I had a good day out last Sunday at the Leinster Trophy race meet in Mondello Park, a lot of work had gone ito the car in the previous weeks to get her ready, and I arrived at Mondello with no real expectations, the order of the day was to bring her home in one price, and I did that..... mostly.



I was nervous as hell before qualifying, the car was all new to me and is nothing like what it used to be, I struggled to bed in the new brakes and get heat into the tyres, having never driven on slicks before. I was having a bit of trouble with boost pressure which was a tad high 1.5bar , which ment I had to short shift to save blowing something.

Race 1
Again, a steep learning curve for me, John Flynn in the Altezza got the jump on me at the start, but with my boost issues now sorted i found I had more than enough power to pass him on the straight sections. Most of the race was spent getting to know the car. I was just starting to get more comfortable with it and was catching the black Corsa, when I had my brown trowsers moment. Just at the Apex, coming down towards Tarzan 1 at about 100mph, the front drivers tyre let go in a spectular manner, taking part of my bonnet and bumper with it, I managed to get her under control and stopped in the grass, from where I watched the rest of the race.

Race 2.
With the car patched together, and a set of lovely pink rims and road tyres on the rear, we were ready for race two. I was starting to feel more at home with the car even though I had zero grip from the rear tyres, whis caused me a few interesting moments, most notably, at turn one in front of the packed grandstand. I had a good dice with the red top engined corsa and the altezza but with the lack of rear end grip was finding it very difficult to carry any speed through the corners at all. I think I only got in one decent lap. I was running in 17th on the last lap when coming out of turn 4 i felt another tyre go, front drivers again. I slowed her right down, let the others pass and limped her home for a finish.

Overall I'm quite pleased, there is a lot left in the car and I was nowhere close to getting the best out of it, lots of practice needed.

I also need 4 new tyres and an new LSD...

Great to see another Coupe in proper competition - however, two tyres blown in one meeting - something needs to be investigated - is it rubbing?

Pretty sure its not rubbing, we are just putting it down to old, crap, slicks

Got any video or more spec on the car? What are the rules re car modifications?