Racing Team Vee had the honour of being asked to display the Sheane at Dubtoberfest at the weekend.
This is a great little festival for the VW camper van brigade, with a Bavarian theme and a family-friendly atmosphere, held at Throckmorton airfield near Pershore.
Displaying both the new JooVuu and RTV stickers in public for the first time, we joined Gary Richardson and David Leniewski with our three very different Vee’s on display.
With live music playing all through the day, loads of food on offer, a 2000hp ‘Mental Breakdown’ dragster, dog agility course, show & shine car competition, archery, and some rather nice partying each evening (in lederhosen, no less!), a great time was certainly had by all of us – and the equally friendly crowds of people seemed to be enjoying themselves just as much.
Some of them (including my beautiful fiancée, Julie) even got to experience riding on the Dodgems with a load of ultra-competitive Formula Vee racers!
It’s a great festival, still in its early days, and I’d heartily recommend it for next year! In fact, thinking about it, this has been the first festival I’ve ever attended!
Massive thanks to Damian Cottrell for the invite, organising things, and his hospitality! As a racer himself (and pretty good by all accounts) and being a local, it’d be good to see him back out on a grid again soon!
I’ll leave you with some pictures from the weekend.
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.
Summer is here, we’re between races, and a bit of German beer and Lederhosen wouldn’t go amiss!
So where shall we go?
That’s right – Dubtoberfest will be at Throckmorton Airfield (near Pershore) between the 29th and 31 July!
Fun for all the family with live music, food courts, dog shows, camping and more VW’s than you can shake a Weinerschnitzel at!
And of course I’ll be joining another two Formula Vee cars on display there in the middle of all the fun and action.
Tickets cost £30 for the whole weekend with children under 16 FREE. Get them online as E-tickets, or you might be able to get some on the door if there are any left.
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!
After the interesting heart rate readings from Brands Hatch, I once again wore my Fitbit for the races at Croft.
Qualifying was my first ever lap of Croft, and with the rain absolutely clowning it down, you might expect me to be a bit excited about it all.
Unfortunately, this was before I started to enjoy the rain, and so I just trundled around without even trying to kill myself – and this seems to be reflected in my heart rate:
So, much like I thought of my own performance in that session, it’s a bit ‘meh’.
But then things dried out for the afternoon, and for my first ever dry lap of Croft I’d have to be at full racing speed with no idea what the car would do in the extremely fast corners.
As you might imagine, this one told a different story:
So we have a new record at 172 bpm peak!
A lot of the back of the circuit is foot to the floor, and then just turn the sucker in and hop you’re on the right line. I like this sort of thing, but it’s unsurprising that it would get the old ticker beating a bit faster. There was also frustration at not getting 2nd gear, and Darren Lomas filling my mirrors waiting to pounce on any mistake.
And, of course the huge moment when my Z-bar broke and I put 2 wheels off and had it all got a little bit skew-whiff…
Race 2 saw the return of rain with a vengeance. I’d sworn to push, whatever the conditions, and couldn’t actually see much of the track, corners, or other cars because of the spray.
And I was taking those same flat-out sections as fast as I dared in those horrendous conditions.
So you’d expect, if my heart didn’t stop completely because of me being dead, or something, that my heart rate would be through the roof, right?
What the…?
OK, so this is the same pattern as Brands Hatch, but this time the high heart rate seems more linked to high speed than being inches and split seconds from disaster.
In that second race I was enjoying myself and having fun, but I’m pretty sure I remember having a bit of a whoop inside my helmet in the dry race, too.
Is it that I’m more used to the track and so much more relaxed for that second race? Because the pressure is off to get the car back safely for another race?
At Mallory Park the qualifying session and both races are all on the same day – so will this same pattern repeat, or will the hear rate get higher and higher like it has done on the first day of a race weekend?
It’s amazing how a few poor results can affect you.
So far this season, things have not gone well. I’ve been driving pretty badly, and combined with some car failures, I’d been questioning myself. Questioning if I can afford to be doing this if I’ve got no chance against faster cars and drivers with bigger budgets.
There’s no question that the other Formula Vee racers are more skilled than me – even those that don’t have a background in trackdays and karting have more experience in Vee’s, more testing, or just have youth on their sides!
I’d been starting to enjoy the stuff in between races more – editing and processing videos, writing race/press reports, and the quest to find some sponsorship. Learning to enjoy that is no bad thing, as it takes an ungodly amount of hours fo my time – but I’m supposed to be here to race.
When it was raining so heavily at Croft for qualifying, I was literally just following Tony Mitchell around for most of the session, eventually getting passed him but still just driving. If Miss Daisy had been sat next to me she wouldn’t have even spilled her cup of tea. Proper ‘meh’.
