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This weekend saw the first round of the HKS series at Santa Pod Raceway with Guy Chamberlain, Scott Whitelaw and new CPL team member Neil Knight competing in the first round. Neil’s car has a Jackson Racing Supercharger and had nitrous fitted a week before the event. Scott kept the same set-up as last year but with the added safety precaution of a roll-cage, and Guy was running a totally new set-up. 
Saturday was practice day and the guys were running on an un-prepped track, so times were not as good as they had hoped for. Guy managed a 10.9, Scott an 11.1 and Neil 12.2. Elliot (the team suspension expert and inventor of the Virtual Racer software) spent most of Saturday getting the settings in Guy’s suspension just how he wanted them. This is very much R&D at the moment but once the settings are finalised this can be used on the other team cars. At this level of drag racing horsepower is only one of many aspects of a good setup, with a strong gearbox and driveshafts, weight, tyres and some good driving being critical to see the quick times materialise. Not to mention that all-important Virtual Racer software, which allows the drivers to “theoretically” try out various combinations and set-ups on their laptops before they get to the track. 
Sunday saw a slightly better track, although it wasn’t possible for Santa Pod to keep adding glue like they would normally at a big event, as the tarmac was so hot on the track that it was coming loose. Neil made a great start to the first round of qualifying running a 12.3 warm-up run without his nitrous, this was improved on further by turning on the nitrous later on in qualifying and running an 11.94. This put Neil in the 3rd qualifying position. Although the CPL drag box was performing flawlessly, there were a few problems with boost pipes blowing off on the car, so Pete and Guy had to spend considerable time trying to find them. Guy qualified 2nd with a 10.75.` 
Scott had a much more relaxing time, with his biggest stress of the day being to park his car up after a run and take his crash helmet off. Scott’s qualifying runs were 10.9, 10.8 and 10.7 in that order, so he was steadily improving. It has to be said at this point that in order to keep minimal stress on his engine, Scott’s nitrous bottle stayed parked on the grass all day, which makes these times even more impressive, particularly given that Scott’s car also has just the CPL road turbo kit fitted. 
And so to the eliminations............Neil put up a good fight but was knocked out in the semi-finals by his team-mate Guy, and Scott took the win in the semis from Ian Page in his Nissan. So the final was to be an epic battle between Guy, the 2006 series winner, and Scott, the 2007 series winner. It was tense at the start line, and both Guy and Scott were raring to go, however an oil spillage in the Street Class final a few moments before delayed proceedings, and added to the anticipation. With the oil cleaned up Pete saw Guy into the water for his burnout and Jake, likewise, did the same for Scott. Scott came first into stage with Guy taking his time. With the lights green Scott certainly had Guy off the line with a reaction time of 0.148, but Guy came back in the 60ft with a 1.75 as opposed to Scott’s 1.77. 
Scott took it back at the 330ft mark and held onto it at the 1/8th mile, and on to the 1000ft mark, but the additional power of Guy’s car just pipped Scott’s to the finishing line, with the following results: Guy – 10.72 @ 141 mph Scott – 10.80 @ 131 mph 
Neither of them knew who had won until they got back to the rest of the team who were waiting for them in the pits. It had to be the most exciting and close final we’ve ever seen in the front wheel drive class. 
Scott still holds the record for the fastest Honda in Europe with a 10.69 second ¼ mile pass, but Guy set a new mph record of 141 this weekend, improving on his previous record of 138 mph. Well done to Guy for taking the win this weekend, to Scott for being the “King of Consistency” running between 10.9 and 10.7 all of Sunday, and Neil for getting into the 11’s twice on the day with a brand new setup and his first competitive race, Neil is certainly one to look out for in future events. Thanks to Pete, Elliot, Jake and Neil’s pals who came along to help out, also Blackett Photography for the excellent photos. Thanks also to the CPL sponsors and supporters: ARP, Earls, Clutchmasters, Virtual Racer, Hondata, Quaife and John Banks Honda. Photos courtesey of Ian Blackett
http://www.blackettphotography.com
Santa Pod's Resident RWYB Photographer Video links will be added to “News from CPL” later this week. |
