Furze Platt Greenpower Racing

Castle Combe

Castle Combe held some nightmares for the team of melted motors and burnt fingers from last years heat.

This year we arrived with SS as well, but SS was now sporting an air cooled motor as had always been planned to simplify pit stops and reduce weight.

As last year the weather was hot and dry, perhaps not ideal for bubble cars from the drivers point of view. Air cooling the motor was hopefully going to work and if it worked today it would work anywhere.

Tyres were pumped up, numbers fitted and batteries were taken to scrutineering and both passed with no trouble. Both cars went out for a test drive TT staying out 3 laps for the first driver who'd not driven at Castle Combe to get the hang of it.

The race preparation for the drivers started by soaking them in water and giving them ice packs in their jackets to keep them cool on the start line. When they got going the draught through the hole in the bubble kept them at a hot but sustainable temperature.

The race started and the field got away cleanly

TT and SS played cat and mouse with each other for the first hour doing around 3:04 min:secs laps, a little over 36 mph average. We never knew which one would be in the lead coming into the pit straight proving that both cars have the same performance. SS had an edge coming up the hill as driver and water weight were against TT. Both drivers were willing their 30 amp change down gear, red lights to stay off and probably letting them stay on a bit longer than they should as neither one wanted to give way. We just hoped SS's air cooling was going to be OK under this stress. Other teams were reassuring us that it would and after about 40 minutes we decided that the motor would have died by now under this relentless racing so we started to relax about it.

At the pit stops the cars got out of sync so they never really raced closely again. Slippery Tug (ST) was at this race and we were keen to see the three bubbles racing each other.

Super Snail's first pit stop.

The marshal is making sure the ice packs were for the driver not the motor.

The second SS driver went off carefully, building up speed as confidence rose.

TT's second driver took off at full race speed determined to get the fastest lap time which he did.

TT's third driver again experienced at CC went off and added to the laps. Slippery Trug had had  some problems and had lost its initial close position to TT but was working away again clocking up the laps so the SS team were keen to keep ahead of them. Then TT had a puncture which lost over 35 minutes whilst it was recovered and wheel was replaced. This turned out to be a bit of luck as the water cooling had also decided to stop working. Something about Castle Combe and water cooling does not go together for the team This made the decision that air cooling is the way forward as SS was coping fine in the heat. TT was sent out again with the blockage cleared, hoping it would stay that way.

SS had a spin in the Chicane with the third driver, which lost a bit of time, SS was now the leading car but TT was now chasing its team mate hard.

TT eventually caught SS, overtook and continued away into the distance as the older drivers experience showed, the young ones are learning fast and they all improved as their turns went on.

TT had a coming together with another car and the damage can be seen in the picture left. The body is only thin plywood but it does protect the works very well.

TT went on to win the race and get fastest lap not quite getting to the lap record that was set last year when the motor was destroyed but only missing it by about 3 seconds.

TT had several close races with ST and Barracuda it was great watching the three of them vying for position

SS (notice no water bottles behind the drivers head) in hour 5 had a problem with its batteries going flat which initially we put down to the hard racing done by the first 2 drivers, as TT's batteries were also flagging on this period, something we'd not really had before. When SS was recovered it had metal filings in the rear and a piece of the derailleur was also found. The batteries were changed and SS tried to restart but the chain came off in the pits so it was back to the paddock to rectify the problem. The chain was refitted and SS rejoined the race but never showed any real pace which was surprising as this driver was an experienced fast one, he was very frustrated having watched his team mates thrashing round, he just could not get SS to perform. It was decided that although SS was going slowly at least it was going and that was better than coming in again and loosing more time. If this set of batteries were the problem we did not have any more, the other set was completely flat and had only been on charge for about 40 minutes so they would have virtually nothing in them still. As the end of the race got nearer SS stopped and had to be recovered with a very disappointed driver. The chain had broken and there were even more metal fillings in the back. Upon later investigation it appears that the derailleur failed towards the end of hour 5 and this extra load killed the tired batteries. The 6th hour with fresher batteries it managed to keep going but was grinding away metal until the chain gave out. TT has never had a problem like this so we will have to see what the difference is.

This time we learnt that both cars perform the same with experienced drivers, air cooling is going to work even in very hot conditions. Hard racing each other hammers the batteries especially if the warning lights are ignored for too long. Slippery Trug is going to be chasing us down at the final and reliability in all areas is the only way to win even if you have a bubble body.

Castle Combe gave us and I think most teams a great days racing, thanks to all concerned and look forward to the next one.

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Last modified: 08/06/09