Sakari Racing News

Mallory Race April 2010

2010-05-28T11:13:00.004+01:00

First race of the season! felt good to be back in the hot seat and it looked fantastic to see both Sakari Racing cars in the same colour scheme for the first time.

Qualifying
With 40 cars out on a less than one minute circuit it was fairly busy! Still managed to get a couple of half decent laps in as Chris and I were working together to give each other space to get flying laps in. The session got red flagged because of a spin at the hairpin and most of the cars were sent back into the paddock, we thought that was it but then they opened the circuit again! I had already got myself undressed and so didn't go out agian. Would have been nice to have been directed into the pitlane to go out again but oh well. I qualified well down in 22nd, I had hoped for something just outside of top ten. Chris did better just outside the top ten but still hoped to have been further up the grid.

Race 1
I made a really good start and got past Jason Jesse just in front of me very quickly and made up several other places. Got stuck into a really good battle with several cars in the first few laps and made a few more places up. Unfortunately Chris didn't have such a great start and made a mistake somewhere which meant I was able to get past him on the first lap. He followed closely behind me as I struggled to find a way past Simon Lockey in the Gulf car. Then as I was about to make a move an incident up ahead made Simon slow unexpectedly and as I was unsighted I had to take avoiding action onto the grass. Just managed to keep hold of it but Chris just managed to get past me and thats the way we stayed until the finish line.
Chris finished 13th and I made up 8 places to get up to 14th so it was a pretty good race for me.

Race 2
Chris and I lined up side by side on the grid which looked really good! But that would be the last I saw of him in the race cus I made an awful start and lost a couple of places, this did however give me the oportunity to do some overtaking! Managed to make several manouvres mostly coming out of the hairpin and along the start finish straight, the new engine is working really well. Also made a move on the back straight into the esses and another last minute decision going up the inside into Gerrards from about 2 car lengths back! However this all happened in the first half of the race and I then started to stop catching the guy in front and dropped back into the clutches of 6 cars. I had got my tyre pressures all wrong and really struggled around the corners so it was just one long defense to keep the cars behind me. Very tiring work but I managed to keep my place. Me and the 6 cars behind me all finished within 2 seconds of each other, thats how close it was! Chris had a much better race this time getting up into 6th and making a good move to pull up into 5th breifly down the start finish striaght but pulled out going into Gerrards and Simon Lockey made a daring but very well timed move up the inside to take another place.
Chris finished 7th in the end and I made up 4 places to finish 10th.

Both of us in the top ten on the second race was a good team result particularly as niether of us rate Mallory as one of our better circuits, roll on Snetterton!

Matt Smith, Team Principal / Driver #30

Mallory Trackday April 2010

2010-05-28T10:50:00.004+01:00

Seeing as the next race is nearly upon us I thought I had better update the blog! Mallory Trackday saw a total of 13 MR2's dominating the day, really good hot sunny weather all day and enjoyed by all. We provided a BBQ for all the drivers which went down well and the discount on the day, I was able to negotiate, was also appreciated!

Chris had a reasonably trouble free day providing passenger rides and getting used to being back in the seat, he also gave me a few passenger laps and I returned the favour to see if we could learn off each other, heal toe does actually seem to work although I can't do it!
My day was a little busier as I had a new engine to run in. To start with the engine really didn't sound good and I was getting a bit worried but then someone pointed out the ignition leads were the wrong way around, changed them and it sounded great! First time out oil was everywhere creating lots of smoke, so we tightened a few bolts, topped it up and went out agian. Still lots of oil everywhere so my master mechanic Kerry set to investigating and found the cam seals used were too thin; luckily one of the other drivers at the day had a set they let us have and once these were installed we had no further problems for the rest of the day.
I gave several passenger laps and had a session out by myself, the scariest moment came when I let Dad drive the car! Sorry but never again!

All in all a very useful day out that set us up nicely for the first race at the same venue the next week.

Matt Smith, Team Principal / Driver #30

Snetterton Trackday January 2010

2010-04-07T09:33:00.002+01:00

The day turned out to be a lot better than it looked first thing in the morning! It took us 2 hours just to get the motorhome and trailer off my Aunts drive, problem was trying to pull 4.5 tons up an icy road. Eventually got going by purchasing 7.5kgs of table salt from the local shop and deicing the road and finally by me pushing!
We eventually made it to the circuit about 10am just in time to unload, attend the shortest briefing ever (have you done trackday before? - yes, do you know flags? i'm a marshal, off you go then) and do the sighting laps so didn't actually lose any time in the end.
It was quite nasty and greasy for the morning and I managed a 360 at the end of the start finish straight, still unlike spins before I remembered to get the clutch in and got going straight away. The track conditions got progressivley better throughout the afternoon and I would say that for my last two sessions the track was virtually dry. I felt a lot quicker than I had before (even with passengers) but still room for improvement on a couple of corners, track knowledge really is key.

