Last bow taken for 2007.

Taken a while to get round to updating this...

So, last week was the last meeting of the season. Like the September meeting, this was a double header again so a very busy day was in the offing.

For the first heat of the morning round, some low cloud had brought some light rain so I'd taken it pretty easy in the warm up. I (terrifyingly) drew pole for this one... When we got underway I mostly tippy-toed my way back through the field as the track was in greasy mode and it was very treacherous. With a handful of laps to go Murray Ford exacted revenge on me for the September crash which lost him a wheel by steaming into the side of me through McIntyres/Scotsman - totally accidental as he'd tried a move and just understeered wide into me. We banged wheels and both spun, me ending up in the gravel and Murray broadside on the track. We both got going again but I finished last having crawled to the finish in case of damage.

The second heat was mostly me checking that the car was ok (we'd had a look to check the rear half-shaft was ok and so on) and there were no heroics to speak of. Car felt fine though so I was ready for the final, which I was on pole for again!

The final wasn't my finest hour. I was down at the back from the fourth lap onwards and I just drifted backwards, well over a second a lap slower than the next cars. As Dave Newsham had taken off at the start of the race he had an easy run and set ten quick laps, lapping me on the last lap which gave me a kick in the head a bit to pick it up in the afternoon.

The first heat of the afternoon round wasn't anything much to write home about, though I did have a fun battle to the end with Sandford Imrie and Murray, actually managing what was apparently (I was told from trackside) a grandstand overtaking manouver on Murray at the hairpin. Turned out he had a few issues with his steering and so on but I claim the victory. :p Most important, in this race the track was finally bone-dry and so the line was fully available for quick laps. I finally got my 64 second lap in this race with a best of 64.624!

The second heat was fairly uneventful, after ending up towards the back again I had another fight with Murray, passing him before being repassed myself then we both got by Chris Hynds when he spun late on.

The final was the best race of the year by far as agreed by almost everyone. The entire field was involved in some sort of battle and the lead fight towards the end was apparently breathtaking (I'll have to wait for the Motors TV coverage to see it!)
For my own part, I was involved in a fantastic fight with five or six other cars for most of the race but I'll come to that after mentioning the start... I had finished lowest of the "regular" runners in the the first two heats so was on pole again alongside Mark Spiers who was back after a while away. Indeed, the really quick guys were quite far back. So when the lights went out to signal the start, I just thought "Last race to make an impression" and utterly went for it. Sure enough, I managed to get the inside line into Duffus and led down the hill! Mark jinked out to the right and got me into McIntyres but I floored it as best I could on the line and managed to get through the chicane (I think) in second - apparently the circuit commentator thought this was a really bizarre turn of events... By memory I think Jason Ogg got me into Clark with Ben Mason and Ali Gauld on the run down to and through the hairpin with Rory Bryant getting by on the pit straight but I finished the lap in 6th. Lost my nerve slightly on the next lap and lost a few spots to cross the line in 14th, followed by 16th the next time by. By this time the big fight I mentioned was underway - Chris Hynds and James Willis ahead of me, Frank Ogg, Scott Hynds, Rich Crozier, Imrie and Ford behind me. Hynds and Willis collided with James going off and I was slightly held up behind Chris as he blocked the line with his slightly damaged car, losing a handful of places myself. The group fought like tigers for the next few laps and although I ended up at the back of the bunch, it was amazing fun all the way.

Results

So it was a fantastic day's racing. Somewhat bizarrely it was probably the worst set of results I've had, despite being a good bit quicker! Think it shows the quality of the field in the series... After the presentations of race and Championship awards, Gordon Mann, Rory and myself all stepped forward to present Aly with a bottle of whisky with the label I've attached a picture of below to say thanks for the scholarship. Gordon had also written some comedy Burns-style poetry!

I'll write some final thoughts on my year here later, along with early predictions of what I may be doing next season!

Testing, testing...

Had a good Saturday test - the car is 100% in the handling department again after the prang last time out and I was feeling very much end-of-term like in my pushing the limits even further than I have before and really enjoying the sessions. It was cloudy, dry and cool, perfect conditions for having a proper go and I felt pretty quick - there's still more time for me to be found through the corners.

Lost the clutch right at the end which was a lowlight but it's not too expensive to get sorted and it was well on the way to being fixed when I left the track. Hoping for a dry track tomorrow so I can have some fun during the six races rather than just fear for my life like in September! With the low 65 second laps being accomplished at the BTCC meeting, conditions should hopefully be right for me to get that 64.xxx lap I set myself as a target at the start of the season - a low 64 would be a great way to finish the year.

The Curtain Falls.....

This weekend sees the end of the season. It's a double header as in September, but I'm happy to say that the weather forecast is (fingers crossed) for a generally bright and breezy day. I don't mind it being cold but I'd like for it to be dry this time!!

Can't believe it's almost the end of the season already - still remember the day I received the scholarship letter. The car should be back to fighting fitness, had a word with Aly a couple of weeks ago and he gave me the rundown of the work needing done - could have been a lot worse, if I'd been hit about 8 inches further back we could have been looking at three times the cost and damage!

No real expectations from the weekend - just looking to enjoy what may well be my last meeting in the car (can't see how I'll manage to bring the funds to the table for 2008) and have some fun. If it is indeed dry I'll go all out to try and get some decent lap times to sign off with.

Six races, one disaster.

Sadly the weather forecast for yesterday turned out to be accurate - heaving rain! Familiarisation session was sodden so I didn't go for any lap times, just saw what you could get away with at various corners.

