I guess other than paddock there are no balls out corners, it very much reminded me of a big go kart track.

So amazingly I arrived at Brands 9 points off the lead in the Fangio Cup, basically the old buggers cup for over 45′s, I was racing David Tagg for the title, basically if I could beat him in both races I could take the title by 1 point but to be fair David had been quicker than me all year so my expectations weren’t very high.

For the Friday test it was wet conditions which it turned out suited me and I was probably the most competitive I had been all year so roll on a wet Saturday race day I thought. So come Saturday morning Qualifying, which was wet, I out qualified David for both races so that was part 1 complete but I still felt David would out race me, what followed was a brilliant race where we were swapping positions and trading paintwork but in the end I beat David to close the gap to 4 points with 1 race left.

Unfortunately for me anyway, the track had totally dried for race 2 so my advantage in the wet was gone but we still had an epic race and we almost crossed the finish line together with me just 0.2 second behind David meaning that he deservedly won the title and I lost out by the smallest of margins but I actually was fine with it as I had 2 brilliant races that really were fit for a championship decider, at last it felt like I was really racing which meant I left Brands buzzing and ready to try again next year.

So congratulations to David for winning but I would like to say a massive thanks to our sponsors for supporting me this year, I’ll be coming round with my cap begging again soon for donations for next year ;-) but thanks again to Chord Electronics, PMC Speakers, Trilogy Audio, Naim Audio, Rega, Atlas Cables and HiFi Pig, also thanks to Daz at UPE Motorsport for being a top bloke and running my car all year and also for Tom Gladdis for trying to coach me, he must have the patience of a saint.

So looking back it was epic fun, scary, frustrating and disappointing all in at the same time, I guess that is the same for any sport though but only after 1 week I am gagging to get back out in the car again, roll on next year.

Cheers,

Paul.

[HiFi Lounge]

Well This is Surreal

Hi Everyone,

Hilariously there is a picture of me racing at Brands hatch a couple of months ago in this months ‘Motorsport’ Magazine with Mike Hawthorn on the front cover, now that is something I never thought I’d be saying

It is actually a really interesting article about a rookie going racing written by the magazines photographer who was given the opportunity by Radical to move to other side of the lens and follow his dream of being a racing driver for one race which reminded me a lot of my first year last year.

Looks like I’m going to be changing teams for this coming season which is still being finalised, hopefully they can make my car quicker as obviously it is not me that is too slow ;-)





Cheers,
Paul.

[struth]

Thats fame for you... in the same issue as 'Le Papillon eh

[HiFi Lounge]

Radical Awards Evening, Wasn’t Expecting This!



Hi Everyone,

In a nice way to look back at last year Radical hold a yearly awards evening where everyone gets a chance to dress up in their finest, have a nice meal and celebrate the winners from the season that is now behind us, this was my first year obviously, it was held at the Belfry and I have to say that it really was a brilliant evening with a fantastic live band that really rocked, although having to wear a Tux is always a little odd.

So obviously as I came 2nd in my class I wasn’t expecting anything, I will actually upload the last lap when I get a moment from the last race at Brands Hatch to show how close losing a championship by 0.2 sec looks like, I think that will haunt me forever. So anyway I was chatting to Wendy when I heard my name called out and unexpectedly I thrust from my seat and before I knew it I was on the stage accepting my award for ‘First of the Losers’ Seriously though it was a nice touch and actually a really nice trophy that will take pride of place in the HFL office as something to spur me on to go one better this coming season

Thanks again to Radical for hosting a brilliant evening, to Darren Winter for being a brilliant Mechanic through last season and also to Tom Gladdis for attempting to coach me on how to drive faster and especially to our sponsors for helping to make last season possible as I am sure it won’t come as a big surprise that motorsport really isn’t cheap, right that is the Oscar speech part out of the way, here’s looking forward to doing it all again this coming year







Blimey, wasn’t expecting this.





Cheers,
Paul.

[HiFi Lounge]

Radical SR1 Season 2 - Here We Go Again!



Hi Everyone,

So this is a question I get asked a lot, will I be doing another season in the Radical SR1 Cup again this year? So I am pleased to say that yes I will although I did think long and hard about it as last season ended up being much tougher than I ever imagined it could be to be honest, I ended up being no where as fast as I thought I would be although I did love the whole experience, but I have been told by so many people that I’d be mad to abandon it after one season as the first season is such a big learning curve that the 2nd season will be much more straightforward and most people are always quicker in season 2 so fingers crossed.

We have moved teams to 360 Racing who are based at Silverstone, these guys run in the European LeMans series which is pretty epic so they really are a serious racers and I’ll have a team mate this year which will be a great yard stick, they’ve even got a truck with a meeting room to look over data and somewhere to get changed, really feels like we’ve gone up a level already, and I’m really pleased to be working with Darren Winter again and Tom Gladdis who is still trying to coach me to going faster, poor lad, he’s really got his work cut out.

https://www.360racing.net/elms

I’d like to thank our sponsors who have stuck with us for another year so thanks to, in no particular order, PMC, Atlas, Rega, Chord, Trilogy, HiFi Pig, Naim and I’d like to welcome dCS as a new sponsor, still waiting on a couple more that we hopefully can announce soon.

Goals for the year?



So it looks like the grid for the SR1 Cup is going to be much bigger this year which hopefully will lead to much more close racing, there is almost more pressure this year as I can no longer hide behind the Rookie status of last year so I guess my main goal is to definitely be faster than last year, in all honesty it took me till the last 2 rounds to really feel like I was getting on top of the car so hopefully we can carry that into 2019.

