My View Of Croft – Race 2

08 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Technique, Uncategorized

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750 motor club, best, control, croft, driving, formula vee, Heritage Parts Centre, Primrose Hospice, race 2, race report, technique, tyres, UK

Race 2

We all run Formula Vee with our ignition timing advanced. It’s a way to use all of the potential of higher octane fuels, and I’ve even heard some claim to be running more than 30 degrees advanced – but people in the paddock don’t always tell the truth for that kind of stuff, and even if they are doesn’t mean they’re sticking to the rules to be able to do that…

With the bodged-together engine since our old one died at Croft, we’ve been running less advance than normal. Using his vast experience, and with none of the right equipment, Glenn advanced us a degree or so to tap into a bit more bhp. Very risky, but I was getting slaughtered on the straights.

The car balance had help up fine, but corner exit grip was a bit iffy in places. The near-bald right rear tyre wasn’t helping, so I dropped the pressure a little on the rear to see if I could get it to dig in a little more without just overheating. A rear anti-roll bar would have been useful here, as a few clicks harder would have been good, but I was reluctant to change our rear damper settings as I suspected it was more the bumps upsetting that aspect of the car, and other drivers were saying the same.

All this aside, I knew everyone else would have made improvements or just learned the track better, so they would all be putting faster lap times in, relatively (technically about a second slower than Saturday, because of the heat).

The lights went out.

My plan was to latch on to Ian Buxton a few rows directly in front of me, and though we both started quickly, by the time I snatched second gear his car was already picking up it’s petticoat and giving it legs over mine.

I’d blasted past Bill Stenning and had Andrew Cooper ahead for second in class B as my target, when Bill Garner appeared on my left.

I held the inside and let the brakes off to ease up to the inside of Cooper around Hawthorne. He had to concede my better line through the chicane, although it pushed me wide on the exit, where I found air under my right wheels at the end of the curb, before manhandling it all back onto the tarmac.

Watching Cooper in my mirrors, I hammered it into Tower but the tyres didn’t quite have the heat in them to grip. The rears lurched into oversteer mid-corner, which I collected with a flick of opposite lock but this meant I had to delay getting on the loud pedal.

Cooper got the run off the corner and just had his front wheels ahead as we turned into the Jim Clark Esses – normally taken flat out with only one line through.

Cooper was throwing up all kinds of dirt from his outside line, and with him still just ahead, to avoid disaster for the right hand exit, I had to ease off and let him through. I tried to fight back on the inside into Barcroft, but he closed the door.

All this had definitely slowed us down (I hadn’t even changed up to fourth gear!), but luckily Garner had stayed behind (probably expecting us to crash) and I got on the throttle early into Sunny In and let the car slide all the way around onto the next short straight.

I had one last snap at Coopers heels into the hairpin but then he was edging away and I just sat back and tried to see exactly what he was doing, so that I could try and copy it.

My car felt like I could do anything with it. I was getting pretty out of shape in places, but there was never a moment where I though I might lose it… where I wasn’t fully in control, really. Something had definitely clicked in my head and I think it has a lot to do with confidence.

Although losing Cooper, I was also steadily drawing away from Garner in my mirrors (with a flash of Jamie Harrison before he encountered problems), but wasn’t cruising to maintain the gap as I was enjoying it all too much.

I remember going into Sunny In far too quickly, still trail braking and clearly overcooking it all, and just planting the throttle to bring the rear around as I drifted up to the edge of the curb on the exit as if nothing had happened.

And of course there was lots of opposite lock as I tried to get whatever was left of the tyres to do something out of the hairpin.

I’d been noticing my pit board, for once, too – I think the first time was when Craig Bell must have spun off, and I caught him onto the pit straight. My board read ‘P10’ so I was chuffed with that, and gave Glenn, Mark and Michelle and thumbs up!

Suddenly the red flags were out as I came into the complex, and I dived into the pit lane pretty sure they wouldn’t bother restarting the race.

Sure enough, the marshals waved me down pit lane and through into the holding area. There was nobody here to stop me, and I was first off the track, so I was a bit paranoid about getting a penalty, but if the gates were all open and nobody was there, surely that couldn’t do me for it?

I rolled back happily to our awning before getting out to shake hands and chat to the other drivers. It’s nice to see the respect we all have for each other after the races, despite how hard we race.

Oh, and I had my first ever trip to a real life podium for coming third in Class B, with a great trophy! And 10th place overall gives me my best ever result to date (not counting non-championship results), and it was earned the hard way rather than through attrition of the front-runners.

There is still loads of work to do before we go international and head to Mondello Park in Ireland in July, and I’m a bit gutted that it’s so long away, as I feel like I’ve unlocked something in me as a driver. I need to get back out there right NOW and try it!

With time to work on the car and address some of our issues, it looks promising for the trip, though – and at last I’m back in the championship with a strong chance of racking up points!

Bring it on!

My View of Croft – Race 1

04 Monday Jun 2018

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750 motor club, croft, formula vee, learning, onboard, Primrose Hospice, race report, racing

As I stood at the back of the trailer, being pelted by raindrops bigger than the umbrella I was hoping to shelter beneath, a river of water ran off the ramp and filled my entire ‘waterproof’ shoe within seconds.

It was like starring in a sad French film, so I shrugged, waiting for Glenn to bring back another wire to bypass the right running light – the latest in a chain of disasters that morning.

By the time our woes had been sorted, and we’d changed the battery on the Land Rover which had gone flat as we worked, FIVE HOURS had passed over our expected leaving time.

With our luck this season, it was hard not to get depressed. Plus, as we loaded the Sheane up the night before we saw the top suspension arm was bent. It had taken Glenn every spare moment to repair the damage we knew about from Brands Hatch (bent steering arm joint, holed side panel, side chassis tubes all caved in, bent rear axle tube etc) and so we’d be using the gutless and untouched engine we’d struggled with, only this time on a power circuit.

At least I got my first attempt at towing the car as I drove part of the way on the long trek to Croft in North Yorkshire through Bank Holiday traffic.

But when we got there, with the shadows drawing longer, it was sunny and dry! And that’s how it stayed for the weekend, as the Midlands suffered horrendous thunderstorms!

I’d found a last-second way to attach the brand new RTV gazebo to the trailer, and so we set about getting that up as Michelle and Mark arrived to help out for the weekend, and things were definitely looking brighter as the sun faded over the fields.

Qualifying

Expecting the car to try to kill me at the first corner, I was surprised to find it felt very balanced. It pulled slightly to the left, but I could live with that if it was willing to play ball in the twisty bits. Glenn had strung it all up and set it as it was, and so we’d pretty much compensated for the bits that were still bent.

For once, I started pushing a fair bit straight away and got a few slides from the car that were very controllable. Slowly scrubbing memories of last years top speed spin from my mind, and a very tense moment watching Martin Snarey spin in front but managing not to collect me, I qualified 14^th and 14^th for the races.

Not bad considering I still had absolutely no idea where to brake for a good few of the corners! All I did know was that I’d watched my footage from last year and knew I should be braking later and carrying more speed, well, everywhere.

