Race Report 1998

 

D. 6 Sep. -98 THE RACE DAY

Sunday morning we arrived at the street track. We unpacked our things and went to the drivers meeting. We were told to drive safely and then we went back to our cars. We waited about 2 hours before it was our turn to line up to the training session. The track was very bumpy and the car was jumping in the air when it went over some of the bumps. When the practice was over we had a couple of hours before we should drive our first heat. We removed the bumper stops on the rear wheel axle. becaurse when the car are so low (11 cm above ground in the rear) the bumper stops are only 2,5 cm under the frame. In the first heat the car was having the same problem again. We think the problem is that the spring are too short. You can see the results from the race on this page. I it was a great race but quite a few cars got damaged. luckely none of the Honda's was damaged. (in 1996 my father in the yellow coupe damaged the right front fender becaurse he couldn't brake becaurse a Ford Mustang had damaged his radiator so there was slippery on the track.) I was 6 th overall in the race and my father was number 8. The cars was split up in age, so we were in the class sportscars from 1966 - 1971. We had to compete with Jaguar E type, Morgan +8, Porsche 911, MG's with 6 cylinders and some other big power cars. So I think we did pretty well.

D. 1 okt. '98

This was the problem !!!

Because of the alloy spacer we have made the car was jumping in the rear end. When you drove through a corner you could hear a a little noise and then the car began to jump with the rear end. The problem was that the spacer. We had made to make space between the frame and the spring nut the spacer was to narrow in the bottom so it was hitting the damper top when driving through a corner or when there were bumps on the track. The solution was to cut off some of the buttom of the spacer and make the hole a little bigger in the buttom of the it so the damper can pass up into the spacer about 1.5 cm. We also adjusted the spring 0,6 cm up higher so the overall damping could be about 4,5 cm instead og 2,5 cm.

D. 4 okt. '98

Today we raced the last race of the year. It was in Sweden on Ring Knutstorp. It's a very nice track with a nice straight for the big engine cars. The cars was ready for race when we arrived on the track. We went through technical control without any problems and was ready to start. We started with 10 min. practice together with some never standard cars. The weather was cold but it did not rain. My father spun off after 3 laps. A Lotus Elite was overtaking him down the straight and the Lotus spun off in the end of the straight. My father was the starting to brake and the wheels just locked. He also went straight out into the gravel tracks. They couldn't get out on the track again and had to leave the cars and wait until the practice was over. We later found out the a Lotus Elan had broken its oil pump and it made the track slippery with oil in the end of the straight. In the qualifying we didn't do to well and the ended up starting 4 th. and 2 nd. last in the field. In the first heat the rain started just before we should drive and the track was very slippery. We got a pretty bad start end was the two last cars in the first corner. There were about 25 cars but everybody got through the first corner safely. The rain stopped a little and I overtook a Alfa Romeo Guilita 1600 cc and a Volvo Amazon. My father also overtook the Alfa but couldn't catch the Volvo. I had a great fight with a Lotus Elite, but I couldn't get passed him. We were only 5 cars in my class and i finished 3 rd. In the second race it was raining again and this time I got a very good start. On the first lap I overtook 5 cars and was fighting with a MG B GT with a big 6 cylinder engine. I was leading my class and also had a Triumph TR 4 with a 2,2 L engine chaceing me. On the second lap I had a little to much speed through a very fast corner (about 110 Km/p in the wet.) and the car started to twist all over the track. I almost had saved it, but then I just lost the rear end. I spun around with all 4 wheels locked and the clutch down, but I managed to stay on the track. I lost 4 places but I was quickly back in gear and away again. I overtook the Lotus Elite and the Volvo Amazon a cupple of corners later. I was now 2 nd. in the class and chaceing the leader in his Porsche 356. The little Honda was screeming but down the straight it couldn't do much about the Porsche's 1600 cc engine. In the corners I was faster but I couldn't get through him. On the 10 th and last lap we catched a Hillman Imp that had some mechanical troubbles and I was now very close to the Porsche. I the 4 th last turn the Porsche got a little wide and I just managed to squeeze the little Honda through on the inside. I finished 1 st. in my class and my father finiched 4 th and also overtook the Volvo Amazon on the last lap.

We drive in a Cup that's called DASU CUP. We drive 8 heats over the year (2 heat on a race day). You get 20 points from a 1 st place 15 second, 12 third and 10 points for a forth place. I won the GT 1 class over a Porsche 356, a Lotus Elite, a Lotus Elan, my father in his S800, a Alfa Romeo and a MG A. In the overall standings from the sportscar Cup I got a second place. The first place went to a 4,2 L Jaguar E Type and the 3 rd place a Lotus Elan 1600 cc with about 160 BHP. 4 th. was a Porsche 911 and 5 th. a Shelby GT 350. So all together some very hard guys to compete with, but because of the points i managed to get in the GT 1 class I had more point than some of the GT 2 cars with much bigger engines.