Elva
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Wednesday 30 October 2013
For Sale - One careful owner, never raced ... err ...!
The Elva is now for sale after this fantastically successful season. I've loved driving it over the 4 years I've had it, it's been my first single-seater, and taught me a lot. It's in great shape, and ready for someone else to enjoy. Iain and the boys are fully re-preparing it, so that it's genuinely ready to race, of course it was fully restored just 4 race meetings ago anyway, including a chassis restoration and engine refresh from the best guys in the business - Swiftune. You might want to put some new tyres on it though ... I've had the best out of the last set!
From my comments elsewhere you'll know that I plan to stay in the Formula Junior community, but as I will not be racing so frequently, nor am I likely to have time to mount serious challenge in any championship, I think it's time to sell this car. Hopefully I will replace it quickly (I might do something silly otherwise, like pay off some of the mortgage!!), and at present I really fancy a front-engined car, although the ones I really like (e.g. Lola Mk2) are a bit out of my league financially ... we'll see.
This Elva offers someone a great way into the Formula Junior world ...
Here's the advert ....
1960 Elva 200 Formula Junior:
2013 FIA Lurani Trophy: 3rd place overall and 2nd in Class C2.
Specification
Chassis restoration by Delta Motorsports in June 2013. Taller roll hoop was fitted in March 2012 to comply with latest FIA ROPS regulations.
Body restored and repainted in June 2013.
Short-stroke BMC Engine refreshed by Swiftune, June 2013, just 4 events since, Oldtimer GP, Goodwood Revival, Jerez and Portimao = approximately six hours.
Gearbox, refreshed by PDS in 2010, subsequently refreshed regularly by Delta Motorsports, who've professionally run this car for me for the past couple of seasons.
New front brake drums and new shoes all round at start of 2013. New driveshafts by Robin Longdon April 2013.
New starter motor April 2013, spare included. All other components checked over in June 2013, and many refreshed or replaced as appropriate.
Extinguisher refreshed in April 2013. Belts valid until 2015.
New set of Elva wheels in early 2012, second set of earlier wheels included. The tyres on both sets are used, but have some life left.
Some other spares, including front and rear body work.
New FIA HTP issued by UK MSA in August 2013, after colour change.
Commodious cockpit can easily accommodate a 'fuller figure' (!), but adjustments to seating or pedals may be required if new driver is taller than about 5'10".
2013 performance.
100% finishing record this year, 16 races in all, including every race in the FIA Lurani Trophy. In Lurani this year I have scored one class win in Pau, Five class 2nd places and one class 3rd. Final result, 3rd overall and 2nd in Class C2 to former champion John Delane.
Goodwood Revival 2013: 10th in qualifying and race, had been running in 8th until driver made a mess of the last lap... !
History.
Built in 1960 and immediately exported to Carl Haas in USA, early history is sketchy, but it is believed to have been driven by Mark Donohue, Peter Revson and Chuck Dietrich. Raced on US historic scene in 90s, then purchased by Doug Martin who repatriated it to UK, restored it and raced it on UK/Eur scene in 2000s. The car was raced by Doug at the Goodwood Revival in 2004 and at Monaco in 2006. Purchased by me in August 2009. It has been my first single-seater and I've really enjoyed it, Formula Junior is a great scene to be part of, the biggest Historic Race community in the world. I plan to stay in the FJ 'family', but will be less active for next year or two as I need to spend more time with my young family.
There are several files of paperwork with the car.
Available now at GBP40,000 after major recent expenditure, I've asked for the car to be professionally re-prepared by Delta Motorsport so that it's ready to continue its current run of success. It can be viewed by prior arrangement with me but at Delta's premises near Henley.
James.owen@me.com
From my comments elsewhere you'll know that I plan to stay in the Formula Junior community, but as I will not be racing so frequently, nor am I likely to have time to mount serious challenge in any championship, I think it's time to sell this car. Hopefully I will replace it quickly (I might do something silly otherwise, like pay off some of the mortgage!!), and at present I really fancy a front-engined car, although the ones I really like (e.g. Lola Mk2) are a bit out of my league financially ... we'll see.
This Elva offers someone a great way into the Formula Junior world ...
Here's the advert ....
1960 Elva 200 Formula Junior:
2013 FIA Lurani Trophy: 3rd place overall and 2nd in Class C2.
Specification
Chassis restoration by Delta Motorsports in June 2013. Taller roll hoop was fitted in March 2012 to comply with latest FIA ROPS regulations.
Body restored and repainted in June 2013.
Short-stroke BMC Engine refreshed by Swiftune, June 2013, just 4 events since, Oldtimer GP, Goodwood Revival, Jerez and Portimao = approximately six hours.
Gearbox, refreshed by PDS in 2010, subsequently refreshed regularly by Delta Motorsports, who've professionally run this car for me for the past couple of seasons.
New front brake drums and new shoes all round at start of 2013. New driveshafts by Robin Longdon April 2013.
New starter motor April 2013, spare included. All other components checked over in June 2013, and many refreshed or replaced as appropriate.
Extinguisher refreshed in April 2013. Belts valid until 2015.
New set of Elva wheels in early 2012, second set of earlier wheels included. The tyres on both sets are used, but have some life left.
Some other spares, including front and rear body work.
New FIA HTP issued by UK MSA in August 2013, after colour change.
Commodious cockpit can easily accommodate a 'fuller figure' (!), but adjustments to seating or pedals may be required if new driver is taller than about 5'10".
2013 performance.
100% finishing record this year, 16 races in all, including every race in the FIA Lurani Trophy. In Lurani this year I have scored one class win in Pau, Five class 2nd places and one class 3rd. Final result, 3rd overall and 2nd in Class C2 to former champion John Delane.
Goodwood Revival 2013: 10th in qualifying and race, had been running in 8th until driver made a mess of the last lap... !
History.
Built in 1960 and immediately exported to Carl Haas in USA, early history is sketchy, but it is believed to have been driven by Mark Donohue, Peter Revson and Chuck Dietrich. Raced on US historic scene in 90s, then purchased by Doug Martin who repatriated it to UK, restored it and raced it on UK/Eur scene in 2000s. The car was raced by Doug at the Goodwood Revival in 2004 and at Monaco in 2006. Purchased by me in August 2009. It has been my first single-seater and I've really enjoyed it, Formula Junior is a great scene to be part of, the biggest Historic Race community in the world. I plan to stay in the FJ 'family', but will be less active for next year or two as I need to spend more time with my young family.
There are several files of paperwork with the car.
Available now at GBP40,000 after major recent expenditure, I've asked for the car to be professionally re-prepared by Delta Motorsport so that it's ready to continue its current run of success. It can be viewed by prior arrangement with me but at Delta's premises near Henley.
James.owen@me.com
A quick word about Team Bond!
Very well done chaps ...!
It's a good story ... goes something like this ...
In period only one of the Bonds was completed, they were an ambitious project with the front-wheel drive. Apparently the finances ran out and the rear-engined cars started to appear, so they were outclassed anyway, before they'd been fully developed. The second car was never finished in period.
One of the original team was Jon Goddard-Watts.
Many years later ...
Jon Goddard-Watts is made aware that the cars still exist, he rebuys them, in barn-find condition and they are sent to Andrew Tart and his crew to restore and race. The previously unraced car is the one that Andrew Tart drives, in Class B2. A couple of seasons later Andrew/Team Bond are FIA Lurani Champions, Jon is there to see it too, despite having not enjoyed the best of health during the 'project'. Gil Duffy driving the other Bond is the winner of the 1000cc Front-engine class, B1.
I've gone wheel-to-wheel with Andrew quite a bit this year, especially the latter part of the season when I upped my own game, it's been fun, and safe, racing with him ... even though it's worth bearing in mind that with front-wheel drive he doesn't necessarily take the same lines or handle the same way as the rest of us!
It's a great story and they deserve full credit, the cars are always beautifully turned out, and very reliable ... although the final Iberian rounds proved challenging for Team Bond too, as it did for us!
Champagne all round!
It's a good story ... goes something like this ...
In period only one of the Bonds was completed, they were an ambitious project with the front-wheel drive. Apparently the finances ran out and the rear-engined cars started to appear, so they were outclassed anyway, before they'd been fully developed. The second car was never finished in period.
One of the original team was Jon Goddard-Watts.
Many years later ...
Jon Goddard-Watts is made aware that the cars still exist, he rebuys them, in barn-find condition and they are sent to Andrew Tart and his crew to restore and race. The previously unraced car is the one that Andrew Tart drives, in Class B2. A couple of seasons later Andrew/Team Bond are FIA Lurani Champions, Jon is there to see it too, despite having not enjoyed the best of health during the 'project'. Gil Duffy driving the other Bond is the winner of the 1000cc Front-engine class, B1.
I've gone wheel-to-wheel with Andrew quite a bit this year, especially the latter part of the season when I upped my own game, it's been fun, and safe, racing with him ... even though it's worth bearing in mind that with front-wheel drive he doesn't necessarily take the same lines or handle the same way as the rest of us!
It's a great story and they deserve full credit, the cars are always beautifully turned out, and very reliable ... although the final Iberian rounds proved challenging for Team Bond too, as it did for us!
Champagne all round!
Reflections - FJ
The Formula Junior scene is phenomenal ... active groups racing in Europe, Australia/NZ, US and a few in South Africa. So many of the group are happy to travel, with their cars. It makes a very cosmopolitan crowd ... during the final two weekends of the championship I ate meals with the Portuguese, Australians, Italians, Americans, the Scottish contingent, Belgians, Swiss and various different groups of Brits, etc. It's a very sociable group of people anyway, add into that the fact that we were all overseas in the autumn sunshine having some playtime, and it becomes very convivial!
The weekend after the Algarve some of the crowd were going to be joining the US contingent racing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. As soon as Kim gets home to Australia, he'll be out racing again at Sandown and then Eastern Creek. In early December there is a race for FJ at Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. It really is amazing, an FJ racer with time on his hands and the finances to suit, could probably race somewhere in the world on maybe 40 weekend of the year - I've guessed at that, but you'll get the point!
FJ is routinely on the race programme of the biggest historic race meetings in the World ... Goodwood Revival, VHRR Phillip Island, Laguna Seca, Oldtimer GP at Nurburgring, GPAO Dijon, Silverstone Classic... At many of these events it actually produces the biggest grids and the best racing on the entire programme.
By my reckoning we had 77 competitors in Lurani this year, from 15 different countries.
The very same weekend as we were turning out 30 cars to race in Algarve, another 36 were lining up to race at Silverstone in the final round of the UK Championship - 126 drivers took part in that Championship!
Oh, and 39 competitors ran in the UK-based Front-engined FJ series too!
The cars are fun to drive, the front-runners are seriously quick and talented drivers, but there is good competition right down the field, and the guys racing the older front-engined cars have just as much fun. The Class structure, whilst perhaps a little 'clunky' in some regards, does mean that everyone has something to shoot for. We drive these old cars quite hard so they let us down occasionally, but they are usually pretty simple bits of kit to repair - as you've seen from my experience this season, a 'proactive' and preventative approach to maintenance can reward you with a constant stream of chequered flags!
I won't be able to come back and have another full tilt at Lurani - at least for some time - but I do expect to retain an FJ - if there's one in the garage ready to go, then I know that I'd be able to find somewhere to go and have fun with it whenever the time and opportunity presents itself!
The weekend after the Algarve some of the crowd were going to be joining the US contingent racing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. As soon as Kim gets home to Australia, he'll be out racing again at Sandown and then Eastern Creek. In early December there is a race for FJ at Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. It really is amazing, an FJ racer with time on his hands and the finances to suit, could probably race somewhere in the world on maybe 40 weekend of the year - I've guessed at that, but you'll get the point!
FJ is routinely on the race programme of the biggest historic race meetings in the World ... Goodwood Revival, VHRR Phillip Island, Laguna Seca, Oldtimer GP at Nurburgring, GPAO Dijon, Silverstone Classic... At many of these events it actually produces the biggest grids and the best racing on the entire programme.