I’d lost any hope of testing out our all-new lower rear suspension mountings, or running in brand new brake pads for the first time. What a waste of time…
I gave myself a bit of a shake after that, reminding myself of my Brands Hatch blog where I swore I’d push harder everywhere.
As if to try and break my spirit even more, the track was now bone dry for the first race, and so my first ever dry lap of Croft would be at full racing speed.
Except this time I was ready.
I knew that in theory Croft would suit me. I’d watched video so I knew where to brake (although admittedly I’d watched James Harridges footage, which meant I’d know where to brake to get it ridiculously sideways and murder myself within three corners!), and now I could just about remember which way the track went.
So when those lights went out I just went for it.
Now, up to this point I realise I haven’t sounded like my own biggest fan. I do have self-confidence, and have proved I can drive quickly at the end of last year. More importantly, when you flip that visor down nothing else matters. Nothing. When I’m staring through my blue iridium tint I can win, and I’m there to win.
I still hesitated slightly before dropping the clutch and feeding the revs up, and the biggest gain I had over the rest was changing up to second, then to third.
In second I knew I’d got a bit of a blinder, because I was already a few rows forward, and everyone else was looking slower. I simply drove through a hole up the middle of the grid, lifting off briefly as I thought I’d maybe stolen enough places, then getting back on it and diving to the outside to pic up a few more positions.
I just figured I’d do whatever the car ahead of me did, and trust I had the skills to hold onto the car.
When we came to the Jim Clark Esses I knew everyone said they didn’t lift off, and so I just kept my foot in and trust Glenn’s suspension work would help. It felt great getting through easily, and then taking the first two flat-out right handers the same!
The brakes must have bedded in despite the wet qualifying, because they were sharper than they’d ever been. I looked through the corners and pressed on, seeing cars in my mirrors but nobody close enough to make a move.
Then I hit the hairpin, and cars streamed passed as I tried to find second gear. That’s something I have to work on, because I lost masses of time!
After that I just kept pushing a little harder everywhere. There is a big twitch where the weld on the anti-roll z-bar at the back snapped, and I dropped two wheels over the drop of a large curb, which pitched me back across the track in 4th gear flat out. I thought I was going to spin but caught it so fast, still keeping the loud pedal pressed down, that Darren Lomas behind me barely made up any time.
Of course I didn’t know that the z-bar had snapped until after the race, and so just kept going, and despite the flying Alex Jones also getting passed me as I fished for second gear at the hairpin again, I came a respectable 13th.
I knew I could take big chunks out of my time, but that wasn’t to be, as we had some of the worst race conditions ever seen for the second race…
I’d also been revving the car higher, and although Jake Hockley in his much newer GAC was able to pull away on the straights, he wasn’t pulling away all that much. I have found that as I hit around 7000rpm the needle on the gauge starts doing all kinds of funky stuff except stay still and tell me what revs I’m pulling. I was estimating 7400rpm for my gear changes, and the car seemed happy with that.
Anyway – between races we got one of the AHS crew to re-weld the z-bar, and were ready to go.
I’d hyped myself up for the wet.
I knew it was totally pointless driving like I had in qualifying. I wanted to use the dreadful conditions to get the car moving around a bit. In the wet you obviously reach the limits of traction much sooner than in the dry – but when the car does let go it does so more progressively. If you’re fast enough you can catch it and get the balance and drift. In theory, this will happen in the wet exactly as it would in the dry, but be more controllable.
I hit the brakes about 4 times before we reached the first corner – because all I could see was spray from the 20 cars ahead, didn’t know if I’d be pushing my face up against their engines at any second in a surprise inspection, and couldn’t actually see the edges of the track to know where the corner was!
I knew people ahead would spin off, and sure enough some cars appeared out of the spray at funny angles through the first chicane and I picked a way through as best as I could. My tighter line may have taken me passed someone under yellow flags, but as I couldn’t see more than 6ft away and didn’t even know which way any of the cars around me were facing, or if anyone was following me, I think I’d be forgiven for that one.
Feeding in the power down the next straight the puddles were tearing at the steering wheel and the rears were spinning up at the same time, making things ‘educational’. As I gently eased the brakes on I could barely see if my wheels were locked up, and as I was aquaplaning anyway it was just plain weird.
I cadence braked whenever I knew my wheels were locked, but to be honest that’s not as obvious in those conditions as you’d think.
There were huge puddles on the inside of some turns, but already I was starting to enjoy myself. I even started dropping my front wheel into some of these puddles to help me turn the car!
