Curborough Sprint

Curborough Sprint – Saturday 12^th June:

My Curborough weekend started at 4am on Saturday morning with me hitching the trailer to the Volvo and setting off for Litchfield shell shocked and bleary eyed. I had promised Sophie that I would try and do each of the upcoming events in a day, rather than stay overnight, so we could have some time together. Despite the ungodly start I rather enjoyed the drive up as the roads were deserted and the sun was very definitely out and shining on us. I arrived just before 7am and the track walk after a very brief coffee and croissant stop somewhere near Birmingham.

The track walk was really useful and helped to put into perspective the challenge ahead. I had spent a little time on Friday night watching some useful videos on Curborough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tpYHgeUWXT8) and reading the hints and tips that I had been passed by Lotus Seven Club members Steve Marsh, Michael Calvert and Mark Gibson, which were very much appreciated and helped me to feel reasonably well prepared, especially compared to Aintree. After the track walk and a short briefing by the Clerk of the Course it was time to get the car un-loaded and scruitineered. I had parked at the far end of the paddock as my allocated bay was filled with someone else’s car and trailer, so I started un-strapping the car, before managing to shuffle my fellow competitors cars around to make space where I needed to be. Thinking the car was still in gear and with the handbrake on I went to tow it back up the paddock only to hear a crash from behind. Looking in the rear view mirror showed a trailer, with a Caterham half way off it pointing skywards. Clearly the handbrake wasn’t still on and the car wasn’t in gear. Bugger! Luckily the Caterham guys helped me to lift it off and no damage was done, other than to my pride, but it was a rather inauspicious start to my day.

After scruitineering it was time to get out on track for the first of our practice runs. We were first on the timetable so it was straight into the car and off to the holding area. I felt much more calm and composed than I had at Aintree as, whilst not an old hand, I knew what to expect. The weather was beautiful and the setting picturesque (so much nicer than Aintree), so I was really looking forward to a good days racing. Once clear of the paddock we trundled down the access road to the start line and grouped up waiting for our runs. Unlike Aintree where they fired us off in very quick succession there was plenty of waiting around, which meant plenty of time to start getting nervous. The feeling of the un-known; fear mixed with excitement and a desire to prove yourself and do well. I am not sure if that feeling ever goes away, even for professional racing drivers, but it is a feeling that I hate and enjoy at the same time. I am car number 108 for the sprints, so had about 10 minutes to wait whilst my fellow Academy drivers (100 – 107) went and explored the course for themselves, some more quickly and composed than others.

When my time came, and I was called to the start line, I tried to get settled and focus on what was ahead of me. As the lights went green I left the line with a little too much wheelspin and fired myself off up the tight and twisty track in a flurry of gear changes, locked brakes, dabs of opposite lock and missed apexes. Unlike Aintree where there is plenty of time to think about what you are doing between the three corners, Curborough is so tight and twisty that everything comes upon you very quickly and it is easy to find yourself on the wrong line, at the wrong speed and in the wrong gear. I honestly can’t remember what I did on that first run, I was just reacting instinctively, but I must have done something right as my first practice run was 65.57 second, which was the quickest in Group 1 and “only” 1.6 seconds off the class record. I felt really pleased.

After the excitement and adrenaline of the first run it was back to the paddock to compare times and experiences with the rest of the guys. In some ways I enjoy this part of the day as much as the actual driving, as grown men become children again, bouncing around with excitement, exaggerating what has just happened and generally joking with each other. It is infectious. Once out of the car I went off to watch my fellow competitors with some of the other guys from Group 1 and we all offered commentary on their lines, corner speeds, braking points etc……every one of us an expert after one lap!

After an hour and a half standing in the sunshine watching cars racing (is there really a better way to spend a sunny Saturday?) it was time for our next practice run. This followed the same routine….into the car, belts on, balaclava, helmet and gloves on…..trundle through the holding area, down the access road to the start area and then wait, watching the car get hot and worrying about whether you have enough fuel vapours left to get around the course. The wait at the start was longer than before as we were behind the last group to complete their first practice runs, which included some very powerful and serious looking Caterhams competing in the Lotus & Club Sprint Championship.

