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Entries Update

Entries Update

The first C1 race of the 2019 season was last weekend, despite the worst weather possible it provided two very close races and throughly tested the skill’s of all the drivers, one event completed nine to go.

The entry for our next event at Silverstone on 26-28 April is full. If you aren’t racing try and come along to see the biggest grid ever for a race in the UK.

The entries for the next 4 events are already open and receiving entries, these are as follows

25-26 May    Anglesey         4hrs
8-9 June       Pembrey         2 x 6hrs
28 July          Mallory            3 x 20mins
11 August     Snetterton       3hrs

A few spaces are currently available, visit our calendar page here to fill in the entry form and secure your place on the grid.

Anglesey 24hr entries are opening this weekend
Entries will open this Sunday 24 March at 8pm for our second 24hr race of the year, this is at the demanding Anglesey Circuit on 6-8 September and will prove to be a spectacular race. 
Follow this link after 8pm on Sunday to get a place in the race.

Thank you to everyone for your support in making our series so special

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Croft Newsletter

Croft 16th March

The journey begins…
We are all just about to head off for the long journey up to Croft, so a few final points.

Everyone is welcome at Croft
We have Croft to ourselves for the weekend, so everyone, friends and family, is most welcome.  There are no tickets needed, so please just come and join us.
 
Many are testing there on Friday, so there will be plenty of C1s around before the weekend as well.

Don’t forget your membership card for signing on!
You will need your C1 Racing Club membership card in order to sign on with BARC on Saturday morning, so please make sure you collect and sign it, from Nick at the C1 Club HQ on Friday evening.

WhatsApp broadcast group
The WhatsApp broadcast group has already started.  If you would like additional numbers added so that you can receive information over the course of the weekend then please send a WhatsApp message to the C1 Racing Club phone number (+44 7586 460197). In that message please include: team name, car number, and your name.

Timetable, final instructions and entry list
BARC have published the final instructions, which can be found here, and the entry list, although there are bound to be some last-minute additions, which can be found here.

Checking your car
Caryl and Philip will be at Croft all day on Friday.  If you want your car checked for compliance with regulations, or weighed prior to scrutineering on Saturday morning, please see them.

If your ECU has not been read, we can read it at Croft to add to our database; and also so that you can check that it has not been tampered with.  It would not be the first one that has been.  Be warned that we will be checking ECUs over the weekend as well.

Pitlane Speed limit
Don’t forget that our regulations now include a full-time pit lane speed limit of 40 kph, which will be rigorously enforced by BARC with the Club’s two radar guns throughout the season.  

Come and say hello on Friday evening
We will all be at Croft for Friday evening, so please come and say hello. See you then.

The C1 Racing Team

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Pre Croft Newsletter

Croft Update

The season opener
We hope that you are as excited as we are; that the first race of the season is nearly upon us.

We had such a nice time at Croft last year, that we thought that we would open the season with a double-header of two three-hour races there.  Time to head to “The North” again.  Hopefully they won’t have closed quite as many roads as last year; and the traffic will be a little kinder to us all.

We have the circuit to ourselves for the day, so no other cars racing; however, since it’s the first race of the season, its going to be very busy with new cars, new members and all our usual scrutineering to get through.

Just remember, you can’t win an enduro on the first corner, but you can wreck your whole team’s race….

WhatsApp broadcast group
We will be using the WhatsApp broadcast group to the team managers that have provided their telephone numbers to the Club.  If you would like additional numbers added so that you can receive information over the course of the weekend then please send a WhatsApp message to the C1 Racing Club phone number (+44 7586 460197).  In that message please include: team name, car number, and your name.  To receive notifications from us on WhatsApp, you will need to have the C1 Racing Club phone number in your WhatsApp contacts, or you will not receive the broadcast messages.

Cameras /Driving Standards
New for this season is the requirement to have a forward-facing camera in every car.  The principal purpose of this is so that there is evidence of any driving-standards indiscretions.  However, if you don’t tell us about it; we won’t be able to do anything about it for you.

If your car is involved in, or behind, an incident, please can you tell us about it, with the time, point on the track and as much other information as you can.  We will watch it and, if appropriate, bring it to the attention of the Clerk of the Course.

Drinking / Alcohol
The Club breathalyzers will be in action in the trusty hands of BARC officials.  We will be breathalyzing drivers and pit crew throughout the weekend:  if you are finished and want to have a drink, please feel free, but hand in your HuTag to Club HQ first, and collect it at the end of the race. 

Anyone found or photographed with drink in their hand wearing a HuTag will lead to their team’s being disqualified.

