ROAD RACE NEW! CLASSIFIED RACE CARS FOR SALE TIN TOPS, SINGLE SEATERS, SPORTSCARS, PARTS & MORE… THE LEGENDS TRACK TESTING MOTORSPORT’S MOST UNDER-RATED RACE CAR FRESH GEAR THE LATEST NEW PRODUCTS TESTED TECHNIQUE LEARN HOW TO RACE LIKE YOUR HEROS TRACK DAYS THE LATEST TRACK & TEST DIARY DATES THE ESSENTIAL MOTORSPORT MONTHLY - WRITTEN BY THE RACERS FOR THE RACERS BUDGET KIT MEGANE R26-R TAKES ON MEGANE R26 RACE CAR APRIL 2009/ISSUE 60/£3.99 HAYABUSA POWERED MK SPORTSCAR CLUB RACER FOR JUST £12K JUST £12K! V
Transcript
ROAD RACE
NEW!CLASSIFIED
RACE CARS FOR SALETIN TOPS, SINGLE SEATERS, SPORTSCARS, PARTS & MORE…
THELEGENDS
TRACK TESTING MOTORSPORT’S MOST UNDER-RATED RACE CAR
FRESH GEARTHE LATEST NEW PRODUCTS TESTED
TECHNIQUELEARN HOW TO RACE LIKE YOUR HEROS
TRACK DAYSTHE LATEST TRACK & TEST DIARY DATES
THE ESSENTIAL MOTORSPORT MONTHLY - WRITTEN BY THE RACERS FOR THE RACERS
BUDGET KIT
MEGANE R26-R TAKES ON MEGANE R26 RACE CAR
APRIL 2009/ISSUE 60/£3.99
HAYABUSA POWERED MK SPORTSCAR CLUB RACER FOR JUST £12K
Electric Cooling Fan KitsElectric Cooling Fan Kits
NEW 2009 CatalogueOUT NOW!
All prices correct at time of printing
Electric Fuel PumpsElectric Fuel PumpsCarburettorsfrom £265.00
Classic CSfrom £155.00
NEW 2009 CatalogueNEW 2009 Catalogue
Offi cial Supplier
ZDDPlus Engine Oil Additive from £10.99
SPORT
TRACK
7 newSAll the latest paddock gossip
12 ROUGH GUIDeOur series of quick fire guides to kick starting a motor sport hobby continues. This month: Short Ovals
14 MeGAne V MeGAneWe take the new Megane R26.R and put up against its biggest challenge - a Megane R26 race car
21 MK SPORTSCARS InDY RRA budget race car complete and ready to race for just £12,000. The MK Sportscars Indy RR is a wise buy
26 LeGenDS UKDriving the same car he raced 10 years ago, Keith Wood gets behind the wheel of Yamaha engine Legend
33 COOPeR-MASeRATIRoberto Giordanelli tells the story of his race in the most beautiful of races cars, the Cooper-Maserati
95 CLASSIFIeDPick up a bargain inside the all-new classified section. Single seaters, tin tops, sports and saloons plus more
CONTENTS / APRIL 200914
26
21
TeCH
TeACH
4 TRCMAGAZINE.COM - APRIL 2009
62 YOUR CARSWe feature four track day specials owned by you guys
89 TRACK & TeST DAY DIARYAll the latest track and test dates for the next two months
55 OUR CARSOur pile of rust for all to see…
70 nISSAn 200SX BUILDPart two of the cheap track toy
77 new PRODUCTSTesting the latest gear
41 CORneR enTRYTop driving tips from the experts
45 TRACK DAY GUIDeFinal part of the rookie guide
50 SILVeRSTOne GUIDe The first part of our circuit guide
33
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5550
45
WELCOME TO / TRC MAGAZINE
T he race season is now well and truly under way. Championships and series are already chalking up round one - and even round two and three for some - while some of the later starting categories are now a month into testing. Oh the joys of being fully prepared and race ready, if only it was true for us…
Among all of our cars I think only two are looking like making the first round of their designated championships and, typically, it’s the older bunch of Team TRC who seem to be leading the charge. Hmm, maybe the strands of grey hair which seems to be multiplying by the day across my scalp aren’t so bad? Lets hope with the grey hair comes a better grasp of race car build schedules. Although to be fair I have got two (and possibly three if I have it my way) on the go, so it’s not like I’ve made it easy for myself and I’m still confident that the Punto will be race ready this year and the Tiger Avon will help Tom pop his race cherry, too.
