Lydden Hill Race Circuit is the UK's shortest road racing circuit at exactly one mile, and is situated in Kent at Wootton, about half-way between Canterbury and Dover in Kent.
Lydden Hill History:
Located just off the A2 on the road to Dover, Lydden Hill is a small circuit, but with a big following. Used mainly for rallycross, drifting, saloon and sports car racing, it may be only a mile in length, but its many camber changes make it a testing circuit.
The track was founded in 1955, and was used for stock-car racing and grass-track racing for motorcycles, before the tarmac was laid in 1965, which allowed it to host circuit racing.
Lydden is steeped in history, but is most famous for it’s Rally Cross heritage, and is known as the “Home of UK Rally-Cross”. Although owned by McLaren, (and no, not the pushchair people!) Lydden is leased and operated today by British Rallycross Champion and FIA European Rallycross Championship runner-up Pat Doran and his family.
Often referred to by other drivers as “Brands Hatch, but with shorter straights!” this circuit is a great leveller of power versus handling. Often finding the lower horsepower cars further up the grid than at other venues.
With the Nippon Challenge making it’s first ever visit to the circuit, it would hopefully provide a level playing field for all taking part.
Pre Race:
Following an action packed weekends racing at Castle Combe, the car was dropped off at the ScoobyClinic to allow the oil to be changed, and to give the car its post race evaluation. With only 4 weeks before Lydden, Vaughan and the guys at ScoobyClinc had to pull out all the stops to make sure everything was race ready on time. Thankfully there were no repairs needed following Combe.
Whilst changing the rear diff oil, it was noticed that there was a black residue in the oil and on the drain plug. This is thought to be a possible sign of the rear diff starting to fail
With nothing available to swap it for, fingers were crossed, and the axle was topped up with fresh oil. Hopefully this would be enough to prolong the life of the diff to see us through race day.
Both the front and rear brakes have also been given some attention. The rears have been replaced with new discs and pads, as they were beyond their prime, and the fronts are now fitted with ducting to direct cool air over them. The front bumper was cut to allow some alloy air inlets to be fitted underneath the indicators, and these were connected to the ducting, which was routed to still allow for full suspension travel, and steering lock.
Over the past few weeks, we have been building up stocks of components from our sponsor “Goodridge”. This is to allow us to renew all of the fuel and oil lines on the car, and to build up some spares. The new hoses will be run inside the car for added protection. The standard items will remain in use until all the Goodridge replacement lines are fitted. The lines under the bonnet will run through fire proof sleeving, and all the hose’s will be finished off with Goodridge’s excellent anodised fittings.
There is also one a Goodridge’s new oil coolers waiting in the wings to be fitted at a later date, but this may be relocated to obtain more air flow to it.
Our new sponsor “HotBits” have provided us with a set of their race developed RSI suspension which has been fitted prior to Lydden. We are interested to see how these perform after the sterling work the Tein set up has given over the past 5 years.
The RSI is the range topping race prepared set up, which is a fully adjustable, inverted strut system with external remote canisters.
With 2-way damping adjustment, and 35 individual compression and 40 rebound adjustments, it will allow the handling of the car to be fine tuned for each circuit.
“HotBits”:
“Hot Bits Suspension is please to support Vaughan in his race winning Subaru with its top of the range RSI Race set for the new season. This Motorsport proven Hot Bits RSI Suspension kit is a 2-Way Adjustable inverted 58mm strut with remote canisters. We are sure the car will perform even better with the Hot Bits RSI struts.”
Hot Bits are distributed solely in the UK by our title sponsor “ScoobyClinic” who have a wealth of experience with these and other suspension upgrades.
By using Hot Bits and their own state of the art 4 wheel laser alignment equipment, ScoobyClinic ensured that suspension was optimised for the track.
With the car loaded, Vaughan and the support van made the long drive down to Lydden on Friday. Leaving home at 10am, we arrived around 3pm to see Nick Reed was already set up in the paddock with a beer in hand!
As scrutineering and sign on was available on the Friday afternoon, we took the car off the trailer and got this out of the way.