By my reckoning we had 77 competitors in Lurani this year, from 15 different countries.
The very same weekend as we were turning out 30 cars to race in Algarve, another 36 were lining up to race at Silverstone in the final round of the UK Championship - 126 drivers took part in that Championship!
Oh, and 39 competitors ran in the UK-based Front-engined FJ series too!
The cars are fun to drive, the front-runners are seriously quick and talented drivers, but there is good competition right down the field, and the guys racing the older front-engined cars have just as much fun. The Class structure, whilst perhaps a little 'clunky' in some regards, does mean that everyone has something to shoot for. We drive these old cars quite hard so they let us down occasionally, but they are usually pretty simple bits of kit to repair - as you've seen from my experience this season, a 'proactive' and preventative approach to maintenance can reward you with a constant stream of chequered flags!
I won't be able to come back and have another full tilt at Lurani - at least for some time - but I do expect to retain an FJ - if there's one in the garage ready to go, then I know that I'd be able to find somewhere to go and have fun with it whenever the time and opportunity presents itself!
Reflections - Thanks
No particular order ...
Delta Motorsport - Iain Rowley, Martin and Josh and various others at times - been awesome, to get any FJ to 16 consecutive chequered flags is something of an achievement I reckon - sure, a couple of them were a tad fortunate, but still, we did it! They've put in a lot of hours to keep me going, and they've generally been very good-natured and easy-going about it. Thanks a lot for all your hard work guys! The cheque's in the post ...
XL - my employer - and sponsor - huge thanks of course, there's simply no way I could have seen this through without their valuable assistance. Including my boss, Simon, for tolerating all my time off ...
Mike Bell, sometime crew chief, immensely helpful on several occasions when Iain had other cars to run. Enjoyed your company too Mike.
Colin McKay, who turned up just at the critical time when Iain was stressing to get the gearbox back together at Brands, and lent a pair of calm hands just when they were most needed!
My brother David for keeping me company over the enjoyable weekend at Dijon, and again at Brands Hatch and Goodwood.
Photographers Charlie Wooding, Kitty Chisholm and Ines Campos Costa who have provided me with photos by which to remember it all by! Very sorry to hear that Charlie had his gear stolen after Jerez, especially as he had some nice shots of me, but he only has thumbnail size files left, the rest were nicked - there are some miserable blighters out there, that gear is Charlie's living...
Nick Swift and the guys at Swiftune, for building reliable engines and being straightforward to deal with.
Last but not least... My wife and children, for being supportive and tolerant of all the long weekends that I have spent away!
Oh, and you, dear reader ... It's been heartening to see the audience count creep up every time I write something, would have been dreadful expending all this effort with no readers! You're an international bunch too, I would especially love to know how I've generated so many readers in Russia, or how my exploits came to the attention of people in Ukraine, China and Paraguay!
Delta Motorsport - Iain Rowley, Martin and Josh and various others at times - been awesome, to get any FJ to 16 consecutive chequered flags is something of an achievement I reckon - sure, a couple of them were a tad fortunate, but still, we did it! They've put in a lot of hours to keep me going, and they've generally been very good-natured and easy-going about it. Thanks a lot for all your hard work guys! The cheque's in the post ...
XL - my employer - and sponsor - huge thanks of course, there's simply no way I could have seen this through without their valuable assistance. Including my boss, Simon, for tolerating all my time off ...
Mike Bell, sometime crew chief, immensely helpful on several occasions when Iain had other cars to run. Enjoyed your company too Mike.
Colin McKay, who turned up just at the critical time when Iain was stressing to get the gearbox back together at Brands, and lent a pair of calm hands just when they were most needed!
My brother David for keeping me company over the enjoyable weekend at Dijon, and again at Brands Hatch and Goodwood.
Photographers Charlie Wooding, Kitty Chisholm and Ines Campos Costa who have provided me with photos by which to remember it all by! Very sorry to hear that Charlie had his gear stolen after Jerez, especially as he had some nice shots of me, but he only has thumbnail size files left, the rest were nicked - there are some miserable blighters out there, that gear is Charlie's living...
Nick Swift and the guys at Swiftune, for building reliable engines and being straightforward to deal with.
Last but not least... My wife and children, for being supportive and tolerant of all the long weekends that I have spent away!
Oh, and you, dear reader ... It's been heartening to see the audience count creep up every time I write something, would have been dreadful expending all this effort with no readers! You're an international bunch too, I would especially love to know how I've generated so many readers in Russia, or how my exploits came to the attention of people in Ukraine, China and Paraguay!
Reflections - my season
Somewhat appropriately the sun was beginning to set as I drove away from Circuito Internacional Algarve, with my hirecar in convoy between Iain's truck and trailer, Mike Bell's massive rig, and Martin and Josh bringing up the rear in the van - they'd take the best part of 3 days to get home, I was only going to Faro Airport... As the road opened up a bit I gunned that dreadful hirecar, gave everyone a big wave out of the window and cruised ahead ... with mixed feelings ... why?
I've loved this season ... but ... I'm not coming back to do it all again ...
We've far exceeded our expectations when we started out ... but ... we haven't actually 'won' anything, despite leading the championship for most of the season ...
3rd outright is a great result ... but ... the manner of achieving it over the final two weekends was perhaps a tad disappointing, after all, at these two circuits I have been outclassed, and we had to resort to 'playing the long game' in order to guarantee the result we wanted.
What were my favourite moments of the championship ...? Obviously winning the class in Pau was special ... so was turning up at Nurburgring with a restored car, new tyres, and a lighter fitter driver (!) and finding that I'd moved myself up the grid a little bit .. that in turn built my confidence, and I personally reckon I drove well there, and in the race at Goodwood and over the Jerez weekend in particular. I love Dijon both as a circuit to drive, and because the tight paddock there seems to generate a very sociable gathering all weekend - and my brother comes to that meeting, it's always fun to have him along!
Most stressful moments ... Brands Hatch takes the biscuit ... having just two gear ratios in the car and still being in the outside paddock whilst the other guys are lining up on the grid ... yeah, that was stressful! Still can't believe we got out on track, and scored some extremely valuable points ...
The Algarve meeting was stressful too ... trying to ensure the result we wanted, with the mysterious overheating, and then the onset of the dreaded rain!
What a great season though ...
What am I going to do now ...? Family time of course, some lower key racing next season, mostly in the UK I envisage, back on track at the family-friendly rounds of the HSCC's Historic Roadsports Championship with my trusty old TR5! Some FJ racing of course, but what ... not sure ...
I've loved this season ... but ... I'm not coming back to do it all again ...
We've far exceeded our expectations when we started out ... but ... we haven't actually 'won' anything, despite leading the championship for most of the season ...
3rd outright is a great result ... but ... the manner of achieving it over the final two weekends was perhaps a tad disappointing, after all, at these two circuits I have been outclassed, and we had to resort to 'playing the long game' in order to guarantee the result we wanted.
What were my favourite moments of the championship ...? Obviously winning the class in Pau was special ... so was turning up at Nurburgring with a restored car, new tyres, and a lighter fitter driver (!) and finding that I'd moved myself up the grid a little bit .. that in turn built my confidence, and I personally reckon I drove well there, and in the race at Goodwood and over the Jerez weekend in particular. I love Dijon both as a circuit to drive, and because the tight paddock there seems to generate a very sociable gathering all weekend - and my brother comes to that meeting, it's always fun to have him along!
Most stressful moments ... Brands Hatch takes the biscuit ... having just two gear ratios in the car and still being in the outside paddock whilst the other guys are lining up on the grid ... yeah, that was stressful! Still can't believe we got out on track, and scored some extremely valuable points ...
The Algarve meeting was stressful too ... trying to ensure the result we wanted, with the mysterious overheating, and then the onset of the dreaded rain!
What a great season though ...
What am I going to do now ...? Family time of course, some lower key racing next season, mostly in the UK I envisage, back on track at the family-friendly rounds of the HSCC's Historic Roadsports Championship with my trusty old TR5! Some FJ racing of course, but what ... not sure ...
Sunday 20 October 2013
Portimao - Sunday - The Final Act
The glamour of International Motorsport ... delayed by easyJet out of Faro, so missed the last Gatwick Express to London, now on the 0205 'shunter' to Victoria. Not going to be getting a lot of sleep tonight as I need to be in the office quite early!
Oh, you'll be wanting to know how it all played out ...
Team Bond worked late into the night but got the engine change completed into Andrew Tart's car.
Iain and the boys finished on my car at about 2100, and got Duncan Rabagliati's Alexis sorted too.
I'd left the circuit about 1930 having accepted one of the last possible lifts to get me to the FJ dinner in Lagos. That was a jolly affair, about 60 of us, a very multinational crowd, very enjoyable. As were the caipirinhas on the balcony of the hotel bar until the early hours. Definitely the oddball highlight of the later hours was chatting to 1977 Le Mans 24 Hour winner Jurgen Barth about doing business in China!
I suppose you still want to hear about the motor racing do you ...?
When we fired up my car to warm it up about an hour before the start it poured water from the overflow ... Uh, oh! It was frothy water ... This is a concern; has the gasket change not done the trick? Rapid investigations were made, the water had been overfilled, and the replacement radiator cap wasn't seating properly, Martin and Josh delved into the wheelie bin to retrieve the one they had replaced! We fired it up again. It warmed gently, without 'leaking' and without froth... Ok.
Then it started to rain .... Quite a bit! Enough to fully soak the track, and too late for it to dry even if the sun came out again. So we pump up the tyres, release the rear anti-roll bar, and soften the shock absorbers all way round. I haven't driven my car in the rain for sometime, and frankly it's dreadful! I had not driven any other FJs in the rain, nor has anyone else driven mine, so I don't know if it really is worse than everyone else's or not, but I wasn't too bad at driving the TR is wet races, whereas this makes me look very 'average'!
I only need to run 3 laps to be classified, in fact even 2 might do! So still concerned about the engine I elect to miss the two out laps (there's an extra one as it has rained, and we've not been out on track in the rain so far), and the green flag lap. In case I only get 3 laps before the temperature gauge goes off the scale, I might as well run laps that'll count - so I elect to start from the pitlane - dead last. The other benefit of this is that'll I should miss any first lap incidents should they occur in these conditions. As the grid heads round on the green flag lap I trundle down the pitlane and hold at the end. Shortly after they've left the grid I set off too.
Boy, this is worse than I remember! Can't brake without locking up, can't turn without under steering, can't put any power on without the back stepping out. I tiptoe round, watching the gauges!
Each time I go past the finish line I count out loud! The temperature gauge has climbed to 70o and stuck there, just as it should, oil temp and pressure also perfect. After three laps I have only caught and passed one car, the Lola of Bob Birrell, and I spun from about 20mph at the bottom hairpin shortly after doing that! I have a little play at speeding up, but frankly it was less than half-hearted. I think about pulling the car in, but considering how FJs are, it'll be quite an achievement to reach the chequered flag in every single Lurani race (and indeed every other race I've started in 2013): so I stay out to the end. Chequered flag, nearly last, but so what; I've done what I needed to - it might not be 'motor racing' as you know it, but I give a Vettel-like shout of joy as I cross the line and wave wildly at Iain and the boys on the pitwall - what an effort. The manner of completing it, like limping across the finish line of a marathon, having previously been on course for a PB, detracts slightly from the 'sporting achievement', but it's been a long fight and we've boxed clever to get our result. (Enough sporting analogies: Ed)
The finish means 2nd in class for the fifth time this year and another trophy for the kids. John Delane wins the class and in so doing ties up 2nd overall in the Championship. Andrew Tart finishes, therefore being classified second in his class and confirming the Championship win - very well done to Team Bond - it's been a hard Iberian tour for them!
Martin Aubry takes Class D, from Steve Futter and Luc Deneve, thereby confirming that I have achieved the lowest rung of the podium in the overall Lurani Trophy for 2013.