So, if like me your race car is still in hundreds of pieces, like Andrew and your car is a non-starter (the joys of Alfa ownership) or, like Tom, it’s all just a nice dream then you’ve certainly picked up the right magazine…
Keith Wood Editor
ISSUE 60
Roberto GiordanelliEuro Correspondent
Has mostly been?
Getting prepared for the race season and testing a rather sticky Lotus Exige for a Britcar race at Silverstone
Andrew BrownPhotographer
Has mostly been?
Excited about the idea of building a Tiger Avon. Although he’s not liking the idea of racing it? Prefers tin tops.
John HaymanSpecial Correspondent
Has mostly been?
Towing racing cars up and down the motorway and without being rear ended by a single truck. See more on page 55
Tom SaundersAd Manager
Has mostly been?
Coming up with as many positive excuses for Mrs Saunders as to why starting a racing career is a good thing
TEAM TRC
PublishingFounding Directors: Keith Wood, Andrew Brown
Printing & Distribution: Warners Group Publications Plc, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH
Track & Race Cars Magazine is published twelve times a year by P1 Media Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written consent of the publishers is strictly prohibited. While every effort is made in compiling Track & Race Cars, the publishers
cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. All prices correct at time of going to press but subject to
change. The publishers can not accept responsibility for any unsolicited materials. It is assumed that any images taken from sources which are widely distributed, such
as the internet, are in the public domain. However, since such images are passed freely between sources such as websites, the original source is not always possible to
trace. It is possible that copyrighted material has ended up being treated as public domain as a result. If you
see a graphic or image in this publication which is not public domain please contact P1 Media Ltd. Readers are advised to pay by Credit Card when ordering goods off
the advertising and editorial pages as they are regulated under Consumer Credit Act 1974, unlike debit or
chargecards which are not.
Independence Track & Race Cars Magazine is lovingly published every
month by P1 Media Ltd for all owners, drivers and enthusiasts of track and race cars.
It is entirely independent. And we speak as we find… The opinions of our contributors are not connected with
P1 Media Ltd
P1www.p1-media.com
5APRIL 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM
123
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Click on the Back Issues tab and order any issues you may have missed over the last year
Alternatively click the Subscribe tab and securely purchase a one or even two year subscription
14
SPORT / Mégane R26.R V Race R26
TRCMAGAZINE.CoM - APRIL 2009
Above: The R26.R in all its glory features the same 230bhp and 228lb ft but is 123kg lighter than normalE
ver since my very first
report on the Mégane
R26 I have continuously
flown the Renault Sport
flag at every given
opportunity, whether it’s during a group
test among its closest competitors or
when friends ask about what car they
should buy next. In fact I think we’re
all in agreement here that as far as hot
hatches go you can’t get much warmer
than a Mégane R26… That was before
the younger, fresher R26.R was recently
launched. It is a substantial 123kg lighter,
makes far greater use of the 227bhp and
228lb ft and does so in cohoots with the
reassuringly sticky track specific
Toyo Proxes R888 rubber, all of which
combine and contribute to an even
hotter, and subsequently much quicker,
sporty Megane.
As you might expect, the R26.R is quite
an exciting prospect for us all. It’s the
first real track day ready production car
- albeit a limited one - from a mainstream
manufacturer and one that embraces the
importance of being particularly quick
around a complete lap of the legendary
Nordschleife. Its time? Just 8minutes and
17seconds, which firmly places itself on
top of the podium as the quickest front-
wheel drive production car around the
Green Hell’s lap. Great, so how do we
compare the R26.R? other than resorting
to digging up the old supercharged
MINI GP Works, which nodded in the
general direction of a stripped out track
racer, you can’t - there just isn’t a direct
competitor among the current crop of hot
hatches. So we did the next best thing
and pitched it against a race version of
the Megane R26.
And here it is. This bright orange
Mégane that we’re photographing on
a very cold start and finish straight at
oulton Park. Visually it’s very similar, but
in reality it really is a world apart from
the original road going version it’s based
upon. Gone are the F1 Team graphics,
Recaro seats and standard suspension
while replacing them are a host of race
15APRIL 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM
specific components like the complex
roll-cage, Penske dampers on all four
corners and, of course, the obligatory
sponsorship graphics and race numbers.
