Race Report - Croft Rounds 6 & 7 - 11 & 12th July 2015

Race Report & News Update   Michelin Clio Cup Series Croft 11 & 12th July 2015 Rounds 6 & 7 The 2014 season finished at Croft and the event was a rather odd experience for the team with both races seeing only two cars in the road series finish. Race one saw John sustain early steering damage due to a dive up the inside of Sunny In by Harrison. John continued to limp the car round to gain some more championship points and was given second place when Jake Honour was taken out by two cars running in the race class. This year the team headed to North Yorkshire looking for a hard fought podium finish. In the Friday test John was pushing the limits and ran wide at Sunny corner. As was the case with the Donington test day last year the wet grass was like sheet ice and the car ended up in the tyre wall. Damage was sustained was almost identical too with the front end taking the brunt of the impact with further damage to the passenger side with the wing mirror snapping off the smashing the side window.   Mark from MWT Automotive set about stripping the car whilst Anton's manager, Keith, started to see what we would buy and borrow to get the car back out for qualifying on Saturday. In a bizarre incident at the start of qualifying road series competitor Sarah Franklin came into contact with a race series car that was weaving to warm it's tyres on the out lap meaning the session was red flagged just after it started. John secured P5 on the grid for race one and P4 for race two. As race one started series leader Pinder lead from pole followed by team mate Jake Honour. With two corners completed John was dealing with Lidsey and Harrison but ran wide through the chicane and made contact with the tyre wall sustaining damage to the passenger side but managed to keep the car going. Just ahead Jake Honour lost the back end of the car at Sunny and whilst trying to regain control made contact with his team mate Pinder. With both cars ending up nose first in the tyre wall after two extremely heavy impacts the safety car was deployed. Seeing the chaos and realising what difference this could make to the championship standings John was determined keep the Clio running but could feel there was serious damage. As you have to complete 75% race distance to score points he took the safety car as an opportunity to pit, unfortunately in the rush he was caught for exceeding pit lane speed limits and was summoned to the clerk of the course after the race. As the car came to a stop Mark was joined by the mechanics from Westbourne Motorsport who despite still running two cars in the race wanted to see if they could help. The news was not good however and a snapped wishbone forced retirement. As the Clio returned to the truck Mark set about stripping the car whilst the rest of the team started trying to track down parts required that we were not carrying as spares. On further inspection it turned out the subframe was also damaged beyond repair and with no parts available on circuit or close enough to be collected and fitted within the two hours we had before the next race the car was loaded onto the trailer. Talking to Jake Honour he also told us that both his and Pinder's cars also required subframes and they were also sitting out the next race. The team have made the repairs to the Clio and we will be back out at Brands Hatch for rounds 8 & 9.     Crowd Funding Project The team launched their innovative new shareholder scheme at Croft to secure funding for a Clio to compete in the race class. Initial interest has been good as has early press coverage. PP Motorsport driver coach Anton Spires will campaign the car in the 2016 Michelin Clio Cup Series aiming to add Race Class Champion to his 2014 Road Series Champion title but it is hoped that funding will be secured in time for the car to be used in the final rounds of the 2015 season. The scheme allows individuals and businesses to buy a share in the Renaultsport Clio Cup 200 race car and gain a number of benefits including race day hospitality and advertising space on the vehicle. The investment is also risk free as damage and depreciation is being covered by the team and once the vehicle is sold the full share price will be returned to the investors. Brands Hatch Preview The next two rounds of Michelin Clio Cup Series take place this weekend at Brands Hatch on the famous indy circuit. Last year saw John in an intense lights to flag battle with Jess Hawkins, now racing MSA Formula Ford, with a 0.2 second gap between them at the finish after 15 laps. The team returned to Brands Hatch in November for Total Kit Car Live with John giving passenger rides in return for donations to the team's chosen charity, Kids Strut. For the kit car owners attending the torrential rain was not welcome, nor was it for the kit car manufacturers who had their exotic designs being lapped by a Clio but for the team it allowed us to get some valuable wet running and gave John some good time behind the wheel in the challenging conditions. The team is going to be at the circuit on Thursday taking part in the track day organized by OpenTrack, the new owners of our much loved Peugeot 106 GTi, and then only running for the afternoon in the Friday test session.        Radio Interview     John was invited to BBC Radio Lincolnshire for an interview with Melvyn Prior on his daily breakfast show Melvyn In The Morning. (Interview starts at 2:06:00) Click To Listen On BBC Website

