Rockingham Race Day
We had a great weekend for our first action in the Tuscan Challenge.
Our goal for the weekend was to ensure that all the mechanical preparation had produced a race-worthy car with which I could complete two races without mechanical failure and without race incident. I was also hoping not to embarrass myself too greatly.
I arrived Saturday evening around 6pm and there were already a fair few guys at the circuit, some of which were lucky enough to have been testing on Friday. By 10pm everybody had arrived and the number of cars for the grid was looking pretty good although I'm not sure that 13th was the position on the grid that I was looking forward to! My car was travelling with the mechanics from Devon who would not be arriving until morning so mine was the only empty garage and I was hoping for quiet roads! I need not have worried, a sleepy Colin and Phil arrived with my car by 6am on the Saturday! We had plenty of time to offload the trailer, fill the garage, polish the car, and get suited for sign on at 8am. From here on though the pace was a bit more hectic, we succesfully passed our first ever scrutineering inspection at 8.30am, and noise testing at 9am. I had my driver briefing at 9.30am, meanwhile Colin and Phil were running a final pre-race check on the car and fueling.
I was loaded into the car by 9.50am and we were lead out from the pit lane to the circuit for qualifying to commence at 10am. Our plan was to run 3/4laps to get some heat into the tyres before pitting to run a quick check on the car and tyre pressures - after all this was the first time the car had been driven in several years and my first race! We had no idea what time we should be aiming for as the cars had never raced on the sports car circuit before but we figured we'd have 3/4laps after the pit stop to get a 'quick' lap in. Mostly, qualifyig was to give me a chance to learn the circuit.
As it turned out, I qualified (last, bloody 13th place) with a time of 1:33.890 which wasn't too dissatisying given that I was only 5secs behind George in Class B S3 and 3secs behind Geoff in the 3000M. At this point I must quote the best line I heard all weekend, from Graham Walden 'after all Geoff has been racing since the Centurion was a rank, not a tank!
So I'd got the car around qualifying and it was still in one piece! A quick check on the car proved it's durability with fuel being the only job mandatory for the mechanics. We also discussed the car's handling characteristics and I felt that it was a bit light on the front end with a tendancy to understeer, especially at turn in to the hairpin and the long, fast left handed Kirby. So for Race 1 we decided to raise the suspension on the rear to create more loading on the front end.
Race one saw three drivers not finishing and George's spin in front of me at the hairpin gave me the opportunity to finish ahead of him on the final lap. I was in one piece, so too was the car and I didn't finish where I'd started - last, RESULT!! With race one positions determining grid positions for race two I would find myself on row five, 5th from the back of the grid, another result! The change in setup of the suspension gave me more confidence through the in-field which brought my average lap time below that of best in qualifying and fastest lap was nearly 4secs quicker than that in qualifying - another result!
Race two and I was starting to feel more comfortable with the car, unfortuately my advantage in grid position was soon eaten into by all other cars as we left the start, missing turn one chicance and accelerated all the way to the hairpin - my car does just not have the grunt in a long drag situation. However I was now becoming much smoother through the twisty in-field and making fewer mistakes, in fact I had some good moments in there with both Howard and George although the very, very long run out from Turn 4 to Turn 1 Chicane made any in-field progress appear useless as even Howard's Tasmin could drop beneath me on the bank and power through after having come through the essess with the same exit speed.
Unfortunately my target of a lap time in the 1:20s didn't materialise with a best lap of 1:30, but I was far more consistent throughout the race with each lap in the order of 1:31/1:32. I found it difficult trying to hold my desired race line whilst constantly being waved a blue flag for the bigger boys, but that's the joy of class racing. I came in last this time but only just behind Geoff and not so far behind George (although the results show one lap differece due to our positions relative to Tim Hood).
Unfortunately my target of a lap time in the 1:20s didn't materialise with a best lap of 1:30, but I was far more consistent throughout the race with each lap in the order of 1:31/1:32. I found it difficult trying to hold my desired race line whilst constantly being waved a blue flag for the bigger boys, but that's the joy of class racing. I came in last this time but only just behind Geoff and not so far behind George (although the results show one lap differece due to our positions relative to Tim Hood).
I was a little disappointed not to have done better, more so for the rest of the team involved. I would have loved to have improved my Race 2 lap times and broken into the 1:20s, but on reflection I think we had a succesful weekend. Colin's hard work leading up to the event got us through scrutineering without any trouble, Colin and Phils work trackside ensured the car ran through all sessions and we achieved our goals. I am now one third of the way to removing the target from the back of the car with two race signatures!
I would also like to point out that I was made to feel very welcome to the series, I got the chance to speak with most of the drivers and all were incredibly supportive.
My particular thanks to Graham for the track walk and beer on Friday night, to Iain for the Big Mac which kept me going, to Howard for the encouragement and comments on my infield race techique and to George for pullig over in the first race!!
I also had a few spectators including forum members introducing themselves, offering their best wishes and congratulations. All of which makes the job of a new driver less daunting and far more enjoyable.
Thank you all.
Visit the MST Timing website (see liks section) for a full set of race results including lap by lap analysis.