Timetable & final instructions – be in the right place at the right time
BARC, with admirable efficiency, have now published the full weekend timetable, which can be found on:

https://barc.blob.core.windows.net/barcnet/hq01-cr-1603-v2-9yjyk.pdf

but here are the most relevant bits:

Paddock access will be from 1800hrs on Friday; and we have been asked, a little ambitiously, to vacate by 1900hrs on Saturday; at which point the gates will be locked until Monday morning (which is a pretty good incentive to leave on time!). 

Start 
End
0730Signing on
0735Scrutineering
09301030Qualifying
1100
1500
 		1400
1800
 		Race 1
Race 2

Paddock parking etc
We will publish a garage plan shortly.  We have all garages fronting the track, but please be considerate of the other competitors, as Croft is not over endowed with space.

Club HQ & Signing on
Club headquarters will be in our new race centre awning for the entire weekend.  Membership cards will be available from Club HQ on Friday evening:  you will need them for BARC signing on.  Club HQ is also where breathalyzing and Club signing-on will be; if you already have a HuTag, you will need to bring with you, those that do not have one will need to purchase one (£10) from the Club.  HuTags need to be worn on the right wrist all weekend.

BARC signing on will be in Race Administration.  At least one driver in every car (not team) needs to be a member of BARC, so please ensure that you have joined before the day.

Drivers’  briefings
The main driver briefing will be at 08:30hrs in the room to the left of signing on.

There will be a briefing for any driver who has not raced at Croft at 0900hrs on Saturday outside the rear of Race Administration.

Weighing & scrutineering
BARC are now responsible for all weighing and scrutineering at our races.  We believe very strongly that the regulations are there to be enforced tightly in order to ensure equal racing; and BARC have our full support in so doing.  They will be checking all manner of areas of compliance:  you have been warned!

We only have two hours to check and weigh all the cars before qualifying, so we are going to need you all to be very organized.  Please present your car full of fuel with all the drivers (in their kit with helmets and HANS devices) present, so that we can manage this efficiently.  Please also ensure that, if your car has not already got a yellow weight tag, the drilled bolt is oriented with the hole at the top, and ideally in the rear outer corner of the ballast tray.  Each car will be allowed a test and a check weigh only, so you will need to bring with you any ballast that you need, as the club does not supply it.

ECUs
You should by now have sent your ECU to us for reading.  If you have not, we will read it at Croft.  We now have a database of around 110 ECU software / maps; so will be in an excellent position post Croft to select and install the Club map in time for Silverstone. 

It is a slightly frustrating process, but Citroen (understandably) will not provide us with a full suite of software / maps fitted to all ECUs; hence we have had to run a two-stage process of collecting the data, selecting the best software / map combination and then installing it on all C1 race cars.  The advantage of this process is that we will all be running a standard Citroen OEM software / map combination, so there should be no compromise in reliability, driveability or economy.

Penalties & Pitlane Speed limit – stick to it!
Our regulations now include a full time pit lane speed limit of 40 kmh, which will be rigorously enforced with the Club’s two radar guns throughout the season.   If any of you saw the accident in the pit lane at Croft last year, you’ll understand why we have a low pit lane speed limit:  for those that didn’t see it, we run with full grids at most circuits, so the pit lane is very busy with a lot of people in it.  We don’t want anyone getting hurt.

For those of you who haven’t read the Club’s fixed penalties, they can be found here:

https://c1racing.club/wp-content/uploads/documents/Citroen%20C1%20Event%20Penalties.pdf


New wheels and tyres
We have had plenty of questions on when the new Club alloy wheels and C1 Club tyres will be available.  Nankang have a few of last year’s buffed tyres remaining, but they are going fast; as soon as they are all gone, the new ones will go on sale.

The Club alloy wheels are now available direct from Citroen; and remember that you will also need the matching wheel bolts, since they have a flat washer; and the steel wheel bolts won’t work with the alloy wheels.  The alloy wheels are approximately 1kg lighter per wheel than the steel wheels, so if you intend to run alloy wheels, you will need to be scrutineered and weighed with the car sporting them.  Cars weighed with alloy wheels will be identified with a sticker; and you will not be able to run alloy wheels without that sticker.

Come and join us for a drink on Friday evening
We will be arriving on the Friday, traffic and weather permitting, so please come and join us for a drink – although bear in mind that the club breathalyzers will be in action again for drivers, pit crew and team managers throughout Saturday until racing is over.  See you then.

The C1 Racing Team

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Rocky 2

Rocky II
Rocky II and final 24hr turned out to be a decidedly interesting weekend, for some of the right reasons, and for some less so.  Overall, the racing was some of the best that we have seen so far, and it was great to see some new teams out there.  We were blessed with near perfect weather and the new track layout seemed to be preferred by almost everyone.  We shall miss Rocky, it’s a great venue and the facilities were excellent for what C1 Racing needs.

The result
This is one on which everyone is going to have an opinion; and on which our ability to comment until the appeal process is completed is severely restricted.  Two cars were disqualified from the 24-hour race; and one car from the 3-hour race as a result of having been found with their fire extinguisher pins being in when checked in parc fermé.

