Weasels race diary 2012!


W

Weasel

EM1 racecar
Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
1,316
As the pre season testing has gotton underway, im going to write a short summary of how things are going on with each day that we are out!
I will be adding more reports as each session goes by.

Series: ITCC 2012
Team: KMRmotorsport
Driver: Kevin Moran
Car Number: 46
Make/Model: Honda Civic Coupe
Engine: b16b
Estimated power output: 242hp
Sponsors:
BC Designs walkinstown
Hughes Recovery Blessington
Taylor Engines + Tuning
CT Motor Factors
B-Racing Chassis Alignment and Preparation
SimAutoParts
D4DPhotos

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Everyone,
many of you already know the somewhat succesful build up of my Coupe and this year im going to see what it translates to on the track in teh Irish Touring Car Championship 2012.

Pre-Season Testing/trackday-February 8th Mondello Park Intl. Circuit
Weather: Wet with greasy track and standing water in places
Temperature:7-10 degrees

Saturday the 8th saw the new car out on the track for the very first time since its conversion to a race car. Almost instantly there were issues. Manifold heat wrap which had soaked up some oil was set alight after running temps got pretty high, but luckily we noticed this in the pitlane before we went out on track and was not a big deal.
So we set of out on track for the first few bedding in laps.
Unfortunately on the outlap our ignition switch got fried which killed the power and we had to be towed back into the paddock by the marshalls. Luckily we had a spare and within 5mins we were back out on the track.
Things started going pretty well, the engine seemed strong the new diff was pulling hard through the corners and cornering setup was working really well.
After 4 laps of tipping around and getting everything up to optimum values, i decided to open up the taps a little and go that little bit quicker. No sooner had i went through 3 turns when the differential in the gearbox seemed to seize and i had no other option but to beech it in the graveltrap.
20120211_122802.jpg


We got pulled back out and i drove the car back in but it seemed a bit sluggish. I put this down to a pebbel or something getting stuck in the brakes or something.
Once i had the front end cleaned up again, out we went for more laps. This time the car felt really sluggish and lacking in power so I came back in after 2 laps. We jacked the car up and guess-diagnosed the problem to be a differential seizure possibly due to being shimmed to tight.
So that was our day over in a nutshell.
Plenty of positives to take from the day. The engine is very strong and the handling is right on the money. Even though ive only got a handful of laps under my belt, things are looking promising.
Going to tackle the differential problem this week and sort out some other small issues which we encountered.
The car will be back out on the 28th of February for more testing and hopefully we should have a much stronger setup for that.

Stay tuned for more updates as the season progress's.

Cheers,
Kevin.
 
Car looked great man , shame it ended too soon for you !

Was good fun out there today with the weather :D
 
sorry i never got a chance to meet you in person Darragh. Ur car seemed to go pretty well, did you have any issues?.....
 
I was going to head over for a chat but your pit looked busy busy all the time ha ha... You out on the 28th ?

No issues at all thank god , car went really well , bar some brake fade and the drivers mat slipping up behind my clutch pedal , was a quick fix phew..!
 
All hands on deck until we saw that we couldnt fix the problem quickly, then we just sat around talkin shyte lol!
Yeah im back out on the 28th. Gonna have a newly built box and should sort out some other teething issues as well.
Be sure to come over and talk crap with us for a while haha...pax laps if you want to as well.
 
use a Quaife, Kaaz or Cusco

they are great and they also sound tough.
 
No, all was fine there. The diffuser goes back under the engine and there was very little if any debris at all in the bay area.
 
Took out the box last night.
Opening it up tonight.
Had to split the drivers side shaft at the plunge joint as the inner part of the shaft would not pop out of the box. I have a feeling that could be part of the issue.
I'l let you know when i know more ;)
 
So today i was out causing more hassle again lol!
Was late arriving to the track as i had to make up new brake lines and route them at short notice after i saw that some of the old fittings were in a bad state!
Loading up onto the truck and the distributor starts acting up, backfiring wildly and hunting. Got to the track did a few laps on the knackered dizzy and diagnosed the problem with the help of a spare dizzy provided by another driver. So Norman from Vtec Specialists droppped over a spare dizzy of his own car and that went perfectly for the rest of the day.
So back out on track the diff was working well but on each lap the car was slower and slower. So i pulled in and had a look at the shafts when i jacked it up.
low and behold the diff has locked the shafts solid and the wheels could not be turned at all, even jumping on the power bar did no good lol!
So time for a new differential and a couple of dizzy's

Next test day 16th March!:nice:
 
tama666 said:
Sorry to hear about the issues at track buddy, you are getting it all worked out tho! Ace buddy do not give up. :)

tama666
Click to expand...

Was a bit sick at the end of the day alright.
But i had a lot of help from some very sound chaps and also some of my sponsors were there so i had to try hard and will be stronger for the next day again :)
Cheers, buddy :nice:
 
Well great progress with the car yesterday!
I encountered a lot of small teething problems but there were a hell of a lot of positives to take from the day
Firstly it was absolutely lashing rain all day and because i have not yet installed a slider kit on my plexi windows the inside of the car was fogging up constantly which resulted in me pulling in every 5 laps or so to wipe the windows clear!
I managed to get around 50laps in with the quickest time of 1;12;560 being set near the end of the day when the track was starting to dry out.
Unfortunately as my pac was getting quicker both front calipers developed a problem (siezed sliders) and i ground to a halt on the straightway and was towed in.
The brand new yokohama A048's worked really well with my setup.
Potentially i should see 1;10's in the wet with no major issues.
I was also one of the fastest cars in my claas yesterday which makes it even sweeter :D
Stay tuned for further progress over the next few weeks.
 
