View Full Version : BPM Racing 2011
Hey guys the season start is upon us already and after a little misshap a couple of months ago we were never sure we'd make the end of the season, let alone the start of it.
So Bpm are back with a new premises and a new car which will be revealed to you all some point after thursday.
Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the Britcar Dunlop Production GTN Championship (http://britcar24hr.co.uk/cms/news.php) and although it is only a media day and shakedown, to say we are all a little excited is a massive understatement.
Heres a couple of links with some history for those of you that dont know us and for those of you that do we'll be glad to have you on board and rooting for us this season.
History (http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=471483&highlight=bpm)
Not so good history (http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=484141&highlight=bpm) - pics on page 4
So once again, Skidsolo, Lostvo1ce and myself and the rest of the guys at Bpm look forward to seeing u at some of the events this season and we'll keep the thread updated throughout the year with pics, information and updates as and when we have them.
Date/s Circuit Length
22-23rd Feb 2011 ** Thruxton Test
10th March 2011 ** Silverstone National Test Day (Mandatory)
25-26th March 2011 ** Silverstone GP 120 Minutes
15-16th April 2011 ** Rockingham 120 Minutes
6-8th May 2011 ** Donington Park 120 Minutes
11-12th June 2011 Thruxton 120 Minutes
24-26th June 2011 ** Spa Francorchamps 120 Minutes
23-24th July 2011 Castle Combe 120 Minutes
12-14th August 2011 ** Snetterton 120 Minutes
29th Sep-1st Oct 2011 ** Silverstone 24 HR 1440 Minutes
5-6th Nov 2011 ** Donington Park 120 Minutes (Night)
18-19th Nov 2011 ** Brands Hatch Indy 90 Minutes (Night)
zeppelin101
06-03-2011, 17:43
Good luck this year lads!
cheers mate much appreciated
zeppelin101
06-03-2011, 17:57
I'll keep an eye on the calendar and see if I can get down to one of the events when I find a source of income :nod:
That would be really good mate. Which circuit is local to u?
zeppelin101
06-03-2011, 18:15
Combe will be for the time being when I get out of uni, but it looks like the weekend you'll be there I'll be flying back from Cyprus.
One that is looking most promising is the 24hr in September tbh!
Matty2Fatty
06-03-2011, 18:22
Best of luck this year :) will hopefully be at britcar again to cheer you on :thumbs:
lostvo1ce
06-03-2011, 18:22
Ok I couldn't resist any longer so here's a few teasers
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/urbex2010/3e9bd4ca.jpg
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/urbex2010/cedfb096.jpg
That would be the best one to be at on fairness mate. It's always buzzing and the atmosphere is so awesome
lostvo1ce
06-03-2011, 18:36
Fingers crossed we can get some discounted tickets up for sale closer to the 24hour. After all the support everyone gave us a few months back it would be ace to get as many of you to the race :)
can u tell what it is yet! (said in the voice of Rolph Harris)
I'm really hoping to come and se you guys in action this year,
Looks like a proper bit of kit you've got there, how race ready is she at the moment?:thumbs:
ready to roll algie, bar fluids change and a quick spanner check.
Would be good to see u at an event mate, thanks for the support
skid solo
06-03-2011, 20:59
:wave: just checking in.
It is looking good, bit plain as there are no decals on it yet but once all the stickers are on it will look ace.
Lets hope the drivers can do it justice, although the start of the year will be a learning curve for all of us.
I was lined up for a passenger ride in that red one at the Prescott Weekender last year, looked like an amazing bit of kit.
Ran out of time in the end, much to my disappointment!
Never been in one before, they look brutal though :D
first post badly edited with dates for the production gtn championship
:D
Really Glad to hear this guys, Hope you all the best for this season :thumbs:
PS Jim, your still a **** :p
cheers jamie, love u to my scottish friend
Thursday is soon approaching, tonight we'll be doing the suspension bushes and the fluids and making the car as pretty as possible for the cameras at Silverstone :)
TheBigShow
08-03-2011, 17:06
so am i banned from the workshop? lol
congrats though guys, dave you didnt say nothing about this on saturday!!!!
good luck :)
yes mark permanently banned hahah. Nah when we get into the swing of things your welcome to pop over mate.
