Today was the CSCC pre season test day on the new, extended, Snetterton 300 circuit. This extends the ‘old’ track layout by around a mile to three miles making it one of the longest laps in the UK. The new part of the track is an infield section offering a variety of quite technical corners and is placed between Ritches and the start of the Rivett straight. In addition the approach to the Russell chicane from Coram has been changed.
Mark and Matt arrived at around 9.30 and signed on shortly followed by Mick and Rob in the lorry containing Bluebell. We were put into three groups and allocated 15 minute sessions on track. While this was necessary due to the large number of competitors attending it did limit how much we could learn from each session, particularly as the first few sessions were red flagged due to incidents on track.
Marky went out first and Bluebell ran well to start with but it became apparent after a few laps that all was not well. The car was losing power at high rpm. We realised that the car might be low on fuel so filled the tank and that seemed to help but after another session on track it was obvious that something else was up. Following this session we cleared the fuel filters and checked the fuel pump and made sure we had good fuel pressure at the carburettor. As we were unsure that it was fuel related we also changed the coil.
This seemed to help at the start of the next session on track but after 10 minutes or so the missfire seemed to be creeping back. At the end of the day we decided that when we have the car back in the workshop we should change the plugs, leads cap and rotor arm and replace the ignition module, as the hesitation, under load, after the car has been running for a while may indicate an ignition component breaking down when it has got hot.
While Bluebell had loads of power when running right the day wasn’t without incedent. It would have been great if we’d had no problems at all but this is what test sessions are for!