Credit to Chris for the Sakari Racing BBQ idea, when he first told me I had wondered if he realised what time of the year it was but it turned out to be a really good idea. Although with the amount of support we are now getting between us i'll have to remember to bring a second BBQ next time!

Good time had by all and I think a bit of good promotion for the series.

Brands Hatch October 2009

2010-01-17T18:25:00.002Z

I know its a bit late but I thought I had better put something up here before the new season starts!

Qualifying
Useless would be a good word to describe my qualifying place! It was very wet and raining all through the session and I was well off the pace, eventually qualifyed 24th out of 26.

Race 1
Had a very good start and made 6 places off the line but then got nudged wide on the second corner and lost them again! Still very wet so my tactic was to just keep the car on the track; I was overtaken several times only for that driver to then spin off and rejoin behind me. I did have one off myself when I broke slightly too late got onto the wet part of the track and headed off onto the grass. Rejoined just behind the leaders (one lap down) and only lost one place eventually finishing 17th.

Race 2
Again another good start to make up a couple of places but then the race turned into a defensive one as I had one car right behind me the whole race. He managed to get past me once on the entrance to the start/finish straight but I held in there and out-braved him into paddock hill bend around the outside to ge the palce back. Shortly afterwards he made a mistake and I was able to pull away and catch the guys in front. Started to make a move up the inside of them both going onto the start/finish straight but had to back off quickly as one of them closed me out; probably would have sent him sidewides into the pit wall at about 60mph if I hadn't of backed off. Had another oportunity on the penultimate lap to get past but due to Ross Stoners spin the yellow flags were out and so I couldn't make my move.
Finished in 13th due to others falling off the circuit, definately need to work on my wet weather driving but not too bad for my first time at Brands.

Mallory Park September 2009

2009-10-10T18:29:00.002+01:00

Qualifying: This is the first time I would be out in the car after getting its third engine of the year so I was just praying it would last out. Spent the first few laps under 3,ooorpm to warm the engine up and then tried to get some fast laps in. With such a short circuit and with so many cars out it was hard to get any kind of fast lap in. Qualified in 21st which was about what I expected, still it leaves me with more cars to overtake!

Race 1: made a poor start and lost several places but managed to get a couple back quite quickly. I was realing in 3 cars just ahead of me until I noticed a plume of steam coming from the front of the car, I started to loose power and then got passed by everyone behind me so decided to pull into the pits. Turned out that a stone had punctured the radiator so that was the end of the race for me. Managed to find a spare radiator in the paddock (thanks Coggy) and got it fitted before the second race.

Race 2: got off to a great start (so I thought), I managed to get past Nina in front of me on the inside very quickly then switched to the outside to get past another car. When I look back at the video footage seems I then went and lost most of the places I made by the start of the second lap. As the race played out I had a good tussle with the light blue car, then Chris Shackle spun off from the front of the pack and rejoined just behind me. He got past me quickly then past the light blue car a couple of laps later. I shortly followed up with my move on the light blue car; I took a slow entry into the hairpin to get a quick exit and managed to get up the inside, we then went down the start finish straight side by side but I was endging ahead and had the outside line going into Gerrards, we had a slight overlap coming out of Gerrards and I was sent slightly sideways but held onto it and came out ahead. I then started to pull away and was surprised to find I was catching Chris. I followed him around for a couple of laps right behind him and noticed he was braking very early into the hairpin so next lap around I had a faster exit from the esses and dived up the inside into the hairpin braking very late. I manged to keep in front of him (but only just) coming out of the hairpin and then started to pull away. At the end of the race I was catching Seb Fisher up ahead and would have been right behind him after another lap but the chequered flag came out.
Not a great day out finishing in 15th but on a positive note I did make several overtaking manouvres which is something I had failed to do previously.

