RACE REPORT: Roadsports Redemption at Donington Park!

Originally posted 12/10/2024 on www.patreon.com/dannydc2

Today I raced the Civic at Donington Park in the 750mc Roadsports series. If you don’t remember, these are 45 minute races with a mandatory pit stop.

I was still working on the Civic late last night, got to bed about 1am to rise again at 6am for the drive to Donington. Luckily it’s a short enough drive, but it wasn’t without its problems.

I had my first road traffic collision joining the A1 motorway. I was behind a 7.5t truck who was dithering a bit, so when he went in the right lane to merge I stayed left to go around him. Mistake.

I heard a bit of a clatter from the back and looked in my mirror to see the wagon flashing me. Has something fallen off or was he just pissed off at me?

I pulled over at the side of the motorway to find that I had a bent trailer wheel sporting a flat tyre. I’m still not sure how this happened, but it did. The truck had a grazed kick plate and the hub cap wasn’t looking great. Who hit who? Couldn’t say. But I wasn’t in the mood for hanging about or getting angry about it. Swapped details, changed the wheel, and got back on the road.

By the time I arrived at Donington there was about an hour to go before qualifying. I got the car prepped and got ready. I was one of the last cars into the assembly area and by the time I arrived they were already heading out to circuit. I wasn’t ready.

After doing my belts and turning the cameras on, the marshals instructed me to join the circuit via the pit lane, and closed the entry to the track I was parked at. Great.

It had been drizzling all morning so I knew what to expect from the track. I’d gone quite high on the tyre pressures as it was clear the water wasn’t going anywhere quick.

The car felt… slow. Almost strangled. Oh dear.

When trying to rev the engine to red line it was that awful feeling of something not quite wanting to.

As the car has a new fuel set up that was the obvious reason. Right? For whatever reason, the engine mustn’t be getting the fuel it needs, and that’s why it’s slow.

This is when I noticed the temp gauge was still registering, well basically nothing. It was all the way down past the C (cold!) marker.

Great news. Because i-vtec on the K series won’t work if the engine is too cold. But could my engine really still be cold?

At this point I remembered the assembly area shenanigans, and coupled with a pretty chilly day, and a large radiator, it could just be that.

I held the car in gear for a few corners, keeping the revs up until I saw some action on the gauge. Eventually, it started moving and the power returned. Hell yeah

The engine is allowed to breathe freely in Roadsports. Peak power is about 15hp more but the engine feels totally different. In Hot Hatch spec the power is very flat, today it felt like a Honda. Though I did lower the rev limit to 7600 as a safety measure. I wish I hadn’t. That’s another story.

We had a safety car in qualifying and with 50 or so cars out there getting a gap was proving tough. The good news was that the brakes felt good, although I was getting a whiff of fuel. After the safety car went in I concentrated on trying to get a quick lap in. Conditions were tricky, and the steering on the car was a bit wacky given the wheel spacers I had to fit to clear the brakes (28mm!!!!), but overall I was going well.

When the chequered flag fell I had one semi decent lap in. Definitely could have been better, but fortunately it didn’t need to be. I was P1, by 0.08s. Top 5 cars split by less than a second, and I was at the front!!!

Obviously I was chuffed and surprised by this. But what about that fuel smell? Yes, there were leaks. To be expected I guess, luckily it was nothing major although I did have to ask Josh to help me after making a new line too short not 1, not 2, but 3 times in a row…

It stopped raining around lunch time, my race was scheduled to start at 13:50. There was still a bit of drizzle in the air and the track was still damp. I decided to gamble on a dry set up. I thought the track would dry up and I’d rather drive a dry setup in the wet than a wet setup in the dry.

I won’t speak too much about the race itself as I hope the videos will tell the story better. The first half I was battling with an EP3 for the lead, the second half was pretty chill. The track was improving with every lap but never fully dried out unfortunately.

After finishing the race I found out I’d been handed a 60s time penalty for a pit stop infringement, but due to finishing on the lead lap or something, I still won the class. I can’t explain this. Apparently they tried to explain it on the commentary? I’ll have to watch it back.

I wasn’t >60s ahead, but because of reasons, I still won.

I’m fairly certain the pit stop penalty was bullshit too but hey ho. I’d be more disappointed if it cost me the win. Seems karma was looking out for me!

So yes, the car worked. Redemption was earned. The video will be great.

Thanks for the support as always. The Civic will be taking a well needed rest now!!

Dan