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Classic Marques Speed Challenge Invite

Following our recent membership to the MSA, S2KUK have been approached by the Classic Marques Speed Challenge organiser to see if there is any interest from members to take up sprinting or hillclimbing with them.  It is an ideal introduction to competing and racing your S2000!

Classic Marques Speed Challenge is a series of 26 sprints and hillclimbs specifically for sports car drivers.  The championship was set up initially for classic British sports cars but these days such a high proportion of sports cars are made by International companies that this year Classic Marques opens its doors to cars made by Honda amongst many other international makes.  The Honda S2000 especially is a subtle and iconic sports car which performs well on the roads, but it has an inner strength and willing high revving engine which makes it perfect for motorsport too.

Below you will find a few questions and answers

Link to an introduction to sprinting and hill climbing (PDF document)

What does Classic Marques look like?

  

Please see the gallery page here: http://www.classic-marques-speed-challenge.com/#!untitled/component_9350

Why is the Classic Marques Speed Championship fair?

​Each car is given a handicap factor based on power, weight and tyres fixed until the car spec changes. The weight of the driver is also included in the handicap algorithm. The algorithm enables cars of different powers and weights to compete fairly against each other.

Who can enter Classic Marques Speed Challenge?

MSA Speed License (Min Nat B) carrying drivers of sports cars made by Alfa Romeo, Allard, Aston Martin (Pre 2000), Austin Healey, Ferrari, Gilbern,  Ginetta, Honda, Jaguar, Lotus, Marcos, Mazda, MG, Morgan, Porsche, Reliant, Renault, Sunbeam, Toyota, Triumph and TVR.

Which Clubs are invited?

Entrants must be members of one of the following MSA affiliated UK car clubs: AC Owners Club, Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Allard Owners Club, Aston Martin Owners Club, Austin Healey Club, BARC, Bentley Drivers Club, HSA, Jaguar Enthusiasts Club, SELOC, MG Car Club, Morgan Sports Car Club, Midland Auto Club, Reliant Sabre & Scimitar Owners Club, Renault Alpine Owners Club, Sunbeam Alpine and Tiger Owners Clubs, Stag Owners Club, Club Triumph, TR Register, Triumph Sports Six Club, TVRCC and UKS2000 Owners Club.

What does it cost to join?

It costs just £25 to enter Classic Marques Speed Challenge which enables access to 26 championship rounds are at the best sprint and hillclimb venues in the country (best 8 scores count towards championship score). The series regs have been published for 2014 and can be found here: www.classic-marques-speed-challenge.com

More Information - Series Organiser

Steve Cox, coxygoesvroom@blueyonder.co.uk – 07710 393601

The Club's First Racer! - Part 6 - Mallory Park

Mark reports from his penultimate race of the season at Mallory Park....

After an average run at Croft, and missing the last race at Snetterton I was looking to put in a good performance at Mallory on the 30th September. Mallory is a short and fast circuit with a huge high speed bend, so I wasn’t sure how the car would go there, especially as I had never driven there nor would I get the chance until qualifying. Something I said I’d never do after I tried this method at Pembrey! YouTube video training was all I could do, but at least it’s a short circuit.

I’d made some changes to the car by removing the headlights to reduce weight, fitted a fresher set of tyres and also the new Kaaz 1/5 way differential. Testing the car at Rockingham a couple of weeks prior went well and the car was feeling very good.

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The Club's First Racer! - Part 5 - Croft

On 21-22nd July Mark was in the 4th round at Croft.

Here is his latest update...

Overall I would say I was content with the weekend, but wanted to do better after the progress i'd been making and the result at Silverstone. It was clear in this race that the Super Tuner cars were so far ahead there was no chance of catching them, so I just had to look at the Production class competitors which i'm in. I took a lot of confidence in the lap time I put in during Race 1, I just didn't manage to put those times in consistently. Race 1 I could / should have snatched 3rd in class but the mistake cost me.

In terms of the car, it felt good although the tyres are well past their best having done 6 separate races, 3 qualifying sessions, 2 track days and a test day. Sacrificing the spare set of wheels so the girlfriend could have a lift up with us may not have helped the car perform  The Dixcel brakes were perfect again and I got the bias adjustment sorted nicely. What is clear is that it's still too far too heavy compared to the other cars and this doesn't help cornering speed. Some drastic plans are underway for this and a new limited slip diff! 

Onwards and upwards! 

Click below for the full article!

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The Club's First Racer! - Part 4 - Silverstone

The 10th June saw Mark's third round in the VTEC Challenge at Silverstone.  

Click below for the full article!