Having been around the course once I felt confident in attacking it a little harder and set off as I meant to go on. My start was better, with less wheelspin, and the first corner just about spot on, carrying plenty of speed down towards the Molehill. From there on in to the finish it was a case of trying not to get too excited and keep it tidy and controlled. The strategy, if you can call it that, obviously worked as I was rewarded with a 64.78 second run, which was a fantastic and slightly unexpected result, just 0.79 seconds off the course record. It had certainly felt good from the drivers seat, so I was excited and slightly confident for the timed runs. Once back in to the pits the banter started again, with lots of jovial comments along the lines of “so, how is the victory speech coming on?”. I was faced with the same comments at Aintree and now know only too well that in sprinting you don’t really know your result until the last run is complete, so I focused on getting ready for the timed runs themselves and trying to act cool and calm. This all sounds very serious writing it down afterwards, but there really is a fantastic spirit in the pits. Everyone is massively competitive, we wouldn’t be doing it if we weren’t, but genuinely supportive of each other and pleased when others do well.

The first of the timed runs came after lunch (I decided to go easy on the sandwiches in the interests of weight saving) when the sun was out and the temperature really up. We sat sweating gently in our Nomex for about 30 minutes in our cars in the start area, before getting our chance to prove ourselves officially against the clock. Once again the nerves started to kick in just before the run, but once into it all was calm. I got a reasonable start and had another fantastic first bend, before going in slightly too hot and slightly too sideways to Molehill. The rest of the run seemed to go really well…fast but controlled and I stopped the clock at 64.86 seconds, slightly slower than my second practice run, but still not a bad effort. This was enough to put me into first place in Group 1 and was a great banker lap, allowing me to be more relaxed on my second and final timed run.

Back in the pits I took a good look at the video of my lap and figured that there was probably ½ a second to be had by being quicker into turn 1, tidier into the molehill and slightly later on the brakes at the end of the first lap back into the first turn. I was determined to try and find that time and even try and push into the 63 second bracket if I could. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out like that! My second run was a bit of a disaster from the start, with too much wheel-spin at the start and a massive “moment” as I carried too much speed into turn one, unsettling the back of the car. I then made the same mistake at the Molehill and was trying to play catch-up for the rest of the lap. Finally it went completely wrong at the Molehill on the second lap as I took too much curb on the inside of the corner and upset the car, spinning on the exit. I was really disappointed with myself, but had to laugh as I trundled back to the pits, waving at the photographers capturing my embarrassing moment. At least I had that banker lap from earlier.

Back in the pits it was a nervous wait to see what the final result would be. Having been pushed down to 4^th place at Aintree by some fantastic drives from Matt, Tristan and Zoli on their final runs, I was aware it could very well happen again. To make matters worse Jenny had asked for the timing screens in the pits to be turned off so we couldn’t see the results as they came in. I simply had to load the car back onto the trailer and watch the remaining runs to see how the Group 2 guys were getting on.

After an hour or so of packing away and waiting we all gathered eagerly at the Caterham Motorsport truck to hear the results, which for Group 1 were, in reverse order; 3^rd - Tristan Judge (65.89), 2^nd - Matt Lawrence (65.82), 1^st - Alex Gurr (64.86)…….a trophy, a cap and a kiss from Jenny. What a fantastic feeling…..I still have the smile on my face writing this almost a week later. The Group 2 guys had a great set of times too, with; 3^rd – Peter Fortune (65.14), 2^nd – Danny Killeen (65.11), 1^st Stephen Nuttall (64.14 – a fantastic time and quickest novice by quite some way). Congratulations guys….a great set of results.

After the Caterham Motorsport awards we went off to join the awards for the rest of the competitors, where we received another set of trophies and some very warm applause from our fellow competitors. A nicer bunch of guys you could not hope to meet.

So it was that I left Curborough at 6.30pm after a very long, but fantastically rewarding and enjoyable day. The Caterham Academy is only just getting into its stride, but it already ranks as the most enjoyable and exciting experience I have ever had. The people are fantastic, the competition is intense and the experience unrepeatable. Gushing I know and possibly coloured slightly by the result but I really can’t stress quite how much I am enjoying it all right now. Roll on Snetterton in a few weeks’ time!