Race Day:
Sunny/Dry
Famous as the home of UK Rally Cross, this 1 mile circuit played host to the following race series as part of the Autoglym Classic Festival:
Federal Tyres Nippon Challenge
Silverstone Tyres MR2 Racing Series
Thermex Classic & Historic Touring Car Championship
BARC SEC Cannons Motor Spares Tin Top Challenge
Blue Oval Series Race (part of the Platinum Press Classic Thunder Championship
Hammerite Classic Group One Saloon Car Championship
Autoglym Post Historic Saloon Car Championship
SVG Motor Sport Pre ‘93 Saloon Car Championship
This year there was also oval racing at Lydden with the European Late Model Series – full size American Stock Cars with high-power V8 engines; Sprint Cars - powered by large fire-breathing V8 engines and Miniature American Stock Car Racing Series with Yamaha-engined 2/3rd scale cars from the USA.
As a hugely popular event in the “Classic” race scene, a huge turnout was expected, and with the added draw of the television cameras, it didn’t disappoint.
Qualifying:
Due to the size of the circuit, the grid is usually limited to 24 cars. With all cars lined up for quali, we’d turned out a total of 15. There was a good mix from each class, (with the exception of GT150) but not a great turn out.
It was great to see Kris Dunlop back in the paddock, with the white R-Motion Civic that Mike Clarke campaigned last year. Mike has decided to let Kris loose in the throttle bodies K20 powered Civic for a couple of rounds, whilst he sits out race duties this year following his accident. Although looking at Kris, it would have probably been better for Mike to drive! Having trapped a nerve in his back loading the car, Kris was doubtful if he’d actually make race day.
Kris’s rapid Orange GT250 Civic from last year has made its way to the emerald isle to be converted back to a tarmac rally car.
Andy Mclennan was back following his diff failure at Combe. The tight circuit of Lydden should suit the Swift nicely, so he would be one to watch, along with Mr Dunlop. Grrr!!!
Spencer was making his return following his visit to the tyre wall at Combe. Sporting a freshly repaired shell and gearbox, he would be out to make his mark.
The “Buddy Club” Integra was back after his tangle with Martin’s Subaru Cup car at Snetterton, and had now moved up a class to GT300.
One oddity on the grid was the MGF of Jason Jesse. Whilst certainly not Japanese in anyway shape or form, this now Chinese owned company was being represented in the Super GT class. Causing some upset before the race, it would be interesting to see how it performed on track.
GT 300 was made up of:
01. Alix Thompson Subaru Impreza
11. Spencer Turner Subaru Impreza
15. Vaughan Fletcher Subaru Impreza
44. Ian Froggat Subaru Impreza
51. Steve Burke Nissan 350z
91. Paul Hughes Honda Integra
Perhaps this shows that this class is now the top tier for the Nippon?
Knowing that this would be a close race, with a bunched up grid, we had to be out on track early. With the track being only a mile long, back markers would play a huge part in qualifying and on race day. Because of the circuit’s design, the GT250/GT200 cars would be battling for the higher placed grid positions, so we knew qualifying would be a close run thing.
Having not raced here before, we had to “best guess” the suspension settings for qualifying, and use the tyre temps and pressures for fine tuning after the session.
With an abrasive track surface, we would be paying particular attention to the set up.
Having spoken to some of the regular drivers here, we knew that there were two particular points on the circuit that needed treating with respect. “Paddock Bend” has seen many a car on their side as they run wide and dig into the gravel trap on the exit. The other corner for care is the “Devils Elbow”, as there is no run off before you hit the grass bank!
With the hairpin of “North Bend” we were hopeful of good exit speed due to the car’s set up. We also knew that gear change points would be crucial, especially around the long right hander of “Pilgrims/Chessons” so as not to unbalance the car mid-corner.
Out on track in second to last, Vaughan took his time to warm up the tyres, and get familiar with the track as we didn’t want any mishaps at this early stage. With only 10 minutes to set a lap time, everyone was soon pushing hard.
Kris was showing he had not lost any of his skill in his time away from the track, and was soon hustling the Civic to put in some clean quick laps, qualifying in 5th.
Andy in the Swift was delivering the goods, so it looked hopeful that he could break the run of DNF’s he’s been having of late with a 6th place.
Stewart in his immaculate Integra was also at home on the short circuit, and was using the car’s VTEC to good effect to place 9th.
Dale Gent in his black Super GT/GT500 Subaru was tearing up the track and looked to be heading for the front of the grid.