ITCC Rounds Qualifying session Saturday April 14th
Weather conditions: Sunny + Dry
Track Mondello Park National Circuit : http://www.racing70s.pwp.blueyonder...ello Park.gif

We arrived at the circuit bright and early on Saturday morning after spending all night before completing some final checks. I had booked into the morning test session so we had a good chance to Iron out any issues which arose.
In testing i noticed that the spare distibutor i had was losing ignition in high revs and also my spark plugs were collapsing so I had to wait for replacements which would mean abandoning the testing and hoping for the best in Qualifying later that day.
I got the parts i needed and was set for Qualifying at 4 o'clock.
The car was absolutely flying and even though I was plagued by heavy traffic I was getting faster and faster on every lap. 3/4 way during the session i pulled in for an update with the crew and at this point i was lying in second position 5 tenths off the white EK.
I decided to go out for another flying lap and I was going to set a pole position lap until the black integra and a different white SuperTouring Civic held me up.
I qualified in second position only 1 tenth off the White EK.
My qualifying time was 1;05.034
Here is the full video of the session on an incar camera:
14/04/12 - Kevin Moran - Honda Coupe- Touring Class -ITCC Qualifying @ Mondello - YouTube
 
ITCC Rounds 1&2 Sunday April 15th.
Following saturday qualifying i was in great form as the pace of the car on pretty much its very first outing was sensational!
So we headed off and picked up some booze and got hammered saturday night
Again we were up early Sunday morning and checked everything over and over again before we went out for race 1.
I lined up second on the grid, off the racing line.

Race 1:
A short video of the start of the race is here:
http://www.facebook.com/ajax/flash/...=timelineDouble

Off the line i got a decent start but the Pink/blkack EP3 behind me got a rocket start and by the exit of turn 1 was leading our class.
Half the race or so went by and i was holding position in third. I was waiting for contact between the two cars ahead to give me an opportunity to gain positions.
With only a handful of lpas to go, there was contact between the EP3 and the White EK on the entry to turn 2. The white EK seems to have tagged the EP3 and sent him of course.
Now I was up to second place!
By the end of the lap i was right on the back end of the white EK and decided to make a move for the lead by out-braking him into the last corner! I executed the move cleanly and got the lead of the race for the very first time!
541164_276121735813017_268801219878402_546183_796694099_n.jpg

I held the lead of the race for just under 2 laps. I changed my lines from smooth to completely defensive with early breaking as I was trying to conserve the tyres as much as possible.
With 2 laps to go and with the knowledge that i can drive the car conservatively without the driver behind able to get ahead i was confident of at least a podium position if not a race win!
However on the exit of turn 4 the white ek driver got right up behind me and connected with my back bumper which sent me flying off the track and into the tyre wall.
My race was over and I was getting 0 points. Such a sad and dissapointing end to what would have been a dream result.
The video of the whole race is here:

15-04-12 / ITCC Round 1 / Kevin Moran / Honda Civic Coupe / Touring Class / Mondello Park - YouTube
 
ITCC Rounds 1&2 April 15th.

Race 2:
Because i did not finish the first race, I had to start the second from last place on the grid.
When the lights went green I got a rocket start and passed 6 cars before the first corner, which left me in 5th position.
I held this place with strong defensive driving for the next 5 laps or so. During this time I got T-boned twice by a new inexperienced rookie driver.
With approx. half race distance gone, the race was red-flagged due to a serious crash which left 2 cars written-off and 2 drivers hurt. The video of the crash is here:
ITCC 2012 Round 2 Anthony Murtagh Corrado crash incar - YouTube
Note in teh video above, that you can see my car from the very start of the race. My lines are good, and the way the car drives in and out of the corners is smooth and quick enabling me to get quick lap times.

Race 2-Restart.
With the restart of the race i gained another position with a well executed move into turn 1 but on the exit i missed a gear and this enabled the other driver to get back past me.
However on the second lap i managed to pass the EP3 and take 4th place as he left the door wide open through turn3.
I powered passed his car but got my lines a little mixed up in the next corner....i was not expecting what happened next...the EP3 driver connected with me from behind and sent me into a spin. I turned 180 degrees and got rammed head on which sent me into the gravel.
I managed to get out of the gravel trap but only lasted another 2 laps and then had to retire because of a broken CV joint.
The video of the race from the rear of the EP3 is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNF7sn_kMWo&feature=g-all-u

For a weekend that started off so well, what a dissapointing end.
I drove cleanly throughout each race with disastrous consequences.
Hopefully I'l have some better luck in future rounds.
 
Last edited:
Great driving from yourself, I will have to watch the rest of the videos on nightshift

Only watched the video with the crash!! Some of those drivers should be banned, the manouvers were very wreckless. The guy who nearly wrote everyone off in the DC2 needs a talking to imo

You should come up here for a raceday, drivers will give you a bit more room and don't drive as dangerously. I know that racing can be dangerous but you have to make decisions to avoid collisions, means that you have more fun and go home with the car in 1 piece

Good luck for next race
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top