Pierre Tonetti won the race at a canter, John Fyda was second, Richard Smeeton third. JP Campos Costa who'd been second yesterday gets no help from his countrymen in race control as they give him a drive-through penalty for some infraction that leaves him down in about 10th.
Time for bed!
Portimao - Saturday
"The Roller-Coaster"
Not referring to the track this time, but it was quite a day ...
Qualifying in the morning was a disaster for me ... It was practically impossible to engage second gear on the downshift, I need it 5 times here, but have dropped that to 4 to save on one change. In some points it's critical to lap time, especially as there are tight corners followed by climbs. I didn't get a single lap without having the problem at least once, frustrated by midsession I nearly gave up, but mindful of the championship I decided to try a couple of laps using third in places instead, which meant a change of driving in order to keep the revs in the power band, it's obviously not the way to a quick lap time, but if necessary it could get me to the chequered flag...
The track was also treacherously slippery in places, after overnight rain, mostly dry, but horrible in some spots that hadn't dried...
Obviously I'm well down the grid as a result of all this. 24th of the 29cars... Two cars are found to be underweight after qualifying and have 10sec penalty added to their best lap time, moving them down the grid.
The boys, Martin in particular, spend a lot of the time between qualifying and race fiddling around with the car, focussing mostly on the gear linkage. We head out to the start of Race One with fingers crossed.
Off the start I get overtaken by a couple of faster cars that have had issues themselves in qualifying, but then we settle down, I'm leading a small group, but eventually I start to pull away... The gears are much improved, I need to be a little careful that I don't 'wrong slot'... But it won't be costing me much time. Interestingly ahead of me are the two class D2 cars of Steve Futter and the Argentine, Martin Aubry, whilst close behind me is Luc Deneve. With me running third in class I wouldn't improve my score, meaning that Luc would be able to tie on points were he to win his class. Stay with me here...! Martin Aubry then spins and rejoins behind Luc .... Next lap I come round to find yellow flags and Kim Shearn slowing to a stop, he'd been having gearbox issues, and sadly it's now Game Over for him, particularly relevant to me because it moves me up of course, he'd been ahead of John Delane as well...
A couple of lonely laps, but then as we come down the very long fast finishing straight I see yellow flags, cars that have spun and a big trail of oil .... I hit it too and have a moment, although was only going in a straight line, neither braking nor turning - this is a very fast spot, scary ... Apparently JP Campos Costa and John Fyda did synchronised spins in close company without contact. As I cautiously negotiate the sector the car that has spun out is Steve Futter .... Can Steve get going again or will this let Luc through into the class lead? The long trail of oil ends with a red car parked beside the track ... It's Andrew Tart, Championship leader ...
The oil is all over the track, so they call out the safety car, and to my disappointment it picks up Vern Williamson running directly in front of me. A short while later the train starts to build behind us, and it 's Pierre Tonetti, race leader sitting directly behind me ... Behind him is Steve Futter, and on his tail is Luc Deneve! I reckon we'll go all the way to the chequered flag behind the safety car, there aren't enough marshals to clear that amount of oil in the time available....
We do indeed finish behind the safety car, but ... A lap and a half before the end the safety car observer has his hand out of the window, now I believe he's wanting Vern and I to go through, so that he can pick up the race leader Tonetti, Vern doesn't reckon that and stays put, so Tonetti ducks past us both, followed by Steve Futter .... Now hang on, what IS going on...?! Clearly some people read the rule book differently to me. If this were Formula One, clearly there would be ramifications, but in practice it's only had a minor effect and no penalties are applied after the race, but it is relevant to me ... As I've now been lapped .. John Delane hasn't been, so I'm a lap down on him. Steve Futter wins Class D, but the gap to Luc is merely a second and Martin Aubry is just one second further back, so it's all to play for tomorrow for those boys. With Kim now out of contention, so long as I am classified in this event I'll be secure in overall 3rd place....
But ....
A gentle cooling down lap, after 3-4 gentle laps behind the safety car, however when I pull into Parc Ferme the temperature gauge is off the scale, whereas the oil temp has barely moved ... Surely the gauge is caput ... Not as it turns out. I've 'high-fived' mechanic Martin in Parc Ferme, for sorting me a driveable car, now it seems he's got a load more work to do. Evidence points to a cylinder head gasket failure, but fortunately there's no oil and water mix... So glad I ordered that spare head gasket ... Martin removes cylinder head, but disconcertingly there are no 'witness' marks neither on the removed gasket, nor the faces of the block or head, a detailed clean-up and examination reveals no cracks. Considering this engine has run less than 5 hours since a refresh, there is a bit of coke, so that gets cleaned up, and it's all put back together again. But the boys are still working when I have to leave the circuit, I didn't bring my hire car today and I take the last possible lift out, but to stay any later could see my stranded. As they were investigating the head issue, we also found some aluminium swarf, believed to be from the brake/driveshaft assembly, AND we find that the light tubular frame to hold the back of the gearbox has cracked - this happens occasionally. So as I leave the circuit the boys have quite a bit of work to do, I feel very guilty.
My car isn't the only one being worked on ... Andrew Tart's Bond crew are removing the engine from Teammate Gil Duffy's car to replace the failed one in Andrew's - if they get him out tomorrow he can still win the championship from John Delane ...
Iain is investigating Duncan Rabagliati's Alexis withsimilar engine issues to mine.
Clearly a combination of this hard circuit and the long season are affecting a lot of cars, several are now out: Dave Methley (crownwheel), John Dowson (gearbox), Kim (gearbox), Tommasso Gelmini (gearbox I think). There are others, and grids in other races are afflicted by similar levels of attrition.
I miss the cocktail party at Vern's house, but make it in time for a very pleasant dinner with about 60 from the FJ crowd. I end the evening quite late on the balcony of the hotel bar, drinking caipirinhas and discussing doing business in China with 1977 Le Mans 24 hour winner Jurgen Barth, then a long chat with Carruthers, 'team manager' (?!) of the Scottish contingent. Steve Futter was in the bar quite late too, but I told him to go to bed, he's still got to beat Luc tomorrow for my benefit...!
Friday 18 October 2013
Portimao - Friday
Slightly unusual that today we have just one run on track and that is a timed free practice session that doesn't count, but will mean that everyone has had the chance for a run on the track prior to qualifying.
When I get to the track I find that Martin and Josh have turned the pile of jigsaw pieces sitting in a tray back into a gearbox, they've also bled the clutch and fettled the gear linkage - none of is sure how much difference it'll make, so I take it for a run in the wide open spaces of the enormous paddock here ... Although it is improved, I am disappointed that after all their time and effort, it still isn't great ... But there's not much more we can do now.
Mandatory drivers' briefing emphasises the quirkiness of this track, in particular the blind crests...
Time for Free Practice, 25 minute session, but it gets broken in the middle as a stranded car has to be recovered so we lose a few minutes. The gearbox is easier, I am now having trouble with second perhaps only once a lap, and then in the final three laps that we run after the red flag, I get a whole lap with no issue, and run a 2:17.1. That isn't an especially quick time, but it's just two seconds off Kim in his faster car, and he's been here twice before - that factor is the key here, track experience really counts! See the lap on YouTube herehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IcLOHOV8TBk, and bear in mind that the camera flattens out the climbs and descents, there's a speed trap at the finish line and I'm clocked at 197kmh, obviously we need to get a 200figure!
My time puts me 14th out of the 29 cars running, 33 were entered, but sadly we lost a few with mechanical issues after Jerez, including Iain of course, and Daniele Salodini with the front engined Taraschi.
The boys fettle the car once more, tomorrow we have qualifying and race one, with a relatively short gap between.
I head back to the hotel and get a couple of hours sitting (and dozing!) by the pool in the sun!
A lovely dinner at a fish restaurant down on the beach with JP and his crew, the sole Portuguese driver in the championship and with Kim and Marie.
When I get to the track I find that Martin and Josh have turned the pile of jigsaw pieces sitting in a tray back into a gearbox, they've also bled the clutch and fettled the gear linkage - none of is sure how much difference it'll make, so I take it for a run in the wide open spaces of the enormous paddock here ... Although it is improved, I am disappointed that after all their time and effort, it still isn't great ... But there's not much more we can do now.
Mandatory drivers' briefing emphasises the quirkiness of this track, in particular the blind crests...
Time for Free Practice, 25 minute session, but it gets broken in the middle as a stranded car has to be recovered so we lose a few minutes. The gearbox is easier, I am now having trouble with second perhaps only once a lap, and then in the final three laps that we run after the red flag, I get a whole lap with no issue, and run a 2:17.1. That isn't an especially quick time, but it's just two seconds off Kim in his faster car, and he's been here twice before - that factor is the key here, track experience really counts! See the lap on YouTube herehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IcLOHOV8TBk, and bear in mind that the camera flattens out the climbs and descents, there's a speed trap at the finish line and I'm clocked at 197kmh, obviously we need to get a 200figure!
My time puts me 14th out of the 29 cars running, 33 were entered, but sadly we lost a few with mechanical issues after Jerez, including Iain of course, and Daniele Salodini with the front engined Taraschi.
The boys fettle the car once more, tomorrow we have qualifying and race one, with a relatively short gap between.
I head back to the hotel and get a couple of hours sitting (and dozing!) by the pool in the sun!
A lovely dinner at a fish restaurant down on the beach with JP and his crew, the sole Portuguese driver in the championship and with Kim and Marie.
Portimao - Thursday
The tribulations of Wednesday were indeed sorted the following morning, my late night email to the organisers was picked up quickly and when I returned to the hotel reception they gave me my money back for the first night, and promised me that I could retain the room and didn't have to share it.
Of course the hire car hadn't miraculously improved overnight, but we can live with that.
I'd already made the decision not to test here on the Thursday, the cost of Eur499 was offputting at the end of a long season, my tyres are practically finished after just three events and I don't want to buy new ones, and the car is working! However when I arrived at the circuit and drove under the tunnel into the paddock it was immediately apparent that this is no normal track, there's a tight hairpin in front of me, then it climbs away, reappears higher up, turns right, drops down and then climbs again to anther hairpin up on the skyline to the right from where I'm looking...
I meet up with Iain and the boys, I sign on, do a few bits and pieces, and speak to a few people, they all say how hard this track is, and find it hard to believe I'm not going out on test to learn it. At the lunch break I get permission to cycle a lap on Iain's bike, from 6ft up on the mountain bike the view is a bit different from how it'll be in the car, but the lap is useful to learn which way the corners go at least. There are a number of climbs all of which will be disadvantageous to my little car, and a long straight entered by a long descending fast corner like Dijon, and there's a number of sharp slow corners, but what hits you most are the blind crests, in the car you'll come up these just looking at the sky, and reach the top to negotiate whatever corner... Challenging!
To give myself a chance I attach my brand new GoPro camera to Steve Futter's car, so that I can see the track, but before he's come in from his session John Delane appears by my car, he's done enough and he offers me the final session that he's already paid for. Cool, thanks John.
I'm out an hour later, take it a bit easy, but i love it, what a roller-coaster! Such a difficult track. But I'm having trouble, I need to change down from third to second five times a lap, and I can only get second 50% of the time, and especially not when there's any load in the chassis, ie., it works when I'm just braking in a straight line, but not otherwise. My best is a 2:20.0.
The boys set to work dismantling the gearbox but leave it in pieces and we go off for a local pizza with the crew, and Richard Smeeton and his crew. Get back to the hotel about 2230 and have cold beer sitting on the balcony overlooking the pool and beach, very pleasant.
Of course the hire car hadn't miraculously improved overnight, but we can live with that.
I'd already made the decision not to test here on the Thursday, the cost of Eur499 was offputting at the end of a long season, my tyres are practically finished after just three events and I don't want to buy new ones, and the car is working! However when I arrived at the circuit and drove under the tunnel into the paddock it was immediately apparent that this is no normal track, there's a tight hairpin in front of me, then it climbs away, reappears higher up, turns right, drops down and then climbs again to anther hairpin up on the skyline to the right from where I'm looking...
