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17. May. 2011
The Main Event Is Coming For Tvr Power Pro Stock Bike! }

The pace has been flat out since the Easter Thunderball, as we get ready for the UEM Main Event at Santa Pod at the end of this month. It seems the faster you go, the more attention to detail is spent between rounds and it just sucks the time up.

As mentioned in previous blogs, we bent an inlet valve in taking the win at the Thunderball and as a result the motor came down to the last nut and bolt. We had planned to do this anyway – we had some new ideas in there already, and also we learnt some things during the meeting, so we wanted to use Easter as a test, then get some more development work done.

Straight after the meeting, the motor was down and with some help from crew member Richard Cawthorn and good old FedEx, the components were in the US the same week. The top end has been in Professor Paul Gast’s workshop, not only to replace the valve, but for some subtle but important modifications to be carried out. Paul’s guys worked all last weekend to get this done and it was fully rebuilt and ready to drop on by early last week. To show what commitment the FBG team has, Paul Gast himself even jumped in the car and drove the head to FedEx in order it could get back to us a day early. As well as the head, some trick clutch parts also made their way over from the FBG Grand Island workshop.

Down in Florida, Eric’s top-notch team were all over the block and pistons, installing some new liners and pistons with some trick new coatings. An uprated Falicon crank was also sourced as well. Mike Berry let us have some upgraded parts for the vacuum pump, plus some new ceramic bearing parts courtesy of Dave Conforti’s Worldwide Bearings have made their way into the mix. Don Plesser of PR Factory Store is working with us closely on some ignition modifications. We have even gone to the lengths of spending a lot of time discussing oil and lubrication with Steve Clark at Nimbus Motorsport.

While in themselves, these are all tiny improvements, I’m hoping that together they can give us that all-important edge. As I have said many times, the rest of the guys haven’t been sitting around all winter, as evidenced by PBs from Martin Bishop, Kalle Lyren and Jesper Thiel in the Hungary round.  Here we are with four top-flight players having run a personal best at their first meeting of 2011. This isn’t going to be a season where anyone can sleep.

So this weekend has been all about painstakingly putting the number one motor back together. And it doesn’t finish there. The backup motor was also treated to some new parts, so once the record setting motor is back together, then another needs stripping and rebuilding.

None of this has come for free and I have to thank Dom Trickett of team lead sponsor TVR Power and Stephen Moon for stepping up in a big way with financial support. Thanks very much guys, we wouldn’t be racing this year without your backing. As well as this support MTC Engineering, Fast by Gast, PR Factory Store, Worldwide Bearings, Nimbus Motorsport and VP Fuels have all stepped forward with expertise and parts, or in some cases both. I’m very fortunate to have the backing of these top quality people.

I spent hours and hours looking at the data from the Easter meeting and I really think we have a fast motorcycle here. As always, Paul Gast was happy to step forward and look at the data in some depth as well. His view was that other than a very small possible change to a clutch setting, the bike was as close to spot on as it could be and he felt it would have run well into the sixes if fielded at the Gainesville NHRA opener. It’s great that Paul takes the time to look at the data, and it gives me a lot of satisfaction when one of the world’s best tuners tells me I have the tune up in there.

Only two weeks to go now! The plan is to give the motor a gentle half pass at the Peak Performance Day on the Thursday, then spend Friday taking the motor down and checking it all out, prior to the first qualifier on Saturday. And when we line up on Saturday, I am giving it everything, we are showing up fully loaded for the win.  It would be nice to challenge our new European best of 7.06 as well, but for now, let’s focus on the win.

16. May. 2011

Round 2 - Oulton Park - 14th May 2011



RACE 1:
Alex Martin, making his first 2011 season appearance in the GT Cup Championship, looked to have the day’s first race wrapped up within a couple of laps, but then it all went wrong in the final minute and Danny Winstanley found himself taking a win in the #78 TVR Sagaris.
 
Pole-man David Tomlin made an excellent start, and held the lead on the opening lap, but Alex Martin soon had the measure of the heavier Ferrari and pulled alongside as the two began lap two, taking the lead into Old Hall. With an open track ahead of him Martin soon pulled out a considerable lead. 
 
