Saturday, 31 October 2009
CHAMPIONS!!!!!!
Following a terrific battle at Mallory Park, Craig took victory in the last race of the season, which secured the CTCRC Track & Race Pre 93 Touring Car Championship!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Lydden Hill 25th of July 2009
Prior to publishing my race report I thought some people might be interested in a link to some race footage from the Pre-93 race at Lydden. Looks like it was taken by a friend of Ryan Gorman in the red BMW 325 who has raced extremely well this season and currently leads the championship. Thanks for putting it on the web!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGD2gKNh0vU
Full results for the race can be found on the TSL Timing website.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGD2gKNh0vU
Full results for the race can be found on the TSL Timing website.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Round 2 - Thruxton 12th April 2009
Following the front end judder issues during the race at Oulton, we spent some time re-specifying the front suspension components to eliminate any risk that these parts were the root cause. Due to parts availability problems (and work commitments!), we didn’t get to fit the new parts until the Friday afternoon before the Saturday race. With dinner and a few beers arranged that evening chez Muwander in Peasmore, we bolted everything together, put the car on its wheels, and set the suspension geometry. Everything looked to be on schedule until we tried to move the car out of the workshop. To our dismay we found that the front wheels were rubbing on the bodykit when steering lock was applied and there was no way that we could race in this condition. Bugger!
With our travel schedule rapidly going out of the window and tempers rising, we set about trying to dig ourselves out of the s**t. With the new front lower arms, upper mounts, ride heights and geometry settings the wheel position was now very different than expected (nobody to blame but me!). After lots of trimming of kit and a couple of goes at rebuilding the suspension with reduced camber and increased ride height the car made its way onto the trailer. We arrived at our destination a few hours behind schedule. 6 hours to be precise!
An early start and a welcome return to the fast and exciting Thruxton circuit. The atmosphere in the paddock was good with some of my PBMW friends joining us for this meeting. Despite the issues of the previous evening, we were still on a high and quite confident following our win at Oulton in the last round. Exiting the pitlane on the first lap of qualifying and I was taking it very steady. Turning into Church for the first time there was suddenly an awful grinding/rubbing noise, the steering was awful and the car was pulling left. I backed the speed off and completed 3 laps in order to qualify and taking a huge amount of care to watch my mirrors and stay out of the way.
Qualifying position 12th
Following the disaster that was qualifying the team gathered together to weigh up the situation and decide on a course of action. It was evident from the marks on the sidewall of the outside front tyre that it had been rubbing on the wheel arch when the suspension was under compression during cornering. Fortunately Duncan Laycock (RML) and Charles Hodge (Prodrive & Soldberg) were on hand to lend some assistance. Charles helped me with increasing the ride height and reducing the negative camber even further. Duncan removed the bodykit and then did a fantastic job of rolling the front arches using nothing but a rubber mallet with minimal paint cracking – absolutely stunning bit of work. We quickly dropped the car back on its wheels, corrected the front wheel alignment and headed off to the assembly area. Charles said to me that he thought I could win from 12th and I had to laugh!
The lights went out and I had a reasonable start making up 2-3 places on the run up to Campbell. There was a big moment when a BMW lost control on the grass and slid through the middle of the pack. By some miracle the field managed to miss him, but this cost some time because we virtually came to a standstill as we worked our way around him. By the exit of the complex I was up to the rear of Ryan in the BMW 325. I worked my way past Ryan on the inside at Church and in the distance I could see David Howard in the Jaguar. Despite the reasonable start and now running in 8th position, I knew I was going to struggle to make up further positions because the field was now well spread out.
Again, I put my head down and chased after David. Again, with the car now feeling good I managed to catch and pass him without too much trouble, although I do think he was holding back saving himself for the Group 1 race. Next to catch was Steve Moore in the Saab 9000, which was extremely fast in a straight line. The only places I was catching Steve was in the corners (of which there are not too many at Thruxton), but despite his pace I managed to reel him in after a few laps and in the process set a new lap record! Steve had now caught the back of a small group of cars including the Jim McLoughlin Group 1 Championship winning Capri driven by David Hickton and the E36 M3 of Tony Gorman.
Eventually I worked my way past Steve, yet it still took some time to break away from him. Then after a few laps I worked my way past David, despite some very clever and defensive driving on his part. He must be a very hard competitor to beat in Group 1 in his normal Opel Ascona racecar. I was now up behind Tony who was in 3rd position and with the pace I was going I dared to dream about a podium place. At this point my progress came to an abrupt halt as Tony used every trick in his locker to defend his position. After 2-3 laps of trying to get past Tony I decided that it might be time to give up when I was pushed towards the grass while flat out round the back of the circuit. I decided on the very last lap to have one more go coming towards the Club chicane, but as Tony blocked my move, he slowed to such an extent that David managed to run round the outside of both of us. At the same time this allowed Steve to get a run out of the chicane and overtake me on the run up to the finishing line.
