Monte Carlo- Part 6 Day 5: Friday 20 January – Day 3 of the rally
(from Twitter) Well here we are in Monte Carlo 
OMG – we are in Monte Carlo!
Before I say ANYTHING about the rally I have to tell you we are in a great little apartment in Cap d’Ail, next door to Monaco, with an amazing view overlooking the sea. There is an infinity pool which looks really tempting too and I have to keep reminding myself it’s only 12 degrees. I am also quite excited to be just round the corner from Nigel de Wallens (Cat – an old friend of mine who I haven’t seen in a few years) who it would be very nice to catch up with if possible 
Back to the rally – we all thought we would be outside the top 60 on Friday and be able to park the car up and watch a bit on Saturday and Sunday. All the crews would like to get some sleep and it would help the budget. Equally we are all really excited to be here
Today’s stages have been overshadowed by the amount of road mileage we have all had to do. The whole rally has moved 4 & 1/2 hours south, which meant packing our bags, cars, service truck and loading up the trailer with my GT as we are using the recce car. We headed out to the stages first to make the ice notes, followed by the rally crew. Meanwhile the service crew were in Valence waiting for the rally crew to come back in from the stages, and then had to stay behind to pack everything up. The service guys headed south on the autoroute, while the rest of us had to follow the rally route taking us east and then south via Sisteron, Digne-les-Bains and Nice.
From the start of SS14 to the TC in at Monte Carlo the time allowed for the rally crew was 4h45!! It’s not often that appears on a time card. The total distance from the end of the stage was 238.67km. It’s now gone midnight and we have just eaten dinner. Fortunately they weren’t ham and cheese sandwiches, which is all we’ve been managing to eat! Big thanks go to Stefan’s dad Andrew who has been doing all the cooking and sandwich making – he has kept us all going.
Tomorrow’s two stages are run twice but happily the first car is not due until 13:15 so we will all get some rest.
One thing is now on our minds – the Col de Turini!
Monte Carlo - Part 7 Day 6: Saturday 21 January – Day 4 of the rally
(from Twitter) View from the balcony http://lockerz.com/s/176372388 (Cat – the balcony of our apartment in Cap d’Ail)
What a day!! Two amazing stages, really what you think of as typical Monte stages. Bend after bend, sheer drops, low stone parapets and sweeping hairpin descents into narrow valleys. The scenery is simply stunning. You can see why it grabs people to come back year after year.
The spectators have been amazing today. They have walked miles into the stages to stand there for hours. There was a 4h 23min gap for them to wait to see the cars twice through the stages. To park anywhere near the stage they had to be there well before the T-cars (us) went through, and we were driving through 2 and 1/2 hrs before the stage was due to start. As we approached the first stage, there were cars parked all along the narrow road for about three miles. People were still driving in and turning round to come back down the extremely steep hill to try and park. Then to get anywhere to view more than just one corner they had to walk a long way up the hill a few km into the stage. Some had obviously been camping out in cars or motorhomes since the night before to ensure a good spot. Any car passing through was guaranteed a cheer, even our 1.2 Clio which must have seemed woefully slow. By the time we went through the stages for the second time it was dark and lots of fires were burning like beacons on the hillside and we were nearly blinded by flash as they took pictures of us. In the digital age it’s hard to imagine that most of them won’t get binned, and we think they were taking pictures of any car they could see!
We had a late night last night by the time we’d finished the long run into Monte Carlo and found our apartment. We were all so tired we were laughing at the silliest things. Eventually we got to bed at 03:30. Luckily the schedule – decried by many as “not proper rallying” – meant we had a much later start and could catch up on our sleep somewhat. So, yes I agree, there is too much road mileage, but if you had to do it they have worked the schedule out pretty well so you finally get some sleep just at the point when you think you can’t take any more!
We set off for the run out to the stages about 11:00. When you get to a certain point on the road into the stage there are Gendarmes everywhere stopping the public driving into the stages, but the T-cars have passes which allow them to breeze right through. It’s a weird feeling driving up to an arrival control with no-one there to take your time card!