Behind him a thrilling battle developed between Tomlin, Tarrant-Willis and championship leader Ruhan. These three diced nose-to-tail for the next 15 laps, with little between them but a few layers of paint – and occasionally, even less than that. Tomlin defended his line with remarkable cunning, while Tarrant-Willis needed one eye permanently on his mirrors just to keep tabs on Ruhan. The Porsche driver tried every opening, but a full 60 kilos of success ballast denied him the grunt he needed to punch a way through.
 
Otherwise preoccupied, nobody quite grasped that the real threat was looming large in the shape of Danny Winstanley in the Sagaris. From 6th, the youngster was challenging for fourth by the beginning of lap 5, passing Ruhan down the pit straight, and instantly latching on to Tarrant-Willis. The TVR was through to third at Cascades later on the same lap, and then caught Tomlin out of Lodge. Winstanley powered over the crest and onto the straight to snatch second across the line. 
 
He then began shaving seconds off Martin’s advantage with every lap, and with the leader running two seconds shy of his earlier pace, the margin shrunk to less than nine seconds. Even so, there seemed little hope for a change before the flag, so it was some surprise when Alex Martin failed to turn up for the chequered flag, and Winstanley swept across the line to record his first win of the season. 
 
No change for second, third or fourth, with the same trio taking the flag in the order they’d started lap two: Tomlin from Tarrant-Willis and Ruhan. Martin, meanwhile, was embedded in the gravel at Island. “I just couldn’t hold the line. I drifted out onto the marbles and next moment I had a wheel onto the grass, and that was it,” he said later.
 
The race in Group 2 held similar parallels. Tom Andrew in the #7 Morgan Aero had established a double-figure lead by lap six and looked comfortable for the win, but in the final stages a fuel pressure issue set in, allowing Colin Broster, in a smoky Porsche 996, to close. He took the group lead on the penultimate lap and then won by nearly three seconds. Colin Simpson took third in the rumbling #16 Marcos Mantis.
 
Andy Yool had started the race from the back row in the Group 3 Chevron GR8, but with the set-up issues that had curtailed his qualifying run fully sorted, he was able to steer the svelte coupé through the tail-end and take the win from tenth overall, although his margin over Barclay Dougall (BMW E46) was a mere eight-tenths at the flag. Adam Hayes finished third.
 
RESULTS:
 
Group 1

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Laps
1 #78 Danny Winstanley TVR Sagaris 15 laps (26:17.749)
2 #66 David Tomlin Ferrari 430 +20.551
3 #28 Toby Tarrant-Willis Ferrari 430 GTC +20.750

 
Group 2

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Laps
1 #15 Colin Broster Porsche 996 GT3 15 laps (27:18.992)
2 #7 Tom Andrew Morgan Aero 8 GT +14.476
3 #16 Colin Simpson Marcos Mantis +17.141

 
Group 3

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Laps
1 #53 Andy Yool Chevron GR8 15 laps (27:36.133)
2 #37 Barclay Dougall BMW E46 +0.884
3 #9 Adam Hayes BMW E46 M3 +24.080

 


RACE 2:
If the day’s first race had been a thriller, then Race Two offered even more entertainment, and a very different outcome.
 
With pole-setter Alex Martin scrubbed from the entry after his earlier accident, the front row was shared by David Tomlin and Andy Ruhan for the afternoon race, but it was Ruhan this time who got the flying start. He was into Old Hall and clear of Tomlin even before the pack reached Cascades. Toby Tarrant-Willis held third from Benjamin Harvey, heading Group 2 after a stunning run in wet qualifying.
 
Those opening seconds might have held the script for the rest of the race if an unfortunate Colin Simpson hadn’t run wide through the first corner, and gone grass-tracking. He regained the tarmac, but next time around went off again into Cascades, perhaps with a front wishbone failure, and thumped heavily into the Armco. The Mantis bounced back across the track, and the Safety Car was instantly deployed.
 
A couple of laps behind the Safety Car bunched the field up nicely, but on the restart Ruhan and Tomlin were swiftly back into their stride, easing out a comfortable cushion over Tarrant-Willis and Harvey. As before, the one to watch was the mercurial Danny Winstanley, starting from 10th but running 4th by lap seven, and closing fast on the leaders.
 
Another moving quickly through the ranks was Mike Saunders in the TVR Cerbera, through to 6th by lap 8 from 11th and gunning for Don Grice in the BMW M3. The yellow TVR looked strong, despite running on tyres that were two races old already. Saunders took 5th out of Cascades on lap 9, and then eased into fourth two laps later.
 
