Thruxton 24th July 2005

My Lumenition ignition packed up after Croft but a second hand replacement solved the problem before this weekend. When you come from a position of limited mechanical knowledge these occurrences cause much worry at the time but they are generally fairly easy to resolve when a little logic and calmness are utilised rather than panic. I was also trying a much higher top gear (24/27) as my car always seems quite low on revs around the back here and this is where you must be flat out at the top of the rev range.

Qualifying

It rained all the way to the circuit, all the time before practice and throughout qualifying. Rain at Thruxton seems a little more frightening than other places because of the high speeds around the back. You may remember that you really only brake twice here, before the complex and the chicane. In between these two there is a long series of bends which are flat out once you gather up your courage. Sliding one of these cars at over 100 mph is daunting for me but the Royale seems to suit the rain and I was a fairly competitive 4th on the grid. Simon Davey, as ever in the wet, was 2 seconds away having driven really impressively. Even more creditable was the performance of Jon Davis in a Hawke DL11. Being 2nd on the grid, a novice and with limited knowledge of Thruxton, this was an inspired qualifying session.

The Race

Plan A and the only plan was to get past Jon at the start and see what happened. One thing I have realised is that I am still not completely at peace in the car. I am driving more cautiously (not a bad thing) but get more edgy when people are close and still cannot adapt my driving to the circuit quickly enough within the short time that the race takes. I have a feeling that this season is passing me by because of the problems I have had and am therefore am not quite as intense about doing well.

Having said this I am still trying to be more thoughtful about my driving but my best thinking occurs on the way home when I can reflect on what has happened. I am starting now to make a note of these thoughts in the hope that the next time I arrive at a circuit I am a little more prepared.

Anyway Plan A worked and I grabbed 2nd before the complex and was right with Simon. Jon was 3rd, holding up Paul Walton, although I suspected not for long. On that first lap I actually slipstreamed alongside Simon but he took the standard defensive line into the chicane so I slotted in behind him. Paul rapidly got past Jon and overtook me around the back and I was unable to do anything to stop him. My only hope was that he and Simon would slow each other up and I could hang around to see what happened.

Well Paul immediately tried to get past Simon at the chicane. Whilst he nearly had the inside, he was on what looked like a difficult line and Simon braked amazingly late. Paul just could not quite hold onto his car and spun and then came backwards towards me. I had braked too early as normal (braking is where I cannot adapt my driving during the race) but then had to accelerate and go wide to avoid his car. So I was back to 2nd, a big gap appeared behind me. I could relax.

Wrong and stupid. Dave Lowe started to catch me up, especially under braking. I was not confident that I would be able to stop him getting past me. He seemed to be having one of his days when he really wanted to perform and I was going to suffer. Suddenly he was not there (I later found out his engine had lost all its oil pressure) but Paul Walton was! I try not to use exclamation marks too often as they make it all sound a bit like a boy’s comic but I think the fact that he had spun, lost some places and caught me up again deserves this grammatical emphasis.

Unfortunately his proximity to me led me to drive in a tense and mistake strewn way. He would have got past me however I had driven but I just made it easier, particularly taking too tight a line on Noble which compromised my line for Village. He was past and then other things began to worry me. The engine appeared to be making a strange noise. Alongside the fact that the oil pressure has been a little low all season with it running high temperatures this started to worry me. I just cannot afford a blown engine. Then leaving the chicane it made another, much worse noise. Whilst there was still some oil pressure I could not bring myself to take the risk. It was very near the end of the race and I was 3rd but I pulled over and turned it off.

It seems that the second noise may be a blown manifold, which is not life threatening to the engine but means I could have possibly finished but, on balance, I still think I did the right thing. One other positive thing, apart from being at the front, was that the gearing seemed right. Another step in the going faster direction. I will test for oil pressure, compression and fix the manifold. If all these work I will be at Lydden 6th August 2005

Croft

25th and 26th June 2005

Croft is in North Yorkshire. A delightful part of the country but a bloody long way to go when one is a Londoner, or nearly a Londoner. The distance meant a drive up on the Friday or a very early start on the Saturday. Qualifying was relatively late so I opted for a night in a normal bed rather that two in a tent. Andy Hodson, the CFFR linchpin joined me on the journey which took an incident free four hours.

