Report from 8 hours on Mantorp the 18:th of may 1997.
The race was a shakedown test to see if Lionne would work at all.
Setup was standard 1600 cc 106 bph engine, no extractor exhaust but 2,5 inch 
system  with a suppertrap end. 
Tyres was 205/60/15 on 7 inch in front and 
195/60/15 on 6 inch on the rear. 60 profile is regulation in the series. 
Brakes were standard 1990 yokes, with perforated front disks from BRAKING,
pads from Peugeot Motorsport (rally stuff) and 
steelbraided lines from NBM. 
Suspention was standard but lowered rear, 
and front was SPAX-pac from Demon Tweeks.
We also had an adjustable brake propotioning valve between front and rear.
Personnel was the old hands Clapton, Desmo and Reodor from the 
Betsy campaign and new in the team was Biggles, Motorcycle rider 
and ex-army recce pilot. 

Competition was a couple of real fast cars competing in another series, 
among then one volvo that when going on slicks had been third fastest
volvo in Sweden after two ex BTCC cars but faster than the other cars
from the sprint championships. Another fast car was a Opel Corsa with
an astra v6, a Toyo Starlet with a Celica six, a BMW 300 with a V8 
from a 740, and some other stuff. Their class allowed almost anything
with the same brand of engine and body. Cant help thinking in the 
terms of Opel Ascona B with an Opel Diplomat V8 (Chevy smallblock).
In our class we had a fairly normal golf, a Corsa
with an Ascona four, a Porsche with a 3 litre four and our old friends 
from Team Wideslide( Bresläpp in swedish ) and the Audi that we met
in 95. Now they hat an 1800 gt engine so we had no real hopes.
 
Warmup after pacecar.
She is taking in exhaust fumes through the back door due to low pressure
in the cockpit. And it was already hot inside. We lifted the Lexan
windows on the front side some mm.s and lifted the metal covering the hole
after the glass-roof in the front side. We tried to open the hole after 
the heater in front of the windscreen but the scrutineers wouldnt accept it. 
We had to run as it was and sun was coming out....

Racing. 
10:00- 11:00: Reodor started and we decided to take the car in after 
the first half hour for a check on lugnuts and oil due to the fact that 
it had never run before. It rattled some in the rear when he came in. 
It turned out that the rubber suspention for the muffler had melted 
when the supertrap directed the fumes forward. Something was rubbing both
in front and rear in left turns but nothing was to be found. 
Oil consumption was ok. Water and oil temp was good so it was just out 
again. The rear would slide some when braking into a turn but half a 
turn on the valve cured that. We were holding 27:th place of 35 
starters

11:00 - 12:00 Desmo went out and we didnt know if he could make an hour. 
The fuel pickup is located on the right side and sometime in the left
turns she would start to splutter. 
He was instructed to honk the horn at the first splutter then we would 
take him in after 3 laps for fuel. He honked at 11:30 and we decided to 
give her 20 litres at every driverchange, 
i.e. one per hour. We gave her 30 litres now to take her to the 13:00 
hour change. Desmo hade some 1:51 laps compared to old betsys 1:49, 
but she had 150 bhp and would make 160 km/h on the straight and Lionne 
made 130. He came in for driverchange at 12:00 and reported tyrescraping 
in the front as well in turning both directions. The clutch was slipping 
some so we released the tension some.

12:00-13:00 Clapton made a solo. He was doing 1:50:s at best. 
There was nothing exceptional happening during his stint. 
He was passing cars labeled by Reodor as 'faster cars'. 
Now we were up to 24:th place.

13:00:14:00 Now it was Biggles turn. He went out and so did the pacecar 
due to a broken car. And he gor one (1) lap at full speed when another 
car had to be towed in. 
He was behind pace for 15 laps of his first 20. Then he came in for an 
unschedled pitstop. He said that the front hub bearings had gone but we 
didnt find anything on them. But we found that during braking and turning
hard the front tyres were rubbing against both the sides of the 
body and against the lower spring plate on the dampers. 
The combination of that and the first time in a car with no sound 
insulation at all make scary noises. We also had some sweating 
of  damper oil probably due to the exessive heat from the tyre 
friction against the damper.

14:00-15:00 Biggles was given extra time due to the stop so Reodor 
went out again at about 14:25. The noise had grown since last time 
but he was also driving harder. We were still holding 24:th place. 
He was trying to get her up to 135 in the end of the long straight,
made it and realized looking up from the speedometer, that 
he was passing the 50 meter mark before the turn. Normal brakepoint was 80. 
He made it so there must a certain safety margin left in his normal pace.
 
15:00-16:00 Desmo went out and did 5 laps and came in and said it was 
impossible to go on. The heat and lousy ventilation made him dizzy.
He had forgot to brake altogether in the fast lefthander after the finish 
and ended up on the side fo the track. Clapton went out and came in 
after half an hour for more fuel. Now our refuelling scheme was 
totally upset. Then he came in  at 16:00 and said that the gearshifter 
had gone but it turned out to be the clutch. There was nothing we could 
do about it but call it a day, or rather weekend. We decided to cancel
 the race the next day as well due to shortage of people in the pit. 
The saddest thing to do now was to call MrBeam to tell him not to 
turn up later that night for his driving next day. He will get the 
first laps with the new engine in Sepetmber as compensation. 

Till next race we will have new racing clutch, the 140 hp engine already 
sitting in the workshop, harder and lower springing, better ventilation, 
wider fenders, catchtank and front spoiler/rear wing assembly.
Hear from us in the end of September. We will be there.