To say I was a little disappointed would be an understatement, but after a little reflection it could have been so much worse. I wasn’t too happy with some of the blocking that was going on and felt that we put ourselves in unnecessary danger, but by the same token I certainly don’t expect people to just move out my way. Highlight of the weekend was to see that Anthony Wright had won the race in his Tomcat. He is a bloody nice bloke and deserved a good result after all the hard work he and his brother have put into the car.
Race Result – 6th with new Pre-93 lap record for Thruxton.
By Craig Jamieson
With our travel schedule rapidly going out of the window and tempers rising, we set about trying to dig ourselves out of the s**t. With the new front lower arms, upper mounts, ride heights and geometry settings the wheel position was now very different than expected (nobody to blame but me!). After lots of trimming of kit and a couple of goes at rebuilding the suspension with reduced camber and increased ride height the car made its way onto the trailer. We arrived at our destination a few hours behind schedule. 6 hours to be precise!
An early start and a welcome return to the fast and exciting Thruxton circuit. The atmosphere in the paddock was good with some of my PBMW friends joining us for this meeting. Despite the issues of the previous evening, we were still on a high and quite confident following our win at Oulton in the last round. Exiting the pitlane on the first lap of qualifying and I was taking it very steady. Turning into Church for the first time there was suddenly an awful grinding/rubbing noise, the steering was awful and the car was pulling left. I backed the speed off and completed 3 laps in order to qualify and taking a huge amount of care to watch my mirrors and stay out of the way.
Qualifying position 12th
Following the disaster that was qualifying the team gathered together to weigh up the situation and decide on a course of action. It was evident from the marks on the sidewall of the outside front tyre that it had been rubbing on the wheel arch when the suspension was under compression during cornering. Fortunately Duncan Laycock (RML) and Charles Hodge (Prodrive & Soldberg) were on hand to lend some assistance. Charles helped me with increasing the ride height and reducing the negative camber even further. Duncan removed the bodykit and then did a fantastic job of rolling the front arches using nothing but a rubber mallet with minimal paint cracking – absolutely stunning bit of work. We quickly dropped the car back on its wheels, corrected the front wheel alignment and headed off to the assembly area. Charles said to me that he thought I could win from 12th and I had to laugh!
The lights went out and I had a reasonable start making up 2-3 places on the run up to Campbell. There was a big moment when a BMW lost control on the grass and slid through the middle of the pack. By some miracle the field managed to miss him, but this cost some time because we virtually came to a standstill as we worked our way around him. By the exit of the complex I was up to the rear of Ryan in the BMW 325. I worked my way past Ryan on the inside at Church and in the distance I could see David Howard in the Jaguar. Despite the reasonable start and now running in 8th position, I knew I was going to struggle to make up further positions because the field was now well spread out.
Again, I put my head down and chased after David. Again, with the car now feeling good I managed to catch and pass him without too much trouble, although I do think he was holding back saving himself for the Group 1 race. Next to catch was Steve Moore in the Saab 9000, which was extremely fast in a straight line. The only places I was catching Steve was in the corners (of which there are not too many at Thruxton), but despite his pace I managed to reel him in after a few laps and in the process set a new lap record! Steve had now caught the back of a small group of cars including the Jim McLoughlin Group 1 Championship winning Capri driven by David Hickton and the E36 M3 of Tony Gorman.
Eventually I worked my way past Steve, yet it still took some time to break away from him. Then after a few laps I worked my way past David, despite some very clever and defensive driving on his part. He must be a very hard competitor to beat in Group 1 in his normal Opel Ascona racecar. I was now up behind Tony who was in 3rd position and with the pace I was going I dared to dream about a podium place. At this point my progress came to an abrupt halt as Tony used every trick in his locker to defend his position. After 2-3 laps of trying to get past Tony I decided that it might be time to give up when I was pushed towards the grass while flat out round the back of the circuit. I decided on the very last lap to have one more go coming towards the Club chicane, but as Tony blocked my move, he slowed to such an extent that David managed to run round the outside of both of us. At the same time this allowed Steve to get a run out of the chicane and overtake me on the run up to the finishing line.
To say I was a little disappointed would be an understatement, but after a little reflection it could have been so much worse. I wasn’t too happy with some of the blocking that was going on and felt that we put ourselves in unnecessary danger, but by the same token I certainly don’t expect people to just move out my way. Highlight of the weekend was to see that Anthony Wright had won the race in his Tomcat. He is a bloody nice bloke and deserved a good result after all the hard work he and his brother have put into the car.