Cheers for the support :)
Testing went well today, few minor niggles to sort out but all in all i think everyone loves the car. Heres a pic for u all
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y103/skodabwoy/converted_.jpg
skid solo
13-03-2011, 13:49
As Jim said, testing went well with a couple of minor issues. Lots to sort out before the first race though so it will be a busy couple of weeks.
Here is the link to the test day photos, courtesy of Gary Walton
BPM test day photos (http://www.pbase.com/trackside/bpm_britcar_media_day_2011)
lostvo1ce
17-03-2011, 06:44
Quick update, as soon as the car got back to the new unit we started the pre for the first race. It doesn't take long now to remove the bumpers, body panels to access all the important areas
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/urbex2010/18bb2e94.jpg
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/urbex2010/e8132ba0.jpg
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/urbex2010/3a02d60c.jpg
http://i1036.photobucket.com/albums/a443/urbex2010/cb0c930a.jpg
With most of the team at the unit this weekend we should have the car 95% finished. Fingers crossed all the parts turn up in time or it's going to be a few late nights next week
Well after a full weekend on the car we still have a few small jobs left to do, the pas fluid, brake fluid, put the body back together and such but other than that were ready for the first race of the season at silverstone on Saturday. If anyone fancies popping down wed be glad to see you :thumbs:
Ooooooo is that a Ginetta :)
Seen them at Brands in support races for BTCC and they look like fun :D
Good luck guys :thumbs:
Indeed it is mark, we're still learning it but it's an awesome bit of kit
71979
lostvo1ce
25-03-2011, 08:15
Well today's the day the car hits the track for a proper shakedown. We've had a busy couple nights fitting uprated diff and gearbox pump, new pipe work, full change of fluids and a full inspection of everything! As always we found a few more faults but with some new parts these faults were quickly fixed. We've also got the time down for dumping 25 Ltrs straight into the car from 15secs in the Seat to 8.5secs :)
skid solo
01-04-2011, 21:28
Bit of an update courtesy of Owen and the BPM Racing bulletin;
Welcome to the first BPM Bulletin of 2011!
First, Ash and I would like to thank the guys in the team for their incredible effort in the run up to this weekends season opener at Silverstone. The fact that we were there at all is testament to their amazing effort which saw us go from nothing after the fire, to a podium finish in our first race in the new car.
The Ginetta G50 was only aquired a couple of weeks ago and the guys managed to get the 3.5 Litre V6 race machine fully stripped, prepared and rebuilt in time to put us out for saturday's race.
We qualified a satisfying 8th in class and through some nippy driving as we got used to the car and two great pit stops we finished on the podium with an amazing 3rd in class and 5th overall.
A great result for the team after such a horrendous start to the year and only possible due to the evenings and weekends of work put in by the guys.
Gary's excellent pictures from the weekend can be found at;
http://www.pbase.com/trackside/bpm_silverstone_260311
Here's the story of the weekend;
Friday - Practice 1
The good news: it was sunny. The bad news: it was also cold! But the Silverstone track was looking excellent, despite so much building going on around and about. The new "Arena GP" circuit is magnificent. It's 3.066 miles, and looks terrific.
Both Ash and I were desperately in need of some testing time, having had no chance to familiarise ourselves with the car. Things didn’t start well, as we immediately discovered a problem: a slight oil leak from the rear differential. Happily, the fantastic guys in our support team soon fixed it.
We also discovered an electrical problem with the rear brake lights (failed switch), and had to borrow one from a competitor! That's the great thing with Britcar - we're all very competitive, but there's an extremely friendly environment and everyone helps each other.
