Well, the end of 2016 was the end of my first full season – although the thing I wanted to do as a kid is still far from over.
I think I’ve come on a long way but am fully aware there’s still a huge jump to be made to get me consistently inside the top 10, and THEN I’ll still have to find something more to get in with the top boys!
I have the confidence in the car and my abilities to be able to push the limits, but still have to be conscious that it’s Glenn’s car and he’ll be the one doing 95% of the work to fix anything I break!
Testing would be a huge bonus, but my budget won’t really allow for that, so any progress I’ve made in 2016 has had to be done at very high risk in qualifying and in the races. This really becomes apparent with our wet set-up, at the moment, and I’d love to be able to get on track to be able to play around with suspension settings a lot more.
That said, I’ve consistently been the fastest or one of the fastest at a new track out of those who haven’t tested or raced there before, so I must be doing something right!
I may also try and brush up on my set-up understanding and knowledge by using computer games, so I can give Glenn even better feedback and try and find something big there.
I’m loving my little on track rivalries, and it’s been good seeing rookies come in the series and watching how they’ve developed, too.
I need to make sure I’m watching my footage back between races, as it’s no good identifying something I was doing wrong once I’m back at home and won’t be back at that track for a year or more.
We’ve had some problems over Winter that were looking like Glenn wouldn’t be able to even look at a race car, let alone prep it for racing, but recently we seem to be back on again. We both seem pretty confident that we can make the grid this year – which if you’d asked me a month ago wouldn’t have been the case.
This has meant the search for sponsorship has taken a huge knock, but I believe UK action/dash camera company JooVuu will be in partnership with us again in 2017, and we have another few exciting things in the pipeline with others. I realise we’ve missed the main window for getting the deals done, but it’s not over yet – and if you’re reading this and would like to find out what we can do for each other then please get in touch.
2017 should see the Ray out as well as the Sheane at some point, and hopefully the multi-championship winning Scarab will be out in either rolling or running form, too. Glenn will be having a look at remounting the front shock absorbers on the Sheane, and finding more power from the new engine.
It is becoming a bit more obvious that I’ve missed out on the years of karting or other racing/trackdays that most others on the grid have, and my learning potential is definitely limited by it. It’s hard to know how to claw back some of this disadvantage – but that will be the focus of this year. If I have the budget and opportunity I’d like to have a crack at drifting, some off-road/rally stuff, and some karting, as well as continuing to ask questions, research everything I can, and listen to other drivers.
If I can improve on the 6th place overall in Class B, that will be good, but I have no doubt the competition will be even more fierce this season!
There do seem to be a lot of new tracks on the calendar for 2017, which is bad as I can’t compare my performance to the last time, but good in that it knocks out the advantage some others may have. And I have done a few track days at some tracks on two wheels, so should at least know where they go and which corners I can get my knee down on!
I’ll look forward to seeing everyone back out there again, and let’s hope everyone has a great year!
When you first start racing it can all be a bit daunting when you become faced with the finer intricacies of getting through a race weekend.
As some of you will be reading this thinking of jumping in a Formula Vee for 2017, I thought you may find it useful.
Arriving at the circuit
More and more people seem to arrive the evening before. The main advantage here is that you can (hopefully) secure a spot in the paddock with the rest of the Vee’s. This is especially important if you have the garages, as most of the time there won’t be enough space for all the cars. Oh, and you want to be finding out where you are by looking in the Final Instructions that will be mailed out with tickets, or published online about a week before the race.
If you are testing at the circuit then you may have to move after your test sessions have ended.
Once you’ve unloaded your car and got yourself set up (tent up, sleeping back in the bag of your car/van, camper set up) then there will be thre options for you: relax, have a walk around the track or get the car scrutineered.
I’d advise always getting scrutineered the evening before, if this is offered, as it give you a lot more time in the morning, and possibly a lie in!
At this point, if you’re doing it the Posh Way, you can head off to your hotel or B&B. Otherwise there will probably be a few other drivers mooching around the paddock pub or restaurant.
If you’re getting to the circuit on the race day itself, be prepared to find you can’t get anywhere near the rest of teh Vee drivers, and you have to set up camp next to a few bins and an ice cream van (not entirely a bad thing!). This will make life harder because you won’t be able to see all the other drivers disappear to some meeting, or be able to follow them when they drive off to the assembly area etc. Not then end of the world – but not advisable until you’ve done a few meetings!
Race Day!
Have a bit of a panic, now – but remember to try and enjoy it!
First off – have a look at the programme. The times your qualifying and race sessions start are pretty important – but there are actually a few more important things here.
Signing on – Sometimes you can do this the evening before, too. You need to show your race licence and sign a register, and then you get a programme and a slip of paper that you need to get your car scrutineered.
Check the times that you can take your car to the scrutineering bay. All classes are allocated slots so they can scrutineer the whole class together, and get you all done in time to get out on track. Stick to the time, and be prepared to stand around in the queue for ages.
If you’re hiring they’ll probably do all this for you, but the scrutineer will still want to check your helmet and race kit so make sure these are available.
When they check your car over they’re primarily making sure it’s safe to race, so will be checking bearings, fire extinguisher, dates on seatbelts and brake fluid, so you need to strip off all the bodywork and have a few spanners on hand just in case. If you’re using a camera you must have it mounted so they can check it’s in a safe position and all secure. They will also check things like your rain light is working, and possibly get you to start the car and then kill the engine with the kill switch.
They will also have a magical gripe list of stuff to challenge you on, so you might have to fight your case! I’ve been pulled up in the past for things like having a tinted visor and having someone else’s name on my race suit… Stay calm and polite and do what they tell you, or you might not be racing!
The first time they scrutineer your helmet you need to pay a small fee (about £2) for a sticker, too.
New Driver Briefing
If it’s your first time racing at a circuit IN THAT CONFIGURATION (and that bit is key), then you must attend a new drivers briefing. These are normally about every 30 mins for the first few hours of the day, and times will be in your final instructions. You can be fined for not attending this before you go out on track. They will tell you where you need to wait before you go out on track, where you need to go when you come back in, and other information and helpful advice/warnings. This is where it all starts to get real, and if the butterflies haven’t started yet, they will do here!
These are for all drivers from all series, so you won’t just be with Vee drivers.
Driver Briefings
These will only be for the drivers in your series, and you won’t have one of these at every race. They are generally to bring things like driving standards to the attention of your race series. They can be held or called for at any time of the day, so if you ever look up and notice all the other drivers have disappeared, ask someone! Also note that you may well have a new driver briefing AND one of these on the same day – you must attend both. Most of the time these will alos be listed in your final instructions, but be aware of flash meetings arranged by word of mouth.
Now things are flying along, and you’ll feel the buzz in the air!
Try to keep an eye on the programme in case the schedule is ahead or behind. You need to be ready about 30 mins before your qualifying session – as in strapped in and ready to go out on track, so make sure you’ve done everything you need to.
