Brands Hatch Test and Race

Brands Hatch Test and Race – Friday 26^th July – Sunday 04^th August:

I came back from Donington thinking that it was probably my last race of my season, but the following week my wife and I sat down and talked it through and agreed that I should finish off the year and that we should have a good chat about what I would do the following year. The compromise is that I will miss the Oulton Park weekend and spend the weekend in Portugal with her, minus the children. As far as I am concerned it is a sacrifice well worth making. Whilst currently 2^nd in the championship, I really don’t care that much about it, it is the racing and the results over the course of the weekend that excite me more. Without my wife’s support I wouldn’t be doing any of this and a weekend away in Portugal isn’t exactly a hardship is it?

Testing:

Having not had much time with Ben Clucas at Donington I decided to book his services again for Brands Hatch. We were scheduled to test on Friday 26^th July, along with half of the Brit Car series it seemed. This meant I spent a day dodging Porsche 911, Ferrari 458 and Aston Martin GT3 cars, which were unbelievably quick along the straights, but actually not a huge amount quicker through the corners.

The first session with Ben was a disaster. He was sat beside me and I drove like an idiot…his feedback was so overwhelming that I actually got worse and worse throughout the session as I tried to process it all and put it into action. The key challenge was my feel for the brake pedal, which I was treating as a binary instrument and this was upsetting the balance of the car. The one positive was that Ben says I have great car control, but that I was relying on it too much to get me out of trouble.

During the second session Ben took me out and showed me how it should be done, before coming back in and giving me a few laps on my own to try and put into practice what he taught me earlier. As soon as I was out on my own I started to feel as though I were driving better again; more smoothly and consistently, upsetting the car less during braking into and being more accurate with my acceleration out of each corner.

For the third session I went out again on my own to push for a time, eventually getting down into the low 56 second bracket, which was OK, but barely any quicker than I had been in the Academy the previous year. Once I felt I had gone as quickly as I could I handed back to Ben to set a benchmark time, which he did at 55.8 seconds, some way off what he is capable of but reflective of what was possible on a very hot day. Once back in the pits we looked at where I was losing time to Ben, which was mainly at Paddock Hill and Graham Hill bends.

During the final session I tried to put all I had learnt into practice and chipped away at my times until I managed a best of 55.9 seconds, just 0.1 seconds off Ben’s time. Shortly afterwards I found my limit and ran through the gravel at Paddock Hill at high speed, during which time the gravel ripped my passenger side rear wing in half. I know these are considered disposable items, but I was really pissed off with myself as I was still running my original wings and was very proud of the fact that my car had suffered no damage to date.

It had been a very productive day and I had learnt a huge amount from Ben, who is an excellent, but demanding coach. He gave me a number of new things to consider and made me realise that I had been over driving the car this year, using good car control to hold it all together, but not actually allowing myself to go as quickly as I could. It would be interesting to see how it all came together during the race weekend.

The week before the race itself I spent preparing the car, bolting on a new rear wing, changing my wheels, checking it over and generally smartening it up. As always what I thought would be a couple of hours work turned into 5 or 6 hours very quickly, despite my best efforts and practice at such tasks.

Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:

On race day I got up at 5am and drove down to Brands Hatch for sign-on and scruitineering. We had an early qualifying slot, so I didn’t have a huge amount of time to get prepared and ready. I had friends coming to see me race, but as with Donington we were operating a three group system in Roadsport, so I wasn’t sure whether I would actually get to race on Saturday or not.

Qualifying itself was a really interesting affair, with 38 cars on the very compact Brands Hatch Indy circuit it was very, very busy, with little opportunity to find a gap and get a clean lap in. I felt as though I drove reasonably well, backing off and giving myself space when required, and eventually managing to find enough room to put a 55.48 second lap in, placing me 4^th on the grid and 0.1 seconds behind pole man Pete Fortune. The upside was that this meant I would be racing on the Saturday in front of my friends, the downside was that in chasing that time I had taken another trip through the Paddock Hill gravel trap and ripped my brand new wing off! Luckily the Caterham team were on hand to sort it whilst I went to spend time watching the rest of qualifying with my mates.

As the time for the race drew nearer I started to get more and more worried that my car wouldn’t be ready. I had asked Caterham to look at the brakes, which were feeling very spongy, and when they did they noticed that the rear pads were shot. In the end I had a real panic and was strapped into the car in my race gear as the Caterham guys worked flat out to fit new pads and get me to the holding area just before the formation lap. They managed this, just, and I owe them a huge debt of gratitude and myself a big talking to for not checking the pads more recently. Even though they had been changed before Anglesey the new tyres give them a much harder workout than the old Academy tyres and I hadn’t checked them soon enough, which was a basic schoolboy error on my part…one that I won’t make again!

I arrived in the holding area for the first race last of all and only 5 minutes before we were due out on track. I would have to try and bed the pads in on the warm up lap and take it easy for a lap or two to get a feel for the braking performance. As it turned out I made an OK start from 3^rd place and was 4^th going through Paddock Hill Bend.  I got a good run up to Druids and thought I would go around the outside of Nick Portlock who had braked early. This was going well until I hit the cement dust that had been put down to cover up oil dropped in the previous race and it was all I could do to hold the car on track. Luckily I only lost one place to Paul Croll.

