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
Monday, September 17, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
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...
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...
Monday, September 10, 2007
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:
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:
Monday, September 03, 2007
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:
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:
Saturday, September 01, 2007
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.
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.
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