Karen's "Escape to the Country" Footage

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Karen's appearance on BBC1 television can be seen below in an edited version of the full program. Unfortunately, no footage of Karen driving her car up the Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb was used. However, it does showcase what a wonderful place it is to watch historic and modern race cars in action.



You can access the Shelsley Walsh Website here: www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk


Suspension of disbelief

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We already knew that the near side rear wheel of Karen's car didn't share the same amount of negative camber as the other rear wheel thanks to an interface with the banking at Shelsley Walsh some time ago. Thanks to many other problems including the requirement for an engine rebuild, this had fallen down the list of things to be sorted. Karen actually raced at Castle Combe with this problem as there simply hadn't been time to sort it out.

A trip to local specialists Powerstation enabled this to be rectified using their Beissbarth wheel alignment system. With the chassis now sorted, it's hoped that Karen will find the car much easier to drive and her lap times will improve accordingly. It's certain that her racing at Castle Combe was compromised by the previous settings.

The rear now benefits from the addition of camber bolts to help with camber control. Ride height is as it was but there's scope for lowering this which would see benefits in lowering the centre of gravity and improving airflow. This may need to wait until the season is over when next years tyre choice might have an impact on what is decided. We may yet go with new better performing coilover units than the non-adjustable ones currently fitted. Especially since these have been on the car for several years now and may be past their best.


As usual at Powerstation, there was a plethora of interesting cars being worked upon. This included a Time Attack prepared KTM X-Bow that had previously been involved in the British GT racing series. It was just too good a photo opportunity to be missed...


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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