Race 1

I stayed out wide on the first turn (memories of getting taken out on the inside last year!) but was on Coopers tail, when Bill Garner slipped up the inside. As soon as we got through the chicane he began easing away on the straight.

I closed in again around Tower and kept it pinned all the way to Sunny In – where Bill had had to brake hard to avoid the backwards me last year! This time I’d mildly locked my front right over the bumps and hung onto his tail as I took a tight line through.

I knew I had a great run but just wasn’t making any impression, and I could see cars all over my mirrors jostling for position behind me. I closed right up again into the hairpin, lighting up my tyres (I’ll come back to that later) as I got the power down and hoping he’d be one of the unlucky ones to miss second gear.

He didn’t, and again was eeking out time on the straight as my lack of power began to get frustrating… As he eased away into the complex again, I was a sitting duck as Jamie Harrison drove up the inside and was out of reach before I even had a chance to put up any fight. I recaught and tussled with him a little but couldn’t make it too much of a scrap.

As Dave Leniewski got alongside and passed unchallenged as well, I realised I’d have to seriously push it in the bendy bits and see what more I could reach for. A few things started to click in my head as I got the car sliding more, controlling it on the throttle rather than steering, but I still had a long way to go, and Sam Engineer and Mark Egan shuffled me back one more space at a time in the pack.

I knew I was much faster into the first corner and Sunny In than the herd of cars around me, but without the grunt to stick my nose alongside anyone I just couldn’t use it. Even when I got a great exit they’d soon pull it back and drive away again.

And, of course I had to keep it all clean to get some much needed points on the board. “Don’t spin” had been Glenn’s advice, and the lairy slides I was having might have been slightly at odds with that advice.

But I was learning all the time, and enjoying it, and eventually got Egan back (much to the amusement of our respected crews, who were stood watching after Glenn had helped solve a few problems with Egan’s Ray before the race!).

It’s hard to appreciate how difficult it can be to race in a tight pack. When you go for a move on one car, the cars behind you will take advantage as you get blocked, and sweep around you even as the disappointment of your own failed pass sinks in.

Following Sam through the flat-out back section, his car misfired and I had to brake (yes, not even just lift off!) for two crucial corners up to Sunny In, and on Sunny Out, putting myself out of position on the exit. Mark didn’t need an invitation, and drove past me at my weakest point on the run towards the complex.

I tried to find a way past onto the finish straight, but had no chance as I saw the chequered flag being waved up ahead. I’d been shuffled all the way to the back of our pack, but still finished a respectable 16^th and 5^th in class.

And now I had a few lightbulbs clicking on in my head…

Brands Hatch – How it looked from my seat (Race 2)

08 Tuesday May 2018

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accident, brands hatch, crash, formula vee, marshals, race, report

And then came the crash…

Race 2

My usual start took me forward a few rows and the car felt good, although still lacking power.

I was still in ‘safety’ mode so not trying anything daft, and I’d got myself into a pack of about nine cars, so that took a bit of restraint. I’d taken to dropping to third gear for Paddock as the engine seemed to handle the revs ok, and I was still getting that flat spot in fourth.

Neil Aldridge had an absolutely terrible lap and dropped right from the front of our pack and I had a great run on him into Paddock around the outside.

As I’d committed, Vaughn Jones cut from the outside line to the inside to make a move on the cars ahead, and spun on the inside of the corner just ahead of Neil.

I saw all of this and moved another cars width to the left so that I was right on the edge of the track and Neil had plenty of room to also move left as Vaughn’s spin took him across the track.

Unfortunately Vaughn either clipped Neil or he had to dive left more to avoid him, and I was directly alongside and going past.

crash a

Neil sideswiped me wheel to wheel, causing us both to spin with him now in the gravel.

I could hear his throttle fully open as he slammed into me again, his airborne rear wheel ripping a hole through the aluminium side panel inches from my head, this hard impact sending me off at a tangent across the track to the infield.

crash c

I was on the grass with the engine still running, looking very carefully at my right rear wheel where it felt like the main impact had been.

I knew the front would be bent, so wasn’t paying much attention to it as I eased the car forwards, and it was heading in a straightish line. I cruised up to Druids and was starting to think I could crawl around and pick up points, until I dabbed the brakes and the car slewed left and over the gravel.

I knew it was race over for me, and remembering how they’d red flagged qualifying when Bill Garner pulled off at that exact spot I was eager to get the car to a safe place where they wouldn’t stop the race.

I pointed left towards the marshal post and a group of marshals there were signalling crossing their hands in front of them in the ‘no’ gesture, so I pointed to the right, to the infield of the hairpin to a dirt road that would take me behind the barrier.

I should note that all this time I couldn’t see behind me, as the crest of the road meant all I could see was the top of Paddock Hill, 300+ metres away, so there was no way I could make out any cars. Everything else was hidden in the dip.

Still pointing to the infield, I looked at the marshals who were pointing repeatedly to the spot I was looking to go.

point

I gave a jab of throttle and crossed the track and into the refuge area – but as I ran up the curb on the infield I saw the pack stream past me in my mirrors. Close. VERY close.

I was fuming.

You can hear me, dripping with sarcastic rage, say “I don’t think they should have told me to do that!”, before getting out and stropping around a bit, moaning to the spectators about what had just happened.

SJN Photography miserable

A red flag came out for Neil and the marshals came over to help me.

I asked why they’d told me to cross the track when the leaders were that close and they told me they’d been saying “No – don’t go!” and were actually pointing to the approaching pack of cars and not telling me to go…

So we’d simply miscommunicated – not surprising as there are no pre-arranged hand signals between us, and, as demonstrated here, it could all be misinterpreted. I shouldn’t have used the marshals as my eyes when I couldn’t see – they already do a hard enough job and I shouldn’t have assumed we were on the same wave length.

It’s definitely not their fault, and do a brilliant job keeping us safe.

I also realise that this incident will look Very Bad to everyone, and on the TV coverage, so wanted to at least get my side of things across! Another lesson learned, and luckily no harm done.

I’ll do a separate damage report, but we do still hope to make Croft.

Thanks for sticking with this very long write-up!

IMG_20180421_134226

Brands Hatch – How it looked from my seat (Race 1)

08 Tuesday May 2018

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brands hatch, crash, formula vee, spin, video

Well at least this one will be longer than the Croft report. I will also look at some of the more controversial moments that I may have got myself involved in.

I entered the race at the last second, and at that stage the engine wasn’t actually back together again! We’ve used bits from the new engine that was nearly built up – but that means we have a few mis-matched bits and had to go with a ‘safe’ setting with lower compression and other compromises.

We were up at 4am and made the start of qualifying, though!

Qualifying

For once it didn’t start raining as the Vee’s lined up to go out – in fact the sun scorched down all weekend.

I had to ease the engine in so was taking it easy to get my mandatory three laps in, and these were also my first laps in the car for six months (I think we can discount two sodden laps at Coombe).