Snetterton, no show

2009-08-24T13:26:00.002+01:00

After a succesful swap out of engines and a good start to my trackday at Snetterton (despite the heavy rain first thing) things ended badly. It seems I ran the engine for too long and too hard and ended up damaging the big end. I was able to replace the big end bearings and everything was looking good for the next race at Snetterton.

Race Day
After a bit of a frantic start to the day trying to get new tyres fitted, I was feeling confident going into the qualifying session. However, second lap in the horrible noise from the engine started again and I realised that just replacing the big end bearings had not solved the problem. That was it, my race day over and another new engine required. :( I wasn't the only one to fall at the first hurdle, several other cars didn't make it past qualifying. Out of a total of 29 cars that turned up only 18 actually finished the second race.

Cadwell Park June 2009

2009-06-29T13:02:00.002+01:00

This was always going to be my best days racing due to my knowledge of the track but after finding out I was down on power it lowered my expectations. Had some really good hot weather with a nice dry track. Qualifying: got some clean air after a couple of laps and got some good times down, positioned 12th on the grid (best so far) which gave me an outside chance of a top ten.

Race 1: Made a good start around the outside gaining a couple of places. Couple of laps in passed car #60 as he missed a gear going up the mountain. Started to get some really fast laps in and was catching the guy in front and pulling away from the guys behind. Then narrowly missed #33 spinning out only for him to catch up to me and pass me on the penultimate lap but I wasn't letting him get away with that! He went well wide leaving the track going into the back straight so I went up the inside only for him to dart right across the track and push me half onto the grass. I kept going and we went side by side into Park, we both braked too late with him going off onto the grass and then retiring to the paddock and me spinning on the inside and stalling. Car #13 got past me but I managed to get it started again and didn't loose any further places.

Finished 7th!! Best result yet, very happy with that and also won the team prize!

Race 2: Positioned in 7th which meant I had the inside line, started ok and kept position. I was definately quicker than 13 in front of me but just couldn't find away around anywhere, just didn't have the power to be able to make a move. This meant everyone else caught me up and I started to loose places. Eventually finished 9th due to people spinnig off ahead of me, can't really complain about 2 top ten finishes with a slightly dodgy engine but I was 1.5 seconds a lap quicker than the guy in front so 7th was possible if I had been able to get past.

Thanks to all those who helped me out and supported me on the day.

Silverstone June 2009

2009-06-12T09:25:00.003+01:00

Here's a brief summary of the race weekend:
Spent a cold wet Saturday Marshaling, at one point we had 4 Formula Palmer Audi's in the one gravel trap and it was rumoured that the meeting was close to being called off.
Woke up the next day to some deafening rain on the tent, you actually had to shout to talk to anybody inside. I thought the meeting was going to be called off but instead the qualifying was put back until 1040 by which time it had stopped raining and started to brighten up.

Qualifying - despite it stopping raining it was still a wet track but I actually had fun out there. Didn't really get a clear lap in to get a good time but still managed to qualify 22nd out of 30. Had one slightly hairy moment when I did a 720 spin and stalled right in the middle of copse corner. Apparently there is some on-board footage from the car directly behind me so that should be good!

Race 1 - the track is now completely dry now which disadvantaged me a bit as some of the cars that were slower in the wet got past me quickly. Was by myself again, ahead of the back of the pack but not quick enough for the middle of the pack. Race was red flagged on lap nine as 2nd, 3rd and 4th all came together with a fair bit of damage done to everyone. Finished 20th.

Race 2 - this race was going to be a bit more interesting as the fast boys that didn't finish the last race were now starting behind me. First half of the first lap was manic, cars absolutely everywhere, I decided to try not to battle too much as I didn't want to risk doing any serious damage to the car and these guys were going to pass me at some point anyway. Copse was definitely my weak point but I was getting quicker around it every lap and started to catch back up with the middle of the pack. Got right onto the back of one car and just needed an extra lap to get past him. Finished 24th but did manage to get ahead of one car that was in front of me in the first race.

Other cars where still pulling away from me down the straights as they had at Snetterton, some of it will be down to the driver but I'm now pretty certain the car is down on power so it will be going in to a racing garage this weekend to get it compression tested and dyno'd. I may have to part with a bit of cash to get it fighting fit for Cadwell.

Snetterton Race Apr 2009

2009-06-10T22:53:00.002+01:00

Seeing as i've just completed races 5 and 6 I should give a brief account of races 1 ans 2 (missed 3 and 4)!