I wasn’t getting the power down as hard and soon as I’d have liked to, but I was pounding down the straights and braking pretty late into a few corners. The wheels were still spinning up in 4th gear on the straights, then puddles ripped you sideways under braking, the car slithered straight on through the corner and then snapped to oversteer, then even more so as you got back on the power! What a rush!
I was getting a move on when Ian Buxton overtook me (he was one of the first corner spinners), but unlike every other time he’s done that I realised he wasn’t disappearing – I was still on him and actually had to drop back a bit as I didn’t want to spear him into a corner again!
I knew it was treacherous braking into Tower, and so should have been braking much earlier with my new-found speed, but I either forgot where to brake or got too enthusiastic. The wheels locked several times and I knew I’d have to run wide, so let off the brakes deep in the corner, ready to snap on the opposite lock to catch it for a spectacular drift, and something went *ping* and the back swung around.
I saw mud spray into the air as I hit the grass, and let the car spin 360 so I could get control in the right direction again, hitting the starter button and finding a gear to get me back on the black stuff.
But the ping had been the weld on the z-bar braking again – meaning the rear had dropped down and that lack of clearance beached me in the mud.
I tried rocking out in reverse before giving up and holding my hand up for the marshals to know I was stuck.
I still had the engine running hoping for a push, but they pulled out the red flags to stop the race. They said it was too dangerous, anyway, so don’t think the race would have carried on much longer either way… At least they did give me a push so I wasn’t towed in behind the Wagon Of Shame again!
So whilst it wasn’t great to end that way, psychologically the weekend was massive for me – in a very positive way!
I know I can still drive fast in the dry and hold my own – even on a track I don’t know, with a broken car. And I know I can be properly quick in the wet. I mean, I was 9th fastest when I went off, but was barely getting up to speed, and properly enjoying myself as I did so!
I didn’t think the weather was that bad! My test last year on Silverstone National was a fair bit worse, so I’ve got that as my wet benchmark – and I survived that!
Mallory Park for the next race could be interesting, because I’ve done around a hundred laps around there on a Kawasaki ZX-6R B1H, but that was with the little bike chicanes in place. And I could find gears at the tight hairpin.
One thing for sure is that I won’t be worried about it raining anymore!
I made the call with Glenn to travel 180 miles up to Croft on the Saturday morning, rather than the night before. Glenn used to do this all the time when he raced, so I figured I’d try it and see how tired I was – assuming we made it in time for qualifying!
Glenn has remounted the rear suspension lower down. This means we get a lot more suspension travel than before which should help with set-ups, and it’s lowered the rear and thus the centre of gravity. The aim of the weekend was to see how this all worked, and also run in some brand new brake pads – so Croft would be very much a learning weekend rather than anything competitive.
I used to like the track on the old TOCA Touring Cars computer game, and spent some time watching onboard videos to try and remember which way to turn, but a lot of other drivers were there testing all day on the Friday, so it was looking like a weekend to stay safe and accept we’d be at the back.
Qualifying
One thing you can’t account for is the weather. As we rolled into the collecting area, the rain absolutely hammered it down on us. With track conditions being borderline dangerous (they cancelled the following sessions for safety), we trundled out into the puddles.
I followed a group of cars all tip-toeing around in the treacherous conditions, eventually skating passed Tony Mitchell, but was pretty much just driving around the track boring myself.
After the first 2 laps, just as I was learning the track enough to pick up speed, the rain increased even more. It paid off for those who’d tested or raced at the track before, as they could get straight on it in those 2 laps, and lead to some excellent surprises such as Alex Jones snagging 5th place on the grid, and David Leniewski qualifying 10th!
I dribbled my way home in a deserved 19th place to start from the back in both races.
Of course, we found out absolutely nothing about the handling changes, and I had no idea if I’d even started to bed the new brake pads in. I was kicking myself, because I knew I’d wasted my time by not trying to push – but then I guess stating at the back is better than finishing in the armco barriers…
Race 1
A mere four hours later, in scorching sun (I have pale blue, Polish skin, ok?) we lined up to go out again. Despite the drastically improved conditions, it wasn’t actually very much help to me, as I’d never driven a lap in the dry before!
I’ve had major self-doubt creeping in following a few disappointing results, and so had a lot to prove to myself to justify spending all my money on this racing malarkey…
The lights went out at the start and I got a pretty good start. As I changed to 2nd it turned into a belter of a start, as I flew passed a few cars in a hole up the middle, and then after a hesitation dived to the outside into the first turn to pick up another few spaces – 6 in all!