Such a decision is inconsistent with the decision taken the previous weekend when one of the Touring Cars at Knockhill was found in the same state in a properly-policed parc fermé; but was only fined.  Both competitors in the 24-hour are appealing this decision; and that appeal is fully-supported by the Club.  We also understand that there is a further appeal pending.  We are not able to comment further at this stage.

Penalties
Penalties turned out to be something of a feature of the weekend.  Some took it in good humour, some less so.  They are there for a reason, though.  There is little point in having a set of regulations, if some people don’t abide by them; and some do.  We have implemented fixed and written penalties, which escalate on repeat offenders, so that there is consistency between Clerks and circuits.

Four directors run the club; and at each event, we try to have at least two of us acting as DSOs around the circuit at all times, much of the time, we have three of us.  As far as we are aware, no other club goes to such lengths to ensure a level playing field and fair racing.  For much of the 24-hour race, we had three of us acting as DSOs:  one in the pit lane monitoring pit lane speeds; and two out around the circuit monitoring driving standards.  Even in the early hours, there was always one of us acting as DSO out around the circuit or in the pit lane.

At some of the corners we monitored, there was nothing to report:  for example, monitoring Yentwood and Tarzan in the first two hours of the 24-hour race saw no accidents and no track limit transgressions; so we moved to a different place.  Other corners, however, saw a significant number of material transgressions and so we focused on those points; we reported them to the Clerk of the Course, who in turn decided whether to apply a penalty or not.

For the last 8 hours of the 24-hour race, it was clear that competitors were increasingly breaking track limits at the chicane in front of the pits.  Even though we only reported the most egregious and repeated breaches, the frequency of breaches grew as the race progressed; to such an extent that a number of the rubber protection mats beyond the two blue and white kerbs were thrown around by cars; and had to be recovered by marshals during safety car periods.

In total well over a dozen cars were reported for breaching track limits; including one that was reported three times over the course of the race; and three who were reported twice.  We don’t want to have to do this; but it’s impossible to achieve a level playing field if some competitors don’t abide by the rules.

A similar number of cars were reported for speeding in the pit lane at speeds ranging from 34 kph to 52 kph.  Rocky is unusual in that it has hot and cold pit lanes, which are a hangover from its Indy car roots.  The hot pit lane doesn’t work very well for endurance racing, so we negotiated with Rocky, the MSA and BARC to be able to use the cold pit lane for our races.

The compromise was that we had to have, and to enforce, a 30 kph speed limit from the start of the pit lane (which was clearly marked with a white line and 30 signs at either end of it); to the end of the pit lane (which was clearly marked with a green light with an “end of 30” sign next to it). There were 8 repeater signs up the pit lane, which we installed and paid for. We covered this in both drivers’ briefings; and explained to any driver who was stopped for speeding in the pit lane (or team if we weren’t able to) what the limit was, why it was there and where it started and finished.

We will be back to the usual 60 kph speed limit in the pit lane at all the other circuits we race at from now on.

Drinking / Alcohol
The ugly head of drinking reared itself again at Rocky II.  The Club has a very clear zero-tolerance policy for any driver or team member who touches the car in the pit lane.  We were somewhat hobbled at Rocky II, since the Club breathalyser announced on arrival that it wanted to be calibrated and although we searched, we could not find any disposable breathalyser tubes locally.  We have solved this by buying a second breathalyser and will have them calibrated alternately every three months, so that at no point could we be left in this position again.

We were alerted that members of a team were drinking during the race and so visited the garage.  One driver had a bottle of beer in his hand, so we had a discussion with him and suggested that he handed his HuTag in.  No one else in the garage was drinking at that point.  We then reported the matter to the Clerk of the Course, who immediately sent the pit lane chief to that garage and removed the HuTag from that driver.  Both we and the pit lane marshals visited that garage on a regular basis following this breach, but at no point after that was a driver or team member seen drinking; nor were we presented with any other evidence to that effect.

We have now published the Club Rules, which set out the Club policy on alcohol & drugs on the C1 Racing website.  The penalty for any driver or team member’s drinking is that the team is excluded from the event; however, the Clerk was unable to impose that, as we did not have a functional breathalyser.  Rest assured that with two operating breathalysers, we will never be in that position again; and we will be breathalysing drivers before they get in the car as well.  It is also worth noting that a refusal to take a breathalyser test is treated as a failure.

Weighing
Thank you all for your efforts on the weighing front.   Although it takes time, the purpose of weighing and tagging all the cars is so that lighter drivers do not have an advantage.  No system is perfect, since teams with some light and some heavy drivers will have a disadvantage over teams with drivers all about the same weight.  It is, however, in our view, the fairest system.