Alix was still changing his tyres as Qualifying was taking place, which meant he would start the race from the back of the grid.
As soon as Vaughan entered the pits/paddock after his qualifying run, we read off the temperatures, and took the pressure settings. This showed us what we needed to do to fine tune the car before race time.
We adjusted the camber on the front in an attempt to combat the fierce surface at Lydden.
We topped up the fuel, and waited for the first race.
When the results came in we were in 3rd place behind Dale and the Buddy Club Integra on pole.
Qualified 2nd in class
Qualified 3rd overall
Fastest lap: 47.379 sec on lap 7 of 12
Race 1
Round 7:
Sunny/Dry
Lining up alongside Ian in car 44, and behind Dale and Paul, we knew it’d be a scramble for the best line into the first left hander.
After the formation lap the grid lined up and waited for the lights. The Integra of Hughes made a slight jump, taking Dale with him, but both stopped as they realised their mistake. However, all in a split second the lights went out to start the race proper, which caught out both front row cars. With lights green, Vaughan blitzed past to take the lead, as the Integra went backwards into the advancing pack.
Over the first half dozen or so laps, Vaughan managed to fend off the awesome power of Dales Subaru, but the extra power eventually allowed Dale to slip past and take the lead.
With the No: 91 car running in 3rd place behind the ScoobyClinic prepared Subaru, Vaughan wasn’t going to give up 2nd place without good reason!
All was on target for a comfortable result, as the Integra wasn’t able to make any headway in passing Vaughan, when disaster struck! Vaughan found himself without any brakes on the last but one lap, which gave away the advantage to the coupe, and almost 3rd place to Kris who was closing fast in his Civic. The pain killers must have been working!!
Coming back to the paddock, we had to see what could be done in the time before we were next due out. Checking the temperatures in the paddock, we also noticed the passenger side front tyre had delaminated badly, and the rear tyre was also beginning to do the same.
Result
Finished 2nd in class
Finished 3rd overall
Fastest lap: 47.312 sec on lap 3 of 19
Thinking it was the front hub that had collapsed, and leaving the car with no brakes, this was the first thing to look at. Given the time available, it would be a close run thing to get the hub swapped in time.
With the car jacked up, and the front wheel off, it was time to get to work. It was when we came to undo the hub centre nut that we hit trouble. It looked as though the heat generated through the brakes had welded the nut to the stub axle!
In an attempt to get the nut off we:
Broke two breaker bars
Flattened our cordless impact wrench
Used Kris and Mikes impact wrench
Tried an air wrench from one of the Oval racing boys!!
All were to no avail, and with time running out we almost threw in the towel. It wasn’t until a chance talk with Kris, that lead us try one last thing.
At Mallory in 2009, Kris had had a tyre delaminate, and found that it affected the car really badly. It was thought that with our tyre failure, we were experiencing pad “knock off”. This is where the pads get shaken free of the disc, and when the brakes are applied, there is nothing there until they are pumped.
So with minutes left, a set of worn Silverstone’s were thrown on the car, the fuel was topped up and Vaughan headed off to the Parc Ferme.
Race 2
Round 8:
Sunny/Dry
Starting from 3rd place, Vaughan lined up alongside Kris in the Civic, and behind pole man Dale. When the lights went out, Dale got a good start, along with Ian who came through from the 3rd row. Again the Integra of Hughes was swallowed up by the chasing pack, and was back down to 5th by the first corner.
With the tyre swap looking to have done the trick, Vaughan was soon up to second. However the good news was short lived when the car started to over-boost 5 laps in.
On lap 6, Vaughan decided not to risk any lasting damage and retired the car.
Result:
DNF
Fastest lap: 46.803 sec on lap 2 of 6
GT300 Fastest Lap in race 2
Summary
It was a disappointing end to the days racing, as so much more was promised as a result of swapping the tyres. Hopefully we can resolve our problems before Cadwell on August 21st.
Thanks to all those that helped over the weekend, and to our sponsors who got us here.
Thanks to Rich Sams for a couple of his excellent photo’s.
Update: If would seem the ECU put the car into limp mode due to increased water temperature. Investigations are underway.
Jonathan Fletcher Supporter. Subaru GT300 #15
Last edited by Jonathan F on Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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