Qualified 21st out of 25, afterwards found a loose vacuum hose which improved the engine note 100%.
Race 1: Didn't do as well as quali, well off the pace, eventually finished 19th but at least I finshed it and didn't get lapped.
Race 2: Kept up with the rest of the field for the first lap but then got hit in the rear going into russel and spun off the track. Car wasn't too badly damaged so I continued and managed to overtake one car coming out of russel and then another under braking into the esses. Finished 18th and knocked 2.7 seconds off my quali time.
Good day out for my first couple of races, still a lot of work to go to keep up with the main pack. possibly down on power?

Snetterton April 2009 First Race Pictures

2009-04-06T21:24:00.001+01:00

Pictures from our first official race are up here

Disaster!

2009-02-27T21:13:00.004Z

Not a particluarly succesful day but some plus points: started out at 5am in the morning (never a good time to be awake) and I had only been going about an hour when the battery light came on, then the engine temperature needle started to rise, then the revometer failed then the speedo failed! Stopped at a service station and found that the water pump had collapsed and the fan belt had come off; couldn't fix myself so had to call the AA. They couldn't do anything so had to get both the truck and trailer towed to the centre of Leicster to get the pump replaced. Guys at the garage already had the part ready and got stuck into it straight away, job was done in a couple of hours and I eventually made it to Silverstone at 1330.

The next session was at 1405 so had to quickly get the car off the trailer and get all the way to the other side of the circuit to get signed on. Didn't have time to replace the tyres or sort out the engine so wasn't the greatest of sessions, more of a get to know the circuit session.

However things did start to get better from here. Everyone seemed to like the paint job and several people came up to me to chat about it. I spoke to the oricle of Mk1 MR2's (Mo Stoner), he knew exactly what the problem was with the car and so now I will be replacing the air filter and completely flushing the cooling system. Also sorted out the idle problem by adjusting the screw, Rick gave me a hand getting the wheels off and I managed to have the tyres changed for the last session.
Engine sounding a bit better and not cutting out on me everytime I stopped it was back out onto the circuit. The new Silverstone tyres have so much more grip than the old Yokohamas and I was really able to start throwing it about, I was still getting overtaken but not as quickly as in the first session and was even able to keep up with one car.

All in all not 100% sure 6+ hours of towing a trailer was really worth the 20 minutes good tracktime, we'll chalk this one up to experience.

Cest Le Fine!

2009-02-21T12:46:00.003Z

I have finally finished the respray, it only took a total of 6 days in the end! THe HVLP system worked very well once i got used to it. Very easy to use and clean and didn't make too much of a mess with overspray.

Spray diary:
Day 1 - removed lights etc and got garage set up, sanded down all plastic parts
Day 2 - finished sanding, didn't get around to masking up so now 1/2 day behind
Day 3 - applied 2 coats of red, first coat on one side looked awful as I had sprayed the paint on too thick, sorted that and the rest of the car looked good, spent the afternoon trying to sand out the drips and also a couple of areas where the paint hadn't stuck, now 1 day behind
Day 4 - applied 3rd coat of red, didn't go on brilliantly I think the mix may have been slightly too thin, spent some time trying to get rid of a couple of drips, applied 4th and final coat and it went on very well, bit of luck my best spray was the last!
Day 5 - masked up for grey and applied 2 coats, went on very well only a little bit of running on the spoiler, colour isn't grey however its white! I think there may have been a mistake at the paint factory, still 1 day behind
Day 6 - its a good job I had an extra day of work as a contingency, applied 1 coat of black, looked good to begin with but then started going a dark grey colour, not good, ran out of thinners so had to search Lincoln for a supplier, eventually found one and applied 2nd coat of black, now looks much better and i've finished the spraying! Left it for a couple of hours then removed all masking, paint overlap in a coule of places but nothing major, managed to get the 2 cars and scooter back in the garage in the evening.

I won't put any pictures of it up just yet as I can't get a good shot of it in the garage, I will wait until I have the sponsors logos on it and get Miles to take some good shots at Silverstone.

Well that didn't take too long did it?!

2009-02-06T19:37:00.003Z

With a bit of help from the good Dr Bourke the MR2 now has two solid (ish) anti roll bar brackets. Started work around 8pm and eventually let the neighbours get some sleep at around 11.30pm. ET will probably be able to explain the process better than me as I was mostly on hole making and tea fetching duty.

Glad thats one less thing to do, but still a hell of a lot left!

