Round 5 Northern Speed Championship

Round 5 Northern speed Championship

Held at Barbon Manor stately home in Cumbria, near Kirby Lonsdale. They close the entrance road a few times a year for very popular hillclimbs up the entry road. Very well spectated too as can be seen on one of the pics attached.

I was always going to be a bottom feeder as far as class positions went on this event due to this being a shared round with another championship who have stupidly quick cars, 200bhp R5 Turbo’s, Lotus Elise 190 that gets trailored everywhere and is as modified as the regs allow. There was also 3 other elises in my class and a clio 172 sport. My championship rival was an Mx5 who has 50bhp more than me so im always playing catch up. (in fact with only 90bhp, im way underpowered for the class and relying on the brilliant handling of the saxo)

for those who don’t know the track is made up of 3 corners and about 814metres long. The first corner is a left hander, quite tight followed by a short blat where I get into 3rd before a deceptive left hander that has a folklore rumour it can be taken flat whereas your natural instinct is to lift off before as you cant see the apex or even round the corner. Then a long blat uphill to a right hand hairpin, that is actually 2 corners, a slight slow down area into a very tight right. A very short burst up the remainder and across the line. A guide and pics of what the driver see can be seen here http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/pdf/bm.pdf

Anyway first run saw a very leisurely attempt, and I didn’t post the slowest time either… 36.25. As a guide, the fastest in my class on this run was the tricked up elise 190 who did 30.56. To put that in comparison, in the class above a Porshe 911 GT3 did 31.25 and a Metro 6R4 32.12!!!

I knew where I had lost time and it was my first run up the hill in the saxo afterall. Add in brand new GpN suspension and bigger ARB and it was all a bit suck it and see.

Just before my next run, the heavens opened and soaked the track. It did dry a little but common sense ensued and things slowed down a bit.

After the lunch brake, and first official run. I played with the throttle on the first corner and teased it round, (could have done better) and very nearly took the next infamous corner flat but chickened out and lifted very very slightly. However, I knew this was enough to show me I could do it flat for sure next time. The hairpin was ok, but I cant get past backing off too early so I do lose time there.

Last run saw a banzai attack on the first corner, Totally flat out and fighting the car all the way round. I then took the next flat out and to be honest, it was a piece of cake. The car skipped a bit but there was still loads of grip and im so frustrated I didn’t have the balls to do it before. I was on a flyer but as all racing drivers find out, the old excuse book comes in handy. On the hairpin, instead of reaching for 1st, I thought I’d selected 3rd. I paused for a while trying to work out what I’d done, and in the end took it out of gear and back into 1st. Not a huge amount of time but 2 seconds on this track is a lifetime and although I beat my previous time 35.05 I dropped down the rank to last in class. Gutted.

Next event is Elvington Airfield near York on august 2nd. That’s going to be totally banzai as its just a big airfield marked out with cones and nothing like armco’s to hit if I overdo it.

I definitely think next year is going to need a VTS engine though….








more photos can be seen here
www.seeredphotography.co.uk/Barbonjune