After we had done our passes through the stages we stopped at the end and walked back into the final hairpin to watch the first few cars go through. The first car through was a pre-00 driven by Jean Ragnotti, who in typical crowd pleasing style was on the handbrake 20 yards before the corner!! The drivers who followed may have been quicker but none were better to watch.
It was quite sad to be driving down the stages for the last time knowing that was the final stage of the rally for us. The crew don’t really need us to check the last stage as it is a final 5km showcase close to Monaco and we need to leave for home as soon as we can in the morning. We’ll miss out on the after party I am sure they will have. It’s a shame because it would be a great way to round off what has been a fantastic experience. Louise and Stefan have done a great job to get this far, driving the whole rally virtually on sight as their recce notes simply were not up to the job. They will leave the rally having learnt a massive amount. It really is a completely new level with so many things to take on board. As a privateer team on a limited budget they have achieved something amazing. Our fingers are crossed that nothing goes wrong for them tomorrow and that they enjoy every second of the final day.
As for us, we’ll be heading north.
Monte Carlo – Part 8 Day 7: Sunday 22 January -·rally – Day 5
(from Twitter) We’re now on the DFDS ferry from Dunkerque. Made it in 11 hours dead from Monaco but picked up a speeding fine on the way #fail
The final day!!
In reality the final day of the rally for us was Saturday, but of course Louise and Stefan still had to get through the “Power Stage” while we were on the motorway heading for home. No ice notes required on that stage when it’s 17 degrees in Monte Carlo…
In the end Louise and Stef did what they had to do to get round and finish the rally. What a fantastic achievement for them, a privateer team on a miniscule budget.
Meanwhile it was a 100mph dash for us, up the Autoroute du Soleil and the Autoroute des Anglais. Apologies to France for shattering your speed limits. We had a lovely stop en-route to catch up with Nigel De Wallens for an hour – he fed us enough coffee to get us to the first fuel stop.
While we were blasting past Reims we took the opportunity to have a quick look at the old Reims-Gueux Circuit d’Essais. It’s been sympathetically kept alive by the friends of the circuit (http://www.amis-du-circuit-de-gueux.fr/).The place is full of ghosts. It was used for racing from the 20′s to the late 60′s/ early 70′s and was on the very first Grand Prix calendar in 1950. Race winners included Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Jack Brabham, Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme and Peter Collins among others. Now it’s just the old pit buildings and timekeepers on one side of the D27 faced by the grandstands on the other. It is well worth a side trip if you are ever passing.
Ignoring our stop at Nigel’s and the side-trip to Reims, the trip to Dunkerque took 11 hours. Sadly the trip back from Dover seemed to take nearly as long! We had to stop for a nap halfway and eventually got home about 02:30. The round trip was a total of 1924 miles (the Alfa went on the rally trailer from Valence to Monaco), plus the rally mileage we did in the Clio, where we followed the rally route (for all but three stages) and road sections. What an amazing experience it has been and a lot of fun along the way. Big thanks to Louise Cook and Stefan Davis and the crew Andrew, Steve and Gary for the opportunity and for making us so welcome – and well done to all.
A final word – the ice note crew are available for the 2013 Monte Carlo rally!
Recently we were invited by our friend Stefan Davis to go down to the Monte Carlo Rally to make the ice notes for him and P-WRC driver and BWRDC member Louise Cook. We kept a behind-the-scenes blog on facebook and here is the full report.
Monte Carlo Rally - Part 1 Day 1: Monday 16 January
It’s the first leg of our trip down to Valence to help Louise Cook and her co-driver Stefan Davis with their ice notes for the WRC Monte Carlo rally. It’s Louise’s first WRC event and our first time making ice notes so it’s a steep learning curve for all of us. Louise and Stefan are out in France already and have been recceing the route. The rally starts Wednesday, and we are setting off tonight aiming for an overnight halt just south of Amiens, so we can get there at a reasonable time tomorrow to go over the notes and the route and find out what the team expect from us.