Friday - Practice 2
Both drivers had limited track time due to red flags from cars breaking down on the circuit. Very frustrating!! Ashley was struggling with a badly bruised finger nail, caused by a mishap earlier in the week, and in the end he needed to make a trip to the medical centre for some emergency treatment! It wasn't as painful for him as I'd hoped, but you can't win them all!! ;)
Friday - Practice 3
Very much the as above, and again red flags made it very difficult to get any heat into the tyres. We didn't really get much of a chance to explore the grip of the car, but both me and Ash' were clocking lap times in the mid 2 minute 30's.
Later in the afternoon / early evening the guys 'behind the scenes' did fuel usage checks, and made some slight adjustments. I liveried up the car with some of the new logos, and it looks great. The team are working really hard, and as a driver it is fantastic to have such dedicated support!
Saturday - Morning!
A misty start, another rather cold day, and the guys did their final preps. Happily, the car passed its scrutineering (it would have failed if brake lights didn't work), so that was a positive start to race day!
The decision was made that Ash would drive first, and me second in qualifying. All drivers have to complete a minimum of three laps each in order to qualify. Ash did his three, making an extra effort to get the tyres nice and warm for me to have a go at setting a time. I jumped in, and managed a 2:25.6 - much faster than practice and putting us 8th in class, and 12th of the 19 production cars. That was a tiny bit dissapointing, but it was still pretty acceptable for our first time out in the car. The overall pole lap was a staggering 2.06.3, by the Azteca Motorsport Mosler GT3. The quickest production entrant was the Lotus Exige of Priocept Racing with a very handy 2.18.
Saturday - Afternoon. Race time..
Two hours of racing ahead, and me to start!
A rolling start, I got off cleanly, but lost two places with the tyres still not up to temperature. It took around half a lap to get them back up, and I set about getting up the field. Took the two places back on the following lap, and then two more places the lap after. Soon took another place, to move up to third in class - but I couldn't get by the awesome BMW of Day and Phipps, which had been looking mighty all weekend.
I settled in to a rhythm, and pleasingly bettered my qualifying time with a 2.23.6. One of the GT cars broke down on the circuit, which forced the intervention of the safety car. The field bunched up, and I was caught out at the restart, losing two places, but quickly managed to retrieve them, and settled down again before a crash ahead bought the safety car out again.
We were close to half way, and decided to pit slightly early under the safety car. This saves track time, but did mean that as we swapped drivers, we could only take on 25l of fuel instead of the normal 50 (standard msa safety car rules). Ash roared out of the pits to begin his stint, but with a throbbing finger, and oil on the circuit from the crash, it took all the cars several laps to get back up to pace.
We knew we'd need to take on some more fuel to get to the end, and were really hoping for another safety car, but there were no more incidents. With 30 minutes to go, Ash made the call to pit for fuel, and put me back in the drivers' seat. I hustled the car around for the sprint to the finish.
With technical problems plaguing some of our fellow competitors, and a late overtake in the penultimate lap, we managed to finish a pleasing 3rd in class, and 5th overall. A great result considering where we were just two months ago!
The team have been absolutely tireless in the run up to this race and they were faultless on the day. A truly brilliant performance from them, and a fantastic result for us.
Next Stop Rockingham on April 16th!
well done mate, sounds like a good hard race.
love your car, would like to come see this one day.
is it still running the Duratec 3.5L? or the later G55 unit? whats your initial thoughts on the engine? good bad, indifferent?
looking at maybe running one in my TVR
lostvo1ce
08-04-2011, 14:46
http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/sensational_rise_from_the_ashes_1_2581125
Here's a link to our local news paper who have done a small write up on us. A few details are not correct but it's good exposure at the end of the day.
We also had a 20minute slot on BBC northants radio last week where the driver owen Thomas talked about the tragic event and the build up to the first race. (when I find the link I'll edit this)
So far so good with the engine CNHSS1, I need to sit down and have a look through the data at somepoint. The drivers say it's a great engine with plenty torque. Ours is still the basic package, there's a stage 1 which adds a coldfeed airbox, new map and a few changes internally which adds 25bhp and bags or torque. When the drivers feel they need that extra bit of power we'll upgrade. I'll try and find some info on the upgrades internally if you want?
yes please. i spoke to PowerTrain or whatever they are called now who supply the engines to Ginetta at the autosports as theyd got the 3.7L on show (G55 spec iirc except wet sump). All sounded good, but would like 'real world' experience rather than sales man speak.