A lap later Paul went very wide at Paddock Hill Bend and I managed to squeeze through, but was instantly passed by Mike Evans and under pressure from Tristan Judge. Tristan passed me later that lap on the start finish straight, but I dived straight back past again into Paddock Hill bend, but noticed rather late that I had done so under yellow flags, so gave the place back and had another go two laps later. I passed Mike the following lap, but my battle with Mike and Tristan allowed Peter Fortune, Zoltan Casabi and Nick Portlock to make a break and pull a bit of a gap. Catching them was one thing, but passing another. I tried again to go around the outside of Nick at Druids on lap 15 and again was compromised by the cement dust (I wasn’t learning).

In the end a safety car was brought out to cover the race whilst a number of cars were retrieved from the gravel at Paddock. At the re-start I tucked right in behind Nick and managed to drag past him and out brake him into Paddock Hill bend. I was in 3^rd place with Zoli just in front. Two laps later I had got a better run out of Graham Hill bend and dragged past Zoli along the Cooper straight, just squeezing up the inside into Surtees. With 2 laps left to go I was in 2^nd place and a second behind Pete. Realistically I knew I wouldn’t be able to pass and catch him in that time, so focused on consolidating my 2^nd place and getting safely to the finish.

As I crossed the finish line I had a distinct feeling of snatching a good result from the jaws of defeat. I had made some silly mistakes that had sent me backwards down the field at the start and it was only luck that had seen me climb back up into contention again. Still a 2^nd place and a fastest lap wasn’t a bad way to finish.

Once back in the paddock I packed up my things, said goodbye to my friends and headed straight off into London for a wedding. It wasn’t until I returned the following day with the family that I noticed my rear anti-roll bar had become detached. This had happened on the test day and after qualifying and had been causing the car to roll around a lot at the rear and make me work much harder than I should have to. I reattached the bar and completed my usual preparation before heading off to line up in 4^th place for the second race.

Sunday Race 2:

I was determined to learn from my mistakes the previous day, so after a good start I slotted into 3^rd place behind Pete Fortune and Stephen Nuttall and was determined not to try anything silly in the opening phases of the race. This worked well until Pete and Stephen started scrapping with each other on lap 4. Pete went up the inside of Stephen at Paddock Hill bend and came out at the bottom slightly wide and slow. This tempted me into the fight and I tried to go up the inside at Druids, but there wasn’t really room and I tagged Pete lightly, getting us both slightly crossed up, but thankfully causing no damage or loosing us too much time. I was now well and truly involved and my initial plan had gone out of the window. On lap 9 Pete and Steve started scrapping hard again, allowing me to close right in. I slipped up the inside of Steve at Clearways, but he passed both Pete and I at Paddock the next lap as we both ran wide. As the laps wore on the battle got more and more fierce and Pete’s lines through Paddock Hill more lurid. At one point he went in so wide and so hot that he held the most beautiful power slide all of the way down the hill. As I came past him on the run up to Druids I gave him the thumbs up in recognition. A few laps later he was passed again and still sliding around. As he hit the bottom of Paddock Hill he shot across right in front of my car and my nose cone hit his rear lights…there was nothing I could do to avoid it.

Our battling allowed Max Robinson to get back up to us after a poor start from 3^rd place and as Pete ran wide again at Paddock, slowing me down mid-bend, Max came up the inside and passed me going into Druids. At this point we had been joined by Tony Mingoia, who I now had to manage closely from behind. Whilst great fun it was starting to get a little desperate. Stephen had used the opportunity to break free into clear air and had a lonely run to the line. I now watched at Pete and Max did battle for 2^nd and 3^rd, with Max getting the upper hand a couple of laps before the flag, up the inside into Surtees. Whilst right on his tail to the end, Pete crossed the line 3^rd, just ahead of me, with Tony Mingoia a fraction behind.

It had been a hectic, scrappy race, but one where I felt I had made few mistakes. I hadn’t gone backwards at the start and felt that driven well, especially given that my rear anti-roll bar had once again come adrift causing more handling issues. I was disappointed not to come away with a podium, but more disappointed by the damage that I had done to my wing and nose over the weekend.  My once immaculate 7 was now supporting a few cosmetic battle scars on its extremities, although thankfully nothing permanent.

It had been a good weekend with lots of friends and family present to watch. My car will need a good going over before the next race, but thankfully I have time given that I will be missing the Oulton Park round. I am slightly disappointed as it is supposed to be a fantastic track, but for me the next race will be the last of the year…roll on Silverstone.