As usual we are cutting it a little fine with the ferry. We have three hours to get to Dover, which will be fine providing we don’t encounter any delays. Naturally the first thing we come across is a 50 limit for roadworks on the M1. However Andy is driving and I have every faith in him and my lovely Alfa GT (Cat – I spoke too soon as you will see!)
Monte Carlo - Part 2 Day 1: Monday 16 January
Crossed the QEII bridge at 19:45 so making quite good time, despite sundry policemen and roadworks and a brief stop to figure out why the Alfa is making a hissing noise (we don’t know). No comments please Mr Stringer! (Cat – Steve has been plenty rude about my Alfa). Hopefully when we get to Dover (just under 40 miles away) DFDS will recognise the car and let us board the ferry. (Cat – we didn’t have a reservation number as communication with the rally crew had been a bit sketchy over the preceding weekend.)
The gritters have obviously been out as pieces of grit are flicking up and rattling on the windscreen. The ice warning light is on and the temp gauge is down to 2 degrees C and dropping. Checking the weather in Valence I see it’s -2. I am not sure what to expect from the weather as a long range forecast last night showed rain and warmer temperatures towards the end of the week, but Andrew Coley told me earlier that there are 5km of snow reported in SS2.
We don’t know if there is handy WiFi over there to keep updating you with our adventures but I will be keeping a log and can always update the story when we get back. In the meantime there’s a boat to catch!
(From Twitter) 13 minutes early for check-in at Dover. The Alfa looks pretty anywhere. http://lockerz.com/s/175123407
Monte Carlo - Part 3 Day 2: Tuesday 17 January
(from Twitter) 03:00 arrival last night at hotel means a slightly later start… About to embark on the last leg of the trip down, but first, croissants.
We’re finally here in Valence – well just outside it at a terrific Gite that Louise and Stefan have booked for the week. It’s been a long trip down but we arrived to a warm welcome from Andrew, Steve and Gary. (Cat – the service crew)
The ferry last night was great, the first time we’d travelled via DFDS, and we both managed to get some kip before driving a couple of hours inland to St Quentin where we stayed overnight. The first part of the trip was eerily familiar as we were driving from Dunkerque down the Ypres road which we’ve done many times in the past. It was nice to see the sign that said “Vous etes en Flandres” and knowing we were not too far away from our Belgian friends, especially comforting as the Alfa’s hissing noise was now accompanied by black smoke. We were able to ignore this by looking at the incredible moon which looked like a giant plastic orange banana.
We found the Premiere Classe at St Quentin quite easily about 03:00 and were grateful to hit the sack. We set off about 10:00 after a good sleep and another look at the Alfa to see if we could spot the hidden snake. Leaving a huge trail of black smoke behind us (to confuse the enemy) we decided to see if we could find a garage at the first opportunity so pulled off at Reims, where a nice man from a handy controle technique place took us round to the local Alfa garage…. which was shut. You have to love a country that has two hour lunch breaks!
In the end we decided rather than wait we’d keep going and head for the next big town, Troyes. The smoking was getting worse and with it, a loss of power, so we were starting to get really worried. After a lot of messing about in Troyes we eventually found an Alfa main dealer…. and what a pleasant experience, the technician found the problem immediately and fixed it for us there and then. It turned out that the intercooler hose had split and needed to be replaced, a really simple fix.
By now we were about four hours later than intended, and 200 euros lighter, but the Alfa was going like a train and I was driving, so we were making up time but were still only due to arrive at 21:00. Eventually we got to Chatillon and had to call for directions as the town is a proper maze.
We have a whole load of roadbooks, passes and stickers for tomorrow and Louise and Stefan have just returned from Valence so we had better get down to business.