I know the Nole spec Duras run oil squirters bit like the nissans, be interested to see if the Ginetta spec NAs do too.
Pretty car the G50, very envious :smitten:
Hi guys,
I meant to look up BPM racing after Silverstone as I got talking to one of your brothers (maybe, I have a bad memory?) in the car park when I pulled up next to your S15 & 14a in my 14a. Had a quick chat with him & he said to drop by but I never got that far as I was running around too much. :annoyed:
I did however keep an eye on your Ginetta at Silverstone & again at Rockingham this weekend, you're really kicking arse considering the major set back! :eek: I especially enjoyed watching your car battling for position against the white Lotus from your class!
Anyway, I just wanted to say who I am as I'll be at more or less every race this season. I'm volunteering myself to the organisers of the Britcar, which basically entails me to being their b*tch & doing the ever distasteful job of pit lane police. I'm doing it through my University as I'm doing a motorsport engineering degree at the moment. It is an interesting experience to see this side of things but I really would love to be able to get my hands in there a bit more as it's what I have been doing & learning about for nearly 5 years now!
Basically I'm just trying to get at that if I can ever help you out on the race weekends by doing anything at all for you, I'd love the opportunity. :notworthy
Keep an eye out for me/my car if you get a chance, it's a kuro black 14a. I'm the tall lad with a shaved head walking round in one of the Britcar polo tops....names Rob :thumbs:
Well done again this weekend :)
skid solo
17-04-2011, 23:23
Hi Rob. Was you one of the guys getting a double everything breakfast bap Saturday morning from the burger van? I remember a shaved head lad whilst waiting for my brekkie.
It was my brother you spoke to at Silverstone next to my 15 and Chris (lostvo1ce) 14a. Nice clean 14a you have there :thumbs:
Rockingham was ok for us. Now we have put the front aero on the guys are pushing harder but I think the tyres are going off quicker so on a long race a tyre stop might be in order. After a bit of a disappointing quali Owen took the car out for the first stint and made places and lost places in equal measures. Ash took over for the second stint and had to cope with the Viper leaking fuel all over the track, making it rather slippery. We eventually ended up 10th in Production and 8th in class, which was not very good but we are still learning the car and have yet to set it up properly. That said I suppose we got another finish under our belts with no real dramas.
The car is back in the workshop minus its Quaife box and clutch as the box is starting to sound like a bag of spanners, in a tin, in a large metal dustbin :annoyed: Hopefully we can get it refurbed intime for the next round at Donington. We keep finding other worn bits and pieces, bent bolts and loose fixings as we delve deeper into the car. I reckon during the break (we are not doing Thruxton or Spa) a good strip down to the chassis is in order. It will need it before the 24hr anyway as that will find any weak points the car has.
We should be camping at Donny so if your about in the evening come over for a beer, there is usually a plentiful supply :D
Hello! Yeah that was probably me at the burger van, any food vendor is usually where you will find me!
Ok I'm glad I managed to remember that much! Thanks, your 15 was really lovely! I drove a Spec-R once, not the fastest thing from factory but what a well built car! Truly lovely to drive! If only my 14 felt like that :smitten:
I didn't know the Viper was leaking fuel? I thought it was coming from the Seat that got punted out after they put 2 loads of fuel in on the safety car & then pissed it out everywhere?
Ah well, I still think you guys deserve a :thumbs: for picking up so well with the new car! Exactly that finishing is always a good thing, no idea what was happening with the Honda's at Synchro...not a good day for them at all!
Donington in 2 weeks, how is the progress with the box now? Good choice with taking a couple out for a re-build...I can't get my head around why have one race all the over there in Belgium?! Seems a little out of the way compared with the rest! The 24hr is something I'm really looking forward to myself! Even if I have to be pit lane police again, I reckon that will be a very unique experience.
