Tiger Tales

I’ve recently had the car out again at Brands Hatch. Two track days in fact. The first was on the legendary Grand Prix circuit, and then earlier this week on the Indy circuit. Getting another chance to drive the GP track was brilliant as it has to be one of the best anywhere in the world. It’s the place of legends, and it’s easy to see why – Paddock Hill bend, the hairpin at Druids, and the turn out into the country at Surtees. I particularly love the series of corners from Dingle Dell through Sheene, Sterlings and back down to Clearways where you need to get the line just right in order to maintain speed for the main straight.

It’s also fair to say that the GP circuit always attracts a fair amount of exotica, and this time was no exception. The usual Lambos, Ferraris and Porsches were in evidence, together with a couple of Russian Touring cars, with full supporting crew. And although the Tiger is built for acceleration and cornering, not really straight line speed, it held its own very well and was by no means the slowest out there.

This week, I took some people from work to an evening session organised by Focused Events for a taste of track day fun. It was sold as a sessioned event, but there were insufficient cars booked and so it became an open pit lane – meaning cars could go in and out as often as they liked for the two and a half hour session. This time, there was not much exotica around, being replaced by a lot of novice drivers and a surprising number of road going saloons. The large number of first timers in relatively slow cars made for some interesting and at times, frustrating laps. However, the track soon started to clear and we had a much better run at things.

Unfortunately mechanical troubles cut out evening short by about 45 minutes though. The trigger wheel – which indicates the position of the crank and pistons to the Megajolt electronic ignition – decided it had had enough of Brands and made a break for freedom. As we speak, it lies forlorn somewhere on the grass by the side of the track on the way down from Druids. Of course, without it, the car won’t run and so we had to be recovered by the excellent marshals at the track.

I’m very grateful to Dave for the tow home after we’d finished, although I suspect Dave doesn’t tow regularly as at times we were doing 60mph!!

This is the second time the trigger wheel has come loose – it is welded to the crank pulley – and the welds were pretty good. However, I suspect the absence of any damping and the sheer forces involved – track days are a harsh environment, even for a race prepared engine – have worked it loose over ht past few weeks. Fortunately, no other damage was done as the wheel, which is (was!) thick steel the size of a side plate, broke away. A quick call to 7-Indulgence, who carried out the installation, and we’re already thinking of fitting a new one in a different way. This time, I think we’ll need to replace the cast crank pulley with an aluminium one which can be drilled so the trigger wheel can be bolted in place. Until then, Tiger is off the road.