Normal scrutineering foibles were negotiated and I was ready for my first drive around Croft since my 1st season which saw me testing, missing gears, destroying my clutch and going off when I should have turned right. Not a hard act to follow this year until my second lap when I decided I would avoid hitting the rear of Dave Malpas and took to the grass instead. Panic set in and all I could see was the barriers at the end of the track (this was at the hairpin). I could not stand the thought of more damage so instead of taking my foot off the brakes, slowing down normally and not even reaching the barriers (which were much, much further away than I thought) I slid into the Armco at the side, brushing the metal with both offside wheels.

All wheels were still connected so I gingerly rejoined and headed off down the pits straight. Rather depressingly the car was going straight but the steering wheel was about 45 degrees west. I ruminated somewhat, took a later left hand bend which felt very strange and common sense finally took over. I did a few laps very slowly to qualify and pulled off into the paddock. On alighting from my vehicle I could see nothing obviously wrong until I noticed the front wheel which had embraced the barrier was pointing in the wrong direction. The normal very slight toe in had become “out”, as it were. This proved to be a bent tapered bolt which became miraculously straight when Bernard heated it and use a 9’ lever to coax it into shape. The whole repair took 10 minutes, including realigning the tracking – and cost me nothing.

Now I am writing this report 3 weeks after the race, after a two week holiday in Crete (very pleasant) so can sound quite reasonable about the whole affair. I was surprisingly calm immediately after the bump and dealt with it all quite maturely. But I would not want you to think that I am anything other than a complete prat. I was not trying too hard at the time but this should not equate to an avoidance of concentration. It is much too easy to think that if you are not on the limit it becomes like a leisurely drive with your Mum. Things happen so quickly, even at 80% of the maximum, and you can never, ever relax. I am a dolt.

The upshot of this was that the race the next day would see me 20th on the grid out of 21, and facing an uphill struggle on a circuit I did not know at all well with many people very keen not to see me go past them. To put it all in perspective I was 20 seconds off pole and the guy who was in front of me on the grid qualified 5 seconds faster.

The Race.

The Saturday night saw most of the drivers enjoying a beer or two in a local hostelry and I was reminded of the good nature and camaraderie of the drivers and their various consorts, partners, helpers and tyre kickers. It was good to get together, albeit through force of circumstances, being in remotest England.

A night under canvas, or some type of more technologically advanced material, leads to an early wake up. Normally some helpful soul pees on my tent or starts their engine next to my head but on this occasion I woke up under my own steam and at 5.30am. Failing to re-enter unconsciousness I got up and decided to walk the circuit. My memories from 3 years previously and the qualifying the day before had been of little assistance so I set off on the 2 mile hike.

As you will know this season has been a little hit and miss. Missed the first 2 races, knocked off at the 3rd when driving nervously, 3rd at Snetterton having done nothing and now an accident in qualifying here. This trek was my first step towards a more professional approach where I would try and be a little more thoughtful about my driving. There are lots of other areas where I need to improve e.g. slower build up in qualifying, remembering braking points and gradually extending them, being aware of revs through corners etc etc. On this walk I actually imagined the speed, line, braking points and other factors and hoped I could translate this into some form of race pace.

The first start was aborted as Phil Norris had a clutch give up on the start line. The second start was real fun. I managed to take a fair number of people before the first corner and then had to decide whether Lorraine Gathercole would be prepared to argue over the bend. I decided that she was new to our racing and would behave nicely. To my relief she did and I gained another place. My next battle was with Alan Williamson, Jon Nash and Steve Pearce. I got past Alan but was just thinking about the other 2 when Steve obligingly spun at the hairpin. Jon just had to stop and could not go anywhere so I went round the outside with Alan on the inside and we had a form of polite drag race down the straight to the corner. The honour fell to me and I set off after Richard Shelton, Colin Williams and Neil Marshall. Richard, whose engine had blown in qualifying but was still 3rd fastest, was clearly struggling and I was able to get past him easily but Colin proved more troublesome.

