2005 RACE REPORTS

Brands Hatch - 13th/14th August

With my championship hopes fading I was looking forward to Brands Hatch as an opportunity to put in a solid clean performance and hopefully pick up some silverware along the way.

Race 1: I had some problems in qualifying, losing touch with my Yellowcage Racing partner, Mike Richards early in the session as I bedded in some new rubber and so ran the qualifying session alone with no slipstreaming to bring my lap times down.
I qualified 9th with Mike in top spot on pole. I got a good start and was up to 6th in a couple of laps. Sitting on the back of a pack of cars which were 3 abreast going into Druids hairpin I had a feeling something was going to unfold. And it did… tyre smoke and crunching fibreglass signalled an impact and so I tucked myself inside for the “safest” line and hoped I had the brakes to avoid it all. Luckily I did and I scampered round on the inside into 3rd. Fortunately the incident was quite light, the only casualty at that point being Guy Harrington who disappeared into the gravel trap. There was trouble brewing however for Mike who had holed his radiator and was later to retire with a cooked engine.
I held station in 3rd and the top 3 of us pulled a healthy gap over the chasing field. I could sit in the slipstream of Andrew Beaumont and Bill Addison but couldn’t match their cars for outright pace for some reason. I ventured into 2nd a couple of times following a good line through Paddock and some outbraking into Druids but both Bill and Andrew would streak past me at the exit of Clearways, passing me clear before the finish line each time. I decided on keeping things sensible and saving my car for the next race and so I took a steady 3rd place, very satisfying considering the preceding championship weekends!

Race 2: I had been thinking through a strategy for this race, trying to work out a way to find an extra turn of speed out of Clearways to eat into the apparent power disadvantage I had. I needn’t have bothered. From the opening lap it looked like it might be a replay of Race 1 although at this point the pack was bunched much closer. By the 2nd lap however there was a red flag; Rob Winrow spinning into the pit wall on the start finish straight.
At the moment the red was shown Andrew Beaumont was leading a column of cars up through the left hander, MacLaren. Bill Addison, myself and Nick Potter followed him in single file literally inches from each other. Andrew spotted the flag at the top of the hill and took a wide line to give everyone time to slow down. The rest of us were unsighted by the car ahead and I chased Bill, who cashed in on what he thought was a mistake by Andrew, through the right turn into Clearways. Bill now with a clear view spotted the next red flag but unfortunately for the rest of us unsighted drivers, stayed on line and jumped on his brakes at the point when you would normally be hard on the gas! I found myself sandwiched with a crunching thud between Bill and Nick Potter. We all trundled slowly round to the marshals as they cleared Rob’s car and reformed the grid and I asked one of them to check my radiator. He said all was OK and at the re-start I was soon back in 3rd but trouble was looming… My nosecone had been damaged in the collision and began to work free. It eventually broke away and became trapped around the suspension between the left wheel and the bodywork. Now the Caterham 7 is not the most aerodynamic car but the wind resistance effect of the shifted nosecone, along with friction of it dragging along the tarmac, put pay to any hopes of me remaining competitive. I also had the added bonus of being unable to turn right properly, streaks of smoke coming off the wheel as the tyre was pressed against the trapped fibreglass!
I slid down to 11th as I tried in vain to dislodge the nosecone by rattling over kerbs (for which I received a cautionary slap on the wrist from the Clerk of the Course; apparently Mr Palmer doesn’t take kindly to such behaviour…) and weaving the steering. It eventually came free 2 laps from the end enabling me to pick one place back from Howard Pessall.

So another “trying” weekend and it seems that for now I must learn how to cope with the changes in fortune you encounter in racing!

Mike Richards in the meantime had a cracking run with his replacement engine, coming from the back of the grid to take an impressive 3rd place and taking the class lap record along the way!

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Silverstone - 16th/17th July

Last time out at Snetterton was a weekend to forget. My worst finishes on a race weekend compounded by continuing gearbox problems and a blown engine.
I had high hopes for Silverstone, I won both races there last year and following a hasty strip down of the car I would be running with a fresh gearbox, replaced by the suppliers due to questions over the build of the original one, and a rebuilt engine.

