Despite a damp track, Owen put in a cracking qualifying lap and ended up 8th in class on the grid. The first hour gained seven places and a consistent second half performance brought the Mazda MX-5 GT in third in class, taking the team up to second in Class 1 of the Britcar Dunlop Production GTN Championship.
Britcar Dunlop Production GTN Championship Race Diary
Donington Park National Circuit
Round 3
8th May 2011
by Mark Ticehurst
Qualifying
Following weeks of dry hot weather, it was typical that rain fell early on qualifying morning. Whilst the track had dried steadily, it still had damp patches and only one relatively dry line by the time the session started. The strategy for the session was therefore different to usual, and I was elected to do a relatively small amount of laps to bed a set of tyres and to ‘bank’ a time incase it rained further. Owen was then under pressure to deliver our qualifying lap near to the end of the session when the track was at its best. Owen duly delivered a 1min16.43secs which was the quickest time we had set in the car throughout the weekends testing. This resulted in a grid position of 32nd overall and eighth in our Production class1.
The single lap pace of the Mazda MX-5 GT is something we as a team are working on and we are making significant progress in reducing our deficit. Our race pace is very strong and qualifying well for an Endurance race is not as important as qualifying for a Sprint Race
Race
The race was to start with two classes of GT cars containing such cars as Mosler’s, Ferrari’s and Porsche’s, plus the two classes of Production cars with the Mazda MX- 5 GT being in the top class and competing against BMW M3’s, Lotus Elise’s, Ginetta’s and Seat SuperCopa race cars.
We decided to change the normal arrangements of myself starting the race, and elected Owen to take the first stint. Owen did his usual fantastic professional job and made places very quickly during the first few laps. He then settled into a very good consistent pace keeping us in touch with our competition ahead.
Owen pitted after completing the first hour of the race and gaining us seven places overall and fifth in class.
Our Jota team had calculated the minimum amount of fuel we needed to take on board, and decided that our tyre wear was very good allowing us not to change tyres at the stop – proving the efficiency of the Mazda MX-5 GT on fuel and tyres is a real attribute for Endurance racing.
We are required to have a minimum pitstop of 90secs (plus a further 5secs as a success penalty for our result at Rockingham), and we wasted no additional time which was crucial to our result.
Happy with the balance of the car which was now on tyres and brakes that had already completed an hour of racing, we did have an issue with the gear change which resulted in having to restrict the number of gears I used and where I could change gear. The Mazda MX-5 GT runs a bespoke non Mazda six speed sequential racing gearbox mated to a pneumatic paddle shift system.
I was able to settle in to running consistent 1min17secs laps and made progress through the field to end the race third in the Production class and 16th overall. This demonstrated that the race pace of the Mazda MX-5 GT is very strong and the reliability is very good, while the Mazda/Jota Sport/Driver package and teamwork is also a very competitive one.
We are now second in Class1 of the MSA Britcar Dunlop Production GTN Championship which is a fantastic testament to the quality of the Mazda MX-5 GT race car which is still very much in its infancy.
Donington Park National Circuit
Round 3
8th May 2011
by Owen Mildenhall
General
Having scored a third place finish at Rockingham the whole team was looking forward to getting back into action at Donington Park. Especially as the flowing track should be well suited to the Mazda MX-5. Everyone was hoping for another podium and more points towards the championship.
Practice
In the Friday practice session we concentrated on fine-tuning the set up for Donington, making small changes to damper and spring settings. We also tried softer brake pad material, to give better pedal feel, and spent some time working out our fuel consumption. Despite running on old tyres both Mark and I lapped consistently in the mid 1.17s with a fastest lap of 1.16.5. The team were also pleased that a new diff cooler was working as intended.
Qualifying
Saturday morning saw heavy rain hit the Donington circuit and as our qualifying session approached the team was left anxiously studying the clouds. With the weather having cleared, the track was drying but still damp at the start of the session. So Mark headed out on new slicks to scrub in a set for the race. After just three laps this first set was taken off the car to be used in the race, at this point we waited for the track to fully dry before I took to the track and did a 1min 16.43secs which qualified us in eighth place. With a few minutes left to run in the session we parked the car up, happy with our position. While we don’t have the qualifying pace to head the more powerful cars in our class we knew that our race pace and strategy would help us in Sunday’s race.
Race
With the Production cars lining up with the GT contenders for the two-hour combined race a huge 38-car grid lined up on the Donington pit straight. Starting in eighth I made a good start and was up to fifth in class by the end of the first coupe of laps. The agility of the Mazda MX-5 GT really helps when the field is bunched at the start of the race.
The Jota Sport team had worked out a strong strategy that involved us not changing tyres to save time at our pitstop, so the plan was to run a strong consistent first stint, and conserve the tyres. However, the balance of the car was very good throughout my stint and tyre wear wasn’t an issue.
Our fastest race lap on new tyres at the start of the race was a mid 1.16 but crucially when not in traffic we could lap in the mid 1.17 region comfortably, with only faster traffic passing us or sometimes holding us up in the corners! Losing us time.
After just over an hour Mark got into the car and an excellent pit stop by the Jota Sport guys gained us time over our rivals. While the more powerful but heavier BMW M3’s in our class have to change tyres the MX-5 GT can run the whole race on one set. This saves us a lot of time at the stop, so by the time Mark rejoined we were in fourth place.
He immediately settled into a fast and consistent pace and as the race progressed through its last hour our lap times stayed strong even though our long serving rubber was into its second stint. Then with around thirty minutes to go the SEAT Leon Cupra R ahead of us had a puncture and we were into third place. Having rejoined close behind us it was going to be a tight finish but Mark was lapping quicker than our rival by this point and he bought the car home for our second podium finish in two races.
A great example of team work delivering a top result, a great strategy and good stints from both drivers got us another haul of points. And with a host of performance upgrades coming on stream over the next couple of races, we are all hoping for more success.
Donington
Redgate: An accurate clean entry is very important here to ensure that the power can be applied very early as this provides your speed all the way into, and through, Hollywood and the Craner Curves.
Craner Curves: One of the best series of corners in the country. Very fast but make sure you don’t compromise the entry into the Old Hairpin
Old Hairpin: Smooth entry, stay off the apex kerb and use all of exit to ensure maximum speed up the hill towards Shwantz curve.
McLeans: A great overtaking place as its possible to brake very late due to the entry being uphill.
Coppice: Turn in before you can see the apex over the blind crest and gradually let the car run out to the exit. This is a crucial corner as it provides all of your speed on Dunlop straight.
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