Glynn Allen Blogspot

Sunday, 11 August 2013

Le Mans Legends Race 2013

Le Mans Legends support Race to the Le mans 24hrs Race 22-23 June 2013.

Race car period selected was 1949 to 1965 for either original Le Mans cars or cars built to the exact same specifications.

Race Car :- Aston Martin DB 2 Light weight Le Mans (175 UXM)

Drivers:- Julian Bailey-Watts & Glynn Allen

Paddock for the Legends cars

Qualifying :-

Best Lap time:- 5.47.394

Qual Position :- 41

Total Laps 9

Best lap was lap 9.

This was the fastest lap at Le Mans I have every done. my previous best was 6.04.00 at the legends race in 2011 and 6.05.00 at Classic Le mans 2012. So the 17.0 sec improvement was a surprise.

Driving down to the track for qualifying

Going out for qualifying

Getting ready before the start of the race

The Race

Best Lap time:- 5.44.285

Best Lap on :- 3

Total Laps:- 3

Position :- 54

Number of starters:- 61

Julian waiting in the holding area before the race

Db2 Light weight Le Mans and in front DB2 PUM 777

Le Mans Pits Julian waiting for his session in the car.

Pre race discussions

The car was going very well in the cool wet weather and I managed my best ever time of 5.44.285 which was again a surprise as the weather was wet and the trace very slippery and I had a full tank of fuel.

The Maserati on the the opening green flag lap spun at Indianapolis and 3 laps later there were yellow flags as an Austin Healey went offer and as I slowed to avoid the Healey the DB 2 (PUM 777) unfortunately rolled behind me into the gravel. Fortunately Paul the driver was OK.

I think at one point I managed to get up to about 30th position when the coil failed.

As I tried to over take a Healey 100 into the Dunlop curve on the inside the car engine stopped and I coasted to a halt under the famous Dunlop bridge. I tried to see what the problem was thinking it could be wet in the electrics or a loose connection, but I could not get the car to start. I finally was pushed down towards the Bugati circuit where I watched the rest of the race in the wet and had a chat with one of the Aston Martin Team personnel who happened to be by the barrier.

The problem was a dead coil.

Unfortunately Julian did not get to race which was a great pity as the race as always was well organised and great fun with the big crowds gathering for the 24 hrs race which would start later.

General Pictures:-

The 24hrs Race Cars in Parc Ferme

Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Brands Hatch Woodcote Trophy Race

Woodcote trophy pre 1955 sports and GT cars.

Full GP Circuit Brands Hatch 27th May 2013.

Weather was very hot and dry as can be seen from this picture of paddock hill bend.

Holding area before qualifying and main race.

The Aston Martin DB2 Lightweight Lemans ran fairly well but with a few problems with a misfire particularly when the car was up to racing temperature.

QUALIFICATION:-

Best Lap : 2.02.311

Position : 27

Waiting for the start of the race.

Pre-Race preparation.

The Race-

Best Lap :- 2.01.00

Position:- Last place of the finishers.

In the race straight from the start the car started to misfire so I came in on lap 4 to sort it out which did not work. During the mandatory pit stop we took double time to try and sort out the misfire.

I was able to continue to the end and managed to un-lap my self but still finished last. If I had one more lap I could have over taken the last three cars as at the end of the race I was only 4 sec behind.

Aston Martin DB4 Zagato Rep

Aston Martin DBR4 and DB3S

Aston Martin DP 212 (I think)

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Donington Historic Festival 2013

Donington Historic Festival 3rd to 5th May 2013

Woodcote Trophy Pre 56 sports cars.

Pre 63 GT

I entered my DB 2 lightweight Le Mans Aston into both races which was the first time out since the engine rebuild but still using the same components.

The DB2 LM had a good increase in power over last year which was going to be helpful against the other 3L Astons in both races.

Qualifying|:- Friday.

Pre 63 GT:- 30 mins

We ran for about 25 mins but had a water radiator problems as we thought after about 10 minutes which spread water over the plugs and dizzy and caused a miss fire. There was also a little brake issues , but overall the car was quicker than in previous years.

Fastest lap 1.34.70

Woodcote Trophy:-

The same issue again with water over the electrics so we only ran the car for 12 mins of the 30 min qualifying time.

Fastest lap 1.34.20

This is the fastest lap time we have had at Donington and bettered previous times by about 2 secs. Which on a fairly full fuel load was a very good result. I think with a lighter fuel load and a few more laps with no pit visits a possible 1.32.00 was possible in the DB2, which would be at least a 4 sec improvement over previous years.

RACE :- Friday

Pre 63 GT - 75min

Due to the length of the race which was 75 mins we ran the car with 90 litres of fuel which do have a major impact on the performance.

Even though my lap time in qualifying was one of the fastest I have ever had at this circuit I was still well down the large grid, which is expected as all the cars are 1960's where as my DB2 is 1951 so 10 years in racing development is massive.

I had a very good start over taking several cars going into Redgate and over the next 6 laps managed to pass several more cars, including e-types, Porsche, Lotus etc.

I was in hot pursuit for a Ferrari 205 SWB and an Aston DB4 and was closing very quickly, I managed to catch the Ferrari and got on the inside line going into copse but as I got along side the car started to lose power and miss fire as it had done in practice.

On calling into the pits we had the same water problem, we tried the car for another 2 laps but then I decided to come in and call it a day.

WoodCote Trophy Race:-

We decided not to run in this race until the car was sorted out.

on the up side there were a number of reserves for this race so at least they got a race on a very nice afternoon.

NEXT RACE :- BRANDS HATCH 27th May.