It was the last race at Brands that really did help spur me on to this year as it was the first meeting where I actually felt I was racing so I want to attack more and be more aggressive, by the end of the year over 1 lap my times were OK but my racing still left a lot to be desired so I really need to work on that also, I’ve also decided to insure the car this year as last year I took my chances and got away with it but I did feel it was holding me back a little as these things are not cheap to mend so now I’ll be insured that is another excuse gone

Losing the Fangio Cup by 0.2 Second

I really meant to post this last year but it has been extremely busy lately but here is the last lap of the last race, basically at the start of the video the car that is 2 ahead was my main title contender for the Fangio Cup, David, I beat him in race one so it came down to whoever won between us took the Fangio crown, as you can see I had plenty of opportunities, unfortunately I just didn’t realise it was the last lap so I have fitted a countdown stop watch in the car for this year, but as you can see I definitely need to toughen up for this coming year, so in the end we lost the title by 0.2 of a second which I felt was a fitting end to any season of motorsport as it went to the wire but congratulations to David, the best man won in the end.



Testing at Snetterton



So yesterday was my first time out in the car since the races at Brands and boy do I ache today, my arms are killing me, Snetterton is a pretty fast circuit and the last part of the lap really does have you holding on for dear live but it was good to be back in the car, in the end we went 1.5 seconds quicker than my best lap last year and there was plenty of potential to go even quicker, I just never managed to link up all the sectors but happy with that, the next stop is the first race of the season at Oulton Park, this will be interesting as last year when at Oulton I hadn’t driven the car before the race weekend so hopefully I should be much quicker there.

2019 Calendar



All the best,

Regards,

Paul.

[HiFi Lounge]

Oulton Park 2019 Race Report!



Hi everyone,

So a couple of weeks ago we had our first race weekend of 2019 over the Easter Weekend, we were supporting the British GT championship so it was our biggest meeting of the year.

It was certainly great to be back in the car although it certainly felt a little alien for the first 20 min session as I had only done one test over the winter period but at the end of the Friday test I was reasonable happy as I was around 5 seconds quicker than last year although I did have a big moment when going down the back straight, we were out with the Ginetta’s in our test sessions and we were massively quicker so I pulled out to overtake one and he obviously didn’t see me and puled out to overtake the car in front of him which nearly put me on the grass as I tried to avoid a big accident, all good fun though.

Race Day.

Class of 2019



So this ended up being a day of highs a lows which I guess is normal for me, I went into qualifying reasonably happy with the day before pace but due to the unusually hot weather our tyre pressures inflated a fair bit for qualifying and it was a totally different car to drive, it really felt like I was driving on ice, I had never experienced this before so wasn’t sure what was going on, I didn’t know if it was me or the car so in the end I was pretty relieved when we found out the reason why I was 5 seconds slower than the day before. This actually turned out to be a good learning exercise though and also showed that I could drive the car nearer it’s limit as watching the video back you could see I was on the edge so now I just need to drive like that but at higher speeds, easier said than done though.



So anyway we qualified plum last due to this issue but I actually had 2 races I was happy with, I hung on to the pack and was having a fun race with the guy in front and to be fair I’m never going to be able to compete with the guys at the front so as long as I am racing someone then I’m very happy although I felt if qualy had gone smoother I would have qualified more in the mid pack which would have made for 2 very different races.

The biggest issue I need to work on is getting on the pace earlier, it turned out that my quickest lap of the race was the very last lap of race 2 so basically the last lap of the whole weekend and in the races I take a few laps to get to my ultimate pace so I really need to work on this so as the lights go green I’m bang on it, again easier said than done, I’ve got some testing coming up soon though where we are going to focus on this mainly.

Anyway a reasonably good start to the year, a fair bit quicker than the same race last year and I didn’t get lapped which to be fair was actually a good achievement for me as I think I got lapped at every race by the front runners last year.



The next race is at Cadwell Park in a couple of weeks, this was probably my toughest race weekend last year, I loved the track and it’s surroundings, it really is a beautiful place but I really struggled with my ultimate pace, unfortunately I won’t have tested here since last year but hopefully all the things I have learned over the last 12 months will help make it a more solid weekend, time will tell I guess.

I’m actually getting my helmet painted at the moment so that will be ready for Cadwell which will obviously make me faster

Cheers,

Paul.

Here is my 2nd fastest lap of the weekend, unfortunately the file got corrupted for my fastest lap, it was only .3 quicker though.

[struth]

great pics i think.. my pc still hasnt loaded them all.

[HiFi Lounge]

Cadwell Park Race Weekend Report!



Hi Everyone,

This is just a quick one as I wanted to share my quickest lap from last weekend as I feel that I probably did my best lap yet in our Radical SR1, it is a slow process getting on top of these cars but everytime we go out we get a little bit faster which I guess is all I can ask for.

My problem is that I love chasing lap time and here I can find reasonable speed now but I go slower in the races for some reason, not ideal I know so just need to treat the races like qualifying.

This past weekend at Cadwell Park went pretty well, closed the gap to the front guys again, have to say that I absolutely love cadwell Park, probably my favourite track of the year, it is a stunning location and the track really is quite technical and challenging but it definitely rewards an attacking driver and getting air at the mountain is definitely a unique experience which keep you awake.

So I went 4 seconds quicker than when I was Cadwell last year, I put it down to my new helmet design, if I knew it was going to make that much difference I would have done it earlier I was concentrating on carrying more speed into the corners which I am getting the hang of now, for once the below lap actually looks reasonably fast whereas last year they looked pretty pedestrian.

I was mortified when I got home to watch my lap and find that the file was corrupted somehow but luckily I found some guys in California who somehow un-corrupted the file for me which was a huge relief, thanks guys.

So anyway here is the lap, for me it is worth watching just for how beautiful the track is -



Next Stop Brand Hatch in a couple of weeks

Cheers,

Paul.