I was already up with David Leniewski, and having no clue what I was doing, just figured I’d copy him only brake later, carry more speed in, and get on the power sooner – and just hope I could hang onto the car! Back to my old “Throw it into the corner and sort out whatever happens” philosophy! I kept it absolutely nailed through the 4th gear Jim Clark Esses, and through the following rights as I hoped I’d remembered which of them you had to brake hard for.
I eventually eased passed him when he had some mechanical problems, but not before my next biggest obstacle – the 2nd gear hairpin.
2nd gear is such a low ratio it’s very rare that you have to find it in a Formula Vee. Which is just as well, as you can’t find the damned thing.
As I fished around in a bag full of crunching neutrals, a few cars streamed back passed me onto the pit straight. Eventually I found 2nd and fired off after them all.
The red and white car of Darren Lomas was filling my mirrors as I tried desperately to keep on the racing line, now Jake Hockley ahead in the GAC with exactly the same dry Croft experience as me – i.e. none.
As I came back into the flat-out section my car lurched left in the turn, making me run wide and drop two wheels down the small cliff on the exit at 120mph+. I caught the resulting slide quickly and kept my foot planted, turning the wheel back the other way to recover, and by some miracle stayed not only on the track, but still stayed ahead of Darren.
He chased me hard for the rest of the race, and it was probably quite funny watching us at the hairpin as neither of us could get 2nd gear!
Martin Snarey was right on the back of us, but I held on for an excellent and much needed 13th place and 4th in class B!
More importantly, I knew I could hold my own against faster cars, and hit a brand new circuit first time out and be quick. I’d started to doubt this. And I knew I could knock a good 2 seconds of my time even if I still couldn’t find 2nd gear!
As I climbed out in parc ferme, Darren pointed at the back of my car.
Ah.
The weld holding my anti-roll Z-bar had snapped – explaining my high speed moment in the race!
So we still didn’t really know what the rear modifications had done for the car. One thing I did know for sure was that the new brake pads were awesome already!
At the pointy end Paul Smith romped home to another win, with the 2 Bears cars of Dave Hughes and Paul Taylor coming in a chuffed-to-bits 2nd and 3rd.
Race 2
After a hot and sunny Sunday, precisely as we were kitting up, the skies went black again!
All thought of knocking those 2 seconds off my times were washed away in the waterfalls that hit Croft as we waited for 20 minutes for the officials to decide if it was safe to go out.
Sat under umbrellas, joking with Sam Engineer, Adam McCauley, Glenn Hay and Chris Wilshire, I figured there was no chance of them starting us, and was tempted to be the first to start up and drive back onto the trailer.
Suddenly, they waved us out on track. Good – because I couldn’t live with my wet performance from qualifying.
Already soaked, I could barely see the track even on the slow lap around to get on the grid, let alone the car ahead. And there’d be about 20 of them off the start!
The lights went out and I got away without wheelspin, but as soon as we were in 2nd gear I couldn’t see a thing through the spray. I hit the brakes about 4 times before I even got to the first corner, and could see carnage through the deluge.
I held an inside line and skittered passed a few spinners, wary of anything going into the back of me, and tried to find a compromise between having some visibility and getting between the puddles without them ripping the car off the track.
I was determined to use the conditions to get the car a bit sideways (it’s easier to do in the rain) and try and get more comfortable doing that, and found that I was really enjoying it!
Cars kept appearing out of the spray, and I was able to get by them despite locking up a lot, getting wheelspin in 4th gear on the straights, and having to save a good few slides.
Ian Buxton slithered passed me, and I hung on to the back of him fairly easily (that’s a first!) so knew I must be doing something right!
Martin Snarey was ahead, and I was flying up behind him when I had a major loss of 2nd gear at the hairpin. I watched Martin drive away down the straight, and was about half way down myself before I found a damned gear again!
I kept powering on, actually hooking my front wheel into some of the puddles to get the car turned in better, and knew where I could grab loads more time, and then disaster struck.
I had a huge lock up as I braked for Tower, and drifted out very wide – not a problem, as I eased a bit of throttle back on to slide it back into the corner when the back end twitched again as the re-welded Z-bar broke again, spinning me off into some filthy great muddy field.
Even that wasn’t so bad, as I was ready to drive out, but the car had dropped as the z-bar disconnected, and I got beached in the mud. I tried in vain to reverse out, then had a vague recollection of an off-roading technique of rocking it out, but it was no good.
I waved for the marshalls and the race was red flagged as conditions were too bad and nobody wanted a stack of Vees growing in their turnip field on top of me.
A quick push and I was on my way again, but despite having been up to at least 12th when I went off, I was only classified in 19th at the finish.
