From agony to MX-5 Cup ecstasy (almost)
16 February 2015 / Words and photos by Tony King, and by Stuart McFadyen
A report on my MX-5 Cup weekend in Deckspeed’s NC race car
As has been reported here in the past, Deckspeed Racing offer MX-5 Club of NSW members an amazing opportunity to win an “arrive and drive” package in one of their NC race cars at a round of the MX5 Cup.
Much to my astonishment (as I’ve never won anything before!) , my name was drawn out of the hat at the Club’s September 2014 track day for a drive at the November round of the MX-5 Cup. Unfortunately the car was damaged at the Winton 300, so my drive was postponed to Round 1 of the 2015 season that was held at Wakefield Park on 14 & 15 February 2015.
Apart from spending the weekend hanging around a race track with Daniel from Deckspeed Racing, I was really looking forward to the opportunity of benchmarking the performance of my homebuilt SE track car against that of professionally prepared NC race car. I often look at the drivers setting quick times and wonder how much of their speed is due their ability and how much is due to their car.
After what seemed like an eternity, race day eventually rolled around and with a moderate degree of apprehension, we were ready to go. I’d never had the opportunity to drive a race car on slicks before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Obviously I didn’t want to embarrass myself by running off the track or worse still, by bending Daniel’s freshly rebuilt car (this was its first run since Winton).
With some final words of encouragement from Daniel, I set out for qualifying. Having run a 1:10.8 in my car at a Club day the weekend before (with a PB of 1:09.8 prior to that), I had what I thought was a realistic potential qualifying time in the back of my mind. After warming the tyres and generally getting the feel of the car for a few laps, I began to pick up the pace (or so I thought!).
Going by the seat of my pants, I figured that I had run somewhere between a 1:12 to 1:13, however I’m the first to acknowledge that I’m an overly cautious driver at the best of times, and even more so when in someone else’s car and when learning to drive on slicks. My heart sank when I looked at the time sheet to see a fastest lap time of 1:15.6. Crikey, I had some work to do!
Needless to say, this had me starting off the rear of the grid, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as it was my first door to door race start in over thirty years. Amazingly I managed a clean start and stuck with the pack... until the second corner when they all proceeded to race off into the distance, never to be seen again.
By virtue of starting off the rear of the grid I naturally wasn’t too concerned about losing track position, so my focus was simply to improve my lap times and to keep all four wheels squarely on the track. For me it was essentially a Supersprint from a standing start and my best time for Race 1 was a somewhat pleasing 1:11.8; still a fair way from where I had naively though that I’d be.
I was exasperated that the lap times didn’t really reflect how hard I felt I was driving the car. Upon reflection I think the stripped out interior, carbon fibre hardtop, race exhaust and hard spring rates made the car sound and feel at least two or three seconds faster than the times I was actually achieving.
By midday the clouds were building and my apprehension about potentially driving a damp track on slicks was growing by the minute. A few light drops of misty rain started to fall as we assembled in the marshalling area for Race 2 and visions of last year’s Sydney 500 began to flood my mind (pardon the pun).
Old Mr Conservative here was deadset scared of doing something silly, whereas the rest of the field knew it was absolutely nothing to worry about and proceeded to power off into the distance once again. My times suffered accordingly and my best lap was a painfully laboured 1:13.2. A few sprinkles in Race 3 psyched me out again, delivering another disappointing result.
Saturday evening was spent bench racing and enjoying a meal with fellow MX-5 Cup competitors at a local pub. At one stage during the evening, I was asked how the Deckspeed race car compared to my old SE track car. Not surprisingly, my initial answer was “ït’s different”; and after some further consideration this answer was expanded to “it makes its speed in an entirely different way to my SE”.
At the time I really didn’t appreciate the significance of this comment and it only became evident later in the evening while watching some B-grade Tom Cruise movie at the motel. It occurred to me that the fundamental mistake I was making was attempting to drive the naturally aspirated NC race car on slicks, the same way that I’d been driving my turbo track car on semi slicks.
I turned off the TV and began to make a mental list of all the differences between the two cars and then started to analyse the relevant strengths and weaknesses of each at various points around the track. While the NC’s drive train was relatively standard, compared to my car it did have superior chassis stiffness, better suspension, much wider and stickier tyres, plus a locked diff. I vaguely recalled reading something about the NC race car having great brakes, good turn in and lots of power – but I couldn’t remember where!
I eventually formulated a strategy to amend my driving style to better utilise the race car’s strengths into, through and out of the corners. I figured that I needed to carry much more corner speed to maximise the benefits provided by the chassis and the slicks, and to get on the power earlier and more aggressively to maximise the benefits provided by the diff. I also planned to change my lines in several corners to better allow me to achieve this.
Sunday dawned a cool and bright day, with a light mist lingering in the valleys. A perfect start to the day’s racing. Armed with a fresh game plan I eagerly lined up for Race 4. I worked very hard on trying to convince my brain that it was OK to go into the corners far quicker than ever before and that it was OK to power on rather than feathering the throttle when running out of track at corner exit.
It felt as though I’d driven the wheels off the car in Race 4 and I was satisfied that my times would eventually become more respectable. I was absolutely shattered to find that my fastest lap was 1:12.2; it felt like a 1:05 from where I was sitting!
More introspection was had during the break and I recounted a conversation I’d once had with Terry Bowe (John’s brother) regarding overdriving, and the benefits of smoothness and precision. Plan B was quickly formulated and that was to do everything that I’d done in Race 4, but this time I’d relax and consciously focus on being smooth and consistent in the hope that the lap times would come to me.
Race 5 was a ten lap race and Race 6 was a twelve lapper, so I had plenty of time, but this was the last opportunity I had to redeem myself. I sat quietly in the car for at least a half hour before each of the last two races and simply chilled out.
Something must have worked with Race 5 yielding a best time of 1:10.8 and the best lap in Race 6 was a 1:10.4. More important perhaps, my lap times were also much more consistent. In the last race I actually managed nine laps in the 1:11s and keep in contact with the pack the whole way. I even passed one poor bugger as he missed a gear in the run to the chequered flag.
Wow … what a weekend! Memorable for a whole variety of reasons. Apart from spending the weekend with Daniel and Deckspeed’s race car, perhaps the most satisfying aspect was (semi) successfully working through the process of acknowledging the cars strengths and subsequently adapting my driving technique to suit. The most disappointing aspect of the weekend was that it took me two days to work out what a talented driver would probably have done in two laps!
It was certainly a character building exercise and I hope that my experiences might benefit some other aspiring drivers in the future.
Thanks again to Daniel for his time, patience and good humour; and thanks again to Deckspeed Racing for their generous support of the MX-5 community.