Donington Test and Race

Donington Test and Race – Wednesday 10^th – Sunday 14^th July:

Testing:

My original plans for Donington fell apart just before lunchtime on Wednesday 10^th when my gearbox decided it had had enough. Having been frustrated by a lack of running time at the Friday test days in Anglesey and Zandvoort I had decided to do a midweek track day and give the Friday test a miss. I was sharing a new tutor (Ben Clucas) with a fellow Roadsport competitor, Ian Sparshott, and had just familiarised myself with the track again and started to build up pace, when my gearbox got stuck in 4^th gear. The crunch I had been experiencing changing from 3^rd to 4^th had been getting worse since Anglesey and the synchros decided that today was the day that they would finally pack in. I tried frantically to get a gearbox from Caterham and to see if one of the race teams present could change it and get me back out for the afternoon, but it was an ask too far. In the end I took the car back to Caterham Midlands, who worked on it the next day and had it ready for the Friday. I was also fortunate that Bookatrack, who were running both the Wednesday track day and the Friday test day, agreed to swap my Wednesday afternoon for a slot on Friday afternoon, so my preparation wasn’t as compromised as it could have been.

On the Friday, having spent the morning at school with Tabitha for her sharing assembly, I got in the car and drove up to Caterham Midlands to collect the car and trailer and be relieved of a large sum of money! I then drove up to Donington and got signed on for an afternoon of testing. It was a blisteringly hot day and the times a little down on what had been possible the Wednesday before, but I was driving much better thanks to some focused hints and tips from Ben that I had been mulling over for the last couple of days. The gearbox felt tight and certainly much better than it had been before it had expired, so the outlay had proved worthwhile, if painful. I had questioned Caterham on whether a gearbox should only last a season and a half of racing and was told that I was doing well…some of my fellow competitors were on gearbox number 3!

At the end of Friday afternoon my times were comparable with the faster guys there that day, but I knew there was more to come. Ben had posted a 1:22.6 second lap in my car on Wednesday and I was in the mid 1:23 second bracket. Even allowing for the heat that day, there was a good 0.5 seconds to be found. I mulled this over as I gave the car a good check over and clean, before packing away my things and heading back down to Daventry to stay with an old university friend and her husband. At this point I felt as though I was getting to know the M1 rather better than I would usually care to, but a thoroughly pleasant meal, a few beers and a comfy bed for the night certainly beat a night in a local hotel on my own.

Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:

On race day I was awoken at about 6am by my friend’s children, which somehow wasn’t quite as bad as being woken by my own. After a pleasant breakfast with them I made my way back up to the track for another scorching day in the paddock and qualifying.

Due to the number of Roadsport drivers exceeding the permissible number of cars on track, we would be split into 3 groups, each of which would race twice. Our qualifying position would determine whether we were Group A, B, or C (1^st = A, 2^nd = B 3^rd = C, 4^th = A etc.). Groups A vs. C would race each other on Saturday afternoon and Groups A vs. B and B vs. C on Sunday.

At the track I went through my usual routine fussing around the car, checking fluid levels, tyre pressures, wheel nuts etc., before going off to the weigh bridge to see what the car weighed with half a tank of fuel in. The weighbridge at Donington is a little on the antiquated side, but even still I was surprised to find that I was only just on the minimum weight limit (I am 14 ½ stone, so no featherweight) with half a tank of fuel in the car. I quickly returned back to the trailer and put another few litres of fuel in as ballast.

At around 10am I made my way to the holding area, about 30 mins before qualifying started, and was lined up 8^th in the queue of cars. Sat in the car in fireproof underwear, a race suit, balaclava and helmet, with no shade I thought I was going to melt…at which point I seriously considered how the F1 guys manage a 2 hour race in the heat of somewhere exotic like Malaysia! Out onto track and I made my way quickly past a couple of cars and into what I thought was clean air, but after a couple of laps Andres Sinclaire started to dice with me, so I backed off to try and find some space. I was circulating in the low 1:24 second bracket, which I knew was well off my true pace, but it took me a number of laps to find the time, which eventually came in one big chunk at the chicane, where I gained 0.6 of a second. For the rest of the session I kept chipping away at my time, then backing off to find more space when I messed up a lap. In the end I put in a 1:23.2 second lap, which was good enough for 2^nd place on the grid behind Max Robinson.

I was really pleased with the result given the frustrations and relative lack of running the previous week, but slightly frustrated at the same time as my qualifying performance put me in Group B, so I wouldn’t get a chance to race on Saturday. With the rest of the day to kill I contemplated driving home to see the family, but with the paddock party scheduled for that evening and the kind offer of a bed in Mark Forrest’s very smart camper van I decided to faff around with the car, watch some racing and have a few beers. As much as I love watching motor racing I now realise that all I really want to do is go out and compete, so whilst a nice day in many ways it was also slightly frustrating watching my fellow competitors racing without being able to go and join in.

The paddock party that evening was a great affair, with good food, drink and banter with a great bunch of mates. Caterham had brought an F1 and a GP2 car along to display, so we had great fun seeing who could squeeze into Jano Trulli’s seat (not quite my size I have to admit), before retiring to bed. Marks camper was fantastically comfortable and I slept like a log until about 5am when the planes from East Midlands airport started screaming overhead on take-off.