                                                                Paint Perfect Motorsport | Unit 11 Clayton Road, Newark Road Industrial Estate, Lincoln LN5 8RE | Tel: 01522 568 247 | info@paintperfectlincoln.co.uk  

Race Report - Thruxton Rounds 4 & 5 - 13 & 14th June 2015

Race Report   Michelin Clio Cup Series Thruxton 13 & 14th June 2015 Rounds 4 & 5 With limited testing time available the Michelin Clio Cup Series headed to Thruxton for a busy weekend of racing. Due to sharing the bill with the British Truck Race Association, Pick Up Truck Racing, Kumho BMW Championship, Super 2000 Enduro Series, Tricolour Trophy & Coupe Cup there was no Friday practise and no Saturday warm up. The advantage would lie with competitors with previous experience on this circuit and local boy, Jake Honour. The team did feel confident going into this event as the fast flowing circuit suits John's tidy driving style.   With the conditions overcast but warming up the cars headed out to qualify on Saturday morning. Series points leader Luke Pinder set the early pace whereas his team mate Jake Honour really seemed to be struggling on his home event. With a third of the session completed they took the decision to send both cars out together taking it in turns to tow each other round the circuit to maximise the slipstream effect. In the last five minutes of the session John put in three fantastic laps to claim his first career pole. He set the two quickest laps of the session with a 1.34.727 @ 89.5 mph average speed and 1.34.911 @ 89.3 mph to secure a P1 start in both races. The team and their invited guests could then enjoy a relaxed lunch in the PP Motorsport hospitality area ahead of the afternoon's race. The car had performed faultlessly all morning and clearly had good pace thanks to the hard work of Mark & DT of MWT Automotive and EDF Motorsport. Whilst they were keeping the car in top form reigning road series champion Anton Spires was fulfilling his role of driver coach. Here we see the team reviewing in car footage and de-briefing after qualifying, a vital process for the development of the car. The race began at 16:30 and the temperature had risen steadily over the course of the afternoon. As the lights went out Pinder got as a blistering start as did his team mate Honour. This left John in P3 attacking the back of Honour whilst all the time defending hard from the unpredictable Nic Harrison. It was a great cat and mouse battle all the way through, the photos only giving an impression of how tight it was throughout the race. At the checkered flag 0.3 seconds was the gap between Honour and John with Harrison just 0.2 off his rear bumper. Temperatures on Sunday were slightly cooler and fans poured into the circuit to witness three rounds of the BTRA as well as visit the large display of show trucks parked just outside the paddock. It was a long wait for the final Clio race of the weekend with the delayed start taking place at 15:30 after some stoppages during the previous truck race. As the trucks arrived in Parc Ferme the Clios left the holding area in front of packed grandstands and spectator banks. Again Pinder got the jump off the line and swapped places with John to take the lead. Running in second he again found himself coming under attack from Nic Harrison. A misjudged defence into a corner gave Harrison a gap to go through. As the majority of the circuit is flat out and there are only two real braking zones it's almost impossible to make up time. The black and white flag came out for the 99 car as Harrison repeatedly cut the chicane, the clerk of the course informing us after the race he was only one more track limit infringement away from a time penalty. John was now battling with Jake Honour with series newcomer Tyler Lidsey rapidly approaching the back of Honour after finding some late pace and putting in some blistering 1.33.7 lap times. It was looking like John was going to be in the third step of the podium for the second time that weekend until the last lap when Honour had a very late challenge through the chicane. Talking about the incident John said “I felt the impact but had no idea what had happened as he was in my blind spot” Honour narrowly avoided the tyre barrier once he had all four wheels back on the ground. This gifted Lidsey third place, John did well to recover to forth, Fincham also took the chance to gain a place to finish fifth with Honour coming home sixth ahead of Franklin who had her race ended just before completing lap 9 after being overtaken by the leaders of the race class. Photo courtesy of www.ae-photography.co.uk In the driver's standings John is still 7th however the series has a dropped round rule meaning each driver's lowest score is not counted at the end of the year. This means we can drop the DNF at Rockingham and would put John in joint 4th in the Road Series Driver's Standings. Interviews & race footage from the weekend can be viewed by clicking this link. The team is now looking ahead to the next two rounds at Croft taking place on 11th & 12th July.