From next season, we will be introducing different coloured tags at each race; and your car will not be able to pass scrutineering without the correct-coloured tag lock-wired to the car.  We also intend to introduce Club ballast plates, which will have lock-wire holes pre-cut in them, which should make the process easier for those who want to use them.

Club car(s)
There have been some comments on the forums about the Club’s running its own cars.  We do this for a number of reasons.  Firstly, we need to test any components that we are going to introduce in full race conditions so as to ensure that they perform properly; secondly, we need to have seats available for the press (at Rocky II we had Stefan Mackley from Autosport in our car); thirdly, we are much more able to scrutineer from a technical perspective by running our own cars and understanding the cars better; and finally, it gives us a much better perspective on driving standards than we would get from solely standing by the side of the circuit.

It is commonplace for Series organisers to run cars in their own series, and we intend to continue so to do; and for the directors to continue to drive on occasion.  We set this series up so that we are able to race in the way in which we wanted to; in a not-for-profit company, from which we are unable to pay ourselves.  However, if you have serious concerns about the Club cars, please write to our chairman, Meyrick on meyrick@c1racing.club setting out in detail what your concerns are.

Croft 
On a lighter note, we are all looking forward to Croft.  Not only do we have a full grid for the enduro on Sunday, we are also trying out the sprint format on the Saturday; and we can’t wait to see how it goes.

There will be a further newsletter with the administrative points for Croft nearer the event.

Survey
Thank you to all of you who completed the Club survey, we really do appreciate it; and it means that we can organize what you want, rather than making it all up.  So far, we have had 267 replies, which is approximately 25% of those to whom it was sent out.  Here are the key points which came out of it:

Sprints
Over 130 of you would like to do sprints, marginally more on a different, rather than the same, weekend.  A clear majority wanted heats and finals of a 20-minute duration, so that’s what we’ll trial next season.

The five most popular circuits for sprints are Donington, Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Silverstone, Oulton; and the least popular five are:  Knockhill, Pembrey, Anglesey, Thruxton and Croft.

Watch this space!

Enduros
The most popular programme is for 4 enduros, so we will continue with that.

The five most popular circuits for enduros are:  Donington (by a clear margin), Silverstone, Snetterton, Oulton and Brands.  Least popular are Knockhill, Pembrey, Mallory, Anglesey and Thruxton.  Cadwell is no longer really feasible given the poor facilities and pit area there.

24 hours
We had to love the 23 people who would enter as may 24-hour races as we put on, but over 110 would enter one 24hr; and over 50 would enter two 24 hours.  There was a mild preference for exclusive testing; about half wanted the costs included, half were happy to pay more for it.  There was no stand out month in which you wanted 24hrs to be held; although a small majority would prefer it on a bank holiday weekend to not.

The most popular three circuits were Silverstone, Snetterton and Anglesey, with Knockhill and Mondello at the bottom.  In practice, we are going to have to be driven by the facilities that are available at each circuit to some extent.

Thank you again for filling it in; it really will make a difference to what we put on next season.
The C1 Racing Team

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Snetterton update

Snetterton Update

After an eight-week break, it was good to be back out on track again, wasn’t it? Snetterton 300 is a brilliant circuit, and it was quite amazing to see 53 cars starting the four-hour race: the largest grid ever seen at Snetterton. It turned out to be quite a race, as well: Old Hat did a terrific job in qualifying, going nearly a second quicker than everyone else; and watching Dan in the early stages of the race, you could see why: consistent, smooth and accurate, which is exactly what’s needed to make a C1 fly.

It didn’t stay that way: McAttack and Absolute Alignment played the safety cars to perfection and managed to get in front of Old Hat. We were all treated to a brilliant battle for the next few hours, which got more and more tense as the race progressed. It was always going to be really marginal on fuel with one stop, but both of the front-runners took the gamble. It paid off for both of them, but there was an extraordinary twist at the end. Declan McDonnell had been asking if it was legal to finish the race in the pit lane, but decided not to take the gamble in case his driver missed the pit board on the last lap. With only a 50-second lead from the hard-charging and in-the-zone Chris Dear, McAttack came into the pits with just six minutes of the race left.

In the pits, you could cut the air with a knife. They made it out in front of Absolute Alignment. Just. But that didn’t last long, and Dear made it past at the Wilson Hairpin. In the pits McAttack faces fell; but then a red flag came out. A car had rolled at Agostini and the Clerk decided that it would be safer to red flag the race. The directors gathered with Dorothy, our wonderful Clerk of the Course, to discuss the outcome. If you’re familiar with the regulations, it did not turn out to be particularly controversial. In a race that is red flagged, the result is taken from the end of the lap before the red flag. McAttack had pitted, and had completed their mandatory pit stops. Declan had what must be one the shortest stints in race history, completing maybe 50 yards to the finish line in the pits – which, as we all know, is part of the race track. So McAttack won the race in the pit lane at approximately 40 kph (we had the Club’s speed gun on him). Extraordinary.