Again, if you’re a hire driver most of this will be done, and so you just need to make sure you’re ready to jump in the car and race! If you’re running your own car, or want to get a bit more hands-on, do these:
Fill up with fuel. This is easy to forget. If in doubt, just brim the tank – the chances are a few kg of petrol won’t be the difference between pole and last row. I once ran out of fuel when going for a best ever position at Donington because we adjusted a few things and forgot to compensate…
Check and adjust tyre pressures. Again very easy to forget. You’ll get a different answer whoever you ask – but Hoosier recommend 16psi in the front tyres and 18psi in the rear. As a base setting you won’t go far wrong with this. If it’s raining then you want more air in the tyres to open the grips up and help the tyres heat up a bit more. Some drivers go well into the 20s here, but if you’re around the 19-20 mark in the wet it won’t do you any harm. Tyre pressures are a black art, and if you’re new you won’t have a lot to gain here…
Adjust suspension settings. Another black art. Most of the suspension set-up is done the night before we put the car on the trailer – camber, castor, toe, rake etc and it’s all specific to your car and your suspension and weight distribution and driving style. It’s tough to even hint at a base setting here, so this is why you should have tested!
Other driver may help you out here, but be wary they might not know as much as you think, either!
These settings will pretty much stay the same on the car, unless we’re having some kind of issue, and it’s where Glenn’s experience comes in.
What we do adjust at the track are the dampers and roll bars. The Sheane only has one adjuster on the dampers for both compression and rebound – which keeps things simple, but isn’t ideal if, like me, you’d like to separate the two settings. The more expensive shocks with have separate adjusters to fine tune things more. Either way, the biggest quick change you can do with a Vee is with the dampers. In general, you want these softer in the wet, and the harder you have them, the faster your reactions need to be to catch a spin.
The roll bars front and rear should also be softened in the wet, but remember changing something at the front may well also change what the rear is doing. Get advice off an expert, if you can! Or play lots of video games where you can play around and learn what the settings do…
Noise Testing. Before you drive into the holding area, you’ll see a couple of marshals there holding strange long sticks and a clipboard. Stop near them and they’ll tell you to hold the throttle at three quarters or a specific RPM to make sure you’re not above the noise limits. At most tracks this will be about 106db, so if your silencer is any good you should be fine… if you’re over you may find you’re excluded from all the racing and putting the car back on the trailer. But no pressure!
Qualifying
Get to the holding area nice and early – but not too early or you might be the first on track with nobody to follow. At most tracks they will let you out on track in whatever order you’ve arrived at the holding area.
You must do at least 3 laps to qualify for a race – so get these in before any heroics. If the worst happens go and see the Clerk of the Course as soon as you can, and they may be able to get you to follow the course car around for a few laps between sessions or over the lunch break. Take your best puppy-dog eyes.
Once the session is over you’ll come in off the track, guided by marshals, and either stop in parc ferme where nobody does anything, you chat to the other drivers, and then push your car back to your paddock place, or they’ll let you go straight back.
Timing sheets. Relax, and wait for the timing sheets to be published at race control. Most races are now covered by live timing that you can get to on the 750 website, so you may find your Mum is already ringing you to find out why you’re the slowest car out there!
Have a look at where you wil be starting from on the grid, and take note of which cars will be around you so you know where to line up.
Recheck tyre pressures and make any tweaks to dampers/roll bars, and remember to refuel!
Race 1
You need to go to the holding area again, but this time the marshals will line you up in grid order. When they give the signal, start up and follow everyone to the grid. Have a look to your side and try and find a marker to remember where your grid spot is – a post or advertising hoarding on the pit wall is a good one to look out for. The Vee’s will normally have a ‘Green Flag Lap’ – this means they wave the green flag and you all leave the grid and do one lap to warm your tyres and sight the circuit conditions, before returning to your grid spot.
This time look at the boards that are displayed from the start position. These boards say stuff like “3 minutes until start” but ignore that – it’s usually seconds between these boards and then you’ll see the red start lights come on.
Give the inside of your fogged-up visor one last wipe and set your revs, because those lights are about to blink out any second!
After surviving this you’ll then come back in, and much the same as after practice, you’ll either go to parc ferme, get sent straight back to the paddock, or if you’re really lucky be in the top 3 and have to stop somewhere in pit lane to speak to the commentator.
Race 2
This is exactly the same as race 1 – but check the time sheets as this time you’ll be gridded up according to your second best lap from qualifying.
Awards Ceremony
At most races, there will be a brief awards ceremony for A and B class, so try and attend and do some clapping and cheering! There may also be some information about ‘stuff’ relayed here, so it is useful to go along.
Then you load up, get out of there (or collect your card if you’re getting your rookie signatures done), and that’s it!
The rest of your day will be spent drinking water, going to the toilet, and finding out you can’t go more than 5 steps in the paddock before you end up chatting to someone else for the next hour!
Let me get this out of the way first: I don’t like Brands Hatch.
OK, so that’s not entirely true – but it’s my least favourite track that I’ve done so far.
There are some corners that I just cannot get right, and watching others going through them at twice the speed irritates me.
That said, I do like the non-championship Vee Festival that MSV kindly put on for us, and it’s great to see some random Vee racers entered, and to have the Irish racers come over (even if they are all the quick ones!). It’s also where I’ve scored my best ever 9th place overall result, as well as the next best 10th place.
At least this year was set to stay above freezing, be mostly dry, and so not carry with it the abject fear that I would freeze to death overnight in the camper van, like last year.
Arriving early on Friday, we got to watch a few of the Vee’s testing, and they seemed to all be on it straight away.
Our aim for the weekend was to try and survive in one piece, if possible, so we can concentrate on getting the Ray out on track for next season. We were also testing Tesco Momentum 99 super unleaded for the first time, knowing we were still down on power for reliability.
Qualifying
I tried to look after the car for this one, steadily upping the pace. With 3 races to go, and only the grid for the first one being decided on qualifying times, it was more important to stay safe.
I was settling into a rhythm despite the car feeling very sloppy, when Tim Probert dived into the kitty litter at Paddock, and we had red flags.
This was perfect, as whilst we were sat in the pit lane I asked Glenn to stiffen the dampers 2 clicks front and rear, and then I went out again a second faster straight away. Then I took another half a second off that.
Then the car jumped out of 3rd gear going into Clearways.
I thought I must have messed up the shift, and carried on – but then as I hit the apex curb at Graham Hill it popped out of 3rd gear into neutral again, when my hand hadn’t been anywhere near the gearstick since braking for Druids.
The following lap it jumped out again, and this time I couldn’t select any gears at all. I rolled towards the rear pit entrance and pulled off the track, thinking the worst.
When I was towed back into the paddock, Glenn also thought the worst, especially with the rhythmic clunking as we pushed the car.
I thought it was the end of the weekend, but Ben Miloudi stepped in and offered his spare gearbox – which would at least give us the chance to get out for the 2nd race the following morning. This is very much the spirit of Vee, and it’s rare that you’ll be left to retire if there is anyone else in the paddock who can possibly loan you tools, parts or experience to get you back out there!
With some relief, however, as Glenn began stripping the car down, he found the circlip had jumped off the end of the shaft (don’t ask me what shaft – just the one that sticks out the back!). The problem now became how to get the shaft out far enough to get the circlip back on.
