Stock Hatch at Cadwell Park - 2005
Hello Everybody!!!
GOOD NEWS: JJ’s car was race-ready in time… just about…
The other GOOD NEWS is, that the Narconon® UK Race Team just had their 9th successful race meeting at Cadwell Park (23rd – 25th of September).
This was a new venue for the team, so testing was essential. The team drove all the way up to Lincolnshire the day before, which took a surprising 5 hours!
TESTING:
Testing all-day Friday meant an early start to the day. Niki and JJ got out for the 1st session at 9:45am. Learning the 16 corner circuit was quite a challenge, with lots of bumpy and twisty bits.
On JJ’s 4th lap we ran into the first problem. JJ’s drive shaft sheared off, so that meant a lift back to the paddock with the recovery truck. Jim and JJ went to the nearest breaker’s yard and luckily found the right pieces. JJ’s car was back together again within 4 hours, just in time for the last test session. So back out again, well, for 3 laps before the battery lost power, which meant no ignition for JJ. So testing for JJ didn’t go so well so he didn’t really learn the track.
Niki, on the other hand, did 4 out of 6 sessions spending about 65 minutes on the circuit. He had two smaller problems (a broken engine mount and a broken exhaust), which were both fixed in no time with his father, Hans Lanik.
RACE DAY (Saturday):
Qualifying was at 10:40am for JJ, and 11:05am for Niki. JJ went out late, because of having some problems in scrutineering with the new car, but got out for 5 laps to qualify 18th for Saturday, and 20th for Sunday, which is much further back than usual, due to not doing enough testing.
Niki did 7 laps, qualified 5th for Saturday, 7th for Sunday, and missing a gear in an overtaking manoeuvre in qualifying resulted in another head re-build before racing at 2:20pm (luckily we’ve fixed it so many times, so we did it in a record time of 2 hours).
Niki qualified 2nd quickest out of 15 XR2s.
The Saturday’s race (2:20pm) went pretty well. JJ started learning the track during the race and climbed his way up to 12th place. Niki had a not so good start, but managed to finish 7th. Niki grabbed his place in the Saturday afternoon’s FINAL (5:15pm), finished it successfully, and had the quickest lap for all the 15 XR2s. Which is one of the best results we’ve ever had.
RACE DAY (Sunday):
JJ was more familiar with the track by now, started 20th and finished 12th. Niki was in the next race. He started 7th on the grid, having a good start, but being sandwiched by two faster cars. Niki dropped to 9th on the first long straight. He then battled back up to finish a successful 5th place, getting into the Sunday afternoon’s FINAL. He also finished this, being the 2nd quickest XR2.
JJ was disappointed with his results, but was happy that his car was getting there. It should be set-up well for the last race of the season; Mallory Park (23rd of October). Niki felt pretty happy with his results and looks forward to the next race meeting, which is the last race.
Cadwell Park was a good experience being a very mountainous circuit, JJ and Niki realized how important suspension set-up really is… having the right suspension set-up can make you go up to 3 seconds per lap quicker (when one lap is about 2 minutes long). Racing is ALL about suspension… and the driver of course!
Some more good news is that JJ is 19th and Niki is 20th (with 43 points each) out of 98 in the STOCK HATCH CHAMPIONSHIP, even though they had badly set-up cars for the first 6 race meetings. We’re in the top 20%!
JJ and Niki have also started their MOTORSPORTS degree now at CITY University (London). This is going well too, with lots of new engineering concepts.
If anybody personally knows company managers please let us know, as we’re trying to obtain a £200,000 sponsorship for next season; EFL Renault Clio Cup www.cliocup.co.uk
Last but not least, we’ve attached pictures for you to look at! Enjoy!
Sincerely,
-JJ Vannier & Niki Lanik
Narconon® UK Race Team