We also saw the world’s longest stop / go penalty. One unfortunate driver was penalized for speeding in the pit lane and leaving the pits under a red light; compounding his error with missing the black flag for a total of six laps. A four minute and fifty second stop / go was a long, long time, but then the miscreant had to get out of the car for a leisurely chat with Gary, the Deputy Clerk of the Course, before strapping in and continuing his race. Its well worth having a quick look at the fixed penalties in the Club Regulations; mostly to know what not to do. Its going to be really tough trying to win a race if you are parked in the pit lane for 5 minutes

Lastly on Snetterton, thank you to the volunteers who helped us: to Adriana, Christine, and Jill, to the marshals, the scrutineers, the Clerks and course staff. We think that they did a great job and in baking hot weather. Thank you to each and every one of you.

 

Spa News

We look forward, later in the year, to seeing rather more teams at Spa on 5th-7th October. After extensive negotiations with our Belgian friends, they have been kind enough to let us have some more spaces, so all the reserves have now been promoted to full entries and we will see 55 UK C1s starting the race. We may even be able to squeeze a few more in, so if you don’t already have an entry, and want one, it’s probably worth getting a deposit in and joining the reserve list. It really is an epic circuit and great weekend. Our policy is that deposits are refundable if you are on the reserve list, so there is little or no downside. For those who have confirmed entries, the deposits are no longer refundable, though.

 

Race of Remembrance

Further out, C1s are also eligible for the fantastic Race of Remembrance, held at Anglesey on the weekend of Remembrance Sunday, 10th / 11th November. If you haven’t done this race, you really should. It’s a brilliant end of term party for one; it’s another rare chance to race at night; and it’s held in order to raise money for our supported charity, Mission Motorsport.  Some of you will have seen Mission Motorsport at some of our events:  it exists to help servicemen and women that have been injured in the course of their duty, whether physically or mentally, back into the workplace, using motorsport as a beacon, training medium and therapy. Take a look on: http://www.raceofremembrance.com/ where you will find some of the most moving video footage ever recorded. You’ll also spot a few C1s; and there will be a class again in 2018. We’ll be out there racing, with a serviceman or woman in the car. If you want to come and, particularly if you would like to have a beneficiary in your car, contact our chairman, Meyrick, on meyrick@c1racing.club ; and no, we aren’t usually the slowest cars there, especially in the wet, which it usually is at Anglesey.

The C1 Racing Team
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Snetterton update and new races at Croft meeting

Announcing some sprint races for C1s at Croft

There is some really exciting news about our Croft race meeting in September. We’ve been offered some more track time and thought we’d try some sprint races. Our main 5hr endurance race will be on Sunday, with qualifying on Saturday. We’ve been offered 5 x 20 minute races on Saturday afternoon for £300. The format will be 4 races and a final. This will give those in 2 driver teams a chance to race in 2 sprints each, those in 4 driver teams a race each and those teams with 3 drivers will have to draw lots, but at least everyone gets a sprint race. One driver could do all 4 sprints and the final themselves. The final will be driven by the fastest driver in each team.

These races are optional and will not affect grid positions in the 5hr race. There is still some planning to do, but this is fantastic value racing.

The entry form is now live and you will find it here. Places will be issued on a first come first served basis as there will only be 40 cars allowed to start (instead of 54 for the 5hr race) due to each race duration being less that 2 hrs.

Snetterton update – Membership cards

If you’ve recently (in the last 3 weeks) joined the club or renewed your membership and will be racing at Snetterton, you will be able to collect your membership card from garage 1 on Friday from 6pm and on Saturday morning at BARC signing on. You won’t be able to sign-on if you don’t have your club membership card or race licence.

Snetterton update – HuTags

If you haven’t raced this year, you’ll need to collect and pay for (£10) your HuTag. These will be available from garage 1 from 6pm on Friday evening.

Snetterton update – Club office

You’ll be able to find the club directors in garage 1 from about 5pm on Friday afternoon until 7pm on Saturday.

Snetterton update – Tuff Jug vent plugs

We will be scrutineering Tuff Jugs this weekend, so you’ll need to bring 2 Tuff Jugs with each car to the scrutineering bay on Saturday morning. If you have black vents in your Jug, they must be replaced by white blanking plugs. These will be available free of charge from the club. If you have white blanking plugs that have been modified so they let air into the Jug, they must be replaced by new unmodified blanking plugs that will be charged at £5 each. All Tuff Jugs will have scrutineer seals applied and these are the only Jugs that may be used for refuelling.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all again at Snetterton this coming weekend. If you’re new to the club, come and say hello in garage 1.

