On 30th March we took the C1 to Snetterton for its first test in preparation for the upcoming CityCarCup championship. The aims of the day were really to get to grips with the car, especially in mixed conditions, and ironing out any reliability issues in preparation for the first race at Oulton Park on the 9th of April.
Initial feelings were excitement but also apprehension - there wasn't a long time before the first round, so any serious issues would compromise the ability to even make it to the first round. Something that came back to haunt us in the evening...
The day started cold but dry - with rain predicted to come around lunchtime, we made the most of the morning's grip from 9AM to 12PM with multiple short runs on some baseline tyre pressures. Whilst we didn't focus too much on optimising a setup throughout the day, we tried to get comfortable on a baseline that we could use throughout the season.
Initial progression was positive - we were getting up to speed rapidly as we became more comfortable with the handling characteristics of the car. Whilst managing some traffic, the consistent calm conditions were useful in quickly getting to grips with technique. After a couple of sketchy moments as we explored the limits of the car, especially through the higher speed corners, we retired the car for lunch.
It was handling great through medium to high speed corners, with the front-wheel drive, lightweight nature of the car rewarding extremely smoothing steering inputs with increased pace. We knew there was still a lot to find under braking and in the slower speed corners, but overall we were pleased about how the day had been so far. We had no reliability issues as the car ran session after session with ease. We hoped for the afternoon this trend would continue.
Throughout lunch saw some light spitting rain settle on the track. Whilst others started to pack up and leave, we were looking forward to doing some wet running. Our first couple of sessions were taken with caution - track grip levels were unknown and varied across different points of the circuit. However, as we regained confidence, we started to find that there was only a very small change in grip from the morning sessions. We continued our morning progression by getting more comfortable on the brakes, the car continuing to run reliably with no issues.
The rain did continue, and the track started to get greasy. Whilst not being fully wet, it was interesting to note the slight adjustments in driving style to excel in the mixed conditions, especially on optimising the efficiency of the front end of the car. A quick spin on the exit of the long right of coram corner issued a quick visit to the pits to check everything over before sending the car out yet again.
The wind picked up, and was quickly drying the track just as quickly as the water was laid down. Our final couple of runs were consolidating our findings throughout the day.
The car performed excellently and we couldn't have asked for a better day. We quickly got comfortable in the car and we were happy to experience a mixture of dry and damp running.
Whilst the reliability of the car was more than we could have asked for, the same couldn't be said about our trailer, which had a wheel carrier failure as we were leaving the circuit. It was incredibly disappointing, since we only picked up the trailer in the last few weeks. After spending around 5 hours in a McDonalds car park, we finally made it home, with the car on the back of a recovery vehicle.
Whilst not the end of the world in itself, the cost of vehicle recovery and trailer repair, alongside a few other preparation tasks, have eaten into the season's budget before it's even started, and will have to miss the first round on the 9th of April as a result. It's hugely gutting, after the car ran flawlessly throughout the test and us working extremely hard to get everything prepared in ample time, these unavoidable incidents have thrown a spanner in the works.
All we can do now is shift focus onto getting everything sorted for round two in May, and be as prepared as possible. There are many positives to take from the day itself, and the car looking competitive for its first race next month. We can't wait to get going!
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