The first heat of the first round started with me in mid-pack. Went ok on the first lap as the fast guys streamed by and on the second lap I found myself in amongst the guys I tend to be close to. One of the new Hynds came up the inside of me into Clark which was fine but he had gone in too hard and got sideways on the exit. As I was right behind him I had to react and lost it a little myself, catching it but getting spat out to the right where Frank Ogg was. We banged wheels and both spun to the left, right into the path of Murray Ford who couldn't see a thing in the spray. Huge impact and the next thing I knew my car was stuttering to a stalled halt half on, half off the track. Having been pinballed around a bit I was a little dazed when the marshalls came over and with three cars off the road (Murray's missing his left front where he hit me) they red flagged it. I'd hit my arm off the door during the crash so they decided to err on the side of caution and give me a quick ride in the ambulance to the medical centre but all was ok. The accident was just one of those chain-reaction racing incidents and thankfully no-one was too badly hurt and Murray's car was fixed in time for the third race (Frank's suffered no damage!) so we all got to continue the day.

The car amazingly stood up well and after some hammering and new bits Aly and Co managed to get me out for the second heat but the steering was all over the place so I dropped right to the back and wandered around feeling it out to try and explain the problem as best I could. More tracking work and so on but it turned out the steering column was bent so I just had to make the best of it.

Felt a bit better for the final, indeed I went for it a lot more once my confidence in the altered steering was restored! The rain by this time was absolutely torrential and the car was squirming on the pit straight over the bumps. Add to that you just couldn't see anything at all in the spray and I'm amazed that everyone mostly made it round ok to the end. Had a good fight with the guys at the back and managed to pass Sandford Imrie on the last lap to pick up a spot.

With talk of the meeting being abandoned as the track was so sodden the water wasn't draining anymore, we were helped by the weather starting to turn from the lunch-break onwards. Drew second for this race and went for it as best I could, all going quite well until I utterly stuffed up my braking at the hairpin and ploughed straight on, getting beached. The marshalls gave me a shove and I got on my way but I was a lap down by then.

The second heat went pretty well, even though I had to start towards the back. Lost a spot late on to Sandford after holding him off for a couple of laps but was quite pleased with 17th of 22 starters at the end as it was still treacherous. Indeed, the rain had mostly stopped by then so it was starting to get greasy.

The final started in bright sunshine! The track was very greasy by now as I discovered when (starting from pole for the first time!) I went straight on at Duffus, bouncing down the hill and rejoining near the back. Mark Lees had spun into the gravel behind me though so the red flag came out and we had a full restart so I got a chance to try again....

...and I did the exact same thing!! When we got underway I could see Colin Atkinson looking up the outside and I maybe had too much of my mind on him as I didn't brake enough and went bounding through the trap again. Rejoined dead last and stayed there to the end.

Easily my most eventful race meeting so far!! Just hoping that the October meeting (which is also a double-header) is in better conditions! As for my war-wounds, most of my left-side hurts the day after - neck, shoulder, big bruise from my elbow to my armpit, knee and ankle but still, can't complain too much given that it could have been a lot worse!

Race Results

Loooooooong day coming up.

Tested at the track today - forecast was for it to be wet but as it turned out the track was almost dry for the first session and bone dry for the second. Definitely feels like Autumn now - there's a chill in the air.

Six races tomorrow! We're every third race on track so it's going to be busy-busy... really need to hope for no damage or races will be missed cos Aly is running 18 cars! Forecast is very dodgy too so it looks like it'll be excitement all round!

Made the mistake of mentioning that I'd taped the live races at the BTCC and got several requests for copies! Running off a few now, but I doubt I'll have enough for everyone who wanted them...

BTCC Photos

Just a handful of photos from the BTCC weekend. Many thanks to those who forwarded some pics to me, I've got loads of great photo memories to keep hold of from this brilliant meeting.

Someone who was at the track got a couple of great videos - the final and the donuts!

Click on the photos for the larger versions:

The Big Day

What can I say? The BTCC raceday was all I could have hoped for and more - it was an incredible experience to be part of an event like this.

First of all - the races. The second heat was the first track action of the day and some heavy rain was just coming to a halt when we arrived at the track. Still, out we went onto the sodden track, me hoping that I wouldn't struggle so much as to cause an accident and get the day off to a bad start! I needn't have worried, I felt the same way with these conditions as I did at the first race of the June meeting - the conditions weren't that bad and I managed to set some reasonable times. Dropped back through the pack quite quickly but ended up ahead of Jamie Willis, managing to keep him at bay to the end. With Ben Mason and Jason Ogg going off at the hairpin and losing a bit of time I managed to finish 19th of 25 finishers which I was very pleased with given the conditions!

The final happened over 8 hours later so the weather conditions were the exact opposite - sunny and warm! Started 4th on the grid and given the big crowd who had stayed on and with live TV rolling, I just went for it. Took about five laps to drop back a bit but had a number of drivers asking me afterwards "what I'd taken" for this race as they'd never seen me defend so aggresively before! Soon found myself in a big fight with Frank Ogg and we had a great tussle to the end, with me finishing 22nd. The slow-down lap was great too - the crowd were very appreciative so we all waved as much as possible, some guys even doing donuts at the hairpin! Set my best ever lap time again on the last lap - this time a 65.008 which is almost 1.2 seconds quicker than I managed at the last meeting! The progress is coming in little steps which is great, especially given that I seemed to have stalled at around 66.2s recently.

Heat 1 Result
Heat 2 Result
Final Result

The live TV coverage of the two Sunday races was fantastic - it was great to watch and it's very strange to see your name on the live timing ticker thing! We got quite a lot of interest in the paddock as well, the cars made a popular attraction. Got to sign a couple of autographs too which was a strange experience, especially the kid with the broken chunk of legend who was getting us to sign it while his Mum got pictures of us with him! Even got to speak to someone who had done the Knockhill Legends experience in my car!

Overall, definitely the experience of a lifetime! Here's the class photo taken at the end of the day:

Friday and Saturday

So, the Friday test session was pretty straight forward - weather was nice and sunny and the track was grippy. Had a go at various lines again at some of the corners and felt a bit quicker in places.