My first race on Sunday was at 11:25, so I spent the morning going over the car again and putting even more fuel in (I had been weighed at 622kg after qualifying, which is a little too close to the minimum weight limit of 620kg for my comfort), before heading off to the holding area to wait for the start. Because Max had raced the day before and wasn’t in my first race, I was given pole position, my first since Snetterton at the start of the year. On the start line I struggled to keep the car from rolling downhill whilst balancing the clutch and throttle for the best possible launch. In the end I made a reasonable get away and led into the first corner, with Stephen Nuttall slotting in behind me from his 4^th place grid position.

I led the majority of the first lap, but onto the back straight the inevitable happened and Stephen dragged past me and into the lead. I didn’t fight this as I wanted to get away from the chasing pack and knew that if Steve and I started fighting together we would only slow each other down. I followed Steve for the majority of lap 2, but onto the back straight for the second time I went to drag past him. I got past, but a few corners later he returned the favour. Our scrapping allowed Nick Portlock to close up. Nick came alongside me on the back straight, but going into the Fogarty Esses I held my line and just squeezed around the outside of him. This meant I was slow out onto the start/finish straight and gave Steve an instant 1 – 2 second gap that he set about consolidating. However on lap 5, going into Redgate Steve made a mistake and spun.

For the next 10 laps I worked on building my lead from the chasing pack, treating each lap as though it were a qualifier and focusing on being smooth and consistent. After the early excitement it was a rather lonely and boring race to the finish line 11 seconds clear of 2^nd place, with all the action happening some way behind. Whilst pleased with the result, it was something of a comedown after the excitement of the final race at Zandvoort a month beforehand. Still, a win is a win and it would be churlish to complain!

The second race later that afternoon was much better. After more faffing around in the paddock with tyre temperatures, fuel loads and the like, we lined up ready for the third Roadsport race of the weekend (my second). Max Robinson was on pole, with me alongside in 2^nd and Pete Fortune and Zoltan Csabai behind us. I made a good start and was battling for the lead of the race with Max, Pete and Zoli at the end of lap 2 when the race was red flagged due to a crash at the Fogarty Esses. Gavin Crawford had spun and an unfortunate Michael Sauer had collected him, causing quite a bit of damage to both cars, but thankfully neither driver.

On the re-start I again struggled to stop the car rolling on the incline and made a bad start, missing my gearchange from 1^st to 2^nd and putting me back several places. At the end of lap 1 I was 4^th behind, Max, Pete and Zoli, but being attacked by Paul Croll and Tony Mingoia. It took me a couple of laps to get back past Paul and until lap 8 to clear Tony. By this time Max, Zoli and Pete were some 4 seconds down the road. I made after them as quickly as I could and caught them on lap 10, just in time to see Zoli spin off at the Old Hairpin. As he spun, I had to lift off, unsure as to which way he was going, losing me a couple of seconds and contact with the leading two. I spent the next couple  of laps chasing them back down and eventually got onto Pete’s tail on lap 13. I stuck to Pete like glue, calculating that I would wait until the last lap to drag past him on the back straight and take 2^nd at the finish, but like all the best laid plans it didn’t go quite as expected. Coming onto the back straight for the final time, Pete backed me up in Coppice, but I still got a good run on him. He pulled to the inside to defend his line and I went to the outside. Coming into the Fogarty Esses we were side by side. We both braked as late as we could, but I couldn’t quite get around the outside of him. We both came out of the corner going far slower than usual, but with Pete a nose ahead. He took a very well deserved 2^nd and I 3^rd. The race had been brilliant, but I had made life very hard for myself by going backwards at the start, then having to battle up from 6^th place to 3^rd in the end.

With scruitneering complete, podiums and interviews done and the car packed away I said goodbye to my friends and made my way back to my family and normal life. I had found Donington a difficult weekend because my wife had been struggling with the children, who weren’t behaving very well, and we had started talking about the possibility of me having to give up. Whilst this isn’t something I want to do, it is something I feel I might have to if I am to keep my family happy, which ultimately is the most important thing to me. Racing is a wonderful experience, but ultimately a very time consuming and selfish one. I am lucky to have someone that has supported me for a year and a half, despite us having three very young children, and I won’t ever take that for granted. In my mind I am preparing for Donington to have been my last race…if it is then it will have been an unforgettable experience and one I am proud to have some success in.

Zandvoort Race Videos

Zandvoort Roadsport 2013 Race 1 - 7th Place to 3rd Place:

Zandvoort Roadsport 2013 Race 2 - 3rd Place to 2nd Place:

Zandvoort Test and Race

Zandvoort Test and Race – Friday 07^th – Sunday 09^th June:

Testing:

Before booking my testing at Zandvoort I had a dilemma. Thursday the 06^th June is my little girl Jemima’s birthday. I could either travel over on Thursday the 06^th and be sure of a full days testing on the Friday, but miss part of her birthday and incur the wrath of my family. Or I could enjoy her birthday and get the overnight ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland on Thursday night, but risk missing some of Friday testing. I chose the latter and am very glad I did…her 3^rd birthday party was fantastic.

Having watched 20 children destroy my house and garden, I loaded the car up onto the trailer and set of for Harwich. I arrived at 8.30pm ready of for an overnight sailing. As we set off I sat in the bar watching on-board laps of Zandvoort on YouTube hoping it would help make up for the fact that I was likely to miss the first session of testing in the morning. I was then discovered by Andrew Jenkins, one of my fellow Roardsport competitors, who promptly encouraged me to have a few more beers with him thus ruining my carefully planned preparation but ensuring a very sociable evening.

