From Ilmor to Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch, England (October 22, 2013) – As I am writing this second blog of my trip, I am sitting here at a very cold and damp Brands Hatch circuit. Outside, the Cliff Dempsey Racing team is setting up the pit stable for the upcoming Formula Ford Festival events. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, we will begin testing on track.

Upon arriving at the circuit, I was impressed with the well-kept facility. I did not yet get a chance to walk the track, but it looks very good from the paddock 🙂 I am very excited to get out on track, whether on foot or behind the wheel. Tomorrow we will have our first test here, and I will focus on learning the track. Fortunately, I know the layout quite well, due to the valuable time spent on the CXC full-motion simulator a couple weeks ago!

Yesterday, Jake and I took a trip to Ilmor Engineering. Amongst other projects, Ilmor is the engine supplier for IndyCar cars teams using the Chevrolet brand. We had the privilege to take a full tour of the facility. Jake and I gained an insight into how each department in the factory is run. It was interesting to me to see how they cover the entire process, from designing the parts, to testing them on the dyno. Jake and I were able to take a close look at the attention to detail put into the complexities of each part of the process. I was extremely impressed with all the high-tech machinery used in each department.

Going to Ilmor and seeing the effort that is put into the engine manufacturing process was great for me. I now see that whether an engine has a good or bad performance on a race weekend, it definitely comes down to many factors that in the end contributed to that performance. There are many different details of the process that go into one single Chevrolet IndyCar engine. I am thankful to Ilmor engineering for giving Jake and me a close look at each department.

Finishing this blog, I am writing from my hotel room in the Thistle hotel, located on the Brands Hatch premises. I am going to get some dinner and a good night’s sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s test. It will be an important day as we have to use all the time we have to prepare for the all-important Formula Ford Festival weekend.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Joey