Before I could do that, the session was red flagged with a car pulled off at Druids. I was also noting that a lot of people out there were driving as if it was the last lap of the race, throwing it around both sides of the slower cars and having a whinge when they didn’t disappear – in short, I was waiting for a big accident…

And on the restart it came. Dave Wallis had lost it at Clearways, and with James Clennell left unsighted behind another car, he ploughed into him.

I had the very surreal and almost cartoonish experience of coming around Clearways to see their cars on each side of the track, and two wheels rolling up the centre of the track on their own. Unfortunately I had some camera issues meaning this footage was recorded over – but take my worked for it when I say it was WEIRD to see! And a bit scary…

I didn’t like the look of Clennells car – a lot of chassis deformity, but thankfully he and Dave were both able to walk away. Dave commented to me that if that was in the sidecar he’d raced last year, that might not have been the case for anyone involved… Which is why I chose to race with four wheels instead of two!

My car had been smoking, and we found a fixable oil leak. The engine seemed ok but not particularly sharp, but I found that getting back on the throttle to turn into Paddock Hill I got nothing. I described it as a flat-spot in the rev range that we can probably attribute to the new heads not being delicately tuned to the length of the carb manifolds.

Solution for the race? Either drop it to third gear (risking high revs), or go into the corner a lot faster in fourth gear.

So only one option, then!

Race 1

I made a great start and blasted through a few rows. This is where things can get a bit awkward, especially if you’re trying to keep out of trouble, as you’re now right in the thick of the first corner bottleneck, and if you make a great start you can be around cars that will lap much faster.

If you back off too much you get hit by those charging behind you, but if your ‘ambition outweighs your talent’ (as Stoner said) then you can take out half the grid…

I backed off more than I normally would and lost a few places into Druids.

Things settled and I was in about a seven car group, although I was towards the back still feeling things out with my car.

Everyone around me was racing hard but fair, and despite the number of us swapping and changing, I think we all trusted each other not to do anything daft. This is where you get some great racing, and you’re also not slowing each other up.

I let what seemed to be the entire field plus half the Locust grid up the inside of me into Druids as I was focusing a bit too much on keeping it safe.

Then Bill Garner starting dropping all of his oil over the track. My visor (oh, that reminds me you’re still waiting for my report on my anti-fog modifications – stay tuned for that!) was covered and it was like a wake coming out the back of the car.

Rory Melia was ahead of me when Bill overtook him going into Paddock Hill, and I could see as soon as Rory hit the brakes he lost it on the oil. I thought I could ease on the brakes and nip up the inside before he spun, but the instant I touched my brakes the back end swung around like I was on ice.

I stood on the brakes to lock everything up, but I was travelling directly backwards and all I could see in both of my mirrors was Rory directly in my path. I let off the brakes a little to get some steering back and managed to get some angle so I didn’t clatter into him, and as a bonus still stayed out of the gravel trap.

Alex Jones had an interesting view of this as he was directly behind us, and we part to let him through the middle just in time.

Tom Roper wasn’t quite so lucky, but managed to slam on his brakes to avoid me, now almost stationary in front of him as he came over the blind crest.

I wasn’t getting any lights from my dashboard to restart, so let the car roll down the hill and tried to bump start it, but even this was to no avail. Finally, just as I hit the rise up to Druids I tried the starter again and it fired in a cloud of black smoke, and I blasted off to chase down Vaughn Jones in his Spider.

I instantly felt that all was not well, and I seemed to be losing power all the time, with the engine sounding rougher and rougher by the lap. And I’d already lost a lot of time and many places…

To spice things up, at least one other car was also dumping all their oil onto the track. I remember for a few laps there were three distinct lines of oil through Surtees – the flat-out left hander – and you basically had to pick one of them and see if you could hold on!

I caught Vaughn as I neared Druids, and just caught a glimpse of the leaders right behind me (what happened to the blue flags??). I let Daniel Hands**? and Graham Gant through up the inside, taking a wide line in, and seeing Graham seriously sideways on oil and headed for the tyres (well held, that man!), decided to cut back for a late apex.

Here’s the moment where some say I knocked off the nosecone of another car:

I overtook Vaughn down the Cooper Straight and then still managed to stay stupidly wide, risking putting myself off and losing the position I’d just made to allow another two leaders to have the inside line into Surtees, all of us sliding three wide on the oil.

I don’t think some of the faster cars realise just how much effort we put into getting out of their way, and we often get sarcastic comments about “not looking in your mirrors”. Sometimes what they actually want is for you to disappear, but we still have to turn into the corner at some point as well, and if you’re so great a driver why do you expect us to be able to use less track than you? Remember that the MSA rules tell you to stick to your normal racing line and it’s up to the car behind to find a safe way past you – imagine if we all just stuck to this? Then we’d see some proper moaning.

Anyway, rant over…

I crossed the line a sorry 20^th with the engine sounding awful. Speaking to Glenn we were ready to just put it on the trailer and take it home, rather than risk more engine damage, but he decided to have a look at compression readings.

This was down to what we expected, but a fair bit lower on two cylinders – still not really enough to explain the problem, though, so he checked the valve clearances as a last hope.

We found one had become very tight, and one very loose, so after a quick adjustment that seemed a likely culprit. We headed to the Kentagon for a meal and some banter with the other drivers, and were happy to give it a crack for the next day.

Castle Combe – Not the best start

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

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castle combe, engine failure, formula vee, Primrose Hospice, race report, racing, seized engine

After the usual last minute rush to complete the over-Winter work on the Sheane, we braved the threats of snow by using a Land Rover Freelander as the tow car in place of the trusty VW Camper.

With limited space in the paddock, we were in the overflow car parking, slowly sinking into the cold, wet mud as the rain continued to hammer down.

There are a lot of newcomers to Formula Vee this season, and I find matching names to faces to cars to be a bit of a struggle, so tried my best to get around most of the old and new drivers and crew for a quick chat. Hopefully I’ll get to meet the few stragglers at the next round – if I make it there…

I wasn’t really feeling it, getting up early, travelling to the circuit, messing about in the cold and wet. This seems to be becoming a common thing with me racing. After the long Winter break I was even thinking that maybe I like the idea of racing more than I like the racing itself. I’d even had some thoughts of hypnotherapy to focus me a bit more…

All that went away as I slid into the trusty Sheane, though! I felt relaxed, excited, and really wanted to get out there!

I’m putting my doubts down to a stress reaction, for now, but will be keeping an eye on that.

The car was pulling to the left which is probably due to straightening the front beam a bit more. It wasn’t anything I had to fight with force, but if I took my hands off the wheel it veered off. We were keeping the old shot tyres (especially the balding rear) from last year, as we decided against putting the new ones on just yet. And other than sorting out the oil leak onto the clutch, the tired old engine was still plodding away behind me.

When we filed out of the pit lane it was my first time ever around Castle Combe, which can be quite intimidating, but we were behind the safety car – a rare thing for us to experience but one that I’d welcome regularly for managing races.

Even at greatly reduced speeds the spray following other cars made it very hard to see anything and was getting a bit cold as it drenched my chest.