Run Number 1 - 64.86 seconds:

Run Number 2 - A long time :-)

Snetterton Track Day

Snetterton Track Day – Wednesday 09^th May:

After Aintree and the disappointment of not being as quick as I had hoped, I decided I needed to get some track time with the car and some tuition. My times at Aintree were OK and pretty consistent, but 1.2 seconds slower than the very fastest guy. Now I could make all sorts of excuses about my weight, optimum suspension set-up etc., but the simple fact is that a number of people were just plain faster than me. Some of these guys have had significant track time and tuition, so I decided to do the same. I can’t afford, either in time or money, to do this often, but realised that if I was to get quicker I needed someone to help me. Someone who could see what I was doing and help coach me through the issues I didn’t even know I had with my driving. As someone who thinks he was only a lucky break away from F1 this was quite a big step to take, but one well worth taking.

In the end I responded to a post on the 2012 Caterham Academy Facebook page by a chap called Ben Elliott, who runs his own training company and has worked with a number of the Academy guys over the years. He suggested a Javelin track-day at Snetterton the following week, which I duly signed up for. Being mid-week and with a terrible weather forecast there were plenty of spaces, so Ben and I met in one of the garages on a wet and cold Wednesday morning to talk about the plan for the day, which was broadly:

-          go out and complete the sighting laps;

-          then Ben would talk me around the circuit building up my speed and watching what I did, coaching me as we went;

-          then we would come back into the garage and talk about my technique in general and what I needed to focus on;

-          then we would go out again and put into practice what we had discussed;

-          then I would go out alone and try this on my own;

-          then before lunch Ben would show me just how it should be done by driving me in my car;

-          then after lunch we would repeat the above but using the V-Box data logger and dashboard timer to give a real time view of where I was making and loosing time.

Our first laps were taken relatively easily whilst I learnt which way the circuit went.  I had never been to Snetterton as a driver before and was really impressed with the new 300 format, which is a fantastic mix of really quick corners that has the car right up on tip toes in the wet and some really slow technical bits. We quickly started to pick the pace up and find how little grip there was on a greasy track, with plenty of very sideways moments and a few nervous giggles from Ben over the intercom. Afterwards Ben said he was impressed with my car control, but that we really needed to work on two key areas:

-          Braking – going into the corner much deeper and harder on the brakes and bleeding the brake pressure off at the point of turn in, so that the weight of the car is on the nose. I had been braking too early and then accelerating too early which caused the car to lift at the front and cause understeer at the apex. I was then trying to correct the understeer with a load of throttle which was causing corner exit oversteer. Spectacular, but not that quick.

-          Throttle Balance – being quicker back onto the throttle and more balanced with the application in quick corners to settle the car. I was braking then waiting to apply the throttle as the car settled in the corner, which actually causes it to be more unsettled, so I needed to be quicker from brake to throttle and then more balanced with the application so not to induce more oversteer.

With Ben talking me through these two areas and helping me to get my lines right we had a really good morning and found a lot of extra pace. I then went out on my own and completely over drove the car for the first few laps whilst I got used to driving without the weight, or help, from an instructor beside me. By the end of my solo session I felt as though I were being much smoother and faster and was really pleased with the progress I had made. At this point I came back in and Ben took me out to show me how it really should be done. He was noticeably stronger on the brakes than I was and was carrying much more speed into the corners, particularly the first (Riches) and last (Coram), so over lunch I pondered what I still had to do!

After lunch we went out with the timing gear on the car and found some more speed. The track was drying to start with, but then got greasy again, however regardless of this I was much more confident on my braking and turn in, carrying more speed everywhere and unsettling the balance of the car less. It was hugely rewarding and Ben was laughing his head off over the intercom as we went quicker and quicker. I asked him afterwards if I had scared him and he said “yes…..but only because we were really shifting”.

My final session of the day was on my own with the dashboard timer and I really went for it, becoming quite obsessed with where I was picking up and loosing time against my best laps. I did about 15 laps with very little traffic and managed to get into the 2 min 41 second bracket on a very greasy track. Most satisfying of all was sticking with a Caterham R500 for a few laps, despite the significant performance difference between the cars. I was finding huge chunks of time through the first corner (Riches) and the last (Coram) at last and was much more confident on the brakes under the bridge into the Esses. It was a really satisfying feeling, so I decided to call it a day before getting carried away and doing something silly.

Back in the garage Ben and I looked over the data and the video from my solo run. There were still areas of significant improvement to be had, but the difference in performance from the start of the day to the end was huge. It is hard to say exactly how much time we found because the track conditions changed, but I think it may have been as much as 6 seconds over the lap. I was dubious about driver coaching before I started the Academy, but the results of the day spoke for themselves. I was driving more confidently, more smoothly and much more quickly. It was a great investment and Ben was a fantastic teacher. I will get some more coaching later in the year (probably one session at each of the tracks we are due to race at), but in the mean time I need to put into practice what Ben has already taught me. Hopefully the investment will pay off at Curborough, our next event.