Race Result – 6th with new Pre-93 lap record for Thruxton.
By Craig Jamieson
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Round 1 - Oulton Park 28th March 2009
The first round of the season and a nervous FW Racing team traveled to Oulton Park following over a year away from the racetrack. The previous year had been spent rebuilding the car and as a result the Sierra now featured a completely rebuilt engine, fully re-wired electrics and a brand new brake system. The nerves were predominantly because none of us knew how the new systems would perform or affect the setup of the car. The only bonus was that the race was at my favourite UK circuit and the same place that I had last finished a race in the car.
Sensibly, we booked on the test day the Friday before the Saturday race meeting, which would allow us to shake the car down and remind the driver where the track goes. We traveled on the Thursday evening and despite sitting stationary on the M6 for 2 hours it was a great feeling to have Stuart, Simon and myself together sharing banter and focusing on the days ahead.
Friday morning turned out to be a chiller and it didn’t take long to be convinced (a threat of tools down from the lads) to pay the money for the use of a garage for the day (we later were told we could stay in there for the Saturday which was a real bonus). The morning sessions were used to bed the brakes and get used to the new engine performance. Revisions to the engine mapping had changed the character of the engine and this would require some changes in driving style to get the best from the car.
The afternoon sessions were used for suspension setup and unfortunately there was a little bit more than some fine tuning required to get the car ready. Following the 3rd ride height change the boys were starting to lose their sense of humour, so I decided that it would be a good idea to concentrate on improving my driving rather than the car. Throughout the afternoon sessions there were 2 issues which started to get progressively worse. Firstly, there was brake judder starting to develop from the new brakes. Secondly, the car would not track in a straight line. There was little we could do about the brake system, therefore Stuart and I proceeded to tackle the tracking. After 3 hours and what felt like 50 runs up and down a pitch black pit lane, we finished at nine o’clock and rushed to the pub to grab some dinner before the kitchen closed. It was a very long day!
A wet start to race day and without any prior testing in wet conditions, we really didn’t know what to expect. The plan for qualifying was to build up gradually and hope that our 18 month old tyres would work in the wet conditions. Everything was going fine and then I was woken up by Roger Stanford who blew past me as if I was stood still! Clearly I was going to have to pick up the pace considerably if I was to keep him in sight. For the next 5 laps, that is exactly what I tried to do, but we were still 1 second behind Roger’s best time and a few tenths behind Len Simpson in his front wheel drive VW Vento, which was clearly suited to the conditions.
Qualifying position 3rd - 1:54:366
In the afternoon the weather had cleared up and by the time of the race the track was nearly completely dry. I was confident that the Sierra would have some pace over the Vento in the dry, but no idea if we could get near Roger in the M3. Then just before we left the assembly area Roger came over to tell us that he would not be starting the race. He had developed an engine issue on the last lap of qualifying and following further inspection it turned out to be a dropped engine valve. Now the pressure was really on!
A traditional Jamieson start meant that I had to slip in behind Len through the first corner, but in front of us, David Howard in his Jaguar had burst through the middle of the field and was now leading the race. Down into Cascades for the first time and I could see two E36 M3’s breathing down my neck and I knew had to make sure I covered my lines, otherwise I was going to fall back rapidly into the chasing pack. First time through Druids and I took a large chunk out of the gap to Len and was right on his rear bumper for the remainder of the lap.
On the next run through Cascades I was much quicker than Len and managed to get alongside him on the run to the hairpin, but I was on the outside so I had to tuck back in behind him. I continued to apply pressure through the next few corners and I managed to get a much better exit out of Knickerbrook and by the time we reached Clay Hill I was right on Len’s bumper. As we came to Druids Len moved to the left to get the best run through the corner but this gave me enough room to slip up the inside under braking.
Up to 2nd position and I could see David Howard ahead. I put my head down and over the next few laps managed to reel him in. Once I caught up with him I could see that he was starting to struggle as the big Jaguar was working its tyres very hard. The Sierra felt good apart from brake judder and some power on oversteer out of the slower corners.
I managed to pass David with exactly the same move I had used on Len into Druids. He moved left before the right hander and I slipped by up the inside under braking. For a few laps David tried very hard to stay with me, but I set a new lap record for Pre-93 whilst keeping him at bay. Eventually he made a mistake and he out-braked himself into Lodge Corner, going straight on into the gravel trap. With the pressure off, I was able to enjoy the last few laps and wind the pace right back, before taking the chequered flag and first race win in the Sierra.
