Cooling Off...

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Now the 2012 season has come to an end, it's time to begin modifying Karen's car to help make it more competitive within its class. Plans include a Front Mount Intercooler, bigger injectors and a new ECU with bespoke mapping.

The driver's side headlight is being replaced with a funnel to allow cool air to be directed to the new K&N cone filter with spun aluminium induction trumpet.

Richard has made a start on the installation of the Front Mount Intercooler, large Blow Off Valve and a turbo blanket with exhaust wrapping.
A Zero Sports hard pipe has been used to remove the induction resonator. Once the intercooler hard pipes have been routed the Mass Air Flow sensor can be plumbed into the induction pipe.
Plenty of work to do, but Richard is enjoying the challenge and is looking forward to getting the car running again. It's hoped that there will then be some opportunities for some practice over the winter and some further tweaks to improve performance and reliability ready for next season.


"Escape to the Country"

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"Escape to the Country" is a property buying program on BBC2. People get to view several properties in a countryside area and also see items of local interest. Well this show was set in Worcestershire and they'd asked to film at our local Shelsley Walsh hillclimb. As members, we were invited to bring along our car to help with the filming...



Karen got to have two runs up the hill as the host Jules Hudson did a piece to camera. She was also in the paddock at the top of the hill as he walks past doing a monologue. Finally Jules interviewed a couple of chaps who were stood against Karen's car. One of these guys was Toby Moody who now commentates on the BTCC with Tim Harvey. ( http://www.tobymoody.co.uk ).

This program is currently expected to be broadcast sometime in early 2013.


Race Report – Silverstone 28th July

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Silverstone was bright and dry - Quite a surprise for a Summer's day! TenguDo Motorsport spent time in the morning ensuring the geometry settings were correct and then Karen was out qualifying. Unfortunately, the gremlins were striking again with the occasional loss of power and stuttering delivery. (This has now been diagnosed to degraded wiring between the Crank Sensor and the main wiring harness). Despite this, Karen qualified 12th overall and 5th in class behind some experienced drivers and very quick cars.

Karen didn't get a great start in Race 1, but after things settled down she she spent most of her race fighting hard against the #77 GT250 Impreza of Steve Harman. Steve seemed to have a power advantage but Karen's car had superior handling and better brakes. Karen finished 10th overall and 4th in class.


Race 2 was a much less frantic race which saw Karen start in 10th but finish in 11th overall and 5th in class.

At the end of race 2, Richard and the TenguDo Motorsport Team were worried to see Karen pull up in front of the marshals at the BRDC stand. They all feared some kind of mechanical problem, but as it turns out Karen had picked up a puncture just after the end of the race.

The marshals took great pleasure in helping out a damsel in distress and soon had the car hoisted onto a truck and driven back into the paddock. The front passenger side tyre had some kind of catastrophic failure/blowout. Everyone mucked in to get it swapped over for a spare and then loaded back on the trailer ready to go home.


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.

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