Fast forward to Saturday and welcome to Knockhill as club racers don't normally see it - huge numbers of people and lots of awnings and transporters all over the place. With the legends mostly in a line along the top of the paddock, they presented plenty of eye candy for the crowd. The practice session went well, felt the track out and had a bit of an experiment, ending up with another 66.2 lap time despite not actually stringing a whole lap together which gave me some confidence.

Spent a while watching the Touring Car qualifying and so on then hopped in the car for our first heat. Large crowds of people still around in the paddock so had to be careful to not run them over on the way to the holding area! Out on track for the race and still quite a large crowd at the usual viewing points.

Race started and I made a pretty poor getaway which would prove to be my saviour. Arrived at the top of Duffus/Seat three wide to discover a scene from Armaggedon unfolding before me. Two cars off on the left, smoke everywhere. A wheel launched about 15 feet in the air landed in front of a group of us, causing Stevie Coull to brake whereupon he was promptly wiped out by Colin Atkinson directly behind him. At this point an undetermined chunk of metal bounced off my window netting directly in front of my face and I saw Dave Thorburn's car minus most of it's rear bodywork career across the track. Amazingly I'd come through all this in one piece and had leapt up from about 20th at the top of Duffus to about 8th! Inevitably the red flag flew though.

After being reformed on the grid (with many spaces) we had another start and I soon found the quicker guys going by. Eventually found myself battling Frank Ogg in his first race and Tony Knight but managed to pull away in the remaining laps to take 18th of 26. Best of all I eclipsed my previous best lap time by almost a full second by posting a 65.312! Hugely encouraged by the quicker lap time and the decent finish and looking forward to tomorrow when I'm starting 7th in the second race.

BTCC Preview

So, this weekend will probably be the biggest motorsport weekend of my life - on the British Touring Car support bill. There are supposedly around 26 entries for the round, in other words all the regulars will be out with a couple of extras. A journalist from the Scottish Sun was supposedly going to be driving one of Aly's cars as part of their coverage of the BTCC and there have been rumours of a celebrity car but I assume I'll find out about that tomorrow.

Testing at the end of the day on Friday, familiarisation session and first heat on Saturday and the second heat and the final book-ending all the day's activities on Sunday, so lots to look forward to in the coming days. Slightly tempered by the no-show of my circuit pass and parking pass from the BARC but with any luck I can pick up replacements at the track...

Friday testing report will follow tomorrow.

Great Day

Bit of a delay getting this online. Had a blast last weekend - easily my best races so far. After the rain on Saturday and the awful conditions first thing on Sunday morning, I was a bit worried about what we were going to find, but it was dry for the most part for all three of our races, though the familiarisation was wet and a little slippery.

First time in the draw for a championship round, drew 15th for the first race (which would be 2nd in the second heat) and it was a reasonably straight-forward race for the most part. Ended up behind stock-car racer Murray Ford who was making his Legends debut and chased him all the way, ending up ahead of Tony Caig who had a spin at the hairpin with a couple of laps to go. On the last lap, Tony got to the inside of me heading into McIntyre and I tried to hold on too hard, touched the left rear in the gravel and spun it. Stayed on the lead lap but finished a long way behind.

The second race was my first right up at the front and I started second behind Dave Newsham. Totally screwed the start and got mugged left and right, soon finding myself well towards the back. Murray got by me and I spent the rest of the race right with him, I was slightly quicker into the braking areas but he was quicker through the gears so we were much of a muchness... Finished right behind him.

The third race was probably the most fun I've ever had. Started third and for once got a decent start, got into Duffus right with the leaders. Lost a few spots around the lap but started the second lap in seventh. Just starting the third lap I was in a huge group of cars (picture below) and it was such a rush to draft up the pit straight in the pack. Through McIntyre I unfortunately repeated my mistake of the first race and bounced through the gravel. Kept it in a straight line but rejoined last just behind Murray. Decided to go for it and sure enough just beat my previous fastest lap by a fraction (66.216) so all in all I can't complain. Felt a bit more on the pace and hoping the improvement continues at the BTCC meeting... preview of that to follow!

Heat 1 Result
Heat 2 Result
Final Result

Knockhill? Nope - Delhi in the monsoon season...

Showed up at Knockhill to run the afternoon test sessions today - it had been raining increasingly heavily as the morning went on and it really started coming down as I left Perth to head to the track - when I got there it was VERY wet.

The first session was fully wet, it was pretty good fun and I spent the time testing what I could and couldn't do at certain corners - had one moment when two other cars came up behind me side by side into the hairpin and as I changed down to second gear I got nothing at all... tried again and second snatched too hard and threw me sideways - caught it but the two cars had to take avoiding action on either side of me through the turn!

The second session saw some really heavy rain get going just before we went out - it really hammered down. The session got wetter and wetter until eventually the red flag was requested by Aly Hunter and was duly thrown. What with the Minis testing on track at the same time and obviously handling the conditions better, it was difficult to do much more than keep out of the way and just make the most of testing in those conditions just in case it's like that tomorrow... should be "interesting" if it is!

Speedfair Races

Forgot to update this... Speedfair races went okay, I ran with the main grid just to get a dry-run at having a go with having to deal with faster guys coming by me in time for the next Championship round next weekend. The Saturday race took place in really nasty, greasy conditions and I started third. Through the first few corners the car felt terrible, I don't think I warmed the brakes up properly before the start, indeed on the run up to Clark I lost the car under-braking and ploughed into the gravel. Marshalls pushed me out and I got going again but was now a lap down. The car continued to feel absolutely terrible for the rest of the race, I knew I was rattled after the off but under any kind of braking or accelaration I felt like I was going to go off track. Finished 15th of 15, two laps down.