As a direct result of these highlighted
enhancements (and that includes the go
faster stripes, obviously) the ride height
is much, much lower (some 60mm), the
chassis is now more rigid while the kerb
weight is far lighter than the original
figure Renaultsport had printed in its
2007 press releases for the F1 Team R26.
In competition trim the car has faired
well under the guidance of its driver,
Simon Gusterson, among the increasingly
popular Dunlop Sport Maxx Production
Cup. In the first two years Simon hasn’t
had much luck while I was in attendance
- targeted by an unguided missile at
Oulton Park and he fell off undramatically
in the wet at Rockingham last year. But it
wasn’t all bad. Wins and podiums have
come his way despite a distinct lack of
luck which have included silly DNFs due
to mechanical failures. A gear linkage
was the cause of one race failure (see the
‘I Raced One’ box out), although Hayman
was in the driving seat at the time…
All joking apart this mixture of bad
luck and seemingly simple but annoying
mechanical failures subsequently
pushed Gusterson’s confidence and
enthusiasm to breaking point and, at the
end of 2008, sold the car to reputable
race preparation company EJM. If you’re
an avid reader of TRC then you may
remember we drove an EJM Preparation
Punto HGT in the final round of the 2008
Sport Maxx Cup at Rockingham. During
this weekend we discovered that it was
also running a Clio 172 and a Peugeot
106, both lovingly prepared by EJM and
both achingly immaculate. The attention
Above: EJM Preparation Megane R26 is the only race specification Mégane here in the UK man enough to take on the R26.R
‘As you might expect, the R26.R is quite an exciting prospect for us all. It’s the first real track day ready production car - albeit a limited one
- from a mainstream manufacturer and one that embraces the Nordschleife’
HOT HOTTER
The only real challenger to Renault Sport’s Mégane R26 is, of course, the Megane R26.R - so we pitch the two head-to-head around Oulton Park…
But to even things out a little the R26 we’re testing is a race car. Keith Wood is your referee.
Photography: Andrew
Brown
MÉGANES
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Offering a serious service, for serious people.
We offer full-build and run packages for both race and rally:
Building packages l Re-preparation l Rolling road dynoTrack day support l Kit builds l Development l Plus more…
EJM Preparation, Unit 25, Tything Road, Arden Forest Ind Est, Alcester, Warwickshire B49 6EP l 07766 217622
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21
MK INDY RR
APRIL 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.CoM
The kit car industry has slowly fed its way into the track day market with success, but for MK Sportscars the enticement of motor racing was just too much. Keith Wood takes a look around its budget racer, the MK Indy RR.Photography: Andrew Brown
Above: The bargain race car of the year so far - the MK Sportscars Indy RR should sell like hot cakes to a fat kid. Yum.T
he days of replica
Lamborghini kits made
from an old Sierra, scrap
metal and some chip
fat are long gone, and
instead they’ve thankfully been replaced
with space frame projects destined for
the track and constructed from bespoke
components featuring a multitude of
fancy materials. ok, there are still a
minority of horrible creations pulling at
the kit car market’s trouser leg but I think
it’s a pretty fair assumption that times
have changed and for the better. It’s as if
kit cars have gone on a strict diet, cutting
out the fat and toning the good. So on the
one side the numbers maybe dwindling
but on the other those that are still
around have only grown stronger. Better
quality, better service, better cars.
one of these healthy manufacturers
that has constantly evolved and strived
to improve on its product is Rotherham
based MK Sportscars. Based on the well
trodden path of the Seven Replica, the
MK product is among the top of the big
contenders. Westfield, Tiger, RAW and
the Aztec Motorsport are probably the
four manufacturers that spring to mind
and all provide very good products for
reasonable money. MK is today almost
unquestionably among these big players
and encapsulates everything that the
budget end of the UK’s huge Lotus Seven
inspired scene oozes while at the same
time pushes new boundaries without
bank breaking figures. A turn-key race
Seven look-a-like for just £12,000? You
can’t argue at that…
From an embryonic start, producing
chassis and suspension components for
the Locost, MK was quick to develop
its own model at the start of the
century in 2000. It has since constantly
developed the product while at the
OVERCRoSSING
26
SPORT / Legend Track Test
TRCMAGAZINE.CoM - APRIL 2009
27APRIL 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.CoM
What do you go
motor racing
for? or if you
don’t race,
why would you
compete? For some (and me) it’s the
thrill of the competition, wanting to beat
those who dare enter the same race.