I imagine I'll be about at Donington, so far the Britcar lot have just chucked us up the top of that lorry of theirs to sleep in. It's pretty good though, air-con, a tea machine & a wide screen TV make it very comfortable :D
Ok time for an update here.
Well the 24hr is upon us and with 6 weekends to go until race day we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Its at this point of the year when the team get together to strip down the car for a full rebuild and to chat about tactics, pitstops, tyre changes etc. Very exciting times!
Anyway myself and Chris were at the workshop for a couple of hours last night to start the prep and heres what we got done....on with the pics!
Clicky for pictures (http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y103/skodabwoy/Ginetta%2024hr%20prep/)
Seconded!
Good luck guys, I'll be watching online :thumbs:
We really need to make this a club event next year :nod:
Thats a brilliant idea juan :P you got six weeks to plan it if u wanna do it this year :thumbs:
Tsl will have all the live timings on the web for anyone that wants to keep up to date with it
This year is a no go sadly, it clashes with a mega important weekend for the club,
Next year though I can make sure we keep that weekend free :nod:
Matty2Fatty
23-08-2011, 10:23
Kirsty & I are hoping to be at Britcar again this year :thumbs:
Best of luck with the prep guys :sxoc:
Thanks very much mate. Would be good to see u both there again
Sent from my HTC Sensation
zeppelin101
23-08-2011, 17:01
I'm gonna try and get out for the 24hr race, but can't promise anything. Might have double/triple booked that weekend :wack:
Haha would be good to see any edict peeps there :thumbs:
Yes because clearly when I write sxoc I mean edict.... Fkn HTC
Almost as bad as iPhone predictive text!
skid solo
26-08-2011, 20:52
We need some pics of the car in it's current state! It's looking a bit bare with all the stripping work Chris and Jim have done (the car that is).
I can't wait for the race but lots to do before then. The privisional entries has been published and the competition in our class is going to be very tough, but anything can happen in a 24hr race.
Yeah iv got a load more to upload mate so ill get them done today at some point
heres an updated link to the album with new pics added
New pics added here (http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y103/skodabwoy/Ginetta%2024hr%20prep/)
skid solo
29-09-2011, 22:19
Update time.
We are here and have had a day of running during the official test day. No problems to report, just a lot of fettling and setting of the lights.
A full grid of 60 cars have entered ranging from Moslers, Fezzas, Ginettas to a Smart4!!
Weather is looking good for the weekend so should be a nice dry quali and race. Going to be busy as the car only has an 80ltr tank which means fuel stops every 80 ~ 90 mins. Tyres should last two stints so only changing every other stop.
Will update tomorrow with quali results and some pics of the new liveried car.
Good luck guys, I'll be keeping a close eye on it ;)
TheBigShow
30-09-2011, 10:24
i will be up on saturday :D!!!!
Going to be a good weekend :D
skid solo
30-09-2011, 22:06
All drivers qualified, but during night quali gearbox destroyed itself! Casing cracked and most of the internals in the oil, pump and cooler!!!
Late night coming up!!!!!!!!!
lostvo1ce
01-10-2011, 01:53
With a long day ahead we've called it a night. New box and cooler is in and most of the race prep is done. Just need to rebuild the rear end, exhaust system, pipe work to cooler and the body work. We've got a 30 min warm up in the morning so were aiming to be out for that.
Sidewaysfun
01-10-2011, 09:06
Hope things are going a little better for you gyus this morning :(
I'll be over this afternoon to show support. :sxoc:
Car has been out for warm up, had fresh gearbox oil again and is now sitting in the pit lane whilst the public have a good look around at some of the awesome machinery here. Time to get my head down for half hour before it kicks off big style!!
skid solo
01-10-2011, 20:24
20:20 update.
We are 15th overall (out of 60 starters) and plodding along nicely. The car is a bit down on power for some reason, but the pace is still pretty good.
Really pleased with progress at the moment.
Nice to see bigman, Sidewaysfun and Charlie. Ta for the support.
