Brands Hatch Race Report – April 19/20th

Race tracks south of the M25 have never been kind to me. Goodwood, Lydden & Brands have been home to my worst motor racing experiences to date.  I was therefore more anxious than usual for what the weekend might have in store for me.

 

Friday – Testing

Things didn’t get off to a good start,  I was late getting the car loaded as I was still changing the dodgy gearbox after Thruxton and didn’t arrive at the circuit until after the start of the afternoon session.  This meant I would have just one session to check the car over and get the car set up.  Things didn’t get any better when the car refused to engage first gear, just the same as the previous gearbox, and then to top it all off the test session was red flagged 3 times and I only managed 8 laps.

 

Saturday – Qualifying

After the hassles of the previous day I was hoping for things to get better.  It didn’t start off too well, it had rained during the night and the cover I had put on the car was as much use as a chocolate teapot.   As I bailed the water out of the car and dried the harness I was wondering what might be next.  I didn’t have to wait too long to find out as the car stubbornly refused to start, flattening the battery in the process.  Fortunately Alan & Ric from GAC came to my aid and got her going just in time for practice but with no time to charge the battery I hoped there would be enough juice to start the car in the pitlane.  Of course there wasn’t and I sat there waving for assistance as everyone left the pitlane.  Jason and a colleague from AHS volunteered to push start me the entire length of the pit lane – well done lads!

 

Once out on the circuit and the car felt good in the damp conditions but a misfire low down in the revs left me a bit too slow out of the corners to set a decent time.  12^th and 10^th place wasn’t great but it was enough to take me straight through to the finals.

 

Saturday – Race 1

I managed to get a reasonable start and stuck to the outside around paddock to pick up a few places.  I was running at the back of a long train of cars from 3^rd to 8^th place, all very evenly matched and running close together.  I eventually managed to get past Jamie Conyers around Druids and then I was stuck behind Jenny Anderson.  I got alongside at Graham Hill bend but we made contact that slowed me enough to allow Jenny to stay ahead.  Another move this time in to Druids ended in yet more contact but this time it allowed Jamie and Jason Mills through.  On the next lap I got wide coming out of Druids and lost time.  The car behind made a move in to Surtees but lost control on the kerbs and spun off backwards, hitting my front wheel and breaking the steering arm, putting me out of the race.

 

The rest of the night was spent repairing the car (thanks to AHS for using their facilities) but there was no replacement for the bent suspension pushrod so it was going to be an interesting race on Sunday.

 

Sunday – Race 2

The weather was dry, the car started, and I had a better starting position on the grid, so things were looking up!  I managed a decent start to hold my position but it soon became apparent that all was not well with the car.  There was a lot of blue smoke coming out the back but I didn’t know if it was from the engine or a leak on to the exhaust.  The bent pushrod and a continuing lack of grip from the rear, something that has plagued the handling all season, meant I couldn’t carry enough speed in to the corners and rapidly dropped back.  Trying to push the car in to Paddock and the back stepped out and I lost a position to Paul Taylor in to Druids.  Going round Paddock Hill on the next lap I had Jason Mills and Martin Farmer behind me but not close enough to make a move in to Druids, or so I thought.  As I began to turn Martin Farmer shot up the inside, I made room but he had too much speed and careered in to the side of my car which pushed us both in to the side of Jason Mills and off in to the gravel at Druids.

 

It was a bad end to a bad weekend and the damage to the car is sufficient for me not to be able to go to the next race at Pembrey.  Things can only get better…can’t they?

Thruxton Race Report – March 24th 2008

Qualifying

After clearing the snow off the car before setting off for Thruxton, I was glad to see that there wasn’t any of the white stuff at the circuit! It was however very wet but by the time our qualifying session was ready to go out it had stopped raining although the circuit was still wet.