On Sunday it was noticed I had a rear tyre going down which I'm sure must have played a part as when that was fixed the second race was much better. Started sixth and narrowly avoided a crash between Mark Lees and Carol Brown that almost swept me off track with them and settled into following Jason Ogg after he passed me. Was pretty happy with getting through two race starts in the field and finished 14th of 16.

Next up is the Championship round on August 12th - I'll be starting in the pack. Booked in to test on Saturday afternoon as well so it'll be a busy weekend.

Unexpected Bonus!

Got a text message yesterday from Aly Hunter asking if I was free to race at the Classic Speedfair this weekend - I assume something has dropped off the schedule and the slots have been replaced with two ten lap races, one each on the Saturday and Sunday! I can't make it in time for the familiarisation session in the morning on the Saturday because of work but Aly reckons that wont be a problem as it's all at such short notice.

So, if you're wandering along to the Speedfair this weekend, feel free to say hello.

A day not short on happenings....

I doubt there will be a stranger day for me in the legends this year! First things first, got to the track first thing to find everything sodden, it had been raining all night and was still going.



The new engine had been installed (nice and shiny looking) and was having a few bits and pieces done to it when I arrived. Indeed, with a couple of other things being discovered later in the day I've never seen it having more work done.



Went out for the familiarisation session with the rain easing a bit but the track still awash. This was my first fully wet go at the track coupled with me not wanting to thrash the new engine too hard until the races so I kept it steady and got a feel for the conditions. Times.

When the time came for the first race, I was glad to have decided to not go into the main draw for the race start positions as the rain was back and the track was even worse than before. Starting from the back was an experience in conditions like that, the ball of spray ahead of you is just immense. A couple of cars touched on the first lap with one of them going off while a few laps later Jason (who drew the front row with fellow rookie Gordon - rather them than me!) spun at the chicane and I also passed him. At this point something strange happened - I seemed to discover that I LOVE conditions like this. Right ahead of me Gordon (who had also had a spin) and Ali Thom were clearly having problems with the conditions while I could see the two cars behind me gaining a little but not by much. It was looking like I was on for what to me would have been a mega result until the last lap when I completely noobed it up into the very last corner, snatched second gear at too high revs and spun it on the entry... Thankfully the cars behind me managed to get by without hitting the car but I lost about 40 seconds and what would probably have been the result of my career. (granted only 13th at best but that would have been big news for me!) Couldn't help but be disappointed at throwing it away like that but had the time of my life up to that point. Add to that, I was only about 2.5 seconds a lap off the quickest guys and on the same pace as the lower midfield - more monsoons in future, please! Race 1 result.

Race 2 was a tough one with the track not as wet as before and entering the dreaded category of "greasy". The car went out sounding like a bit of a tractor but didn't seem to lose much pace, started at the back again with Gordon and pretty much shadowed him all the way to the end. He was suffering with monster understeer and went off the track a few times but he had usually pulled a small gap to me every time he did it so the best I could do was to latch onto the back of him. Had a couple of goes at the hairpin to get by but the inside line at the corner was obviously far wetter and the second time I tried I got a bit sideways under braking, got no gear and half spun it. Got going again pretty quickly but ended up six seconds behind him at the end. Race 2 result.

The final was a disaster from the off for me. Wondered if I was going to get out at all when Aly and the team traced the tractor noises to the fact the exhaust had blown and they did what they could to patch it up temporarily in the small time between the second and final races. The track was at it's driest so far, but it was the worst sort of condition - half wet, half dry, all slidy. The race started with Gordon back on pole again and he was helped into a spin at the top of the hill, taking three other cars off with him. One of them (Ali Thom) came back on beside me and I stupidly tried to stay with him through the chicane, touched the wet stuff on acceleration and spun it into the bog on the inside of the track. Thinking everyone was by I tried to keep it rolling backwards with the clutch in so I didn't get stuck and managed to regain the track, Gordon screaming by having got going again. By the time I got going again I was a mile behind and the car was really twitchy so I just concentrated on finishing, getting lapped by the top three at the end. Final result.

So the final result is three 17th places. Results probably should have been better but I've continued my 100% finishing record at least which is my main goal for the season - maximum track time. Still beating myself up about the race 1 spin a little but the day was a lot of fun and has confirmed to me that I really like very wet conditions! Many thanks have to go to Aly and all his guys for putting so much work into this backmarkers car over the weekend and making it raceworthy for all three races even given the mechanical issues it had!

Quick mention also to Rory Bryant - one of my fellow scholarship drivers. He finished fifth in two of the races along with setting the fastest lap in race 1 so was given the Driver Of The Day trophy - amazing stuff.

Disaster Strikes

Only got a handful of laps at the test day earlier on - long story short, my car (being one of the hire cars) was used in a corporate thing yesterday and was off track a few times, eventually leading to the gearbox going a bit funny. Aly and Co replaced a couple of bits but they weren't 100% sure how sorted the car was so Carol Brown took it out for a couple of laps in the first of the afternoon sessions (there were three today but I couldn't make it down in time for the first one because of work) to see what the story was. Seemed ok but she wasn't happy with the second gear, seemed to be jumping. I went out for a few laps and after a stop to have the right side bonnet catch secured (flappy things in your view arent great!) went back out and set a couple of ok feeling laps. Track was a little greasy after earlier rain and the kerbs were slippy but all seemed to be ok until I came down to the hairpin at the end of the session and just couldn't get second at all, spinning on the way out of the corner.

Aly had a look but it wasn't great news - an engine change is required to get to the bottom of this, seems more damage was done than originally thought. So, disappointed at losing the second session of the afternoon (felt weird spectating again) but not too upset - much rather we discovered all this today rather than have something catastrophic happen tomorrow and possibly not get any races in. Plus with the "team building" bunch doing the damage I at least don't end up with a big bill!

