tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56186688451977724522024-03-18T21:13:43.022-07:00Caterham Academy 2012 - BuildCaterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-63841849813086677252021-03-01T06:27:00.000-08:002021-03-01T06:27:48.469-08:00Spring 2021 - Roadcar Refresh<p> Following a number of years as a Supersport race car and having last raced at the 2018 Birkett I decided I wasn't getting use from the car. I spent the winter of 2020 making the car more road biased, with road springs/dampers, a heater, a standard roll bar and a heater fitted.</p><p><br /></p><p>This was my first drive out of the car as road configured, which showed it to be greatly more comfortable and enjoyable, but hitting a pigeon at 60mph means more work to be done ready for the end of lockdown.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLx3dqOJIbb_mIngur8HRnJSWUKgeTXdghmz1Tu1zmwpK4ym-djWUTIo35kDW6NWB9u-PJCVMhK99Ry5vNo1z5IAubzHxAal_WHfC5drgmTvkV3EI7soZ_UpxufZ26TwsUHQvPyeNsHfP1/s2016/Caterham+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLx3dqOJIbb_mIngur8HRnJSWUKgeTXdghmz1Tu1zmwpK4ym-djWUTIo35kDW6NWB9u-PJCVMhK99Ry5vNo1z5IAubzHxAal_WHfC5drgmTvkV3EI7soZ_UpxufZ26TwsUHQvPyeNsHfP1/s320/Caterham+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7Bib8HDHuPoE-PLyxnBbt2xjaoavFVjwCuCaGl49OWaP2V89scuaX0VqFQSngbBzzBKgw-ucQqajZ6jDRAqkOJ51Rhk2v0dI2JIvVcpjesxztgrg1salQpVlPYXtjRtv75OiOLmPrkds/s2016/Caterham+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH7Bib8HDHuPoE-PLyxnBbt2xjaoavFVjwCuCaGl49OWaP2V89scuaX0VqFQSngbBzzBKgw-ucQqajZ6jDRAqkOJ51Rhk2v0dI2JIvVcpjesxztgrg1salQpVlPYXtjRtv75OiOLmPrkds/s320/Caterham+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxfUgjQ8JltfFvqPFnwXzG_9VdHSjvMYgd2MoRXtX3V-5y0xpMWuDQmDSLKzmp4G1q-PosMEhTXa3YxfdY7YVah2QosUB-BR4KZ4floihn0M5Y_qTeVgdIXjrv7R5aK63GqvF9sJvU-JvQ/s2016/Caterham+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxfUgjQ8JltfFvqPFnwXzG_9VdHSjvMYgd2MoRXtX3V-5y0xpMWuDQmDSLKzmp4G1q-PosMEhTXa3YxfdY7YVah2QosUB-BR4KZ4floihn0M5Y_qTeVgdIXjrv7R5aK63GqvF9sJvU-JvQ/s320/Caterham+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguh9kMdXZr-Y1bKxm34tcvYjc8MOHxXvqPBQmm4h-4I6vC4EAgpM2lbf83lhymTP8HItMeuMdSNUVS3g9Fy4ZuLJGhoZfr1FPb_lEvyoGlIPBSeBMzUFuvhisygKTsY25YWzoTqixKrC3u/s2016/Caterham+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguh9kMdXZr-Y1bKxm34tcvYjc8MOHxXvqPBQmm4h-4I6vC4EAgpM2lbf83lhymTP8HItMeuMdSNUVS3g9Fy4ZuLJGhoZfr1FPb_lEvyoGlIPBSeBMzUFuvhisygKTsY25YWzoTqixKrC3u/s320/Caterham+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KyQXU2Y1RFhLUdk4VHP4xX2PJ54dB-fksD2AJl5OF_8YRXdXayrFYTxDNTLHaq1S9EvHalpwaZwJ4WJ2WbtVjyCTmTnzPhZhy6HfO4N0kuMRc9fuCmuKPTXuRiPo1JAGcBfmGFlNSwCq/s2016/Caterham+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KyQXU2Y1RFhLUdk4VHP4xX2PJ54dB-fksD2AJl5OF_8YRXdXayrFYTxDNTLHaq1S9EvHalpwaZwJ4WJ2WbtVjyCTmTnzPhZhy6HfO4N0kuMRc9fuCmuKPTXuRiPo1JAGcBfmGFlNSwCq/s320/Caterham+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-9650076646405532622013-12-15T13:04:00.003-08:002013-12-15T13:04:37.289-08:00Silverstone Race Videos<div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strong>Race 1 - Qualified 3rd, raced to 3rd:</strong></div>
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<strong>Race 2 - Qualified 2nd, raced to 1st:</strong></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-80849860369971250082013-12-15T12:53:00.001-08:002013-12-15T13:02:18.544-08:00Silverstone Test and Race<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Silverstone Test and Race – Friday 18<sup>th</sup> October – Sunday 20<sup>th</sup> August:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It had been a while since I had been in the car, 2 ½ months in fact, as I had missed the Oulton Park round of the championship to go on holiday with my wife. As a result I felt a little rusty and out of practice before the final round of the championship at Silverstone, but a day checking and cleaning the car helped me to get my head back into race mode. A day at Silverstone testing was always going to be required to blow the cobwebs away, especially as I had never driven the track before and in theory I still had a shot at the championship win, despite missing the Oulton Park round. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Testing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had promised my children that we would hire a camper van for Silverstone (they always love playing in the other vans in the paddock), but after a day of phoning around and being unable to find anything with a tow bar I was getting a little desperate. In the end I managed to borrow one from a very generous friend just up the road from Silverstone, but this meant Thursday night was spent rushing around loading the car, collecting the trailer, driving to collect the campervan, etc., etc. Not the ideal way to start a race weekend in other words! In the end I got to Silverstone at about 11pm on Thursday evening, just in time to roll the car off the trailer and into the garage, before catching a few of the boys for a quick drink after their day’s testing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a restless night in the camper Friday morning dawned damp and overcast. In fact the track was sopping wet, so I went for a soft set-up on the car, using the Orange front ARB and the softest setting at the rear to try and generate better turn in and traction. I had only used this set-up once before, for qualifying at Anglesea, and it had been a disaster, so was a bit of a gamble. During the first 45 minute session I spent the majority of my time trying to find the wet lines. These were obvious at certain corners like Stowe but at others, like Vale, there seemed to be no grip anywhere at all. My v-box wasn’t picking up the start/finish timer, so I didn’t know how well I was going, but the car felt great and I felt pleased with my pace, compared to those around me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the second session the track had started to dry and my wet set-up felt horrible on the dry line, so I came in well before the end, feeling that I wasn’t learning anything useful and that I would rather save myself, the tyres and the car than continue at this stage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having stiffened the car back up over the lunch break for the third session, which was now on a dry track, I went out to see what my ultimate pace would be. With a working v-box I was now able to see where I was making and losing time, ultimately working down to a 1 min 20 second lap, which seemed to be in the right ball park given the amount of time I had on track.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the final session I left the car as it was and tried to work away at the fractions that I knew were still there, particularly at Vale, where I knew I was over driving the car and losing lots of time. To my frustration I couldn’t get below 1 min 20 seconds, which showed I wasn’t improving, but more importantly that I was over a second off the fastest guys (Stephen Nuttall having done a 1 min 18.8 second lap the previous day). I was a little disheartened that evening and spent another restless night wondering what Saturday would bring. I needn’t have worried too much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday dawned wet and overcast again, which was something of a relief as I knew it would be a real performance leveller. I wouldn’t claim to be particularly good in the wet, but I don’t mind it and knew that it would throw up a few surprises in qualifying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I spent the morning softening the suspension settings back off from the previous day (I was getting quite adept at this by now) and giving the car a general check over to ensure everything was in order. The facilities in the new Silverstone paddock making this no chore at all as we had all been allocated garage space in the Wing complex and, with enough room for at least 8 cars in each garage, we had plenty clean and well serviced space to work in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As we got closer to qualifying there was the usual scramble for position in the holding area, with many arriving 45 minutes ahead of our allotted time, which always amuses me greatly. I was about 10<sup>th</sup> in line and wondering whether this was going to cause me a problem, with a number of slower cars in front and the potential to be held up. In the end I managed to cut through the traffic within 2 laps and found myself in clear air trying to chase down Stephen Nuttall and Peter Fortune, my two main championship competitors, who were off out front. I didn’t manage it, but neither was I being left behind, holding a steady gap that gave me confidence for a good qualifying position. In the end I managed to secure a 1 min 33.26 second lap, which was good enough for 3<sup>rd</sup> place. Peter was on pole almost a second ahead and Stephen just behind, so I was pretty happy overall and certainly in a better mood than I had been at the end of the day before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the paddock there was plenty to keep me occupied before the race. As the morning wore on a dry line started appearing on the track, so I decided to go back to a full stiff set-up, and to give the car another quick check over just in case. I also had a few visitors arriving, including my mother who hadn’t been to any of my races so far and I think was starting to feel slightly guilty (she isn’t naturally given to motorsport, having once fallen asleep at a classic car meeting at Brands Hatch). It was lovely to see everyone, but I always feel quite torn between needing/wanting to spend time with them and focusing my time on getting myself and the car ready.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the race approached I was feeling more relaxed than I had done all year. Theoretically I could still win the championship, but realistically I knew that was going to be a very long shot. Second was a more realistic target, but having missed the two races at Oulton I knew that was also going to be a stretch, so I focused on having a good race and not doing any damage to the car.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I drew up at the start line 3<sup>rd</sup> place suddenly started to look like a bad place to be. Whilst there was a dry line around the circuit, off-line it was still very damp and in 3<sup>rd</sup> place I was very definitely off-line for the start. As the lights went out I tried to leave the line smoothly, but was swamped by those starting on the dry line behind me, as my rear wheels struggled to find grip on the wet track. I went from 3<sup>rd</sup> to 6<sup>th</sup> place in an instant, which meant I was in the middle of the action from the very beginning. I tried to make it all back up again going into Village on lap 1, but was on the wet line and had no grip, meaning I ran wide and lost all the places I had just gained. Out onto the Hanger Straight I was still in 6<sup>th</sup> place, with the 5 cars in front running side by side towards Stow. I was passed by Simon Ledger and pushed down into 7<sup>th</sup> place, but as we went into Stow I ran around the outside of Tristan Judge for 6<sup>th</sup> place, out braked Simon Ledger into Vale for 5<sup>th</sup> place and got a run on Max Robinson out of Club into 4<sup>th</sup> place. As we started the second lap I got a run on Paul Croll for 3<sup>rd</sup> place, only to find a Safety Car had been deployed and that I needed to give the place back. It had been a hectic first lap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We followed the safety car for three laps as the marshals cleared up three broken cars that had come together on the first lap in the mid-field. Unfortunately the cars were a real mess, but the drivers were thankfully ok. As the safety car peeled in I got a good run on Paul Croll again and finally got past for 3<sup>rd</sup> place going into Abbey. It took me a lap to catch Stephen and Pete, but as I did I was determined not to get wrapped up in a battle that would slow us all down and allow those behind to catch-up (I had done that too many times already this year). Towards the end of the 7<sup>th</sup> lap Pete got the tow past Stephen on the Hanger Straight and I made my move on Stephen around the outside at Stowe. Stephen then came back at me around the outside at Vale, pushing me wide on the exit and onto the wet AstroTurf. For a second or so I was very sideways and almost spun, but held it together and got back on the track having lost a couple of seconds to the leading two. It took another lap to catch them again and then the gloves were off….Pete, Stephen and I swapping places every few corners, lap after lap, and slowing each other down, which enabled Max Robinson to catch us and join in the fun. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">From that point until the finish the 4 of us swapped places every few corners, until on the last lap I got the drag on Peter and Stephen down the Hanger Straight and into Stow. With 3 corners left I was in the lead. However I out braked myself into Vale, as I had been doing all weekend, and ran wide allowing Peter and Stephen back through and only just salvaging a 3<sup>rd</sup> place finish from Max. It was a good result, but was a real missed opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had enjoyed the close racing immensely, but was really annoyed with myself for having thrown away an almost certain win, so it was with mixed emotions I parked the car up in Parc Ferme and mounted the podium to join Stephen as he was crowned a very worth Roadsport Champion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That night, we made the most of the brilliant facilities and had a gathering of friends and family together in our garage for a BBQ and beers amongst our cars. In and amongst it all we shared stories of the race and talked about what we were all going to do next year. The children chased each other around on scooters and I sat thinking about whether I could really imagine not racing again next year. The camaraderie and friendship being as good, if not better than the racing we had all enjoyed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The following day dawned equally damp and overcast causing more discussion amongst the Roadsport drivers as to the optimal set-up. Our race was late morning and whilst the track was likely to dry before we went out, I didn’t think it would dry completely and that off-line it was likely to remain wet. As such I made my switch to a wet set-up early on and enjoyed a relaxed start to the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having won the championship the day before and with nothing to gain from competing, except possibly damaging his car and losing points, Stephen decided to sit out the final race of the season. It was a real shame, but perfectly understandable. This meant I was promoted to 2<sup>nd</sup> place on the grid….something I wasn’t going to complain about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the start grew closer the clouds grew darker and as we drew up on the grid itself it had started to rain lightly. The soft set-up looked to be a good choice. As the lights went out I made a good start and dived into Abbey in first place, which I would hold for 5 laps. I managed to pull enough of a gap in the first few corners to allow me to break away from the chasing pack which Pete, who had started on pole, had got stuck in. I was driving sensibly, not taking any real risks on the wet track, but also not making enough of the gap I had started to build. I spent too much time looking in my mirrors being slightly too cautious, so as he broke away from the chasing group Pete reeled me in. On lap 6 normal service was resumed and we had started battling again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Each lap Pete and I would exchange places at least once, but managed to do it in such a way that we were not holding each other up and continued to pull a gap on those behind. Having looked at the videos from some of these cars afterwards I am glad, as it was absolute carnage with far too much body contact to be acceptable. As we came into the second to last lap we caught Bronek Masojada and as we went to lap him Pete went one way and got baulked and I went the other way and got through. This gave me a second or so and allowed me the breathing space I needed. For those last 2 laps I kept it as clean and tidy as I could, not wanting to throw away another win. As we went into Vale for the last time I was even more cautious than I had been all weekend, with Pete all over the back of me, but I had position and he wasn’t going to come past. As we crossed the finish line there was 3/100<sup>th</sup>’s of a second between us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was ecstatic. I had come 3<sup>rd</sup> in the championship behind two fantastic drivers, and now great mates, and had bookended my year with a win at both Snetterton and Silverstone. It couldn’t have been a better finish to the year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the joy of the podium I got back to the paddock to celebrate with friends and family, but the mood was a little bit more subdued than usual. There had been quite a lot of contact throughout the field, more so than in any previous race, and there were a number of cars with significant chassis damage and many more with bodywork damage which had been caused by some silly behaviour as well as the usual racing incidents. It was a real shame as over the last couple of years there has been surprisingly little damage given the closeness of the racing. It will resolve itself, but it was a bit of a shame none the less. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It did however make me reflect on how lucky I have been overall. In 2 years of racing the total damage to my car has been:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 x replacement front cycle wing – Flew off of its own accord at Graham Hill Bend, Brands Hatch, but was salvaged and re-used<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 x replacement rear wing – ripped off by the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend, Brands Hatch as a result of my mistake<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 x cracked rear wing – still on the car, but slightly battered from a couple of love taps from Peter and Stephen<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 x cracked nose cone – still on the car, but slightly battered from a love tap with Peter at Paddock Hill Bend, Brands Hatch<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 x chipped windscreen – still original (I think some of the drivers are on their 5<sup>th</sup>!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 x replacement gearbox – considered normal during a seasons racing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There has been no chassis, suspension or metalwork damage to the car at all, which my bank manager and I am thoroughly relieved about. With £300 worth of glassfibre from Caterham the car will look almost as good as it did the day I finished building it. After 2 hard years of racing that is something I am almost as proud of as the race results themselves!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What Next?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Silverstone Roadsport races weren’t quite the end of the year. The following weekend I drove the car up to Silverstone again, to compete in the 750 MCC Birkett 6 hour race, where our team of 6 (Tristan Judge, Zoltan Csabi, Scott Lawrence, Tom Woodcock, Jason Gale and I) came a respectable 8<sup>th</sup> overall and 4<sup>th</sup> in class on handicap. Sharing the full GP circuit with 60 other cars, from a Smart 4/2, to a Radical SR8, was a fantastic and really eye opening experience. After that the car was given some love and TLC, before finally being tucked up in the garage for the winter. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The annual Caterham Motorsport Awards Dinner was held at the end of November and was a final chance to catch-up with friends before Christmas. As I write this I am honestly not sure what I will be doing next year. I know for sure that I won’t be back to do a full year in Tracksport (the next championship up from Roadsport, but I am currently tempted by the Graduates championship). Already being time poor, but with major building work planned on our house likely to make me cash poor, I am not sure I could realistically do much at all. Having said that I now have the racing bug so badly, the thought of not doing anything at all genuinely upsets me. I will keep the car no matter what I do, it is part of the family, so I just need to find a way of getting my racing kicks without having to give up quite so much time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-79575105061015232162013-08-16T00:46:00.000-07:002013-08-16T00:46:51.087-07:00Brands Hatch Test and Race<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Brands Hatch Test and Race – Friday 26<sup>th</sup> July – Sunday 04<sup>th</sup> August:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup> 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?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Testing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<br /><br />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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>rd</sup> place and was 4<sup>th</sup> going through Paddock Hill Bend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> place and getting safely to the finish. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup> place and a fastest lap wasn’t a bad way to finish.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup> place for the second race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sunday Race 2:<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was determined to learn from my mistakes the previous day, so after a good start I slotted into 3<sup>rd</sup> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our battling allowed Max Robinson to get back up to us after a poor start from 3<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup>, 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<sup>rd</sup>, just ahead of me, with Tony Mingoia a fraction behind. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My once immaculate 7 was now supporting a few cosmetic battle scars on its extremities, although thankfully nothing permanent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-86705070361308473602013-08-14T13:48:00.000-07:002013-08-14T13:50:37.844-07:00Donington Test and Race<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Donington Test and Race – Wednesday 10<sup>th</sup> – Sunday 14<sup>th</sup> July:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Testing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My original plans for Donington fell apart just before lunchtime on Wednesday 10<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>th</sup> gear. The crunch I had been experiencing changing from 3<sup>rd</sup> to 4<sup>th</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>st</sup> = A, 2<sup>nd</sup> = B 3<sup>rd</sup> = C, 4<sup>th</sup> = A etc.). Groups A vs. C would race each other on Saturday afternoon and Groups A vs. B and B vs. C on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At around 10am I made my way to the holding area, about 30 mins before qualifying started, and was lined up 8<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> place on the grid behind Max Robinson.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup> place grid position. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup> 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!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>st</sup> to 2<sup>nd</sup> and putting me back several places. At the end of lap 1 I was 4<sup>th</sup> 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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>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<sup>nd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> and I 3<sup>rd</sup>. 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<sup>th</sup> place to 3<sup>rd</sup> in the end. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-72063555800150322662013-07-08T14:25:00.000-07:002013-07-08T14:25:15.032-07:00Zandvoort Race Videos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<strong><u>Zandvoort Roadsport 2013 Race 1 - 7th Place to 3rd Place:</u></strong></div>
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<strong><u>Zandvoort Roadsport 2013 Race 2 - 3rd Place to 2nd Place:</u></strong></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-2052478010410896132013-07-08T14:19:00.000-07:002013-07-08T14:19:31.294-07:00Zandvoort Test and Race<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Zandvoort Test and Race – Friday 07<sup>th</sup> – Sunday 09<sup>th</sup> June:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Testing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before booking my testing at Zandvoort I had a dilemma. Thursday the 06<sup>th</sup> June is my little girl Jemima’s birthday. I could either travel over on Thursday the 06<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>rd</sup> birthday party was fantastic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup>place. 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<sup>th</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>th</sup> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On lap 7 I went around the outside of Stephen Nuttall into turn 1 for 2<sup>nd</sup> 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<sup>rd</sup> place. With Max, Stephen and I squabbling over 2<sup>nd</sup>, 3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup> Pete pulled out a very slight win and won his first ever race. Max finished 2<sup>nd</sup> and I right behind in 3<sup>rd</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>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!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sunday Race 2:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>rd</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup>, to 4<sup>th</sup>, to 3<sup>rd</sup> again in a few hundred meters….the scrapping had already started. So much for my plan!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the 4<sup>th</sup> lap Max and Michael Coulten both drafted past me on the pit straight pushing me down into 5<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>th</sup> and making me feel as though I were getting mugged. I was going backwards, so clearly my plan wasn’t working! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I braked very late for turn 1 and drove around the outside of Tony, allowing me to hold onto 6<sup>th</sup> place and then a couple of corners later Michael Coulten kindly went off-roading at Hugenholtsbocht promoting me to 4<sup>th</sup> place again. At the start of lap 8 I was in 4<sup>th</sup> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I emerged 2<sup>nd</sup> 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<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>st</sup> to 4<sup>th</sup> place by 0.1 seconds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Stephen had held onto the lead by 0.035 seconds, from me in 2<sup>nd</sup> and Pete in 3<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!</span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-27482635012071530432013-05-15T13:38:00.000-07:002013-05-15T13:38:43.549-07:00Anglesey Preparation, Test and Race<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Anglesey Preparation, Test and Race – Saturday 11<sup>th</sup> – Sunday 12<sup>th</sup> May:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Preparation:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup> 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!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Testing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup> session, but quite honestly the afternoon had been a write-off. I was going to have a challenge on my hands come Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saturday Qualifying and Race 1:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>th</sup>. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come the first race I made a great start from 9<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>th</sup> 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<sup>rd</sup> place, with all of us taking turns at the from. With 5 minutes to go I was in 3<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>rd</sup> to 5<sup>th</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>rd</sup>. This seemed like the fairest answer, especially given that he had actually been in 3<sup>rd</sup> place when the flags came out, and I was given 4<sup>th</sup>. 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sunday Race 2:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I made another good start from 4<sup>th</sup> place on the grid and was up to 3<sup>rd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> 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<sup>nd</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-33195050983441918012013-05-14T02:21:00.001-07:002013-05-14T02:21:46.933-07:00Anglesey Race Videos<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Anglesey Race Videos – Saturday 11<sup>th</sup> – Sunday 12<sup>th</sup> May:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-5713220146201250502013-04-24T13:58:00.005-07:002013-04-24T22:46:27.717-07:00Snetterton Test and Race<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Snetterton Roadsport Testing and Races – Friday 19<sup>th</sup> – Sunday 21<sup>st</sup> April:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I last visited Snetterton in September 2012 (for the Caterham Academy round run on the 200 circuit), so given I hadn’t driven the track for a while and that I hadn’t driven the car in Roadsport spec on track at all, I thought I better get some practice in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I started off by doing an MSVT track-day on Monday 25<sup>th</sup> March, sharing a days tuition with Paul Hagen (an ex-Academy comrade also making the move up to Roadsport with me), using Ben Elliott who was offering a free day for those that bought v-boxes through him (something I had done over the winter). The snow had only just cleared from the ground, but conditions were surprisingly good, if bitterly cold. After a day of analysing data and doing plenty of track laps, with and without Ben, I got my times down from 2mins 22seconds to a reasonable 2min 18seconds (a good time, but some 2 seconds of the lap record). I was pleased with the progress I had made, but knew there was further time to come as I got used to the circuit and the cars new handling characteristics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Because I didn’t feel properly prepared and because I had missed the official Caterham test day at Donington earlier in the month, I booked myself on the test day at Snetterton the day prior to the race weekend. This was the first test day I had done, so I was a little nervous that I would be swamped by experienced racers in fire breathing single seaters, but to my great relief the test was sessioned and I was on track with other Caterham Roadsport and Tracksport drivers. With no coaching, but more practice and better conditions I gradually worked my time down to 2min 16seconds (very close to the lap record) feeling that if I could repeat it in qualifying it would put me at the pointy end of the grid.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the great advantages of these test days, apart from the extra practice it gives you, is that at least half of the grid is typically there, meaning there are plenty of opportunities for banter and a beer to compare times over afterwards. Having made good progress I spent the evening preparing my car for the following day before setting off to the pub for a well-earned pie and pint with 12 of the other guys, before settling down to a good night’s sleep in a local B&B.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come race day I was well prepared and in a good frame of mind for the task of qualifying. I made it to the holding area early and was 5<sup>th</sup> out onto circuit allowing me to get my head down and get some clear laps in. With 38 cars on the grid this was a real advantage. We are now allowed to run our v-boxes during qualifying and the races, so I was able to get a good sense of my pace as I went along. I spent most of the session trying to chase Stephen Nuttall (ex-Academy Group 2 champion) down, but never making more than a few meters up on him, before making a mistake and losing a small amount of ground again. As I went past the pits and into my final lap one of the Tracksport drivers indicated that I was in 2<sup>nd</sup>place, which I was happy with, but a great final lap and a 2min 16.05second run put me on pole by 2/10ths from Stephen Nuttall. I was delighted, especially being a second clear of Michael Coulten in 3<sup>rd</sup> place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After scruitineering it was back to the paddock to look at my data and go over the car again before the race later in the afternoon. I always seem to find things to do to keep me occupied, but at the same time I find it hard to supress my nerves while thinking of the prospect of leading 37 other Caterhams away from the start line.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our race was the last of the day and one I won’t forget for a while. I made a good get away from pole and led into the first few corners, closely followed by Stephen Nuttall and Pete Fortune, who had made a fantastic start from 4<sup>th</sup> place. Over the next 7 laps we got our heads down and started gapping the rest of the field, swapping places regularly, but not holding each other up. As we came into the latter part of the race we were all set for a great battle, with Stephen leading Pete, and me tucked up in 3<sup>rd</sup>place. But with 7 minutes to go the red flag came out for a car and driver stuck out on circuit. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a nerve wracking 20 minute wait we were re-started with Pete leading Stephen and I through turn 1 and into turn 2. At this point I made a slightly silly dive up the inside of both and was lucky that Pete saw me in time, delaying his turn in and giving me the space I needed. I got myself crossed-up and fell back to 3<sup>rd</sup> place as we exited the corner, but two corners later I dived up the inside of Pete and made the move stick. Stephen and I then spent the next 3 ½ laps swapping places regularly, with me leading into the final lap. Down the Bentley straight at the back of the circuit and with only 3 corners to go Stephen dragged past me to re-gain the lead. I stuck to the back of his car like glue and as we exited the last corner onto the pit straight slipstreamed past him to win by 0.03 seconds (less than a nose cone). To say I was delighted is an understatement. It had been one of the toughest races I had ever had, but by far the most enjoyable, being close but very clean and fair. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That evening I drove home to collect the family and return with them on the Sunday for race 2, which was scheduled for late afternoon. Once again the nerves started to set in around 2 hours before the race itself, but the atmosphere in the paddock on a beautiful sunny day in Norfolk was a brilliant distraction. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Starting again from pole because of my result the previous day I made a reasonable start, but Pete Fortune made a belting start from row 2 and out dragged me into turn 1. I then made a mistake trying to tuck in behind him giving Stephen Nuttall and Michael Coulten the opportunity to come around the outside. By turn 3 I was in 4<sup>th</sup> place and had a lot of work to do. I then spent the next 20 minutes having a huge battle with Michael as Stephen and Peter made a break for it, with Michael and I swapping places 18 times over those 20 minutes. It sounds like a typical racing drivers excuse, but Michaels car is very healthy and I found he had a couple of mph advantage over me on the straights, no matter what I did, but this was compounded by my inability to get out of the corners quickly due to tyres that went off mid race. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come the final lap I was just behind Michael in 4<sup>th</sup> place, before driving around the outside of him at turn 1. Michael stuck to me like glue and took 3<sup>rd</sup> place back two corners later. As we went into the final corner I was once again stuck to the rear of his car and managed to repeat the finish of the previous race, just out dragging Michael to 3<sup>rd</sup> place by 0.027 seconds. It was a hectic and very exciting race. It was the first time I had raced closely with Michael and whilst I was disappointed to have made the mistake at the start of the race that put myself out of contention for the win, I had another brilliant close and clean race, once again proving that the battle is more enjoyable than the result.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It had been a long 5 month wait to get back on to the track to do battle with the friends I had made in the Academy, but the wait had been well worth it. It was a great weekend with all the best ingredients in abundance; cars, close racing, beer, banter and laughter. It was a brilliant way to start the Roadsport championship and the prospects for the rest of the year have me really excited.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><u>Race 2 - 3rd Place:</u></strong></span></span></span><br />
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<br />Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-72242751480287116132013-04-24T13:55:00.001-07:002013-04-24T22:45:07.929-07:00Roadsport Upgrade<div class="Body1" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Upgrading:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">After the Caterham Autumn Trophy double header at Donington in October I strapped the car to the trailer, drove it home, put it in the garage and left it for a couple of months. It was time to forget racing and spend evenings and weekends with my family. I had burnt plenty of brownie points over the course of the year and wanted to earn them back by having good quality time with my wife and children. Apart from the Caterham Awards Dinner in November, I didn’t think about Caterhams or racing for weeks at a time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Just before Christmas I dragged the car out of the garage and took it down to Caterham Dartford for its Roadsport upgrade. This consisted of a set of Avon CR500 tyres (replacing the rock hard Avon CR322’s that we ran in the Academy) and a valve spring upgrade for the engine (necessitated by the lower profile, grippier, tyres and done to protect the engine from over revving). I gave the brake bias valve a miss as I didn’t think the cost worth it, but did buy a rear anti-roll bar kit to stiffen up the rear of the car. The grand total for this work came to a not inconsiderable £1,300.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The work was completed in a day, so the following morning I popped back to Dartford with the trailer and loaded the car straight on, ready for a trip around the M25 to DPR. Here the car spent a few hours having the suspension set-up adjusted to account for the new tyres (which have a much lower profile, so the ride height needs to be adjusted) and the rear anti-roll bar fitted. This little lot relieved me of a further £240.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The cost of the upgrades is not insignificant, but then I have learnt over time that nothing to do with cars, and particularly racing them, is. As you will see below, the upgrades fundamentally change the way the car drives, so I consider the cost a relatively small price to pay for another years racing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Driving:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Since the end of last season and having the upgrades made my time in the car was limited to; a brief run out on New Year ’s Day to the local VSCC meet, and an hours blast out through rural Hertfordshire on the one warm day of the year so far. It was therefore too early to tell what the car would feel like on the track, but on the road it felt noticeably different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">With the thicker Green front anti-roll bar fitted and the rear roll bar set to its stiffest setting the car feels really planted on the road. Much of this will be down to the new tyres, which offer vastly more grip than the old Avon CR322’s. The offset is that it rides harder and tramlines more, but these are compromises worth making, even on the road, let alone the track. The reduced rolling radius of the tyres also changes the gearing slightly, so the car is now much more keen to rev (it is just about possible to red-line it in top now), so it accelerates more keenly too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Overall it feels like an altogether more alert and responsive car, but the chassis is now better than the engine. It will be great fun on track, but a part of me is now longing for slightly more power (can you ever have too much?) to really give the chassis a proper workout.