I’d watched a few onboard videos and found a mod to play the track on Assetto Corsa, but the two didn’t seem to match up entirely – at least I knew which way the track was likely to go.

I was also experimenting with a visor modification that could totally eliminate fogging for me which would be a massive advantage in these conditions – I will do a separate blog about that one soon!

After one lap the safety car disappeared (not that I’d been able to see it since it left the pit lane!), and green flags were waving.

I was behind a few cars who seemed (perhaps rightly?) a bit scared of the conditions, and I would have chosen a much quicker pace if I was on my own.

Just as I decided to get past and set my own pace, Ian Buxton slipped past and I decided if I followed him but went slightly slower I could get a good solid pace to get my standard three laps in, and then see how much more I could push.

I passed a few cars as I felt out the grip levels – not bad really save for a few patches of standing water – not getting anything seriously out of line despite the low tread on my right rear tyre.

Rory Melia appeared out of the spray ahead into Camp – a corner I really wanted to try out hard in the dry – and I had enough closing speed to go around his outside and tentatively power away down the straight.

I eased into fourth gear past the pits and was pulling around 5000rpm when the engine note suddenly changed. I quickly pressed the clutch pedal and the Big Red Light Of Doom glowed up from the dashboard ominously.

I knew it was all over as I coasted to the nearest marshal point on the grass, expecting to be leaving a wake of oil and engine bits behind me. I may have had a little bit of a swear, but if that doesn’t come out on my video then it never happened, and I was calm and collected.

Jumping out of the car I couldn’t see any holes in the engine case or oil pouring out, so figured it to be a bearing failure and engine seizure – much like my first time ever in the car.

I watched the rest of the qualifying dejectedly from under cover of the marshals post, then jumped back in to be towed home on the Wagon Of Shame.

When replacing the gearbox seals Glenn had found the end float to be 0.12000 which we thought was far too loose, having previously set it at 0.8000. The problem here is that the bearing also has some sideways movement, so you can get a false reading. Set it too tight and it’ll seize up – too loose, and well, no harm done.

It could have been this or it could have been this combined with the old engine, but we’re pretty sure we’ll find a rear main bearing failure. As I switched off so quickly, hopefully this will be fixable if the rest of the internals are intact.

However fixable it is, I’m now conscious that Brands Hatch is only three weeks away, so whether we can make it will depend on Glenn’s day-to-day work and how much time he can spare. We were planning on putting a newly built engine in the car around mid-season, but that’s not quite ready yet so I think we’ll be looking at rebuilding this one.

It’s a blow for my bid to take the B Class championship this year, but the same could happen to everyone else, too, so it’s still early days yet.

James Harridge got pole by 2 seconds and won the first race after a fantastic battle with Ian Jordon, after Ian Buxton fell away from the scrap.

Race 2 was another huge scrap, but this time between Ian Buxton, Craig Pollard and Daniel Hands – with Buxton coming out on top.

I was very interested in watching the new drivers – the stand-out man for me being Richard Lanyi. He had the pressure of driving Paul Smith’s Dominator – possibly the most successful Formula Vee car ever – after amazingly only taking his ARDS test the week before, and flying in from Switzerland so qualifying was his first time ever sitting in the car! Not only did he survive this, but he finished 12th and 10th in the races – I think he’ll definitely be one to watch this year once he gets more seat time.

So rather disappointing as an opening round, but if there’s a positive to take away that very limited time in the car, and with everyone else doing the full session, would have still put me 16th on the grid!

Assuming we do get the car ready, the next one is Brands Hatch – my least favourite circuit. Maybe now is the time to force myself to love the place so I can claw some points back?

Looking ahead to the 2018 season

25 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Rules & Regulations, Uncategorized

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2018, class a, class b, formula vee, parachute jump, Primrose Hospice, top drivers, winner

2017 was the most open year of the championship for quite a few years. To pull no punches with that statement, the main reason was Paul Smith leaving Vee after dominating the series for years.

This attracted several former champions and front-runners back to the series Daniel Hands, and inspired the other front-runners like Ben Miloudi, Ian Jordan etc to step up and try to grab their chance.

Undoubtedly, some of the strongest competitors were either a bit rusty, only did part seasons, or had reliability issues – and with eventual winner Ben Miloudi not defending his crown and very strong runners like Adam Macauly moving his attention back to the Irish scene, 2018 will be even more of a free-for-all!

I’d say there are at least eight drivers likely to win the championship – and that’s without the usual surprise of a rookie jumping in at the front or one of the existing drivers stepping up to challenge the front runners.

I think Class B will be even tougher this year.

James Harridge could be the first to take A and B class together – which is both good and bad.

It’s bad that all us other Class B runners are clearly in a different league to the likes of him so we have no chance of ever beating him on track unless he has problems. This means we don’t get any trophies, but then from his point of view why win one trophy when you can win two?

The good thing is that if this does happen – and if not this year then it’s only a matter of time – it might make the organisers make some changes to make A and B class more distinct, and bring it back to the original ethos of B class being cheaper, having older and less technically advanced cars, and/or more inexperienced drivers.

And I’m not having a whinge here, because if new rules came in that excluded me from B Class I’d be totally fine with that.

As it stands, though, I’m one of the serious contenders in B, and although I’ll be starting off with a less than perfect car there is another engine on the cards along with new tyres and a few other improvements to come later in the year.

Jamie Harrison has moved to the Bears team in a new car and will undoubtedly be the one to beat other than Harridge, and I suspect Andrew Cooper will be very quick again this year (if he’s coming back?), as well as Jack Wilkinson if he does a full season.

Colin Gregory will be in Adam Macaulays car and I doubt that will slow him down too much, but I’m not sure if he’ll run that to B spec or move to Class A.

Ross Price also showed he could mix it at the front in B without much experience, so he’ll be another serious threat.

And the joy of Class B means you’re even more likely to see absolutely anyone, old or new, suddenly click and be up the front!

We have a couple of new tracks to most of us – Castle Coombe to start with and then the Snetterton 200 circuit at the end of the year, and then Mondello Park for all those travelling to Ireland for a chance to try some International craic.

Me? I still hate Brands so will be trying to break out of that this year, and hopefully Silverstone will be kind ot me for the first time ever.

If I have mildly better luck than last year it would be nice, and I will definitely be looking to *puts on a European accent* push very ‘ard.

I know both the car and myself are capable of more, so let’s see if I can unlock it!

Hope to see you all out there, and let’s have a safe, clean but hard fought 2018 season!

***On a side note, you may have seen that I’m doing a charity parachute jump on 5th May – please click the link and throw a few ponds my way for this! It’s for a great cause and massive thanks to those of you who have already given!

Sponsor me here for Primrose Hospice!

Looking back at my 2017 season

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Uncategorized

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2017, blog, compilation, crash, drift, formula vee, racing, review, RTV, season, spin, thoughts

It’s only now that I’m looking back through my camera footage (as I make the compilation video) that I realise what a terrible first half of the season I had!