After a restless 5 hours sleep, we docked at the Hook of Holland and I got straight into my race suit and prepared the car (to the extent that the keys were in the ignition) whilst waiting to get off the ferry. At this point I was still hopeful of being able to make part of the first test session. These hopes were rapidly dashed by a delayed disembarkation, slow progress through passport control, and then even slower progress through the early morning Dutch traffic. It took almost 2 hours to complete what Google believes is a 1 hour journey and at various times I started to worry about whether I would even make the second test session, which would be a disaster given there were only 4 sessions available. As it transpired I arrived just in time to ask the boys already at the circuit if they wouldn’t mind unloading my car whilst I ran to race control to sign on.

I was rushing and in a bit of a flap, but once strapped into the car ready for the second session of the day it was time to concentrate on learning a circuit that I had never seen before, but that all of the guys that had been there since Thursday had been raving about. I hooked onto the back of Tristan and followed him around, trying to keep up without putting the car off the track and fell in love with the track immediately. I surprised myself by learning it quickly and feeling comfortable in no time at all, which was just as well, because I got perhaps six laps in that first session due to two red flag stoppages.

The third session was scheduled after lunch, just as the day was getting really hot. During this session I had plenty of track time and worked my times down into the 2min 05s bracket, which was possibly a second off the fastest guys at that time. The session was actually so long that I came off track before it finished as I felt I was cooking the car, the tyres and myself without actually going any quicker (I have found that knowing when to stop and give yourself a breather is an important part of testing).

For the fourth and final session of the day I focused on refining my lines through some of the quicker corners, where I knew there was more time to come. I was now down into the low 2min 04s bracket and very pleased with the progress I had made, so once again pulled off before the end of the session to give the car and myself a break.

Back in the paddock and changed out of my race suit I spent a couple of hours checking the car over and giving it a good clean (it is a sort of ritual for me now). I also changed my wheels and tyres as the days testing had finally killed my old set and I would need some slightly fresher rubber for qualifying and the races. After that Tristan, Scott, Gavin, Tom, Paul, Zoli, Andrew and I all settled in around the BBQ outside Tristan’s camper van and talked rubbish over a few beers and a few kilos of meat. It was the perfect way to end a great day. After which I headed over the road to the hotel for a bath and a good night’s sleep.

Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:

Race day dawned as bright and sunny as the day before. Having signed-on and been scruitineered the previous day and with qualifying scheduled for 11.25am it was a leisurely start with plenty of time for a decent breakfast. Needless to say most of us still arrived at the circuit pretty early and spent the next couple of hours fretting over our cars and what we were going to do in qualifying (the strategy around qualifying being actually really quite important).

In the end Peter Fortune jumped into his car and raced off to the holding area 50 minutes before qualifying was due to start, and like a line of dominos we all followed. As we stood waiting to be called out on track we all laughed at each other and our own competitiveness, which was such that we actually arrived at the holding area before many of those going out in the qualifying session before us. We all wanted to get out onto the track early and into some clear air for a few good runs and hopefully some good times.

I ran with a group of 5 or 6 guys at the front for the majority of the qualifying session and was pleased with the way I was driving. My times seemed to be in the low 2min 04s bracket again and I felt that I was quicker than the day before, so it was a bit disappointing to come off track and find I had qualified in 7^thplace. Max Robinson had qualified on pole with a time of 2min 03.6s, using two very good tows during his best lap. Stephen Nuttall was in second place with a 2min 04.0s lap and I was in 7^th with a 2min 04.2s lap. It was all very, very close and very dependent on who had managed to get a good tow or not. Regardless of my position I knew that there was going to be plenty of racing to be had, so didn’t feel too worried about the prospect of the race that afternoon.

Once back in the pits it was time to check the car over again, have lunch in the Caterham hospitality area and enjoy the sunshine and racing. Zandvoort really is a great place to be on a sunny summer’s afternoon.

Come the race the nerves returned and I lined up on the start trying to think through my tactics on the run down to turn one. In the end I made a good start a passed Nick Portlock almost immediately, before going around the outside of Michael Coulten into Turn 1 (Tarzanbocht). I was in 5^th place and circulating in the middle of the leading 8 cars. Half way through the second lap I passed Simon Bennett going up the inside into Renaultboch. I was 4^th and stayed there until lap 5 when I drafted past Max Robinson on the pit straight. By this time our group of 4 cars was a second or two clear from the chasing pack, but not really pulling away as we were squabbling amongst ourselves and slowing each other down slightly.

On lap 7 I went around the outside of Stephen Nuttall into turn 1 for 2^nd place and was starting to feel pretty confident. I chased Pete Fortune hard, but made a few small mistakes and never quite got the opportunity I needed. I was also busy trying to deal with a very determined Max, who drafted past me on the straight on lap 9, demoting me to 3^rd place. With Max, Stephen and I squabbling over 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Pete pulled out a very slight win and won his first ever race. Max finished 2^nd and I right behind in 3^rd.  It had been a brilliant race and lovely to see Pete finally win a race…since the Academy he has consistently been one of the fastest, if not the fastest driver out there and this result was really well deserved. You could tell by his podium celebration that it really meant something to him!