John Bowles advised getting a lever into the gearbox and trying to hoof the shaft back from the inside, which after much heaving, hammering sockets, and head scratching eventually did the trick! Of course we still didn’t know WHY it had happened, or if it would just happen again…
No matter – we had just enough time to get it all back together (I’d have liked to do a few laps of the paddock to test it, but sadly time was that tight!), and we’d be able to take our 12th place on the grid for race 1.
Race 1
Everything felt good on the out-lap, and I was getting all gears well enough to make a go of it.
I made up a couple of places before the first turn, but it wasn’t too long before Jamie Harrison and Gavin Buckley (his first time trying an English Vee) came back past me. Hard as I tried to hang onto them, they carried on easing away, leaving me in a bit of a gap on track.
I took advantage of the track space, concentrating on braking less and throwing the car faster into the corners to try and carry more speed around.
I must have improved quite dramatically at Druids, and was turning in and getting back on the power much earlier at Clearways. Unfortunately, I just could not get a grip on Paddock Hill – braking far too much, too early, and getting the line wrong every time.
Graham Hill I felt like I was doing well, but for some reason was still a lot slower through there than everyone else, whatever I tried!
For all my pushing, the car was still like it was on rails, for the most part – so I clearly wasn’t pushing it hard enough!
I’m definitely getting faster, but until I’m drifting it in on the brakes, drifting through the corner, and having to fight oversteer on the exit in every single corner I know I still have to keep forcing myself to go faster. It’s a mind thing, now, because I’m pretty sure I do have the skills to be able to sort it out if it all goes pear-shaped, so there’s no reason why I can’t be pushing that hard.
Oops – rant over! Back to the race:
I hammered it down the start straight and saw red flags and lights everywhere, so eased off to about 80% as I went over the crest to drop down into Paddock Hill… which is where I suddenly saw cars sideways on the track right in front of me!
Ian Buxton had hit Charles Merrill as he went to lap him, leaving an unlucky Ian Jordan nowhere to go as he ploughed into Charles, ripping both cars apart and ending their weekend, but not injuring either driver.
Buxton wasn’t quite so lucky as he hit the tyre wall backwards hard enough to bend his flywheel – then being lifted off to hospital and cut out of his race suit with suspected back injuries. (Don’t worry – he was ok enough to be seen hobbling around on Sunday morning back at the track to watch the action!)
The race restarted for a 2 lap sprint to the flag before Paul Taylor lost it at Clearways and brought out another red flag and the result was declared.
Final position for The Cater Kid – 10th, alive and unscathed.
Not bad – but the realisation soon set in that Race 2 would be a reverse-top-ten grid. To spell that out – I’d be starting the next race from pole position at Brands Hatch!
Race 2
James Cater, on pole position to start a race at Brands Hatch.
Now that’s one for the scrapbook!
Ok, so it’s not earned by being the fastest – but don’t discount the fact that I was the 10th fastest Formula Vee at Brands Hatch on that day – so that’s still pretty special!
I’d spent the previous evening psyching myself up for the start. I knew that I could push the car more in the corners, and if there was any time to try doing that it had to be when I was starting from the very front!
I was confident that if I got a half-decent start I could lead the pack into the first turn, and then would throw it into Druids faster than ever and just go from there.
Stephen Morrin was on the front row next to me in the 1600cc Irish spec Leastone with smaller wheels, so he’d be into the first corner like a stabbed rat, but I still thought I’d have the edge.
I slept well after a celebratory pint of Guinness in the Kentagon, some fine banter, and a brief stint being dragged up to dance with a lovely marshal (Ginette?).
So I woke up to this:
Thick, freezing fog that was keeping the race track very far from the dry grippy perfection featured in my overnight self-motivation. Basically it was exactly the kind of conditions where I’d normally let someone past me just so I could follow them and let them crash first.
But I was still starting from the same spot that greats like James Hunt, Nikki Lauda etc had started from – and rather than being intimidating, it felt oddly relaxing to roll up to that start line. Like it was my home…
I was determined to get as much heat in my tyres as I could on the green flag lap, so weaved and stamped the throttle all over the place before stopping in front of the lights.
The red lights blinked off and I dropped the clutch – but bogged down as the revs I was holding hadn’t taken the crazy camber of the start line into consideration!
The car picked up again, but that had been enough for Morrin to charge past me into Paddock, and then on the exit Pete Belsey and Ben Miloudi flew out of nowhere around the outside before I got to Druids.
The quicker cars mugged me down to 6th place at the end of the lap, and over the next few laps the rightful order reasserted itself, and I found myself back in a lonely 10th – unable to hang with those in front, but well clear of those behind.
In fact, I’d been dragged around at a pace another second a lap faster, and so actually lapped those behind me!
The race was clean for the full distance, and I brought it home 10th – having used my time to control my breathing, concentrate on not gripping the steering wheel, and pushing for faster lines and corner speed.
Race 3 – The Final
Back down the grid to start from my last finishing position in the final, I gave a wave to my dance partner as she ran down the grid, and was prepared for another lonely race, unless I could get my claws into Jamie and Gavin who were lapping about a second faster.
With another fairly decent start I was surprised to see the blue Hawk (called Harry!) driven by John Bowles all over the back of me.
This spurred me on, as there was no way I was going to let anyone else get away from me, and I turned in some decent laps (there goes another half a second!) until I dropped him.
Luckily, I then carried on pushing hard, as I saw a red car on the grass at Graham Hill, and quickly took advantage by speeding past the recovering Gavin Buckley.
As he got back up to speed and caught me, the leaders caught us both, and we had to lift to let them through, but I stayed ahead of Gavin as he tried to dive up the inside into Clearways.
Already lining up a defensive line into Paddock, as we blasted down the start straight I saw the chequered flag being waved!
I’d stolen it just in time, as I’m sure I’d have struggled to keep him behind me for another lap!
And that resulted in a best ever overall result of 8th place!
Even better, although totally unofficial, it also made me the first B class car home, and so if the MSV Festival acknowledged the classes, I’d have also won the B class!
So all in all, it was a pretty good weekend, and very productive. Congratulations to everyone there – especially to the winner John Hughes. He drove so well all weekend there was never really a doubt he’d come out on top – even with his lack of time in a Vee this season! Results are all on the MSVR website.
Do I like Brands Hatch, now? Maybe a little more…
Next year is the 50th anniversary of Formula Vee racing in the UK, and there is talk of us using the full and very rare Brands Hatch GP circuit. Combine that with the potential to see 50+ Formula Vee’s entered, some big names on the grid (Ian Flux? Tiff Needell? Ash Sutton and Michael Epps from BTCC?) and a lot of media coverage, and we could be in for something epic!
Imagine if I can get it on pole for that, one way or another?
We had a new engine sat on the bench for next year, so with the disaster at Silverstone it was easier to salvage all the internals from the wrecked engine and get next years engine in the Sheane early.
Glenn did all the work in time for us to have a non-running car on display for the SPEAR (Sue Pike Equine Animal Rescue) charity open day. I’m not sure rescued animals would have fully appreciated a running engine, anyway, but the day went well with dog and horse shows and lots raised for the great cause.