I’ll post my long edit video first for those who don’t want to read my long edit blog:

And I also must thank my sponsors JooVuu for supplying the best action cameras and accessories from a UK company, and Primrose Hospice who have been there and helped several people close to me in the last few years.

So what happened to me in the 2017 Formula Vee championship?

Oulton Park International

OK, so I drove really well at Oulton Park, but as I left the pit lane in qualifying my engine spat out a spark plug with the thread still attached, leaving me trundling around to qualify at the very back. If not for that, I’d have undoubtedly got my first class win, and quite possibly done the double.

I love the track and have done hundreds of track day laps on bikes, so it didn’t really surprise me that I was quick there. When I was on a charge with the recovering Dave Leniewski at the end of race two, we were about two seconds a lap faster than the cars ahead of us – even getting in each others way – and the speed I closed in on Jamie Harrison into the final corner I actually put two wheels onto the grass and was going to put all four off and pass before the braking zone before Common Sense kicked in!

I still think I could have pulled it off, too…

Brands Hatch GP

So from that high of my first ever second place trophy, we went to Brands Hatch for an amazingly expensive and rare go at the full GP circuit.

In terrible conditions with relentless rain, I lost the back on the exit of Paddock Hill in qualifying, correcting the slide no problem… but then the rears hit the outside camber and it launched me into the gravel so fast I got my first taste of how big an accident you can have there. Luckily I stopped before hitting the wall, and Paresh Kumar and Chris Whitehouse both helped massively getting the tonnes of gravel out of EVERYWHERE to get me out with seconds to spare before the start of the race.

With the rain still pouring, I had gear selection issues and started from pit lane, and under a first safety car experience, I found myself trapped behind a struggling Peter Cann who couldn’t catch up to the main pack as his own car was handling like a nightmare. I got in Trouble for pulling alongside him to motion him to catch up – which was a bit harsh, if you ask me!

And then a circlip on the gearbox popped off leaving me to retire, stuck in second gear, anyway…

Race two saw me lose it going into Paddock Hill as I locked the rears (still wet) and put it straight back into the gravel.

It took weeks to strip the car and clean and get all that gravel out. It was terrible.

What I did learn there was that I’d crashed by not pushing. Leaving it in fourth gear for Paddock meant I had less engine braking than when I’d normally drop to third. This meant rather than my rear wheels slowing me and stabilising the car, their momentum pushed the rear on… The physics all make sense in hindsight – and I was only leaving it in fourth because I was trying to keep everything safe and in ‘survival mode’ to just finish in the terrible conditions…

Croft

I put it all behind me for a sunny Croft, where I always go well but am usually hampered by being unable to get second gear out of the hairpin. Not this time, though, as we had all four definite gears!

After a sensible qualifying I shot off the grid (something I’ve been getting a name for this year!) holding a tight line through the first corner. With 15 cars right up my exhaust pipe, I was then pretty committed to staying inside through turn two, but Mark Egan didn’t see me and cut to the apex through my front left wheel as I got hit from behind trying to brake a little more to avoid the inevitable…

Race over with my first contact-induced DNF. I still say Mark should have left me racing room as I had nowhere else I could possibly go (other than block-passing him), but it was also a ‘racing incident’ so I couldn’t really blame him, either.

And as the marshals pushed me off the track with a snapped steering arm flapping in the breeze, it also started to rain on me. Yeah, thanks.

Going out for the second race I could tell instantly that the car felt all kinds of wrong. The steering wheel wasn’t straight, for a start. A red flag saved me from dropping back further in the field, and I convinced myself I was just being a wuss, and the car was fine.

On the restart I ignored the handling issues and gave it everything, closing down Colin Gregory at the fastest part of the circuit… but as the steering wheel wasn’t straight, when I straightened the car up ready to brake into Sunny In, I’d actually put my left rear onto the grass just as I hit the brakes hard.

This was an amazingly fast spin that wasn’t entirely unpleasant as I mowed the grass to the inside of the track (seriously, I had grass get inside my damned helmet, somehow!?), but then realised I was going to go back across the track. Bill Garner did well to avoid me, but I’d blown it and was down to the back of the field again.

I scrabbled a few places back in the couple of laps we had, but it wasn’t great. Another lesson: If you think the car is doing weird scary stuff it’s probably not just in your head.

Anglesey Coastal

With Glenn Hay working his magic, the car was in top shape as we went to Wales.

And it did all feel good – I was in tune with the car, and drove the best I ever have done, under the sun, by the sea.

It was also some of the most entertaining racing as I diced first with Martin Snarey and then with Colin Gregory, and beating both to the flag.

I stayed right with the lead pack for the whole first lap in the seconds race, which was another first for me, but although still driving well was unable to keep Jamie Harrison behind me in the closing laps, as I missed a gear as we diced and then just couldn’t catch him again!

Silverstone International

Another track where I’d normally go well, but in qualifying a faulty seal was leaking oil onto the clutch, resulting in much slippage. Some hasty bodge repairs got me out for the first race, but sadly didn’t hold and I had to crawl around to make the finish.

This did mean I had to try and over compensate in the corners, resulting in my most awesome video moment to date – a huge filthy great drift through Vale performed almost to perfection!

I had a brilliant fight at the end of the race with Martin Snarey, swapping places several times in the closing laps, and getting a great cut-back on the last corner, only to be foiled again as I was unable to get any power down and he beat me by just under a tenth of a second at the line!

A late night from Glenn, with help from James Harridge, Jake Hockley and Michelle Berry meant I started the second race with a fresh clutch. This sorted out the worst of the problems, but some slight clutch slip remained for the rest of the year – something we aim to fix by fitting stronger clutch springs.

The race went well, and I showed a fair pace and was running third in class for most of the race, after brief dices with Colin Gregory, Bill Stenning and Mark Lawton. All the time in my mirrors I was watching Jamie Harrison charging ever-closer, and thinking I’d covered the line well enough I slowed a little too much into Abbey, only to have him slide to the outside, blocking my exit and getting through in a terrific sneaky move, and knocking me off the B class podium by a tenth of a second!

Rockingham ISSL

Opting to save our tired car and not do the practice session meant I was at a disadvantage going into qualifying, but at this stage saving the car was more important, and I knew the track from bike trackdays. Or thought I did – except we were doing a slightly different layout!

The race was pretty terrible with everyone terrified of hitting the wall in the downpour. Everyone spun and went off everywhere, but I found myself ahead of Pete Belsey and Paul Taylor and doing ok – only to run very wide on the last lap and have to spin around to get back on the track. That was a bit disappointing as it would have been a great result, but at least I hadn’t hit the wall!

Race 2 was cancelled as even the safety car didn’t like the conditions out there – I would have still been happy to go out and have a crack, though!

Donington Park National

Surprisingly, despite the number of disasters over the season, it turned out I was a mere 1 point behind second in the B Class championship going into the last round. Jamie Harrison just had to make it to the grid in one race to win the title, which left me and Colin Gregory fighting for the rest of the podium.

My left rear tyre was down to the bone, the clutch slipping on every upshift, and the engine just very tired and down on power – but I decided that I could still do it!