All the rookies are now eligible to go into the draw for the main field but I decided to just start from the back for the three races as even in the dry I'm at least 4 seconds off the quickest guys and if I was up at the front it's just asking for early trouble and a gravel bath or damage if someone was to get impatient around me. With the forecast tomorrow being utterly dire in any case (there was a MASSIVE rainstorm right after the last practice session) I just want to see the chequered flag three times and pick up a few points anyway, last or not.

So when I left the track, the #60 was as below - ready for a heart transplant.




Looking for a bit of luck with the car working as required and seeing the finish if the weather plays up!

Round 3 This Weekend

Ooh, an update! The third round is this coming weekend - the forecast is utterly awful for raceday (so what else is new?) so it's looking like a wet one this time round. If it's wet all weekend I'll just be looking to get a bit more confident with the moist conditions after my struggles with the wet stuff last time out. If we get some dry weather I'd like to try and get into the mid 65s in terms of lap times at some point over the weekend.

Only 15 cars on the entry list, but that usually just means a few people were late with returning their entry forms.

Standings

Standings after the second round: Standings

Couple of great pics by Ken Hill - you can have a look at all his pictures of the day here.

Another Faltering Baby Step

Sunday went about as well as I'd expected - continued to brake later, carry more speed through corners etc. Got my gearing about right now as well I think... still got a lot of mountain to climb, but I'm away from basecamp at least.

Race 1 - After a wet familiarisation session first thing (dryingish but the back of the track was wet with no dry line - Clark especially was like ice) in which I just tip-toed around, the track had actually dried out for the most part in time for the first race. Got a bit swamped at the rolling start as I'd drawn second place on the rookie grid - when the cars beside me started going three-wide into the first dip I thought it might be an idea to just let them get on with it. On the second lap Jason Ogg pretty much stopped at the hairpin so I got past him for a lap, next lap around I saw him leave the hairpin with a four wheel drift on so I didn't fight him too hard when he went by as he looked to be on a bit of a mission. Concentrated on trying to keep him in sight from then on, finishing 6 seconds behind him at the end. No retirements from this race so that was a 20th place finish. Race 1 Result.

Race 2 - Huge gap until this race (6 races and the lunch break) so there was plenty of time for the rain to come back - which it did. Just at the end of the lunch break the heavens opened and the track was soaked. Mostly stopped in time for the Saloon & Sportscar and Kart races which were out before us but it was still fairly wet for our second round. Not sure what to expect in my first wet race, I let the two guys behind me at the start through and kept a beady eye on the field. For the first four laps or so I pretty much kept up as they all decided to fight as normal, in turn pretty much holding up the whole field as it meant some slow exit speeds. When a dry line started to appear they took off a bit but Jason had a moment at Clark towards the end, spinning off. The marshalls gave him a helping hand but by that time he had been lapped. Can't have been far off it myself but finished on the lead lap again (and not in last place for the first time!) which I was dead chuffed with given the moist conditions. Race 2 Result.

Final - Got swamped again at the start (these rolling starts are kind of difficult to gauge as the field tends to speed up and slow down all over the place on the way to the line) so just settled into last place and got on with trying to shave a tenth or two off my times (hadn't come close to the the low 66s I'd mentioned I wanted.) Had a couple of sideways moments and missed a couple of gears at the hairpin but enjoyed my little "testing session" as the track was bone-dry and the sun was out so I could hop the kerbs and so on again. Finished 52 seconds down on the leaders in the 10 lap race which is actually better than I've achieved in most of the 8 lap heat races so that's a tiny bit of progress, plus set my best timed lap so far with a 66.055 so I suppose it's mission accomplished again. The other newcomers are improving at a decent pace as well though so I always tend to finish the same distance behind them, but I'm not too worried about that - got to be realistic! Race 3 Result.

I'll see if I can source a couple of photos from the meeting and the Championship Standings will be linked to when they are available. Next round is in 1 month on the 24th of June.

Mad day...

Just about ready to head for the track for race day - weather forecast is awful but it seems okay-ish so far out there. I'm 30 miles north of the track though so you never know what conditions await...

After the chaos of my working day (truck from Glasgow carrying the stuff I deliver left late and then broke down at Stirling so I had to drive from Dundee where I would normally meet him and then out to Stirling, get the stuff and get going) things seemed to be ok, with the first session starting at 15.40 I had plenty of time. Cue arrival of text from Aly Hunter at 10.30 while I'm in Elgin saying Legends have changed to 14.00 and 16.00.... Fly down road, grab stuff and get changed in Perth and barrell to track! Made it with 15 minutes to spare.

Made sense to change the times in the end - we were due to test with the XR2s and that would have been a bit busy so instead we were out at the same time as the Historic Sportscars which was interesting. Having an expensive Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro Jaguar roar past you on the straight was an experience!

First session was a bit mixed, had a double 360 spin at the chicane but then latched on to Carol Brown who was going to show me a few lines and so on. Second session was great - I tried straight-lining a few corners to stop "turning so much" which I was told was losing me a lot of time and sure enough, it felt good. Ended the day feeling really good about things. The weather was nice and sunny though, don't think that'll be the case today!

No timing, sadly - hopefully if we get a bit of dry running today I can see if I've improved my times yet.

Round 2

Practice day tomorrow for the second round of three races on Sunday. Looking forward to hitting the track again tomorrow afternoon (sessions are at 15.30 and 17.40 for the legends) to see if I can pick up a bit of pace. Can't remember offhand exactly what my best time so far has been but I believe it was a high 66 second lap. Would love to get a 65 something this weekend but low 66s is probably more realistic. Been giving a lot of thought to how I was driving at the first round and it was pretty conservative for the most part - going to try being a bit braver in the praccy sessions.