After the race and the usual trip through scruitineering it was back to the paddock to tell tales of the race and go over the car to make sure it was ready for the following day. A few of us had decided to meet for dinner, so after a trip back to the hotel and a well-earned shower we all met up for something to eat and drink on the seafront. A few drinks turned into a few more, then a few more, before finally finishing in the hotel bar at 3am. Thankfully my attempts to get everyone to go to Amsterdam for the night were scuppered by a lack of available designated drivers! It had been a brilliant day, with a real holiday atmosphere that everyone was clearly enjoying.

Sunday Race 2:

Sunday dawned cloudy and overcast after the beautiful sunshine of Saturday. Thankfully we weren’t racing until mid-afternoon, so I was able to get up late, have a big breakfast and take my time. I got to the paddock around lunchtime and still had plenty of time to go over the car and get myself prepared. With a 3^rd place starting position on the grid I felt confident for the coming race, having now gained an even better understanding of the track. I felt that I had over driven the car the previous day and that I needed to be smoother and more controlled to extract that little extra speed that might have seen me catch Pete the day before. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

As the lights fell at the start I couldn’t have predicted the excitement that was to unfold. I made another good start and went straight past Max before turn 1, slotting in behind Pete and following him closely for the first lap. I wanted to be smooth and controlled and not try to race to hard right from the start, but as we came onto the pit straight for lap 2 Stephen and Max both drafted past me. I braked late into turn 1 and went back around the outside of Max, so went from 2^nd, to 4^th, to 3^rd again in a few hundred meters….the scrapping had already started. So much for my plan!

On the 4^th lap Max and Michael Coulten both drafted past me on the pit straight pushing me down into 5^th place and allowing Tony Mingoia to climb all over the back of me. On the start finish straight the next lap he came past me, pushing me down to 6^th and making me feel as though I were getting mugged. I was going backwards, so clearly my plan wasn’t working!

I braked very late for turn 1 and drove around the outside of Tony, allowing me to hold onto 6^th place and then a couple of corners later Michael Coulten kindly went off-roading at Hugenholtsbocht promoting me to 4^th place again. At the start of lap 8 I was in 4^th place, but getting a good tow and braking as late as I dared into turn 1 I went around the outside of Pete and Max (and very nearly Stephen as well). Stephen held me off until the beginning of lap 9 when I got in his tow and went past him into the lead…this was more like it.

However it was still unbelievably close and surely enough a lap later both Stephen and Pete drafted past me on the start finish straight pushing me back into 3^rd place again...the racing was getting more and more intense as the laps to the finish counted down. Later that lap at Renaultbocht Pete made a mistake and ran wide and Stephen kindly followed him, allowing me to drive up the inside and regain the lead. This would be a lead I would hold for a whole 4 corners, before Steve once again passed me on the pit straight, demoting me once again to 2^nd place. Steve however had run slightly wide allowing me to nip back up the inside at turn 1. We then proceeded to run into turn 2 (Gerlachbocht) side by side. There really isn’t room for 2 cars here and it was getting very tight, so I backed out first and let Stephen have the corner. What I hadn’t realised at the time was that Max was actually on the other side of Stephen, half on the grass, and we were trying to go three into a corner that really only has room for 1 car at a time.

I emerged 2^nd and followed Stephen closely, trying to plan where to make my move. We were now on the last lap and I wanted to be first out onto the pit straight as I didn’t think I could draft by him for a win. I chose my moment coming into turn 10 (The Audi S) and came alongside, but Stephen came across and drove for the apex, leaving me nowhere to go. I had to brake as hard as I could, but just tapped his rear wing with my front wheel. He went straight on into the gravel, but re-emerged at a rather jaunty angle as we were exiting the corner, pushing me out wide. All of this had allowed Max and Pete to close right in and Pete nipped past as I was trying to recover the car. Two corners from the end and I was in 3^rd again…this wasn’t going to plan, but as we drove out of the final corner (Arie Luyendijkbocht) I got into Pete’s tow. Pete was in Stephens tow and Max was in mine. At the last second we all dived out of the tow and as we crossed the line, 4 cars together, we were separated 1^st to 4^th place by 0.1 seconds.

Stephen had held onto the lead by 0.035 seconds, from me in 2^nd and Pete in 3^rd 0.01 of a second behind me. It had been an unbelievable race and so close that as Stephen, Pete and I pulled into the pit lane none of us knew who had got what position. Despite coming 2^nd when I felt I could have won, I was extatic….it had been the most exciting race I have ever taken part in and my heart still races at the thought of it.

It had been a phenomenal way to end a brilliant weekend. The holiday atmosphere had been fantastic and the racing sensational (Jenny came up to us at the end of our second race and showed us her notebook, which now had teeth marks in after the final few laps of our race). So it was with a heavy heart that I packed my things away and headed back to the UK for work. An overnight ferry with a group of the Roadsport boys helped to delay the feeling of the inevitable, but all too soon I was back to work and thinking about the next race….roll on Donington in July!