After a safe qualifying session the first race was in heavy rain, and in the first few laps a few cars dumped oil all over the racing line. I opted to play it safe with cars going off everywhere, and thanks to Colin having a nightmare start ending on the grass and all sorts, I did just enough to stay ahead of him with no dramas.

Race 2 was dry, and it was calculated that on drop-scoring I was actually still 1 point behind Colin in the championship – so had to beat him again!

Nothing else out there mattered more than my mirrors after I’d made another good start and got ahead of him. I was managing my race nicely behind Mark Egan and Andrew Cooper, but then he caught me when I missed a gear shift, and went through along with Ross Price.

Kicking myself as they pulled into the distance, I was ok with nursing the car home to a safe 3^rd place… but then something came burning up inside me and I decided I had to win!

I clawed Ross and Colin back in, and then we traded places in an epic battle – we were all fighting very hard and giving nothing away, but also all safe around each other. A proper battle.

As I lunged to the front of them I missed my braking into Clearways and as I managed to hold it all on the track they both came back through, but then almost touched wheels into the chicane. I’d stayed just far enough back to stay out of trouble but be ready to pounce, and out dragged them both up the pit straight.

Ross had one last attack into Redgate but had to go in far too hot, and I just let him sail by and then cut back under him on the exit. I got my head down and pushed hard, dropping them both off to a safe distance, braking early and softly into the final chicane to make sure I came out on top.

It felt like one of the greatest achievements of my life!

I realise it was only for 2^nd place in a B class championship, but in my opinion if you don’t get excited by that then what are you even doing it for?

Then of course the bubble burst and I became the first driver of the weekend to get a time penalty for passing under yellows (despite many being called up and mine not giving me any kind of advantage) – which dropped me back so far in the race I lost everything to finish only 4^th in the championship. Still not bad, but it does take the shine off things.

Donington Park – Race 2

10 Tuesday Oct 2017

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donington park, epic battle, final race, final round, formula vee, joovuu, Primrose Hospice, scrap, tactics

Race 2

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With the track now bone dry and warm, it was set to be a very different second race.

I talked over my tactics with Glenn Hay – I was going to go for it, but if Colin Gregory was showing he was much faster, I’d just let him go and make sure I kept a safe finish to secure third place in the B Class championship.

I stiffened the front anti-roll bar back to dry settings, but left the dampers soft in the hope it would help me find the last of the grip from the worn rear tyre.

I felt relaxed but totally focused as we took the grid. I was in 18^th place with Colin just to my right, his second best qualifying time 0.04 seconds faster.

Andrew Cooper was directly in front of me on the grid with Jack Wilkinson a few rows ahead – I was expecting Jack to disappear but thought I might be closer to Cooper in this one. Not that it really mattered, as all I had to to do was beat the white Sheane of Colin.

With the championship won and pressure off, I thought Jamie Harrison might come through strongly, but I knew I’d been faster than him here before.

I slipped a fingertip under my visor to wipe away my condensed breath one final time, as I inhaled twice deeply to oxygenate my blood and slow my pounding heart.

The lights went out and the Sheane shot forward instantly. I slammed it into second gear thinking I should give drag racing a go, and then Cooper was drifting across the track to cover the outside line as I pushed the lever forward into third gear.

I had to feather the throttle slightly with nowhere to go before we turned into Redgate, but we’d all got away well and I could see I had space behind to take a decent line – Colin was still behind but I had a few car lengths plus Phil Waterhouse slotting between us.

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Cold tyres down the Craner curves was always a hairy moment, and as I opted for the slow-in, fast-out line into Old Hairpin Colin passed Waterhouse with two wheels on the grass around the outside.

I was totally focused on the red and white Challenger of Cooper as he went through the final chicane all over Mark Egan’s Ray, and as Egan checked up on the exit all I saw was clear track to the left and had a run down the straight.

I still didn’t think I’d have the speed to stay ahead of Cooper, but was alongside Egan into Redgate, settling behind him with Cooper a few lengths behind me as I realised I was second in class and holding my own!

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I put a tyre half over the curb as we came back onto the pit straight, watching as Cooper picked up a tow off me and Egan pulled out another car length over me.

I snapped the gear lever into fourth as fast as I could… and got a big bag of nothing!

Cooper shot past me with inches to spare, followed by Colin. I finally got fourth on the third attempt as Ross Price also blasted by.

I’d lost momentum, but tried to hold onto them, knowing I was strong up the hill out of Old Hairpin.

Colin and Ross were side by side into McLeans, but Ross had to lift as he went wide. Taking the corner well I took advantage and passed him, but Colin was still a fair few lengths ahead, drifting a wide line around Coppice.

I love Coppice. The apex is blind and it takes balls to commit to it over the blind crest. I nailed it and was close enough to catch a slipstream down the back straight.

I took a dive up Colin’s inside at Redgate from a long way back, but never got close enough to force the issue as he closed the door – then I nearly jumped out of my skin as Ross went around the outside of me! Nice sneaky move!

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This time he got the better of Colin into McLeans, but ran straight over the curb on the exit, showering me in mud (seriously, there was a splatter right over my left eyeball on my visor for the rest of the race!), and we both passed before Ross was back on the tarmac.

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I closed right up into the chicane, but Colin had his head down and started to pull away. Ross slid up the inside into Old Hairpin and I thought he might be able to drag me back to Colin. Christian Goller also came through on a crazy charge from the back of the grid (he’s going to be seriously quick next year), but I wasn’t concerned as his Challenger is A Class. I tried to come back at him into the chicane but backed out rather than taking him and potentially Ross out as well.

What was concerning me was watching them all drop me as Christian passed the other two B Class cars and I failed to claw my way back to them.

By the end of the lap, Colin had at least four or five seconds over me and I was starting to think what could have been as I checked the empty track in my mirrors.

I looked for Glenn and my sister Michelle on the pit wall as I passed, settling in to bring it home for third in the championship… and it was about then that I thought:

“I can’t have that.”

Screw the slipping clutch and screw the balding tyres – I wanted this! I might never be in this position again, so what sort of racing driver was I if I didn’t try and do it?

I’d been consciously using every inch of the track and the curbs all weekend, and hitting my lines almost robotically. I cleared my mind and went for it, and by the end of the lap was totally in the zone.

Ross and Colin started getting more scrappy ahead, and when Ross again ran over the curb exiting Old Hairpin I blasted past up the hill.

I carried my momentum, taking seconds off Colin through McLeans and Coppice, even making enough to pull out of his tow into the chicane to force him into a defensive line.

He held me off down through Craner, but I was all over him up the hill faking a move to the outside braking into McLeans that he had to cover, going in too hot. I simply cut back and drove past him on the exit!

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Thinking I was clever, I forgot to brake into Coppice, flying straight over the crest and heading directly towards the fence. And I still didn’t want to scrub off too much speed and let him back through!

I threw the car hard right, the back end stepping out over the curb, but caught it instantly with a twitch of opposite lock.

But I was wide, and saw a flash of white and then black as Colin went through along with Ross!

