The First Test!  Mallory Park

New for 2013 Team @shauntarlton with the help of Mini spares will be running this Turbocharged Mini Cooper s replica in with Mini7 racing clubs Invitation Class of the prestigious Mini Miglia championship.

So the big day, after spending the last few years building my mini from a sad rotten shell to this Race car with the hope of braking into the racing scene keeping and the mini alive in motorsport, the time has come to prepare for the Invitation class, Without Mini spares help at all hours of the day this would not have been achieved!

Team @shautarlton are just normal mini nuts pushing the limits of our hobbies into competing with the big boys! This was not only the first test for the mini but also for me after passing  my ARDS National B race licence late last year, the pressure was on! We drove the mini to Mallory bright and early on the 10th of April, luckily, against all odds it was dry and the sun was out, once we arrived it was time to sign on, get all information required for our morning’s session on track. 

After checking over the car and torqueing the wheel nuts it was time to suit up and get on track, nerve racking going through the scrutineering sound checks as its so much work to come this far and be sent home if your exhaust volume is above limit! But passed with no problems, waiting at the end of the pit lane with the lights on red engine at operating temp, really feeling real now!  Green light, great feeling as I accelerate onto track adding heat to the tyres and brakes then starting learning braking points and apex’s while negotiating the other cars! The mini felt great, really pulling out of the hairpin through Devils elbow, she felt fast but we have our work cut out to keep up with the Miglias, testing went well throughout the morning although we went on to have fuelling issues coming out of Gerrards that we hopefully have found solutions for, really pushing to get the car ready for another test to prove reliability before our big race at “The mini Festival” Brands Hatch in June. Big thanks to Simon at minispares for making this happen.

 

 

Importation rules regarding vehicles are very specific: Only those over 25 years in age may be brought in to the USA without compilance to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).