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Race report for Donington

15th May 2011

Our race series returns to Donington after a break in 2010 for races 5 and 6 in the season. The track is very much like it was before the failed attempt to turn it into a new F1 venue, the main change being that the chicane before the start/finish line has been moved a little earlier to make it safer. The consensus amongst the drivers was that this was going to make the track about half a second faster than 2009.

The last time Adrian and I were there, we had a weekend to forget so much like the last report at Croft this was a circuit with unfinished business.

Qualifying looked like being dry but as we pulled out onto the circuit it began to spit with rain, it was very slippery and laptimes began about 15 seconds slower than normal. The rain was very light and a dry line started to appear as the 27 runners began to push as hard as possible. Grip levels began to rise in certain places and a combination of courage mixed with a good deal of caution was the order of the day. The times began to tumble and most everyone made their fastest lap time in the last 2 or 3 minutes of the session, I ended up 8th.

For me both races were very similar and run in dry but overcast conditions. A decent start got me going without losing any spaces but it was clear that I could not hang onto the leading group who had their fastest laptimes in the 1m 19's. I should add that I had experienced a psychological issue at Craner Curves when practicing there, so was very pleased to have kept the car on the tarmac for both races!

Suffice to say that I finished both races in a rather lowly position of 10th in Class, not where I wanted to be but not too shabby in such a large field. Lap time wise I improved my best time from 2009 by 2.5 seconds, however with the faster track this still left me about 1.5 seconds per lap off the podium drivers, so that is the scale of what I have to do to find a podium finish. Sumpter finally got beaten in the first race by Morris in his 968 and Demetriou got a 4th and a 2nd in his 968.

Overall in the championship I am still gathering points and find myself in 4th place, this is a little flattering as my highest placing has been 5th but finishing races when others do not does help push the cumulative total along.

Onto Thruxton on 11th & 12th June.

Race report for Croft

23rd April 2011

Paul writes:

So it was up to Croft near Darlington for most of the Easter weekend. We tested there on Good Friday and had one race on Saturday and another last thing on Sunday.

Adrian and I had last raced there at the end of the 2009 season and I remember the second race where I hung onto Adrian for almost the whole time but could not see any way past. Mind you I think both of us were not satisfied with our overall positions and that left me with a feeling that I had unfinished business with Croft circuit.

Onto 2011 and I have new suspension and now the car feels a lot better to drive. It is important to have a car that handles well as out the back of the circuit there is a fast chicane followed by the Barcroft right hander taken at over 90mph. Get them right and you have a chance to be competitive.

As I had tested I had a pretty good idea of what times I might achieve. I was early out in qualifying and managed to get into the mid 1m 36’s, and suspected that this was going to be a good time for me. I did not press too hard and settled for 7th place.

Race 1 was quite straight forward, a good start landed me in 5th place at the end of the first lap, one of the faster cars had a mechanical problem and another one got past me so 5th it was as I crossed the line 30 minutes later. There was only 7 seconds covering 3rd to 7th places so it was a personal achievement to have held my place and outperformed my quali position.

Race 2 had a good deal of similarity to Race 1. I was 6th on the grid and had another good start to hold 4th place.. This time I managed to hold onto the leading group of 3 drivers for about 5 laps, so I had a ringside seat as they tried to out wit each other but then I got detached. Ben Demetriou caught me after he’d had a bad start and I ended up 5th again, but this time well ahead of the chasing pack.

A few days later imagine my surprise when the points table was issued and I found myself in 2nd place overall after 4 races. I have to admit that this is a bit of a fluke and is due to mechanical gremlins affecting some drivers and the fact that other drivers did not attend all 4 races.

Onto Donington on 15th May where I need to raise my game a notch or two to keep the chasing pack below me in the points table !!

The race report for Brands Hatch

9th April 2011

It was an action packed weekend for this opening round of 2011, many factors came into play so quite a lot to report.

Firstly mechanical gremlins to competitors:
McAleer was due to race but word arrived on Friday evening that he had cylinder head issues and was not going to make it down from Yorkshire.
Higgins tested Friday but his 968 developed engine woes, apparently it dropped a valve seat and this lunched the head AND the block - no racing for him again.
Purdie in the 2nd Paragon car had engine issues in his 964 during testing, including a small fire and an exploding distributor cap (unrelated !)
Race 1: Peter Morris lost his clutch off the start line, some issues with his flywheel as well DNF - Miles Maserati had a gearbox issue reported as a broken bell housing, he must of banged into something quite hard to do that DNF. Both had no further involvement.

I'll get the 'in race' antics out of the way now. Main fun and games was in Race 2. Ellis and Speed were joined at the hip down the Cooper straight early on, ended up on the grass at Surtees with various panels dented. Both finished though. Mark Koeberle got a tap from behind by a red 944 at one stage -- this was enough to lose it going into Surtees, he recovered to finish with his immaculate paintwork thankfully untarnished.

Quali: For me this was dominated by the stupidity of losing the car through oversteer deep into Paddock bend -- I almost caught it but the gravel sucked me in after the second correction attempt! I was lucky as after the dust had settled inside the car, I could then see the starter button! got the engine going and managed to tip toe my way back on track. Gravel everywhere and after quali lots of drivers wanting me to pay for new windscreens! Bennet who was out for the first time in his 968 was not so lucky, later on he did something similar to me but at much greater speed. The gravel stopped him but it also stopped the engine -- broken cambelt and damaged pulleys. That was the end of his racing aspirations at Brands.

Pole was Sumpter (911SC), followed by Morris, Demetriou and Hilliard in 968's all in the 54's. I only managed a 55.9 & Mark close behind in a 56.4. We had to do lot of cleaning up in my car, including re-fitting 3 of the tyres as stones where trapped in the beads!

RACE 1. 17 starters and 2 DNF. Sumpter got away and despite being pushed hard by Demetriou all the way held on to win. Ben was therefore 2nd with Harrison 3rd and Hilliard 4th in the 968. I struggled to find the pace I enjoyed in testing and got 8th with Mark sniffing all over my rear bumper.

RACE 2 Now 15 starters and it became almost a re-run of the first race but with 3rd and 4th swapping. So, Sumpter, Demetriou, Hilliard & Harrison.
I went back to a stiffer front ARB, which helped confidence but was not actually quicker -- despite that got 6th (5th in class). Mark did overtake me early on in a smooth move at Druids, but then had his own moment at Paddock and I got past again, he then brought it home in 12th after being tapped off as mentioned above.

results here http://www.tsl-timing.com/mgcc/2011/111453.pdf

So the event delivered zero points for quite a few drivers, however Sumpter is well away in the Championship with 2 wins. Demetriou is challenging hard in his 'Team Hartech' 968 as the circus moves all the way up to Croft for racing on the Easter weekend, 23rd and 24th April. See you there if you can make it. NB There will be testing on the Friday, so come and see that if you want as well.