However, when small children are jumping in and out of your racing car all day long, they apparently want to flick every switch in sight, and be warned if you have a brake bias adjuster in your cockpit at such events… I’ll come back to that point later…
A lot of other drivers either tested the day before the race at Snetterton, or took advantage of a 30 minute session at the start of the day on Saturday – unfortunately our preparation meant we could only be loaded up and on our way (very) early on Saturday, and so couldn’t test the new engine.
Qualifying
Knowing so many others were already warmed up and dialled in to the circuit, I opted to try and tag onto one of my usual sparring partners whilst using the bits of track information I’d gained from playing Project Cars, watching YouTube videos, and reading track guides.
The sun was shining and the track grippy and warming up as we headed out.
It’s surprising how well you remember a track you haven’t been on for a year, and it doesn’t take long to drop into the groove – however, you have to make sure you get 3 laps in to be able to qualify for the race, and with such a long lap this is half the session!
To make things worse, just as I was on my second lap and starting to push now the tyres were getting warm, the red flags came out to stop the session.
I didn’t see any of it, but Neil Aldridge had put a wheel on the grass on the exit of a corner, getting it sideways, and Bill Stanier had nowhere to go as he came off the corner behind. It looked like a pretty hard contact with both cars badly damaged and out for the day, but both drivers were unhurt.
The clean-up meant we sat in the pit lane for 20 minutes before we were finally let out again – but as this was only for another 2 laps I’d barely got up to speed again before the session ended. This wasn’t too terrible timing for me, as when I came into the pits for the red flag the car was stuck at 2,000rpm. Glenn checked it over and worked his magic with the spanners, and I still managed to get out on track with everyone else.
I tagged onto David Leniewski, sneaking past him but not able to shake him, and held him up twice at the hairpin as I struggled to find 2nd gear again (it was fine before!).
I was trying to get a bit of a move on, throwing the car into a few corners, but for some reason it didn’t feel like I was going very quickly.
After my 11th place overall finish last year, I was a bit disappointed to qualify 22nd and 21st for the races, but given the circumstances and lack of track time figured it wasn’t too bad.
The engine was making a few funny noises but the throttle problem wasn’t anything major. All my suspension settings seemed ok with the time I’d had, so I left it all the same, thinking any improvement would be more likely to come from me for the race.
Perhaps more seriously, I had Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” stuck in my brain, and was sure there’d be 3 seconds a lap improvement if I could just get the damned tune out of my head!
Race 1
They lined us all up on the grid extremely closely, so I knew straight away it would be tough to find any sort of gap even if I got a good start.
The lights went out, and I blasted away with another great start, but then had nowhere to go. Finding some space around the outside, I made up 5 or 6 spaces on my second attempt, but then got hung out around the outside of the first turn as most of them got back up my inside.
Sam Engineer must have got an absolute flyer as he passed me into the hairpin – but now Dolly Parton had gone, and I got my head back in the game.
I passed Sam on the brakes into Agostini, locking the front wheels up all over the place as I pushed harder than I had been all day, and I remembered the brake bias adjuster, and all those inquisitive hands twisting it as they sat in the car. I made a mental note to tip the balance back towards the rear as soon as I got chance.
Jamie Harrison also had a bit of a lock-up in front of me, with Andrew Cooper sandwiched between all the tyre smoke somehow keeping out of trouble.
I tucked into Cooper’s slipstream down the straight, slipping through on the brakes into Brundle, chasing down Harrison to go down his inside into the hairpin. It seemed I had found the sweet spot with my brake balance again!
I also decided to take the hairpin in 3rd gear, rather than trying to find 2nd, as I couldn’t see a massive difference between the two.
I tried to tuck in behind a James Harridge as he worked his way back up the grid after a spin, which lasted all of 20 seconds – but did pull me onto the back of Darren Lomas.
Making use of a good exit onto the finish straight, I held onto his tow to get around the outside before we got to the first turn, and then tried to hang onto the rapidly disappearing Harridge hoping the horde of cars behind would trip each other up.
Alex Jones must have also gone off somewhere, as he passed me into the chicane, and I could see Lomas, Cooper and Harrison all very clearly in my mirrors again.
To my surprise, I was also catching European karting champion Harry Webb – who must have been suffering some problems – as Harrison overtook Lomas in my mirrors and piled on the pressure.
As I powered out of the hairpin I saw a thick line of oil (Alex Jones had hit Craig Bell, damaging his oil cooler) on the racing line all through Palmer corner.
It was one of those spills that was impossible to avoid, as at some point in the corner you had to either brake or turn on the oil. All you can do is adjust your line to minimise this, and hold on for the ride!
I got through alright with Harrison still on my tail, but could see that Lomas had dropped right back.
With the hard-braking into the next corner at Agostini, I had to make the choice to either slow down and risk Harrison overtaking me, or go for it and risk being the first one to spin off into the wall.
Being a bit of an idiot, I quite enjoy sliding around on oil, and managed to keep the nose at the right end of the car. As I slithered over the exit curb I saw a flash of blue and yellow as Harrison went off backwards – not hitting anything, but being unable to restart and so ending our battle.
Going into Hamilton – a small lift or even flat out but only one line through – was always going to be an interesting experience, but I somehow held that one, too, after several stages of lurid slide!
I could see Bell pulling onto the grass after the next corner, so was pretty sure that was the end of the oil, and got the hammer down, braking a little earlier and shifting a few rpm sooner knowing I now had a considerable gap over Lomas, with nobody within my sights ahead. There’s no point crashing out of a sure thing, but you also don’t want to lose your rhythm and slow too much or make a mistake.
The last lap board came out and I knew I just had to manage that gap and keep it safe on the oily bits, still getting it pretty sideways but virtually crawling around Hamilton successfully back onto grippy tarmac.
Driving out of the last corner towards the finish line I realised I must be well up the pointy end of the B Class, and began to suspect I was in the top 3!
A quick count of the cars in the holding area confirmed the B class was won by Jack Wilkinson with James Harridge 2nd – and some newbie called James Cater had finally fought his way to a trophy!
Race 2
Phew – that was long, wasn’t it? Fortunately (for you, the reader – not me) this one will be a lot shorter.
I made up a couple of places off the line but got blocked again and had to lift right off.
Within a few corners I’d edged past David Leniewski and caught the tail of Darren Lomas and Mark Egan, so all was set to resume the scrap with the big group before the oil in the first race.
On the second lap Jamie Harrison (after a terrible start) passed me down the back straight, followed a few corners later by Andrew Cooper.
I was driving much harder through the corners – for example, where I was dabbing the brakes hard into the first turn in the first race, in this one I was just giving a small lift… and yet I just couldn’t hang with anyone!
I managed to retake Cooper and stay ahead for a lap until he re-passed me and pulled out a little, and then he managed to hold that gap until the finish. I was clearly missing something, and think we’d lost some engine power.
Alex Jones somehow came from behind me once again (I don’t know how he keeps getting behind me like that!), but other than that my mirrors were empty.