Weather for Saturday is ok (bit dull but supposed to stay dry) but I don't think there will be any progression in lap times on Sunday - it's looking like it's going to be at least showery, if not raining most of the day. That'll make for some interest! If it is indeed wet I'll be concentrating on staying on the black stuff, regardless of how much slower I end up being. If I play my cards right and simply finish there could be some decent results in the offing if a few people end up off track and beached in the gravel. Add to that there are 18 cars on the initial entry list compared to the 21 (20 ran) last time and hopefully I'll get a few more points this time!

Video

Y'know how I said I didn't know how to rip a dvd to put the video of my spin online? I still don't. Instead, here's a highly technical "hold digital camera up to the screen" version instead! Youtube

Also, here's the timetable for the second race meeting of the year in a few days. Timetable. I'll post some thoughts about what I hope to achieve in the next day or two.

Getting there...

Thankfully the long wait will soon be over - a week tomorrow I'll be rushing back down from Inverness (in a totally law-abiding and safe fashion of course) to get to Knockhill for the Saturday practice sessions. My job has me up at about 01.30 am (yes, in the morning...) Tuesday to Saturday and I usually get back home at mid-day. Assuming there are no delays I have plenty of time to have a bite to eat and head to the track as the first practice session is generally around about 14.00 but via the medium of Sod's Law it's safe to say I'll get away a little late that day and be in a blind panic to make it to the track on time. :) Timetables and so on for next week to follow as they become available.

Saw the TV show with the first round a couple of days ago - managed to miss it when it was on as I was down at Silverstone (had a good time there - the racing was good but was a bit disappointed in how International events seem to treat the fans more like an irritation than anything else) and the timer didn't work but got a DVD copy from another Knockhill racer. Only made it on screen once (which is once more than expected!) when I had my spin, but it was cool to get a namecheck and at least the commentator made it clear it was my first meeting so at least everyone watching knew I was a rookie! Was going to try and rip the 20 odd seconds of footage out and put it on Youtube for people to snigger at but I've no idea how!

Tumbleweed

The problem with the huge gap between the first and second rounds of the Championship (still 4 weeks away) is that it leaves me with not too much to say here.

Motorsport related - going on a road trip "abroad" to see the FIA GT meeting at Silverstone next weekend - the main event should be good but I'm most looking forward to the SRO 90's Revival races with the stupidly expensive and powerful GT1 and GT2 cars from the mid-90s which I loved when I first got into motorsport. Add to that a team is running a pair of Ford GTs in the supporting GT3 Championship which is going to have about fifty entries from eleven Supercar manufacturers and you couldn't keep me away with a large pointy stick. No GT Championships come north of the border these days since the British GT Championship decided that France and Belgium have been added to Britain so I'm looking forward to it.

Beyond that, trying to squirrel away as much extra money for my own racing as possible. I actually have enough to complete the season at the moment (not counting any major car damage...) but I don't want to blow all my savings so I'm putting as much into the fund as I can.

Final thing - we've been blown off by Setanta, unfortunatley - they've decided (as do most things, be it Championships, TV companies, whatever) that coming up to Scotland to cover the BTCC round in September isn't necessary and are going to show some overpaid guys in shorts falling and rolling around instead. They're only going to show highlights of the Touring Car races themselves, not the full day live including the supports so there's no TV coverage of that race for the legends now. :(

Couple More Pics

Last ones, I promise! (click for bigger versions.)

Another couple of pics

Yeah, I know all the pics are getting boring but I can't get enough of them! (Click for bigger image)

Like this one as the motion blur creates the illusion that I was going quickly!




Although this is a picture of Steve Coull lapping me after my "slight" spin in the third race, it's a pretty good action shot.

SMRC Championship Standings After 1 Round

Standings after the first round here.


Another pic, this time by Michael Booth. As usual, click for a bigger version.

The Day After The Day Before

Slept for 11 hours last night (my body isn't used to that sort of pummelling!) and feeling a bit bruised around the shoulders where the belts were digging in a bit but still happy - in reflection I can't think how my day could have improved much more. Avoided being lapped (just) in my first ever race, finished 10 seconds ahead of being lapped in the second and if it hadn't been for my silly spin in the final I think I could have kept it on the lead lap again, despite the extra two laps distance. As it was I did indeed get lapped but managed (I think - no-one came and shouted at me afterwards!) to stay out of the way of the leading cars. My lap times were actually slower than the testing day on Saturday, but that was down to me not being quite as experimental - I really wanted to make it to the chequered flag in all three races and I'm happy I achieved that with only one mishap all day.

Bit of a come-down that the next round isn't until May 27th as I'm definitely wanting more - going on a bit of a road-trip down to Silverstone in a few weeks for the FIA GT/90's Revival meeting so that'll break it up a bit but I'm wanting to get back out on track to try and shave off some time to start trying to catch up a bit to my fellow newcomers.

Here's a pic of my spin in the third race just starting to happen (as taken by Blair Murdoch) - click for a larger version:

Mission Accomplished

Debut completed, results indicate satisfaction...

Been home for about an hour but having arrived at the track about 12 hours ago I'm starting to feel the wear and tear literally all over my body after a weekend's bouncing around inside an insane little car! Going to do a big report write-up for the SCR website (including some excellent pictures taken by Michael Booth and Catriona Rochford) with all the details but I summarise here.

The day started with lining up to sign-on and get my licence checked, straight after that we had a rookie briefing which ran on a little, so much so that a couple of us had quite a dash to get our scruiteneering cards stamped etc and get back to the cars for the start of the familiarisation session (in which you need to set 3 laps to make the grid) - eventually got onto the track about half way through the session and just managed to set the required number of laps.