I meet up with Iain and the boys, I sign on, do a few bits and pieces, and speak to a few people, they all say how hard this track is, and find it hard to believe I'm not going out on test to learn it. At the lunch break I get permission to cycle a lap on Iain's bike, from 6ft up on the mountain bike the view is a bit different from how it'll be in the car, but the lap is useful to learn which way the corners go at least. There are a number of climbs all of which will be disadvantageous to my little car, and a long straight entered by a long descending fast corner like Dijon, and there's a number of sharp slow corners, but what hits you most are the blind crests, in the car you'll come up these just looking at the sky, and reach the top to negotiate whatever corner... Challenging!
To give myself a chance I attach my brand new GoPro camera to Steve Futter's car, so that I can see the track, but before he's come in from his session John Delane appears by my car, he's done enough and he offers me the final session that he's already paid for. Cool, thanks John.
I'm out an hour later, take it a bit easy, but i love it, what a roller-coaster! Such a difficult track. But I'm having trouble, I need to change down from third to second five times a lap, and I can only get second 50% of the time, and especially not when there's any load in the chassis, ie., it works when I'm just braking in a straight line, but not otherwise. My best is a 2:20.0.
The boys set to work dismantling the gearbox but leave it in pieces and we go off for a local pizza with the crew, and Richard Smeeton and his crew. Get back to the hotel about 2230 and have cold beer sitting on the balcony overlooking the pool and beach, very pleasant.
The Standings
Going into the last round...
Andrew Tart, Class B2, 48 points from 5 races to count so far.
John Delane, Class C2, 46 points from 5 races to count so far.
Yours Truly, Class C2, 44 points from 6 races.
Luc Deneve, Class D2, 36 points from 5 races to count.
No-one else can catch me.
Some grids are diminished at Portimao, but if they can fix the second Bond, damaged at Jerez, then there will be enough starters in Class B2 for full points - 10 for the win. There are only 3 in Class C2 and D2, so max score is reduced to 8 for the win. Odds are on Andrew Tart here, but of course he does have to finish, even if he didn't I could only tie with him if I won the class, and even then I think the tie-break would go his way. If I win my class and John Delane fails to score then I can beat him, but it's unlikely as I've said before. If I don't improve my score here and Luc Deneve wins his class he'll tie with me, and I've a nasty feeling the tie-break would go his way.
So, have we all got that?
Forecast has been for rain ...
Andrew Tart, Class B2, 48 points from 5 races to count so far.
John Delane, Class C2, 46 points from 5 races to count so far.
Yours Truly, Class C2, 44 points from 6 races.
Luc Deneve, Class D2, 36 points from 5 races to count.
No-one else can catch me.
Some grids are diminished at Portimao, but if they can fix the second Bond, damaged at Jerez, then there will be enough starters in Class B2 for full points - 10 for the win. There are only 3 in Class C2 and D2, so max score is reduced to 8 for the win. Odds are on Andrew Tart here, but of course he does have to finish, even if he didn't I could only tie with him if I won the class, and even then I think the tie-break would go his way. If I win my class and John Delane fails to score then I can beat him, but it's unlikely as I've said before. If I don't improve my score here and Luc Deneve wins his class he'll tie with me, and I've a nasty feeling the tie-break would go his way.
So, have we all got that?
Forecast has been for rain ...
One last time ...
Last race of the season, Portimao in the Algarve. A manic day on Wednesday at work, with several client meetings, then it was off to Gatwick for my easyJet flight... And it all started to go a bit awry ... Our flight was delayed but they were very poor at giving out information, so we all stood around the boards waiting for news, flight time came and went, the board still said 'wait in lounge' ... An hour after takeoff time it changed straight to 'Last Call' prompting a stampede, all a bit unnecessary I'd have thought. The upshot was arrival in Faro some 1hr and 40mins after scheduled time, so it was 2300 before I was picking up my hire car ...
Lancia have built some great cars in their history, and for many the Integrale is one of the best cars of all time, I have one and love it! So I was initially interested to try one of their latest offering ... What an awful motorcar, quite the worst thing I've driven (well modern thing anyway), horrible driving position, awful steering, a decent gust will have the car switch lanes on the motorway, lots of wind/road noise, and completely gutless ... There are no real mountains on the motorway from Faro to Portimao, and yet I'm having to change down on the hills; I'd have to do that in our 4 tonne Motorhome but surely not one-up with light luggage in this .... Grrr.
These things come in threes don't they ...
Found the Algarve Casino Hotel about 0030 and checked in, or tried to ... "Mr Owen, you're not arriving till tomorrow". Me: "it is tomorrow...". That apparently wasn't the point. It also seems they think I'm turning up with a friend, a Mr James Bulkeley, this is as much of a surprise to me as I imagine it would be to the other chap ... I've never heard of him, and wasn't really expecting to share a room with some random new 'friend'. It's the middle of the night, and I want some sleep, little point in arguing, I hand over a credit card to pay for a room for tonight and I am told I'll have to check out again in the morning, then check in again later with 'my friend'. I wander off to bed down. The hotel is free for us, part of the deal, so a quick email gets sent to the organisers before I actually get to sleep.
Tomorrow is another day... We'll sort it out then.
Jerez - Race Two
With our race on Sunday not until about midday I had the luxury of waiting until after daybreak before checking out of the hotel and heading for the track. Unfortunately two of our team of 5 FJs were now hors de combat, Iain's newly rebuilt engine has wavering oil pressure and he doesn't want to risk it, whilst Peter Anstiss found a loose gear tooth attached to the magnetic filler plug of his gearbox - investigation showed it to be a tooth off the crownwheel, so Peter was also out not wanting to risk further damage. Seemingly all was well with the remaining three of us....
Our start got delayed a bit and we were quite relaxed, but every now and again a spanner goes into the works ... We'd warmed the car up earlier on, but I actually strapped in quite late and now a little flustered (and nervous as always!) only to find the starter wouldn't work ... Why now? Why does it pick these moments ... Why not do it in free practice? Of course this had happened on the grid of Race One at Hockenheim, so this is a fairly new starter motor. The boys get a jumper battery, but
it makes no difference, as the cars pull out up the pitlane the boys have to give me a push start, and suggest that I don't stall it ...
Helped by an empty space in front of me on the grid following Iain's withdrawal I get a reasonable start again ... My aim is just to keep out of trouble, completing merely a couple of laps will be sufficient to be classified on aggregate, and the third place this weekend will practically guarantee third overall in the Championship. Things don't always work out like that though, and we are racing drivers after all, so I arrive at the first corner in a bunch, and we stay quite close together ducking and diving! Late on lap one Andrea Guarino spins in front of my gaggle, and some frantic avoidance has me bouncing wide out over the kerbs, in my mirrors I see Andrew Tart even wider out ... Must have been close to gravel ... Unfortunately a little further back, Gil Duffy is unlucky to lose the second of the two Bonds and spins backwards into the tyres all avoiding Andrea's Lotus. Andrea gets gong again, but the Bond has damaged bodywork and rear suspension. On the following lap I see a cloud of dust as I negotiate the climbing right-hander onto the back straight, and as I crest the rise I see Roberto Tonetti's Brabham, which had been second in Race 1, in the barriers too; he's climbing out so he's clearly ok.
The dice continues with Andrew Tart and Larry Kinch in particular, but after 2-3 laps I get past both of them and pull out a small gap, but there's no comfort zone, a couple of times I just eased back slightly only to find them filling my mirrors all over again. Later on the invitation F3 car, (the generation that followed the demise of FJ are sometimes invited to come out to play if we don't have an oversubscribed grid, this is a French Tecno), starts crawling all over my tail, and looking a touch wild, he's a invitation car, so I decide that if he wants it that much he can have the position, I don't want him taking me out! Then having got ahead he does it to himself, running very wide at Turn One and driving through the gravel, he gets out, but he's dropped back and recovers onto the track in the midst of the gaggle that we'd both pulled away from! At least he's going to cause me no further concern.
Despite being new just two events ago my tyres are now well past their best, and I'm quite enjoying drifting the car around, even if it isn't always the quickest way round.
As I cross the line with less than two minutes to go I see David Methley's wife hanging out his pitboard, so clearly the car that has hoved into view 150m back is Dave, that will mean that this is the last lap. Dave catches me on the back straight. He is awesome to watch, he really hangs it out with superb car control on the limit, unchallenged here I guess he's not trying 100%, so I reckon if I put in a special effort I can stay with him for the last half lap, enjoy the view and maybe learn something, although he eases away of course, I'm still in touch until the chicane - fun! So that just leaves the last corner ... And I turn from Graham Hill to Benny Hill .... I've been getting quite leery through this nearly 180degree corner on previous laps, with some lurid slides, now inspired by half a lap of Dave Methley's 'tuition' I reckon I can manage a bigger drift into the straight for a glamourous finish .... I can't ...I end up spinning, for a brief moment I'm heading for the start of the pitwall, but we come to rest just before it, partly off the track, and facing back into the pitlane entrance ... Oops! ... Not sure if the car will start, but it does, and faced with a precarious rejoin I elect to 'do a Schumacher' (who am I kidding?) and finish in the pitlane, this means I have a 30mph crawl to the finish line, waving embarrassedly at those people on the pitwall who've seen what happened, whilst confusing those who haven't. With the chequered flag now out the pitlane exit is closed, so a marshal with a big red flag tries to stop me, but before the finish line, after a couple of seconds of mad gesticulation another official appears and waves me on the 10m I need to cross the line. Comedy...!
Obviously I've lost a bunch of places in this race, but still third in class, that has most probably guaranteed my third place overall in the championship - delighted!
If you're looking at the results and see that I finished two laps down on my class competitors, the fact is that I got lapped late in each race this weekend, whereas they didn't, I wasn't as far behind them as it might look - no honestly!
Prize-giving (I get a trophy for 3rd in Class - at least they had the decency not to put 'Last' on it!), lunch, shower, thank yous and goodbyes, and it's into the hire car for the drive to Malaga airport. Having lived in Andalucia I love the scenery down here and decide not to take the autopista, but to go across country, taking a wrong turn near Ronda I trip over 40kms of spectacular road, climbing into a mountainous area and then a real switchback for mile after mile, Ronda to Marbella, highly recommended if you're in the region!
Flight delayed slightly, I am on the 0050 Gatwick Express, and bedding down in London at 0145, sadly the alarm is set for 0600 to get into the office...
Our start got delayed a bit and we were quite relaxed, but every now and again a spanner goes into the works ... We'd warmed the car up earlier on, but I actually strapped in quite late and now a little flustered (and nervous as always!) only to find the starter wouldn't work ... Why now? Why does it pick these moments ... Why not do it in free practice? Of course this had happened on the grid of Race One at Hockenheim, so this is a fairly new starter motor. The boys get a jumper battery, but
it makes no difference, as the cars pull out up the pitlane the boys have to give me a push start, and suggest that I don't stall it ...
Helped by an empty space in front of me on the grid following Iain's withdrawal I get a reasonable start again ... My aim is just to keep out of trouble, completing merely a couple of laps will be sufficient to be classified on aggregate, and the third place this weekend will practically guarantee third overall in the Championship. Things don't always work out like that though, and we are racing drivers after all, so I arrive at the first corner in a bunch, and we stay quite close together ducking and diving! Late on lap one Andrea Guarino spins in front of my gaggle, and some frantic avoidance has me bouncing wide out over the kerbs, in my mirrors I see Andrew Tart even wider out ... Must have been close to gravel ... Unfortunately a little further back, Gil Duffy is unlucky to lose the second of the two Bonds and spins backwards into the tyres all avoiding Andrea's Lotus. Andrea gets gong again, but the Bond has damaged bodywork and rear suspension. On the following lap I see a cloud of dust as I negotiate the climbing right-hander onto the back straight, and as I crest the rise I see Roberto Tonetti's Brabham, which had been second in Race 1, in the barriers too; he's climbing out so he's clearly ok.