What a weekend! We may not have finished with the win if Roger had been able to start the race, but that certainly did not take the shine off the weekend. It was a tremendous effort from the team and Karen, Simon and Stuart were as important to making it happen as I was behind the wheel. Needless to say, we did some celebrating that night!
Race Result – 1st with new Pre-93 lap record for Oulton Park - 1:39:869
by Craig Jamieson
Sensibly, we booked on the test day the Friday before the Saturday race meeting, which would allow us to shake the car down and remind the driver where the track goes. We traveled on the Thursday evening and despite sitting stationary on the M6 for 2 hours it was a great feeling to have Stuart, Simon and myself together sharing banter and focusing on the days ahead.
Friday morning turned out to be a chiller and it didn’t take long to be convinced (a threat of tools down from the lads) to pay the money for the use of a garage for the day (we later were told we could stay in there for the Saturday which was a real bonus). The morning sessions were used to bed the brakes and get used to the new engine performance. Revisions to the engine mapping had changed the character of the engine and this would require some changes in driving style to get the best from the car.
The afternoon sessions were used for suspension setup and unfortunately there was a little bit more than some fine tuning required to get the car ready. Following the 3rd ride height change the boys were starting to lose their sense of humour, so I decided that it would be a good idea to concentrate on improving my driving rather than the car. Throughout the afternoon sessions there were 2 issues which started to get progressively worse. Firstly, there was brake judder starting to develop from the new brakes. Secondly, the car would not track in a straight line. There was little we could do about the brake system, therefore Stuart and I proceeded to tackle the tracking. After 3 hours and what felt like 50 runs up and down a pitch black pit lane, we finished at nine o’clock and rushed to the pub to grab some dinner before the kitchen closed. It was a very long day!
A wet start to race day and without any prior testing in wet conditions, we really didn’t know what to expect. The plan for qualifying was to build up gradually and hope that our 18 month old tyres would work in the wet conditions. Everything was going fine and then I was woken up by Roger Stanford who blew past me as if I was stood still! Clearly I was going to have to pick up the pace considerably if I was to keep him in sight. For the next 5 laps, that is exactly what I tried to do, but we were still 1 second behind Roger’s best time and a few tenths behind Len Simpson in his front wheel drive VW Vento, which was clearly suited to the conditions.
Qualifying position 3rd - 1:54:366
In the afternoon the weather had cleared up and by the time of the race the track was nearly completely dry. I was confident that the Sierra would have some pace over the Vento in the dry, but no idea if we could get near Roger in the M3. Then just before we left the assembly area Roger came over to tell us that he would not be starting the race. He had developed an engine issue on the last lap of qualifying and following further inspection it turned out to be a dropped engine valve. Now the pressure was really on!
A traditional Jamieson start meant that I had to slip in behind Len through the first corner, but in front of us, David Howard in his Jaguar had burst through the middle of the field and was now leading the race. Down into Cascades for the first time and I could see two E36 M3’s breathing down my neck and I knew had to make sure I covered my lines, otherwise I was going to fall back rapidly into the chasing pack. First time through Druids and I took a large chunk out of the gap to Len and was right on his rear bumper for the remainder of the lap.
On the next run through Cascades I was much quicker than Len and managed to get alongside him on the run to the hairpin, but I was on the outside so I had to tuck back in behind him. I continued to apply pressure through the next few corners and I managed to get a much better exit out of Knickerbrook and by the time we reached Clay Hill I was right on Len’s bumper. As we came to Druids Len moved to the left to get the best run through the corner but this gave me enough room to slip up the inside under braking.
Up to 2nd position and I could see David Howard ahead. I put my head down and over the next few laps managed to reel him in. Once I caught up with him I could see that he was starting to struggle as the big Jaguar was working its tyres very hard. The Sierra felt good apart from brake judder and some power on oversteer out of the slower corners.
I managed to pass David with exactly the same move I had used on Len into Druids. He moved left before the right hander and I slipped by up the inside under braking. For a few laps David tried very hard to stay with me, but I set a new lap record for Pre-93 whilst keeping him at bay. Eventually he made a mistake and he out-braked himself into Lodge Corner, going straight on into the gravel trap. With the pressure off, I was able to enjoy the last few laps and wind the pace right back, before taking the chequered flag and first race win in the Sierra.
What a weekend! We may not have finished with the win if Roger had been able to start the race, but that certainly did not take the shine off the weekend. It was a tremendous effort from the team and Karen, Simon and Stuart were as important to making it happen as I was behind the wheel. Needless to say, we did some celebrating that night!