Anglesey Preparation, Test and Race

Anglesey Preparation, Test and Race – Saturday 11^th – Sunday 12^th May:

Preparation:

After Snetterton I felt as though the car would benefit from a good going over. I had given it a good spanner check at the start of the season, but hadn’t changed the pads or any of the fluids, which I knew would really benefit from a refresh. I took the car over to Chris Wheeler at The 7 Workshop and asked him to give it a good service for me as I didn’t have the time. If I am honest the real reason for this, other than good practice, is that I felt the car was a little slow compared to some others on the straights at Snetterton and wanted to see if there was any friction in the drive train that could be removed with a good service. If nothing else the car would benefit from it.

Chris gave it another spanner check (everything was still fine after my earlier efforts) and changed the pads, flushed the brake system, changed the gearbox and engine oils. Chris found the vibration that I had mentioned to him I thought was coming from the gearbox when selecting 5^th gear at 100mph +, but said it wasn’t bad enough to warrant pulling the gearbox and having it re-built. I am almost certain it will need it at the end of the year as most of my fellow competitors have already had one re-build, but for now I can live with it. Everything else was just fine….so it seems as though I just need to drive the thing faster!

Testing:

I know this is going to sound as though I am stating the bleeding obvious, but from Hertfordshire Anglesey is a very long way. The reason for highlighting this is to get the first of my racing driver excuses out of the way – lack of practice. Anglesey is 300 miles from home, so there was no way I was realistically going to have time to do anything more than the Friday test day prior to the race.

I arrived late on Thursday night, after a 5 hour drive, to a cold and wind swept Anglesey paddock. Staying with Tristan Judge in his motorhome, with fellow competitor Zoltan Csabai was fantastic fun, but probably not the most restful, especially as fellow competitors Scott Lawrence, Tom Woodcock and Gavin Crawford were parked next door. It is a very social group and we turned in after midnight having put the world to rights over several bottles of Old Speckled Hen.

The following morning the track was soaking wet for our first session, so I slipped and slided my way around for 20 minutes trying to remember which way the circuit went and pick up any useful reference points that I could. It is a lovely circuit with plenty of gradient and some challenging fast turns, but it was the slow corners I was really struggling with. Still, I kept the car on the track, which was more than could be said for poor Scott, who managed to put a wheel on the curb at the Bus Stop and got spat into the pit wall. It was a nasty crash that left him concussed (thankfully nothing worse) and his car a real mess. It was a horrible way to start the weekend.

By the time we made it back out for the second session the track had thankfully dried and I was able to start pushing on. I felt more comfortable with the track, but was still far from mastering it. A quickest time of 1.44.7 seconds was great, but Stephen Nuttall and Pete Fortune were in the high 1.43 second bracket and believed that a low 1.43 second lap was on the cards if everything could be linked together. I still had plenty of work to do.

By the time the third session came around I was starting to suffer from a migraine and was driving around in a world of my own trying not to throw up in my helmet. With hindsight I should have given the session a miss and gone to sleep for a couple of hours as it was a complete waste of time going out. I did that once back in and whilst I felt much better for a nap in the tow car I was actually late for the fourth and final session. I was planning to use that session to scrub in some new tyres in case the race was wet the following day, so wasn’t “on-it” and only got 5 laps in anyway.

It had been a useful day, but far from as productive as I wanted or needed, with less than 25 laps completed. I was glad I had made progress in the 2^nd session, but quite honestly the afternoon had been a write-off. I was going to have a challenge on my hands come Saturday.

A pleasant evening out with the boys at a local Thai restaurant, a few beers and an earlyish night (before midnight) was a much better way to round out the day.

Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:

Come Saturday the weather had once again turned for the worse and we were greeted by a wet track for our 9.30am qualifying. I decided to ignore all advice (including my own) and change all of my cars settings. I put on the softest front roll bar and softened the back roll bar right off. This I reasoned would give me more traction and more front end grip. All it proved was that I am no race engineer in waiting…it didn’t work.

Once again I slid around the circuit trying to find any grip I could off-line, but towards the end was conscious of holding Tristan up, so backed off and let him past on what turned out to be the last lap of qualifying, just as the track was drying out. As a result I probably compromised my quickest lap somewhat and ended up qualifying a disappointing 9^th. I hadn’t been well prepared, I had made too many changes to the car and in all honesty I drove like a bit of a spanner, so couldn’t really have expected much more.

Back in the paddock I put all of the settings back to fully stiff (green front ARB and maximum rear roll-stiffness) and vowed to just get in and drive around any problems I found that afternoon. At least the car would be familiar to me and I wouldn’t be trying to learn it and the track at the same time.