Monte Carlo- Part 4·Day 3: Wednesday 18 January – Day 1 of the rally
Got to bed at 01:30 after our late arrival in Valence…. The alarm went off at 04:15 ready for a 05:00 departure! There were reports of packed snow/ice on SS2 overnight so checking the stages was going to be doubly important.
The run out to the first stage seemed to go on forever, it was below zero most of the way but when we got to the stage it was clear most of the way apart from a couple of icy patches. Nearly 37km of twisting mountain road in the dark! We are using Stefan’s 1.2 Clio to make the ice notes and we were glad it was on winter tyres. We could have done with some spotlights as well though!
Obviously we are going through the stages a lot slower than the rally cars and a lot slower than some of the other note cars too (Evo10′s for example) so we had to add a bit (lot) of extra on to the time allowed the rally crews to get through the stages, plus you must go through at least 1h10mins before the first car, hence the very early start for us of 06:50 at SS1.
SS2 started with dry Tarmac but as we climbed through the stage we came across the packed ice and snow which went on for several km and then cleared as we descended. The last 4-5km of the stage was frosty and greasy rather than icy. We texted the ice notes through to the crew and waited at the end of SS2 to see if they made it through. While we were waiting we checked out the top twenty crews and had a skeg at the times on the board at the SS finish. We also saw poor Bouffier come out of stage with the left rear wheel toeing out about 25 degrees! The car certainly didn’t look able to complete a long road section.
Louise & Stefan finished the leg in one piece but looking shaken – they’d started the event on slicks as they hadn’t had time to switch tyres before the start, so had found it very tricky. Stefan also suffered from mal de Nav and was looking a bit green. They went off to Valence – a 92km trip back for a 20 min service! – and we prepared to go and check it all again, this time looking for gravel.·(Cat – This section was Le Moulinon – Antraigues and Burzet – St Martial repeated twice.)
Monte Carlo - Part 5 Day 4: Thursday 19 January – Day 2 of the rally
We have been a bit bleary-eyed today. Three stages run twice, with a 65km run to the stage start, plus the 25km we are outside Valence. It has been a lot warmer today, just 0 degrees as we set off and we have seen +9 today.
We liked today’s stages especially SS7/10 which would suit our style of rallying very well. Andy likes nadgery stages and I like fast bits so we would have enjoyed that one I think. There is a spectacular cut to avoid a right – left kink straight over a gravel parking area which everyone must have been taking, right up our street and must have been fun to watch. As far as we know as I write Louise & Stefan are safely through that stage and on their way to service. We are in McD’s drinking coffee in order to scam free WiFi! (only because we could not get a signal from outside!)
My phone is nearly dead and so will have to end this here. We are really enjoying ourselves although tired and I have to keep pinching myself hard as I have always wanted to do the Monte and this is the nearest I will get! If Louise is in the top 60 tomorrow then we continue to Monaco on Saturday and Sunday. Fingers crossed we don’t make idiots of ourselves in the snow on the top of the Col de Turini 
(from Twitter) Two long days so far making the ice notes for Louise & Stefan, v. early starts both days. Stages lots of fun wish the Evo was here!
After finishing Silverstone without too much to do to the car we went into the round at Oulton Park fairly confident of a good race. In qualifying the car felt the best it ever had and we qualified a strong 8th out of 26. This was to be my highest ever start position, on the 4th row of the grid. I was slightly apprehensive as I was amongst a lot of cars that I hadn’t been around before, so I wasn’t sure how they raced. I got a good start overtaking a few, but was on the outside at the first corner and was pushed wide onto the grass losing quite a few places, but was still 2nd in Class.
Credit: PMJG66
There was a big accident after the second corner, which sent our main Class competitor into the barrier and retirement, which meant I was now 1st in Class with 2nd in Class close behind me. There was a pack of slower cars in front of me that were bustling for position, which meant that I couldn’t overtake unless I went onto the grass. Knowing I still had 15 minutes left of my session before handing over to Toby, I kept with them and waited for an opportunity to overtake whilst closely watching my mirrors and defending from the other class car behind.