I brought it home a fairly lonely 18th (perhaps appropriately for the final race of the season?) and 5th in Class B, but did enjoy the drive!
After the flag a mixture of lack of concentration and “I wonder if I can take the corner like THIS” into the first turn meant I clipped a high part of the curb and ended up all kinds of out of shape on the grass on the exit. My main thought was that if I spun after the flag I might get into Trouble with the Clerk of Course, so that motivated me to save it somehow as I bounced wildly over the mud!
But nobody saw that bit, right?
I think hitting that curb bent something, as the car was pulling left as I came in – oops!
Up front was titanic as ever, with Paul Smith winning a controvercial photo finish over Dave Hughes, and Adam Macaulay a tenth of a second back from them!
So I have my first B Class podium after so many 4th places, and I’m chuffed to bits!
No doubt I’ll do a year review – but for now I’ll be looking forward to getting back on track for the Vee Festival at Brands Hatch on the last weekend of October. It’s cracking value for track time, and I hope a lot of UK cars turn out for it, because I know the Irish will come over in force again!
After a major gearbox rebuild, we arrived at a very cold and damp Silverstone on Saturday morning, knowing we’d have to test the gears in qualifying.
Things were a bit hectic as we got scrutineered and sorted ourselves out ready to make the first session of the day. A lot of the others had been testing the day before or at least arrived the night before.
Not realising quite how wet it was on the track, I kept my dry suspension settings we’d last used at Anglesey, but raised the tyre pressures a few psi. With the gearbox to test out and both races within a few hours of each other, it was never the intention to set the world on fire in qualifying – just to get us in the races safely.
Qualifying
I was one of the first cars out onto the track, and immediately realised it was extremely slippery, and we should have softened everything on the car right up and gone far higher on tyre pressures! This was also my first time ever on this track in anything but bone dry conditions.
On almost every corner I was locking wheels on the brakes, the back end stepped out mid-corner, and then again when I tried to get on the power.
I counted off the three laps I’d need to qualify, and then tried to get the hammer down.
That lasted a until I got to the second corner, failing to catch a filthy great slide through Farm, but doing an excellent j-turn across the mud and gravel to get pointing the right way before rejoining the track.
A lap or so later I lost it again through another of the fastest corners, doing pretty much a mirror image of the previous spin and j-turn at Stowe.
I was having fun controlling the car out there, but this time – unlike at Croft – I wasn’t very fast to go along with it – only managing 23 and 22 place on the grids for the two races. I’d have preferred to be in the top 20, but with the 38 car entry and with a car that was a right handful, I guess it wasn’t bad!
Even better was that the gearbox now felt perfect, and we wouldn’t have to fine-tune anything!
Race 1
Moving out of the holding area, we were then held in our grid positions for a long time before being allowed out of track.
Being aircooled, Formula Vee engines do not like this sort of treatment. I have wondered a few times this year if the organisers are aware of aircooled engines and how fast they will cook themselves if left sitting there revving away… Switching off isn’t a great option, either, as we run a total loss system, meaning everything is powered off the tiny battery, and once that runs out we’re going nowhere. It doesn’t take many starts to zap all the juice – and so we’re using starter packs before we go out for a good reason!
Eventually, they let us loose, and I set about warming my tyres and feeling how much grip the now almost-dry track had to offer.
On the grid I held the revs, then after only a slight hesitation as the starter lights went out, I dropped the clutch and powered away.
It was an absolute beast of a start, and I felt the rear tyres right at the edge of traction as I shifted up to second gear, lifting off the power as I found space to get around a stalled car, then up to third gear as we came to the first corner.
I’d already passed around 8 cars as I dived to the inside where nobody else seemed to want to be, trying to stay with the pack, but losing a couple of places to the more powerful cars down the Hanger Straight as I was bulked at Village and hadn’t got back up to speed.
Coming back passed the start line, I was alongside another car and decided to try and go up the inside into Vale with barely a lift off the throttle.
It proved too much for the slightly damp track and cool tyres, and I wasn’t able to catch the spin, slewing sideways across the track at an obscene speed as I looked at the rest of the field shooting towards me out of the fastest corner on the circuit.
Luckily, although stopped in the middle of the track sideways, I was well off the normal racing line, and slammed it into first gear to get going again right at the back.
Catching the tail end of the pack down the Hanger Straight, red flags were being waved just as my engine started making an uncomfortably familiar sound.
Back at the start line after cruising in, the noise had vanished, and I could see the marshals were gridding people up in their original positions for the restart, which was taking even more time as we sat there stationary.
At least I’d be able to reclaim my 23rd place – although I wasn’t expecting to do more than pull into the pits if my car started making the strange noise again.
As we finally started another green flag lap I could tell I’d lost a fair bit of power, and the car didn’t want to rev. I limped back and pulled into the pit lane to see what Glenn thought was the best course of action.
Finding nothing obvious, he told me to go for it, and although the other cars had left the grid some time before, I chased out onto the track to see what happened.
What happened was the noise came back down Hanger Straight, and then got twice as loud, with the car not revving over 5000rpm. I throttled off and pulled into the pits to retire.
The familiarity of the noise became apparent as we found the cause: two of the engine studs had snapped – much the same as the one at Donington earlier in the year, except these hadn’t shot a hole through the covers.
After the valiant efforts of Glenn Hay and Clive for a few hours, we reluctantly conceeded that we weren’t going to be able to make the grid for the second race. One of the threads was irretrievably stuck in the engine case, and all the drilling and hellicoiling wasn’t shifting it.
So it was a very expensive weekend, after showing so much promise.
Even more soul-destroying was that this was the first time ever I had a lot of people come down to watch me! By my sisters, Michelle and Stef, my brother in law Alan, their two beautiful kids Poppy and Calum – and even my fiancée Julie (wearing my old Redditch Arrows #18 US Football shirt!) were making their first ever visit to any race track! You’ll also notice the new JooVuu sponsor stickers on the car, and RTV decals…
Despite all this, it’s also hard to be too down about it. My ‘fan club’ seemed to enjoy the excitement of it all, and without a doubt their enthusiasm and jumping around spurred me on a lot!
I also got to watch some of the brilliant racing that is Formula Vee – with Paul Smith winning both races and the championship (and jumping straight into a Crossle for two more wins – the most total wins ever in a day in the history of the 750 Motor Club!), James Harridge sticking the Maverick on pole and hounding Smith in both races, Adam Macaulay storming through from the very back to challenge for the lead and a great drive from Tom Roper as he got to grips with the TCR Sheane.
We should make Snetterton – where I got an 11th place last year – but it will be a total engine strip and rebuild. We may even put another engine in that was being saved for next season. The problem with this being whether we’ll be able to do a shake-down test to avoid another expensive weekend of DNS’s…
There is a lot to take your attention when you turn up to a race meeting. It’s a massive help if you can ‘buddy’ up with someone else for the first few races, so that you can learn how things work on a race day, where you’re supposed to go, and when.
But even then there are some things that will catch you off guard, because nobody remembers to tell you about them.
I get a lot of questions from new and potential racers, and have discovered some of these myself that hard way. So when you roll into the holding area ready to go out for your first time, and a marshal leans in and yells “IS YOUR PIN OUT?” – hopefully you’ll know what they’re talking about!