Race 1: Qualifying went well. Very well in fact as I took pole with a new class lap record! Despite all that however I still had gear change problems with the new box…
After a mediocre start I settled into the race swapping the lead with Bill Addison, Tony Poole and Andrew Beaumont. At one point I found myself running deep into Brooklands, a crazy left hander that regularly sees cars going in 4 abreast with room on the exit for only 2. I put a wheel over the kerb and slid out onto the grass just when I needed the heavy brake for the turn into Luffield. I rejoined the track at the head of the bend, luckily missing the traffic and slipping down to 5th place. A couple of laps later and I found myself in the same position on the same bend. Tony Poole and I drifted in together, I tried to ensure that I gave him enough room on the inside but went way deep again and this time the car spun to the infield. By the time I rejoined the pack were off, I was down to 12th place and out of the all important slipstream. I plugged away for the next ten laps and finally got back in touch with the leaders. Unfortunately it was at that point that the last lap board was shown. I moved into the best position I could having wriggled up to 8th through Copse and up to Becketts. Once again I was on the run to Brooklands and looking for an opportunity to snatch a few places before the final corner with a charge down the outside. I charged a little too hard it would appear as I locked a front wheel and slid hopelessly into the gravel trap…

Race 2: I’m starting from the back again following my DNF and am very aware that I cannot afford to make any more rash mistakes. I now had 2 DNF scores to drop at the end of the season so every point going forward would count to my final tally.
Between the races I had yet another gearbox fitted by the support team so that should be one worry off my mind. I got a good start and picked up a few early places into the first corner. The gearbox was finally working well and I set about the job in hand. After some 15 laps I had climbed into the top 6 where I was continually repelled by Gary Brown in the widest Caterham I’ve encountered! Eventually he conceded and I quickly found myself challenging for first, finally slipping into the lead on the run to Brooklands. Seeing a Yellow Flag on the exit of Luffield I did the obligatory raising of the hand and reduced to a safe speed (mindful of my misdemeanour at Knockhill…). Andrew Beaumont and Tony Poole took advantage of the situation however and both accelerated past me on the run to Copse. In their defence there was no Green Flag at the next marshals post (no flag at all in fact!) so poor marshalling had left us all in confusion…
Tony passed Andrew on the run to Becketts and I made my move on Andrew on the approach to Brooklands. Having been off 3 times at this bend my approach was naturally more measured and with Andrew holding the inside line I once again moved to pass him around the outside, a move I was now accustomed to following my climb from the back of the field! I passed alongside Andrew and was about to brake for the right hand turn into Luffield when I was thrown into a violent spin. It appears that Andrew had been suffering understeer problems through the race and he hooked my nearside rear wing just in front of my exhaust with his offside front wheel. Heartbreaking doesn’t describe it! I couldn’t bear another DNF, I restarted the car and dragged it round in last place with the exhaust bouncing along the track and the rear wing missing; an incredibly frustrating end to a very hard fought race.

I guess it has to go down to experience. I am happy that there was little either of us could have done to avoid the collision but it’s painful knowing that in reality my title chances are now over.

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Valencia - (Special)

2nd/3rd July

For some time I’d had my eye on racing a higher spec Caterham, maybe an R400 or similar. I was immediately hooked therefore when I was offered a seat in a Caterham CSR260 by the team principle of Hyperion Motorsport, Steve Hindle.
The CSR260 is Caterham’s latest car and the flagship of their range. It holds the world record for the sprint from 0-100-0mph (around 11 seconds) and runs a 2.3 litre 260bhp Ford Duratech Cosworth engine. The excess of power is put to the ground through 10” slicks at the rear and the power to weight ratio is around 450bhp/ton. The car is currently used in the “Caterham Cosworth Masters European Challenge”. The race format is 2 one hour endurance races and the idea was that I would partner an old racing friend of mine, Nathan Bell, in the Valencia round where each driver completes 30 minutes of each race with a mandatory 2 minute pit stop.

I was excited and eager to take part. With my license duly upgraded to “International C” I booked a flight and a hotel and was on my way.