Aintree Sprint

Aintree Sprint - Saturday 12^th April:

At last, the Academy competition has started for real! I set off for Aintree on Friday lunchtime and spent the next 5 ½ hours crawling through traffic wondering if the trip would be worth it. It would!

Upon arriving at the glamorous Liverpool North Premier Inn I set about cleaning the car which was still filthy from the Castle Combe Test Day and the trip up to Liverpool. The old girl certainly looked much better after a good wash, so even if I wasn’t quick I rationalised that the car would look good. A few of the other guys were staying at the same hotel and I had organised dinner for us, which was a great way to start the weekend. In the end there were about 20 of us, some taking it very seriously and avoiding the booze and others, myself included, partaking in a few pre-match beers. I am not sure it was the best idea (the vodka chaser certainly wasn’t) as I only had 5 hours sleep, but it was a great evening full of banter and bravado.

After a few hours sleep it was off to the track for a 7am sign-on and scruitineering, then quite a lot of hanging around. I checked and re-checked my kit, fitted my go-pro camera and pumped my tyres up to 33psi, more for something to do than for any scientific reason. At 8am the Clerk of the Course met us and took us on a track walk, which was useful and helped add perspective to the You Tube videos I had been watching. We then had a briefing from the Clerk of the Course before going back to our cars and waiting to be called. At this point I was surprisingly calm and enjoying the atmosphere of the event and banter with my fellow competitors Jason, Paul and Zoli.

When the call came for our first practice run I started to panic slightly and took an age to get myself settled in the car and belted up. I hadn’t really learnt my lesson from the handling day! After gathering in the holding area we were funnelled to the start line for our runs. My first practice run was OK, but there was plenty of room for improvement and I stopped the clock at 56.88 seconds (anything in the 54 seconds is reckoned to be very good for a Sigma engine Academy car).

It was then back to the paddock for a 45 minute wait for the next of our practice runs, which I was ready for in much better time. During my second run I attacked the course much harder and was rewarded with a time of 54.86 seconds, which I was really pleased with. I still felt there was room for improvement on my starts, my braking points were too cautious and my turn-in too early, so I was confident I could achieve a quicker time, possibly even something in the 53 second range.

Before our first timed runs I took a stroll around the paddock and chatted to a few of the guys, including the course record holder. I asked for hints and tips, but to be honest there was little that I could gather from him given his car was crossing the finish line at 160mph plus, whilst we were doing well to top 110mph. Still, everyone was incredibly friendly and the atmosphere relaxed. There were also some very beautiful old Lotuses (Loti?) competing in the Paul Matty championship which I spent plenty of time dribbling over.

My first timed run yielded a slight improvement in time, but perhaps not as much as I had hoped for. I was still getting too much wheel spin on the start and was perhaps not as brave on the brakes as I could have been. My time of 54.53 was enough to give me first in Group 1, but I was approximately a second behind the fastest guy in Group 2, showing just how much scope for improvement there was.

After lunch and much banter with the rest of the guys it was time for our second timed runs. I attacked the course harder again on this run, but actually went slightly slower , losing too much time to overseer in the first and third corners, crossing the line in 54.78 seconds and being bumped into 2^nd in Group 1. I still felt that there was plenty of time to be gained and hoped to find it on my third run.

My third run was my best yet and resulted in a time of 54.42 seconds, but unfortunately (for me) a couple of other guys in our group went quicker still and I ended up a frustrated 4^th in Group 1. It had been a fantastic day and I felt that I had driven well, but that I still had more to give. Those of you that sprint regularly will probably recognise this feeling and it is very easy to see how sprinting could become very addictive as you chase the perfect run. I wanted more time to play around with my tyre pressures a little to see if I could find more grip and to try some different lines/approaches, but the 5 runs we had were great fun and a fantastic way of easing into competitive motorsport.