Click for the familiarisation result

First race had me starting right at the back courtesy of the draw (newcomers start at the back anyway but there's a draw amongst them to sort out their order) and with everyone battling it wasn't too hard to hang on to the pack until on the second lap we crested Seat to find Rory Bryant spinning in the middle of the road - some last minute diving and everyone got by though I chose the wrong route and had to squeeze by, losing a bit of time to the cars in front. Hung on ok for a while but lost a lot of ground in the last couple of laps as I was too tense and I'd used up all my energy. Thankfully just started my last lap as the leader was a couple of seconds behind me and got the chequered flag so I was able to finish my first ever race on the lead lap which I was pretty chuffed with. The second race was more of the same, though I cheekily tried to keep a couple of other newcomers behind me for a moment and managed to almost complete a lap before we entered the final hairpin almost 3-wide. Being on the outside of this, I elected to let them go. Finished further behind the back of the field in that race as I backed off a bit more than was probably necessary for some yellow flags, but was about ten seconds away from being lapped so had to view that as an improvement.

Race 1 Result
Race 2 Result

The final is 2 laps longer than the heats (which are 8 laps) so I was hoping to up the pace a little and see if I could manage to go the 10 laps on the lead lap. This went pear-shaped pretty early on as on the second lap I left the hairpin with just a little too much power and round I went - suddenly found myself facing the people in the stands and somewhat strangely had time to be surprised at how many of them had cameras! Stalled but got going again, but a delay like that meant I was doomed to be lapped - sure enough the top 7 or 8 came by me in the last couple of laps. Managed to mostly keep out of the way so it wasn't a huge problem. Set my fastest lap of the day (66.905) a couple of laps after the spin so I'm glad I was able to just get my head down and get on with it.

Race 3 Result.

Utterly knackered so I'm off to bed now but I'll post some more reflections and a couple of pics tomorrow, let's just say I've had great fun this weekend.

Debut time....

Just got up at 6.00am and then have to be off to the track about 7.00. The test day yesterday went even better than I could have hoped for - thankfully the sesions were indeed split between the different series so we got two legends sessions to ourselves. Add to that it was a lovely day, sunny and warm - so I got a chance to have a proper go at the track without being scared of the wet kerbs and so on.

Got more aggressive with the car as time passed and took more and more kerb, taking the corners faster and braking later each lap. Through each session it turned out I got steadily faster which is what I was hoping for, in the end my best time was a 66.728 which was 5 seconds off the fastest SMRC runner (61.343), about a second off the the slower SMRC runners (nearest to me was 66.170) and more than 5 seconds quicker than I managed three weeks back. This is a huge confidence boost as while I'm still basically the slowest runner out there it isn't by the enormous gulf I had been imagining.

Series champion Ben Mason was kind enough to walk us rookies around the track at the end of the day and point out his optimal braking and turn-in points - taught me a lot about Clark and the Hairpin especially as it turns out my turn-in points have been way too early. So with that in mind I'd like to try and set a 65 something lap today if possible at some point today.

Being able to set 66 second laps has got me half thinking I may even manage to get through the three races without being lapped, but we'll have to wait and see - there are some seriously quick guys at the front and I'm maybe wishing for too much!

Wish me luck!

*Twilight Zone music*

Not far off now - testing tomorrow, though strangely no-one seems to have any idea what the setup and timetable for the tests actually is. All I know is that it's due to run between 2-6 in the afternoon. Weather's going to be good and I've got the day off with it being Easter so I reckon I'll just head up nice and early so I can get settled in and have a look round at what's running in the other series.

Timetable for Sunday follows... come along if you get the chance, there's a huge entry list for the various series I'm told, should be a pretty good day if the sun shines.

(click)

Entered....

No going back now.... (click)

Calm Before The Storm

Not had much to say for the last week or so - just basically waiting for next Saturday when I'll get another go behind the wheel.... no idea about timetables and entry lists and so on as they still don't seem to have been published, which seems strange only 4 days from the event. That said, I've heard people complain about that in the past so I guess I just have to shut up and wait!

Test Day Pics

Gordon Mann (one of the other two Scholarship winners, runs the best chip shop in Perth and all round nice guy) had a mate up taking some pictures at the test day, here's a couple (click to see bigger versions):


That's me in the middle with Rory at the front and Gordon kneeling. Also in shot is Carol Brown, long time kart and legend driver who gaves us some tips. This pic is rare as I think it's the only one taken of me in about 10 years with me smiling as I have a camera phobia..!


Getting lost on track.

Reflections

Had a chance to think about how Thursday went - it was pretty much what I expected, ups and downs. The sessions were busy and I only got a clear track a handful of times, most frustrating thing was that I spent my third session (the only dry one) constantly having to get out of the way so I was never really able to concentrate on what I was doing - at least there's nothing wrong with my awareness of other cars around me (a complaint levelled at a couple of other slower cars.) Had one moment when I forgot to check my mirror at McIntyre and suddenly Dave Newsham's meteoric #50 was up the inside of me from nowhere - I was too busy watching him and dipped the left side wheels into the gravel... kept it straight and didn't panic which was a relief. Also of frustration was that the last session of the day had to be called off as the medics had gone home early... I was pretty upset about that as I really wanted to try and use that session as an excuse to try a couple of quick laps having mostly just felt the car out and worked on individual corner lines in between letting faster guys through in the first sessions.

I reckon I'm a safe enough pair of hands - I managed to get through the wet sessions with no major dramas (just the incident with the #50 and a half spin down Seat in the first session when I went in too hard, caught it and got it going the right way so happy with that) and never felt out of control as such, but then it's not like I ever really pushed all that hard - just wanted maximum seat time with no silly offs or worse.

I didn't see the times for the first session but I'm told that was when I was at my closest to the front (somewhat ironically) - my time in the second session was about 11 seconds off the fastest guys and about 4-5 behind the competant SMRC runners, which I'm ok with given that I was the only driver of the SMRC lot that I'm aware of that has no previous racing experience. The other two scholars have a steep learning curve but I've got a sheer cliff-face!