As expected, the circuit was slippery in places and I thought it would be best to have a steady 3 laps to ensure I qualified for the race and then start to push for a quick lap. The car felt quite good in the slippery conditions but I couldn’t lean on the tyres enough to know how the set-up would work if it was dry for the race. It would have been nice to get to know the car a bit more on this unfamiliar circuit but I knew there was more time to be gained in these conditions from the driver than the car.

The traffic was heavy and I wasn’t able to get a decent lap in the whole session so on the final lap I pushed for a quick time but then came across a painfully slow car at the chicane which forced me to almost stop but I still set my fastest time so it could have been a lot quicker. 8th on the grid wasn’t the best I could manage but at least the car was in one piece!

Race

After qualifying I decided to take a gamble on the set-up of the car for the race by changing the jetting, camber, toe-in, tyre pressures, rear shock settings and pretty much anything else I could find to play with. On race day I fired the car up in the paddock but I struggled to get the car to idle, anything below 4k and it would die. It could have been dirt in the carb, a cold engine, or just that the jets that had been changed. I didn’t have time to remove the bodywork and start checking things so I crossed my fingers that it would clear.

Upon leaving the paddock I couldn’t get first gear, the same thing had happened before qualifying but I thought I had sorted it, and I had to get to the assembly area using second gear. In the assembly area it took about 10 attempts to find first gear but I didn’t feel confident about getting it back in first again on the grid.

Sure enough I couldn’t get first gear so I had to try and pull away in second gear. The combination of a sickly engine and second gear start led to a stalled engine….not good. I managed to get going again but by now I was right at the back with the slower cars. I managed to pick a few off on the straights in the first lap and then I met a slow car in the middle of the complex and had to back off which spun me round and..I was right at the back of the pack again!

Once I’d managed to get going again it was a case of working my way back through the field. I managed to get to Paul Taylor’s red AHS car in 12th and we traded places for the rest of the race which was fun but I couldn’t get the pace out of my car that I would have needed to be up in the top 6 anyway. The rear was just too loose to really push hard which is exactly how this track needs to be driven. It was another disappointing result and I have yet another list of things that need doing on the car before the next meeting at Brands Hatch. No rest for the wicked!

Mallory Park Race Report

Following the recent 750MC test at Mallory Park I knew that I was about 1.5s off the pace but I knew that there was more to come from myself and the car with some more front end grip.  A new set of tyres on the front and the car was much more positive through Gerrards in qualifying.  I was soon able to push and set some reasonably quick times until oil was on the track through the hairpin that soon spread around the track.  I was disappointed not to have been able to complete the session as I was hoping to get in to the 51sec bracket.  It was of great surprise that I had qualified 3^rd and all of a sudden the time and effort put in to getting the car ready seemed worthwhile.  I didn’t let myself get too carried away as the times in the B session were slightly slow due to the oil on the track.  With 2^nd to 6^th covered by 0.5s it was going to be a tough race.

 

I managed to get a good start, edging out Jason Mills and going side-by-side with Dan Hands through Gerrards.  Ian Buxton had made a good start too and I ended up in third place behind Ian.  I managed to keep up with Ian and Dan but on the second lap I couldn’t get 2^nd gear coming out of the hairpin and lost about 6 car lengths to the lead pair. John Hughes managed to get past and I had a queue of cars climbing all over my gearbox.  Two laps later and the same thing happened again.  Now I had Pete Belsey and Martin Farmer right with me.  A few laps later and Ian, Dan and John all went off at Devil’s Elbow which briefly put me in to the lead before John and Dan came back past.  I was under a lot of pressure for third place from Martin Farmer and going in to Gerrards on the 11^th lap I went in too deep and got on the slippy part of the track and lost the back of the car.  Unfortunately for Martin he clipped my back wheel which sent him spearing off in to the tyres.  I was extremely worried for Martin as he didn’t get out of the car but I was relieved to see him later in the paddock, a little bit sore but otherwise OK. 

 

In summary it was a day of extreme highs and lows.  In one respect, I can take comfort from the fact that I was able to keep up with the front-runners but the disappointment of thinking what might have been will remain with me for a long time.