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The Club's First Racer! - Part 3 - Oulton Park

After Pembrey I decided some more tweaks to the car were needed before Oulton park on the 25th April, namely some more weight removal, a remap of the engine management and sorting the geometry out.
Andy at Veysport set to work on ripping a few heavy parts from the car, and I think we took about 20kg out which was good. Also fitted some stiffer front and rear anti roll bars, which were heavier than the original ones so probably lost 5kg there. Put some lighter mirrors on and took out the bonnet catch and a few other bits
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The car had also badly needed an ECU remap since I changed the exhaust on it to a smaller diameter / lighter one, and it was feeling very slow lower down in the rev range. My trusty mapper Romain from Eurospec came down to Veysport and mapped the car on Andy’s Dyno Dynamics Dyno. It was amazing how affected the car was from the exhaust, and Romain squeezed a lot more power from it.
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My geometry at Pembrey was bordering on ridiculous due to a seized rear camber bush, so Dixon at DMS supplied new polybushes which Veysport fitted. Then got the geo pulled back in where it should be.
So with all that done the car was ready to race again. I was pretty excited about doing Oulton as I’d not been before and I’d heard lots of good things about it. There were also 20 entries for the race which is a lot!
I got a test afternoon booked at Oulton the day before the race, which was essential as I hadn’t done Oulton before and it’s a very technical track. Testing went very well and I got to pushing the car harder, and saw the laptimes dropping well into the sort of times the guys were hitting in last years VTEC Challenge race. The track is amazing and so technical. Probably now in my top 3 tracks ever! I was sharing the track with some very fast race machinery, such as most of the Porsche Carrera Cup cars and race Ginettas. Scary since I was only watching the Porches race on tv the week before.
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On the morning of the race, the track was soaked and it was still raining - not good when you are the only rear wheel drive car in the series! I wasn’t too confident in setting a decent qualifying as the test day had been dry, and I’d never driven an S2000 on a wet track of any sort before! Predictably, I came last in qualifying but only by half a second which wasn’t bad given my total lack of wet driving experience. Surprisingly the car handled very well in the wet, with the exception of Druids corner which had zero grip - had a couple of four wheel drifts through there! 
It was great to see some other S2000 owner turn up and have a chat, some new faces and some old!
By the time we were due to race, the track was bone dry though, and I was a lot happier!
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Race 1 went ok and I got past a couple of cars to come 14 out of 17 (a few cars retired in the race) Starting from the back was again the killer!
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Race 2 was brilliant fun, and after another bad start I clawed my way past 4 cars, with some nice overtakes and my lap times were right up there with the top Production class guys, and still much more room to push the car. I finished 12 from 16, which isn’t great position wise but I was going well and I can take a few big positives away - the main one being I was catching up the main pack and starting to push the car even more. Another lap or two and I could possibly have gained another couple of places. My fastest lap was 8th out of the full field, and 2 of theose cars being in the Super Tuner class.
Really enjoyed that one!
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Mark has written his latest update following his last race at Oulton Park...

The next round is Silverstone on the 10th June!  

Please feel free to join us supporting him - details here

Oulton Park...  25th April 2012

After Pembrey I decided some more tweaks to the car were needed before Oulton park on the 25th April, namely some more weight removal, a remap of the engine management and sorting the geometry out.

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The Club's First Racer! - Part 2 - First Race!

Race Day…  31st March 2012

I woke up at 5am with Andy from Veysport at the door, and my car on the back of the trailer, ready for the journey to South Wales. Several fuel stops to fill the jerry cans were needed due to the fuel shortages! We got to Pembrey nice and early ready for the car to be scrutinised prior to qualifying. Getting Andy’s support was invaluable as he knows all the drills when it comes to racing - I’d have been lost otherwise even with the help of the other guys in the series. My family / girlfriend had also made the journey a couple of hours behind us and was great to have their support. My dad was an ex-bike racer and likes his motorsport!




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The Club's First Racer! - Part 1 - Getting Set Up

This is the first in a series of articles by Mark Bennett who has finally scratched an itch and taken up racing in the VTEC Challenge series.

We hope you enjoy reading and following his progress!

After doing around 20 odd trackdays I’d started to get the itch to do some racing. I’ve got a huge passion for the S2000 and given my car was already track prepared, I started to look at what series I could do in the S2000 if I raced it. I also looked at Caterham series, and Mazda MX5, Civics etc, but in the end I chose to stick with the S2000. The main factor for me was that I just love the way it drives on track, and as a fan of the Best Motoring series and seeing what the car can do in race trim, it seemed like an obvious choice.

The car on track prior to race modification…



The series I decided on is called VTEC challenge, a nice series designed for only Honda VTEC cars!  I contacted the organisers to get a feel for the series, and got a good feeling that it was a friendly series (as friendly as racing can get!) It looked like mine would be the only RWD car in the series…!

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NEW REAR QUARTER PANELS?

Discount now available on Ex-pressed Panels S2000 Rear Quarters, developed in conjunction with S2KUK!
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COX MOTOR PARTS DISCOUNT

Discount on genuine Honda Parts for S2KUK Members
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