The dice continues with Andrew Tart and Larry Kinch in particular, but after 2-3 laps I get past both of them and pull out a small gap, but there's no comfort zone, a couple of times I just eased back slightly only to find them filling my mirrors all over again. Later on the invitation F3 car, (the generation that followed the demise of FJ are sometimes invited to come out to play if we don't have an oversubscribed grid, this is a French Tecno), starts crawling all over my tail, and looking a touch wild, he's a invitation car, so I decide that if he wants it that much he can have the position, I don't want him taking me out! Then having got ahead he does it to himself, running very wide at Turn One and driving through the gravel, he gets out, but he's dropped back and recovers onto the track in the midst of the gaggle that we'd both pulled away from! At least he's going to cause me no further concern.
Despite being new just two events ago my tyres are now well past their best, and I'm quite enjoying drifting the car around, even if it isn't always the quickest way round.
As I cross the line with less than two minutes to go I see David Methley's wife hanging out his pitboard, so clearly the car that has hoved into view 150m back is Dave, that will mean that this is the last lap. Dave catches me on the back straight. He is awesome to watch, he really hangs it out with superb car control on the limit, unchallenged here I guess he's not trying 100%, so I reckon if I put in a special effort I can stay with him for the last half lap, enjoy the view and maybe learn something, although he eases away of course, I'm still in touch until the chicane - fun! So that just leaves the last corner ... And I turn from Graham Hill to Benny Hill .... I've been getting quite leery through this nearly 180degree corner on previous laps, with some lurid slides, now inspired by half a lap of Dave Methley's 'tuition' I reckon I can manage a bigger drift into the straight for a glamourous finish .... I can't ...I end up spinning, for a brief moment I'm heading for the start of the pitwall, but we come to rest just before it, partly off the track, and facing back into the pitlane entrance ... Oops! ... Not sure if the car will start, but it does, and faced with a precarious rejoin I elect to 'do a Schumacher' (who am I kidding?) and finish in the pitlane, this means I have a 30mph crawl to the finish line, waving embarrassedly at those people on the pitwall who've seen what happened, whilst confusing those who haven't. With the chequered flag now out the pitlane exit is closed, so a marshal with a big red flag tries to stop me, but before the finish line, after a couple of seconds of mad gesticulation another official appears and waves me on the 10m I need to cross the line. Comedy...!
Obviously I've lost a bunch of places in this race, but still third in class, that has most probably guaranteed my third place overall in the championship - delighted!
If you're looking at the results and see that I finished two laps down on my class competitors, the fact is that I got lapped late in each race this weekend, whereas they didn't, I wasn't as far behind them as it might look - no honestly!
Prize-giving (I get a trophy for 3rd in Class - at least they had the decency not to put 'Last' on it!), lunch, shower, thank yous and goodbyes, and it's into the hire car for the drive to Malaga airport. Having lived in Andalucia I love the scenery down here and decide not to take the autopista, but to go across country, taking a wrong turn near Ronda I trip over 40kms of spectacular road, climbing into a mountainous area and then a real switchback for mile after mile, Ronda to Marbella, highly recommended if you're in the region!
Flight delayed slightly, I am on the 0050 Gatwick Express, and bedding down in London at 0145, sadly the alarm is set for 0600 to get into the office...
Sunday 13 October 2013
Jerez - Race Two summary
This will be just a brief update as I'm sitting at Malaga Airport on the way home typing this on my iPhone, so I have a limit before cramp will set into my thumbs!! It was quite a fun race two, so I will put up a fuller report when I get the chance.
Race Two this morning brought no changes in status quo; the boys assured me that they had found me 5secs improvement in the car overnight, but if they did I wasn't good enough to take advantage of it!
The fuller report will include the amusing finish to my race, but you'll have to wait! Suffice it to say I finished third in class, that gives me 4 points for the weekend, which whilst my poorest return from any round so far, it is good enough to secure 3rd overall in the Championship, mathematically there remains one rival who could tie with me on 44 points, but that's highly improbable; the chances of me improving my own position in the Algarve next weekend are no less improbable.
Delighted to have achieved a podium position overall, even if this weekend has seen me somewhat off the pace. Very grateful to Iain and the boys for getting me to the chequered flag in every race of the championship, even if it has been touch-and-go a couple of times.
More later ...
Saturday 12 October 2013
Jerez - Saturday
Our qualifying session was the first track action of the day at 0900, that meant that we had the cars fired up in the pitlane in the dark before the sun had actually come up, a little bizarre!
Qualifying proved one thing at least.. The timings we'd taken on the pitwall yesterday weren't wrong, I am indeed off the pace... I improved my own best down to a 2:14.8, partly helped no doubt by the cooler early morning air, it felt a lot better, and I reckon there was more to be had as I didn't have a single lap without a minor delay, mostly caused by other traffic, but at least one decent lap was ruined by being unable to get 2nd gear at a critical moment. The very low sun was an issue at times too, particularly on the very fast left hander heading out the back. Kim and John Delane have improved too; now I'm clutching at straws again, but they've improved by less than me, so maybe there's hope! My time has me 19th on the grid, John is 13th on 2:09.2 and Kim alongside him on 2:09.9 which is impressive. I really feel that I've 'pushed' hard so to remain that far off them is dispiriting. Andrew Tart is alongside me in the Bond, which being front-wheel drive rarely gets off the line well.
After tribulations yesterday Iain's car is sorted again, but having had no track time here he's only qualified just ahead of me ... Which will be interesting, as there are concerns about him getting off the line. We agree that he'll line up to the right of his grid box, and I'll go to the left of mine, giving me a better chance of avoidance if he doesn't get away.
Race time is midday-ish. Bit of chaos in the paddock and assembly area, but it gets sorted and we line up. Lights go out, not a bad start, Iain does get away, so does Andrew Tart, but the first lap is messy and very tight, at some point I get ahead of Iain, can't remember how and the video footage is corrupted! Things settle down a bit after the first lap, it's clear that I can do nothing to pressure either Andrew Tart or John Delane, so top of my agenda now is just to finish both races and take the 4 points available, which will go a long way in securing third place overall in the Championship. I do have a bit of a fun dice with Larry Kinch, but having had a couple of slidy moments as the tyres start to go off I decide that it doesn't matter if he goes by me. I finish in 19th, where I started, 3rd (last, if you must!) in class. Iain has faltering oil pressure and pulls off late to preserve his freshly built engine. David Methley cruises to victory at the front, a full 17secs back is Roberto Tonetti, who we haven't seen all year. John Fyda comes home third having prevailed in a race-long multi-car dice with 3-4 others. Most interesting is that Kim beats John Delane by 5secs, that's a great result for Kim, who is going very well here. Andrew Tart duly wins the front-engine class, so his crew are delighted with Kim beating John Delane! If that's repeated on aggregate after tomorrow's race then Andrew Tart will be in the box seats for the overall Championship.
I'm still very disappointed to be so far off the pace, and I don't fully understand why to be honest ... Some people are saying that this circuit suits an aggressive driving style, well that's certainly not me for sure, I think i'm a fairly smooth style! I'm hanging it out as much as i'm comfortable with, hitting relatively consistent sector times and receiving compliments on my driving from some people who I respect, so maybe this circuit really just doesn't me and my car... No point in getting too glum, I'm here at circuit that I enjoy driving despite my results, racing with people I like, in hot sun and in a place I like ... Shouldn't be complaining too much now should I?!
Qualifying proved one thing at least.. The timings we'd taken on the pitwall yesterday weren't wrong, I am indeed off the pace... I improved my own best down to a 2:14.8, partly helped no doubt by the cooler early morning air, it felt a lot better, and I reckon there was more to be had as I didn't have a single lap without a minor delay, mostly caused by other traffic, but at least one decent lap was ruined by being unable to get 2nd gear at a critical moment. The very low sun was an issue at times too, particularly on the very fast left hander heading out the back. Kim and John Delane have improved too; now I'm clutching at straws again, but they've improved by less than me, so maybe there's hope! My time has me 19th on the grid, John is 13th on 2:09.2 and Kim alongside him on 2:09.9 which is impressive. I really feel that I've 'pushed' hard so to remain that far off them is dispiriting. Andrew Tart is alongside me in the Bond, which being front-wheel drive rarely gets off the line well.
After tribulations yesterday Iain's car is sorted again, but having had no track time here he's only qualified just ahead of me ... Which will be interesting, as there are concerns about him getting off the line. We agree that he'll line up to the right of his grid box, and I'll go to the left of mine, giving me a better chance of avoidance if he doesn't get away.
Race time is midday-ish. Bit of chaos in the paddock and assembly area, but it gets sorted and we line up. Lights go out, not a bad start, Iain does get away, so does Andrew Tart, but the first lap is messy and very tight, at some point I get ahead of Iain, can't remember how and the video footage is corrupted! Things settle down a bit after the first lap, it's clear that I can do nothing to pressure either Andrew Tart or John Delane, so top of my agenda now is just to finish both races and take the 4 points available, which will go a long way in securing third place overall in the Championship. I do have a bit of a fun dice with Larry Kinch, but having had a couple of slidy moments as the tyres start to go off I decide that it doesn't matter if he goes by me. I finish in 19th, where I started, 3rd (last, if you must!) in class. Iain has faltering oil pressure and pulls off late to preserve his freshly built engine. David Methley cruises to victory at the front, a full 17secs back is Roberto Tonetti, who we haven't seen all year. John Fyda comes home third having prevailed in a race-long multi-car dice with 3-4 others. Most interesting is that Kim beats John Delane by 5secs, that's a great result for Kim, who is going very well here. Andrew Tart duly wins the front-engine class, so his crew are delighted with Kim beating John Delane! If that's repeated on aggregate after tomorrow's race then Andrew Tart will be in the box seats for the overall Championship.
I'm still very disappointed to be so far off the pace, and I don't fully understand why to be honest ... Some people are saying that this circuit suits an aggressive driving style, well that's certainly not me for sure, I think i'm a fairly smooth style! I'm hanging it out as much as i'm comfortable with, hitting relatively consistent sector times and receiving compliments on my driving from some people who I respect, so maybe this circuit really just doesn't me and my car... No point in getting too glum, I'm here at circuit that I enjoy driving despite my results, racing with people I like, in hot sun and in a place I like ... Shouldn't be complaining too much now should I?!
Friday 11 October 2013
Jerez - Friday
Alternatively titled: Houston, we have a problem ...
It's still dark when I leave the hotel this morning, have I really got the time difference the right way round ...?
Our first session on track is the second session of the day at 0945, so cars are warmed up and we get our kit on ready to head out when the Historic F1 cars have had their turn. Quite a few cars on track, it's quite busy, but we sort ourselves out and get some clearish laps in. The session comes to a slightly early end when portuguese driver JP beaches his Lola Mk5 at turn 9 and is stuck deep in the gravel. My best is a 2:18:4, don't have times of other people to compare with, but it didn't feel like a great run. The gearing could be better, 4th is too tall, 2nd is too short! The brakes need a tweak. And I had a lot of oversteer, so was that due to the heat here, have the rear tyres overheated ...? They're only at 20lbs pressure so hard to believe they've overheated...
A chat with Iain and we decide to change the gearing, so the boys start dismantling the car and gearbox. We don't have much time and several of Iain's cars have been out and need administering too before the next session in 90 minutes. The boys get it all back together and tweak the brakes, but there's an issue, the box is stuck engaged in two gears at the same time, it'll have to come to pieces again. With time running out and other punters needing to go out, I go up to race control and swap the session I've paid for until later in the day. I get back to find Iain has in fact sorted the issue, but too late now... And I'd planned an hour at the hotel pool this afternoon ... Blast!
Iain and John Delane are among the session I'm missing, I head for the pitwall and put the watch on them... Best I see for John is 2:11:2, whilst Kim improves rapidly and runs what looks like a very impressive 2:10:8. This is going to be interesting ...
A couple of hours later, and it's even hotter, but now my turn to run again ... First couple or three laps are blighted by the traffic sorting itself out, but it clears and we pick up the pace. The new gears seem to be an improvement, the brakes are good and overall it all feels much better... But as Iain's car has failed in the it lane the boys are working on that and so there is nobody with a watch on me ...