                                                               Paint Perfect Motorsport | Unit 11 Clayton Road, Newark Road Industrial Estate, Lincoln LN5 8RE | Tel: 01522 568 247 | info@paintperfectlincoln.co.uk  

Race Report - Rockingham Rounds 1,2 & 3 - 11/12 April 2015

Race Report   Michelin Clio Cup Series Rockingham 11 & 12th April 2015 Rounds 1, 2 & 3 There was a promising start to the season for the team at Rockingham and marked another big step in the progression and growth of the team. As was the case last year Mark from MWT Automotive was taking care of the running of the car but this year he is joined by Dave from EDF Motorsport. This combined effort means we will see the car develop at a much faster rate than last year which is critical in a one marque, tightly controlled series such as Michelin Clio Cup. John has been working with reigning road series champion Anton Spires and they analysed each performance through the weekend and fed information back to the engineering team.   The team also made the most of the new race transporter and Sherwood Signs produced the boards so the team could form a hospitality area in the garage. Over the weekend thirty staff, sponsors and guests were catered for by the team including AlloyGator, Living Woods, Fisher Motor Factors, Lincolnshire Radiators & ACT Training. Alex & Mel from World On A Tripod attended and captured the fantastic photos included in this report. After the event John thanked the sponsors and said that he sees them “as part of our close knit, family run team.” adding “I couldn't do it without them.” Friday test day showed John and the #33 Clio were on the pace with the only set back being starter motor failure. Luckily fellow Road Series racer Luke Pinder loaned the team his spare starter to be fitted by the combined forces of MWT & EDF on Friday evening. With three rounds being contested over the weekend, Saturday's schedule was packed with two qualifying sessions in the morning and a race in the afternoon. The rain was falling in the first session which determined the grid for the first two rounds. John put the Clio P4 missing out on P3 by just under three hundredths of a second. The second qualifying session, to determine the grid for round three, was dry and after a slight set up change John qualified third. Although another set up change may have found more time the decision was made to keep the car as it was as the pace was good. Local Ginetta Junior driver Lewis Brown had loaned us his scales for the weekend which helped the team optimise the car's performance. Dave & Mark's calculations had paid off as after qualifying the scrutineers weighed the car and found it 1kg inside the series minimum weight limit. Race one started promisingly but ended all too quickly. Heading three abreast into the second corner there was contact resulting in a bent inner tie rod, identical to the damage sustained at Croft at the end of last season. With the steering well out of alignment John wasn't able to continue and pulled into the pits on lap three. Sunday was approached as a fresh start. In round 2 John had a blistering getaway and was mirror to mirror with the pole sitter and previous day's race winner, Luke Pinder. As the cars rounded Rockingham's banked first corner Pinder had the inside line and took the lead. The second corner is where the cars leave Rockingham's wide Nascar circuit and drop onto the narrower infield. As the pack bunched up and the touring car style bumping and rubbing started John ran wide and lost places. He had some good mid pack battles throughout the race with last year's Championship runner up Nic Harrison and series newcomer and reigning K Tec Clio 182 Champion Matt Fincham. He eventually brought the car home P5. In the second race wheel spin off the line put the #33 Clio to the back of the pack, leaving John with work to do to get his way back up the order. Some nicely executed over taking saw John breeze past Sarah Franklin who was driving Anton Spires' Championship winning car. In the closing stages of the race he was reducing the gap to forth place Harrison, who was in turn reeling in Matt Fincham. Series newcomer, Fincham, had a replacement engine fitted after the first qualifying session and again seemed to be dogged with mechanical problems as his Clio was sounding increasingly rough in the dying minutes of the race. Unfortunately for John there just was not enough laps left and he was running P5, just a second adrift of Harrison, as the chequered flag waved. On the whole it was a successful opening weekend for the team. The car was on the pace and John was in the mix, fighting mid pack in both races on Sunday. The one technical failure suffered was unavoidable and easily rectified as was the damage sustained. We definitely had a smoother weekend than some of the other teams and drivers who were battling with reliability issues or just coming to terms with the bumper to bumper physical racing the series features Reflecting on the weekend John said “I'm very proud of the whole team this weekend in the opening rounds of the Michelin Clio Cup Series. We made huge progress on & off track. We are starting to find some real pace now and learning valuable lessons every time I am in the car” There is now a two month break before the series heads to the fastest circuit in the country, Thruxton, for rounds four and five.

                Paint Perfect Motorsport | Unit 11 Clayton Road, Newark Road Industrial Estate, Lincoln LN5 8RE | Tel: 01522 568 247 | info@paintperfectlincoln.co.uk