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New Snetterton 300
(11 posts, started )
New Snetterton 300
First onboard i saw was shocker for me, but seeing it, as it is now, it's not that bad.
Only part i'll miss is T2. I loved cars going off into the fields there.
I enjoy the circuit. Won first time out

Video here (although the camera stops after about 8 minutes despite a near empty SD card and a nearly full battery - grrrrrr!) - http://vimeo.com/21376043

Started 2nd after a plug lead came off No.4 cylinder in practice. At the start I stayed 2nd, but realised quite quickly that I was quicker. But I stopped paying attention near turn 5 (amusingly called Hamilton - presumably a boring, characterless corner that's hard on tyres and has had the best tarmac since an early age) and put my right hand tyres on the dirt. The result was a spin, dropping me to 11th, and giving me a 16 second deficit to the leader.

Of course the leader and the chap in 2nd both thought I was out, and therefore weren't trying 100%. I was.

I passed everyone. On the last lap, with three corners to spare, I slipstreamed the leader on the back straight, and stayed ahead (covering the inside of the following bend against 'switchbacks') to win by 0.7 seconds. My fastest lap (1m50) was 3 seconds quicker than the next quickest guy.

Even better, the guy in 2nd was then disqualified for running his rear wing too high, which promoted my team mate to 3rd. I've rebuilt his car for him over the winter, and we're running him this year, so not only am I working on my own car, I'm also working on his and coaching him on how to go quicker. Hurrah!

As for the circuit - it's mostly great. The two hairpins are a bit slow, and Coram into Murray's is too hard to produce good racing there (although it might set up overtaking into the first corner). But most of it has good flow. For spectators it's ace. And for drivers it isn't at all easy. But the corner names leave a lot to be desired...

I'm back there (funds and crashes permitting of course) in October.
Its a nice looking track

Dear Scawen
I think we need a new track...
Quote from tristancliffe :I enjoy the circuit. Won first time out

Video here (although the camera stops after about 8 minutes despite a near empty SD card and a nearly full battery - grrrrrr!) - http://vimeo.com/21376043

Started 2nd after a plug lead came off No.4 cylinder in practice. At the start I stayed 2nd, but realised quite quickly that I was quicker. But I stopped paying attention near turn 5 (amusingly called Hamilton - presumably a boring, characterless corner that's hard on tyres and has had the best tarmac since an early age) and put my right hand tyres on the dirt. The result was a spin, dropping me to 11th, and giving me a 16 second deficit to the leader.

Of course the leader and the chap in 2nd both thought I was out, and therefore weren't trying 100%. I was.

I passed everyone. On the last lap, with three corners to spare, I slipstreamed the leader on the back straight, and stayed ahead (covering the inside of the following bend against 'switchbacks') to win by 0.7 seconds. My fastest lap (1m50) was 3 seconds quicker than the next quickest guy.

Even better, the guy in 2nd was then disqualified for running his rear wing too high, which promoted my team mate to 3rd. I've rebuilt his car for him over the winter, and we're running him this year, so not only am I working on my own car, I'm also working on his and coaching him on how to go quicker. Hurrah!

As for the circuit - it's mostly great. The two hairpins are a bit slow, and Coram into Murray's is too hard to produce good racing there (although it might set up overtaking into the first corner). But most of it has good flow. For spectators it's ace. And for drivers it isn't at all easy. But the corner names leave a lot to be desired...

I'm back there (funds and crashes permitting of course) in October.

Congrats, mate!
To me it looks like the corners are there to make the lap a little longer. Nothing all that interesting.

Shame the video stopped. Enjoy watching your races and this one would have been the best to watch.
The first corner, Riches, is still a quick corner that needs commitment to be properly quick through.
The second corner, Montreal (was called Sear), is a good overtaking opportunity, but is too tight for a single seater to be 'fun'. It's cambered though, and opens up a lot towards the exit, so you can get good traction out despite the horrible understeer.

The third corner is one of the hardest, even though it looks simple and fast. Turn in just 1m too early and you'll be off the track at the exit (unless you lift, but the aim of the game is to NOT lift). Turn in too late and you can't quite get the car to apex. But the corner looks you need to turn in earlier than you do, so you have to fight your instincts to start with.

After a short, curved straight we get to Agostini, which is another tight hairpin. I haven't mastered this yet. I haven't worked out if turning in relatively early and taking the shortest line is better than turning in very late and getting on the power earlier, as the following 'straight' isn't that long. Need to look more closely at the telemetry.

Turn 5 is Hamilton, and it has been designed to be fast, but not quite flat for an F3 car (and a bit slower for an F3 car in our specification). It looks faster than it is though, so it's very easy to carry too much speed, run wide on the exit and not be able to get back to the left smoothly for turn 6.

Turn 6 and 7 are almost a single, multi-apex corner, but not quite. You can turn in and apex quite early, and let the car drive round the outside on the exit to give the line for 7.

7 is where I made up a LOT of time on EVERYONE. You can carry speed through the corner, but to do so means you have to wait to get on the power. As the following straight is long, it's far quicker to hang back on the entry and get the power down early - slow in, fast out. Because I seemed so much better at this corner than anyone in my race I found it very satisfying.

Turn 8, 9 and 10 are unchanged. The Esses still demands braking whilst turning and downshifting, which isn't easy whilst being quick. I still mess it up now and again, and in the video I think there is a good oversteer moment through the left-hander when the car in front goes slower than I imagined possible. Carrying too much speed into the right hander hurts your laptime disproportionately too.

The bombhole is next (and has nothing to do with bombs), and this is one of the hardest corners in the UK to get right, although it's obviously easy to drive through slower. There is no turning point visible, and the apex is a small drain cover in the kerb. Hard to find the line, and hard to judge the speed you can carry without running wide.

Coram is changed a lot for 2011. Instead of being near flat out (or totally flatout when on a charge or in qualifying), it is now a tightening corner, so you can carry a lot of speed in, but have to gradually bleed it off. Not too quickly mind, as you just lose time, but not too slowly as at some point you have to jump off the throttle and onto the brakes, whilst tightening you line (or, if you've done it right, having straight-lined the braking area as much as possible), before turning left.

The final corner, Murray's, is immediately after Coram. As the start-finish straight is long, you HAVE to get on the power early, which means a late apex and a slower entry speed. This is not easy to do, as Coram's braking tends to make you carry too much speed into it. Get it right and you'll be quick down the straight ready to have another go at the lap with less mistakes.
Cheers for that insight Tristan, I knew you would of drove it by now. Glad to see things are still going well for yourself. Have a date for October and I try and get there that day

Fordie
I made sure I had a play on it before the start of the season. Did a few laps in our Exige for Radio Norfolk, although an Exige is so rubbish compared to an F3 car that it was almost pointless in the end!
Congrats Tristan, keeping up the good work!
#11 - DeKo
Looks like your camera is underwater . Very impressive drive though, I can really imagine that track being a lot better as a spectator than for a driver.

New Snetterton 300
(11 posts, started )
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