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stace
11-03-2012, 10:35
...after a invite from Mel :D

I have never owned a Stratos but used to navigate for Dave Watson in his. By rights, that makes me the bravest man on here ;)

mel lewis
13-03-2012, 00:26
Well done, I sent a few invites out when we had access to the supersite mail box, So while everyone was downloading, I sent out invites to join us here. I'm glad to see you made it, and welcome on board.

If you know to others who are lost after the closure of the supersite, sent them this way.

Mel

PS How is Dave these days ?.

stace
16-03-2012, 09:01
I havent spoken with him since before Christmas to be honest. Has he made it on to here do you know?

ChrisCar6
16-03-2012, 09:39
Don't think so.

Bernard
16-03-2012, 19:12
Hope he does........... if you are watching Dave sign up........... hope you are ok

Cheers

phil

stace
29-03-2012, 08:36
I'll try and get hold of him later. I miss Dave. He's was proper quick in that car on his day.

rutthenut
22-04-2012, 21:54
Hi there Andrew - think your bravery comment must be right. Had some nasty shunts, but some great times I'd say.

I'm only rarely on this forum, considering how much time I used to spend on the old one.
Think that corresponds to how little I actually use the Strat, so not surprising.

Regards,
J.R.

stace
23-04-2012, 15:03
We had some proper laughs John. I miss it big time.

stace
25-04-2012, 13:07
Just a few pics of what I'm up to car wise. Nothing Stratos related I'm afraid as I'm too long in the body. Fine if I'm looking down at notes but not for driving...

This is my mk2 Escort which I share with my old man. He tends to do most of the work on it and buy the bits

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/DSC_0919_exposure.jpg

It's just set up as a track car and fast road. Pinto on 45's making about 150bhp. Plate diff, hi spec 4 pots and that sort of thing.

We're in the process of fitting an XE engine with the same 45's. Should make 175bhp and more torque too.

It's also having a quaife straight cut close ratio box on Friday. 2nd gear is currently too low for track so this should close things up nicely.

Just recently bought a 968 Sport too. This is basically a club sport (no sound proofing, sport seats, cs suspension and brakes) but with electric windows and some rear seats.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG0268.jpg

I'm loving it. It's just so usable. Proper fast as it's a healthy 240bhp and only 1300kg. It might get a run to Spa or the 'Ring at some point but I haven't bought it as a track car. We'll see...

My current daily driver is a Clio 172 which doubles as a spare track car now and again. It's sporting eibach springs, adjustable shocks and extra camber front and back. Also using federal 595rsr's and they make an excellent compromise tyre.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG0152.jpg

Lastly, this is my mate's 306 rallye which we are both racing in the track day trophy race series.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG0266.jpg

It's more tail happy that the Porsche...........

That's it from me. I'm not doing any co-driving nowadays but I'm keeping busy none the less

Bernard
25-04-2012, 13:28
HI Stace
Any news about Dave W
Cheers
Phil

rutthenut
25-04-2012, 13:43
Nice to see the cars you are playing with. Wondered what you were up to with the Escort.
And not co-driving at all? But busy on tarmac, in cars. Can't be bad.

stace
25-04-2012, 16:05
HI Stace
Any news about Dave W
Cheers
Phil

Hello

Spoke with Dave and he's really well. The weather is nicer in Cyprus than it is here apparently.....

Sounds like he's really enjoying life over in Cyprus. I'm going to try and get over there at some point soon for a proper catch up.

stace
25-04-2012, 16:07
Nice to see the cars you are playing with. Wondered what you were up to with the Escort.
And not co-driving at all? But busy on tarmac, in cars. Can't be bad.