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Tinkering:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">At Rockingham the Caterham guys had told me that the radius arm bolts were lose, so I started my winter preparation with a complete nut and bolt check across the car. This took a good half a day, but thankfully revealed that all was still well and nothing was going to fall off any time soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I also used this time to replace the front wing stays for lowered versions. With the new lower profile tyres the wings on the old front stays were sat a good couple of inches above them and whilst this isn’t a problem it did look slightly odd. The change was relatively quick and painless, with the only fiddle being the need to disconnect the front brake hoses and therefore bleed the brakes again. With new lowered wing stays and fresh front wings fitted (the old stays and wings will be used as spares) the car looked great again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Final preparation a few weeks later involved a good clean of the car, which was starting to look like it would benefit from a few hours with a polishing rag and some aluminium polish. Removing the old race stickers and replacing them with new ones took a whole day, but after a good clean the car looked like new again. Other than that all is well. I know a number of the guys have had their gearboxes re-built, but with limited track mileage completed last year mine still feels fine and I will see how I get on with it before making that investment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I just can’t wait to get the old girl back out on circuit again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Awards Dinner:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The awards dinner in November was a fantastic event, with several hundred people from the world of Caterham racing present and the 2013 Academy crew well represented. Caterham had made a big effort and brought along not only examples of the 7 range, but also an SP300 and a 2012 F1 car. My rather drunken request to sit in it was met with laughter and a rather cheeky response that I wouldn’t fit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The videos, speeches and presentations made the atmosphere of the evening fantastic and got us all excited to get back out on circuit for the following season. I am sure this was a big contributing factor to the record number of Academy drivers signing up for the Roadsport championship, with some 40 plus drivers making the move up, including Group 2 champion Stephen Nuttall. It is going to be a brilliant year! </span><br />
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-47274181016227212282012-12-06T06:18:00.001-08:002012-12-06T06:18:29.347-08:00Season Summary<div class="Body1" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><u><strong>Academy Season Summary:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">It is just over 2 years since I took my family down to Caterham South to place a deposit on the 2012 Caterham Academy. Making the decision to enter was not the work of a moment for me, in fact I delayed my decision once and almost pulled out before finally taking the plunge. I knew I wanted a 7, but I was originally toying with a second-hand R3/4/500 for track-days and Sunday blats, however like all of the best laid plans one thing lead to another. In the end a desire to build my car and knowing that I couldn’t afford anything more than a new Roadsport, along with a dose of man logic that an saw an Academy car as essentially a Roadsport with a years racing thrown in for free, helped make the decision for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Eleven months later my kit arrived at my parents’ house ready for me to start assembly. I hadn’t coped particularly with the intervening period and only managed to keep myself sane by re-joining the club, going to the odd meet, reading and re-reading the build manual and watching endless YouTube clips of Caterham racing. When my kit arrived it was like Christmas, birthdays and a promotion at work all rolled into one. My first brand new car and I had 2 weeks to enjoy the process of seeing it come together in front of my eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><u><strong>Build:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">With rose tinted spectacles firmly on I would say the build was a wholly fantastic experience, but if I force myself to look back at it more realistically then I would describe it as a thoroughly rewarding but at times maddening experience. I have never felt such satisfaction (starting the car for the first time), but also such frustration (having to take the diff out for the 3<sup>rd</sup> time) in anything that I have done before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Would I do it again? Yes, without a shadow of doubt, but I would do it differently. I put myself under huge pressure to build my car in 2 weeks. I have a young family and don’t have a garage at home, so tried to pack the build into a short period of holiday from work to keep everyone happy. Next time (and I do hope there will be a next time) I would take my time and make sure I had a space at home that allowed me to pop out and tinker for an hour or two each evening, rather than slog away for 10 – 14 hour days on my own in my parents garage, away from my family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I said at the time, with ever increasingly stringent legislation who knows how long it will be before building your own car is outlawed. I hope I never see the day, but knowing I have done it gives me a huge sense of pride and a much better understanding of the machine I am racing. To work hard and buy the car of your dreams, then to work hard and build it for yourself is a pretty unique experience and one I feel proud to say I have done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><u><strong>Preparation:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">With the excitement of the build gone the wait for the first competitive event seemed as though it would last forever, but Caterham very cleverly used the winter period to keep us engaged via a number of dedicated events; Introductory Seminar, Factory Visit and Set-up Day, Handling Day, ARDS Day and finally the Test Day. On top of this I added a trip to the AutoSport Show to get hold of my race gear and spent plenty of time preparing the car for racing. Far from being a quiet time, I was struggling to fit everything in. Others were using the time to do plenty of testing/training (quite how much became apparent at the early sprints).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">My favorite event, by quite some way, was the test day at a sodden Castle Combe in early April. This was my first venture out onto track and was a truly eye opening experience. In conditions that would have stopped an F1 race we slithered, slipped and spun our way around the track together for the first time. I think on that day many of us managed to scare ourselves into finally realising that we weren’t an F1 driver waiting to be discovered. We were amateurs trying very hard to balance our own fear/excitement ratio. It was a baptism of fire for all of us, but I loved it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><u><strong>Sprints:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Looking back at the sprints it would be easy to dismiss them as frustrating and a lot of effort for minimal reward, but I think that would be an unfair assessment. The sprints were a great introduction to motorsport. They offer the thrill of speed and competition, but with far less risk of damage to either car or driver. It is very easy to see why Caterham get Academy drivers to take part in them before going wheel to wheel racing later in the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Our first event at Aintree was fantastic. I still remember the feeling of excitement arriving at a race course knowing that I was going to compete, in my car, for the very first time in my life. Aintree is a long way to go (for most) for less than 10 minutes driving and the course itself is not particularly interesting, with only three main corners, but that paled into insignificance because we were finally about to do what we had waited so long to do. A 4<sup>th</sup> placed result was a reasonable start, but I was close to a podium and the competitive spirit within me wanted to stand on it at least once during the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Curborough a few weeks later was better still. The small clubby atmosphere and fantastic weather helped make it a thoroughly enjoyable event. That it was my first win also helped slightly. The track is tight, twisty and narrow. It is a place that you could spend years trying to master (as many of the club speed championship members do) and still derive great pleasure from. I loved it and was really starting to get a taste for the competition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">By the time we got to Snetterton I think we were all starting to feel ready for the circuit races. The day was enjoyable and the competition fierce, but many of us were looking forward to doing more driving and less standing around, for you really do a lot of waiting at sprints. Another win was a nice reward for the final sprint, but the question for me was could I convert sprint pace into race results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The sprints required us to try and put our best qualifying lap together on each and every run and at venues that we hadn’t seen before. No amount of YouTube videos can quite prepare you for the un-known and that was both the thrill and frustration. For those that got it right there was a feeling of great satisfaction. For those that got it wrong there was the sense of un-finished business. I can see why people go back time and again to try and master a course. I had enjoyed my sprinting experience, but was ready to move on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><u></u></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><u><strong>Races:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The races are where the excitement really started to ramp up. After all, this is what we had all been working towards and waiting for since we placed our deposits, in my case 18 months previously. I will never forget the mixture of nerves and excitement of that first race at Donington. They subsided slightly at the later events, but not by much. No track day has come close to giving me the same buzz since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The thought of Donington kept me awake most of the previous week. I couldn’t sleep for the thought of getting out onto track and racing against 25 other cars. I may have been quick at a sprint, but would I know how to overtake? Would I crash into someone else trying to get past in a silly move? or would someone do it to me? Would I remember all I needed to from the Blue Book? In the end it was a short race, with a mid-field crash putting us behind the safety car for several laps. In the short number of racing laps that we had I experienced a high unlike anything else and a lucky win was the outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Brands Hatch a few weeks later was another great weekend. A fantastic circuit on a nice day and a very clean race. I lost out at the start to Scott Lawrence, but passed him on lap 2 and had a slightly lonely drive to the finish. This time the main enjoyment was in driving a great circuit as smoothly and cleanly as possible, without doing anything silly and throwing away the lead. I didn’t and was starting to think about the championship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Snetterton was our first weekend long event and despite only having 15 minutes of qualifying and a 15 minute race it was a packed weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings were spent marshaling on the circuit for extra points in the championship. It was a very worthwhile experience to get an insight into the dedication of the marshals that support us. The race itself was a relatively straight forward affair as I led from lights to flag, but no less enjoyable for that. Snetterton really is a lovely circuit to drive and the weekend had been fantastic fun with a brilliant atmosphere in the paddock all weekend. We were all becoming good friends by this time, rather than a group of people thrown together around a common passion. A win and the championship was the icing on the cake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">With the championship in the bag I approached Rockingham a little differently to the other events. From the trackday I had done there a couple of weeks before I knew I didn’t like the track as much as the others and with my brain not fully in gear had my worst qualifying of the year for 3<sup>rd</sup>. At the start I got swamped and was down to 5<sup>th</sup> place at the end of the first lap, however the fight back to briefly take the lead on the last lap and eventually finish second proved it to be the best race of the season so far. It proved to me that the race, not the result was the most important thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A few weeks after Rockingham 35 Academy drivers, from both Group 1 and 2, returned to Donington for the post season Caterham Autumn Trophy. Two 20 minute races thrown on by Caterham for those that hadn’t quite had enough racing for the year. The anticipation was high as it would be the first time that Group 1 and Group 2 had competed together and we would finally get to see who was the quicker. After a fog delayed start both races were shortened to 13 minutes, but this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm. With no time for qualifying we were placed on the grid in championship finishing order, so I was fortuitously gifted a pole. Stephen Nuttall (Group 2 champion) wasn’t there, so I had Pete Fortune (Group 2 runner up) sat next to me. After a year of Group 2 telling Group 1 they were quicker (and quite frankly me believing it) I expected Peter to romp off into the distance with Danny Killeen (4<sup>th</sup> on the grid). In the end Peter, Danny, Matt Dyer and I spent the next 13 minutes racing nose to tail, with all of us taking the lead at various points and places swapping at least twice a lap. It was an epic battle and one I was lucky enough to come out on top of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The grid for the second race was decided on the result of the first, so I was once again gifted a pole (I was starting to feel like a very lucky boy indeed). Starting in almost total darkness I held the lead for most of the first lap before being overtaken by Danny and Peter. After Peter and Danny had a slight coming together on lap 4 I was gifted the lead once again, which I held to the finish despite the best efforts of Matt Dyer and Nigel Board who both came past me at some point during the race, only for me to regain my position up front. I finished my final race of the year with another win and the perfect finish to a dream year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The races were a dream come true and the improvements we all made throughout the year were incredible. By the end I trusted the guys around me implicitly, whereas at the start I wasn’t quite sure. We were driving faster, making fewer mistakes and enjoying ourselves even more. We had become proper racing drivers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><u></u></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><u><strong>Costs:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The Academy is billed as one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get into motorsport and of that I have little doubt, but it remains bloody expensive. Now this is all relative. Motorsport in general is hideously expensive, but when I sat down and ran through the cost to me at the end of the year (below) I was surprised by just how much I had spent. I deliberately tried not to think about it during the year as I wanted to focus on just enjoying myself and I highlight this only so that others who are thinking about it will go in with eyes completely open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 589px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 6582; mso-width-source: userset; width: 135pt;" width="180"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 7094; mso-width-source: userset; width: 146pt;" width="194"></col><col style="mso-width-alt: 5522; mso-width-source: userset; width: 113pt;" width="151"></col><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="140" rowspan="7" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 105pt; width: 135pt;" width="180"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Purchase</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; width: 146pt;" width="194"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Basic Car</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; width: 113pt;" width="151"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; width: 48pt;" width="64"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£18,894</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Seats</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£725.11</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Quick Release Wheel</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£275.75</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Harnesses</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£132.77</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Weather Gear</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£464.68</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Lowered Floor</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£326.81</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Starter Button</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£45.96</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="260" rowspan="13" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 195pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Build</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Delivery</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£194.04</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Tools</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Halfords</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£300</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Fluids</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Sam Centre</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£200</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Post Build Inspection & Fix</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£662</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">IVA Presentation</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£354</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">IVA</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">VOSA</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£450</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Registration</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">DVLA</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£55</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Road Tax</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">DVLA</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£215</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham Bag Seat</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£100</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham Set-up</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£250</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Service</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">7 