The guys in Group 2 were quicker still, with two of them breaking the old class record and the fastest finishing in 53.24 seconds which was a stunning time. Both have done over a 1,000 track miles in their cars with tuition, one even had his instructor there with him on the day, so it is easy to see why they are quick (at least that is how I rationalise it in my mind). This is the beauty of the Academy for me. You have guys with instructors and great big motorhomes with mechanics, right through to those who drive their cars up and sleep in tents at the circuit. I guess I sit somewhere in the middle as I tow and stay in hotels, but I am definitely behind the curve in terms of track time and tuition having only done Castle Combe un-tutored. It would be nice to get more time on the track and get some tuition to give myself a chance of being right at the pointy end of the grid, but given my family circumstances I can’t really see that being a possibility this year. I will have to keep trying as hard as I can at the events themselves and focusing on enjoying them, which if Aintree is anything to go by, will be very easy indeed.

Run Number 1 - 54.53 Seconds

Run Number 2 - 54.78 Seconds

Run Number 1 - 54.42 Seconds

Race Preparation, Handling Day and Test Day (Playing Catch-up)

With a mad few months at work and a growing family I have neglected my blog recently (this is being written the day after the Aintree Sprint), but I am desperate to keep the diary going and record everything I have been doing, so have tried to compressed everything between the Set-up Day and the Aintree Sprint into the one update:

Race Preparation (Take 1) - Saturday 10th March:

After the Set-up Day at Caterham it was clear that there was still a lot of work to be done to our cars to get them ready for competition, so I took mine back over to my parents garage to start on the list of things to do. As usual, most of the jobs took much longer than expected and I didn't get anywhere near as much done as I had imagined, but it was a good start.

At the Set-up Day I had bought some competition brake pads and the thicker front anti-roll bar (the red-bar, rather than the orange bar the car was supplied with). I fitted both of these quickly and without any great trouble. I then moved onto the grill which requires the 7 be in front of the mesh, whereas the IVA requires these to be the other way around. Again this was a very straightforward job and done in a matter of minutes. After these small jobs I set about draining the gearbox oil and changing it for a different grade. I had used Comma 75-90 GL5 and had been unhappy with the gear-change from new, so was recommended Redline 75 – 90 GL4 as an alternative. This was a pretty unpleasant job to complete, but made much easier by the loan of a transfer pump from a fellow Caterham 7 owner (Ian - SM25T) and a much better understanding of how to fill the gearbox after the original build. The transfer pump enabled me to suck all of the old oil out of the gearbox and by using a small oil can with a thumb pump and a long thin nozzle, filling took a matter of 30 minutes rather than the 2 – 3 hours during the original build. The next job on the list was to fit the side intrusion bar, which mounts at the front of the cage, behind the drivers seat and at the front A-frame mounting point. Whilst not a difficult job, it took quite a lot of jiggling and heaving to make everything line up properly and get the bolts in and torqued up properly. The final job I completed was to fit and connect the rain light, the hardest part of which was making the p-clip that it mounts to stretch far enough around the roll-bar to get it mounted correctly.

That little lot took me the best part of a day and I had only just made a small dent in the to-do list. It was at this point I realised how horribly time consuming race preparation is!

Flat Floor & Race Seat - Thursday 15th March:

After the Set-up Day I had decided to take advantage of the Caterham flat floor option, which they are doing as deal for £50 for all Academy drivers. This is really impressive given the time involved (at least 3 hours) and is done to try and help avoid Academy racers getting taken advantage of by people blinding them with set-up science and large set-up bills. I have heard mixed things about the Caterham set-up, but decided to give it a go and see how I get on with it. Some they aren’t very accurate, but the set-up morning and Simon’s Lamberts explanation of the basic parameters showed that in theory it should work just fine. Whilst my car was back at the factory Caterham had offered to change the rear callipers, which needed replacing as part of a parts recall, and I had decided to have a foam race seat made at the same time as I didn’t have enough leg room with the Tillet seat and I was worried that I would be too close to the roll bar with my crash helmet on to comply with the regulations.

I set off for Caterham at 6am and arrived at the factory just after 7am - an early start to give the guys the best possible chance of finishing everything in a day. My car was taken off around the back of the factory to have the callipers changed and my drivers seat taken out, which took a good couple of hours and gave me plenty of time to sit in reception watching videos of previous years Academy racing, drink coffee and eat biscuits. A little later I was called around to the back of the factory to start my seat fitting which involved me sitting in the car on top of a large plastic bag as the technician, Mark, pored expanding foam in. This process was repeated three times for the different parts of the seat and took a good couple of hours as we chatted waiting for the chemicals to set. After the seat had been formed Mark got to work on the suspension; toe, camber and ride heights, which he found to be quite a long way out from where they needed to be, particularly at the rear where the ride height was very low.

