Thursday 19th May 2005

Saabscene TD05 - Goodwood

Goodwood 19th May 2005

With the Carlsson all loaded up on the car trailer and attached to the back of Gareth's 9000 and a full complement of tools and spares loaded into the Boot of Chris's Aero, we set off in the morning sunshine to Goodwood race circuit, about 70 miles away in West Sussex. We had to be there by 8:30 to sign on and attend the mandatory driver's briefing. But we arrived about a hour early. This gave plenty of time to get the car unloaded and bag ourselves some covered garages for us and the other two cars Saabflight were bringing to the day.

As we met the other Saab enthusiasts arriving for the day, the weather turned and the rain began to fall. Glad of the covered garages and pit lane, we headed into the trackside buildings for the light-hearted track briefing before setting out onto the now wet track for three parade laps behind one of the marshals to familiarise everyone with the circuit. This was the first time we had driven the car since its preparation, so with some trepidation, Matt and Chris took off out of the pit lane, and were very impressed with the way the car felt, and the very fact that we managed three albeit slow laps without incident.

With parade laps out of the way we took our place in the pit lane – we were out in the first session with ten other novices – we had agreed that in the first session, Matt would drive and Chris would passenger. We were towards the back of the group, so watched as each of the other Saabs left the pit lane at 20 second intervals. Soon we were at the front of the pit lane, and directed onto the track where we could at last open the car up. The acceleration and noise out of the pits and down the first straight was fantastic – much more extreme than any of our road cars. After a few corners we were behind traffic, which we were easily able to out accelerate up the straight. After a few laps to get to grip with the feel of the car, and to allow the tyres and engine to warm up Matt got more brave attacking corners and allowing the car to boost through to the redline. I be came reassuringly clear that the car was very fast, not only due to its acceleration, but due to the way it could carry speed round the corners. The combination of weight loss, suspension and the tyres was really paying off.

Next came a very quick pit stop for a seat move, and then Chris was back out on the track with Gareth as a passenger. The pit stop had taken longer than expected, and the organisers didn't seem to know where we should be, but eventually we joined the session we were supposed to be in half way through. Immediately there was a problem with a lack of power on boost - the car sounded like it was running on three cylinders and we presumed the DI cartridge had got hot during the first session and had now failed. At the end of this short second session we drew into the paddock to move the seat for Gareth and to swap the DI cartridge for a spare we had brought along.

The pit stop was quicker than the last, and Gareth was out waiting in the pit lane with the rest of his group. Sadly, the different (unproven) DI cartridge had not solved the misfire, and Gareth also had an unsatisfactory session after which, the car was pulled up by the marshals for a noise breach. We tried to explain that we had had a problem with a mis-fire and were surprised that we had not recieved a warning, but the head marshal was disinterested, and frankly rude about the situation telling us that we would be going home if we caused another noise breach. His view seemed to be that we were lucky to be able to pay to use the race circuit at all - this left us all rather gloomy and unhelpfully with half the normal time to make the alterations we needed to.

Unwilling to risk an early bath for the car, the next pit stop was quite busy. Matt got under the car to change the rear tail pipe to a standard rear silencer section, whilst Gareth altered the seat and Chris removed the DI cartridge from his own car as it was nearly new. Matt was soon back out on track with a very quiet car, but fortunately performing well and we were back enjoying the performance and handling we had seen in the first session.

An afternoon of faster and faster sessions followed. The only near miss was Gareth who managed to spin the car 360 degrees at the end of one session, but fortunately only pride was damaged.

By 5:00, the last session finished and we got the car loaded up on the trailer. We had had a fantastic first outing, and managed not to embarrass ourselves. It was fantastic to meet a surprising amount of people who were interested in the project, and who had seemingly been following its progress on this website (someone is out there reading it then!)

All that followed was a pleasant barbeque put on by the motor circuit, and a drive back to the Saabflight workshop where we left the car and discussed the day's events and future needs for the car with David Greenwood. A work plan was forming once again!