Workshop</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£180</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">DPR Set-up & Adjustments</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">DPR</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£379.80</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">HANS Modification</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Arch Motors</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£240</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Repairs</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">New cycle wing</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£54</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="140" rowspan="7" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 105pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Race Gear</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Helmet</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Demon Tweeks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£450</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">HANS Device</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Demon Tweeks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£450</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Race Suit</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Demon Tweeks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£550</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Nomex</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Demon Tweeks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£100</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Boots</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Demon Tweeks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£50</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Gloves</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Demon Tweeks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£100</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Miscellaneous</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham/Demon Tweaks</span></td><td align="right" class="xl70" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£100</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="40" rowspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 30pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Trailer</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Trailer Purchase</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Private Purchase</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£1,000</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Trailer Service</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">GT Towing</span></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£518.46</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="40" rowspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 30pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Insurance</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Road</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">REIS</span></td><td align="right" class="xl65" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£553</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Track</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">REIS</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£1,600</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="100" rowspan="5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Trackdays</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Snetterton 300</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Javelin</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£179</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Donington</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">BaT</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£295</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Brands Hatch</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">MSV</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£295</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Snetterton 200 (evening)</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Javelin</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£89</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Rockingham</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">BaT</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£240</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="100" rowspan="5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 75pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Tuition</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Snetterton 300 (Solo)</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Ben Elliott</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£345</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Donington (Shared)</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Ben Elliott</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£149</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Brands Hatch (Shared)</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Ben Elliott</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£149</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Snetterton 200 (evening) (Shared)</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Ben Elliott</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£60</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Rockingham (Shared)</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Ben Elliott</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£149</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="40" rowspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 30pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Extra Non-Championship Race</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Donnington Autumn Cup</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">BRSC</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£375</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham Support</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Caterham</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£30</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="40" rowspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 30pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Fuel</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Race Car Approximately 700 litres</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Various</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£950</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Tow Car Approximately 800</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Various</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£1,080</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="40" rowspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 30pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Accomodation</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Aintree Sprint</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Premier Inn</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£80</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Sneterton Race</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">B&B</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£80</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl63" height="40" rowspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: black 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 30pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Photography</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Photos throughout the year</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Rachel Horgan</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£125</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl64" height="20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Year Book</span></td><td class="xl64" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Rachel Horgan</span></td><td align="right" class="xl69" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">£110</span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl71" colspan="4" height="20" style="background-color: #d9d9d9; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;"> </span></td></tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl74" colspan="3" height="20" style="background-color: yellow; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-right: black 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext 0.5pt solid; height: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">Total</span></td><td align="right" class="xl77" style="background-color: yellow; border-bottom: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-left: windowtext; border-right: windowtext 0.5pt solid; border-top: windowtext;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Gill Sans MT; font-size: x-small;">34515.11</span></td></tr>
</tbody></colgroup></table>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I ran the season as cheaply as I felt able to and in reality could have shaved £5,000 off the total cost had I not bought a trailer, not taken coaching, not got a HANS device, stayed in a tent rather than hotels etc. But had I done that I am not sure I would have enjoyed the experience as much. If I had my time again I would do it in exactly the same way. The only additional item I might consider buying would be a V-Box to help with analysis on track days, but that really would be it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Many others spent an awful lot more than I did. Some were doing lots of track and test days. Some had 3 or even 4 sets of tyres (I ran with one set of tyres all year and they are still good for another couple of races), some spent a lot with race teams. This may well have helped a little, but it really isn’t necessary. Caterham tell you this at the beginning of the year and it really is true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><u></u></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><u><strong>Golden Nuggets:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If I can provide any advice to those thinking of taking the plunge, these are the things I would focus on. There are a myriad of other recommendations and suggestions, but these are my golden nuggets: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Build your car – No matter how mechanically inept you think you are you can build a 7. It is not as difficult as you might think and the reward from doing so is fantastic. It is frustrating at times, but it will give you a much better appreciation of how the car works and how to work on it when things go wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Set-up – Put 500 miles on the car as quickly as you can to let the suspension settle and then get it properly set-up. The out of the box factory set-up on my car was not great, but after I had driven it for a few months and taken it back to Caterham for the flat floor it was fantastic. Don’t get too hung up on who does it (Caterham, DPR, SPY, etc.) they will all do a very good job and make it much better to drive. I won 2 sprints with a Caterham set-up and 5 races with a DPR set-up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Track time – Get out on track and spend time really pushing the car to the limits. However don’t feel as though you have to do dozens of track days. One day at the start of the year to get your eye in, then one day at each of the tracks you will be racing at so you know which way it goes come qualifying will be just fine. Don’t get psyched out by those that do a very great deal more, they won’t necessarily be quicker as the law of diminishing returns very much applies. 4 ½ track days was what I did and I didn’t feel as though I needed to do any more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Tuition – Get some tuition as soon as possible, but as above don’t go mad. A day at the beginning of the year and then a day at each track before you go there (this can be shared with others to help keep costs down) will be plenty and will make the biggest difference to your driving throughout the year. I used Ben Elliot, who was fantastic and probably found more time from me that I would have found from a set of CR500’s and a Supersport upgrade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Time – Make sure you allow at least twice as long for each job as you think it will take. I couldn’t believe how much time everything took. From loading the car onto the trailer (probably the best part of an hour the first time you do it) to putting on all of the racing decals (probably 3 hours). Everything takes time. Accept it, account for it and get super organized so you aren’t in a flap the night before an event. Also, warn your family so they know what to expect!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Enjoy it - You won’t get talent spotted, so don’t get hung up on where you finish. Those that put pressure on themselves to win inevitably enjoyed the experience less than those who were battling their way around in the mid-field, or at the back. In fact I think the best racing was mid-field and I certainly enjoyed the scrapping more than I did the winning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><u></u></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><u><strong>Conclusion:<o:p></o:p></strong></u></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The Caterham Academy has been one of the best experiences of my life. A great car. On great circuits. Competing with great friends (and they really do become friends). Supported by a great team. It exceeded my expectations and I really couldn’t have asked for anything more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Before I started I was worried that the series would become expensive bumper cars and cost me more than I could really afford. I spent too much time watching YouTube videos of Caterham Academy crashes worrying that I was going to be surrounded by people with more money than mechanical sympathy or driving talent. My experience couldn’t have been further from that concern. Each of us is competitive by nature, but we also love our cars and respect each other too much to do anything malicious or truly silly. Where accidents happened, they were as a result of genuine mistakes and were sorted out with an apology and a handshake afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Caterham have designed a series that works. They hand hold you through every step of the process (and give you the occasional telling off along the way when it is warranted) and are a fantastic team as passionate about the cars and the racing as the drivers. Win or come last it is an experience that just can’t be topped. It is also what the 7 was truly designed to do. Whilst I still use mine on the road as much as I can, it is on the track with 25 other Caterhams that it truly comes alive and that is why I will be heading to Roadsports next year…I can’t think of any other legalised activity that might provide the same high.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I hope you have enjoyed reading my experiences over the last year and that they haven’t been too self-indulgent. I would like to leave by saying that if any of you are considering the Academy and want more information, further thoughts or ideas, then please do contact me…as you can probably tell, I can’t recommend it enough and could talk about it endlessly!</span></div>
Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-44586593248915251852012-11-21T08:26:00.001-08:002012-11-30T02:40:49.248-08:00Sprint / Race Videos<strong><u>Sprint / Race Videos:</u></strong><br />
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Below are links to the videos from each of the sprints and races (with the exception of the first race at Donington and the last race at Donington during the Autumn Cup, where the camera ran out of battery before the start):<br />
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<strong>Donington Autumn Cup Race 2 - 21st October:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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No Video :-(<br />
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<strong>Donington Autumn Cup Race 1 - 21st October:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/83dDJkCjSpw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<strong>Rockingham - 07th October:</strong><br />
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Result - 2nd Place<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/tWkAPHU8QaQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<strong>Snetterton - 02nd September:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9DCmz84TAXw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<strong>Brands Hatch - 04th August:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HtKb4hm9ujQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<strong>Donington - 14th July:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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No Video :-(<br />
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<strong>Snetterton Sprint - 02nd June:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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Run 3 (105.12 seconds):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-G0OCKCn8PE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Run 2 (No time - 4 wheels off track):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/WhE7xWfWQm4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Run 1 (105.56 Seconds):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5OtVtHFSfzw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<strong>Curborough Sprint - 12th May:</strong><br />
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Result - 1st Place<br />
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Run 2 (No time - Spun):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yodb9NaRZUw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Run 1 (64.86 seconds):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/B4-8xo6zHYo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<strong>Aintree Sprint - 28th April:</strong><br />
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Result - 4th Place<br />
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Run 3 (54.42 seconds):<br />
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rR2T6cB_n8c/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rR2T6cB_n8c?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rR2T6cB_n8c?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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Run 2 (54.78 seconds):<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/lzDFNYAGw54?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Run 1 (54.53seconds):<br />