Subsequently it really shouldn’t matter
how much track time is on offer, instead
the most important factor is the quality
of the competition and the resulting
challenge that promptly ensues. I think
deep down it’s what every racing driver
really wants but I can honestly say that
only a few championships can boast
these mouthwatering prospects. It’s what
has driven me towards my long love
affair for Karting and Formula Fords and
why I’ve held a flame for the achingly
attractive Legends Cars Championship.
That flame has once again been
re-ignited during the track test of one of
its cars which make up the 30 plus grids
every year.
To give you a quick outline of what
I’m actually blabbering on about let me
swiftly explain. If you’ve never seen a
Legends race then you’re in for quite
a surprise as there isn’t the normal
mandatory qualifying session and single
race. Instead there is free practice, two
heats and a final… With reverse grids.
These two heats are determined by a
blind draw, kinda like bingo just without
the blue-rinse, with the final race grid
positions formed by the results of the
heats. Because the cars score points (not
the driver, more on this in a moment)
in every one of the races during the
weekend, and these combined points
feed the overall championship standings
(John Higgins took last years title with
8830), the end result an intoxicating mix
of frantic overtaking from start-to-finish.
As you can imagine the quicker guys
tend to start the finals from the back
of the grid doubling up the driver’s
workload and fueling the excitement yet
further and it all stems from the Legends
clever regulations. But the car also plays
an equally key role in creating such
drama. All the cars use the same 600
Racing space-frame chassis (although
slightly different in shape if you choose
a Sedan style over the classic Coupe
shape) and can feature eight different
body styles which are based on pre-war
Chevy, Dodge and Ford shapes. ok they
look odd, like something from ‘Whacky
Above: Although this looks like a shot from the heat of America this was in fact a beautifully crisp Anglesey morning which soon turned to rain…
SCREAMIN’ DEMON
The Legends Cars Championship is every bit as popular as it was ten years ago and still provides
arguably the most exciting racing this country has to offer. Keith Wood drives the 122bhp screamin’ demon
around the stunning Anglesey race circuit.
Photography: Andrew
Brown
LEGENDS
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Full range of UK manufactured FIA approved Titon Harnesses available in 4, 5 and 6 point designs
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Tel: 01244 545 161 www.chestersportscars.co.uk
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Full and Stage Builds, Any Model Full and Stage Builds, Any Model
Hidden away for 45 years this remarkable and unique Cooper-Maserati has made a triumphant comeback. Fresh from the cockpit our man Roberto Giordanelli tells the talePhotography: Peter Collins
Above: Roberto behind the wheel of a car worth around £500k and more. Best not prang it into the tyre wall then…T
his amazing time-warp
story is about a one-off
Cooper-Maserati that
was raced in 1964 and
then spent 45 years
hidden away. Question: How many
45-year-old racing cars have never
been crashed? Answer: Precious few
but you are looking at one right now.
This unique Cooper-Maserati five-litre
sports racing car, is also known as a
Cooper Type T61P Monaco Mk5, or to
the team, simply the CM. Built in 1963
and driven the following year by the
legendary Roy Salvadori, the CM has
emerged from decades of hibernation.
Salvadori, now aged 86, was a guest at
the 2007 Goodwood Revival and had a
long chat with the current owner Michael
O’Shea. According to Salvadori, “There
was no time to go testing. No set-up was
achieved and the CM was a real handful”.
Could this brutish car ever be tamed?
Read on; here is what happened during
its 2008 come-back.
Totally original except for some
cosmetics; here we have a time warp
car that missed out on testing and
development. That task - together with
some endurance racing - was carried
out in 2008 by a team including: its
valiant owner Michael O’Shea, renowned
historic motorsport engineer Steve
Hart (Steve Hart Racing), and myself.
Steve Hart has been all over the car
and improved the way the motor was
breathing by changing the valve springs
and by reducing the exhaust manifold
diameters. He strengthened the gearbox
mountings, drive shafts and carried out
its re-commissioning beautifully.