No more co-driving for me fella. I'm not a great passenger if I'm honest. Plus I'd struggle to get any more "pass outs" than is already granted from swmbo lol

Bernard
26-04-2012, 08:16
Well done Stace.......... Glad he's ok and enjoying life............ remember me to him if you contact him again
Cheers
Phil

stace
26-04-2012, 18:23
Will do Bernard :)

rutthenut
27-04-2012, 10:16
Having spent a couple of years in the silly seat, I certainly know what it is like to be a co-driver and appreciate very well what it must be like having a big shunt. Have only had mild ones myself, albeit car-wrecking ones :-o

stace
27-04-2012, 16:50
Last I saw of Andy the passenger door had just been ripped off after Dave had a big shunt at Bovington
Brave indeed
And then he spun it off the track at high speed in Avon park and went down a bank
even braver co pilot!
I think that killed the car


I think the "what if" of the Bovington shunt scared me the most. If that control arm had snapped half a second after it would have been the concrete earth filled thingys we hit, and not the soft soil bank. We all learnt quite a bit that day. Oh, and my pants are still wet now from that bloody water splash ;)

stace
01-05-2012, 19:49
Found some nearly new recaro spg's for the Porsche today. Should have them tomorrow afternoon. Is it wrong to get excited about this sort of thing?

stace
15-05-2012, 15:09
Did my second ever race on the Silverstone National on Sunday. I did a brief report on Northloop Forum which I visit loads and thought I'd copy it over. I know you guys probably prefer the rally stuff to the roundy roundy of circuit stuff but it's bloody good fun.

Bit of background info. The 306 belongs to a mate of mine and race is a 45 min race with a minimum 1 min 50 sec driver change. 4 classes. B,C,D and E and is based on power to weight ratio. We are in the "up to 125bhp per ton" class D.

Anyways. Here it is



Very brief trip report


Set off on Saturday avo to Silverstone diverting via Mallory to pick up Slator's go pro from Mr Jebson. We had a good chat for half hour about the race and he gave me some stuff to think about how to approach the race. Thanks Andy :thumb:


Arrived at Silverstone


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG0423.jpg


Found Chris and we went and signed on. Chris wanted to see if we could get the car though scrutineering on the Saturday as we were first on in quali and it was going to be a bit rushed. Chris knew the chief scrute' and we got that out of the way nicely :thumb:


There was some racing on so we decided to visit the corners and look at turn in points and stuff. A quick look through the weekend's program while visiting Copse confirmed the organisers have good taste :wave:


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG0424.jpg


We went back and set up the pit area for Sunday and Chris showed me the pit board he'd bought :lol:




Simon rocked up and we made our way to the Premier Inn (via the petrol station, then back to Silverstone for my car keys which just happened to be in my bag the whole time) to meet Chris's mate Matt who was spannering for us on Sunday. Matt is a very experienced racer and was very useful to have around for the weekend with his wealth of knowledge. He was also a right laugh :thumb:


We got to the circuit for 7 ish and set about tyre pressures and final checks. I went out first in quali and set a 1.13.50. With it being a short lap it was very busy with 32 cars out and getting a clear run was proving difficult. Chris went out and suffered similar but still managed to shave .8 of a second off my time which gave us class D pole :thumb:


Both of us felt there was plenty of time to be found. Chris sent the gps data back to Nige who analised it and had it back to us in no time. We were fairly closely matched and it showed I was losing the bulk of my time at Copse. Apex speed was good but I wasn't early enough on the power on the exit losing me mph down to Becketts. Isn't tech just amazing :thumb:


By this time more help was arriving. Chris had organised for some of his Help for Heroes 4x4 Rally mates to come and cater for us. They were brilliant. Within minutes of arriving they had sausage sandwiches on the go which were simply epic :veryhappy:


Crossle, Faff and Floyd arrived and we decided to go and watch some racing from the grandstand at Brooklands. This was a right laugh. Some of the BMW racing was proper close but for a change for them it was quite well behaved with little contact. This may have given Crossle a false sense of optimism mind :lol:


It was then time for our race. This pic is from the holding area. By far for me the most nervous time. Worse than actually being on the grid waiting strangely :fish:


I won't go into massive detail about the race itself as the video will show what happened but in brief I got away very slowly and was swamped initially. I then got stuck in to passing the people who had come past. Straight away I felt a lot more comfortable being in close quarters with other cars than at Brands. This meant I could get cracking with the racing :racing:


There were loads of yellow flagged areas on my stint (nearly got caught out passing a Clio in the Class above into Brooklands but spotted the waved yellows just in time :whistle:) meaning I couldn't take massive amounts off my quali lap time. In hindsight I probably slowed too much for those areas and it made catching the white 106 Gti in our class who had come past me at the start quite tricky. As soon as the yellows cleared I was on him and we had a great ding dong battle.