New driver briefings
If it’s your first time racing at that circuit configuration, then you MUST attend a short New Drivers Briefing. These are normally held every 30 mins in the morning, last 5-10 mins, and you can get a hefty fine if you miss them! A couple more things to note on these: 1) Check you’re using the same configuration, even if you’ve raced at that track before – i.e. if you’ve raced at Donington on the National circuit, if you’re racing on the GP (with the Melbourne Loop), you need to go to the briefing. 2) These are in addition to any other driver briefings – so you may well find you need to go to both on the same day. Check your Final Instructions for details.
How to do your belts up
I still remember sitting in my car the day before my first race, then having to telephone Ben Miloudi to ask how the Hell you’re supposed to do the 6 point harness up properly! It seems easy, but it’s a fact that even experienced racers are still doing it wrong. Get used to putting your belts on, and adjusting the straps etc – because you’ll find yourself having a flap before you go out on track, get pulled by the marshals for having done it wrong, or at worst get trapped in your car when you need to get out.
Taking the pin out
There is a fire extinguisher system in all racecars, with an internal and external way to activate it. To make sure you don’t accidentally foam yourself whilst scrabbling to get in your car, there is a safety pin on this system somewhere, and before you go out on track you may be asked if you’re taken the pin out. Find out where the pin is, and how to use it!
Sign on before scrutineering
The first thing you should do when you arrive at a circuit is go and sign on. When you do this, they give you a slip of paper that you have to hand to a scrutineer when they are checking your car. Without this slip of paper, you may find you just waited in line for an hour, only to be told they can’t check your car. You might also want to take a few spanners so you can take bits off the car. And then don’t lose the ticket that the scrutineer gives you to stick on your car to say it’s been passed…
Waving at marshals
Don’t switch that YouTube onboard video off after the driver crosses the finishing line! Now keep watching – the driver is waving as he does his cool down lap. This is unlikely to be at his fan club waving banners around the track in a Formula Vee race… No – the driver is actually waving to the Orange Army – the marshals stood at their posts! We do it because it’s nice to thank them, and also because they will be waving back at you, and you get a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside! Feel free to also wave at your wife and kids, if they’ve prized their hands off from covering their eyes after your dodgy last lap antics.
Hit the brakes!
You’re going to spin your car in the middle of a filthy great pack of race cars. Don’t just sit there swearing/crying/waiting for the bang – stand on the brake pedal (and the clutch, if you think you’re going to get going again). This will lock up your wheels and so you’ll slide in a predictable direction, and the other drivers might not clatter into you. If you don’t do this, the tyres may grip and send you flying off at very odd angles, almost certainly into the path of someone trying to avoid you.
Plug ’em up
Your engine is about 6″ away from your ears, and putting out the same kind of noise as a jet plane taking off. This is Not A Good Thing for your hearing. To save you going deaf or getting tinnitus in later life, use some ear plugs. A cheap pair stolen from the factory floor will do the job, or you can get special custom-fitted ones made up for you.
Fogging Hell
As a biker, I was prepared, but if you’re not used to wearing a helmet you’re in for a shock as the visor will fog up on the inside, and you won’t be able to see a thing! This will happen mostly when you’re coming around to line up for the race start, as you’re breathing heavily, and especially if it’s cold or wet. There are millions of anti-fog sprays and people will give you a million other ‘miracle cures’, but the truth is that the only thing that works is a pinlock visor insert – and these don’t fit 99% of car helmet visors. I leave my visor open a crack to shove a finger in and give it a wipe until the race starts, and you may see me sat in the holding area with my visor down breathing deeply – this seems to prime the inside of the visor so it gets less fogged up. Any decent helmet will have vents that clear the fog as soon as you get going, so try not to panic too much!
Pants on fire
Fireproof underwear is not compulsory. It’s a good idea, but as long as you’ve got a good race suit you don’t need it. Some common thinking is that if you only have a 2 layer suit – get nomex underwear, but if you have 3 layer suits it’s less essential.
Getting help
One of the many great things about Formula Vee, and most club-level racing, is that it’s extremely rare you’ll have a problem that other drivers and crew can’t help you with. You’re not on your own, and the chances are it’s happened to someone else (whatever it is), so don’t be afraid to get help! We all want as many cars out there as possible!
I’ve hinted before about the pending formation of a race team, both to give Glenn more credit for his untiring work on the spanners, and to also make it clear that we are a team when we get more cars out of track.
I can now proudly announce the formation of RTV – Racing Team Vee.
The name is inspired by the professional Super Vee teams of the mid-70s, who used similar naming styles, and reflects our focus to both push and strengthen Formula Vee in the UK and across the globe.
Combined with the new stickers on the car for our sponsor JooVuu, it’s been an exciting few weeks!
I have made another page for RTV, where you will find race reports, updates on the other cars/drivers, and maybe even some history. I’ll even see if I can coax some Super Vee information out of Glenn, as there isn’t much around about that.
But don’t worry! I’ll still be doing my thing on this page – in depth warts ‘n all reports, thoughts, answering your questions, and giving my perspective of things!
So please like/subscribe/follow the new RTV page on Facebook and WordPress.
A huge thank you to everyone for your support, and contact me if you want to get involved in any way.
Despite being so far away, the drive to Anglesey circuit is pretty special in itself. The A55 ‘coastal road’ takes in the beaches, but the A5 winds its way through the breathtaking beauty of Snowdonia National Park.
If you still have anything left in you, you arrive at Anglesey circuit, where we were on the Coastal Circuit featuring ‘The Corkscrew’ – the Welsh equivalent of its namesake at Laguna Seca.
A few drivers had been testing on the Friday, but due to time and budget, we were going to learn the track in Qualifying on Saturday morning and aim low for our first races outside England.
Glenn had done some extensive work on overall car set-up, improved 2nd gear selection, and in theory I’d have the Sheane at the best it had ever been.
Qualifying
Catching the weather out for once, the pack of Formula Vee’s rolled out onto an unscheduled dry circuit. I got my mandatory 3 laps in to qualify for the race, on what was a surprisingly slippery track, and then tried to tag onto the back of more experienced drivers.
I’d walked the track in advance, and was amazed at how much banking was in turn 2, and thought I’d fly around the first half of the lap taking full advantage. As it turned out, I was pretty useless in most corners, but did seem to be able to nail the right-hander coming onto the long back straight and make up time.
Second gear was much easier to get, but still not perfect, so was still fighting me around the tighter corners, and then it was amazingly difficult to get the line right from there, through The Corkscrew, and around the rest of the lap.
I’d said I was aiming for the top 20, and would be starting from 18th and 17th on the grid for the races. Knowing I could pull back seconds in certain corners, and the car was also very skittish, I was pretty happy with this. I believe it also made me the fastest of those who’d never turned a wheel on the circuit before!
Race 1
In contrast, the rain had come well before the first race, leaving the track very wet but drying rapidly as the sun scorched its way over the surrounding sea.
I got an average start, but played it safe around the first few corners, staying on the back of a huge pack of cars down the long back straight.
