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My View Of Croft – Race 2

08 Friday Jun 2018

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Race 2

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

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

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

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

The lights went out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bring it on!

Croft Podium 2018

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My View of Croft – Race 1

04 Monday Jun 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Qualifying

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

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

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

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Race 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Remember Croft? Race 2

27 Tuesday Jun 2017

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A new day, and the sun was shining once more. I was starting from a decent position but wouldn’t really find out what the car would do until I hit the first corner at race speed – not great when the brief was yet again to try and keep the car safe.

On the warm-up lap I gave the car a bit of a slide into the second turn and could tell straight away that things weren’t right. Added to this, the steering wheel wasn’t pointing straight, so my thumbs and stuff were in the wrong places.

As I sat on the grid psyching myself up, I looked down to find my magical rev sweet spot to get another demon start. What I found was the turned wheel was hiding my rev counter!

I looked back up and the start lights had already gone out and I’d missed it!

I recovered fairly well, but with the random handling I stayed well wide through the first few corners so I didn’t end up hitting anyone else as I worked out what the car was doing.

The car didn’t want to turn in at all, and then the understeer snapped from no grip overall to oversteer and back to understeer seemingly at random through the corners.

I was dropping backwards down the grid and couldn’t seem to do anything about it!

Sam Engineer spun off causing a red flag – then we were held for ages before being put back in some weird grid order where I dropped back even further. Then Tim Probert caught fire a little bit, and we had to trundle around on a third slow green flag lap.

In between wondering if I’d catch fire, whether the engine would blow up in the heat, and if I could get the car to restart for the 37th time they moved us 20 yards forward, I told myself that the handling was all in my head, and I needed to give myself a slap.

I got a much better restart, and was all over the back of Colin Gregory for second in class (Jamie had already blown by me in the first start as I struggled) as I threw the car at the track as best as I could – not happy but not giving up!

I couldn’t take any of the usual corners flat out, and needed a big lift to get the front turned in through Barcroft, still missing the apex by a few feet.

This put me slightly wide on the exit, and as I straightened the steering wheel on instinct ready to brake hard from flat-out, I forgot a crucial thing…

Straightening the steering wheel with the repairs meant I was actually steering slightly to the left.

This put my left rear wheel just onto the grass as I slammed the anchors on, and the back wheels made my best overtake of the day on my front wheels. I was suddenly on the grass, backwards, on the right hand side of the circuit and the air pressure even opened my visor and I did what I could to stop taking Colin out as he turned right into Sunny In.

I changed the angle of my spin enough to miss him, but there was no way I could stop the car coming back across the track. Luckily we’d been pulling away, and Bill Garner was next on the scene with some nifty avoidance as he locked up and managed to avoid me as I rolled along the outside of the track trying to restart.

Crisis averted, I was now dead last and trying not to succumb to the red mist.

I locked up into the hairpin then got back in control and dropped back into the zone as I gave chase to Ian Rea.

I was still hammering an unpredictable car as much as I could, but had to dial it back a few notches as there’s no point crashing when you’re at the back anyway…

I slipstreamed past Ian out of the chicane and chased down Martin Snarey and the 6 car chain ahead.

It was taking an agonisingly long time in my head to make any progress, but I clawed past Martin on the start straight, and as I closed on Peter Cann saw Vaughn Jones spin up ahead.

Before he had chance to recover back to speed I squeezed around him almost on the grass and then the short 3 lap restart was given the chequered flag. I salvaged a 17th place finish, but had been expecting top 10 at a track I love and the car is suited to, so it was hard to get too worked up about.

It was an exciting race overall, but still a total disaster for me in the big scheme of things. Hence why I haven’t had the motivation to write this up (or the time!) until now.

As Anglesey approaches, I’m in a slightly more positive frame of mind again. If Real Life allows me to, I’ll prep better for this one, and approach things the same as I did for Oulton.

Hopefully this will be the one where I can show off the cars true potential. I’m at least going to try and enjoy it!

Remember Croft? Qualifying & Race 1

26 Monday Jun 2017

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Sorry that this blog has been so long coming! Unfortunately the major dramas that make up Real Life came into play, and my usual best escape of racing failed as that all turned out disastrous, too.

That said, it was brilliant getting away for a few days to hang out with the other Vee drivers. I know a few of us have some huge things going on away from racing at the moment, and hope the distraction of racing helps them as much as it does me.

After 6+ hours on the road, we arrived (early for once!) at Croft – one of my favourite circuits from last year. After the many hours spent fixing (and de-gravelling) the car since Brands Hatch, the brief was to keep the car safe and just get some points back on the board.

 

Qualifying

I hadn’t done the sort of prep that I should have – watching videos, playing simulators etc – so started somewhat steadily in qualifying. When you’re not 100% sure where to break and turn in on every single corner, it’s amazing how much it adds to your lap times.

The car felt good, but then someone dropped oil around half of the lap on the fastest section all the way back to the finish and a few cars had spins.

As ever, I’m enough of an idiot to enjoy a bit of oil, but obviously with oil down from the 2nd or 3rd lap this meant all those who’d practiced the day before got much faster laps in before the track was ruined. I actually put my quickest lap in on my final lap, despite lifting off to let Adam Macaulay and Ben Miloudi through on flying laps – so at least knew I was doing something ok!

I did lose the lap before with a huge minger of a drift that turned into a spin, though…

I qualified a mediocre 17th and 16th – but with James Harridge blowing another engine and Jamie Harrison losing all power this still put me 2nd in class right behind Colin Gregory for both races. The first class win was in sight!

Race 1

With another fast start I pushed a few places up the grid off the line, having to lift for a few slower cars but still making good progress.

I got ahead of Mark Egan up the inside of the first turn, but then into the sharp Turn 2 I knew I could either get aggressive and perform a really harsh block pass on Mark, risking taking us both out, or back out as safely as I could, making sure I could hold the tight line around the corner. This would mean Mark disappearing on the exit, but I could live with that for now..

Unfortunately, Mark then cut hard across to the apex, I assume having not seen me, and leaving absolutely no room for me.

I slammed on the brakes even harder and got a nudge from behind from Peter Studer – but it was already too late and Mark’s right rear wheel slammed into my front left.

This broke the steering link, and as my wheel flapped around like some sad, dying fish, I was at the mercy of the rest of the field as I veered across the track and off the side to retire.

I was not happy.

Then, just as I got out and stood at the side of the track, it started thundering. Yeah, thanks for that.

The car was carried back on a crane, and some hasty bodge repairs made ready for the next day. As we were making a start on it, Ian Rea spotted the impact had ripped the front beam off the chassis, stripping the thread and bolt holding it on.

Gary Richardson kindly helped get the set-up as good as we could, but with camber, castor and toe all a bit wonky (we had to try and even things out by re-adjusting the good side!) I could tell I might have to drive around the faults for the second race.

Croft 2016 – Rounds 5 & 6

24 Tuesday May 2016

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Croft 2016 – Rounds 5 & 6

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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!

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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.

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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!

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