Croft is a circuit where there are limited overtaking places. The corners after straights are either too quick to outbrake someone and dive for the inside or it is just too fiddly to get past (i.e. at the hairpin). This meant I had to just come out of Tower as fast as possible and try and get alongside Colin before the increasingly quick series of flat out bends prevented me getting past him. This worked in a fashion but it depended on one of us holding the line and just as I was about to lift off Colin did so and I was through. Neil was next and I had witnessed Colin trying everything to get past him without success so knew it would be a challenge. No opportunities presented themselves and I thought my last hope was to go through Sunny in/out faster than him on the last lap and get up his inside at the Complex. I braked a little earlier for Sunny to gather momentum through these corners when there was a gentle bump from the normally gentlemanly Colin Williams.

He had hit my rear offside wheel with his nosecone (loads of evidence, your Honour) and put me sideways. Whilst grappling with this unexpected turn of events Neil made his escape. I am really not sure that I would have got past him and to be frank I did not mind too much. I finished 6th, got 3rd fastest lap and won the Cobra Beer Driver of the Day award. I even gave Colin a hug. All in all this can certainly be classified as a result and the drive home did not seem quite so long.

Next Race: Thruxton, Sunday 24th July

PS This morning I changed the gear ratios and tried to start the car and there is no spark. Electronic ignition expired I hope so I am holding my breath a little to see if a swift replacement will allow me to turn up at this exciting circuit.

 

 

Snetterton, 28th May 2005

(I wrote this report for the CFFR website (www.classicformulaford.com) so it is less about me – a good thing you might say)

When asked to write the race report for the CFFR website I had such high hopes for my foray into motor racing journalism. My preparations had included producing a list of the drivers so that I could interview each one and make sense of what is often a confusing (and sometimes rather partial?) view of the dramas at a day at the races for the CFFR boys.

My plan was immediately scuppered because there were loads of late entries – good for the racing, bad for amateur journalism, some numbers were wrong but most importantly the stars of the show themselves were particularly inarticulate. It was best summed up by Colin Williams when asked to describe his qualifying performance. He said “I drove like a wanker” and when I told him Alan Williamson had already claimed this phrase in relation to his own driving, Colin was completely stumped. So there you have it; 15 minutes at 85.25 MPH in practice and the result is complete brain fade.

In fairness there were some interesting stories from the qualifying session. Albert Clements was out in his Lotus 51 after his spectacular accident at Silverstone which badly damaged his Merlyn. He has apparently owned these cars for 25 years so when asked how it was going he was able to say “much the usual really”. Admitting to a need to play himself back in slowly, his two cars are set up much the same (by a vastly experienced friend) and this allowed him to feel at ease in the car. For those who have not yet managed to set up one car properly this may be an indication that more work is needed.

Jeff Palmer had had a difficult time. He had come upon a cautious John Hesp who was taking it steadily as it was his first full outing of the season and spun. Unfortunately the closely following Dave Malpas drove over Jeff’s nose, destroying the nosecone and damaging the radiator. Some handy work by the ever helpful band that support us all saw Jeff ready for the race. Before moving to the guys at the front a few others deserve a mention. Matthew Edwards qualified 14 th on his first outing in his RF79. He has come from the more urbane milieu of “Highway Saloon” racing which appears to be rust buckets with roll cages so the delicacy of a Van Diemen must have been a real pleasure. This was a good effort. Steve Pearce is improving ominously and looks as though his mongrel RF78/80 will be dicing for the lead soon.

Neil Marshall was disappointed with gross understeer and hoped an increase in ride height would help matters in the race. Jon Davis, the leading novice driver, was getting used to the principle of slow in fast out but did very well to be in 10 th spot. Of the other relative new boys, Robert Boyer was “slow but fair”, David Owen enjoyed his spin and found the circuit “interesting” meaning, I suspect, bloody hard and Paul Mills felt he had “done alright for a 1 st time”.

Doug Kibble and Keith Ward both had problems which I was not able to understand although Keith kept talking about slaves and clutches so perhaps he is a potential Big Brother contestant of the future.

At the front Simon Davey had grabbed pole. He has won 3 championships at Snetterton and knows every bit of grit on the track so 3/10ths ahead of the ever present Paul Walton seemed about right. Jon Nash was very quick to beat Dave Lowe into 3 rd place by 2/10ths, although Dave had thought he was doing well until he saw the times. For the rest of us, of course 4 th would be a real success but they tell me he has been racing a while so perhaps you get used to front running?