Snetterton Trackday

2009-01-29T18:21:00.005Z

Got up at 0430 to a very cold and frozen day, made it to Snetterton in good time at 0730, it hadn't got any warmer. Track time was delayed to 1000 due to the circuit still being frozen! This however gave me enough time to swap over the front brake pads which I managed to do suprising easily and quickly.

First session the track was very greasy so I took it easy, I also had the brake pads to bed in so couldn't go too mad. There were a lot of cars on track which led to several red flags and also long queues to get out on track. Not ideal if your car wouldn't idle properly!

Later on managed to put it off going into Russell, its a bit of a difficult entry as you want to start braking just before you've finished coming out of the previous corner. It turned out later this is where I ripped of a bracket holding on the front anti roll bar, this eventually led to an early day.

The track came good about 2pm and I started to put my foot down a bit, unfortunately some parts of the circuit didn't have as much grip as others and I had an almighty 180 in the middle of the track coming out of the first corner. Travelled a fair distance and the tyres didn't look at all healthy afterwards!

All in all it was a fairly succesful day, I managed to get some reasonable pace even though the handling was out due to the missing anti roll bar bracket. Engine definately not at full power yet but a complete service will hopefully sort that out.

Fair bit of work to do now to get it ready for the Meet and Great on 27th Feb!

Autosport Update

2009-01-12T18:50:00.002Z

Pictures coming soon

Autosport 2009

2009-01-09T14:58:00.000Z

Sakari racing will mostly be in attendance at the 2009 Autosport show tomorrow. I say mostly because ET should be arriving in the Beetle.....

Snetterton Trackday

2008-12-15T13:36:00.001Z

The next time the MR2 will be out on track will be at the Marshals trackday at Snetterton on 24th January 2009. Should have a bit of time to work on it to try and get the idling problem sorted but doubt it will have had its respray by then.

Provisional Schedule

2008-11-26T10:08:00.005Z

The provisional schedule for 2009 is as follows: UPDATED (03/01/09) - 5 April Snetterton, 16/17 May Pembrey, 7 June Silverstone, 23 August Snetterton, 27 September Mallory park, 24 October Brands Hatch. Also 28 June Cadwell Park in the Nippon Challenge if finances allow. THis is now pretty much a confirmed timetable.

Trackday at Cadwell Park in the MR2

2008-11-24T13:30:00.004Z

First trackday in the MR2; loaded it up on the Saturday and as usual made a bit of hash of getting it onto the trailer. Good run down there on the Sunday morning, circuits nice and close so only took about an hour. Day started off well until the exhaust came off going into the hairpin. I knew something was wrong so pulled in at the hairpin but the first I realised the exhaust had come off was when i saw the marshal carrying it off the track! Not all bad though as there was no damage and after scrounging some bolts I was back on track in half an hour. Rest of the day went without a hitch and I just kept getting faster and faster. Really got to know how the car works and had it sideways a couple of times but it was easy to correct. slight problem with the car idling but nothing that affects track performance. Pictures and video now uploaded.

Mobile headquarters purchased

2008-11-24T13:19:00.006Z

Due to a recent spending spree on eBay I came across a bargin of a deal on a tent that I couldn't pass up. It has a floor area of just over 30 square metres, has 3 bedrooms (more than my house) and is 2 metres in height at the centre. May even be able to fit the car in it if the need arises!

Getting my hands dirty

2008-11-24T13:14:00.002Z

Ok so the car wasn't exactly ready to roll out onto the track and a bit of work was required: Indicators weren't working back and front, found one loose wire and repalced a bulb. Painted interior black just to neaten it up a bit. Rescured and moved the seat foward. Removed illegal chasis strengthening bars. Replaced throttle cable due to wear. Still to do: replace harness for indate one, get extinguisher serviced, add switch to transponder and of course respray entire car.

MR2 Race Car purchased

2008-11-24T13:02:00.004Z

On 26th October 2008, we took a step closer to being a bonefided race team by the purchasing of a race prepared MR2 for entry into the MR2 racing series next year. It was purchased off a guy who had a couple of trips out in it 2007 and comes with full roll cage, extinguisher, uprated suspension, oz racing alloys etc and he even threw in a transponder which was nice! Getting the thing onto the trailer was a bit of fiasco but hopefully with practice we'll get there in the end. It actually fitted in the garage easily and we've now mastered getting it onto its dolley wheels. Added bonus of these is I can actually fit under it without having to jack it up.