Twails Grip Racing Debut!

[twailbait]

I somehow managed to get myself a fully sponsored works drive in a Formula Sheane Single Seater for the 2012 season.

Sheane cars providing the car including fuel/ transport/ running costs/ crash repairs, Mondello Park paying my licence fee's and my entries and unlimited testing fee's, and Murray Motorsport provided me with 1200E worth of gear!

So my first drive in one was a couple of weeks ago, I was thrown straight into the deep end though, having never driven a full race spec one before!
Turns out there fairly fast and serious fun to drive, not easy to keep on the track either when your pushing hard!

So I got a small bit of testing in on the saturday morning to scrub in the new tyres and brake pads and then straight into qualifying.
Went suprisingly well, I managed to get onto the pace fairly quick and qualified 6th out of 15 mostly very experienced drivers.

Then into the race on Sunday, which went even better, had a great battle with Anton Savage towards the end of the race ( who started at the back of the grid as he missed qualifying), I managed to hold him off for a few laps, and then he got passed, but I tried copying what he was doing and sat on his hole for a couple of laps, trying to overtake him at every oppurtunity until the finished, he's to smart and experienced for that so was able to hold me off easily!
He's one of the most experienced and aggressive drivers in the series and also a championship winner, so following him made me a hell of alot faster, my lap times dropped down fairly quickly once I was behind him. Obviously he came out ontop, but only fractionally, I finished less than a second behind him.
So my first race I finished 5th!Not to bad!

Mondello have done a serious job of getting me alot of media coverage for this year. They've got me into the Irish Independent Motoring Section, Sunday World and a few local papers and motorsport blogs.
So hopefully by the time I'm looking for sponsorship next year I should have a good base to work with!


Unfortunely I didnt have a gopro for the race! But here's a quick onboard vid of one of my qualifying laps towards the start of the session, not my fastest. Ill upload more later on.


Formula Sheane onboard with Tim Swail mondello round 1 2012 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf67VY0l05A)

And obviously because this is driftireland I may put up a related picture!:p

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/318266_411204855574944_100000562993494_1510878_781 371909_n.jpg

[silverbullitt]

Jesus , so that was you who won ....
Fair play to you , I'd say the competition was fierce towards the end as lets face it the prize is something amazing.
Best of luck with the rest of the season and keep us posted .

[sideways-theonlyway]

Congrats on winning that competition, I entered it as well, both this year and last year, came second in qualifing each year :( I was in the first one this year and there were some serious drivers, congrats and best of luck for the year and hopefully you get sponsored next year :cool:

[twailbait]

Jesus , so that was you who won ....
Fair play to you , I'd say the competition was fierce towards the end as lets face it the prize is something amazing.
Best of luck with the rest of the season and keep us posted .

Yeah it was fairly nerve racking to be honest, especially in the final, because if you went off the track you were automatically out! So you had to push as hard as you could with out ditching it! I was a almost a second ahead of the person in second place, and broke the race school student track record on the international loop and the national circuit!


Congrats on winning that competition, I entered it as well, both this year and last year, came second in qualifing each year :( I was in the first one this year and there were some serious drivers, congrats and best of luck for the year and hopefully you get sponsored next year :cool:


I think this year almost 200 people entered the competition, so the competition was fairly tight!
They running it again next year so be sure to enter it, you'd never know, you might get it, I can put in a good word for you anyway as I'll probably be on the judging panel! No harm in trying! Its only a couple of hundred quid!
I certainly didnt think I was going to win it when I entered!!

THere's some difference between the school cars you drive and the full race spec ones. There around 5 seconds slower around the national track!Which is alot on such a small track!

[slithertooth]

Thats savage man congrats and best of luck this year,

[keith_b]

Congrats man best of luck for the season keep us updated

[PeterT]

wooo! do a turner skid!!

[twailbait]

wooo! do a turner skid!!

I'm pretty sure that picture was taken as I was spinning out:rolleyes:

[twailbait]

What a weekends racing in bishopscourt!

Started off on a bad note, mechanical troubles so didnt make it to practice.

Big rush to get the spare car setup for me and get it to scrutiny. All went well, went into qualifying having not driven the track or the car! Managed to qualify 3rd!

First race was great, got to the first corner in 1st, bottled it under the pressure towards the end of the lap, and dropped back a few places, managed to crawl back a couple of places and crossed the line in 2nd!

Second race I was in 2nd for the first 4/5 laps, but bottled it again under pressure with a stupid spin on turn two and dropped back to 5th. Got back up to 3rd for the finish.

Last race was unreal. Myself, Kevin Sheane, Robbie Allen and David Parkes had the race of the day! Serious close racing,Coming down the main straight and into the first corner three abreast! Managed to finished in second!

So to sum it up, three podiums out of the three races on my second weekend as a racing driver!! I thought it couldn't possibly get much better than that.
And then to top it off I was presented over all driver of the weekend by the Bishopscourt officials!! Delighted!!

This is the onboard from race 2.

Formula Sheane Bishopscourt Race 2, onboard with Tim Swail - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZvjhbnvyM)

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/319854_10150801275028302_692323301_9415742_1479419 536_n.jpg

[sideways-theonlyway]

Fucking hell man, fair play, some results :)

[pole drift]

well done man, savage results for your first year!!

[20vees]

tasty driving there lad , seems like your making a good name for yourself well done

[Mick K]

Only hearing good things of your driving lately Tim,Fair play!

[twailbait]

well done man, savage results for your first year!!

Thanks alot, I'm delighted with the results myself, really unexpected!


tasty driving there lad , seems like your making a good name for yourself well done

I've been trying as hard as I can to get my name out there for sponsorship next year! Its an expensive game to be playing!!


Only hearing good things of your driving lately Tim,Fair play!

Cheers Micky. I think that these cars suit my style of driving, you really have to drive them on the edge and throw them around to get the best results, where as in other classes of racing, the smoother you are the faster you are!

These cars need some abuse!!

[twailbait]

So had my first drive of Kirkstown at the weekend. Unfortunately it didn't go as well as I had planned! I think I had put myself under too much pressure after doing so well in Bishopscourt.

So testing, qualifying and both races have been erased from my memory for ever!

Although there are still some good pictures from the weekend!

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/403552_444197595609003_536216146_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/48121_444216162273813_334703608_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/552920_444214772273952_325450353_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/560744_444216212273808_505107212_n.jpg

[conor1]

would love to get into something like that great results so far mate whats the competition you entered any links to it?