Session is red-flagged again after an FJ drops a serious trail of oil round most of the last 3rd of the track... Grrr, had only run about seven laps.
With no watch on me I have to download the camera and then play it back to get a time ... It looks much better ... But the best was just a 2:17.7... Well that's no good ....! Clutching at straws a bit, but i reckon the track temperature is up as is the ambient, and the track might be a touch slippy too, with some oil down, but that doesn't account for all of the difference to class competitors Kim and John. Sadly I'm thinking that this circuit plays to the strengths of them and their cars, so I might be relegated to 'also-ran' this weekend. Obviously we'll put in the effort, but I seem to be outclassed here... We'll see tomorrow of course, but I that really is tha gap between us then there's nothing I'll be able to do about it!
Scrutineering, briefing, car prep, take Iain to supermarket, etc., I eventually make it back to the hotel about 1930, in time to call the kids at home before bedtime.
Couple of beers, followed by pleasant tapas dinner with Aussies Kim and Marie and the Scottish contingent.
Tomorrow's another day ... No sense in dwelling on it ... We'll try again in quali at 0900, and we'll see what happens!
It's still dark when I leave the hotel this morning, have I really got the time difference the right way round ...?
Our first session on track is the second session of the day at 0945, so cars are warmed up and we get our kit on ready to head out when the Historic F1 cars have had their turn. Quite a few cars on track, it's quite busy, but we sort ourselves out and get some clearish laps in. The session comes to a slightly early end when portuguese driver JP beaches his Lola Mk5 at turn 9 and is stuck deep in the gravel. My best is a 2:18:4, don't have times of other people to compare with, but it didn't feel like a great run. The gearing could be better, 4th is too tall, 2nd is too short! The brakes need a tweak. And I had a lot of oversteer, so was that due to the heat here, have the rear tyres overheated ...? They're only at 20lbs pressure so hard to believe they've overheated...
A chat with Iain and we decide to change the gearing, so the boys start dismantling the car and gearbox. We don't have much time and several of Iain's cars have been out and need administering too before the next session in 90 minutes. The boys get it all back together and tweak the brakes, but there's an issue, the box is stuck engaged in two gears at the same time, it'll have to come to pieces again. With time running out and other punters needing to go out, I go up to race control and swap the session I've paid for until later in the day. I get back to find Iain has in fact sorted the issue, but too late now... And I'd planned an hour at the hotel pool this afternoon ... Blast!
Iain and John Delane are among the session I'm missing, I head for the pitwall and put the watch on them... Best I see for John is 2:11:2, whilst Kim improves rapidly and runs what looks like a very impressive 2:10:8. This is going to be interesting ...
A couple of hours later, and it's even hotter, but now my turn to run again ... First couple or three laps are blighted by the traffic sorting itself out, but it clears and we pick up the pace. The new gears seem to be an improvement, the brakes are good and overall it all feels much better... But as Iain's car has failed in the it lane the boys are working on that and so there is nobody with a watch on me ...
Session is red-flagged again after an FJ drops a serious trail of oil round most of the last 3rd of the track... Grrr, had only run about seven laps.
With no watch on me I have to download the camera and then play it back to get a time ... It looks much better ... But the best was just a 2:17.7... Well that's no good ....! Clutching at straws a bit, but i reckon the track temperature is up as is the ambient, and the track might be a touch slippy too, with some oil down, but that doesn't account for all of the difference to class competitors Kim and John. Sadly I'm thinking that this circuit plays to the strengths of them and their cars, so I might be relegated to 'also-ran' this weekend. Obviously we'll put in the effort, but I seem to be outclassed here... We'll see tomorrow of course, but I that really is tha gap between us then there's nothing I'll be able to do about it!
Scrutineering, briefing, car prep, take Iain to supermarket, etc., I eventually make it back to the hotel about 1930, in time to call the kids at home before bedtime.
Couple of beers, followed by pleasant tapas dinner with Aussies Kim and Marie and the Scottish contingent.
Tomorrow's another day ... No sense in dwelling on it ... We'll try again in quali at 0900, and we'll see what happens!
Thursday 10 October 2013
Jerez - Thursday
I pulled out of the well-lit Malaga Airport car hire area, into the well-lit airport road about 2130 last night, about 5 minutes later I find myself on the unlit motorway desperately trying to find the light switch on the hire car, before either I crash it because I can't see or somebody crashes into my stealth black Seat Leon because they can't see me ... Doh! Note to self, check you know where the switches are before driving off in your hire car!
An hour or so to the south-west down to Algeciras, then a turn to the west towards Jerez, another hour and I was in the centre of Jerez at midnight.
The organisers have given us hotel accommodation here, well some of it anyway, very good of them! Most of the racers are in one or other of two hotels, and there was a concerted effort to get the Formula Junior crowd into the same hotel, so it should be pretty social.
The circuit is 20mins away, and I got out there about 1000 this morning, Iain and the boys were still en route, but not far away, so I walked the circuit. Beautiful day, warm sun, barely a cloud. I've never been here before, but have seen plenty of racing from here over the years, well the tv doesn't show you the undulation, the first corner in particular is really quite uphill. The kerbs look useable, even for me, and my car doesn't really like much kerb... But the circuit looks quite technical, fortunately there are quite a lot of features trackside to help you learn your braking points, turn-in, etc., one climbing turn runs into the long back straight, and that corner looks critical to the lap time, so I hope we can get the gearing right for that one! At the end of the straight is where Schumacher tried to take out Villeneuve in 1997.
Iain arrived, with Martin and Josh in the van behind him, we unload the seven cars, although two aren't racing here, but only next week end. Kim is here, and more and more people arrive through the day. Mike Bell has also arrived with his big rig bringing three cars. More Aussies, Don and Jeanette Thallon, with a pair of cars in their van and trailer, all brought over from Oz for the summer, so still driving round on Aussie plates, I imagine people must do a double-take when they clock that!
Later in the day I manage to halve my lap-time ... By running the circuit with Iain, still pretty warm, must have sweated a kg or so ... I'm hoping that I might be able to psyche out the Bond crew and driver Andrew Tart, who've pitched camp alongside us ... But they don't seem fazed!!
On track for free (not free!) practice fairly early in the morning, will let you know how it goes.
Monday 7 October 2013
Right - the final push ...
On Wednesday evening easyJet will whisk me off to Malaga, for Round 6 of the Championship at Jerez in southern Spain. Exactly one week later easyJet will have the pleasure of my company again, this time to Faro, for the final round at Portimao in the Algarve. So it's worth a little round-up of how we stand ...
Two rounds of 7 left to go, I've scored 40 points so far with a nice consistent 8 points in each round. The final score is the best 6 results of the 7. The two guys that I am tied with on 40 points each have 'perfect' scores of 10 points from each of 4 rounds. With one score dropped, effectively they can score at each of the remaining rounds, whereas I can only add to my score at one of the remaining rounds. They are in the box seats to be honest, especially as they are both highly experienced racers, driving well-prepared cars - it is frankly unlikely that either of them will be beaten by anyone in their respective classes. John Delane runs his Lotus 18 in my class C2, and Andrew Tart runs the front-wheel-drive, front-engined Bond in class B2. Add into the mix that the grids, whilst well subscribed overall, are a bit short in both Classes C2 and B2, which will mean that full points aren't available for any of us, unless some others cars pitch up at the last minute! It's not surprising that grids are down a bit, it's a long season, and this will be an expensive far-flung jaunt, so a number of drivers have hung up their boots for the winter. But assuming I take a few points from either of the remaining rounds then I should be able to stay ahead of the guys behind us, so I am flying out aiming to secure third overall in the Championship; 2nd in my class in already secure.
Iain has re-prepped the car again after Goodwood, and he's just called from Portsmouth about to board the ferry for the long-drive to southern Spain. I'll meet him at the circuit on Thursday morning. He's got 6 cars in the truck and trailer, so he's going to have a busy time. He'll stay out after Jerez and just take the short drive to Portimao for the following weekend, I think a lot of the competitors will be staying out too, making the most of the autumn sunshine. Wish I could do the same but I need to come back to work in London, it's my busy season at work.
I used to go to University at Cordoba in Andalucia, just a couple of hours from the Jerez circuit, but I've never been there, and in fact I've never raced in Spain at all, and I love the region, so I'm really looking for to it. It's one of the modern breed of Formula One type circuit of course, whereas I prefer the older-style circuits, but it'll be good to race in Spain, and the forecast is for a temperature in the high 20s and bright sunshine, so that'll be a welcome change from foggy London.
It's a big meeting being run by Masters, http://www.circuitodejerez.com/index.php?id=29&no_cache=1&L=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=221&cHash=a728b9c687c95ade468d7fc86dc00e4f and http://www.themastersseries.com/news/item/5-news-jerez
If you want a last look at the championship table whilst I'm still at the top, look here! http://www.fia.com/championship/lurani-trophy-formula-junior-cars/2013/classifications I've printed it out as it looks now, will add it to the scrapbook for the grandchildren!
Two rounds of 7 left to go, I've scored 40 points so far with a nice consistent 8 points in each round. The final score is the best 6 results of the 7. The two guys that I am tied with on 40 points each have 'perfect' scores of 10 points from each of 4 rounds. With one score dropped, effectively they can score at each of the remaining rounds, whereas I can only add to my score at one of the remaining rounds. They are in the box seats to be honest, especially as they are both highly experienced racers, driving well-prepared cars - it is frankly unlikely that either of them will be beaten by anyone in their respective classes. John Delane runs his Lotus 18 in my class C2, and Andrew Tart runs the front-wheel-drive, front-engined Bond in class B2. Add into the mix that the grids, whilst well subscribed overall, are a bit short in both Classes C2 and B2, which will mean that full points aren't available for any of us, unless some others cars pitch up at the last minute! It's not surprising that grids are down a bit, it's a long season, and this will be an expensive far-flung jaunt, so a number of drivers have hung up their boots for the winter. But assuming I take a few points from either of the remaining rounds then I should be able to stay ahead of the guys behind us, so I am flying out aiming to secure third overall in the Championship; 2nd in my class in already secure.
Iain has re-prepped the car again after Goodwood, and he's just called from Portsmouth about to board the ferry for the long-drive to southern Spain. I'll meet him at the circuit on Thursday morning. He's got 6 cars in the truck and trailer, so he's going to have a busy time. He'll stay out after Jerez and just take the short drive to Portimao for the following weekend, I think a lot of the competitors will be staying out too, making the most of the autumn sunshine. Wish I could do the same but I need to come back to work in London, it's my busy season at work.
I used to go to University at Cordoba in Andalucia, just a couple of hours from the Jerez circuit, but I've never been there, and in fact I've never raced in Spain at all, and I love the region, so I'm really looking for to it. It's one of the modern breed of Formula One type circuit of course, whereas I prefer the older-style circuits, but it'll be good to race in Spain, and the forecast is for a temperature in the high 20s and bright sunshine, so that'll be a welcome change from foggy London.
It's a big meeting being run by Masters, http://www.circuitodejerez.com/index.php?id=29&no_cache=1&L=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=221&cHash=a728b9c687c95ade468d7fc86dc00e4f and http://www.themastersseries.com/news/item/5-news-jerez
If you want a last look at the championship table whilst I'm still at the top, look here! http://www.fia.com/championship/lurani-trophy-formula-junior-cars/2013/classifications I've printed it out as it looks now, will add it to the scrapbook for the grandchildren!
Goodwood Wild West Ball
Goodwood does everything in style, this year the theme for the Ball on Saturday evening was 'Wild West', being such an accessible theme the vast majority of the 1500 guests made the effort to dress up, coupled with something like the same number again of staff or entertainers similarly dressed, in an aircraft hangar dressed up as a wild west street. The after-dinner show opened with a bank raid, complete with pyrotechnics, stage fights, real live people being pulled off real live horses and others falling out of 'buildings', then when the TNT blew the doors off the Bank the band came out ... and they were awesome. Nic and I danced their entire set, in my case despite about 40kgs of leather wear including Cowboy Boots!