So it looks like I'm the only driver starting from absolute zero - hope the crowd don't laugh at me too much in April. :) My plan for the first round in three weeks is to use the three heats to just do what I didn't manage to do yesterday and probably wont get a chance to do in the Saturday test sessions the day before the race - pound around with the track to myself (which will only take about a lap and a half going by the speeds yesterday!) and see if I can start to show a little aggression in my driving and not be quite so timid with the throttle and so on.

Anyway, thanks to Aly, Michelle, Carol and everyone who managed to make me feel a bit more relaxed about all this - it was nice of everybody to make excuses for me. :p

Just call me Deletraz

Now I know how F1 backmarkers feel being lapped every 15 laps - I have a lot to learn! I'll put up a report on my day's track meandering tomorrow as I'm a bit shattered and I have to work first thing in the morning (i.e in 6 hours) but in the meantime, here's my baby:

Bounce

Test day tomorrow! I'm starting to get excited... first chance to get settled into my car and see where all the buttons and twiddly bits are. I'll take a couple of pics of the car and have them up on here tomorrow night.

Weather's looking dodgy unfortunately - it might rain, it might not - looks like showers are a definite. Definitely going to be pretty cold, but I doubt I'll care too much! Just wanna get out and pound in a few laps. Hopefully it'll all come back to me fairly quickly as I got quite a few laps on the experience day last year, with any luck I'll remember the basics pretty quickly and be able to learn a half-decent racing line and so on. No off-track excursions allowed!

Last bit of info - the BTCC announced it's TV package for this season and it includes Setanta Sports showing the meetings live from start to end, including all the support races - that means I not only get to humiliate myself in front of something like 20,000 people at the track on that day, but tens of thousands of others watching at home. It's starting to dawn on me just how much I've been thrown in at the deep end and left to work out how to doggy-paddle!

In the Papers and on the TV!

Can't complain about getting a mention in Motorsport News - the second largest motorsport publication in the UK (behind Autosport), especially when it was on the same page as the World Touring Car Championship and the UK Porsche Cup! Here's the snippet:




Also, details of the TV deal have been announced - we're going to get a programme on Channel 5 on terestrial TV as well as on satellite on Motors TV! All very exciting though I don't know how much time the individual series will get as the company doing it are recording all 8 of the Scottish Championships.

Piccies

Got my temporary paper racing licence from the MSA today which suggests all was in order with my forms and so forth - should get the proper licence within the next couple of weeks. Good to know it's all gone through the system and I've been accepted.

Couple of pics to add today - I've got all my racing gear now plus the car in the picture below (taken in August '06) ran at two meetings last year and will be my steed for the period of the scholarship (different number though as the #2 has been taken by someone else apparently). Needless to say, I wont be having a crazy-frog on the car!

Legends explained...

Had a few mails from people actually wondering what these legend things actually are - I've copied a paragraph from the Scottish Club Racing website which hopefully explains it a bit:



"These bizarre looking cars are 5/8 scale replicas of 1930s American saloon cars fitted with 1200 or 1250 cc motorcycle engines (top speed of around 120mph at Knockhill) and a sequential gearbox. Their stiffened suspension makes them handle like karts in the dry, and everything about the series makes for overtaking and excitement as the cars' miniature size encourages three-wide racing through the corners and last ditch overtaking attempts. Also mixing things up is the random grid order for the first of the three races that makes up each Legends Championship round. The grid order is then reversed in the second race and for the final the day's fastest drivers start from the back. All of this combines to make for some very exciting opening laps! The first two heats of each round are 8 lap sprints with the final taking place over 10 laps. Points in each of the three races run from 200 for 1st place down to 20 for 18th."



There you go. I've been spectating at Knockhill for a very long time now and from a racing standpoint I've always found the Legends and the Fiesta XR2s to be the most entertaining to watch of all the SMRC classes, so hopefully it'll be as much fun to cross the barrier and race instead! Here's a pic of the legends in action:

Success!

Passed my written and driving exams for the racing licence so that's the form-filling and so on completed for the moment. It's basically a waiting game until March 15th when I get my hands on the car I'll be driving for the first three rounds...

The season calendar isn't quite finished yet, the proposed TV deal hasn't been announced yet, the 2007 rules and regs haven't been published yet, my membership to the SMRC hasn't arrived yet and the season start is only about 5 weeks away! Some things in the real world actually do seem to mirror online racing leagues!

At least my scholarship has been announced. ;)
http://www.scotlegends.co.uk/news.php#200702252214

WTF??

Well that was unexpected...



I had no idea I had a realistic chance of getting that - I'm starting to wonder if they only had three applicants! This is great news for me as it pays all the costs of the six-session test day and a hefty chunk of the costs of running a ScotLegends team car in the first three rounds of the Championship (no confirmed calender yet but it's likely they'll be in April, May and June.)

Haven't had much of a chance to let that sink in as I've got the racing licence test on Monday. It's supposed to be pretty straight-forward so long as you don't do anything too daft in the driving part of it. As long as I pass that then I'll be hitting the track on March the 15th for the Legends test-day at Knockhill...

Winter Hibernation...

The lack of any update to this blog thing would normally indicate that my mad idea of going racing in 2007 had fallen by the wayside. You'd be sensible to think this. You'd also be wrong!

This morning I passed my racing medical (with the kind of flying colours I hadn't expected...) so all that's left is to take the ARDS Racing Test at Knockhill, which I'm booked in to do on the 26th of Feb, and then we're all the way.

I entered the Scottish Legends Scholarship for 2007 ( http://www.smrc-uk.com/clubinfo/legends_scholarship.pdf ) on the off chance, but when the confirmation comes in that I haven't got it (let's be realistic here - they wont be giving something like that to a total rookie) I'm going to be having a word with the guy who runs a number of XR2s in the Scottish series with regards to sourcing a car from him and having it run by his team. I can't afford to run in the legends (the thing I tested in September) without the Scholarship so chances are I'll be in an XR2 this year.

Scholarship results are announced in a week so I should be back here shortly.