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. :(
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
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.
Another pic, this time by Michael Booth. As usual, click for a bigger version.
Monday, April 09, 2007
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:
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:
Sunday, April 08, 2007
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.
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!
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!
Friday, April 06, 2007
*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)
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)
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
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!
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