Saturday 21 September 2013
Goodwood - Race Day
Another dreadful night's sleep!
My race is last up on Saturday, not until 1735. But the family are all here today, so it's going to be busy keeping up with the kids! Unfortunately I feel poorly, man-flu coming on! Steaming headache, but I really don't want to take anything for it, just keep drinking as much water as possible!
Eventually racetime hoves into view ... as mentioned earlier, Goodwood is like no other track meeting, and maintains some of the old traditions, in particular, despite the track being narrower than most of the tracks I normally race on, they run with a 3-2-3 grid formation, rather than the normal 2-2-2 that you'd be used to if you watch Grand Prix. They also start the races with a wave of the Union Flag, none of those new-fangled lights - but you cannot move until the flag goes down, if you move on the up-stroke that's a jumped start!
So with the 3-2-3 grid formation I was on the outside of Row 4. With 5 secs to go the Dolphin on the outside of Row 3 has his hand up to indicate some problem that will prevent him from getting off the line, very good quick flagging from the marshals to make the whole grid aware. When the flag goes down, Crispian Besley, directly ahead of me on the outside of Row 2 doesn't get off the line either ... so with a good hook-up and smoking tyres I am faced with a slalom off the line - bit hairy, but we survive - however cars on the righthand side of the track have a clearer run to the first corner, Madgwick, so I've dropped a couple of places. Time to settle down a bit, try to improve my driving from yesterday's performance. Seem to be same pace as Andrew Hayden (Envoy) and Noel Woodford (Gemini) and we run in a trio for a short while. Crispian closes up behind me, now I know it's a battle for 'position', but he's always quicker than me, and there seems little point in delaying him, so I wave him by on the run to Fordwater, and when he takes longer to do complete the pass than I'd anticipated I lifted off slightly to make sure he'd got it done before either of us turned in.
To be honest I'd assumed Crispian would get by the Envoy and Gemini relatively quickly, which would leave me to have another look at them, but he doesn't so we run close together as a 4 car train for a couple of laps or so, with me deliberately keeping a watching brief from the back. The track gets greasier, several slightly wild (but nothing alarming) moments by those around me, Crispian certainly explores the track limits ... dropping back behind us again at least once. I get by both the Gemini (up the inside at the corner with no name, before St Mary's) and the Envoy (on the brakes into Lavant), they both seem to have a slight horsepower advantage (those beastly Ford engines I'd wager!) but I can carry more corner speed in places. Slowly I draw away a touch but lose a small amount of time lapping back markers, allowing them to close back up again, I'm running 8th. Coming into the chicane on the penultimate lap I get a bit loose, and the resultant poor drive out allows the Gemini to use his horsepower to outdrag me to Madgwick - blast! I give chase and am back on his tail when we get to Lavant ... uh-oh, back markers ... more to the point, two back markers having their own private battle ... The Gemini gets up the inside of the pair, but that doesn't look on for me, I have to wait, go round the outside but I'm slow onto the straight ... the Envoy draws by. Double blast. Chequered flag. 10th.
Mildly disappointing to drop two places on the last lap, but I'm delighted, never envisaged being as high as 10th in the first place, I'm second BMC-engined car! I've had a great race - I rarely get wheel-to-wheel dicing to be honest, so several overtakes - all clean and gentlemanly, is great fun. Brilliant. Thank you everyone.
Big waves to all the marshals and the crowd on the cooling down lap, and especially to all the family watching from the rails by the chicane. I pull into Parc Ferme and switch off, Iain appears, congratulates me briefly, but tells me I have some explaining to do about dropping those places at the end! Despite that I'm much happier with the way I've driven today, much smoother, lap times are no better, however that's down to track conditions being a little greasy and the fact that we've been in a battle for positions.
Although I am the last finisher not to be lapped by the winner, the leader was still 30secs away from doing so. My average speed for the entire 12 laps is 86+mph - told you it was quick around here! The winner is Chris Drake, unsurprisingly, so at least a dark blue Elva wins. Andrew Wilkinson in the Lynx kept him honest though, and in fact led until half distance. Standing on the bottom step of the podium is John Delane - well done John. Behind him are Charles Cook and Robert Barrie.
I'm gutted to find out later that the video file is corrupted and won't play, i'd really have liked to have watched that race back!
My race is last up on Saturday, not until 1735. But the family are all here today, so it's going to be busy keeping up with the kids! Unfortunately I feel poorly, man-flu coming on! Steaming headache, but I really don't want to take anything for it, just keep drinking as much water as possible!
Eventually racetime hoves into view ... as mentioned earlier, Goodwood is like no other track meeting, and maintains some of the old traditions, in particular, despite the track being narrower than most of the tracks I normally race on, they run with a 3-2-3 grid formation, rather than the normal 2-2-2 that you'd be used to if you watch Grand Prix. They also start the races with a wave of the Union Flag, none of those new-fangled lights - but you cannot move until the flag goes down, if you move on the up-stroke that's a jumped start!
So with the 3-2-3 grid formation I was on the outside of Row 4. With 5 secs to go the Dolphin on the outside of Row 3 has his hand up to indicate some problem that will prevent him from getting off the line, very good quick flagging from the marshals to make the whole grid aware. When the flag goes down, Crispian Besley, directly ahead of me on the outside of Row 2 doesn't get off the line either ... so with a good hook-up and smoking tyres I am faced with a slalom off the line - bit hairy, but we survive - however cars on the righthand side of the track have a clearer run to the first corner, Madgwick, so I've dropped a couple of places. Time to settle down a bit, try to improve my driving from yesterday's performance. Seem to be same pace as Andrew Hayden (Envoy) and Noel Woodford (Gemini) and we run in a trio for a short while. Crispian closes up behind me, now I know it's a battle for 'position', but he's always quicker than me, and there seems little point in delaying him, so I wave him by on the run to Fordwater, and when he takes longer to do complete the pass than I'd anticipated I lifted off slightly to make sure he'd got it done before either of us turned in.
To be honest I'd assumed Crispian would get by the Envoy and Gemini relatively quickly, which would leave me to have another look at them, but he doesn't so we run close together as a 4 car train for a couple of laps or so, with me deliberately keeping a watching brief from the back. The track gets greasier, several slightly wild (but nothing alarming) moments by those around me, Crispian certainly explores the track limits ... dropping back behind us again at least once. I get by both the Gemini (up the inside at the corner with no name, before St Mary's) and the Envoy (on the brakes into Lavant), they both seem to have a slight horsepower advantage (those beastly Ford engines I'd wager!) but I can carry more corner speed in places. Slowly I draw away a touch but lose a small amount of time lapping back markers, allowing them to close back up again, I'm running 8th. Coming into the chicane on the penultimate lap I get a bit loose, and the resultant poor drive out allows the Gemini to use his horsepower to outdrag me to Madgwick - blast! I give chase and am back on his tail when we get to Lavant ... uh-oh, back markers ... more to the point, two back markers having their own private battle ... The Gemini gets up the inside of the pair, but that doesn't look on for me, I have to wait, go round the outside but I'm slow onto the straight ... the Envoy draws by. Double blast. Chequered flag. 10th.
Mildly disappointing to drop two places on the last lap, but I'm delighted, never envisaged being as high as 10th in the first place, I'm second BMC-engined car! I've had a great race - I rarely get wheel-to-wheel dicing to be honest, so several overtakes - all clean and gentlemanly, is great fun. Brilliant. Thank you everyone.
Big waves to all the marshals and the crowd on the cooling down lap, and especially to all the family watching from the rails by the chicane. I pull into Parc Ferme and switch off, Iain appears, congratulates me briefly, but tells me I have some explaining to do about dropping those places at the end! Despite that I'm much happier with the way I've driven today, much smoother, lap times are no better, however that's down to track conditions being a little greasy and the fact that we've been in a battle for positions.
Although I am the last finisher not to be lapped by the winner, the leader was still 30secs away from doing so. My average speed for the entire 12 laps is 86+mph - told you it was quick around here! The winner is Chris Drake, unsurprisingly, so at least a dark blue Elva wins. Andrew Wilkinson in the Lynx kept him honest though, and in fact led until half distance. Standing on the bottom step of the podium is John Delane - well done John. Behind him are Charles Cook and Robert Barrie.
I'm gutted to find out later that the video file is corrupted and won't play, i'd really have liked to have watched that race back!
Thursday 19 September 2013
Goodwood - Qualifying Day
Had a terrible night's sleep again after our dinner, which I have to put down to nerves, I kept doing laps of Goodwood and other tracks whilst dozing, and would wake myself up! Not ideal ...
My qualifying session wasn't until 1355, the track was wet at the start of the day, but there was a reasonable chance that the rain would hold off, and that the track would be dry for our session ... indeed mid-morning the sun even came out for a while! Lots going on, lots of people to chat to, quite a few friends and acquaintances popping by to say hello - quite busy in fact - Goodwood is always like this. Although it was very early, about 1130 I wandered into the Driver's club and got changed, several others had already done so too, when I went in the sun was out, when I re-emerged it was raining - maybe we weren't going to get that dry session I so wanted... The rain did stop, and we had about 90 minutes to kick-off, so if only we could have a few minutes of sunshine ...
I was keen to get to the assembly area early, but was surprised to see a few cars heading that way with nearly a whole hour still to go, but I followed suit. Time ticked by, I drank about a gallon of water, and off-loaded a similar amount. Watching the tv screens whilst waiting, the track has some damp patches but looks dry, although drivers are reporting it to be a bit greasy. Right - time to go...
An 'interesting' session ... I was still getting into it, the track was indeed dry, although there were patches that looked damp it really wasn't affecting the grip, but then on turn-in for Woodcote on lap 3 or 4 the car just swapped ends on me ... I hardly ever spin, there was no warning, I wasn't even 'trying' yet, so it was a bit off-putting to be honest. I ended up on the grass inside the circuit, then crossed the track again still spinning and finally came to rest on the outside at the exit - didn't fancy staying there, in case someone else did the same, so I fired it up and rejoined, somewhat chastened. I was very cautious for a couple of laps, initially wondered whether something was up with the car but all seemed to be in order - my assumption is that I may have hit a little oil, as it was greasy in places - apparently I got on tv, so maybe I'll see it one day.
As I got back up to speed I had a couple of 'moments' with traffic, both with 3 cars of different speeds, one slower than me, and one a touch quicker, no real issue, but enough to fully focus my attention - in one case I was closing on a slower car through Madgwick and pulled to the left to overtake on the run out to Fordwater, I knew there was another car close behind me, and I assumed that he'd follow through on the same side of the slower car ... but 'No'; having completed my overtake I started moving right for Fordwater to find him just on my right hip, having gone the other side of the slower car - gave me a bit of a surprise, and the very fast Fordwater is not the place you want surprises! Towards the end of the session I was on my best lap, and slowly closing down the Envoy that had come past me the lap before; I gained a chunk of time on him between St Mary's and Lavant to find myself right on his tail in Lavant corner ... and he misses a gear on the exit, 'aghh!', I saw it in time, but with another slower car inside I had no opinion but to avoid him by heading out over the nasty kerbs there, two wheels onto the damp grass, cue tank-slapper, and another visit to the live streaming tv (and the laundry!). We survived.
Net result though, not a single good clean lap in the 11 laps I ran, and I was very disappointed with my efforts to be honest, really beating myself up - Iain had had the watch on me and my best was a 1:37.3 - before the meeting I'd done some research and had been hoping to get down to low 34s or even high 33s, and at the same time I'd expected to be slightly over half-way down the grid. It was a little while before I got to see the timesheet, but I was astonished (and delighted) to find that I had qualified in 10th of the 30 cars. I still think I drove the session poorly, but clearly the greasy surface conditions were having an affect on everyone as well. That lap time equates to an 88mph lap, by some way the fastest at any circuit I've raced on in this car.