After lunch and a long wait back in reception as Mark wrapped the seat in tape and fitted it to the car, I got to pay (£300) and take the car back. I drove it down the road and immediately brought it back as the steering wheel was off-centre. Mark sorted this in a matter of minutes and we were off again. The car certainly felt a whole lot better to drive home than it had on the way there, with none of the bottoming out I had experienced from the basic factory set-up, feeling much more fluid and planted on the road. I felt much more comfortable in the car too, sitting much lower and with all the legroom I needed, so whilst and expensive trip it felt like money well spent. I really enjoyed the drive home, especially as it had turned into a beautifully sunny afternoon.

Handling Day - Sunday 18th March:

The next event on the calendar was held on Mothering Sunday (not the best day when you are short of brownie points) and was the “Handling Day” at Silverstone. I actually joined Group 2, as the Group 1 guys were doing theirs on the Saturday, but I was at the England/Ireland game watching the Irish front row collapse with clients......it was a tough weekend :-)

The Handling Day was our first taste of (semi-serious) competition and was brilliant fun in a hooligan sort of way. I left home early for Silverstone, driving through freezing fog with the hood down along the back roads and arrived to a bleak and chilly Silverstone frozen to the core but happy. After quite a bit of waiting around we were given our briefing and started the day with a Le-Mans start, sounding our horns when fully strapped into our cars. Ten minutes after the starter had sounded, most of us were still fiddling with our wrist restraints/crotch straps! Whilst slightly bizarre the challenge had brilliantly highlighted just how long it takes to get properly strapped into a Caterham and it was a lesson well worth learning before the first competitive event.

We then moved on to scruitineering, where our cars were checked over for race readiness. I had completed a few of the jobs on the list, but was far from ready, so was issued with a list of all the jobs I needed to complete before the first event. Luckily I wasn't the only one (some guys hadn't even got their cars yet), but it still made me realise quite how much work I had left to do.

As the day went on we practised standing starts, slaloms and a sprint around the cones, all of which were timed and taken very seriously by everyone there, even though we pretended we weren’t that bothered. My standing starts were exuberant, but slow and I struggled with understeer on the handling course, but came a respectable 5th overall. Some of the guys have been doing serious track mileage, so whilst slightly disappointed I didn't feel as though I had done too badly. The day wasn’t very representative of any future events, but was an excellent way to practice some of the skills that I know I will need and get to know my car at and beyond the limit in relative safety.

Race Preparation (Take 2) - Monday 16th & Tuesday 17th April:

I had originally planned to complete the remaining race preparation on the weekend of the 14th April after our family holiday, but the early (by 4 weeks) arrival of Henry William James Gurr on Wednesday 11th April put pay to that plan. Once home from hospital my ever patient wife let me spend a couple of days trying to finish off the last of the jobs on my list.

I started on Monday by fitting the roll-bar padding, fitting a wide angle rear view mirror and convex door mirrors (which I had bought to replace the horrible standard items), fitting the fuel sampler, sealing the boot floor and changing the engine oil. All of these jobs were pretty straight forward, with the only problem being a leak on the fuel sampler which was quickly fixed with some PTFE tape.

Most time consuming of all was fitting the racing decals, which took me a couple of hours and a lot of swearing to get just right. This was a job worth taking time and pride over as it would be very easy to do a shoddy job, but I was pleased with the end result, despite the persistent air bubble persisting. It was also one of those jobs that was highly satisfying as the car finally looked like a proper racing car.

What I have rapidly become aware of, apart from the cost of motor racing, is the amount of time you spend getting the car ready. With the build finished I had naively assumed that there would be little else to do but climb in and drive it, but I have probably spent an extra week on the car getting it ready for the first event. Time has always been a constraint for me with a young family, but has become even more so with Henry arriving. Apparently paternity leave is not “a great time to work on the car”, so with one more job to do (fit the oil breather tank) I handed the car over to Chris Wheeler at the 7 Workshop to do this and fit the timing strut for the sprints. At this point I really appreciate why some people use race teams to support their efforts, but thankfully for my very limited bank balance, these are not permitted in the Academy.