Nathan, currently running in the Caterham R400 Challenge, and I arrived at the circuit on the Thursday ahead of the Saturday race day to get fitted in the car and sort out belt lengths, seat position. We practised driver changes and pit tactics ahead of the testing session scheduled for the next day. Testing was unfortunately limited to 2 x 45 minute sessions; not much time to learn the car, learn the circuit and scrub in 10 fresh tyres! Still we did what we could and were lapping within 1.8 seconds of each other over a 1 minute 45 second-ish lap by the end.

Qualifying was held over 30 minutes on Saturday morning. I set a slightly faster time than Nathan of 1m45.5 seconds, although this was a couple of tenths slower than Nathan’s best in testing the day before. Regardless it placed us 8th on the grid and row 4 was not a bad place to be in the scheme of things.

I opted to start race 1 and I have to say that I was sweating somewhat as I sat on the grid. This was naturally in part due to the tension but more to do with the 40 degree heat we were experiencing! I got a good start and managed to pick up a couple of places into turn one. I ran 6th for a couple of laps before catching and passing the Loic Martinez/Phillipe Simon car. Over the next period I chased down Michael Mora and Richard Hay, finally passing both of them with a good exit leading on to the start finish straight and a good tow down to turn 1. I held what I thought was 3rd until the changeover before realizing that our team-mates Luke Stevens and Jon Barnes had to pit with a broken exhaust mount, promoting us to 2nd. Nathan set to work with a solid consistent drive and in doing so took advantage of a drive through penalty for race leader Francois Desperez who had sped in the pit lane. Was first too much to hope for with 15 minutes to go? Not at all! Nathan kept it clean to the line and we took an astonishing first place!

For race 2 we decided that I should again start the race as I had made a good start in race 1 and was accustomed to driving on a combination of heavy fuel with fresh tyres, as opposed to lighter fuel on well run in tyres that Nathan experienced in the second stint. It worked well at first as I held P1 through the opening laps but a missed gear on the start finish straight saw me quickly demoted to 4th. Was the heat getting to me? You bet! But I composed myself and set about chipping away at the leaders. I caught and passed the 3rd place car and was making ground on P2 as I was called in for the driver change. Nathan was in the car and out on the track following another quickly executed driver change and found himself on the tail of 2nd place Bruno Toulemonde. He pounced early and took 2nd, a place he held to the end, finishing 5.5 seconds behind Francois Desperez while closing all the time!!

What a dream weekend. The Hyperion Motorsport Team support was superb and slickly executed and the weekend will go down as one of the most memorable of my life!

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Snetterton

18th/19th June

With good results at tricky circuits like Oulton Park and Knockhill I was somewhat relieved to be visiting Snetterton, a venue with which I was not only familiar but had had 3 wins and a worst finish of 4th out of 5 races. Of course I’m sure that you are already sensing by now that all didn’t go to plan…

It was a scorching hot weekend with no shade and only a gentle breeze in the sheltered corner of the overflow paddock that we were consigned to (a hundred Radical motor homes had swallowed up the regular paddock area…). Qualifying went pretty well, 5th placing me in a strong position. At the race start it was clear that Gary Brown and Guy Harrington would be setting the pace. A pack of around nine cars gave hard chase from the start. I was one of those nine cars….briefly… A great slipstream opportunity presented itself on lap 4 on the run into the Esses; I swept past Mike Richards and Stephen Rowden but carried far too much speed. I made the left hander but ran out of tarmac for the right that follows it. I slid wide and travelled gracefully sideways along the edge of the track towards Bomb Hole. At the last moment the car stepped back on the track and faced the oncoming throng. Mike Blackadder was the unlucky chap who chose the wrong way to turn and he met me head on.
I was out of the race with a terrible sounding engine and some suspension damage. Mike B carried on, shedding various parts of his car on every lap, but only managed last place.
Yellowcage partner Mike Richards achieved Fastest Lap but just missed out on 3rd after a hard fought battle with Tony Poole.