About a lap or so from the end of my session I had a lapse of concentration and one of the cars behind got past, which in turn let through our class competitor and meant we had dropped to 2nd in class. Our competitor was chucking out fluid, which went over my windscreen and also the track making it very difficult to keep up. He went into the pits on the next lap and I carried on for my last lap before changing over to Toby. When I came into the pits our competitor was still there having problems with the car, which meant we had taken back the lead in class, with the next car in class about 20 seconds behind. Toby had a great race and we just missed out on 5th overall after 40 minutes by 1 second, but this was to be our best ever result, 6th overall, 1st in class and fastest lap in class – a great relief after all the problems we had endured during the season!
On a high, we couldn’t decide whether to take part in the last event at Snetterton, on the new 200 circuit, but we eventually decided to give it a go and set off to Norfolk at the end of October.
We had checked the car over in the weeks leading up to the event and felt that we could end the season on another high. I went out for the first stint in qualifying and the car had a minor vibration coming from the front end, which didn’t feel too bad, but it would need checking once the session was over. I was getting good speed and down the straight I was maxing out just before the left-hander into Brundle. My bogey corner is the new Coram, which is a long fast right-hander that tightens before a 90 left at Murray’s. People kept catching me here, but when I had a slower entry into Murrays I was getting a much better exit onto the Senna Straight, most times pulling away from the cars behind. I just needed a few more laps to build up my confidence on that corner, but that was the end of my session, so I handed over to Toby, mentioning the vibration to our pit crew.
2 laps into Toby’s session we noticed the chequered flag out and wondered if we had mis-judged the change over and left Toby with no time to do his laps. Then we realised that we hadn’t seen him come past. What had happened? Had he crashed? Had the engine failed? We didn’t know. We left the pit wall and I found a driver that had been out on track, he told us: “I’m sorry to say that your engine is all over the track”.
Relieved that Toby hadn’t crashed, we went back to our pit space and waited for him to return. Whilst waiting what seemed like forever we heard many stories of what had happened. One that Toby was dropping oil into the hairpin and then spun on it into the barrier, another that the engine had exploded so violently that the whole of the front end was destroyed and the wings and bonnet had blown off! He finally got back with the car and it looked intact, until we noticed a huge bulge in the bonnet that wasn’t there before! Toby said the flywheel had destroyed itself, taking most of the gearbox casing and engine with it! A large chunk of the gearbox casing and flywheel were on the track, along with some plug leads! Luckily he was unhurt in the incident and it just meant another engine rebuild, but this was a sad end to our season, with a plus side that it would have happened at the start of the next season and we wouldn’t have 5 months to fix it between races!!
On removing the engine and taking apart what was left we found we needed: Flywheel, Engine Block, Gearbox casing, Starter Motor, Clutch, Gearbox Input Shaft, Head-work and Crank to name a few bits. Most of these items have been replaced and work is on going on the major parts. We are hoping to have the engine and gearbox back together in the next month ready for testing before the season starts again in April once again at Snetterton.
We will be racing with the Ford Puma in the CSCC Tin Tops series again this season and will hopefully have more class wins. For more information on the club and the series please visit their website www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk.
Yours in Racing,
Lisa Selby
2011 Race Series – CSCC Tin Tops
I race with my fiancé, Toby Harris, in the Classic Sports Car Club (CSCC) Tin Tops Series in a Ford Puma Cup 1600. The races are 40 minutes in duration with a compulsory pitstop/driver change, which suits us down to the ground as we both get to race as a team and share the same car. It also allows our pit crew to get involved!
Our 2011 race season started in April on the newly opened Snetterton 300 circuit with the Puma, which we had been preparing for 7 months. We hadn’t driven the track before in its new configuration so it was a steep learning curve for the first event, getting to grips with both a new car and circuit. I’m pleased to say that we qualified 14 out of 27 and there weren’t any major problems with the car, just the steering being a bit too heavy for me (non-assisted).