Steve Bradley and James Denty were 5 th and 6 th in an RF80 and Royale RP16 (lovingly prepared and looking gorgeous) respectively and seemed relatively hopeful for the race.

The Race

All journalistic credibility disappears now. Whilst I think the above is vaguely accurate the following is based on a kind of dreamlike existence which we should call the race but appeared to be more like a war zone. Admittedly much of it seemed to be happening in front of me and others probably had a more sedate time, but I started 7 th and came 3 rd without nearly overtaking anyone. Here is how it happened with surnames used in the complicated bits to make this easier to type.

Bradley and Denty had a very spirited dice in front of me and early on in the race Denty dived on the inside of Bradley at Sear and a rapidly diminishing gap diminished to the extent of me seeing the underside of Bradley’s car and both drivers spinning off. Denty was out but Bradley continued much further down the field.

The front 4 of Davey, Walton, Nash and Lowe went at it like hammer and tongs for the first few laps. The lead changed hands regularly and for those of a more sensitive disposition (i.e. me) there was a feeling of relief that they were not quite fast enough to keep up with them. On the back straight (Revett) the slipstreaming was hypnotic but they all seemed to be on the left hand side of the track when they reached the Esses to prevent anyone going up the inside. After a few laps what seemed to be inevitable happened. Walton was in the lead, Davey had overtaken Nash into the first left hander (3 rd gear) of this double bend. As he braked for the right hander (2 nd gear) Nash hit him squarely from behind and went right over the top of him and carrying on into a series of end-over-end rolls. (An enterprising photographer was able to produce pictures of the accident, including one with the Nash car squarely on top of the Davey car.) The race was stopped as Nash was upside down in the car and for those who had the discomfort of driving past the scene of the crash with ambulances, rescue trucks everywhere and the driver still in the car it provided some food for thought.

Nash had some colourful lumps and grazes on his legs and was walking a little gingerly but was otherwise OK. I suspect the next few days will allow more bruises to appear. Everyone else was fine in bodily terms.

A restarted race of 5 laps saw Lowe challenging Walton in a forceful but polite manner with Walton eventually taking the honours both of them taking fastest lap in their respective classes.

Dave Malpas drove another one of his stormers and came home a chuffed 4 th.

Of the others I am afraid I am able to report very little. Keith Ward and Doug Kibble both had car problems and Jeff Palmer and Alan Williamson did not finish but I have no idea what happened.

Paul Mills came 10 th after starting 18 th so this was a particularly impressive performance for his introduction to Snetterton. After the race he was glowing with enjoyment and reminded some of us that this is supposed to be fun. Jon Davis won the novice award again for another professional drive. Finally the Cobra Beer Driver of the Day award went to Matthew Edwards for finishing 11 th at his first race amongst real racing drivers.

As a footnote I am going to indulge myself and add an introspective note. A think piece I believe they call it, amongst the pretentious end of the journalistic world.

Is life in the CFFR getting a little too dangerous? Very close racing has been closely followed by some spectacular accidents. Two cars upside down this year. And from personal experience the attendant publicity does not make up for the damage to car or courage. We are paying professional prices for an amateur sport and I cannot but help think that we should not try to win the race at every corner. 15 minutes is not very long and chances have to be taken when offered but is there room for a slowing of the heart, a pride in 2 nd rather than a non-finish and a little more room for your racing colleagues on the track?

You decide.

 

 

Brands Hatch, 14th May 2005

An auspicious day. The car was to be driven for the first time since the fateful accident at this very circuit. It was my first drive for 7 months and the car was an unknown quantity. Bernard puts a very nice car together but everything was new and I only had foam instead of a seat.

Qualifying

The plan was 2 laps (slowly), come in, check for leaks and then do the remainder within cautious limits. It was all OK except for the peculiar problem of going around corners with no seat to hold me in. I had no idea how much the torso moves, even when tightly strapped down. I had to use the steering wheel to hold on and it was bending with the force. This was not guaranteed to produce confidence but I did not mind really as I was not trying to do anything extreme.

I was certainly lacking in confidence and was by no means really “on it” so was not surprised to be 15 th on the grid. To be honest overtaking people atb this point did not seem very attractive! My nerves from the previous race were still very close to the surface. I was a little concerned about oil pressure as it was quite low but it was in one piece, no dramas and I felt I could relax a little. Robin, the chap who fettles Paul Walton’s car adjusted the oil pressure and welded up my manifold and we then waited for the race.

