Race Report - Rockingham 21st August


E-mail this post



Remember me (?)



All personal information that you provide here will be governed by the Privacy Policy of Blogger.com. More...



2011NipponRockinghamPaddock9

The 'Rock was a challenge for Karen... Early morning rain had cleaned up any decent rubber that had been layed down during the previous day. The track surface proved to be very low on grip.

2011NipponRockinghamPaddock32

The Internaional circuit was being used by the Nippon Challenge, and as Karen was out on her initial qualifying lap she soon discovered the lack of grip and ended up spinning at the Tarzan hairpin.

2011NipponRockinghamPractice2

Karen gathered herself and got stuck back in, being more wary of the track surface whilst still trying to get heat into the tyres. Unfortunately, just as she began to get into a rhythm, she noticed power seemed to be dropping off. In a short while she began to notice white smoke behind the car and before too long the cabin started filling with it as well! With power failing and visibility becoming an issue the only safe course of action was to retire to the pits.

2011NipponRockinghamPractice1

The general consensus was that the turbo had failed completely or the turbo oil seals had gone. A turbo swap might have been conceivable if only we had a spare with us. That certainly might be resolved for future meetings but wasn't an option at Rockingham. Thus it was to be Karen's first ever DNS since she began racing in 2006. Despite doing only 4 laps with a failing car she managed to be classified in 26th place out of 33 runners.

Upon inspection back at TenguDo Motorsport HQ it became apparent the failure was much more severe than initially thought. Number three cylinder had lost its piston rings and the piston had been slightly melted. The rings had broken up and the bore was badly scored. The engine block was written-off. All the oil-smoke had been caused by oil seeping past the piston and being blown through the exhaust. A replacement engine was required before the next race meeting...


0 Responses to “Race Report - Rockingham 21st August”

Leave a Reply

      Convert to boldConvert to italicConvert to link

 


About Karen Phillips

  • Karen races her Impreza WRX in the Classic and Sports Car Club (CSCC) Modern Classics series, with her husband Richard as a 2nd Driver. The races are mini-endurance events involving a driver-swap. Karen has previously raced in the Nippon Challenge, a race series for Japanese and Asian cars. Karen has been racing since 2006, having started in the MR2 Challenge.
  • Please check this site regularly for updates on Karen's progress through the season and developments with her race car.

Contact Karen

Previous posts

Archives

Karen's On-Line Store

Image Galleries

Links

Karen's Sponsors