As we all came to the very hard braking zone, Alex Jones dived up the inside of the pack on the wet line, unsurprisingly losing it on the brakes and spearing into Martin Snarey.
As the entire second half of the grid bore down on them, the pinball effect took out Sam Engineer in his new car, and everyone took avoiding action to try and get around the spinning cars blocking the whole track.
I had my own problems, however, as by this time I was at maximum braking heading towards Alex, and as I turned the wheel that tiny bit more the traction broke completely! I prepared for the collision, but somehow slithered out of harms way.
Caught out a little by still being alive, I was in 3rd gear for the tight right hander, and despite a valiant attempt to powerslide around when the rear broke loose, I spun slowly off the track.
Luckily for me (not so much for Martin and Sam) the race was red-flagged, and I was able to retake my original grid position for the restart.
After another average start I latched onto Craig Bell and Colin Gregory, but after a few laps they edged away leaving me in a familiar scrap with David Leniewski, John Hartin and Neil Aldridge. I came onto the pit straight to find Colin facing me in the middle of the track, and as I dived to the left for yet another close call, David went right and John also snuck through on the fast line for the first turn.
I used my favourite corner well again, taking the fast right-hander onto the back straight as fast as I dared, and got passed them both again on the drag up the hill.
I pulled a small gap and held that, but couldn’t catch Craig, eventually coming home 4th in class – just missing a podium again – and 12th place overall.
Adam Macaulay did the inevitable to get his first win in the UK championship, with Paul Smith following him home in 2nd after being unable to make it 9 wins from 9 races this year. Ian Jordan took 3rd place – wait… 3 Sheane’s on the podium? Who needs those £30,000 brand new cars, eh? Garry Newsome, another legendary driver from the Irish championship in a guest appearance won the B class – of course in ANOTHER Sheane (run by Peter Studer)!
Race 2
I knew I could gain huge chunks of time around the track – especially into the banked turn 2 by braking much later into it. As the car had also been a bit loose I added another click to stiffen the rear shocks. Hopefully this would keep the car stable mid-corner and on the exit…
Martin Snarey had repaired his car with the help of the great Formula Vee crews in the paddock, although I thought he may suffer from The Fear a little bit after his accident. Fantastically, this wasn’t the case, and set up a great battle!
Even better was the scorching sun and clear blue skies, and a bone dry and grippy track.
Another mediocre start saw Craig Bell flying around me as I got stuck into him and Colin Gregory once more. I cut back off the banking at turn 2 and powered passed Colin and held it alongside Craig down the straight, with Colin all over the back of me as we all caught Martin Snarey.
Craig blasted passed Martin in the 2nd gear right hander, and then Colin came passed me and Martin through the Corkscrew.
Smelling blood I also took advantage of Martin’s lapse and went around the outside through turn 1, closing back up to Colin as we slung it around the banking.
We came up to ‘my’ corner again, and I pinned it, showing the penalty we’d got at Mallory for illegal restrictors meant nothing as I rocketed out of his slipstream and pulled out 6 or 7 car lengths by the time we hit the brakes! My Sheane was running good!
Unfortunately I then ran a bit wide, letting Colin right back up to me but then Tim Probert, charging through after starting from the pits, gave me a bit of reprieve as I watched them scrapping it out behind me for a few laps.
With little point holding Tim up, I left the door open into the banked turn, but then I cut back as he slid out wide, holding onto him down the back straight but ultimately finding the limits of the Sheane’s power against one of the fastest cars on the grid. He disappeared into the distance and that was the last I saw of Mr Probert!
Colin was also back with me, and also passed me easily when I missed 2nd gear, and followed Tim off up the track, and I had no answer for him.
Martin Snarey was now also tapping his nosecone on the back of my head, but thanks to some great advice between the races from James Harridge, I managed to get enough of an advantage through the corners I was good at, that Martin couldn’t quite find an opportunity in my less-good turns.
I gave the car every ounce of my skills for the rest of the race, at last meeting my objective of pushing the car hard into every single corner. There was still, no doubt, more to be had, but I’d got the car on opposite lock, powerdrifting with total confidence, catching the spin into a few corners as I pressed on.
It was easily the best I’ve ever driven in terms of how in control of the car I was. Maybe I’ve finally clicked and got that kind of oneness with the car I get on my motorcycles?
With my muscles screaming at me I wrestled the car around with the white Sheane filling my mirrors, and didn’t even see the chequered flag – only realising it was all over by how fast I’d caught Colin into the next turn.
I’d thoroughly enjoyed it all and had no idea where I’d finished – all I knew is that I felt like a Racing Driver!
Paul Smith got his 52nd all-time win, with Adam Macaulay picking up an excellent 2nd place after James Harridge was given a time penalty for exceeding track limits. Dave Hughes brought it home 3rd for Bears, with Harridge classified 4th overall but again leading home the B class to regain his championship lead.
I also have to thank the Vee Centre for holding the annual BBQ on Saturday night – an amazing way to get to chat to all the other drivers and crews with a beer and burger. I found it a massive help socially last year, and again got nattering to a few I hadn’t had the chance to before.
Oh, and I came home 6th in class and 16th overall. Proof that sometimes your position doesn’t really matter all that much.
I just can’t wait to get out there again so that I can refine what I’ve finally found, and start chipping away at that time gap to the leaders…
It strikes me that this year we’ve been battling against the odds. If it’s not bits on the car breaking, mistakes, or my own self-doubts, it’s food poisoning or technical infringements!
I have to justify this stuff to the press and sponsors, and sometimes it seems hard to answer the same questions.
I think what a lot of people don’t realise is that racing is all about being on the edge. It’s a very fine line between blowing up your engine and not giving it enough revs and losing out, or lightening a component which then breaks under stress.
Driving as fast as the Formula Vee drivers do is totally alien to me – and I’m not known for taking life slowly. To lap at a respectable pace for a track day will see you way down the back of a Formula Vee grid. To get my brain to make the jump from flinging it into a corner going over my own abilities (and then hopefully catching up and controlling it), to doing that 20mph faster like the front-runners do, is a massive struggle.
Already I’m half way through my first ever full season racing, and it’s only now I’m starting to shake the vague nagging voice telling me I’m not good enough to be out there racing. What most people may see as pretty poor results, to me, have been massive in letting me see that I CAN get there, and I am on the way.
It’s everyone’s dream to get into a car and win right from the start. To play football and instantly be top goal scorer. It would be quite easy to see an 18th place result as a bit of a failure – until you realise that you’re actually the 18th best Formula Vee driver on the planet at that moment!
There’s nothing stopping anyone else from doing it – but you’re the one out there, and that’s pretty special!
I’ve been getting a great response to this blog, and from the emails that people send a lot of you are finding it interesting or useful, so I’m happy to try and help out. The local press have been picking up my reports in the Bromsgrove Standard, with a lovely feature in The Village Magazine, too!
The support from everyone is still mind-blowing, but shows how many people want to be involved in motor racing, and get genuinely excited to see someone like me living his dream and enjoying every second of it. It’s nice to be able to surround myself with so much positivity.