I lined up on the grid for the race on Row 6, the highest we had ever been. It was a rolling start so we set off on our green flag lap in formation. Onto the start finish straight and the lights went out, we were racing. I had an average start but this was soon cut short due to a spinner right in front of me – I had to take to the grass to avoid an accident. I lost a few places, but carried on and had a great race mid-pack with an Alfa 156 where we kept swapping places; he’d get me around Coram and then I would take my place back after exiting Murray’s up the Senna Straight – great fun. We finished 11th overall and 2nd in Class, which we were pretty chuffed with for our first race in this car!
Credit: Jeff Bloxham
Next up was Brands Hatch, my local circuit (when I lived in Kent!). We hadn’t really done any modifications to the car between races, so it was a case of seeing how it handled around this track. It was appalling, the steering seemed even heavier than at Snetterton and the car didn’t want to turn into any of the corners. We qualified 19th out of 26.
We spent most of the time between races checking the set up and playing with damper settings but it still didn’t feel any better when lining up for the race. We finished 17th overall and 2nd in Class and had a big shopping list for the car for the next event!
The next event was the CSCC Interseries race in the Spa Summer Classic at Spa Francorchamps, Belgium. The car had lots of new bits: electric power steering, new steering rack, softer springs and a floor mounted pedal box to name just a few of the between-race-mods! Qualifying was on the Friday and race Saturday so we booked a test session Thursday morning to get ourselves used to the new set up and to play with settings.
We lined up for the first session of the day, the gates opened onto the circuit and the car cut out – not a great start. We pushed it back to the pits and managed to trace the problem to a loose connection (blue splice joint) on the fuel pump. With this properly fixed, we lined up for the next session. Success: I got out onto the track and flew up the Kemel Straight. A few laps in I called into the pits where we changed a few suspension settings and I went back out. I was at top speed (127 mph) at the end of Kemel and the car felt great. 25 mins into the session Toby jumped in and started his laps. The second lap past the pits there was a loud bang and he coasted to a halt by the La Source hairpin. We thought it may have been the gearbox as the clutch release bearing that was making an awful noise before the session. Unfortunately it was the engine, and that was the end of our Spa meeting.
We got back from Belgium and stripped the engine apart. The head, clutch and flywheel were salvageable, but everything else was scrap. The hunt was on for another engine that we could use as a donor and a long list of parts were ordered from Co-ordSport – www.coordsport.com. Less than 2 months later we had built a new engine and refitted it into the car, run it in on a rolling road and we were off to North Wales to race at Anglesey!
I went out first for qualifying and was told to come straight in if there were any strange noises, or turn it straight off if any lights came on. Half way around the lap there was a funny noise so I came straight into the pits. Our crew opened up the bonnet and found the throttle was sticking open. They adjusted a few things and sent me out again, but I had already lost 10 minutess of the session and Toby still had to go out and do 3 laps, so after about 4 laps I came in and handed over to him. He managed to get in a quick lap on a drying track (9th out of 16), but felt a vibration from the front, so after the session finished we started checking the car along with changing the oil, as it was still on running-in oil and trying to fix the sticky throttle!! We found one of the bushes loose on the wishbone, so after borrowing another pair from a fellow Puma racer (Mark Hadfield) we bolted it on, found there was a bolt missing off the throttle bodies causing the sticky throttle and changed the oil.
We just finished when it was announced that the meeting was being brought forward 30 mins, so we didn’t even get a chance to drive around the paddock when we were summoned to the assembly area. I went out on the green flag lap and still felt the vibration – we hadn’t cured the problem, but it didn’t feel bad enough to retire. I started the race and was having a great battle with a pair of 205s before the vibration started to get worse. This was only a few laps in, but it felt like the wheel was coming loose, so I came into the pits.