With my car repaired and taped back together the engine was given a clean bill of health (some debris was responsible for the noise) and I was looking to make something of the weekend in race 2. Starting from the back I could only improve. I duly set about picking places up and soon found myself in the midfield behind Mike Blackadder and in a good position to work with him to close in on the field ahead. Things however went bad again… a mix up under braking into Russell Bend chicane saw me punt the back of Jim Tatchell’s car. He span out briefly but I managed to carry on. The gremlins were not to be foiled though. My fuel safety cut-out switch decided to trip on every lap at the fastest point of Coram Curve (anyone who’s been around that at speed knows how hairy that was!) and also on the run to Bomb Hole and the exit of Russell Bend. On top of that I lost synchro on 3rd gear with around 8 laps to go and in trying to get 3rd I hit 1st and buzzed my engine!!! I somehow managed to hold on to 9th thanks in part to Mike B throwing himself off at Russell in a last ditched attempt at making it to 7th but the weekend will go down as my worst performance to date.
Once again a strong performance from Mike Richards saw him finish in 4th. He was also awarded Minister Power’s “Driver of the Day”.

Mother said there’d be days like this, she never mentioned a whole weekend though!

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May 21st/22nd

After the positive start at Oulton Park I was looking to keep so momentum going in the results department. Knockhill however is a tricky circuit with few opportunities for overtaking but plenty of room for error.

Qualifying on Saturday was wet, which I had hoped might suit me as I am pretty confident in the rain. I set 5th fastest time, only 2 tenths off of Pole which went to my Yellowcage Racing partner Mike Richards.

Race 1. The race, later that afternoon, was dry and after a poor start, which initially saw me dropped to 7th, I pressed on and worked my way up to 3rd. The leading pack of 3 broke away slightly and I swapped the lead continually with Mike Richards and Tony Poole until 3 laps from the end where I managed to break a little ground and crossed the line in first place with Tony 2nd and Mike 3rd.

Race 2 on Sunday was also dry (amazingly for Knockhill!) and after dropping a place at the start, this time from Pole as per Saturday’s result, I fought back into the lead. I lost out a couple of times to Mike Richards, Tony Poole and Bill Addison but finally regained the lead and held it to the end, resisting immense pressure from Tony, Mike Blackadder and Mike Richards throughout.

There was an unfortunate twist at the end however when it was judged that I overtook Tony Poole on lap 2 following a yellow flag but before I had entered the green flag zone. I have little defence as I failed to spot the yellow during my slipstream move on Tony and had little choice but to accept the clerk of the course’s 0.5 second penalty. This moved me down to 2nd place and handed 1st to Tony, not entirely undeserved I must say considering the pressure he put me under throughout the race.

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Monday March 28th

This was the opening race weekend of the 2005 season with qualifying and 2 x 30 minute races all held on the Bank holiday Monday. I’m joined in the Inters championship this year by some old adversaries from Roadsport B and new drivers from other championships so it was to be an interesting couple of races.

The weather was dry and bright but the 15 minutes qualifying (down from the 20 minutes I had last year) was frustrating as a 1 minute 40 sec lap time did not give much chance to find space and get “in the groove”. I qualify 9th with fellow Yellowcage racer Mike Richards in 6th.

Race 1
I get a good start and pick up a couple of places. I spend some time battling with Ben Scammell for 5th place and eventually pass him into turn one. By the end of that lap however the red flag went out and I was put back to 6th on the grid for re-start.
Another good start and I again pick up a couple of places eventually climbing to 2nd after a battle with Mike Blackadder and I was looking to have a go at Guy Harrington for top spot. Pretty soon however the red flags came out again, Mike Richards and Howard Pessall having a heavy shunt at the start of the pit straight and the race was halted. The rules however deem that the final positions are taken from the last full lap and I get demoted to 3rd place again!

Race 2
An atrocious start! Down to 7th or 8th by the first bend and cursing myself. This time I got the bit between my teeth and made good progress through the field. I get Guy Harrington, in first place, in my sights a bit earlier and manage to pass him. The race goes the full 30 minutes and it becomes a 4 way battle up front with Nick Potter and Mike Blackadder providing the challenges. Nick and I briefly swap places a couple of times but crucially I hold on to first on the last lap, Nick getting pipped by Guy for second by 1000th of a second!

So a good start in all. Knockhill looks like it should be a close race!

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