For the last half of the season, we’ll be looking at the gear selection problems to try and get second gear reliably. There are still some modifications that Glenn wants to do to the front suspension to improve things, and at some point I’d like to get out my hand-me-down race suit into something newer (and less ‘snug’!) and have some of my own sponsors logos on there!
Speaking of which, I hope to have JooVuu-X stickers on the car soon – check out www.joovuu-x.com for the excellent cameras I’ve been using. There’s currently a special offer on them so if you’re after a dashcam there are no finer ones out there for the price!
Off the track it will be more analysis and reports, and I’ll be answering a few questions people have emailed that they want to see on here.
I’ve also just upgraded my iRacing setup to a new wheel to see if that can improve things in the real world, so I’ll write some more about that!
In the mean-time, I’ll be getting my head in the game and “pushing very ‘ard” to get closer to the front of the pack!
Thanks for all your support, and I hope to see you out there!
Something I’d eaten the day before was not agreeing with me, and I worried that I wouldn’t survive the short journey to our closest track. I arrived at a damp and drizzly Mallory Park feeling very weak and wondering if I could get away with an open face helmet and Nomex Pampers!
Pushing the car up the hill to scrutineering I realised just how weak I was, with my heart nearly pounding out of my chest and sweat pouring off me.
Luckily, adrenalin works wonders for shutting down all of your bodies non-racing functions, and once I was strapped into the Sheane I felt much better!
Qualifying
The first few laps of qualifying were pretty much dry, which helped me learning the track. My previous bike trackday here wasn’t much of a help, as for that we used a chicane at the Esses and after the hairpin, but I at least knew to expect the blind crest on the exit of Gerrards.
I settled into the lines but was still struggling to find 2nd gear at the tight hairpin – getting around there was more trying to get a gear rather than any kind of technique to cornering.
I had a brief tussle with Andrew Cooper in his first ever race weekend (he’s going to be quick), and overtook him going into the very fast Gerrards corner on the inside. A faster car came up behind me as I made this pass, so I held my inside line exactly as we’re told to do.
Apparently the more experienced driver wanted me to disappear somewhere or drive off ‘his’ track, as he came up to me after the race being sarcastic about my mirrors working. When I pointed out I was trying to qualify as well, and asked what I should have done, he walked off. Pretty bad form – it’s all very well criticising a new driver but if you have no answer as to what they should do for next time, you don’t do yourself or the sport any favours!
Despite the bad taste this left in my mouth (and I don’t just mean the sickness returning as the adrenalin wore off again!), I was pleased with the qualifying session. We’d come 18th, but I knew there was lots more to come from just about everywhere on the track.
The Z-bar had stayed attached, confirming that it wasn’t breaking at Croft due to the changes we’d made lowering the rear of the car, and so we should be able to dial in some faster set-up again.
Race 1
The light rain faded as we lined up on a now wet track for the race. I made a decent start, picking up a few places but being very wary of the concertina into the hairpin.
A few cars had spins early on, and Jamie Harrison had a huge opposite lock slide around Gerrards right in front of me that looked very impressive – well held!
I could see Jake Hockley and Colin Gregory with a few others in front of me, but then after some more shoddy gear changes at the hairpin I fell off the back of the group, and a couple of the earlier spinners recovered and went by.
I had another brief battle with Andrew Cooper before he pulled away out of the hairpin. With the bit of space I had, I was then able to concentrate a little more on that problem, and by the second half of the race I’d finally found a way!
I found that going from 4th to 2nd just didn’t work at all, but if I went to 3rd and then had a brief pause before selecting 2nd gently, it liked it a lot better.
I’d found that I was pretty quick into and around the Esses, especially when I trail-braked in, and although still way off the leaders, I was ok going into Gerrards, and through it, but despite having my foot flat to the floor on the exit the cars just ahead were still pulling away from me.
The car wallowed quite a bit through Devils Elbow, and I had to lift there to bring the back around on the adverse camber or the front started dragging me wide and upsetting the rest of the car. I’d been warned off making the front too stiff, but now think I was heading in the right direction, and need to firm it up again. If we ever get a proper dry race again, anyway!
Coming home 5th in class and 18th overall wasn’t too shabby as a learning experience, and it seemed I was surviving the weakness of the food poisoning!
Race 2
Starting from the same grid position but this time in 17th place (eh?? I just went where they told me to!), I was hopeful of getting another good start on the again wet but rapidly drying track.
The lights went out and I dropped the clutch quickly, but the revs were the only thing going anywhere!
I slammed the lever from neutral into first, as the cars behind missed me and shot off into the distance.
It wasn’t red mist that descended over me as much as a very focused calm, knowing I had some recovering to do.
I picked a few off, then gained a couple more places when some mild carnage at the hairpin put some cars wide, my new-found 2nd gear abilities coming in handy, and then blasted up the inside of Tom Roper (another relative new driver who did have a few Vee races over 10 years ago, now returning in Peter Studers hire car) into the Esses. This seemed to wake him up a bit and he followed hard on my tail as I pushed up to another group of four battling cars – Colin Gregory, Jake Hockley, Jamie Harrison and Andrew Cooper.
I’d caught them quickly, but trying to get by a group of 6 cars fighting that closely wheel to wheel was easier said than done! It was 3 or 4 wide into every corner, and if you didn’t commit to a pass someone else would dive straight down the other side of you!
It’s the first time I’ve ever been with more than a couple of cars all lapping at the same pace, and it’s a Hell of a thing to experience!
Jake lost power coming out of the hairpin and fell off the group with a few laps to go, and I had few goes side-by-side in Gerrards with Andrew, both looking over at each other as we slid around trying not to take each other out but not giving an inch!
Tom came very close to my rear wheel as I backed out of a dive up the inside of Andrew – something I watched very carefully in my mirrors and was impressed he’d managed to avoid any contact as he also made a dive for it!
In the end I was about half a car length behind Andrew after a tense drag to the line – but sadly the result wasn’t to stand for me…
A number of cars in parc ferme after the race were taken apart for checks, and Dallas (in his 49th year scrutineering Formula Vee), found one of our restrictor plates was out of tolerance by a tiny margin. Despite the plate being stamped and certified, the rules are the rules, and this meant I’d be excluded from the race for a technical infringement.
This was a shame after what may have been one of my greatest driving performances – especially after racing so closely with a pack. If the part wasn’t to spec, then it’s much better that it’s been picked up now than if I’d have been missing out on a trophy. I could challenge the decision as I have no evidence that the tool used to check had been calibrated, but is it really worth the hassle? I’m going to put my trust in the 750 Motor Club, and if it were found that the tool wasn’t accurate I’m sure they’d sort something out retrospectively.
Both races were won outright by Paul Smith, and after James Harridge dropped out with engine problems in the first race, there was nobody else able to challenge him. That makes it 8 wins from 8 races this year for Paul! Pretty amazing stuff! Jack Wilkinson took both of the B class trophies on his return to Vee.
Next month will see a visit to the Anglesey Coastal circuit in North Wales – a circuit I’ve always liked the look of. If I can get on the pace straight away it could yield some good results for me!
James Cater Racing 