The C1 Racing Team

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Pembrey Update

Another weekend of red hot racing! 
I didn’t expect to come from Dubai with pale skin and return with healthy tan (well.. sunburn really)  but that’s what happened last weekend.  Fortunately for all, the Mother of all Marquees (MOAM) was used as sunshade rather than monsoon refuge.  Will the Race of Remembrance at Anglesey be so kind in November?

Congratulations to McAttack Racing (347) on their win in the 5hr race on Saturday, completing 197 laps in total. In the end a 24 second lead over the battle-scarred Old Hat Motorsport (321) car sealed McAttack’s victory and their superb best lap of 1.25.452 was also the fastest in the race, although a little shy of their own staggering pole position time of 1:25.015 in qualifying.

Third place went to Kraken Motorsport (411) who were another 47 seconds behind the Old Hats.  Once again a combination of consistent speed, lack of contact, efficient pit work and cunning strategy paid dividends.  Special mention must go to the Bengineering (309) team: after curiously claiming the circuit was boring after qualifying they went on to take a very respectable 4th place, beating a number of teams with much shinier race support vehicles.

The 2hr race on Sunday was a similarly close affair, with just 19 seconds covering the first 3 finishers.  Victory went to Old Hat Motorsport (321) completing 80 laps in total and with an impressive fastest lap of 1.25.902   Second went to the snappily-titled  “Gala Performance With Amigo Motorsport” (380) team just 15 seconds behind, and third to the Absolute Alignment (346) car driven faultlessly by C1 Racing pioneer Chris Dear.  Just outside the Top 3 was Ben Atkinson in the Bengineered Bengineering (309) car.

All in all a really fun weekend of tight racing and yet again we saw evidence of the inherent fun and reliability of the C1 platform.  Cars were driven flat out in hot and harsh conditions, yet we counted just two mechanical failures during the seven hours of racing.  A driveshaft and a buzzed engine, but we can hardly blame the engine for protesting at being over-revved on a downshift.

Driving standards have improved… but are being watched
The Club felt that driving standards were much better in the 5hr race at Pembrey, and better still at the 2hr race on the Sunday… Had the naughty drivers gone home, or had you noticed that track limits and contact were being spotted by the pink-clad DSOs and being reported?  Whatever the reason, we’re happy to see an improvement – it will be good for the club longer term, and of course will keep your costs down.  The directors will continue to be involved in the racing to watch developments and retain a frame of reference for the feedback that we receive from other drivers.  We believe this is important.  One thing everyone MUST do is read the driving standards policy here.

Some of you have confessed to NOT having read the document.  You cannot win if you don’t know what the rules are. The DSOs noted hundreds of track limit violations and reported tens of the them.  This resulted in a number of driver cautions, black flags and drive-through penalties.

The feedback from the director participating in the race was that driving standards were broadly excellent.  There was not excessive blocking, and contact seemed largely due to mistakes and/or running out of talent rather than mal-intent.  Over the course of the year, as drivers gain endurance racing experience, we’re sure that the contact will continue to improve.  We’re still a bit puzzled as to why there are drivers telling us about bad driving and not being able to provide evidence.  Get a camera in the car then we can follow-up on examples of deliberate or incompetent contact!  Any post-race comments on driving standards please drop a line to us at board@c1racing.club with the subject line “driving standards”.

Scrutineering will get more sophisticated as the year goes on
As well as the general car observations over the weekend, we checked a number of things on the first three cars and others at random.  Plugs, filters, ride heights, camber, tyres brake pads were all checked this time around.  Different things will be checked each time and we are conscious that we want to check a number of items on engines, gearboxes and ECUs.  Any cars found not to have adhered to the technical regulations will be subject to the procedures that we have published.  If it is particularly egregious we will issue a public censure of the team. At Pembrey all the cars were found to be within the regulatiion and no formal advisory notices were issued.  We have come up with some clever ways to check internals and other more subtle cheats, so don’t be tempted.  You have been warned.

HuTag….  better try harder!
We must apologise for the HuTag failure at the 5 hour at Pembrey.  Seemingly no amount of running around, extension cabling or number of wifi repeaters could make the system work reliably on Saturday.  We felt particularly bad having asked you all to cough up to buy the tags.  We had a new set of technical issues that weren’t present either on the Friday test day or when testing with dummy tags.  The system was working again on Sunday but we decided to implement a hard copy back up just in case of a new glitch, given the issues of the previous day this seemed to be the prudent approach.
The TSL guys at the circuit and back at base worked hard to provide a solution that was then proven to work during the Sunday race. We believe TSL has sorted the issue now so please bear with us.  The longer-term benefits to getting this right are pretty obvious: no messing around with driver change forms (which is better for the crew and drivers) and easier identification of the driver in the car (which is better for everyone, particularly the fans who want to be able to follow their friends or favourite VIP drivers).  In future, please be prepared to take direction from the marshals manning the exit lights, and importantly, be aware that the HuTag exit light is NOT the same as the pit lane exit light.  The latter must be obeyed in all circumstances.  Sadly one experienced driver innocently fell foul of this at Pembrey and received an 20 second penalty as a consequence.  In future we will increase the physical separation between HuTag lights and end of pit lane to help avoid a similar situation.