When I handed over to Chris we were running second in class and I was slowly catching the MR2 in 1st. They then changed driver too and Chris set about chasing it down. As you can imagine, he sliced through the traffic with ease (and skids. Check out his out lap followed by a close call at Copse two laps after while passing back markers) and caught the MR2 in no time. He was just thinking about how he was going to send one round the outside of him with the arse wagging when the fella spun half way round Brooklands. We were now leading our class D :thumb:


After this the big lad settled in to a nice rhythm and brought it home for the win :veryhappy:


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/imagegenashx.jpg


Massive thanks again to Chris for sorting all this out for me :veryhappy: The red rocket is so lovely to drive and feels like you can place it pretty much anywhere. Despite the back of the car being quite "waggy", it always feels like its with you and makes for a great race car :thumb:


Another big thanks to Simon who was with us the whole weekend sorting the ipad timing/pit board for us with Matt and genrally keeping us entertained :thumb: (sorry again about the key thing)

stace
15-05-2012, 15:11
Here is the video from my stint. Nearly got caught out with waved yellows here and there and lost too much time at Copse slowing down too much when they were recovering a car. Steep learning curve and all that.
https://vimeo.com/42184594

The Slug
15-05-2012, 15:16
Hi Stace, love the report and only down the road from me. Dont forget we are always looking for reports etc for the newsletter, and as we have said before its the members not the cars that make up the club so happy to receive any article, not just ones with Strats in them....

Send articles to newsletter@stratosec.com

Thanks

stace
15-05-2012, 17:36
Thanks chap. Next round is Cadwell Park so that should be fun. I'll do something similar and send it you :)

I've actually lapped Cadwell quite a bit before (hadn't driven Silverstone at all before quali) so I should be more on the pace too :)

SUSIT
23-05-2012, 00:00
Found some nearly new recaro spg's for the Porsche today. Should have them tomorrow afternoon. Is it wrong to get excited about this sort of thing?

Hi there
not at all, I have run a 944S2 as my daily driver for 3 years and what a lovely car, have to say I am not so keen on the rear shape of the 968 and it weighs more than the 44 lol

Tell Dave Steve Struthers sends his best wishes

cheers

stace
24-05-2012, 13:19
The 968 certainly weighs more with me in it :)

It's such a lovely thing to drive. I've yet to properly set up the suspension how I want it but it might get a run out at Blyton next week and that will give me a chance to play around with the damper settings.

I'll tell Dave you said hello :)

stace
19-11-2012, 17:38
Did another race at Cadwell with my friend in the 306. Went well. We won our class again and it was pretty exciting towards the end. I had to make the car pretty wide in places....

Anyway. Chris is selling the 306 so I've bought this instead.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG1299.jpg

It's an ex-challenge series car. 215 bhp supercharged engine. AP brakes. S/Devices full cage. Carbon seats. Proper shizzle. It needs a small amount of work but we'll have it out racing in the same series next year. I'll post up some video from a test when we manage one
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG1141.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG1095.jpg

stace
19-11-2012, 17:39
In other news. My Dad moved to Chesterfield a few months ago. Turns out it's a couple of roads along from a Stratos owner by the name of Chris....

Small world ;)

strat24v
20-11-2012, 10:07
Its me and i'm John!! Had a chat with your Dad outside my place. Call in anytime, kettles always on...

stace
13-03-2013, 08:47
Cheers John. Will pop by :D

My first race of the season this weekend at Snetterton on Saturday. Looks like it could be wet...... Still, at least it will be nice and warm :confused:

I'm actually a bit pleased it could be wet as I've only ever driven Snetterton in the wet anyway. This was us at Snet a month ago checked the car over after a winter re-furb.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG1781_zpsd7e47213.jpg

I'll do a little race report next week if anyone is interested?