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WYw8gRD_RSQ/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WYw8gRD_RSQ?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WYw8gRD_RSQ?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-85179483198459615522012-11-02T00:40:00.001-07:002012-11-02T00:40:15.897-07:00Donington Autumn Trophy<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Autumn Trophy – Sunday 21<sup>st</sup> October:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite the Academy season being concluded at Rockingham a few weeks previously I, and a number of the other Academy drivers, couldn’t resist one last race. Caterham have made a bit of a tradition of throwing on an extra races (or two) at the end of the year for those that haven’t had quite enough excitement and want to pick up an extra signature to enable them to upgrade from a National B to a National A race license (this also allows you to lose your novice cross).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This year Caterham organised the Autumn Trophy, via the BRSCC, at Donington on the 21<sup>st</sup> of August. Over 35 of the Academy guys signed up (both Group 1 and 2) for the 20 minute qualifying and two 20 minute races. It would be the first chance we would have to see how Group 1 and 2 compared against each other and as a result there was even more banter and bravado than usual. In all honesty I was a little nervous as the Group 2 guys had been very, very quick this year (in all honesty quicker than Group 1 at some events) and I thought things could get slightly out of hand with such a large grid of people who hadn’t raced with everyone else there. I needn’t have worried.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I made my customary early start from home to get to Donington in time for scruitineering at 8.30am. I left in the pitch black, drove through a sea of fog and arrived at a very dark and murky Donington just before 7am. I busied myself getting the car ready and trying not to wake those sleeping in camper vans who had come up for the Friday test day….I didn’t do a very good job and managed to make lots of noise, but at least it meant I could scrounge a cup of tea from one of my fellow competitors. …thanks Tristan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After sign-on and scruitineering we all went back to the paddock to wait to be called for qualifying. There was lots of standing around getting cold and very frustrated by the incessant buzzing of 2 stroke karts being warmed up (after a while they sound like that rather annoying crazy frog advert from a few years back). Three hours and a few pints of tea later the fog still hadn’t lifted and as a result no one had made it out onto track. At this point we seriously doubted whether we would get onto the track at all, but just as we were about to give up hope and head home the weather gradually started to improve. A hastily revised schedule had us missing qualifying altogether (grid positions were decided by championship finishing positions) and our races would be shortened from 20 minutes to 13 minutes. It was far from ideal, but at least we would get to race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Given my finishing position in Group1 and the fact Stephen Nuttall (the Group 2 winner) was not there, I was very generously gifted pole position, with the very fast Peter Fortune next to me and Danny Kileen behind. In all honesty I thought both of the guys would leave me behind, but as the lights went out Pete dashed into the lead, only for me to dive up the inside of him and back into the lead at the first corner. From there until the flag Pete, Danny and I swapped the lead on at least 6 separate occasions, being joined by Matt Dyer who kept us all very honest right to the flag. It was a fantastic race. Very close, but very clean. Pete was quicker through Old Hall, but both Danny, Matt and I seemed to be able to hold him through McLean’s and Coppice and as a result we were slipstreaming each other like crazy down the back straight and into the Esses, where most of our overtaking was happening. At the end of the race I found myself about ½ a second clear of Matt, who was about ½ a second clear of Pete, who was about ½ a second clear of Danny. On the cool down lap I was buzzing from a brilliant fight, with guys I hadn’t previously competed against at a circuit I love driving. I really wasn’t complaining that our race was 7 minutes shorter than it should have been….it had been brilliant!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Grid positions for our second race, the last of the day, were set by our finishing positions from the first, so I found myself very fortunately on pole again. We started the race in the dark (at least it was well past sunset if not pitch black), which gave us the experience of having a virtual night race. This time I made a better fist of my start and led for the majority of the first lap, only to be passed by Pete and Danny into the Esses at the end of lap 1. I spent the next couple of laps chasing them down, only to see them collect each other at Riches on the start of the 4<sup>th</sup> lap. It was an unfortunate incident, but thankfully not too serious, with Danny continuing and Pete retiring with minor car damage. I just managed to miss the accident, but was slowed and immediately under pressure from Matt, who passed me at the end of the lap coming into the Esses. Matt was driving very defensive lines, so on the following lap I decided I would have to do the same to him, but around the outside. Matt made this move much easier for me by going into the Esses to hot and spinning in front of me. Again I narrowly missed him and was immediately pounced upon by Nigel Board, who took me going into Riches. I followed him closely down through the Craner Curves and through Old Hall, before regaining the lead at McLean’s. From there to the finish 2 laps later I tried to gap the chasing pack and keep out of trouble, but in the dark with lights glaring at you through your rear view mirror it makes the cars behind seem much closer and more menacing than in daylight, putting even more pressure on. At the end of the race I crossed the line about 2 seconds clear of the chasing pack for another very satisfying win.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a brief interview from the circuit commentator it was back to Parc Ferme to find out that Matt had recovered well from his spin to score another 2<sup>nd</sup> place and Nigel had brought his car home in 3<sup>rd</sup> place for his second podium of the year. It was a fantastic way to end the season and I now felt satisfied that I could hold my own against the quickest guys in Group 2, which I hadn’t been sure of beforehand. It isn’t really that important, but it was nice to know and makes me realise that we are going to have a hell of a battle in Roadsports next year….I can’t wait.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a very long and cold day I was keen to pack up and get home as soon as possible, but not before saying goodbye to a great bunch of friends, many of whom I hope to race with next year and those who I don’t I hope to stay in touch with. Thank you chaps, I couldn’t have hoped to meet a nicer bunch of people…you helped make an exciting year a truly memorable one. At the end of a year where I achieved a boyhood dream (I keep saying this, but it really is true) I drove home to put the Caterham away for the winter for a well-earned rest and to spend some decent time with my family, without whose support I couldn’t race. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-23114069660098935172012-10-17T00:40:00.001-07:002012-10-17T00:40:46.630-07:00Rockingham Race (and preparation)<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Rockingham Race – Saturday 06<sup>th</sup> – Sunday 07<sup>th</sup> October:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first time at Rockingham was for a Book-a-Track day on the 16<sup>th</sup> September where I would share Ben Elliott with Academy Group 2 leader Stephen Nuttall. Unlike Brands Hatch, Snetterton or Donington which you enter taking in the palpable history and, in the case of Brands and Donington, beauty of your surroundings, Rockingham is unremittingly grey and characterless. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I didn’t like the track to start with and didn’t feel any warmer towards it at the end of the day if I am honest. It is wide and has no real features or gradients. It doesn’t flow and has some real micky mouse corners, so all in all not a great circuit in my book. I am sure in a 500bhp single seater it would be a real challenge, but in our little Academy cars you spent half of the lap with your foot to the floor wishing there were another 125bhp under the bonnet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My time with Ben was well spent however. I started out lapping well enough, but we found plenty of extra pace throughout the day, eventually putting in consistent low 1.46 second laps, having started off in the 1.50 second bracket. It was Stephen’s third time at the track and he managed a stonking 1.45.3 second lap early in the day as a benchmark, before consistently lapping in the high 1.45 second/low 1.46 second range. We spent quite a lot of time looking at each other’s data and whilst we were equal in the first sector and I ever so slightly quicker in the final sector, Stephen was the best part of a second quicker in the middle sector, which I just couldn’t master in the time available.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I left at the end of the day reasonably pleased with my progress, but also realising that I still had a bit to gain. The funny thing is that having secured the Group 1 championship at Snetterton I knew that come race day I could just turn up and enjoy myself, rather than worry about the result, which was a really nice feeling. That didn’t stop me from wanting to master the track however.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like Snetterton Rockingham was a whole weekend affair, with qualifying on Saturday 6<sup>th</sup> in the late afternoon and the race at the end of the day on Sunday. This allowed me a leisurely start and relaxed drive up to the circuit after breakfast with the family. However as I casually pulled in to the paddock I got a shock as I saw row upon row of very ready looking cars and drivers…most of my fellow competitors having been there since the Friday test session. My relaxed demeanour rapidly disappeared as I frantically ran around trying to get the car and myself ready for qualifying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With all my pre-race checks complete I started to relax again and as a consequence wasn’t really prepared when the call for qualifying came. I was one of the last into the holding area and therefore one of the last out onto the track. I then spent the next 15 minutes wondering if I had oil on my rear tyres as I threw the car sideways at every corner and into gravel traps (twice I went in and twice I managed to escape under my own steam). It was a terrible qualifying session and was clear that not having my brain fully in gear was a major factor. I wasn’t in the right mind-set from the start and I drove badly as a result. In the end I managed to string 2 reasonable laps together and qualified 3<sup>rd</sup> on the grid behind Matt Dyer and Scott Lawrence, which was really lucky.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the paddock I took the car to the Caterham guys to have the diff cage changed. These have broken on a number of the Academy cars this year and whilst mine was fine they had wisely decided to change them all for a strengthened and redesigned version. Whilst the car was up on axle stands they checked the bolts on the A-frame and radius arms, which it transpires, had come loose and would have made the back of the car feel loose. That explained a lot, although I think it would be unfair to blame my driving solely on the car. With another lesson in preparation learnt I went away to join the party in the paddock knowing that my car should be much better to drive come race day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As Rockingham was the last race of the season Caterham were very kindly throwing a party that evening to celebrate, with a bar, band and hog roast for all drivers and their families. Despite the very kind offer of a bed in Zoli’s motor home and the temptation to stay for “just one more drink” I stuck to the lemonade and made my way home after the meal and before the band started. My wife had not been particularly well and had been with the kids on her own all day Saturday, so given my race was not until mid-afternoon on Sunday I reluctantly decided to leave the party and go home. This meant I got to have breakfast with them all the following morning and bring them all up for the following days racing. Despite missing out on the end of a great evening I am glad I made that choice, as racing without my families support really just wouldn’t be feasible, so it is important to try and strike the right balance. It was at this point that I really was starting to see the benefits of buying and running a motorhome. The atmosphere in the paddock is fantastic and those with motorhomes who bring their partners and kids and seem to have a great time mucking in together…it is a cost I can’t afford at the moment, but something I will seriously look at next year if I carry on racing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After breakfast with the family I was as relaxed as I had been on Saturday and as we arrived I started to panic thinking about everything I still had to do. No matter how much time you think you have, there always seems to be one last small job to do and my preparation really was last minute. In the end I finished in time to watch the Group 2 race, which was won in style by Danny Kileen, with Max Robinson a fine 2<sup>nd</sup> (his first podium) and Stephen Nuttall 3<sup>rd</sup> for the Group 2 championship win. It had been a really close battle between Stephen and Pete Fortune for the title and went right down to the wire, with Stephen taking the top spot courtesy of a spin from Pete at Tarzan mid race, putting him back several places and out of contention for the title. Both have driven brilliantly this year and are fearsome competitors…if I am honest I don’t much fancy my chances against them in Roadsports!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Come race time it was off to the holding area, where I was actually calmer than I had been at any of the previous races. I wouldn’t say I was relaxed, but I knew I could afford to just go out and enjoy this race without any real pressure to win. The only slight concern I had was how 26 Caterhams braking from 110mph for Deene and fighting for the same piece of tarmac would work out, but in the end I had nothing to worry about as we had the cleanest start to any of our races of the year. Maybe we were all getting better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My start was really good and I made up the 2 car lengths to Scott and Matt on the front row in an instant. I tried to go between the two of them before realising that they were coming together and there really wouldn’t be enough room for a third Caterham. Close doesn’t even cover it, as I had my front wheels inside both of their rear wings. I got out of the throttle quickly which meant that as we approached Deene for the first time I was getting swamped by other cars; Brian Caudwell on the inside, Tor Mcilroy on the outside, Scott and Matt in front, Zoli behind. Luckily we all came out of Deene unscathed, but I had dropped from 3<sup>rd</sup> to 5<sup>th</sup> place in a matter of seconds. I tucked in behind Tor as we went down to Yentwood, just in time to see him attempted an optimistic lunge on Brian going into the corner, spinning himself round and pushing Brian onto the grass. In avoiding the contact and Tor’s spinning car I had got myself off line and in the wrong gear and Tony Mingola shot through the gap as Brian re-joined the race track, thankfully unscathed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the end of the first lap the order was Matt, Scott, Tony, Brian, myself and Zoli, all in a train. It had been a hectic first few corners, probably the most exciting of my short racing career, and we were only just getting started. As we crossed the finish line I was tucked into Brian’s slipstream and dragged past him along the start/finish straight. Brian then tucked back in behind me as we headed down to Deene for the second time. With hindsight I was slightly too kind too him, because despite braking very late I left him just enough room to sneak back up the inside and take me back at the apex. For the rest of the lap I was stuck to the back of Brian’s car as he crawled all over the back of Tony’s. Brian then made a great move up the inside of Tony going into Tarzan. Back onto the start/finish straight I got a good drive from the final corner and dragged past Tony, making sure I didn’t make the same mistake as the previous lap and leave him any room to come back at me going into Deene. After that I set off after Brian again, finally making the same move stick the following lap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By this time Matt and Scott were over 6 seconds clear up front. I set off after them as hard as I could, focusing on being smooth, consistent and quick. I was closing the gap at a rate of 1.5 – 2 seconds a lap over the next 4 laps. During these laps I was significantly quicker than I had been in qualifying, finally catching them 2 laps from the end. They were having a fierce battle going into the first corner together. I stayed wide, managed to get a great line through Deene and carrying much more speed than both and slipped straight up the inside of Scott at Yentwood. As at Brands a couple of months ago I think Scott was being quite the gentleman and left the door wider open than he had any requirement to…I dint need inviting twice though. For the rest of the lap I sat behind Matt planning to once again slipstream down the start/finish straight and pass in the braking area going into Deene. Matt had other ideas however. The first part of the plan went well, but Matt held a defensive line and I had to go around the outside of him, which I managed, but as I had with Brian I left just that little too much room for him at the apex and he came back at me at the apex with a fantastic move. At this stage I wasn’t rattled and planned to have another go at him going into Tarzan, however in trying to get really close in the preceding corner, Gracelands, I went in a little too hot and had the mother and father of all slides, only just managing to hold the car on the track. With that mistake Matt was gone and I suddenly had to fend Scott off again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the end I crossed the line an exhilarated 2<sup>nd</sup> for my worst race result of the year. It was however the most fun I have had all year and by quite a considerable way, just going to prove that the race is more important than the race. I was buzzing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the paddock it was time to congratulate Matt on a fantastic win and all of the others on a really close and clean race. I got dragged off by Motors TV for an interview and I fear the result is likely to be more meaningless babble, but in my defence I was still high as a kite after the race and I don’t have Sky so I don’t suppose I shall ever have to watch it. We were then ushered onto a makeshift podium in Parc Ferme for man hugs and champagne spraying, which is always brilliant fun. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally my car was scruitineered (again) and I was free to go…my final race of the season at my least favourite circuit and my worst result. I should have felt quite flat, but I was still buzzing and trying to work out if there is anything that can beat the feeling of great racing in a brilliant little car with a fantastic bunch of mates. I fear not and the draw to Roadsports remains as strong as ever. On the way home Mrs G and I continued our negotiations!</span></span></div>
Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-56129448108008082412012-10-08T01:14:00.000-07:002012-10-08T01:27:53.481-07:00Rockingham Race VideoThe link below is from my race yesterday at Rockingham, the last of the 2012 Academy. It wasnt my best result, but it was by far and away the best race I have had this year.<br />
