Race Report: CMMCS at Lydden Hill

Lydden Hill marked the third round of the Classic & Modern Motorsport Club Southern Production Saloons season, and has typically not been the happiest hunting ground for car nor driver. On a scorching hot June weekend, this was always going to be a challenging event.

Qualifying

Despite a morning thunderstorm, the track would be bone dry for the start of qualifying, with substantial heat already building. As the session got underway, it would quickly become apparent that the setup of the car was not where it needed to be. Chronic understeer was seemingly the order of the day, with the lap times proving the scale of the problem, the best of a 49.949 the best part of 1.5s off the best times from the year before. Whilst some of this could be attributed to the heat, the car was not responding well. This would be enough to put the car at the top of class T1, but down in 7th on the grid amongst the other Production Saloons on what would be the first standalone Production Saloons grid in three years.

The session would end prematurely after a trip through the gravel trap at the exit of Paddock Bend, and some minor damage being caused to the rear bodywork of the Team HORNET Mégane. This would fortunately prove to not be too substantial, and the car would be ready for the first race with major setup adjustments applied.

Race One

Pretty much immediately, it was apparent that the setup changes had had a positive impact on the handling of the car. Whilst the larger and heavier Mégane has a tendency to be somewhat lethargic-feeling around the tight confines of Lydden Hill, the difference from qualifying to the first race was stark.

At the start, an opportunistic lunge from the #116 Class T2 Peugeot 106 GTI of Peter Wilks allowed Sarah Dennis to also challenge in her #23 Class T1 Renault Mégane. The two Renaults would run side-by side for much of the opening lap, with the #41 emerging ahead, before squeezing past the #116 at Paddock Bend a lap later. Whilst Wilks and Dennis battled hard behind, the #41 was able to start building a lead, and possibly try to catch Neal Gardiner ahead in his #188 Class T2 Honda Civic.

The gap would steadily start to close between the Renault and Honda that have battled so frequently, but just as the #188's lead dipped below 2s, the heat finally caught up to the #41. Heading into the Devil's Elbow, the brake pedal went straight to the floor. The remainder of the race simply became a matter of survival, as the overheated brakes were providing very little stopping power. Despite giving away over 5s per lap to the personal best of the race, the #41 machine had built a sufficient lead over those immediately behind to not lose a position, thanks to many other cars also having to manage heat-related issues of their own. The Team HORNET machine would limp across the line 1st in class T1, and 5th overall.

Race Two

Another big lunge at the first corner from the #116 of Wilks would see the #23 of Dennis slip past, and again the two Méganes would do battle before Dennis claimed the position as her own. The #116 would be dispatched in almost identical circumstances to the first race, and the chase was on to try to pass Neal Gardiner, whose #118 Honda Civic was losing power in the heat.

Gardiner's car may not have had full power, but it's handling remained unaffected. This set up a long three-way battle between the #118, the #41 and the #182 Class T2 Renault Clio of Oliver Owen, who would eventually work his way to the front of the pack. After finally seizing on an opening to attack the #188 into the Devil's Elbow, the remainder of the race would prove to be one of temperature management, with significant lift and coast phases to try to keep the brake temperatures as low as possible. It would prove to be a fairly lonely second half of the race to finish in 2nd place in class T1, and 6th overall.

Team HORNET will return on August 16th for the next round of the Classic and Modern Motorsport Club Southern Production Saloons at Brands Hatch