Pembrey June 28th / 29th - Nippon Challenge

On the weekend of the 28^th and 29^th June, we headed over to Pembrey circuit in Wales for a full race weekend. This time I wouldn’t be competing in the normal MR2 race series, I’d be racing in the Nippon Challenge. This features a whole range of cars: RX-7s, MX5s, Integras, Civics, Subarus, and both Mk1 and Mk2 MR2s.

As the engine of our MR2 was being rebuilt, we didn’t know if it would be ready in time for the weekend. Graham Poultney of XSPEC Motorsport generously made a production spec Subaru Impreza WRX available at cost price to help build up my experience of racing different cars.  As the aim was to add to my driving experience rather than trying to win the race we decided to run on road tyres rather than the semi-slicks the other cars were running. As well as reducing costs the car would move about more on these and Graham and Dad felt I would learn more. Graham, along with hiring out a car, races his own Impreza STi and does very well. I’d never driven a Subaru on track before, neither had I been around Pembrey, so I just had the 20 minute practice session to get up to speed with both car and track.

Obviously, the main difference to the MR2 is the power, 260bhp of it in this case, and the way it delivers it – via a turbo (and very noticeable turbo dump valve, hear the sounds on the video). It was really nice to drive something that actually had some power to accompany the handling for once. I found in the practice session that the Subaru does have a tendency to slight understeer. I tried a number of different tricks to deal with this on certain corners, really chucking the car about to unsettle the back end and bring that round, which did help a bit but for the most part it remained present.

Qualifying, and it was a challenge to find a clear bit of space on track as I was constantly catching up with slower cars. At one point, I was following a MX5 around a left-hander, trying to get past, when he lost it completely right in front of me. I stamped on the brakes, locked up a bit but managed to avoid him, all in a dramatic cloud of tyre-smoke. See the video here.

Once qualifying was over, I found myself on 6^th place on the grid with a time of 1:09.416. Bear in mind I was on road tyres, whereas everyone else was on slicks, which some reckoned would have given me an extra 1-2 seconds a lap, and that would have put me up to about 2^nd place.

Race 1

Launching the Imprezas is very different to the MR2, but I managed to get it right in the race and I got a great start. It was then a drag race down to the first corner, which I seemed to lose out on as the other cars in the top 6 had more power than me.

Pembrey has a very, very tight hairpin at the end of the main straight, and I think we were all praying we’d get out of it alive. Apparently there’s always a gentleman’s agreement that no-one will try anything stupid at the hairpin, and it worked, as we all came out of it unscathed. Exiting it, I was in 6^th, and the cars in front of me were slowly pulling away lap-by-lap, partly down to their power advantage and semi-slick tyres.

About halfway through, a Mk2 MR2 span it a little way ahead of me and rejoined just behind. I saw him in my mirror catching up slowly, lap after lap, until he was right on top of me. I tried to hold him off for as long as possible, but he eventually passed me on the power out of the hairpin. I managed to stay pretty much right on his bumper for a lap, working out that I was actually quicker than him on the corners, but my advantage didn’t outweigh his massive power advantage, and soon he was off into the distance.

In the end, I finished 4^th overall and 2nd in class, the two RX-7s ahead of me dropped out of the race before it finished. This race gave me a chance to further work the lines and get to grips with the handling traits of the car.

Race 2

Race 2 I got another good jump off the line, again passing the Integra, only for him to get in front of me again at the hairpin. However, he and the Mk2 MR2 were right on top of each other for a few laps, allowing me to slowly catch up with them in the hope I might be able to sneak ahead if either made a mistake. But before I could get there, I watched in disbelief as the Integra ran into the side of the MR2, not very hard I add, causing the MR2 to somehow fly up into the air and roll over before coming to rest in a cloud of its own smoke.  See the video here.

 I couldn’t quite believe I watched a car roll over, but what was more astonishing was the fact the marshals seemed oblivious to the seriousness of what had just happened and were waving yellow flags. It took them the best part of a lap to get the red flags out. Thankfully, Chris, the MR2 driver was uninjured, but his car was in a sorry state and it ended his weekend for him right there and then.

It took them about 15 minutes to get the mess cleared up, and the race was restarted, minus a certain MR2. It was a shortened race, about 10 minutes, in which time the cars in front of me pulled away again, leaving me out on my own on track.

Again, I ended up finishing 4^th overall and 2nd in class due to one of the RX-7s pulling out, and obviously the missing MR2.

Race 3

The third race, and again I got a very good start, this time actually managing to get in front of the Integra. However, he out-braked me slightly into the hairpin and managed to go around the outside, meaning he was back ahead. A couple of corners later, he tried to go up the inside of someone but ran wide, leaving the door open for me to slot past him. I was ahead of him for a lap or so, until he passed me along the main straight. I tried to tag onto the back of him, but he was faster on the corners, and slightly quicker on the straights too, so lap-by-lap he slowly pulled out a gap. As I was in a gap by myself for a while I experimented a bit more with the handling of the Subaru, and chucked it into the left hander after the hairpin which resulted in a satisfying 4 wheel drift, caught on the video!

About half way through the race rain started falling, light at first and then a bit heavier for a short while. I was expecting the track to become very greasy, but either due to a good surface or the Subaru 4WD characteristics it wasn’t too bad and I didn’t have to adjust my driving too much.

Once again, I finished in 4^th place, due to one of the RX7s failing to finish.

So 4^th, 4^th and 4^th, overall with 2nd in class, very pleasing results for my first time out in a car I’d never driven before on road tyres, and a track I’d only raced around on computer games. I really enjoyed driving a different car, and the Subaru was a very good car to drive. It was also extremely good experience, getting chucked into a foreign car and having only a short amount of time to acquaint myself with it before I had to race it.

Graham Poultney who raced in his own Subaru, not only provided me with tips and support on how best to drive the Subaru, but also had superb results himself all weekend, winning every race. Our thanks go to XSPEC Motorsport, who offered a great service both providing the car out and keeping it ticking over during the course of the weekend.  The car I drove is for hire and great fun to drive, contact Graham at XSPEC Motorsport for more details.

If you would like to leave some comments please use the link at the bottom of this page.

To see the rest of the pictures from this meeting, SEE HERE

For on-board videos from this meeting, SEE HERE.

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