Mamba Motorsport - SRGTC Cadwell Race Report Page

SRGTC Cadwell Park

- Placed yet again & Fastest Lap in Class for C23R

Author: Dave
Editor: Dave
Date: 28 June 2006

Cadwell Park saw Ken and the Mamba C23R return to the track for their next SRGTC outing.

For those in the know, Cadwell is considered a real driver's circuit, albeit a bit out of the way in Lincolnshire.
Most people associate Lincolnshire with really flat terrain, but the circuit is built into a wooded valley in the Lincolnshire Wolds and must go down as one of the most scenic as well as technically challenging circuits on the Club Racing scene, not only used for Club racing of course but SuperBikes with the highlight of their year being the GP in August.

At 2.173 miles it is one of the longer circuits and the valley gave the course designer the opportunity to create some unique features when the current circuit was developed in 1962.
The two most well known are the right/left Gooseneck bends where the track drops away dramatically at the apex of the left-hander, a bit like a precipice, and then there is the infamous Mountain which is a very short sharp rise with the apex of a right-hander at the top, just what you need when you know you are going to get airborne.

Ken and the Mamba C23R arrived overnight and Dave came up early in the morning to add some back-up and support and join the other SRGTC competitors. Not a bad turn-out for the meeting with 19 entrants divided into 4 classes based on power:weight ratio. Class-A consisted of 4 V8 Cobras, two of them producing in excess of 600bhp. The C23R competes in Class-B alongside the Morgans and Crossles but for this meeting its opposition was limited to six Crossles.
The initial car preparations and scrutineering were all complete by about 9:15 with the usual lack of excitement, which gave Ken about 1 hour to chill before practice.

This was the fourth outing of the C23R this year and the first one where the weather was reasonable, light wind and 20C. Not sure about the driest year on record but it's taken us until June to get a dry race-weekend in!
So, this would be a new challenge for the C23R.

Practice was started promptly at 10:15 and Ken and the car seemed to be going reasonably well although at the end of it our times were not as competitive as we'd have liked and the car was experiencing some front-end instability where previously there had been none. A quick check round with other drivers (they're a really nice bunch at Club Days and the SRGTC boys are no exception) suggested that others had experienced this too.
The qualifying performance put us a disappointing 10th on the grid.

Picture Copyright Mamba Motorsport 2006

So before the race we had time to consider our options and Ken had time to think about where he could make up the 3 seconds we needed to be competitive.

Between the last outing and this race we had made a couple of changes to the C23R, installing a new bespoke steering rack in it and also re-configuring the throttle to make car control more precise.
Between qualifying and the race we fine tuned the ECU throttle settings to maximise power from the Duratec and also slightly stiffened the front suspension rate, but left all other settings alone, too many changes and you are never sure which one has had what effect.
Fuel usage from practice was checked and the appropriate amount installed for the race.

We then had a period of 2 hours in which to eat, chat and relax and just be spectators in the very convivial Cadwell Park atmosphere.

The race got underway on-time mid-afternoon in great weather conditions, slightly overcast, very light winds and about 22C, despite a few mishaps and red flags in earlier races.

The format for the race was a 'double-header' being 28 minutes plus 1 lap.

Right from the 'off', the C23R was clearly performing better now than in practice.

Early stages and moving through the field

Picture Copyright Mamba Motorsport 2006

Ken moved steadily through the field to an amazing 5th position on lap 8 when disaster struck.
Not to Ken's car, but to the lovely Ginetta G15 which got tagged, spun and ended up minus a front corner - unfortunately for Ken the red flag was produced and the race stopped.

Some 15-20 minutes later the grid was re-assembled with Ken now in 6th position, rather than the 5th he was in when the race was flagged (presumably something to do with where the sensors are on the circuit).
So we effectively got two 15 minute races instead of one 30 minute race. At the re-start Ken couldn't take advantage of the C23R's superb traction as the car immediately in front didn't get away cleanly and Ken's efforts went into avoiding the back of him, resulting in the C23R maintaining station in 6th.

But all was not lost and after a superb first lap Ken had not only caught up and passed 5th man but had also managed to go one better and achieve 4th position.

So the chase was now on for the 3rd placed Crossle, being the only Class-B competitor in front of him.

On lap 4, in the 2nd half of the race, Ken was really flying and posted his and the Class-B fastest lap of the day an incredible 1:43.59 at an average speed of 75.52mph (not bad for an old 'un, he was heard to mutter later).

Needless to say with the pace Ken was now carrying he did indeed catch up the 3rd place man and managed to get alongside on 4 or 5 occasions only to have the door shut. Unfortunately Ken ran out of time but still finished 2nd in class and 4th overall, just 0.67 seconds off the podium and with two of the big Class-A cars behind him.

This was a very enjoyable and competitive race with 4 of the 7 class-B competitors finishing within 3 seconds of each other.
The SRGTC formula appears to work. Not only that but all of the competitors and organisers contribute to making these weekends so enjoyable.

So another successful weekend in the inaugural season for the C23R, 2nd in Class, 4th overall and the fastest Class-B lap!

Oh and by the way Ken did find the 3 seconds needed between qualifying (1:46.50) and the race (1:43.59), well almost.