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My Single Seater Race Experience at Rockingham April
10, 2007 |
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unrated, unedited
by brian su 
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After
a satisfying test drive of the Audi RS 4, it was time to head up
north via the M1 motorway on a 105mile journey. A journey that would
eventually take me to the famous Rockingham Motor Speedway.
Unfortunately it was a dark and cloudy day for the whole of the
UK. It was the first time in my life I've driven for over 100miles
with the same dark clouds and light drizzle the whole way. Being
victim to the same weather condition for miles with no clear sky in
sight as far as the horizon, I had given up hope of a dry race in
Rockingham.
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I
arrived at the track at half past 2 and the temperature was a
chilly 7 degrees the whole afternoon. To make things worse it
never stopped drizzling. It was the kind of drizzle that was very
light but constant. Very fine droplets of water fell slowly
and eventually coated every surface with water in a min in a
minute or two. It was not a good weather to do a race in as the
track surface would be constantly moistened by this drizzle and
yet on the other hand there was no enough water on the track for
the aqua treads of the tyres to displace.
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Anyway
the time had come and the afternoon had to go on as planned. I did
tell a few people that I was going to drive a formula Ford because
I thought it would be somewhat similar but I was wrong. I'm not
sure if the single seater cars were derived from any 'Formula'
class but here's what I know about them.
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| Engine: |
1.8L DOCH Ford Zetec
putting out 180bhp. |
| Brakes: |
Non power assisted
brakes with no ABS or any form of electronic assistance. |
| Steering |
180 degrees 'lock to
lock' ratio (If I remember correctly). |
| Body: |
Not sure where it
comes from but unlike Formula ford, there's emphasis on
aerodynamic downforce from the front / rear wings on these
cars. |
| Chassis: |
Seems to be a steel
space frame chassis to me with a very strong rollover
protector bar over the driver's head. |
| Transmission: |
The car featured a 4
speed Manual non-synchromesh gearbox with reverse.The gear
lever's located on the right of the cockpit and the shifting
is H pattern but there isn't any H gate to 'guide' the gear
stick hence it takes a few moments to get used to. |
| Clutch: |
There seemed to be 2
clutches in place. Firstly a very heavy clutch pedal that is
used when shifting gears and secondly either a centrifugal
clutch or torque converter that disengages the drive train
from the engine at low engine revs hence the car can actually
be started in 1st gear and left in 1st gear without stalling
the engine. |
| Drive Train: |
There's no LSD. I
think an open differential is used. Rear wheel drive of
course. No traction control. |
| Safety Harness: |
6 point racing style
harness with quick release. |
| Electronic
Displays: |
a set of numeric LED
displays light up on the steering wheel to show you the oil
temp, speed, revs, etc. etc. |
| Starter: |
Yes all cars have an
on board electric starter. |
| Tyres: |
Significantly wider
than the ones used in Formula Ford. The tyres used are
somewhat like those used in F3 and had an 'aero thread' design
for wet weather racing. |
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Soon
it was time for the walk over to the pit lane via the
underground pedestrian tunnel. Even after I had dressed up
in my overalls and helmet it was still drizzling and very
windy but it certainly didn't look like the weather was
going to take a turn for the better that day so despite the
weather it was time to get strapped in.
Like
almost all single seater open wheel cars, the driving
position was almost 90 degrees. The driver's legs lie
straight ahead while the body is lying back at a slightly
recline angle in a fiberglass moulded bucket seat. The
correct sitting position would be one where the legs are are
able to fully depress all pedals without being entirely
stretched out. This ensure adequate strength to depress to
clutch and brakes without fatigue.
The
clutch on the single seater was very heavy and there was
little to none tactile feedback to judge where the
engagement point was. Unlike a road car, the brakes are not
power or vacuum assisted hence the required brake pedal
pressure was quite high. |
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On
the other hand the accelerator was very sensitive and responsive
as it appeared to be quite easy to over-rev the engine pass the
required revs. I would guess the throttle responsiveness has been
improved from the road going versions of the Ford Duratec engines
by modifying the throttle butterfly's opening and closing rate.