Fingers crossed things keep going as they are.
Sidewaysfun
01-10-2011, 21:18
20:20 update.
We are 15th overall (out of 60 starters) and plodding along nicely. The car is a bit down on power for some reason, but the pace is still pretty good.
Really pleased with progress at the moment.
Nice to see bigman, Sidewaysfun and Charlie. Ta for the support.
Fingers crossed things keep going as they are.
This is great to hear. Gone up 3 places since we left!! :D
If I get a chance, I'll try and pop up tomorrow (with caffeine and food :wack:)
Keep up the good work boys :thumbs:
Sidewaysfun
01-10-2011, 21:52
Need an update!!
Im getting unconfirmed reports that the BPM team is running in at 38th??
Tell me thats not true, and if so whats up? :(
I think they have been involved in a serious incident with a Marshall, don't quote me on it but it looked like their car, I'm on the other side so I'll head that way!
Current scene from BPM Garage....not looking good!
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd407/GarageAwesome/ff82d6e0.jpg
Come on lads, work your magic :nod:
Sidewaysfun
01-10-2011, 23:23
Fingers crossed :)
[Happy Gilmore] you can do it!!! [\Happy Gilmore]
There was an incident with a marshal, broken leg and is in hospital but that was nothing to do with us. We were due a stop at 9 pm but 5 mins before that the driver lost the car coming out of club corner and hit the wall hard. All suspension components on the left side of the car replaced aswell as drive shaft and diff oil. Front bumper, bonnet, splitter, rear bumper and rear floor also sorted. Over all from crashing, recovering the car, repairing and sending it has taken 4 hours but were back in the race and its a bloody long race!!
Well done lads :clap: not long now!
skid solo
02-10-2011, 09:59
Ginettas are not made for endurance!!! We lost 5th gear on the NEW box and have called it a day. The box sounds like it wants to part company with it's internals anytime soon so it's an early shower for us. The team hasn't the finances to shell out another few grand for a box just to say we finished the race. Plus we are so knackered from the other work it would finish me, Jim and Chris off!!
We are all gutted, especially as we were in the top 15 in the early hours of the race.
This weekend has been a bloody long and tiring one with replacing a box, sorting an electrical issue, sorting out some relay problems and the major rebuild from the crash. Since raring on Thurs we have spent about 12hours repairing the damn thing, let alone the general maintenance that goes with running a 24 hour race weekend.
Thanks for the support and well wishes, sorry we couldn't get a better result to cheer about, but that is the shite side of motorsport I guess.
Gutted for you guys, must be soul destroying after all the hard work :(
Was sorry to see you packing away and the garage closed.
I cannot say enough to people who are into motorsprt to go an experience this event first hand, this was my second year and it's just mind blowing how hard the drivers, teams, marshals and organisers work to keep these cars running for 24hrs (I know a few of you do le mans....but this includes Honda Jazz's, MG ZRs and a golf mk3), I still get a shiver when they come across the line at 24hrs and all the teams are on the pit wall....and I'm only media/spectator!
Get a few of you together, few beers, snacks and warm clothes and camp out in the stand all night (tents are cheating) it's seriously one of the 'must do' races.
Unlucky (for a second year) to BPM, see you next year? :D
TheBigShow
03-10-2011, 10:58
:( Bad times dave,
Was an awesome site though with the open pits and the grid walk :D
oh and getting the golf cart fro mthe car park to the pits, that was awesome :D
shame to see how it ended for you guys, everyone was clearly having issues though as you walked trhough the pits the ammount of cars in bits was unbelieveble.
If people havent been beforei highly recommend it, it was my first evetn like this and it was awsome. never seen racing at night before either, brings a whole new aspect to it.
goign to go through photos later, see if any came out.
lostvo1ce
03-10-2011, 13:05
Thank you all for all your support guys, It really means ALOT! With everything that the team has been through this year its would have been nice for a finish. Its a shame the events during the race made us retire but I guess that's racing :(
Knowing the sprit and determination of the team we will be back next year.
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