Test Day - 18th April:

The final event before the first competitive sprint was held on the 18^th April and thanks to my ever patient wife I was able to attend the “Test Day” at Castle Combe, despite Henry only being a week old. This time I decided to trailer the car down to the circuit, which turned out to be a great idea given the biblical weather and my severely sleep deprived state. Because of the expanded family we had been out and bought a new family waggon (a Volvo XC60) which very conveniently came with a removable tow bar and I had borrowed a trailer from a friend of mine (Wes Fox, who won the Academy in 2010). I had never trailered before, so it took me a good hour to load the car and get it strapped down properly the night before. The drive down was uneventful, but I stopped at least twice within the first couple of miles to check that everything was still tight and that I had actually taken the handbrake off the trailer (it is amazing the tricks your mind can play on you)!

The Test Day itself was an exclusive track day for the 2012 Academy guys and a great opportunity to spend time on the track with my car. Many of the other drivers have done a number of track days already, a couple doing up to 1,500 track miles already, but with a busy client project and the birth of baby Gurr number 3 I simply hadn’t had time to get out on track until this point. Before setting off at 5.30am I was feeling tired and generally not in the mood, but by the end of the day I was elated.

Our cars were noise tested and scruitineered in the morning, but after that it was a case of enjoying our 20 minute sessions and sheltering from the unrelenting rain. The track was unbelievably wet and slippery and our first session was started behind a course car, which I thought was going stupidly slowly until I started sliding and wheel spinning just trying to keep up. I was at the front of the group and could see virtually nothing, but built speed up slowly and started to leave the other guys behind. During our second session I got more confident and started trying different lines and looking for grip off line. I also started overtaking a few of the slower guys which felt fantastic. By the end of the fourth session I felt I was really getting on top of the car and the conditions, overtaking plenty of cars and not getting overtaken myself. I know it wasn't a competitive event, but it helped give me confidence in my driving. It was by far and away the most fun I have ever had in a car and a fantastic opportunity to practice very delicate car control. Visibility at points was near zero, with my screen misting up badly and the only way of telling where the track went being to follow the rain light of the car in front, but it was unbelievable fun and a good gauge of who will be quick in our coming races. I was pleased with the way I had driven and left the circuit late that afternoon with some really positive feedback from the tutors and my car still in one piece, which put me on a real high. If our races are half as much fun, then it is going to be an incredible year.

The Set-up Day

Today I went to the "Academy Set-up Day", a new addition to the Academy calendar held down at the Caterham Dartford factory, which is geared towards helping us get a better understanding of basic car set-up. It has been established this year following feedback from previous groups and a desire to help us keep costs down by showing participants that they don't need to go to race teams and spend a fortune getting their cars set-up. It was an excellent morning.

We started at 10am, as usual, with a cup of tea and a good chat with new and old faces alike, before being separated into our groups. My group started by going to the "skunk works", which was really a small building a couple of doors down from the factory where we got to have a close look at the new Caterham SP300R. This was a really exciting opportunity and the car really was a very impressive looking bit of kit, sold to us as what we would all be driving in 5 years’ time if we followed the Caterham motorsport ladder all the way up. At the best part of £70k (excluding VAT) that may be wishful thinking, but one can always dream.

After this we went back to the factory to be shown the production line, which was quaint and fascinating at the same time. The thing that amazed me most of all was the number of different car specifications that the guys building the cars have to deal with. There were a lot of left hand drive cars on the line when we were there and there were all number of strange exhaust systems, mirror mounting points, lighting set-ups etc. It really is like stepping back in time with about 30 cars on trolleys and not a robot in sight. Just how you would imagine and want it, albeit more sophisticated than the garage I built mine in!

After this we were taken over to a car in one of the service bays where the guys talked us through tyre pressures, camber, castor, toe in/out, anti-roll bars, corner weights and ride heights. The aim was to try and explain how each of these settings affects the car and the rough parameters that we should be looking to work within, before finding our own preferences. I had a reasonable understanding of these parameters before going in, but it was a really useful refresher and as always the guys patiently answered all of our questions, no matter how silly.

We finished around 1pm, but before leaving I popped into the parts office to pick up some race spec brake pads, a thicker front anti-roll bar and some nylon wing bolts so that I now have all I need to finish preparing my car next weekend. After that I have booked the car into Caterham to have a flat floor set-up done, which they are offering to us at £50 and is a real no-brain decision as far as I am concerned. I am also looking to get a bag seat made up at the same time as I am just too tall to fit the tillet seats properly. It is fine on the road, but with a helmet on my head is too close to the top of the rollcage. It will be yet more money, but Caterham really are doing all they can to help take as much of the sting out of the tail as possible. Today was another excellent example of that.