The engine parts including the flywheel would have been lightened
and race tuned intake and exhaust systems placed less restrictions
on the engine and hence allowing it to rev up quicker.
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The
combination of the pedal feels above posed a challenge when performing
heel-toe braking. This is because the toe would have to exert a
lot of pressure on the brakes while the heel must be very
gentle and accurate with the throttle pedal. On the other
leg, getting the clutch to do what you want it to do was
quite tricky in itself. All this made the leg
coordination quite disorientating at first.
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In
terms of hand coordination it was also a little
disorientating at first because the elbows are rested on the
side rests provided in the cockpit and the entire
steering wheel is worked lock to lock with practically the
front part of the arm.
Once
strapped in with the 6 point racing harness, it was
importantly to adjust both the rear view mirrors as it was
impossible turn the head back far enough to see what was
going on behind. |
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Perhaps
the most disorientating part of the experience were the rain
droplets that coated my visor in a blinding coat of water every
few seconds. I eventually decided to drive with the visor
partially up but then the water spray started coating my
spectacles instead. This wasn't too bad but nevertheless it was
very difficult to judge braking/acceleration points going into
corners when one's vision is constantly blurred. This lead to me
causing an incident on the final lap (more on that later).
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The
driving experience itself was more technical than karting because
of the required gear changes and also significantly because
aerodynamic down force plays quite a significant factor in this
formula. On the other hand it's not as technical as the higher
formula series where differential and brake bias settings needs to
be adjusted while driving as well. Because of the technicalities
involved in the gear changes it opens up an avenue for more
creative overtaking techniques. Having said all that, the drive
was not as thrilling as driving a 2 stroke 100cc or 125cc rotax
kart because of the dampened and protective nature of the single
seater cars.
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In
terms of power the car's engine is powerful enough to the
point the throttle has to be applied gradually while exiting
a corner and full throttle is only used on a straight line
or through small bends. But still it's not powerful enough
to cause wheel spins of the throttle isn't applied
gracefully enough (unlike F1). I also the engine to be rev
tuned rather than torque tuned. This is evident by the fact
that the engine has a rev range wide enough that the car can
be driven around an entire lap only in 3rd gear. The gear
ratios are also spaced quite widely apart and thus there are
only 4 gears. This translates to a drive where the driver
would have to accelerate for a very long time before up
shifting, likewise the throttle has to be blipped quite
significantly during heel-toe.
In
terms of performance the car does 0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds
and has a top speed of around 145mph. |
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As
I mentioned earlier, the experience wasn't as satisfying as I had
hoped due to the rain. After a few laps into the race, there was
an incident when I accelerated out of a corner and used the
kerb on the side of the track to maximise the usable width of the
track. The painted kerb surfaces were very slippery due to the
constant drizzle and because the car had no LSD, the outside rear
wheel spun when I put it on the slippery painted surface and the
car snapped away from me. Thankfully I didn't put the rear wheels
in the gravel and as a result I was able to rejoin the race.
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Another
incident happened in the final lap due to what I would
regard as poor conduct from the Pace Car driver. The Pace
Car driver was driving up to one of the final bends on the
track and he decided to slow down to let everyone 'bunch up'
behind him. Poorly done, he decided to slow his car down
just as he reached the corner and take his car slowly
through it. |
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Being
the first driver behind him, I came up to the corner at race speed
and realised that he had not 'cleared' the corner as quickly as he
should. This resulted in me having to make an avoidance manoeuvre
that landed me into the gravel.
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This
time round, my car was stuck but the good thing is that it was the
final lap of the race so I didn't miss out on much. Besides, the
race marshall came to pick me up and gave me a ride back to the
pits in a Porsche Boxter S :)
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- end -
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