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Full write up to follow shortly.Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-89390432907796963122012-09-18T00:56:00.002-07:002012-09-18T00:56:56.175-07:00Snetterton Race (and preparation)<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Snetterton Race – Saturday 01<sup>st</sup> – Sunday 02<sup>nd</sup> September:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had been to Snetterton a couple of times before, but I had never driven the full 200 circuit that we would be using over our race weekend. My first visit earlier in the year had been to a sodden 300 circuit, so I knew which way the majority of the track went, but was still keen to get a bit more practice to make sure I didn’t make the same mistake as Donington, where I wrongly assumed a couple of unknown corners wouldn’t matter too much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I booked myself on a Javelin track evening prior to the race and towed the car up to the track for a 5pm start. Unfortunately the weather was grim and the track horribly slippery. A number of the Academy guys had been there for the day and their cars looked pretty caked in mud from various off-track excursions. My early laps were really just about familiarising myself with the track again and learning the line at Montreal and onto the Bentley straight (the corner I hadn’t learned for the 300). It was really hard to get a feel for my pace as the track was terribly slippery and the evening plagued by red flags as cars went off stage, left, right and centre. It was an enjoyable evening, but not particularly productive so I was left hoping that our race would be either wet or greasy as I still hadn’t managed to drive the track in the dry.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The night before the race I went over the car with the usual spanner check and changed the oil and filter again, as the last time I had done this was just before the Aintree sprint at the start of the season. On the Saturday morning of qualifying I made my customary early start, leaving in the pitch black and arriving at Snetterton just after 7am to unload the car and make final preparations. Qualifying was not until late afternoon but I had volunteered for Marshalling duties, which Caterham encourage us to undertake for 5 extra points on our championship and an extra signature on our race license. I had chosen to do mine at Snetterton as we were to be there all weekend and my family were away, so it would minimise the time away from the kids and roll everything into one weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The marshalling itself was fascinating. To see the dedication and passion of the marshals was quite humbling. They are very professional and clearly love their motorsport, but the time commitment required is significant. They will regularly be at the circuit from before 8am till gone 6pm Saturday and Sunday throughout the year. It is a sacrifice I couldn’t make, but one that I really appreciate them making, as without them none of us could race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On Saturday morning I was stationed at Riches during the qualifying for all non-Academy Caterham championships, the TVR championship and the Fiesta championship. This passed with the odd spin, but not an awful lot else by way of incident, but Sunday morning was a different matter entirely. This time we were based on the outside of Brundle and watched in amazement as the Caterham boys and girls slipstreamed and swapped places endlessly throughout their races. It was fantastic to get so close to the action, but during the Supersport race a couple of the chaps decided to bring the action even closer as they got tangled together and literally skidded along the rails by our feet at about 80mph, showering us in polystyrene from one of the marker boards. All of the marshals we met were fantastically friendly and it was a great way of gaining a closer understanding of what they do for us to allow us to race….to any marshals reading, thank you!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At lunchtime on Saturday we left our new marshalling friends and went to sign-on and get our cars scruitineered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I then had a few hours to ponder what tyre pressures I wanted to opt for and what extra checks I wanted to make on the car before qualifying. I find myself endlessly tinkering just to fill the time, which meant my car got a good clean again before going out on track.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once we had been called it was off to be noise tested and then gather in the assembly area. I was a little later than usual and about 10 cars back in the queue to get out on track, which was going to make qualifying even more interesting. Once on track it was straight past a couple of the slower guys and into some clean air to try and put a good lap together. My lack of dry running time was showing and I was making plenty of mistakes; too slow into Riches, too hot into Montreal, all over the shop at Brundle. I couldn’t seem to string a good lap together and backed off on three occasions when I made a mistake to give myself some space from the group in front and more clear air for a clear run the following lap. I am glad I did as there was a large crash at the finish line between Matthew Lawrence, Tony Mingola and Andreas Sinclair. They had been battling all session long and had come across Philip Nash who was driving slowly up the straight after coming off the track. There were bits of cars everywhere and all of us following had to take evasive action to avoid getting caught up in it as well. Thankfully everyone was OK, but there were some rather sorry looking cars afterwards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite being unhappy with the way I had driven, I had managed to grab pole by just under 1/10<sup>th</sup> of a second from Tony Mingola, with a 1.29.664, but whilst happy with the result I knew I was a long way from perfect. This was comprehensively proved when Group 2 went out for their qualifying and Peter Fortune put his car on pole with a 1.27.880 (another stunning time). Still, pole is pole.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That evening a number of us stayed at the track and had a beer or two with a BBQ kindly put on by Tristan Judge and Scott Lawrence. It was a great opportunity to chill out and enjoy the atmosphere of the paddock, which I hadn’t had a chance to do until now because I have been doing all the events in a day. I left just before 9pm to head for my B&B, with Scott and Tristan looking very mischevious….to be honest I was pretty worried about what might be in store for my car, which I was leaving at the track.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a very pleasant stay in a local B&B I returned early to the track for my Sunday marshalling activities, only to find my trailer moved and my car hidden behind a bunch of big wheelie bins! It could have been worse…the boys had been tying tin cans to the cars of some of the guys in Group 2 so that they looked like the carriage of a recently married couple.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the mornings marshalling it was back to the paddock to tinker with the car again. I had friends from work and home coming to see me race, so spent time with them trying not to think too much about the race ahead. The sun was out and the atmosphere in the paddock fantastic, so it was a really nice afternoon to sit, chat and watch the world go by. A little while later my family arrived and my girls started busily clambering over my car, which always makes me nervous in case they get hold of the fire extinguisher leaver and I have forgotten to put the pin in….thankfully there were no explosive moments to clear up, but I am convinced it will happen one day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After being called to the holding area and waiting for what seems like and age we were called onto the track and formed up on the grid. Thankfully those that had been involved in the crash the day before were all fixed (some more crudely than others) and back on the grid, which is a fantastic testament to the skill and speed of the guys at Caterham, who had numerous cars to sort out over the weekend and not just from the Academy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the green flag fell I got a fantastic practice start and charged off towards Riches to get a sense for the levels of grip available. On the way in to Corham at the end of the lap I slowed to let the field bunch up before forming up again on the grid. As the red lights went out for the real start I made a great get away and shot straight into the lead, with Tony Mingola slotting in just behind me as we charged through Riches. I braked as late as I dared into Montreal and covered my line, being careful to check the mirrors and ensure no one was doing anything silly up the inside. As I exited Montreal and onto the Bentley straight I could see lots of tyre smoke in my mirrors, but didn’t give it too much thought as I was more concerned with Tony getting a tow down the straight and taking me into Brundle. Luckily I seemed to get a better corner exit than him and had 3 or 4 car lengths, which was enough to keep me in clear air. Then, as I approached the Bomb Hole I saw a red flag and guessed that the tyre smoke from the second corner must have resulted in a race stopping pile-up, so cruised back round to the grid to wait and be re-started (for some reason the Academy races weren’t being run with safety cars at this event).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We waited about 20 minutes whilst the debris was cleared up and damaged cars removed. It turns out that Matthew Lawrence had spun going into Montreal and had been collected by Tor Mcilroy, with Tim Younge somehow getting tangled up in it all. It was a sad way for all the guys to end the weekend, especially Matthew who had absolutely rotten luck all weekend and had been my stiffest competition in the championship until that point. But, they will all be back for the next round, of that I am sure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the race re-started I made another good start and sprung into the lead from Tony. Through Riches I was as committed as I dared be on lap one, before once again braking as late as possible for Montreal and trying to concentrate on getting a good clean exit out onto the Bentley straight. As I did I noticed that Tony had run a little wide at the hairpin and I had once again got a few car lengths on him. From there on to the finish 9 laps later I concentrated on being smooth and consistent, driving at about 90% and drawing out a lead from the guys battling behind. Despite feeling as though I were driving much more within myself I was actually circulating at, or quicker, than my qualifying times the day before. At the finish I crossed the line just over 7 seconds clear of Brian Caudwell who had a fantastic run to his best ever finish. No race is ever easy, but this one felt under control and I had more chance than ever before to enjoy the experience as I went along. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the cool down lap I made sure I gave an extra big wave and toot on the horn to the marshals I had spent the previous two mornings with, before cruising into the pit lane to be greeted with the news “we aren’t 100% sure, but we think you have just won the championship”. I am not an outwardly emotional person, but I must admit I gave the steering wheel a few good slams with my fist in delight at that news. What a feeling. Once out of the car it was time to congratulate the rest of the guys on a great race, especially Brian and Nigel Broad who also secured his first podium with a 3<sup>rd</sup> position. We were then ushered onto a make shift podium in parc ferme where we sprayed each other and anyone else nearby with champagne, before being interviewed by a chap from Motors TV who were filming there that day. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My car was scruitineered again before leaving parc ferme (it must be the most heavily scruitineered car in the series by now) to see the family and pack everything up for the long drive back home. This part of the weekend always comes as a big anti-climax, as you say goodbye to your friends and head back to reality after a weekend of laughter and excitement. I tried not to think too hard about the championship that might be mine as I drove back, but on the Monday morning when sat at my desk I received an e-mail from Jenny confirming that I had won the Group 1 Academy championship. It was a really emotional moment and something I had to sit quietly to take in. Now I know it isn’t formula one, but it is a highly competitive series with some very talented drivers, so to win an event is a major achievement and to win the championship a real honour.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately I missed the Group 2 Academy race, but watching the videos back the next week it is clear that the top 5 guys had a hell of a battle and demonstrated fantastic speed, car control and race craft. It really was fantastic to watch, with Stephen Nuttall grabbing another win, just, from Danny Kileen and Nick Portlock a fine third for his first podium. The final places were settled just 2 corners from the end of the race after a fantastic battle with Peter Fortune and Michael Gazda throughout. Well done guys, you certainly gave the crowd a great race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So, with one race left at Rockingham, what next? Who knows. I am looking forward to the final round and hopefully another good result. Caterham are then talking about putting on an extra couple of non-championship races at Donington later in the year, which I will certainly be up for. After that, I am not sure…..it depends on how negotiations with Mrs G go about my moving up to Roadsport </span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-59245341536612716992012-08-23T13:17:00.002-07:002012-08-23T13:18:09.030-07:00Brands Hatch Race (and preparation)<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Brands Hatch Race – Saturday 04<sup>th</sup> August:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It only feels like yesterday that we were at Donington for the first race of the Academy season, with the three week gap to Brands Hatch seeming much shorter than it actually was. I had been looking forward to Brands since the start of the Academy, but had only driven there as an 18 year old in 1997 after my dad bought me half a day at the Nigel Mansell racing school, so a refresher before the race seemed like a good idea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I managed to book myself on an MSV trackday on the 26<sup>th</sup> July and once again I was using Ben Elliott for tuition, this time sharing him with David Russell and Nigel Board (two of my fellow Group 1 competitors). Nigel had booked Ben initially and rightly had first dibs on him in the morning, so after Ben had strapped the V-Box to my car and given me a bit of guidance on the circuit I set off for my first laps of Brands on my own. It was a roasting hot day, with both car and driver getting very warm very quickly, so I limited myself to about 15 laps during which time I fell in love with the circuit all over again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the garage after the first stint Ben took a good look at my data, which showed my quickest lap to be 57.02 seconds (4/10ths off Bens own quickest time in an Academy car), so things were looking really promising. Watching the video back and looking at the data Ben gave me plenty of pointers, particularly how to tackle Clearways where I was losing quite a lot of time onto the main straight. I then went out and spent the rest of the day trying harder and going slower, even earning a bit of a telling off from the marshals’ for throwing the car into the gravel at Clearways whilst trying too hard. Finally, at the end of the day, things started to click into place and I eventually put in a 56.44 second run and was consistently in the 56’s (Ben, using my car, had gone even quicker with a 56.16s earlier in the day), before I threw the car into the gravel again in spectacular style at the top of Paddock Hill Bend. At that point I decided to call it a day and head home….hot and tired, but really pleased with my progress.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The week leading up to the race was much more relaxed than it had been for Donington. My only preparation was to remove several kilos of gravel from the car, give it a good clean and check all the vital fluids. I felt much more relaxed in myself, more confident that I knew what to expect and how to get ready for the coming race. In all honesty work had been so busy that I hadn’t even had a chance to think too much about the race in the lead up to the weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite Brands Hatch being much closer to me and Group 1 having a more civilised time for sign-on than at Donington, I still made an early start and left the house at just after 5am. The weather was pretty poor, with heavy rain on the way down, undoing all my car cleaning efforts within a few miles. I stopped for the obligatory coffee and croissant just before the Dartford Bridge, but still arrived at the track just before 7am. This gave me plenty of time to go through the usual preparations and final checks; attach the camera to the roll bar, check tyre pressures, check wheel nuts, fill with fuel, tape up the handbrake etc. I then had plenty of time to mosey around and take in the atmosphere before sign-on and scruitineering at 9am. As a petrolhead there is something quite magical about arriving at a race circuit early in the morning and it is always nice to spend a bit of time taking it in and appreciating that you are following in some very significant tyre tracks by racing on that circuit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After sign-on and scruitineering we gathered at the Caterham truck for a briefing from the Clerk of the Course. It is fair to say that he was rather a scary gentleman who gave us all a pretty stern talking to after the antics at Donington where people missed and ignored yellow flags, causing the accident that the unfurled and left 3 cars pretty badly damaged. To add to this there had been a test day at Brands Hatch the day before, where a lot of the guys had gone for some final practice before the race and by their own admission it was carnage, with damaged cars and plenty of red flags. I don’t think Jenny was at all amused and it was clear that they expected much better of us at the race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After the briefing a number of us strolled from the lower paddock to Paddock Hill Bend to watch the Group 2 guys qualify. It was fascinating watching the different styles and lines, some much smoother and faster than others, but everyone looked as though they were having fun. Michael Gazda put in a storming drive to grab pole in 56.21, just ahead of Pete Fortune in second on 56.49.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Group 1 had its qualifying at 10.35, so I had plenty of time to get myself ready, strapped into the car and trundle around to the holding area to be noise tested. Waiting in the holding area is always a pain and there appears to be a fine balance between getting there very early and having to wait ages, but being first out on track and therefore into clean air, or getting there a little later on but risking being caught up in a lot of traffic unable to get a clear lap. As it transpired I timed it well and was 5<sup>th</sup> car out and starting to make good progress when on lap 3 my drivers side front cycle wing came flying off. Unfortunately the wires for the indicator on the wing held it to the car, but allowed it to flap around wildly, so I had to slowly make my way around the circuit and back into the pits to ask a marshal to rip it off. With the wing removed and time lost I got back onto the circuit and fortunately back into clean air. I made the most of this over the next 10 laps and drove as hard as I dared without doing anything silly. The circuit still felt slippery from the rain the night before, so I didn’t feel as though I was as quick as I had been at the track day a week earlier, but once back in the pits I was told I had got pole, so something had obviously gone ok.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before I could return to the paddock my car was checked for weight (it was well over the 620kg minimum at 631kg) and a few other bits and bobs…as expected nothing was found to be amiss, but it remains a nerve wracking experience. Back in the paddock I managed to get hold of the Group 1 qualifying times and could see that I had managed a 56.44 second lap, identical to my quickest time the week before, and was ½ a second clear of Scott Lawrence in 2<sup>nd</sup>. My nearest championship competitor Matthew Lawrence was 8<sup>th</sup>, which was a surprise to me….and him I think.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After lunch the Group 2 guys set off for their race, which was fantastic to watch from the bottom of Paddock Hill bend. Peter Fortune initially took the lead, but a very determined and very quick drive from Michael Gazda saw him take the lead back at half distance, at which point he slowly drew away from the chasing pack. Despite getting involved in a chaotic battle for 3<sup>rd</sup>/4<sup>th</sup>/5<sup>th</sup> in the early stages Stephen Nuttall drew away to chase Peter Fortune, overtaking him on the last corner of the last lap as the pair were tackling traffic. It was another great race from the Group 2 guys.