Our goal for the weekend was to ensure that all the mechanical preparation had produced a race-worthy car with which I could complete two races without mechanical failure and without race incident. I was also hoping not to embarrass myself too greatly.
I arrived Saturday evening around 6pm and there were already a fair few guys at the circuit, some of which were lucky enough to have been testing on Friday. By 10pm everybody had arrived and the number of cars for the grid was looking pretty good although I'm not sure that 13th was the position on the grid that I was looking forward to! My car was travelling with the mechanics from Devon who would not be arriving until morning so mine was the only empty garage and I was hoping for quiet roads! I need not have worried, a sleepy Colin and Phil arrived with my car by 6am on the Saturday! We had plenty of time to offload the trailer, fill the garage, polish the car, and get suited for sign on at 8am. From here on though the pace was a bit more hectic, we succesfully passed our first ever scrutineering inspection at 8.30am, and noise testing at 9am. I had my driver briefing at 9.30am, meanwhile Colin and Phil were running a final pre-race check on the car and fueling.
I was loaded into the car by 9.50am and we were lead out from the pit lane to the circuit for qualifying to commence at 10am. Our plan was to run 3/4laps to get some heat into the tyres before pitting to run a quick check on the car and tyre pressures - after all this was the first time the car had been driven in several years and my first race! We had no idea what time we should be aiming for as the cars had never raced on the sports car circuit before but we figured we'd have 3/4laps after the pit stop to get a 'quick' lap in. Mostly, qualifyig was to give me a chance to learn the circuit.
As it turned out, I qualified (last, bloody 13th place) with a time of 1:33.890 which wasn't too dissatisying given that I was only 5secs behind George in Class B S3 and 3secs behind Geoff in the 3000M. At this point I must quote the best line I heard all weekend, from Graham Walden 'after all Geoff has been racing since the Centurion was a rank, not a tank!
So I'd got the car around qualifying and it was still in one piece! A quick check on the car proved it's durability with fuel being the only job mandatory for the mechanics. We also discussed the car's handling characteristics and I felt that it was a bit light on the front end with a tendancy to understeer, especially at turn in to the hairpin and the long, fast left handed Kirby. So for Race 1 we decided to raise the suspension on the rear to create more loading on the front end.
Race one saw three drivers not finishing and George's spin in front of me at the hairpin gave me the opportunity to finish ahead of him on the final lap. I was in one piece, so too was the car and I didn't finish where I'd started - last, RESULT!! With race one positions determining grid positions for race two I would find myself on row five, 5th from the back of the grid, another result! The change in setup of the suspension gave me more confidence through the in-field which brought my average lap time below that of best in qualifying and fastest lap was nearly 4secs quicker than that in qualifying - another result!
Race two and I was starting to feel more comfortable with the car, unfortuately my advantage in grid position was soon eaten into by all other cars as we left the start, missing turn one chicance and accelerated all the way to the hairpin - my car does just not have the grunt in a long drag situation. However I was now becoming much smoother through the twisty in-field and making fewer mistakes, in fact I had some good moments in there with both Howard and George although the very, very long run out from Turn 4 to Turn 1 Chicane made any in-field progress appear useless as even Howard's Tasmin could drop beneath me on the bank and power through after having come through the essess with the same exit speed.
Unfortunately my target of a lap time in the 1:20s didn't materialise with a best lap of 1:30, but I was far more consistent throughout the race with each lap in the order of 1:31/1:32. I found it difficult trying to hold my desired race line whilst constantly being waved a blue flag for the bigger boys, but that's the joy of class racing. I came in last this time but only just behind Geoff and not so far behind George (although the results show one lap differece due to our positions relative to Tim Hood).
Unfortunately my target of a lap time in the 1:20s didn't materialise with a best lap of 1:30, but I was far more consistent throughout the race with each lap in the order of 1:31/1:32. I found it difficult trying to hold my desired race line whilst constantly being waved a blue flag for the bigger boys, but that's the joy of class racing. I came in last this time but only just behind Geoff and not so far behind George (although the results show one lap differece due to our positions relative to Tim Hood).
I was a little disappointed not to have done better, more so for the rest of the team involved. I would have loved to have improved my Race 2 lap times and broken into the 1:20s, but on reflection I think we had a succesful weekend. Colin's hard work leading up to the event got us through scrutineering without any trouble, Colin and Phils work trackside ensured the car ran through all sessions and we achieved our goals. I am now one third of the way to removing the target from the back of the car with two race signatures!
I would also like to point out that I was made to feel very welcome to the series, I got the chance to speak with most of the drivers and all were incredibly supportive.
My particular thanks to Graham for the track walk and beer on Friday night, to Iain for the Big Mac which kept me going, to Howard for the encouragement and comments on my infield race techique and to George for pullig over in the first race!!
I also had a few spectators including forum members introducing themselves, offering their best wishes and congratulations. All of which makes the job of a new driver less daunting and far more enjoyable.
Thank you all.
Visit the MST Timing website (see liks section) for a full set of race results including lap by lap analysis.
posted by No.25 at 1:33 AM
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