Dropping in a 5.0 litre V8 racing
Maserati engine sounds like an easy way
to go faster but race engineers know that
what you then have, is another car. A car
BREEDRARE
50
TRACK / Silverstone Circuit Guide
Our in-depth guide to our nation’s race circuits continues and this month Keith Wood introduces you to Silverstone and its very popular National Circuit layout. Here’s the final part of the series.
CIRCUIT GUIDESILVERSTONE
TRCMAGAZINE.COM - APRIL 2009
Above: The National Circuit in all its glory. Below: Get used to these symbolsS
oon to be the spiritual
home of the British Grand
Prix I think deep down,
even after Donington Park
eventually gets handed
the reigns to Bernie’s circus, Silverstone
will always be known as Britain’s Formula
One circuit. Bridge, Copse and the
wonderfully twisting Maggotts are all
memorable but highly technical corners
that require large proportions of patience
backed up with a quick functioning brain
that can keep up with the high speed
entries. Inside the catch fetching these
complex corners aren’t the only reason
why Silverstone has constantly attracted
world class customers, combined with
faultless facilities and eye catching
architecture it’s a truly impressive motor
racing circuit. It’s also a great club
motorsport venue.
The sheer scale of the circuit allows
for a number of different layouts but one
of the more popular - outside of the full
International design - is the short and
sweet National circuit. This is the circuit
I will dedicate the next three issues to
and although it looks simple you may be
surprised to hear that, in my opinion, it
still contains some of the more technical
and iconic parts of the Silverstone we are
acquainted with. Although there are only
five distinguishable corners on a map
layout these corners are far from simple.
Although it’s missing the elevation
qualities of Brands Hatch, Donington
Park and Anglesey it is still a circuit that
encompasses almost every type of skill
required for a driver to lap quickly.
TURN-IN
APEX
EXIT
THE KEY
51
CIRCUIT GUIDE
APRIL 2009 - TRCMAGAZINE.COM
With your foot flat to the floor after the
long drag from Maggots Curve the entry
into Brooklands isn’t quite as simple as
people may care to think. When on the
larger circuit this is a approached at a
much slower speed and people still get
it wrong… Patience is always rewarded
here. Because the apex is further round
the corner than expected it’s very easy
to turn-in early, especially with the
lovely, wide kerbing goading you. The
truth is by the time you meet the apex
your arms are kept very busy and you’ll
merely glance the inside kerb. Also the
exit out of the corner doesn’t need too
much thought, the impending Luffields
is a long, drawn-out corner which can be
taken entered into from slap-bang in the
middle of the circuit.
On your first set of runs do give
yourself plenty of braking distance so
you don’t overshoot the entry (there’s a
gaggle of track side furniture on your
right as you approach the braking area
if you need any reference points) and
aim for that late apex. It’s worth noting
that you want the car to run wide on
this short exit and parallel along the
kerbings, so don’t feel panicked into
darting immediately left to get prepared
for Luffields. With this in mind you can
gradually build up not only speed up
your entry but also the mid-corner and
exit velocity, too.
Because you’re aiming the car towards
the middle of the road for Luffields rather
than the more traditional far left-hand
side of the circuit you can afford to be
slightly reckless on the accelerator. Some
drivers in more powerful GT machinery
may debate that a slightly later turn-in
point for Luffields, for a slingshot out of
the corner, is the quicker way around.
It’s a line that doesn’t get used much and
thus will be dirtier plus during a race
meeting that slightly open-door is an
invitation for attack, adding yet further
complication to an otherwise fair theory.
BROOKLANDSLUFFIELDS
Above: As you can see, the entry into Brooklands has plenty of markers for braking points although go in too hot and there is a very large gravel trap which is situated only feet from the edge of the circuit. Get it wrong here and you’ll struggle not to get buried in the kitty litter
One car was built to beat the best.... …It just got better The CAV GT for road The CAV GTR for track
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MK SportscarsThe MK Indy is a Ford Sierra based kit with independent suspension, a choice of many engine fi tments bike or car, lightweight spaceframe chassis and GRP bodywork and accessories in a wide range of colours.
MK.indd 1 13/2/09 17:17:36
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