With Ruhan leading by more than 3 seconds, the pressure was mounting on David Tomlin in second. Winstanley and the vivid green TVR were closing fast, and the two started lap 12 almost nose-to-tail. The TVR was up the inside into Old Hall, and then side by side on the exit. Accounts differ, but the result was the same. Side on contact saw Tomlin loosing out and spinning off across the grass, and then spearing backwards across the track and relatively unscathed into the gravel at Cascades, narrowly missing the tail of Winstanley’s Sagaris.
 
This briefly elevated Saunders to third, but his tyres were well past their best, and next time through Druids the rubber finally let go and the Cerbera was backwards into the gravel. “I out-drove it really,” he shrugged,. “All my own fault”.
 
No such dramas for the leaders, with Andy Ruhan, blissfully devoid of success ballast this time around, delighted to take a third win in four races. Still pumping adrenalin from his earlier success, Danny Winstanley took an emphatic second, with Toby Tarrant-Willis a second consecutive third of the day.
 
Once again, Group 2 provided close racing throughout, with Tom Andrew’s Morgan closing to within 2 seconds of Harvey in the KTM Xbow by the flag, no recurrence of the earlier fuel problems. A somewhat distant third was Francis Galashan’s Porsche after Colin Broster’s a close-running but smoky 996 gave up on the last lap.
 
A switch of fortunes in Group 3, with Andy Yool missing Race 2 with a holed radiator and honours falling to Mark Radcliffe in the #19 BMW M3, well clear of Barclay Dougal second and Adam Hayes third.
 
RESULTS:
 
Group 1

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Laps
1 #6 Andy Ruhan Porsche 997 GT3 13 laps (26:26.739)
2 #78 Danny Winstanley TVR Sagaris +1.467
3 #28 Toby Tarrant-Willis Ferrari 430 GTC +13.284

 
Group 2

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Laps
1 #45 Benjamin Harvey KTM X-Bow GT4 13 laps (26:42.515)
2 #7 Tom Andrew Morgan Aero 8 GT +1.172
3 #57 Francis Galashan Porsche 996 GT3 +41.290 

Group 3

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Laps
1 #19 Mark Radcliffe BMW M3 13 laps (27:12.690)
2 #37 Barclay Dougall BMW E46 +12.083
3 #9 Adam Hayes BMW E46 M3 +27.919

 
The full race report and more pictures will be posted to the official Championship website in the ‘2011 Season Info’ section later in the week.  
Look out the GT Cup Championship half hour program on Motors TV at 7.25pm on Friday 27th May with repeats in the following days and on the website.

TVR Pover 4.5 speed six/ Elite sequential gear box from craig winstanley on Vimeo.



www.gtcup.co.uk
 
Next round - Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit - June 4th/5th.
 
For a race entry contact: Hannah Wilson Championship Coordinator – email: Hannah@butemotorsport.co.uk
 
Photographs courtesy of Roy Ng – For copies please email royng08@googlemail.com
Race report written by: Marcus Potts

27. Mar. 2011
  • TVR to Porsche to TVR. TVRs young gun returns to the fold

    Many will remember Danny Winstanley as the big news of 2009. He and his father (Craig Winstanley - CW) bought the FIA Tuscan GT from Sweden and after returning it to its former glory (and painting it Kwacker green!) campaigned it very successfully throughout the DTEC (Dunlop TVR European Challenge) season taking a maiden win and narrowly missing out on the Championship and A Titles after being robbed on the start line at the final race when his new diff let go.

    In 2010 he moved to the GT Cup series (joining Mike Saunders and John Wilson in their Cerbera GTs) up against £100k Porsches and Ferraris. Again Danny was right up at the front. On the podium many times and consistently fighting for the lead, he found his Tuscan GT was handicapped, having to run at 100% all the time (to match the Porker power for the 40min races) and as he was unable to run a sequential box (which all the others have) the occasional missed gear and no flat shift were losing him precious time. Half way through the year the cars (The Tuscan GT and a new “bitsa” Tuscan in build for DTEC) were put up on the market.

    They weren’t there as long as they expected and when a very good offer came in on a package deal from Oz, the decision was taken to sell both the cars and run a Porker that Craig had in his track car stable. Danny moved to the dark side in the latter part of the 2010 season but it was soon evident that the car wasn’t up to it and so they keenly looked around.