Do you want to party?
It doesn’t seem like many of the C1 Club members need much help pulling together an impromptu party, but would you like the Club to organise an end-of-season / Christmas party?  We have a pretty diverse mix of people, but perhaps some manner of dinner dance would work, and would give us the opportunity to hand out prizes.  We note that some of you are keen to identify a 2018 C1 Challenge winner.  While the rules around being a Challenge stop the Club from crowning a winner, we cannot stop the regular members of the “Unofficial C1 Racing Drivers and Fans” Facebook page identifying the same.  Drop your thoughts to board@c1racing.club, with the subject line “2018 end of season party”.

Looking forward to seeing you all at Snetterton on the 4th August.

The C1 Racing Team

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Pembrey – Final

We’ve almost finished our packing for Pembrey and got the transport ready for the journey half way to America; so thought that we should share a couple of  administrative points before heading out, since Pembrey have put in quite a bit of effort to make sure that we all have a great time out there.

Although we won’t have pit garages, we will have a MOAM (the Mother Of All Marquees, which is a bit like a MOAB, but less dangerous).  A 90m by 6m marquee has been erected to the left of race control (looking at the track); and we also have all the space to the right as well.  So, if you have an Easy-Up (or Never-Up as our old one tended to be) then we will pop you to the right of Race Control; if you don’t we will allocate you a 3m space per car in the MOAM.  The perceptive among you will spot that means that there are 30 spaces in the MOAM, so hopefully, enough people will have Easy-Ups…..

Campers will have a separate dedicated parking area with hook ups for electricity.  Pembrey have shipped in a nice big quiet generator for us, so that we can create the usual spider’s web of cables and splitters around the camper area for the unwary to trip up on; and the rain to fuse.  Seriously though, we’ve made a big effort with Pembrey to make your stay better.

Fuel. Pembrey’s facilities are legendary, but a fuel station is not among them.  The good news is that means you can use fuel that doesn’t cost more than Chanel No 5; the bad news is that you have to get it yourself.  Happily, there is a nearbye Tesco at Parc Trostre, Llanelli, SA14 9UY, which is on the way to Pembrey; and yes, it does stock Momentum 99 Octane fuel, so guess what everyone is going to be running.  Its still cheaper than Chanel No 5 too.

Without wishing to be a kill joy, having random containers of fuel around the paddock as someone sparks up a post dinner cigarette is not a good idea; so there is a fuel dump where jerry cans of fuel have to be stored.  You will need to label your jerry cans with the number of your car, so that you can get them back again.  Overall, you are likely to need 75 litres or so for the 5-hour race; and about 30 litres for the 2-hour if you are doing it as well.

Remember that there is no way to cross the track once the race is in progress, so bring plenty of food and drink (non-alcoholic for participants during the day…) in with you, since you will not be able to get out during the sessions, nor leave the circuit at the end until the racing is over.

Full details for the weekend are on the BARC website here:

http://www.barc.net/pembrey-june-9-10

with a reminder of the bits relevant to us:

Start End
Saturday
0730 Signing on
0735 Scrutineering
1000 1100 Qualifying
1250 1750 Race
Sunday
1030 1120 Qualifying
1400 1600 Race

Bear in mind that, although signing on and scrutineering starts bright and early on Saturday morning, we still have nearly 50 cars to get through, so expect it to take some time.  Please present your car with all drivers in kit (with helmet and HANS), full of fuel, with its C1 Club passport and MoT and with the drilled bolts in the right place for the lock wires.  You will be allowed a maximum of 2 weighs on the shiny new wireless scales; and if you aren’t sure about your car, please bring plenty of ballast with you, since the weight limit requires ballast in pretty much all cases.  Bear in mind that the winner of the 24-hour was 16kg over the minimum limit, so it can’t be that critical.

Look forward to seeing you at Pembrey

The C1 Racing Team

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Rockingham 24hr & 3hr

The first race of the season is nearly upon us, and it certainly feels like that at C1 Towers, where we are working feverishly to get everything ready for a great weekend at Rockingham. This newsletter will focus mostly on the upcoming 24hr and 3hr races. See the promo video above and also available on our website, facebook and youtube.

Citroen UK have provided us with a safety car; and in order to involve as many people as possible, we are asking for up to eight volunteers to drive the safety car for two-hour stints.  Neither previous experience, nor a race licence is needed; all you would have to do is follow the instructions of the marshalls in the car with you.  As usual, it’s going to be first-come, first-served.  Please email meyrick@c1racing.club to volunteer.

