Alice Hughes recently raced her Fiesta at Donington Park for the first rounds of the Royal Purple Hot Hatch series on the 19th and 20th March. Here she describes how it went;
The Royal Purple Hot Hatch Series is for modified hatchbacks. Cars are divided into three classes by power to weight, Class A, B and C, at 260bph/ton, 200bhp/ton and 150bhp/ton. We have a Class A fiesta which weighs around half a tonne so we’re pushing nearly 280bhp.
The last time I raced on Donington Park was in October last year running our BRSCC Mighty Mini, so I felt confident heading into the start of the 750 Motorclub Hot Hatch series on a circuit I already knew. This then enabled me to really focus on the car and to not overcomplicate things by trying to learn two things at once!
We aimed for testing on the Friday but unfortunately our cars were too loud for the 98dB noise restriction, reaching 103dB. This then meant qualifying on the Saturday morning would be the first time i’d driven the car, never mind race it! This car was built brand new for the NEC Autosport show so we expected a few teething problems.
As we got called to the assembly area for qualifying, I must admit that I felt extremely nervous, so I sat and gathered my thoughts. Not to forget that I was sat on the front row of the qualifying grid (bad idea) with a few experienced Stock Hatch drivers that I thought would swamp me into Red gate. I prayed for no damage! For the first couple of qualifying laps I admittedly held my own, even reaching 3rd in class. I managed 5 and a half laps of qualifying before the gearbox blew up. I’d lost 3rd gear coming up through Starkeys Bridge.
This then resulted in major changes for race 1. Tom Bell from TBR Racing and Ian Carr from Race Engineered (my two sponsors) got stuck in to change the gear box but unfortunately, didn’t make the changes in time for Race 1. We felt this spare gearbox would only hold out a certain period of time, and not to our surprise, we suffered gearbox problems again in Race 2. The 280bhp engine is extremely powerful and the standard H-pattern box just couldn’t take it.
On the other hand however, the track time I managed to grab before these problems arose was awesome! The sheer increase in power from a 1275 Mighty Mini to a 2.0 litre fiesta ST150 duratec with launch control was just the best feeling in the world. Revving out (upto 8000rpm) along Wheatcroft straight I could definitely tell the power increase for sure.
When we launched the Fiesta at the NEC Autosport Show in January, my realistic aim was to take my time and get to know the car, and to not get caught up and in the way of the ego’s from my fellow team mates, Tom Bell and Alistair Camp! I need as much seat time as possible throughout the year to then have a stab at the championship in 2017.
The next round is at Silverstone on the 7th of May and i’m feeling optimistic as we’re in the process of upgrading the gearbox for a more heavy duty one from Quaife. I’m hoping to be able to experience the full potential of the car on Silverstone, which is such an iconic circuit in the UK. Big thank you to Martin Dunning Photography, TBR Racing, Race Engingeered, Advanced Lubricant Solutions, Royal Purple & Merlin International. We hope these teething problems have been rectified for better results next round. By Marc Waller