Our crew came and checked the wheels, along with a scrutineer who had heard a radio call that our front wheel looked loose, but all nuts were tight and they couldn’t find a problem. I went back out again to see if there was any change. There wasn’t, so Toby jumped in to see if he could diagnose the problem, but he also came straight back in and that was the end of our race. On returning home and stripping down the front corner we found a CV joint had run dry and completely destroyed itself, which was annoying as we had a spare driveshaft in the van! Doh!
For the next round was at Silverstone, we had a panic in scrutineering as our hydraulic brake switch decided to fail, but thankfully we managed to fix it with a quick rewire and were ready to qualify. We qualified 16th out of 25 and were alongside one of our class C competitors on the grid. I got a great start and managed to keep in front for the first few laps, then went a bit deep into Maggots. This gave me a bad exit onto the straight and I lost the place and didn’t have the corner speeds to keep up with him. It was a fairly quiet race after that until the stops when Toby jumped in. The heavens opened a few laps before the end of the race and the track was saturated, but Toby still managed to bring home the car 15th overall and 3rd in Class, our first finish since Brands Hatch in May and a great relief that the car was finally working ok!
Lisa Selby
Last week I took advantage of the offer from iZone to spend a few hours with them up at Silverstone as part of my BWRDC Goldstars winner’s package.
The company is run by a small but highly skilled and successful bunch of racers past and present as well as a physio, media trainer and engineer. In a nutshell they will assess drivers ability on and off the track in terms of physical health and mental ability, not to mention ability behind the wheel. Using state of the art simulators and probably as much computing power that put men on the moon, including eye tracker technology used by fighter pilots, they can analyse everything that a driver is doing when blasting round a circuit.
Knowing this I was more than a little nervous as to how my ability, or lack of it, might be exposed – gulp!
After being shown round the facility by John Pratt (Andy Priaulx’s driver coach for 12 years) and Neil Riddiford (all round clever clogs and ex-Formula Renault champion amongst other things) I was shown the heart of the operation: the simulator room.
The simulator includes 4-pot brake callipers, hydraulic clutch, paddleshift or sequential box, electromagnetic seat belt tensioners (to enhance the sensation of braking) fly-by-wire throttle and a wrap round HD screen, not to mention the aforementioned eye tracker.
iZone is a lot more than just mucking about in a very realistic simulator that can recreate dozens of tracks, cars and conditions. They also provide training in goal setting, strategy, mental tenacity and mind conditioning including visualisation skills to help turn quick drivers into winners:
So how did it go? It certainly takes some time to acclimatise to simulator mode so to speak, and I was ‘driving’ a Porsche Carrera Cup car on the National circuit at Silverstone, one that I know well, or thought I did. As my lap times became a bit more consistent, in Neil’s capable hands he advised about lines and braking points, being able to freeze the ‘sim’ mid corner and replay sections so that I was not only a bit quicker but was also less likely to fall off!
Then the eye tracker was calibrated and wearing a clear goggles headset off I went again, this time more conscious than ever that I must look through the corner because this pesky technology would soon be revealing all my faults, or more appropriately as iZone like to say, areas of improvement.
I would love to say there were none but I would be lying. In fact the analysis clearly showed several areas for improvement that should make me a little quicker this season without spending a small fortune on the car, so cheers chaps. Neil’s summing up of my ability was confirmed when I had a go on the Batak machine, which some of you may know is a grid of lights that requires the subject to extinguish by tapping them as they come on in a random order over a defined time period.
Top drivers can do 100 – 120 per minute and Neil thought based on my eye tracker data around 60 would be my score. How wrong could he be – 61, ha!
OK so it was not great but a second go relying more on peripheral vision, which is the purpose of this bit of kit, saw my score increase to 65. Still not brilliant but the principle was proved.
The amount of data that can be accessed is far more than can by covered by this blog but the two hours was very well spent and highly illuminating and made me realise that with some basic techniques explained by Neil I can, and will, improve my driving skills each day from now to the start of the season in April.
Thanks to Neil and iZone for their generosity and sharing some of their undoubted expertise with me. Check out their web page for more information.
Gail