My refusal to scrub off speed had left me close enough to catch their slipstream onto the straight, and as they went side by side into the chicane I waited to take advantage of the contact…

By some miracle they kept their wheels apart, but they’d lost speed and I hadn’t. I held the left apex a split second longer to bring me to the left hand side of the track on the exit, and had already passed Ross and was alongside Colin before he could move across to block me.

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Silverstone and Anglesey had taught me about over-defending, and instead I just drove, taking a mid-track entry into the final chicane to discourage Ross from making a dive as he’d got past Colin and was in my tow,

He still had my tow down the pit straight, pulling out to go inside me into Redgate – but I was never going to defend that move! I braked as late as I dared, trailbraking to the apex as Ross overshot the line in front of me, and I cut back again on the apex carrying full speed.

They had no chance after that. I set my fastest lap of the race even though I braked early into the chicane knowing I was safe.

I punched the air over the line as the realisation hit me that I’d done it!

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I was screaming in the car all the way around the lap, and it was an amazing feeling knowing I’d not only done it, but came back through after dropping back. I’d won it fair and square, and there’s no finer way to feel alive!

People were cheering me! I jumped out of the car and it was all hugs and handshakes, and excited chatter as I shook hands with Colin and Ross (who’d finished between us).

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I hugged my sister and even Glenn (a very rare moment for me!) knowing I’d done it and got second in the championship for RTV!

I knew I was third in class, so also had another trophy but didn’t even care where I was overall (17^th), as I’d done everything I had to do.

I’d been told to take my camera footage to the Clerk of the Course, so did so happily, knowing I’d had a clean race and hadn’t seen anyone else do anything dodgy, so wouldn’t really be able to help much.

And then they took it all away…

When I’d overtaken Cooper at the end of the first lap there had been a yellow flag out for a stationary car on the grass on the right hand side (I couldn’t see anything as my view was blocked by other cars). Even though the safety risks were minimal, and I hadn’t gained an advantage (having dropped back four places within a lap), they decided to ruin the championship and decide the final race and championship results with a 10 second penalty against me rather than just give me points on my licence.

This dropped me to sixth in class, meaning I’d lose second in the championship… and third… and would end up fourth.

I paid £250 to appeal the penalty (not the reason for it) which was all a farce where the stewards refused to even discuss the penalty, and while all this was going on I missed the awards ceremony and everything.

I’m trying not to let this bitter ending ruin it for me but it’s hard.

I know I did it. I did it fair and square on the track, and everyone else knows I did it.

And that’s what I’m doing it for – to prove myself on the track.

Whatever the stewards say they can’t take that away from me.

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You can view the full onboard video here:

Donington Park – Qualifying & Race 1

08 Sunday Oct 2017

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class b championship, donington park, final round, qualifying, race report, tactics

Once again we’re back to the track that I love – but it hates me!

I did my first ever Vee test here, making it three corners out of the pit lane before the engine seized… or there was the time I was winning B class until I ran out of petrol half way around the last lap… or the time an engine stud smashed through the case… or when I t-boned Buxton on the first lap of qualifying…

This time it was for the final round of the 2017 Ravenol UK Formula Vee Championship – and going into it I was third in the B Class championship and only one point behind Colin Gregory in second place!

After a year where I was sometimes faster than Jamie Harrison, he was more often much faster than me, and needed a single point to tie up the B Class championship. This basically meant all he had to do was make the grid for the start of one of the races…

To complicate things for me, fourth and fifth in the championship were the extremely quick Jack Wilkinson and Andrew Cooper – and they could both catch me and take my third place away if I didn’t finish high enough!

Because of the abandoned race at Rockingham, 750 Motor Club had give us all a free test session on Saturday morning, but with conditions slick and raining it was more of a chance to get your eye in for the track. I cruised around, changing gear around 6500rpm to save the tired engine for the races.

My left rear tyre was also now on the wear indicators, and seriously affecting grip. We swapped the left and right rear wheels over after the session, hoping it would bring enough grip back to make me competitive, although I was still setting some decent times. Unfortunately we’d also spotted some clutch slip changing from third to fourth gear, so had to hope that wasn’t getting any worse.

One more concern was that Andrew Cooper was clocked as second fastest overall! Some great driving, and confirmation that the pressure would be on me to get on his tail to minimise points damage!

Qualifying

The track was still cool but dry a few hours later as we rolled out. I left the dampers on the soft wet settings, trying to get a bit more rear grip, with a slight compromise on the front anti-roll in case the rain came back.

I still needed to get a decent place on the grid to be in with a chance of snatching second, but had to balance that with actually making the races.

I settled into a good rhythm, the rear wheel swap doing the job for grip, and although the slipping clutch was even more noticeable under almost full power, the car still felt pretty good.

As expected, Jack Wilkinson was the quickest B class runner, and Cooper second.

Colin was third, starting in 17^th place on the grid – whilst I would be 18^th.

Jamie had cruised around and then come into the pits, doing exactly what he needed to do, but unlikely to feature at the pointy end of the class battle in the first race.

Colin’s qualifying time?

1:24.16

My qualifying time?

1:24.17

It couldn’t have been set up any better!

Unusually, both races were to be held the next day, and so we all had the night to brood over tactics for the following day. We should have also taken note of Ross Price, behind us in 19^th with a time of 1:24.23 – because he had no intention of leaving us two to scrap it out in the races!

Race 1

Fittingly for this season, the heavens opened shortly before our early morning race began!

Here I’d like to thank James Harridge and Richard Rainbow who’d let RTV share their awning for the weekend. Personally I think it was the least Harridge could do, as he’d decided not to race but I could have done with him winning Class B to take points away from all the others!

There was a chance there would be carnage in the tricky conditions, and so my tactics were simply to finish the race in as good a position as I could. If that was ahead of Colin then even better, but there was still another race to go and he was my only real focus.

After two green flag laps, I’d felt that there was a surprising amount of grip on the track, and so believed I could push quite hard from the start.

The lights went out and I got an amazing start, blasting forward like everyone else was stood still.

Unfortunately Cooper saw my move to the inside of the track and moved over to block me – I’d got so much momentum already that I actually had to brake hard to avoid going into the back of him!

Paul Taylor snuck through around Redgate, but I was still on the back of Cooper, Mark Egan and a large pack. I’d left Colin for dead on the start line – as it turned out he’d got all kinds of sideways and ended up on the grass by the pit wall, and then had to fight his way back through!

The track conditions were deteriorating rapidly, and the car snapped sideways up the hill out of Old Hairpin as I changed into fourth – fair warning given and heeded. Steve Ough ended up on the grass ahead, but was back on track as I reached him, joining out pack, with Alex Jones looming in my mirrors.

I didn’t fight as he slithered through at Old Hairpin, but now there was a thick line of oil forming around the racing line of the whole circuit, and Alex was caught out at Coppice on the following lap, spinning but rejoining behind me.

I was slowly dropping off the pack, but with nobody behind me (where were they all??) and with lots of oil down at all the places you really don’t want any oil, I was easing off anyway.