I’m not disappointed with that in the slightest – because I also set the 9th fastest lap overall!
That’s a huge confidence booster on its own – but combined with my dry performance in the first race it was a psychologically fantastic weekend for me!
I had brilliant fun in wet and dry, and my confidence in the car is coming on in leaps and bounds. I know I’m headed back in the right direction at last, and I know I can do much, much better – and that’s all with a damaged car!
There might be 2 James’ in Formula Vee doing rain dances for the rest of the year!
Speaking of which, James Harridge came in 2nd behind the seemingly unbeatable Paul Smith, with fellow n00b Harry Webb picking up an excellent 3rd on the podium!
After finishing Donington with more holes in the engine than we started with, it made sense to play it safe and not rev over 7000rpm.
Of course, in qualifying, I had a lot more than that to worry about!
Glenn had pretty much straightened out the bent front beam, and we’d found the wheelbase on the left was an inch or so shorted than the other side – so that should explain why the car had been pulling to the left. When I came through the tunnel before the session, I jabbed the brakes and the car veered massively to the right.
I thought we might have overcompensated with the set up, or maybe the piston on the left brake caliper had shaken itself back. I could only do a soft brake test before I was in the holding area, and that didn’t show anything up.
I told Glenn, who said the brake pads were also a bit low, so that might not be helping. I decided I could live with it for 3 laps (the minimum to qualify) and then come in, and then we could fix it before the race.
As it turned out, the brakes were fine – but I then started getting a misfire coming off random corners. Weirdly, this disappeared before the races – but Glenn’s tweaking, whilst not finding a cause, may have fixed this.
So I was expecting to qualify higher than I did, but wasn’t overly concerned. I was still struggling with some corners, but was much better in others than at the Festival. I don’t think I ever ran wide out of Graham Hill, and was pretty good through Surtees – but although I was faster through Paddock Hill my line was useless.
I was under a lot of pressure from behind in Race 1, and my shoddy defensive line through Paddock Hill seemed to them become my regular line when I was on my own. I need to slap myself for that!
The results weren’t great – but then with all the guys up the front being SERIOUSLY fast, that could be a problem for us this year. I do find it quite amusing that my mix-up between Maurice Gloster lapping me and my battle with Sam Engineer meant I was 3 secs per lap faster as I tried to fight back at Gloster!
The good news is that I am finally feeling comfortable with the car getting a bit out of shape.
When I had The Moment on the last lap through Surtees when the back stepped out, I made one very fast correction to the exact angle needed. There was no input needed for the recovery – I simply turned into the next corner from that with the car totally back under control. I’m pretty proud of myself, and think that might be the ‘click’ I get with a new bike when I sort-of become one with it (in hippie terms)!
I’ve said from the start I think the way to drive a Vee is to get it moving around. Now I’m sure I need to get the car out of line BEFORE the corner to have any chance against the faster and more powerful opponents.
James Harridge demonstrated this perfectly with a huge 4 wheel drift into and around Druids when he lapped me, as did John Hughes as he passed me through Paddock, with a filthy great lurid slide all the way down the hill. This was also carbon-copied by Jamie Harrison when he came back passed me in the same place!
If I can back a bike into a corner, then surely I can do it on 4 wheels? If not, I’m going to learn!
I was using lift-off oversteer mid-corner a fair bit to bring the back around and turn it in, then powering through the exit. This seems to work equally as well in slow corners like Druids as it does flat out through Surtees.
Glenn has remounted the rear shocks ready for Croft, so we’ll see if this helps with another few inches of suspension travel plus a lower car.
Race 2 felt like I drove much harder, but was actually only 0.01 secs faster. Track conditions could account for this, but overall each lap was faster – and of course I didn’t get lapped by the leaders! Having Martin Snarey as a target helped a lot with this.
My engine just doesn’t sound like it did last year, so something isn’t quite right, but we don’t know what. For Croft I’ll be pushing the engine a bit more, and revving to 7400rpm or so and seeing if all our power is still in those last 400rpm.
Croft is a circuit I only know from TOCA Touring Cars computer games 20 years ago, so I will be doing some YouTube research for it.
We can’t afford to test for this one (in terms of both money and time due to travel), so I’ll be jumping straight in and learning the track in qualifying.
If it’s dry then the fast corners should suit me, but might not suit our reduced power too well. If it’s wet… well, it might not be so bad for us at the moment!
I hope you all liked the amazing footage from the new JooVuu X camera – I will be talking about this a lot more in the near future!
See you at Croft this weekend – hopefully for some more sideways action!
James Cater Racing 