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Group 1 race came at 1.30pm and with it came the return of the nerves. Sat in the car in the holding area I found myself playing over and over in my mind the start and the daunting run down to Paddock Hill bend. Eventually we were released onto the grid and then off for our warm up lap, which on a circuit as short as Brands Hatch Indy doesn’t take long. The wait for the lights to come on for the start however seemed to take for ever. As they came on I twitched….almost false starting, meaning that I didn’t react as quickly as I should have to them when they went out for real. Scott Lawrence made a much better start than me and was a couple of car lengths ahead as we approached Paddock. Scott braked earlier than me so I tried to go up the inside, which didn’t quite work so we ended up going through Paddock side by side, with me getting plenty of oversteer mid corner and therefore a slower exit up to Druids. At Druids we all took a defensive line, before taking the plunge back down to Graham Hill Bend. Here I got on the power too early in the vain attempt to get a run on Scott up to Surtees, but in the end understeered wide at the exit, got on the rumble strip and grass and ended up having quite a moment. Luckily no one behind was able to capitalise on my mistake so I concentrated on getting a clean run through Surtees and Clearways. Onto the back straight Scott was again a few car lengths up, but I had got a better run out of the final corner and was closing him down. Into Paddock he was a little early on the brakes again and I decided it was now or never, so braked as late as I dared and threw the car up the inside. It worked as I came out in front and took a defensive line again into Druids. From then on I started to pull away from the field and, driving at 90 – 95%, had to focus on maintaining my concentration and not doing anything silly. I wouldn’t call it a boring race, I don’t think there is any such thing, but it was certainly very much easier than at Donington where I was pushed all of the way to the flag by Matthew Lawrence and Matt Dyer. This time I was the only one that could throw it away and I was determined not to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Two laps from the end I caught a couple of the back markers, passing the first easily along the bottom straight and into Surtees, the second put up more of a fight. The blue flags weren’t very visible and I think Michael thought I was his competition, but on the last lap, not wanting to lose too much time and risk being caught by Scott, I made my move past Michael Downing down into Graham Hill Bend. Michael turned in on me and for a horrible split second I thought it was going to end in tears, but thankfully he saw me at the last minute and gave me room. From there through Surtees and Clearways for the final time to the finish line and the chequered flag I could really relax and enjoy myself. I even let out a little victory cheer as I crossed the line, 5 seconds clear of Scott in second place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">On the cool down lap it was time to say thank you to all of the Marshalls, who were again fantastic and thankfully a lot less busy than they were at Donington, before heading back into Parc Ferme to have the car checked over again. With nothing found to be amiss, except me being quite significantly overweight still, it was back to the paddock and time to load the car back on the trailer. An old school friend had come along to watch my progress with his family and my family were present once again, so I had plenty of help getting the car loaded and a nice time being congratulated by everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The awards were held in the Caterham hospitality area (no official podium this time unfortunately) and we were under very strict instructions not to spray champagne inside the awning, so did it outside instead. The results for Group 2 were; 3<sup>rd</sup> – Peter Fortune, 2<sup>nd</sup> Stephen Nuttall, 1<sup>st</sup> Michael Gazda and for Group 1; 3<sup>rd</sup> Mathew Lawrence, 2<sup>nd</sup> Scott Lawrence, 1<sup>st</sup> Alex Gurr. It had been a great day and another good result, but I am starting to feel a little self-conscious…like the kid in class who is trying just that little bit too hard. I am competitive by nature and like to do well, but I am also approaching the Academy to have fun first and foremost. Good results are an added bonus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the formalities over and the car loaded it was time to head home. I was given a very tired and very grumpy Jemima as my passenger, whilst Sophie drove back with Tabitha (still wearing my winners cap) and Henry. My friend Martin had offered to drive Michaels Caterham back to Hertford as he had a tow car and a Caterham to try and get home, but no trailer (via a complicated set of circumstances that had started with his accident back at Donington). So in convoy we all set off back home, tired, happy and another step closer to being a proper racing driver. It had been a very good day indeed.</span></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-18370727648042198982012-07-23T13:57:00.000-07:002012-08-23T13:26:13.401-07:00Donington Race (and preparation)<div class="Body1" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">Donington Race – Saturday 14<sup>th</sup> July:</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">This weekend has been a long time coming. Whilst the sprints were fantastic fun, it felt as though they were just the warm-up before the races. Having your first race at Donington Park, a bona-fida Grand Prix track, supporting the European Le Mans series is certainly a privilege, but a nerve wracking one at that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">Time and money for practice remained limited once again, but I did manage to sneak in a track-day on the Donington National circuit (we would be racing on the International) on the 16<sup>th</sup> June, as a post birthday treat. I was again using Ben Elliott as my guide, but sharing him with Jason Gale and David Russell (two of my fellow Group 1 competitors) to help reduce the cost and hopefully learn something from them at the same time. It was a fantastic day, starting out dry, then getting greasy, later very wet, and finally dry again. In that regard, we were very lucky as it gave us a chance to drive in all possible conditions and learn the lines for each. The unfortunate part was that it was only the National circuit, so we wouldn’t get the chance to do the Melbourne Loop, which we would have to do come race day. I figured it was only three extra corners, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but with hindsight that was probably not quite right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">I went out first with Ben and he showed me which way the circuit went, giving me plenty of hints on braking points, turn-in points, apexes and gear selections. We made really good progress in the first 30 minutes, before Ben took me out and showed me how it should be done. As at Snetterton, he was noticeably stronger on the brakes than me, and was much tidier through Redgate and Old Hairpin. At this point he went off to spend some time with Jason and I was left to play on my own. Throughout the day and despite the changing conditions, my confidence grew and I was carrying more speed everywhere, but I was still struggling with Redgate and the Old Hairpin even at the end of the day. I just couldn’t find a line I felt comfortable with through Redgate and I wasn’t carrying quite enough speed at the apex of Old Hall to allow me to take it in 4<sup>th</sup> gear, so was dropping to 3<sup>rd</sup> then quickly back up again to 4th. Despite this, I was just a second of Ben’s pace by the end of the day and had thoroughly enjoyed Donington. There is a real sense of history at the circuit and whilst it has changed a lot since the Silver Arrows came over and dominated the 1938 meeting, the essential character remains. Flat through the Craner Curves at over 100mph is something that will live with me for a long time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">Following Ben’s feedback on the set-up of my car at Snetterton and again at Donington I decided to bite the bullet and take it to DPR for a change. I was perfectly happy with the Caterham set-up, but wanted to see if there was something extra to be found. I also decided to ask them to fit the race transponder and to look at the brakes for me, which had been mushy since the calliper recall earlier in the year. I was really looking forward to trying the new set-up and seeing the difference it had made, but I collected the car late one evening, directly after stepping off the plane from our family holiday. The 2 hour drive round the M25,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in biblical weather conditions told me nothing, other than the fact that a 7 with the roof up, on a packed motorway, in the pouring rain is a pretty noisy and scary place to be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">A week later, I got back in the car and took it up to Arch to have the harnesses adjusted for my HANS device. I hadn’t bothered with this before as I didn’t think I would really need it at the sprints or on a track day, but with the race looming I decided fitting it made sense. I was lucky with the weather and seemed to choose the one morning in the whole month that was dry, so had a good run up to Huntingdon with a bit more of a chance to get a feel for the set-up. The car felt great, but there was a strange buzzing coming through the steering when the car was on an 1/8<sup>th</sup> of a turn of lock, and also when heavily loaded through a corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Definitely something I needed to investigate later on. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">If I describe Arch as quaint, it might sound patronising, but it isn’t meant that way. The guys there were incredibly friendly and showed me around the factory with great enthusiasm. It was great to see the quality of workmanship on display and the variety of manufacturing work they undertake for car and bike manufacturers and individuals alike. The adjustment to the harnesses was done in less than 2 hours and was a quality job, but the £240 bill seemed somewhat steep for the time and materials involved. Still, you really can’t really put a price on safety and Arch are the only people licensed to undertake the work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">With a week left to the race, the excitement started to increase exponentially but I still had a few small jobs to do, so kept myself busy in the evenings fiddling with the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This included adjusting the steering rack to move the column away from the engine pulley (after the DPR set-up, these had been contacting slightly, causing the vibration through the steering), replacing the metal rear wing bolts with nylon ones to protect the bodywork in the event of a wing being knocked off (the nylon bolts snap easily, saving the aluminium skin underneath from ripping), checking the crucial nuts and bolts were as tight as they ought to be, checking the fluid levels and, most importantly of all, fitting my new race number (46 – in honour of The Doctor). During the days, I had to content myself with endlessly checking the weather forecasts to see if we were going to be in for a wet or a dry race. If I didn’t like the answer I saw on one website, I would go off and check another until I found one I did like. Unfortunately they all said the same thing … it was going to be wet! By Friday I was struggling to concentrate at work and just wanted to get home to get the car loaded and myself prepared. In the end, I left work just after 6pm and finished getting everything ready by 10pm. I then went to bed and tried to sleep. With little success. Anyone who remembers being 5 and waiting for Father Christmas to come, or worse still, 16 and waiting for your exam results to arrive will know that feeling. It was a real mixture of excitement and fear playing around in my head.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">As with Curborough and Snetterton I set off at the crack of dawn, leaving the house at 4.15am and driving through the pouring rain up to Donington. After a very quick pit stop for a coffee and croissant (not a real racing driver's breakfast I am sure, but it worked for me) I arrived at Donington at 6.30am, only to find that I couldn’t get in. Those of us who hadn’t been to the Caterham supported test-day the Wednesday before had been instructed to collect tickets at the gate, but that gate was shut and the tickets weren’t there. We were due to sign-on and get scruitineered at 7.30am, so it really didn’t leave very much time at all. Luckily, at 7am, Jenny turned up and got me into the circuit. I then started rushing around like a madman getting the car unloaded and everything ready. Once through sign-on and scruitineering (they actually sound tested us, which I found hysterical given that we were sharing the day with LMP1/2 cars and Donington is right under the flight path of East Midlands airport. 26 Caterhams on the grid would hardly have registered against the backdrop of noise from the airport and our more glamorous racing companions from the ELMS) it was a back to the paddock for more last minute preparations: adjust mirrors, fit camera, check tyre pressures, fluid levels etc. before going to the "new driver" briefing at 8.15am. This was a very friendly session, which helped put us at ease. The great thing about the Academy is that there is no question too silly to ask….although we really did test this theory. The highlight for me was the Clerk of the Course introducing himself and saying he hoped not to get to know us, at which point a couple of the guys introduced themselves to him as Alex Gurr! Brilliant!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">It was then back to the car and quickly off to the assembly area, where we waited with engines running and hearts racing, ready for qualifying. I was out onto track 4<sup>th</sup> and it was clear that the rain that had fallen over night had left the track treacherous and very, very slippery. With heart in mouth I set off at about 90% race pace to find out where the grip was and to learn my way around the Melbourne loop, which to my dismay was much trickier than it looked on the track guide (a lesson learnt there). I quickly picked off one of my fellow competitors before getting embroiled in a fantastic spat with Nigel Broad, who graciously left me alone after spinning at the Melbourne hairpin. It was then off past Matthew Lawrence (currently just behind me in the championship) and into clear air for a few laps, before catching some of the more tentative guys from Group 1. In those 7 laps, the car felt terrible with no grip and a very twitchy rear end, which made me less than confident for my grid position but to my great surprise, as we were flagged in through the pitlane and into parc fermé, one of the Caterham guys smiled at me and held up a single finger (à la Vettle). I had got pole for my first ever race! Not by much though, with Matt Dyer having put in a very strong drive and having qualified just a couple of 10ths behind. After much banter and hanging around in parc fermé, it was off back to the paddock to wait. Qualifying had finished at 9.20am and we would be racing at 2.50pm, with little to do in-between but get nervous and watch our fellow competitors show us how it really should be done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">As the afternoon wore on my brother and his girlfriend arrived, followed by an old friend, then finally, just as I was driving into the assembly area for the race itself, my wife and the children (late as usual, but very much a welcome addition to the fan club). By this time I had been to the loo more times than I care to count, cleaned the car obsessively and tried to busy myself with thoughts other than what it would feel like to start a race with 26 Caterhams breathing down my neck. To make matters worse when I got to the holding area I realised that I had put the pin back in my fire extinguisher and forgotten to take it out again (something that can earn you a hefty fine) so had to frantically call someone over to take it out for me, before being waved off to form up on the grid. With this duly done and my heart rate through the roof, I set off on the green flag lap, practicing a start that saw me using too many revs and getting too much wheelspin (another lesson learnt). I drove around at about 75% race pace, trying not to do anything silly, before slowing right down at the Melbourne Hairpin and letting my fellow competitors group up behind me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">Sat on pole position, not quite believing that I was finally doing what I have wanted to do since I was a little boy, I checked myself, checked the car was in first gear (3 or 4 times) and waited. Then came the 5 second board. Then the lights illuminated. Then, they are gone. 4,000rpm, a little too much wheelspin, but a good safe start and the charge off down to Redgate. Brake slightly early, take a middling line, check there is no-one doing anything silly up the inside, then turn-in and accelerate towards the Craner Curves. Two or three car lengths ahead now and concentrate, this is easily flat, but the car is understeering a little too much for my liking. Late on the brakes and down into third for Old Hall, taken with an early turn in and a touch of understeer out to the curb, before slotting 4<sup>th</sup> and keeping it flat out up to McLeans. Brake as late as possible, down to third and into the corner taking as much curb and some of the grass as possible. Then up to 4<sup>th</sup> again before a very quick stab of the brakes and down into 3<sup>rd</sup> again for the blind apex at Coppice. Carry as much speed as possible here to make sure that you minimise the possibility of someone getting a tow down the Dunlop straight. As we arrive at the Foggarty Esses I notice waved yellows and a safety car board out, so slow down to 70% race pace and make my way around to the startline, where we are picked up by a Nissan GTR. Time to breathe again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">As we go down the Craner Curves on lap 2 the reason is apparent as Andreas Sinclair has beached his car in the gravel on the infield in a place where he could get hit. We continue around the course to the Foggarty Esses where there is more carnage, with two cars head-on into each other and another beached in the gravel, with a good deal of debris spread across the track. It later transpired that the yellow flags, seen by some and not by others, had caused a chain reaction of events with the unfortunate outcome that a further four cars were out of the race. Following the safety car around for a further 2 laps, I had a chance to calm down and work out how I was going to lead the pack away. On lap 4 I saw the lights go out on the safety car so started to hold back as we went down the Dunlop straight and through the Foggarty Esses, then halfway to the Melbourne Hairpin I went, gaining an instant 2 – 3 car lengths on Matthew Lawrence, which I held for about half a lap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However going into the 6<sup>th</sup> lap, he and Matt Dyer were right behind me again - I was quick through the first and middle part of the lap, but my lack of experience around the Melbourne Loop was showing and they were gaining significantly in that sector. As we started the 6<sup>th</sup> lap, Matthew was all over me and had a look coming out of Old Hall and up through the Schwanz Curve, but thought better of it. I managed to get a good drive onto the Dunlop Straight and pull away again slightly, but coming back through the Foggarty Esses and the Melbourne Hairpin he was right with me again. Onto the final lap and down the start finish straight he got into the tow and put a great move on me down the inside into Redgate (in all honesty I didn’t see it coming…another lesson learnt). I then stuck to him like glue down through the Craner Curves and up to McLeans. Following Matthew felt a lot easier than leading him and whilst disappointed I had lost the lead, the pressure actually felt less as I could follow his lines and work out where I was stronger than him. Coming out of Coppice I got a better drive onto the Dunlop Straight and got right into the tow. Matthew saw this and moved to the middle of the track to defend, but I moved to the inside and as we headed down into the Foggarty Esses it was a game of "last of the late brakers". We both went in too hot, too sideways and too slow, but I came out in front. Accelerating out and down to the Melbourne Hairpin, Matthew had a look down the inside again, but this time he was joined by Matt Dyer on the outside of me, so three into one at Melbourne. I took a defensive line, got there first and again over-cooked it at the apex, as did the other two. We all then struggled for traction out and up the hill to the final corner, where I again took a defensive line. With my mirrors full of two very determined Caterhams I accelerated out of the last bend and onto the finish straight to take the chequered flag…my first race and my first race win. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">It had only been 7 laps, and only 4 of those at race pace, but it had felt 10 times longer than that out front. I was exhausted, thrilled and genuinely surprised. On the warm-down lap I quickly remembered to wave to say thank you to the marshals, without whom we couldn’t race and who did a fantastic job that day. At the end of the lap as I cruised into the pit lane I heard my family shouting from the grandstand which was a lovely moment. Once in parc fermé, Matthew, Matt and I were quickly gathered up by Jenny and ushered up to the podium (the real Grand Prix podium) where we were presented with our trophies, caps and champagne. I was then interviewed by one of the commentators, which in all honesty felt very embarrassing given the number of people watching and the clichés that were falling out of my mouth as I was blabbing away. Still, it was nice that they made a real fuss of us. At that point I got absolutely covered in champagne by Matt and Matthew.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">Back in the paddock after having my car scruitneered (an experience I still find nerve wracking even though I know it is absolutely fine), it was time to congratulate my fellow drivers on a good clean race and to recall all of the experiences to my friends and family. It was also an opportunity to see Michael and Tristan who collided on the first lap through no fault of their own and offer my commiserations. It was a really sad way for both of them to end their races, but at least they were both physically OK.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">Having packed the car away, we watched the Group 2 race which was dominated by Stephen Nuttall (also a Rossi fan running number 46), with a phenomenal and very clean battle for 2<sup>nd</sup> place between Peter Fortune and Michael Gazda. The guys showed real class in their racing and were very impressive to watch. Before we left for the evening we had another presentation in the Caterham hospitality truck, which provided a final opportunity to congratulate everyone on their results and to say thank you to the guys at Caterham for looking after us so well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif";">After dinner with the family and on the drive back home I had a chance to reflect on the day. I remained unbelievably pleased, but also conscious that I had been lucky. I was under-prepared for the race, having not driven the full track before and having not been on the circuit with the car with its new set-up. The conditions in the morning had given me a bit of an advantage as I really like the wet and in the race I really believe that Matthew, and probably Matt, were quicker than me. Had there been no safety car, or had the race been another lap longer I doubt I would have won. But that is motor racing and I am more than happy to take the win. More importantly than that, I will keep that day with me until my death bed. The 5 year old boy in me has finally realised a dream.</span><span lang="en-GB" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: #0400; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: #0400;"></span></div>
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Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-19846318743726499112012-06-11T11:56:00.000-07:002012-06-11T12:14:22.180-07:00Snetterton Sprint<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Snetterton Sprint – Saturday 02<sup>nd</sup> June:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like Curborough, my Snetterton weekend started at 4am on the Saturday morning with me dragging myself bleary eyed out of bed and into my race gear. The key differences this time being that the weather was terrible and I was driving the Caterham up (my wife had stolen the tow car to take the kids down to see her dad for the long bank holiday weekend), so my mood was less than jubilant. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the end I managed to wedge all of my gear into the passenger side of the Caterham (25 litre jerry can, toolbox, socket set, torque wrench, foot-pump, fold-out chair, change of clothes, crash helmet, etc, etc). It is amazing just how much you can get into a Caterham when you really need to. The journey itself up the motorway was dull (and pretty noisy with the roof up), but the sun came out about 10 miles from Snetterton, so I arrived feeling a little more buoyed up and ready for a good days racing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having done a track-day at Snetterton a month or so ago I was confident I knew which way the track went, but that day was soaking wet and today looked as though it would be dry, so the track was still going to present a decent challenge for me. The start of the Snetterton 100 sprint is at the bottom of the Agostini hairpin which you accelerate hard through, then up a short straight into the left hander at Hamilton, taken with a lift in third, before breaking<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hard for the third gear right at Oggies. It is then a short squirt in third before going hard on the brakes and back to second for the left hand hairpin at Firmans. After the hairpin it is back up to third and into the left hander at Palmer, taken with a small lift, before getting back on the throttle and into fourth for the straight that takes you back to Agostini. Two circuits of the track in an Academy car last year took just over 100 seconds, but the finish line had been moved a few hundred yards from last year so it wouldn’t be possible to make a direct comparison with the 2011 groups times.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The format of the morning was much as with Aintree and Curborough. I arrived at 6.30am and unload the car, checked tyre pressures and taped up the lights/handbrake etc. before signing on at 7.00am, scruitineering at 7.30am and the track walk at 8.00am, before the drivers briefing at 8.30am. Then…hang around a lot. There really is a great deal of hanging around at sprints, giving plenty of time to banter with fellow competitors and get nervous about how well you are going to do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our Academy group was first up on track at 9am and with three cars running on the track at any one time we were being dispatched in pretty quick succession. I was actually pretty relaxed, but as I got to the holding area I was asked for my scruitneering card, which was in my pocket. I undid my belts and fumbled in my pocket to get it, only to be told it was for car 107 (I am car 108). Some marshals have a great sense of humour, but this one clearly didn’t, so I started to get flustered whilst he worked out what had gone on. In the end it was sorted pretty quickly and I was put back into line with the rest of the group, but it certainly didn’t do anything to help me keep calm or focus on the task ahead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first practice run was pretty untidy, particularly at the Firmans hairpin and Hamilton where I was sliding wildly and on the lock stops, only just holding the car on the track. I didn’t actually think I was pushing that hard and was quite surprised by how little grip there was on the track first thing in the morning, so resolved to make my second practice run slower and much more controlled. Still a time of 107.30 was enough to have me 1<sup>st</sup> in class at this point, but some 2 ½ seconds off the usual suspects (Peter Fortune and Michael Gazda) in Group 2, who were flying. After the run it was straight off to scruitineering to have the car weighed to ensure it was above the 620kg minimum (I was weighing in at 629kg at the start of the day and with a little less fuel 625kg at the end of the day). </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was then back to the paddock to compare times and experiences with the rest of the guys. Unlike Aintree and Curborough where you can see your time as you cross the finish line the Snetterton timing was hidden away. This meant that we were all crowding around the timing board outside the timing hut waiting for the results to be printed out like schoolboys waiting for exam results to be posted. Once reviewed the usual banter started, with those posting 999 times vigorously protesting their innocence about the fact they weren’t really off the track (a 999 was handed out to anyone who put more than two wheels off the track and was strictly enforced), but the quantities of dust getting thrown up by various Caterhams would suggest there were a few guilty parties.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There was no tannoy system in operation at Snetterton, so we had to carefully watch out for our turn to come around again, making sure we were back in our cars in plenty of time to get settled, but not so early so as to sit sweating in our nomex. My second practice run was much better than my first. It was much tidier with far less time spent sideways and much quicker as a result. A 106.12 was over a second quicker, but it was clear that there was more speed to be found in Hamilton and Palmer if I could be braver on the turn in and get the car settled quicker to avoid mid corner oversteer, which was still hampering my efforts. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My first timed run was my best run yet, yielding a 105.56, which kept me top of Group 1, but was still some 2 seconds off the fastest time in Group 2. The key difference between this run and the two practice runs was that I was now taking Hamilton at the top end of third gear, rather than fourth as I had been previously. This made a big difference, allowing me more control over the car mid-corner and a better exit, but at the same time I managed to muck up my entry into Agostini, which I tried to take in third, and which cost me a little of the time I had gained at Hamilton. Again, there was more pace to be found.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My second timed run started off really well, with the first lap just about perfect, but as I started the second I understeered wide at Hamilton and dropped the two right hand side wheels off the track and into the dirt. I kept my foot in and carried on at pace, but knew it would be a marginal call as to whether I had remained on the track or not. I thought I might just have had the two left wheels on the kerb, but a quick look at the timings afterwards revealed a 999. Checking my video footage showed this to be fair, as my left hand side was about an inch over the white line, so the car was completely off the track. It is a real shame as I think it would have been my fastest run yet, but rules are rules and I still had a good banker from my previous run.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My third and final timed run, was actually two runs. On the first I got a fantastic launch and had nailed the first half of the lap when I saw red flags out for Jason Gale (car 107), who had spun up at the Firman hairpin, so I had to cruise around and re-join the queue for a second attempt as my first had been compromised. This time I was a little less tidy, with more wheelspin at the start and some turn in oversteer at Palmer on the second lap, but it felt quicker than my previous runs, so I was hopeful of a good time. It just remained to be seen if anyone in Group 1 had managed to go quicker still, or whether I could hold on to my first place.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Once again Jenny Grace (our Academy coordinator) was feeling mean and kept the results from being posted up by the timing officials, so it was simply a case of packing the car up with all of my things (a lot easier and quicker than having to load it onto a trailer) and chat to the guys about who had done what. After an hour or so we all gathered eagerly at the Caterham Motorsport truck to hear the results, which for Group 1 were, in reverse order; 4<sup>th</sup> Brian Caudwell (106.23), 3<sup>rd</sup> – Matt Lawrence (105.97), 2<sup>nd</sup> - Tristan Judge (105.29), 1<sup>st</sup> - Alex Gurr (105.12)…….another trophy, another cap and another kiss from Jenny. It was a fantastic feeling and no less exciting than the first win at Curborough, but I do confess to a strong feeling of embarrassment when I walked up to collect the trophy. I know I shouldn’t and all my fellow competitors are great sportsmen, but there is something about the whole process that I find slightly awkward…I am not sure how professional sports people deal with it. Once again the Group 2 guys had a great set of times, with; 4<sup>th</sup> Danny Killeen (105.31), 3<sup>rd</sup> – Stephen Nuttall (105.07), 2<sup>nd</sup> – Michael Gazda (104.12), 1<sup>st</sup> Peter Fortune (103.13) – a fantastic time and quickest novice by quite some way. Congratulations guys….a great set of results.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After saying goodbye to everyone, I climbed into the Caterham and took off for home, driving in convoy with a couple of other Caterhams, hood down with the warm evening air on my face. It had been another fantastic day and a great result, which has now put me to the top of the Group 1 table, 1 point clear from Matt Lawrence. I have thoroughly enjoyed the sprints, but am now really looking forward to the circuit races (the first being Donington in 5 weeks’ time). Everyone has said that those that are quick at the sprints aren’t necessarily quick in the races, but this doesn’t worry me. I feel that I am driving better and better, but also know that the guys in my group are also improving in leaps and bounds, so it should be really exciting. For now I am just concentrating on enjoying the experience and am really looking forward to getting on track, side by side, with my fellow Academy competitors.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-65516374496225828962012-05-16T15:21:00.000-07:002012-06-11T12:00:37.067-07:00Curborough Sprint<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Curborough Sprint – Saturday 12<sup>th</sup> June:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 (</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tpYHgeUWXT8"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tpYHgeUWXT8</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) 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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in the pits it was a nervous wait to see what the final result would be. Having been pushed down to 4<sup>th</sup> 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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>rd</sup> - Tristan Judge (65.89), 2<sup>nd</sup> - Matt Lawrence (65.82), 1<sup>st</sup> - 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<sup>rd</sup> – Peter Fortune (65.14), 2<sup>nd</sup> – Danny Killeen (65.11), 1<sup>st</sup> Stephen Nuttall (64.14 – a fantastic time and quickest novice by quite some way). Congratulations guys….a great set of results.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-2771625422637837242012-05-16T13:20:00.002-07:002012-05-16T15:23:51.959-07:00Snetterton Track Day<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Snetterton Track Day – Wednesday 09<sup>th</sup> May:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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:</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">go out and complete the sighting laps;</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">then Ben would talk me around the circuit building up my speed and watching what I did, coaching me as we went; </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">then we would come back into the garage and talk about my technique in general and what I needed to focus on;</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">then we would go out again and put into practice what we had discussed;</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">then I would go out alone and try this on my own;</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">then before lunch Ben would show me just how it should be done by driving me in my car;</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Our first laps were taken relatively easily whilst I learnt which way the circuit went. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>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:</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-17523151276816682662012-04-29T14:06:00.000-07:002012-05-16T13:26:43.847-07:00Aintree Sprint<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Aintree Sprint - Saturday 12<sup>th</sup> April:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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).</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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<sup>nd</sup> in Group 1. I still felt that there was plenty of time to be gained and hoped to find it on my third run.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">My third run was my best yet</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> and resulted in a time of </span>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<sup>th</sup> 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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Run Number 1 - 54.53 Seconds</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Run Number 2 - 54.78 Seconds</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Run Number 1 - 54.42 Seconds</span></div>
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rR2T6cB_n8c/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rR2T6cB_n8c?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" />
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<embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rR2T6cB_n8c?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-11294742699221248012012-04-29T02:45:00.000-07:002012-04-29T12:54:36.045-07:00Race Preparation, Handling Day and Test Day (Playing Catch-up)<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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:</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Flat Floor & Race Seat - Thursday 15th March:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Handling Day - Sunday 18th March:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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 :-)</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Race Preparation (Take 2) - Monday 16th & Tuesday 17th April:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Test Day - 18th April:</span></u></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The final event before the first competitive sprint was held on the 18<sup>th</sup> 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)!</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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. </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">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.</span></span></div>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5618668845197772452.post-929880910122132592012-03-03T14:00:00.000-08:002012-03-03T14:00:23.995-08:00The Set-up Day<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">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. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">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.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br />
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!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">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.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">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.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
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</div>Caterham Academy 2012http://www.blogger.com/profile/04042087017706127025noreply@blogger.com0