Rest for 5-10 minutes and then repeat this set of sprints for a good, criterium-specific workout. This session might look like a 10-15s sprint followed by 10s braking hard and freewheeling to reduce your speed enough to turn in the road then another 10-15s maximal effort sprint repeated ten times.
Might mini circuit racer series#
This helps you to develop a tight turning circle on the bike while cornering, as well as repeated sprints from a near standing start, which are great for tight city centre type criterium racing as seen in events such as the Nocturne Series races. If you’re unable to find a suitable circuit to practice your cornering on, an alternative is to use a quiet road and practice sprinting before turning in the road (don’t put your foot down!) and sprinting hard again immediately. Start off by sprinting for one side out of the four and gradually increase this so that soon you are sprinting out of every corner for 10-20s to get up to speed before cruising to the next one.Ĭircuit racing, cornering diagram, pic: ©Tom Kirk First of all get comfortable with the corners then practice carrying your speed into a corner and accelerating hard out of it. To start with, choose a square or rectangular circuit with left turns for safety (most UK races will obviously contain mainly left turns). A great way to practice for this specifically is on a quiet circuit such as an industrial estate or business park during a quiet period of the day with little to no traffic. One of the key difficulties in circuit racing is coping with the technical courses and repeated slowing and reaccelerating this creates. I will now suggest and explain more ways to train specifically for the demands of circuit racing at high speed on a tight circuit.
Might mini circuit racer trial#
While the average intensity may be lower than a time trial these are characterised by large spikes in power interspersed with recovery periods – unless you win solo! pic: ©Tom KirkĪs we discussed in the first article in this series, sessions designed to develop your peak power and repeatability of maximal efforts are crucial in this type of racing. Photography by Pete Summers, Drew Gibson and Jayson Fong.Criteriums or circuit races often last a similar length of time to a time trial but display a very different pattern. I like to be able to see what’s happening in front of me…”Įd’s note: Charles started the final in 26 th spot and finished 24 th. It’s far more like a racing Cooper S was in period, so we were always going to be towards the back of the grid. It was originally built for the Brands Hatch Mini festival in 2016 and doesn’t have all the fancy bits on it.
Might mini circuit racer how to#
“The car was built by CCK from the most rotten Mini we could find, and is the car in the book we have just published called How to prepare a historic racing Mini. It’s all very backwards from what I know but all really good fun, and sometimes just a little scary too. You have to keep the power on and hope the rear follows the front, and if it understeers you have to give it more steering and more throttle. “I started in qualifying driving the way I know, so braking in a straight line, coming off the brakes then turning in and gradually feeding in the power. The only time I have driven a racing Mini was in a shootout at the Festival of Speed. I have raced mostly my dad’s Marcos 1800 GT and Lenham GT Le Mans, and as an instructor now with Jonathan Palmer I have a lot of experience driving modern GTs – but all rear-wheel-drive. I love it.”Įd’s note: Chris finished 11 th after starting 14 th on the grid. Normally any overtaking is done under braking, but not in Minis. And the Minis don’t need to brake a lot around Goodwood. The slipstream effect is profound down the back straight. “The Mini gives you a slip angle you can use but beyond that you’re gone.
“The racing is extremely close and, like anything, when you join a group of people used to doing something together it’s very difficult at first to understand the way they work. But in the heat I got up to seventh despite making several mistakes, so made the final which was all I cared about.
Before the heat we had to change the gearbox and I only got half a lap in in practice before I managed to wazoo the engine. They have been really helpful teaching me how to drive the thing. “My car was entered by BMW Classic and was looked after by a great bunch of guys. They are very technical little cars that look fantastic, sliding around. My historic racing has been in mostly Jaguar-engined cars and a few Ferraris, nothing front-wheel-drive at all.
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