A flying Christian Goller caught me after qualifying problems had left him at the back of the grid, and an eager Neil Aldridge followed him through. On the exit of Old Hairpin Neil found the huge patch of mud and gravel someone had dragged onto the circuit, and he predictably swapped ends, letting me retake the place.

I eased off even more as cars were going off everywhere, and a charging Alex Jones caught me once more. There was nobody behind him and no point in me fighting, so I stuck on the back of him in case he lost it again, and followed him safely to the flag.

I was 16^th overall, and 3^rd in Class B – Colin was two places behind but still got 4^th in Class B.

Jamie Harrison had officially won the Class B Championship, and predictably Jack Wilkinson took the race honours from Andrew Cooper. In the main title hunt a third place for Ben Miloudi left him teetering on the brink of the of the title, with Ian Jordan taking the win from Craig Pollard.

Some quick maths from Steve Bailey after the race put me one single point ahead, and now second in the championship… but now the drop-scores would come into play.

As Colin hadn’t done every race, this meant I had to drop my two single point finishes from Brands Hatch.

So now, headed into the final race of the year, I was again just one point behind Colin, and the only way I could take second place was to beat him!

Rockingham – Don’t hit the wall!

27 Wednesday Sep 2017

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bromsgrove, formula vee, joovuu, Primrose Hospice, race report, rockingham issc, the wall, wet race

It’s one of the tracks where I’ve done a few hundred laps with motorbikes, so it was going to be fine to jump straight in, avoiding the extra expense of testing the day before and on the morning.

Almost everyone else on the grid took advantage of the testing, and it was watching them in the morning session that I realised they were doing an extra hairpin on the infield!

This wasn’t in the plan! It also wasn’t in the BTCC track guide I’d had a look at to confirm my bike knowledge! Ah well, I’d just tag onto someone in qualifying and learn it then…

Qualifying

The first banked corner on the oval was also new to me, but I figured that was bound to be pretty much flat in the dry, and did it with a big lift to get up to speed. It was then that the front felt absolutely terrible, and the unstability made me think I’d gone far too soft on the front damping!

During a red flag (we had a few very paranoid reds due to cars spinning off the circuit) I peeled off in the pit lane hoping to get Glenn’s attention to give me another few clicks of front damping. Before he could get to the car, we were off again, so I blasted off figuring the track time was more important than fine-tuning.

The extra hairpin was amazingly tricky for me to try and get to grips with, totally upsetting the flow of the triple left I was used to. With the few qualifying laps we got in I didn’t get anywhere near familiar with it – but then I hadn’t with the braking points for the rest of the track, either!

Still, I somehow qualified in 14^th and 15^th place for the races – amazing as I was struggling and really expecting to be around 25^th with everyone else having tested here.

Not that it really mattered…

Race 1

…Because of course the skies opened just about an hour before we were due to race, and the track conditions were horrendous!

Rockingham gets slippery (like ice!) with just a few spots of rain, and for this you could see the standing water.

I’m still trying to love the rain, and with my limited testing time figured this was probably best for me to get me on an even keel. However – how fast can you take a banked oval turn in the wet?

It’s about 240mph in an Indycar in the dry, but then they don’t even go out in the wet! We wouldn’t have that luxury.

Weirdly, there seemed to be some unspoken agreement with almost all the drivers that we’d take this turn incredibly slowly to survive it, and then go for it on the rest of the lap. If you hit that wall in a Vee it’s going to hurt you, let alone seriously kill your car, so this rare sensibility from racing drivers was even more strange!

Anyway – the race! I loosened off the front anti-roll bar and softened the dampers at both ends – but not too much at the front as I still wanted some stability.

Slithering around the green flag lap, we could all tell how bad it was out there.

When the lights went out just about everybody span their wheels off the line, but I hooked up a decent amount of grip. Unfortunately I was on the outside braking into the turn 2 hairpin, and cars streamed up my inside before I could turn in!

When I finally got turned a car had spun on the exit, so I had to avoid them, too.

Braking gently into the chicane, I felt everything lock instantly, and cadence braking didn’t do a thing. Two or three cars ahead were also going straight on and bouncing over grass and gravel – I reluctantly chose the gravel and was promptly airborne as I crossed the thinnest pit on route back to the circuit.

The car still felt ok and wasn’t full of gravel, but then the red flags came out again and it was another restart…

On the restart I got another good – although sideways – start, but was again hung out to dry on the outside for turn 2!

To add to the déjà vu, Pete Belsey spun on the exit in front of me, followed by Dave Leniewski exiting the next turn, and Colin Gregory a few corners later!

Every time I brushed the brakes I locked up, and every time I eased the throttle down it spun up. It was brilliant but very slow! And somehow I was fighting with Jimmy Furlong with Pete Belsey and Paul Taylor behind me!

As the rain eased going into the final lap, it was watching these two that became my downfall. I left my braking a little later, having taken the banked turn a little faster, and locked up a little. As I ran deeper into the corner, I could have just clipped the corner of the grass on the outside and carried on, but as I aimed for it I saw it had become about a 12” drop off the tarmac, with a puddle of unknown depth below that!

I had to abort and turn right up onto the banking through the cones, turning around and then rejoining the track having lost 12^th place and dropped to 16^thbehind Mark Egan in his Ray. It also dropped me to 5^th in Class B.

With conditions on the infield still bad, and with oil spreading out at key spots, I was unable to catch Mark and had to sit behind him over the line.

Race 2

After almost drying out, the skies opened again during the RGB race just as we were due to go to the assembly area. I’ve never seen huge rooster tails from the RGB’s before, and evidently neither had the organisers, as they cancelled their race due to weather.

This then left all us Vee drivers in an awkward place. We were all set to go out, but as the current race had been cancelled there didn’t seem much point to us all going to the holding area to get soaked through, and have water go into our open carb trumpets as we sat there.

I mean, evidently they weren’t going to send a single seater class out if they’d cancelled a race!

As I stood kitted up next to a marshal under cover of my garage, 3 cars went down. I then heard radio chatter saying they didn’t have enough cars to run the race, and that “Vee drivers are voting with their feet”!

Err, no we’re not! But as the rest of the radio chatter is calling for the safety car to go out to assess the track conditions – why do you want us to sit in the rain?? I asked the marshal to let them know we were all ready to go, but waiting for the track report, which he kindly did.

Even though I was raring to go out in it, as were many of the others, the organisers finally made the decision to cancel the rest of the days races. It was frustrating, but also definitely the right choice.

That wall is just too unforgiving, and us idiot drivers would have still risked it, albeit slowly…

James Cater Racing

~ Realising the childhood dream…

Category Archives: Racing

My View Of Croft – Race 2

My View of Croft – Race 1

Brands Hatch – How it looked from my seat (Race 2)

Brands Hatch – How it looked from my seat (Race 1)

Castle Combe – Not the best start

Looking ahead to the 2018 season

Looking back at my 2017 season

Donington Park – Race 2

Donington Park – Qualifying & Race 1

Rockingham – Don’t hit the wall!