The Race

There is an expression in the police which asks “what does success look like?” This sounds rather pretentious to me but on this occasion it looked to me like:

• Finishing the race
• With no damage
• Having driven sensibly, and
• Only overtaking safely

I completed my side of the bargain but I forgot to factor in the brainlessness of others.

From the start I got too much wheelspin but I think I might have made up one place. I then diced with Neil Marshall for a couple of laps. On one occasion at Clearways he had an enormous slide which he controlled beautifully. Finally I managed to get a run on him into Paddock and squeezed past. I was starting to feel a little weary as the extra padding had not made a great difference and I was holding on for dear life. Next was Colin Williams. I tried on the inside at Paddock but he was not having that so the next lap saw me, rather pessimistically try the outside. I thought he would go through and I might be able to drive up the inside to Druids but I actually managed to get past him at Paddock.

Jon Nash was then in my sights. It would not be exaggerating to say that John has had the odd “off” and I was unsure whether to attempt to get past but I thought I would take the opportunity if one presented itself. As we approached Paddock on lap 11 I had got a good exit from Clearways and as he pulled across to the left for the corner I took him on the inside for 8 th position. As we exited he was on my inside and I made the choice not to follow the standard practice of pulling to the inside for two reasons. Firstly I did not want to be seen to drive harshly when it was my first race back and this was for 8 th – not the lead. Secondly I was a little nervous that John would leave his braking late and use me as his stopping point. Accordingly he had the space to drive up my inside should he wish to.

Well he did make that choice and he enjoyed it so much he took a little more than was necessary. I was keeping out to the left of the right hander but nothing could stop a locked up Van Diemen with full lock understeering straight at me, way past the apex. Crash! My car in the gravel trap with a wheel hanging off and I then got cross. I actually saw a friend behind the barriers and he confirmed my view of it as did Jeff Bloxham. He had taken the photos of my previous Brands accident and here he was again with a lovely picture of the aforesaid car, locked up understeering into my brand new Royale and getting it airborne.

What do you do? You can protest but this is the kind of thing that does happen in racing and if someone doesn’t learn from this kind of error the Clerk of the Course will not change behaviour. I was too angry to talk to Jon immediately but eventually I knew we had to at least discuss it. Making sure I had no weapons on me I went to find him. The conversation went a little like this (allowing for some memory loss):

Jon “Sorry, mate

Me “What were you doing?”

Jon “I understeered”

Me “I know that but why? I had given you enough room to go up the inside.”

Jon “I just understeered”

Me “But I cannot understand how you could get it that wrong”

Jon “Are you telling me I took you off deliberately”

Me “No, not at all. I think you drove badly”

Jon “You are entitled to your opinion”

Me “Is that it?”

Jon “Are you telling me I tried to take you off?”

Me “No – I have told you I do not think that, it was such an unnecessary accident”

Jon “My car isn’t very badly damaged”

Me “Well mine is – but this is a pointless conversation”

I exited stage right.

In the context of my circumstances (which he knows all too well, as Bernard prepares his car) I would have expected Jon to have been more prepared to:

• show remorse
• apologise profusely
• worry about my car

None of these appeared so I suppose not only do you have to expect accidents to happen but also that offending drivers will not give a toss.

On the way home I thought back over the lowlights of my racing career. I have had several wheel touching moments and lost the odd nosecone but here is a list of all my accidents that have led to damage:

2002

Brands Hatch – Alan Crocker took me off. He admitted blame readily, apologised fulsomely and even offered me a race in his car.

2003

Cadwell Park - I lost it and drove into the barriers. My fault.

2004

Snetterton – Marshals wave us out of the pit lane then stop us when I was accelerating fast. I drove into the back of Ian Millward. Whilst I still think the Marshals were at fault I apologised to Ian despite my damage being much worse because I had clearly driven into him

Brands Hatch – David Penlington took me off – he disputed his responsibility for the coming together.

2005

Brands Hatch - see above.

The reality is that I feel more sinned against but the key thing for me is that I regard Alan Cocker as a man of integrity. My view of him may not mean much to him but when you come down to it integrity is all you have to work with in life.

If I can fix the car in time the next race is:

Snetterton, May 28th