On the 4th of June 2024, I had the privilege to travel to Goodwood Motor Circuit as part experience towards my Level 3 Diploma in Motorsport. Gregor Fiskens, a renowned British racing driver and successful businessman, invited us and many companies to test out classic cars of any choice. I was flattered to of met our clients Bobby and Martin Vernon-Roe along side Mark Walker. They opted to try out the Shelby Cobra 427, HWM and Mustang 429.

What I did

Goodwood motor circuit was my first experience as a technician in a racing environment. I was working on both the Cobra (left) and the HWM (middle). Since it was only a track day, we could experiment with many aspects with the cars. We decided to let the drivers do a few laps of race pace and give us honest, genuine feedback on how the cars felt. 

Cobra

Before I joined the team at the start of June, Historic Automobiles went to a private track day at Goodwood with the Cobra. Bobby Verdon-Roe commented after that day the car had ‘good grip at the rear, but, the front had too much understeer’ and it was something to be improved on in the coming weeks. Understeer in basic terms results in a significant less angle the driver applies on the wheel. The rear having great grip and the fronts having to work at a extreme rate to turn the car in hence, tyre wear is greatly increased on the front. The basic and easiest was was to soften the anti roll bar by two-three clicks. We were not sure how the car would handle throughout the track afterwards but we were confident the timings were far better in comparison to what Bobby set earlier (race pace) - low 1:30’s. After the adjustments to the anti-roll bar, the timings were now hitting a average of 1:28’s. Bobby immediately noticed a better handling performance and a consistency in feedback through corners. 

HWM

Martin Verdon-Roe is the main driver for Sir Sterling Moss’s first race car, the HWM. Martin races in the BMW Formula Junior Championship and is successful. The HWM has a 3.4L Jaguar XK120 engine producing 160 hp. It had a new XK120 engine fitted in and on the first test run, the oil temperatures and pressure was all good (it had these specific issues beforehand). Martin felt the car was quick and had decent front end. Martin was hitting 1.38’s with a default setup. On the 2nd out laps, where he was trying to replicate race pace, the rear-right was graining due to a screw loosing a nut on it, hence, scraping into the tyre. It was a minor incident and it met the racing specs and was allowed to continue. On the 3rd out laps, on the 2nd lap, the engine overheated and Martin had to come in to the pits. Within minutes, we found out the head gasket had a crack in it meaning Martin couldn’t go out of track and test. It was a successful test, unfortunate about the head gasket.

Conclusion

In summary, it was a successful day for both Martin and Bobby Verdon-Roe since I was only working with them both. It was more about testing and having a familiar feeling for the drivers. I did enjoy my time and I hope to improve the next time I go to a track.

I have learnt from the team: 

• How the anti-roll bar behaves and effects each aspect of the car
• General aspects of car handling
• How to find time
• What to talk to the drivers about and the feedback