BARC have now published the full weekend timetable, which can be found on:
https://barc.blob.core.windows.net/barcnet/2018-hq08-rk-v1-e9ni8.pdf .  We will not have access to the paddock until 1900hrs on Thursday night; and need to clear the paddock completely by 1000hrs Monday morning.   Rockingham has very kindly agreed to open the Diner on Monday morning so you can have a bacon buttie to speed you on your way.

We are going to add a group photograph of all the C1 Race Cars at the weekend.  This will take place immediately after the warm up for the 24hr race on the Saturday morning:  please would the 3hr cars line up in the hot pitlane during the 24hr warm up; we will then guide all the 24hr cars to join them, rather than going back to the pits; and hopefully it will be as bright and sunny as on the test day for the photographs.  We will take pictures with and without drivers, so we would be grateful if all drivers (both 3hr and 24hr) could be in their race suits with their helmets for the photo shoot.  We will aim to clear all the cars from the hot pitlane by 1120hrs, so that it is clear again for the Pickup race, which starts at 1135hrs.

The paddock will be extremely busy for the weekend, not only with competitors cars, but also with the food arena and trade stands including: Citroen UK, TradeTeam and Evans Halshaw, the local Citroen dealer; Safety Devices; Nankang; SmallcarsRUs (who will bring a cornucopia of spares including engines, gearboxes, front headlights, rear lights, bonnets, wings, front and rear bumpers, door glass, doors, tailgates, starters, alternators, exhausts, cats, wheels and various nuts and bolts); and hopefully Demon Tweaks all coming for the weekend.  If there is enough interest, we can also organize tyre changing facilities.  Please email meyrick@c1racing.club if you would like tyre changing and let him know how many tyres you expect to need mounting / changing by Sunday 29th April.

Each 24hr car will be allocated two vehicle paddock passes and 16 access passes for team members.  Drivers should park their cars in the outer paddock.  If you are sharing a garage, please be considerate of the other team; and don’t, for example, grab all the parking spaces just behind the garage.  The paddock police will not be accommodating and may remove passes from those being inconsiderate…

Club headquarters will be in garages 35 and 36 for the entire weekend, which is where breathalysing and signing-on will be; and where all drivers will need to collect their Hutags (£10 deposit each), which they will need to wear all weekend, and teams will need to collect their pitlane bibs (£40 deposit).  The Clerk of the Course will be in Race Control, which is located on Level 2, Stairwell 6; which can be accessed from the paddock via the tunnel next to garage 36, there is a lift next to the Diner; although we hope none of you will be summoned to visit.  There will be two drivers briefings, which will take in the Rockingham Welcome Centre at 0900hrs on Saturday morning.  The first part will be for all drivers and team managers in both the 3hr and 24hr races; the second will be for those drivers that are starting both the 3hr and 24hr races and will follow immediately after the first briefing.  Entrance to and exit from the briefings will be recorded by means of the Hutags, so there will be no getting out of attending the briefings.  If a team manager does not attend, the team’s drivers will not be allowed on circuit; if a driver does not attend, they will not be allowed on circuit.

We will only be using the small pit lane directly in front of the garages for the whole weekend, there will be a pit lane speed limit of 30 kmh, which corresponds to a little under 4,000rpm in first gear, and will be rigorously enforced with the Club’s radar gun.  First transgression will result in a one-lap penalty; second, five laps; a third immediate disqualification.  All team members on the pit wall will have to wear a C1 Racing high visibility bib at all times, four of which will be available for each car.  No pit wall shelters will be allowed, as it would hinder the visibility of teams further down the pit lane; nor may any pit boards be attached to the pit wall.  LED pit boards are not allowed.

A brief reminder on car numbers: all 24hr cars must display reflective race numbers as required by Section Q 11.4 of the MSA Yearbook.  Touring car style and high visibility race numbers are not permitted.

Finally, the 3hr teams will not have a pit allocation, unless their team is also running cars in the 24hr race.  They will be based in the outer paddock, along with the Pickup truck teams; and will only be able to bring fuel, tyres and a working tool box to the pit lane.  We suggest that the remaining 3hr teams pair up with a 24hr team, to be located in front of their garage.  We would be very grateful if those 24hr teams would help out those 3hr teams with tools and by providing some space if possible.

Finally, please make sure that you have read the SSRs for the 24hr race, which will be published on the BARC website shortly, and any other bulletins that come out.  All the Club directors have been published as DSOs and Judges of Fact for the event; and you will see us, especially at the first corner, sporting our identifying DSO bibs.

We will be arriving on the Thursday night and will be staying at Rockingham for the whole weekend, so please come and join us for a drink the night before – although bear in mind that the club breathalyzer will be in action again for drivers and team managers throughout the weekend.  See you then.

The C1 Racing Team