The ARDS Day

Yesterday was the Association of Racing Drivers Schools (ARDS) day for the Group 1 Academy gang…..the day where we were all going to be tested to see if we were ready to be given a racing license. I didn’t really know what to expect as we hadn’t been told a great deal about the day, or the test, and there wasn’t a great deal of information available on the Internet that I could find. We had been sent the MSA Blue book (which is not an easy, or indeed required read) and associated MSA DVD to revise from, but I couldn’t find any sample papers to prepare myself with, so felt quite uncertain about what the day would hold. I needn’t have been worried.

The day itself started very early, with me leaving just after 5am from Hertford to try to get to Castle Combe for 8am (a journey of 130 miles). I didn’t want to be late, so left myself plenty of time! I also decided that with the melting of the final few patches of snow it would be appropriate to try and put a few more miles on the Caterham, so wrapped up warm, dropped the hood, plugged in my i-pod and set off. I love driving at night with the roof down, but it was really rather cold and I was glad of a cup coffee and a few minutes of last minute revision when I got down to the circuit. Two of the other guys had decided to bring their Caterhams down as well, one coming down from somewhere well and truly up north (a 6 hour drive away), so I didn’t feel like the only other mad man there.

Once at the circuit it was nice to catch up with some old faces and introduced myself to some new ones at the same time. Everyone is very friendly and we were all quickly exchanging war stories of our build experiences and first track days (for those that have done them) whilst Jenny and Simon from Caterham tried to get our attention to start the day. They did a brief introduction before splitting us up into 4 groups for the day. My group started by watching the MSA DVD, before heading out onto the track with an instructor who showed us the circuit at 60 – 70% race pace in a Fiesta ST. I had never been to Castle Combe before, but it is very fast and flowing track that was easy enough to learn. It would be fun in a Caterham Academy car, but probably quite eye opening on a quick bike or in a single seater.

Whilst the first of our group went off for his track test I went off to pee in a pot and see the doctor. With eyes tested, blood pressure taken and some intimate question asked, it was back to the car for my turn on the track. I did eight laps - five with the instructor instructing, then three with him observing in silence. He was looking for a good understanding of the racing line, smoothness, consistency and good forward vision and all-round awareness. Basically they want you to drive at 60 – 70% race pace, but in a controlled and safe style, such that they would be happy to be on a circuit with you. Speed is not important! I passed the track test just fine, with positive comments on all aspects of my style, but a note of warning about changing down the gears too early and carrying a touch too much speed into some of the corners. I did however have to stop myself from really going for it when I was overtaken on the pit straight and remind myself that it wasn’t a race….not just yet anyway.

After the track test we watched the second part of the MSA DVD, before sitting the written test. The DVD really does give you all of the answers to the test, so this really was very simple. It consisted of approximately eight statements/situations, for which you had to write the colour of the flag that would be used and whether it would be stationary or waved. There were then approximately 20 multiple choice questions asking you what you would do in certain race day and racing situations. These really were common sense, so if you know your flags and have common sense then you really should pass this part of the test first time.

After lunch my group went off to the skid pan, where we spent an hour thrashing some very tired old BMW 3 series around an oily and very slippery circuit. This didn’t form any part of the test and was a great excuse to behave like a hooligan, spinning around like a fool with no danger to either car or self. After the skid pan it was back to the race centre for a talk with the Caterham guys on preparing the car for scruitineering. This was really useful and highlighted that we all still have a bit of work to do to get our cars ready for the first sprint. I think another day in the garage is required, especially as my car has been re-called for potentially faulty rear brake callipers that I also need to swap over. At this point we found out that everyone had passed their test, which was fantastic news and a demonstration of the fact that they really are looking for people to pass rather than fail. As ever the guys from Caterham did a fantastic job in preparing us all and generating an environment that was friendly, relaxed and where we could take another gentle step towards our first race with confidence.

After a long day at the circuit it was great to get back into the Caterham for the drive home knowing that I was one step closer to becoming a fully-fledged racing driver. The drive itself was long and cold, so I got home very tired, but also very pleased, with a Caterham well run in and in desperate need of a good bath. It was a very good day and certainly beat being at work!