    Deciding that a competitive Porsche was CW “…stupid money”, and with Danny missing his Tuscan, they looked at TVR again. Not wanting to repeat the disadvantages of the Tussie GT they spoke to the GT Cup Team and got a verbal OK for a sequential in a late production TVR of equivalent age to the 996s, 997s, and 430s racing at the time. The only cars possible (in age) would be a Sagaris or T350 so they set about finding a car.

    With no light accident damaged cars around and knowing the amount of time required they bought a serviceable (in fact mint) 2006 car and took it to Dom at TVR Power. Discussions had been had on a suitable power plant for the race car and Dom has been keen to get his 4.5L super sport SP6 in a car too, so it was a natural partnership.

    The car has now been for its first shakedown at Oulton Park and my spies tell me it went well. It ran all day without issue and was quicker than expected whilst being held under 4000 rpm and only on an old set of Dunlop semi slicks. Craig did much of the driving with Danny following (they had their Porker there too) and both Craig and Danny were “noticeably excited” by the days run.

    “Balance and feel is fantastic” Craig told me. With the new Elite box in there and only a basic set up put on after some of the modifications – Cage/Fire/Fuel cell – the set up was an educated guess. The car also benefits from air jacks and the brakes from a Porker Le Mans racer. 
    “At 360mm, the rear discs are bigger than the fronts were in the Tuscan” Craig told me. “It stops in a heartbeat, much faster than the Tuscan and feel is great,” he said. “We were lucky with a 50/50 weight split it seems and Danny can’t wait to test properly when the engine is OK’d. The low down torque we asked for has been delivered beautifully,” The car has now returned to Dom at Power for a fettle and tweak. “We had no issues all day” reported Craig “It just an oil change and re-torque and it’ll be back out”.

    The engine -Dom’s 4.5SS - has actually had to lose power to stay in the power to weight regulations. CW “…with so much power on offer, we’ve been able to pull back the revs to gain reliability and keep fuel consumption down. It also means we don’t have to skin the car down to the bone. We think it’s going to win us races…it’s a win/win.”

    Well that we’d love to see.
    Danny’s also been testing with the Glynnsport GTF. With Sam moving to the Topcats Marcos GT for 2011, Steve is looking for suitable co-pilots for the Britcar season. Ofcourse the now very experienced Danny fits the bill nicely. He loved the car with its epic grunt. and will, I’m sure, make more than one appearance in the purple GTF in the coming year.

    It’s looking good for Team Winstanley in 2011.

21. Jan. 2011
Rover V8 & Ajp V8 100,000 Mile Warranty! }

TVR Power has just announced an optional 100,000 mile warranty package for all their Rover V8 and AJP V8 rebuilds. And not only does this 100,000 mile warranty apply to all standard rebuilds, but to their awesome AJP V8 4.7 conversion too.

This Rover V8 and AJP V8 warranty comes on the back of Power’s recently launched and highly successful 100,000 Speed 6 warranty package and demonstrates their confidence not only in the product, but also in their engineering, rebuild and upgrade capabilities.

Dom explains, “The uptake of our 100,000 mile Speed 6 warranty option has been exceptional and Speed 6 engine rebuilds and upgrades are an important part of our business. However we have had a number of serious enquiries from both Rover V8 and AJP V8 owners who are looking for rebuilds and upgrades, and would also like to enjoy the same 100,000 mile warranty package. So we have rolled this out to offer Rover V8, AJP V8 and Speed 6 pilots the same peace of mind. And we think it’s a terrific deal.

Power already offered the choice of either 3 or 5 year unlimited mileage warranties on all their engine rebuilds and upgrades, but they are now offering their superb 100,000 mile warranty option on Rover V8, AJP V8 and Speed 6 units too. So whatever TVR engine you own, TVR Power should have you covered.

“Our 3 and 5 year warranty options are incredibly popular and you can have your car serviced at any TVR Power approved service centre,” continues Dom “the 100,000 mile warranty is a little more involved, so we ask that our 100,000 mile warranty customers bring their cars back to TVR Power to allow us to service them personally. And if the V8 warranties prove as popular as our Speed 6 warranty, we’re going to be kept very busy.”

For more information on all TVR Power rebuild, upgrade and warranty packages call Dom at TVR Power on 0247 636 6177 or email him on dom@tvrpower.com

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