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