Come the first race I made a great start from 9^th on the grid and got around the outside of Nick Portlock into Turn 1. I then slotted in behind Tony Mingoia and Zoli on the run up to Rocket. As they both went for the inside line I braked as late as I dared and drove around the outside of both. I then latched on to Andres Sinclair who drove off the track 2 corners later at Seaman’s. Coming into The Hairpin Tristan made an error allowing me to get a run on him and dive past into The Bus Stop. At the end of lap 1 I was in 4^th place. I spent the next couple of laps closing Michael Coulten down, before getting past him at Rocket as he made a mistake and ran wide. At this point I was desperate to try and chase Pete Fortune and Stephen Nuttall down, but instead spent the next 8 laps battling away with Tristan and Michael for 3^rd place, with all of us taking turns at the from. With 5 minutes to go I was in 3^rd and just starting to eke out a small gap, when Michael made a lunge up the inside of Tristan and I at Rocket. As I was turning into the apex he came flying past me. I had to turn out of the corner to avoid contact and in this one move I went from 3^rd to 5^th as Tristan took advantage of both of us being off-line. Three corners later as I was planning my come back the red flag came out.

In Parc Ferme Tristan, Michael and I were trying to work out what the final positions would be, but on the count back to the start of the lap before the accident (almost 2 laps prior) it was Tristan that was given the nod for 3^rd. This seemed like the fairest answer, especially given that he had actually been in 3^rd place when the flags came out, and I was given 4^th. It wasn’t my best result, but it had been a brilliant scrap for position and I had enjoyed the race with both guys immensely. It was brilliant to see Tristan get his first podium since the Aintree Sprint and know it won’t be long before Michael gets his first either.

All of this was put into sharp perspective however when we saw Rob Addison’s car, or what was left of it, which had caused the red flag. Rob had clipped the rear of a spinning car going into Turn 1 and had been launched into a barrel roll, turning over 5 times before coming to a rest. Mercifully he was un-hurt, if concussed, and managed to be discharged from hospital on Sunday morning after a night of observation. Two wrecked cars and two very lucky drivers. It was a sobering reminder of the danger of what we do.

Another pleasant evening eating and drinking in the paddock with friends helped us to forget the less pleasant events of the last 2 days and focus us on what really matters…having fun!

Sunday Race 2:

Sunday dawned heavily overcast and we all spent the morning busily trying to predict what the weather would do for our race, which was the first of the day. As we lined up on the grid it started to drizzle lightly, making the first lap a somewhat slippery affair and it got progressively worse from there on to the finish…it was really the first wet race I have had.

I made another good start from 4^th place on the grid and was up to 3^rd by The BookaTrack Banking. I slotted in behind Pete Fortune into Church and passed him up the inside into Rocket later in the lap. He took the place back 2 turns later at Seaman’s and I once again slotted in right behind him trying to get the slipstream up to The Hairpin. I moved out and came alongside, but at the apex Pete spun out all on his own and was thankfully missed by the 30 or so cars following, promoting me to 2^nd place. I spent the next few laps of the race trying to nibble away at Stephen Nuttalls lead (which was hovering at 1 – 2 seconds) and ensure I didn’t make a mistake and slip back into the grasps of Tristan and Michael who were a couple of seconds further back. At about half distance I made a conscious decision not to push too hard and to just drive for position. In the wet conditions it would have been very easy to make a silly mistake and throw a 2^nd place away, so I drove the rest of the race with my head, keeping a careful eye on my mirrors and managing the gap. In all it was one of the less exciting races, being quite processional, but it was certainly challenging to drive a circuit I still didn’t know that well in such challenging wet conditions.

After the race, podium presentations and scruitineering we all packed up and thanked our lucky stars that we were the first race of the day. It was a 5 hour drive back to Hertfordshire and during the journey I had plenty of time to reflect on the weekend. I was disappointed with my preparation and qualifying performance, but pleased by the way that I had raced. I loved the track, but was conscious that my driving style hadn’t worked as well there as at other circuits. I have plenty of refinements to make if I am to remain at the pointy end of the grid, as the rest of the field continues to get quicker and quicker, whilst Pete and Stephen certainly aren’t getting any slower! Most of all I reflected on very two lucky drivers and the responsibility we all have to take care of ourselves and each other whilst racing hard and competing fiercely.

Zandvoort in 4 weeks’ time will be a similar challenge to Anglesey, but I can’t wait for it. Motor racing really is very addictive indeed.

Anglesey Race Videos

Anglesey Race Videos – Saturday 11^th – Sunday 12^th May:

Videos from the 2nd round of the 2013 Caterham Roadsport season at Anglesey.

 

Race 1:

 

After a poor days testing leading to a less than ideal qualifying I lined up 9th for the start of race 1. A good first couple of laps had me up to 2nd and a race long battle with Tristan Judge and Michael Coulten. After a nasty accident the race was red flagged and on the count back I was given 4th place. Not a bad result given qualifying, but not quite as good as I was hoping for.

Race 2:

 

Race 2 was a tricky affair as the track went from greasy to soaking wet during our 20 minute race. Starting 4th I made another good start and managed to get 2nd place at the end of lap 1 as Pete Fortune spun off in front of me. I tried hard to close Stephen Nuttall down for the win, but without doing anything silly I couldn't quite get to him and made a conscious decision to drive for a safe 2nd, rather than a possible win or a possible off.