Chris Drake in the later Elva 300 is on pole, with a 1:28.4 - he'd allegedly run 1:26.2 in testing! He was 4 sec quicker than anyone else! I think that car in this company is a bit of a mismatch to be honest, not to take anything away from Chris's driving, as I know he's quick. My sparring partner from the Lurani Trophy, John Delane, is 3rd. Only one non-Ford-powered car is ahead of me, the Cooper T56 of Crispian Besley. Previous night's dinner companion, Robert Barrie, who is very quick, and a race instructor here at Goodwood, is behind me ... obviously something's up with him ... turned out he had a misfire. Kim Shearn in the borrowed Ausper is also behind me.
I found my Mum and took her into the Driver's Club for tea - very good it was too, sandwiches, scone and jam, slice of cake - we ate it outside, just behind the parked up warbird aircraft - really not a bad place, Goodwood!
My qualifying session wasn't until 1355, the track was wet at the start of the day, but there was a reasonable chance that the rain would hold off, and that the track would be dry for our session ... indeed mid-morning the sun even came out for a while! Lots going on, lots of people to chat to, quite a few friends and acquaintances popping by to say hello - quite busy in fact - Goodwood is always like this. Although it was very early, about 1130 I wandered into the Driver's club and got changed, several others had already done so too, when I went in the sun was out, when I re-emerged it was raining - maybe we weren't going to get that dry session I so wanted... The rain did stop, and we had about 90 minutes to kick-off, so if only we could have a few minutes of sunshine ...
I was keen to get to the assembly area early, but was surprised to see a few cars heading that way with nearly a whole hour still to go, but I followed suit. Time ticked by, I drank about a gallon of water, and off-loaded a similar amount. Watching the tv screens whilst waiting, the track has some damp patches but looks dry, although drivers are reporting it to be a bit greasy. Right - time to go...
An 'interesting' session ... I was still getting into it, the track was indeed dry, although there were patches that looked damp it really wasn't affecting the grip, but then on turn-in for Woodcote on lap 3 or 4 the car just swapped ends on me ... I hardly ever spin, there was no warning, I wasn't even 'trying' yet, so it was a bit off-putting to be honest. I ended up on the grass inside the circuit, then crossed the track again still spinning and finally came to rest on the outside at the exit - didn't fancy staying there, in case someone else did the same, so I fired it up and rejoined, somewhat chastened. I was very cautious for a couple of laps, initially wondered whether something was up with the car but all seemed to be in order - my assumption is that I may have hit a little oil, as it was greasy in places - apparently I got on tv, so maybe I'll see it one day.
As I got back up to speed I had a couple of 'moments' with traffic, both with 3 cars of different speeds, one slower than me, and one a touch quicker, no real issue, but enough to fully focus my attention - in one case I was closing on a slower car through Madgwick and pulled to the left to overtake on the run out to Fordwater, I knew there was another car close behind me, and I assumed that he'd follow through on the same side of the slower car ... but 'No'; having completed my overtake I started moving right for Fordwater to find him just on my right hip, having gone the other side of the slower car - gave me a bit of a surprise, and the very fast Fordwater is not the place you want surprises! Towards the end of the session I was on my best lap, and slowly closing down the Envoy that had come past me the lap before; I gained a chunk of time on him between St Mary's and Lavant to find myself right on his tail in Lavant corner ... and he misses a gear on the exit, 'aghh!', I saw it in time, but with another slower car inside I had no opinion but to avoid him by heading out over the nasty kerbs there, two wheels onto the damp grass, cue tank-slapper, and another visit to the live streaming tv (and the laundry!). We survived.
Net result though, not a single good clean lap in the 11 laps I ran, and I was very disappointed with my efforts to be honest, really beating myself up - Iain had had the watch on me and my best was a 1:37.3 - before the meeting I'd done some research and had been hoping to get down to low 34s or even high 33s, and at the same time I'd expected to be slightly over half-way down the grid. It was a little while before I got to see the timesheet, but I was astonished (and delighted) to find that I had qualified in 10th of the 30 cars. I still think I drove the session poorly, but clearly the greasy surface conditions were having an affect on everyone as well. That lap time equates to an 88mph lap, by some way the fastest at any circuit I've raced on in this car.
Chris Drake in the later Elva 300 is on pole, with a 1:28.4 - he'd allegedly run 1:26.2 in testing! He was 4 sec quicker than anyone else! I think that car in this company is a bit of a mismatch to be honest, not to take anything away from Chris's driving, as I know he's quick. My sparring partner from the Lurani Trophy, John Delane, is 3rd. Only one non-Ford-powered car is ahead of me, the Cooper T56 of Crispian Besley. Previous night's dinner companion, Robert Barrie, who is very quick, and a race instructor here at Goodwood, is behind me ... obviously something's up with him ... turned out he had a misfire. Kim Shearn in the borrowed Ausper is also behind me.
I found my Mum and took her into the Driver's Club for tea - very good it was too, sandwiches, scone and jam, slice of cake - we ate it outside, just behind the parked up warbird aircraft - really not a bad place, Goodwood!
Tuesday 17 September 2013
Goodwood - Thursday
For the big meetings in Europe I often leave late Wednesday evening and drive through the night, but it felt a bit odd pulling away from home at 10pm on Wednesday night to drive just an hour or so down to Goodwood... Arriving at that time I didn't know where I was going to pitch, but my brother lives just five miles away, so I had warned him that I could be parked on his drive when he looked out the next morning. As it happened Goodwood competitors campsite and truck parking area was open and manned, and I just drove straight in and went to sleep - well, I tried to, excitement and nerves were building slightly, I didn't get a decent night's sleep until after my race had gone.
Thursday morning, bit overcast, and Iain wasn't due to arrive with the car until 1030 or so, I went for a run, 10km - running up the downs (600ft climb) round the old Iron Age earthworks at the top of the 'Trundle' and then back down again - very pleased with myself!
I took my racegear into the circuit on the bicycles, signed in as a driver, got a locker in the Driver's Club, picked up dog tags, ration books (for Driver's Club food), and caught up with a few friends, including Aussie Kim Shearn, we did a sighting lap of the circuit on bicycles. Back to the Motorhome, and time to move it up the road to the public campsite where we were booked. Whilst getting it set up there my phone rang, it was Iain ... He sometimes blusters a bit on the phone ... "Err, yeah, I err, don't know how to, err, tell you this, err, but ..." - Spit it out man, what's happened? You crashed the van or something ...? "I might have a drive myself, not sure yet, but i might have, just wanted to check it's okay with you...?" Of course it's ok with me, you silly fool! Iain's been desperate to race at Goodwood, he's there every year supporting someone or other, he's been close to driving on a couple of occasions but it's not worked out for him - now he's going to drive a genuine works ex- Jim Clark, ex-Innes Ireland Lotus 18 F1 car at the meeting where Jim Clark is the tributes driver! I'm delighted for him! Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for John Chisholm though, who's car it is, he'd put his back out loading ...
Back into the circuit for scrutineering, and various minor prep issues. Then off to the cricket match, a light-hearted cricket match played on the pitch at the front of Goodwood House itself, the match finishes at 6pm, when traditionally a solo Spitfire will appear and display quite low, sometimes seemingly below the height of the tall trees, simply fantastic to see. That was then followed by driver's briefing - Goodwood is a very fast circuit, and unaltered from it's heyday in the 60s, this meeting is the biggest thing in historic racing worldwide - people want to win, but at the same time some cars are there for there exotic rarity and maybe aren't quite up to the pace of those going to win, sometimes those cars are in the hands of slightly less experienced racers ... it's a potentially volatile mix, so the mandatory driver's briefing is basically a lecture about driving standards, and how we all have to keep the competitive urges and red mist, under control for the safety of all concerned, and the longevity of the event. The mood is lightened after that with a champagne party at the House, thanks to Credit Suisse.
Each year, whether competing or not, I have a table booked at the excellent Royal Oak pub in Lavant village, for the second sitting on Revival Thursday, and traditionally some of us cycle ... Last year was a huge night, this year cannot be so, I'm on track tomorrow... Leaving Goodwood house, we collect Kim and Marie Shearn who will dine with us, and we head first to The Kennels, where we have a pre-dinner pint of Goodwood's own ale, and hook up with local friend Mark (who led us 'astray' this night a year ago!), then it's on to the pub, the cycle ride is not without amusement, as Aussie Kim gets a bit wobbly on the hilly lane, in the dark...! He makes it though. We hook up also with Robert Barrie and his wife Rebecca, and also with Iain of course. We have another excellent dinner, possibly just the one glass of wine too many. With chum Mark keen to lead my brother David and I astray again, it is something of a relief to leave the pub just before midnight and find it raining ... Making the decision to head for the campsite, rather than another local hostelry, somewhat easier than it might otherwise have been! Phew!
Tomorrow - qualifying ...
Thursday morning, bit overcast, and Iain wasn't due to arrive with the car until 1030 or so, I went for a run, 10km - running up the downs (600ft climb) round the old Iron Age earthworks at the top of the 'Trundle' and then back down again - very pleased with myself!
I took my racegear into the circuit on the bicycles, signed in as a driver, got a locker in the Driver's Club, picked up dog tags, ration books (for Driver's Club food), and caught up with a few friends, including Aussie Kim Shearn, we did a sighting lap of the circuit on bicycles. Back to the Motorhome, and time to move it up the road to the public campsite where we were booked. Whilst getting it set up there my phone rang, it was Iain ... He sometimes blusters a bit on the phone ... "Err, yeah, I err, don't know how to, err, tell you this, err, but ..." - Spit it out man, what's happened? You crashed the van or something ...? "I might have a drive myself, not sure yet, but i might have, just wanted to check it's okay with you...?" Of course it's ok with me, you silly fool! Iain's been desperate to race at Goodwood, he's there every year supporting someone or other, he's been close to driving on a couple of occasions but it's not worked out for him - now he's going to drive a genuine works ex- Jim Clark, ex-Innes Ireland Lotus 18 F1 car at the meeting where Jim Clark is the tributes driver! I'm delighted for him! Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for John Chisholm though, who's car it is, he'd put his back out loading ...
Back into the circuit for scrutineering, and various minor prep issues. Then off to the cricket match, a light-hearted cricket match played on the pitch at the front of Goodwood House itself, the match finishes at 6pm, when traditionally a solo Spitfire will appear and display quite low, sometimes seemingly below the height of the tall trees, simply fantastic to see. That was then followed by driver's briefing - Goodwood is a very fast circuit, and unaltered from it's heyday in the 60s, this meeting is the biggest thing in historic racing worldwide - people want to win, but at the same time some cars are there for there exotic rarity and maybe aren't quite up to the pace of those going to win, sometimes those cars are in the hands of slightly less experienced racers ... it's a potentially volatile mix, so the mandatory driver's briefing is basically a lecture about driving standards, and how we all have to keep the competitive urges and red mist, under control for the safety of all concerned, and the longevity of the event. The mood is lightened after that with a champagne party at the House, thanks to Credit Suisse.
Each year, whether competing or not, I have a table booked at the excellent Royal Oak pub in Lavant village, for the second sitting on Revival Thursday, and traditionally some of us cycle ... Last year was a huge night, this year cannot be so, I'm on track tomorrow... Leaving Goodwood house, we collect Kim and Marie Shearn who will dine with us, and we head first to The Kennels, where we have a pre-dinner pint of Goodwood's own ale, and hook up with local friend Mark (who led us 'astray' this night a year ago!), then it's on to the pub, the cycle ride is not without amusement, as Aussie Kim gets a bit wobbly on the hilly lane, in the dark...! He makes it though. We hook up also with Robert Barrie and his wife Rebecca, and also with Iain of course. We have another excellent dinner, possibly just the one glass of wine too many. With chum Mark keen to lead my brother David and I astray again, it is something of a relief to leave the pub just before midnight and find it raining ... Making the decision to head for the campsite, rather than another local hostelry, somewhat easier than it might otherwise have been! Phew!
Tomorrow - qualifying ...
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