Race Result – 1st with new Pre-93 lap record for Oulton Park - 1:39:869
by Craig Jamieson
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Back to Basics
I'll fill in the history as and when I get the chance, but it's safe to say that over the last 2 years the car has been completely rebuilt. This has involved a large amount of time and money, which would have been even greater without the help and dedication of the supporting team who need an introduction.
Karen (The Team Boss & SWMBO):
Karen is one of the rare breed of women who has a genuine passion for cars and motor racing. She makes sure everything ticks in the background and lets me concentrate on the driving without having to worry about anything else. Without her support and encouragement I would have given up long ago!
Simon (Race Engineer):
Simon is a former colleague at Prodrive and longtime friend. He has helped with late nights scraping underseal, painting, diff and gearbox rebuilds, the list goes on and on. He is also a good target for a little bit of abuse from the driver. That may all end soon as Simon has plans for the 2010 season and now has a Rover Tomcat in build for Pre-93. Plenty of opportunity for me to repay the favours with late nights working on his car!
Stuart (Race Engineer & Entertainer):
Stuart is an experienced Cosworth technician having completed his apprenticeship in the Brooklyn workshops on their BTCC Sierra back in the 80s'. He is also the team leader for many of the Aston Martin show cars and one off prototypes which cover the pages of the motoring press. As you can guess he is a clever chap and pretty handy at working on cars, so his help and advice has been invaluable over the last few years. He can also be quite entertaining after a few ciders and enjoys the odd cow pushing session....
Karen (The Team Boss & SWMBO):
Karen is one of the rare breed of women who has a genuine passion for cars and motor racing. She makes sure everything ticks in the background and lets me concentrate on the driving without having to worry about anything else. Without her support and encouragement I would have given up long ago!
Simon (Race Engineer):
Simon is a former colleague at Prodrive and longtime friend. He has helped with late nights scraping underseal, painting, diff and gearbox rebuilds, the list goes on and on. He is also a good target for a little bit of abuse from the driver. That may all end soon as Simon has plans for the 2010 season and now has a Rover Tomcat in build for Pre-93. Plenty of opportunity for me to repay the favours with late nights working on his car!
Stuart (Race Engineer & Entertainer):
Stuart is an experienced Cosworth technician having completed his apprenticeship in the Brooklyn workshops on their BTCC Sierra back in the 80s'. He is also the team leader for many of the Aston Martin show cars and one off prototypes which cover the pages of the motoring press. As you can guess he is a clever chap and pretty handy at working on cars, so his help and advice has been invaluable over the last few years. He can also be quite entertaining after a few ciders and enjoys the odd cow pushing session....
Friday, 2 January 2009
Where to start
Let's start at the very beginning (it's apparently a very good place to start!).
Having raced a BMW 320 in the PBMW Series for a few years I decided that I wanted to go faster so the search was on for a suitable set of wheels.
Whilst off work with a chest infection, I set about keeping myself entertained surfing all the usual sources for race cars.... After a few days of tirelessly surfing I noticed a race prepped Sierra Cosworth on ebay and made a few enquiries. It turned out the car was known within the Classic Touring Car Racing Club and had a pretty good history although it hadn't be seen on the track for a number of years. The bids were made on a tense Saturday evening in January 2007 and I became the owner of said vehicle (she who must be obeyed has now vowed to never leave me in the house with an internet connection!)
With the Cossie in the workshop, the detailed investigations into what I'd bought began....
Having raced a BMW 320 in the PBMW Series for a few years I decided that I wanted to go faster so the search was on for a suitable set of wheels.
Whilst off work with a chest infection, I set about keeping myself entertained surfing all the usual sources for race cars.... After a few days of tirelessly surfing I noticed a race prepped Sierra Cosworth on ebay and made a few enquiries. It turned out the car was known within the Classic Touring Car Racing Club and had a pretty good history although it hadn't be seen on the track for a number of years. The bids were made on a tense Saturday evening in January 2007 and I became the owner of said vehicle (she who must be obeyed has now vowed to never leave me in the house with an internet connection!)
With the Cossie in the workshop, the detailed investigations into what I'd bought began....
My BMW E30 320
My BMW racecar which was successfully raced to 3rd place in the 2006 Production BMW Championship.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Welcome to my Blog
Over the past 2 years I have been rebuilding my Sierra Cosworth to race in the Classic Touring Car Racing Club Pre-93 Championship. The purpose of this blog is to share with others the story of the re-build, race reports and results and the adventures of the racing...
You can also follow our progress at http://www.classictouringcars.com/ for all the latest race results and up and coming race dates.
You can also follow our progress at http://www.classictouringcars.com/ for all the latest race results and up and coming race dates.
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