The Slug
13-03-2013, 09:20
We always welcome intresting news, enjoy the racing and remember to finish!!!!!

stace
18-03-2013, 07:07
I remembered to finish :-)

2nd in class and 4th overall. I'm getting passed on the straights quite easily so I need to sort that out really. Oulton in two http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG2013_zps986fc052.jpg

I'll do a little report and the vid later in the week http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/2013-03-17_22-07-01_zpsc49281f7.png

stace
19-03-2013, 14:49
Few more pics of the weekend. Still waiting for my mate to edit the vid

http://www.flickr.com/photos/poopysnaps/sets/72157633021767732/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poopysnaps/sets/72157633014884381/


Some good ones in here
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/pitstop_zpsed854f12.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/miniscrute_zps732201bb.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/NigeStaceandPye_zps533210b9.jpghttp://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/stacecloseupintheholdingarea_zps32b17424.jpg

rutthenut
19-03-2013, 15:54
Keep it up :D

stace
20-03-2013, 00:18
This is a short video just to test the layout of the camera. An edited version of the race with the boring bits out will be finished soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td6NvBXlBtI&feature=youtu.be

stace
22-03-2013, 09:43
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qThENtw1Pds full video

The Slug
22-03-2013, 10:19
Thanks Stace

stace
28-03-2013, 23:03
Racing at Oulton on Saturday. It'll be cold. Proper cold.

stace
25-04-2013, 22:38
Friend was in the area with his 2.7 RS rep (3.2 running gear) so I rolled out the 968 and we went for a blast in the Peak District. Was good.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG2219_zps38cfc512.jpg (http://s181.photobucket.com/user/staceyboy/media/IMAG2219_zps38cfc512.jpg.html)
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG2220_zps1626ed25.jpg (http://s181.photobucket.com/user/staceyboy/media/IMAG2220_zps1626ed25.jpg.html)

stace
15-09-2013, 22:59
Been doing the MSVR race series this year. TT and TDT. We got the chance to race on the Brands GP layout in July. It was mega. I did the first stint (white helmet) and my cousin the second one. We are in Class C hence the cars with a B driving away on the straights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-bQR98UzsE

stace
14-11-2013, 13:37
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/1384197640998_zps90ee8feb.jpg (http://s181.photobucket.com/user/staceyboy/media/1384197640998_zps90ee8feb.jpg.html)
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x245/staceyboy/IMAG3351_zpse03a8f77.jpg (http://s181.photobucket.com/user/staceyboy/media/IMAG3351_zpse03a8f77.jpg.html)After a tricky, mostly wet quali at Brands Indy I put it on the front row :) However, I was running nearly bald hard compound Kumho V700's that were struggling to clear water, and proper rained just before we had time to change the tyres. We still managed 9th out of 31 starters though. In testing the day before we were two seconds a lap quicker than our race pace when running the 048R's in the rain. Never mind. Live and learn. Roll on next year :)

Also for those that read PPC magazine, I was part of their Birkett 6h relay entry. What an amazing event that is. Would love to do it again next year

The Slug
14-11-2013, 16:02
Time to move up a gear now and a change of car maybe........start thet Stratos build over the winter?

stace
14-11-2013, 17:38
If I'd tried lapping that fast in those conditions in Stratos, I wouldn't be here to type this :lol:

rutthenut
16-11-2013, 23:20
If I'd tried lapping that fast in those conditions in Stratos, I wouldn't be here to type this :lol:

Yeah, sure you would. Though not with those tyres on, for sure!

Well done, thanks for the updates. :D

stace
12-12-2013, 11:27
For anyone short of laughs, the car and me are in this month's Practical Performance car magazine. It's just the intro bit before next month where the Birkett 6H is covered.

I was a bit conscious of my driving as how I raced would be written up in the mag for all to see. Thankfully I didn't disgrace myself. Huge relief :)

stace
14-04-2014, 09:40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6h1ehLOZpA

Bit of in-car footage from Snetterton the first round of the series this year. Due to a technical issue we had to start from the back. Managed to get to 2nd overall and 1st in class.

First 8 laps are worth a watch. I managed to mug a few round Coram (the second to last corner) and there is a bit of contact with a Clio that wasn't keen on being passed....

I end up doing a block pass and balking his exit from the last corner to get away. His car is in the next class up hence his better speed down the straight. Good fun anyway