Tag Archives: first race

2022 Donington Park GP – the return

29 Friday Apr 2022

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After my last emo blog, if you’ve seen my Twitter and Facebook updates of how the day went, you might be expecting me to be a bit gutted.

If you haven’t seen, yet, my day ended during qualifying when the engine blew big-time, leaving a fist-sized hole in the engine block.

So, yeah – that part was a bit crap. Especially after that blog exposed my self-doubt that had crept in, and I’d had such a struggle to get focused to get back out there again.

The whole day was a bit of a mess, but surprisingly not for me. I’ll have to gloss over some of that stuff as it will get me in Trouble again if I have a full rant on here about it, but let’s jump in…

I missed out on racing during the Covid pandemic, when many rules changed to keep everyone safe, so I had a bit of catching up to do on how race days are now run.

The biggest change is an online sign-on process and scrutineering declarations, which, to give them their due, 750 Motor Club have done a brilliant job with, and was all nice and easy.

The bad news for us is that some cars still have to go through scrutineering, and at Donington the Formula Vees were chosen. This meant a much earlier start for us, and in reality consisted of waiting in the queue for ninety minutes when all the cars should have been done in 30 minutes. This meant my nice relaxed day started off with having to rush to get ready for the qualifying session by the time we’d actually been checked.

As it turned out, I needn’t have rushed, as we then sat in another queue for a sound test that took so long I wasn’t even allowed on track by the normal entrance, and had to drive across the other side of the paddock to go out through the pit lane.

I don’t know what the cock-up was, and for the sake of this I don’t care, but I will note that I’m paying a Hell of a lot of money to drive around a race track – NOT to do a noise level check. Also, someone really needs to be made aware that you cannot have aircooled cars sat with their engines running for very long – we will literally all blow up.

As many cars didn’t even get out on track before the session ended, we had to go out a second time, which again I’m not going to get into here…

So, first session:

Despite any anxiety I may have had before the day (or is it excitement? The two are very similar, and can be just the difference between a positive outlook!), I was straight back into it, falling asleep in the car as I was waiting to go out!

In my defence, my 3 year old niece Bella, was also spark out, soothed by the sounds of revving race engines!

My aim for this was to stay on the track, stay out of everyone’s way, and try and get some sort of feel for the car back. And see if we had full gear selection.

It was frustrating seeing cars pass me, but the first lap or two felt pretty horrible. The car felt very wallowy – but not just because I’d opted for a softer set-up – I’d just forgotten what it felt like to drive it. That’s something no race sim can replicate, and clearly it had been long enough that even my visualisations of laps was off. I didn’t want to disgrace myself by being dog-slow (especially knowing my former close rivals are all now much faster), but I also didn’t want to throw it in the gravel or worse just trying to look fast when my head wasn’t.

Looking back at the onboard footage, it doesn’t look anywhere near as bad as it felt to me. My vision around the track was completely dropped in favour of trying to hit a few braking points without locking up, and trying to get the car moving around a bit in the corners without binning it.

It was horrible, but also instantly great to be back behind the wheel. I could feel myself getting better and better with each corner, and my lines were still good. I attacked my nemesis corner -Old Hairpin – right from that first lap, getting back on the power as soon as I turned in, and taking a massive chunk of the inside curb. A slight lift as the car ran deep over the exit curb, but then straight back on the power knowing I hadn’t needed it.

I knew I’d be owning that corner for the rest of the day, and it felt good!

My braking into the chicane was terrible. Far too early. Too worried about taking too much of the left and right curbs. Far too slow in.

I locked up at the hairpin, then found I couldn’t get second gear, but it was so close I figured I’d work out a way to select it, or just do it in third (slower, but better than missing gears).

I got second at the second hairpin, controlling the wheelspin in the instant before changing back up to third for the finish straight, and was already vowing to brake much deeper for Redgate, visualising how much curb I’d take to the late apex just after the service road…

By the fourth lap I was still terrible, but definitely getting there. I knew where I could gain full seconds of time, and exactly how I’d do that, and was already getting the car sliding around a few corners without worrying about catching it.

By the in-lap I was starting to use proper vision through the corners, and driving and trail braking more on autopilot. If only I’d had more laps… Could I scrape into my target top 20?

14th and 8 seconds off pole was a surprise. I was even 4th in Class B, but also found some cars had never even made it out after the sound checks.

Not that it mattered all that much to me whether I’d been 1st or 30th – I knew I was getting faster and knew exactly what I needed to do. Should I firm up the dampers? Can Glenn fix the notchy throttle pedal? Damn it was good to be back!

There were a lot of irate drivers around the paddock who’d missed laps or the session, but I was feeling very zen and focused.

My race target would be a clean start, get a few laps in trying to hang on the back of people, and then I was confident I’d be able to start pushing forward.

Word came through we’d be running another 10 minute qualifying session, and before I knew it I was putting my kit back on and sliding back into the car. I clipped the AIM Solo 2 into place on my dashboard (I’d forgotten it before) so I could get some sector times.

This time I joined the track with more other cars around me, and had a brisk outlap to get some heat into the Hoosier tyres, thinking I’d build up from the first lap. I absolutely nailed the final hairpin, trail braking to perfection whilst keeping it in 3rd, but having to lift on the exit behind another driver who’d missed a gear.

I still wasn’t even holding it flat out down Craners, but this time I had a light feather and kept it in 4th just to see if I could carry the speed through Old Hairpin, see how it pulled up the hill, and conserve the engine a little until I was ready to drop the hammer.

I was seeing green LED’s from the AIM Solo letting me know everything I was doing was getting faster but I knew I’d be needing 3rd next time.

I floated it through McLeans, threw it over the blind crest at Coppice and squeezed the loud pedal…

… and the sound changed.

I had about a second to look in my mirrors for any signs of bad stuff happening before a shockwave felt like it almost lifted the car up in the air. What I couldn’t see, and what the reflections in the back of my helmet showed, was the fireball:

I stood on the clutch, knowing the engine had seized, and had a good look in my mirrors to make sure I wasn’t on fire, coasting down the back straight looking for a marshals post with a big old fire extinguisher just in case…

As it turned out, the fire had already happened by this point! Adam Macaulay watched my onboard video when I uploaded it a few days later and pointed out that you can see the fireball of the explosion reflected in the back of my helmet!

I also didn’t know at the time I’d had blown so violently that shards of piston/engine casing had punctured my own left rear tyre!

After the session finished I walked back to the car and saw the huge hole in the engine. A quick check showed I didn’t seem to be leaking more oil, so I got towed back in, and that was the racing over for me.

So it should be a terrible tale of a disastrous day after years of waiting… but do you know what?

I was so happy with the way my driving was improving, and how the car was before that, that I just couldn’t feel down abut it all. Of course I was gutted not to have more track time, and not to experience that long-awaited intensity of a race start, but I’d already extinguished all of those Demons nestling in my head from my last blog.

It was so good seeing the other drivers again after so long, and great to have Glenn, my sister Michelle and her boyfriend Mark there helping out (and supplying so much food we could have fed the entire paddock!), and I still enjoyed just being back in the thick of it all.

The biggest let-down was my knee, which did not cope with the day at all, and prevented me wandering around the paddock as much as I’d like as I tried to hide how bad it was from the other drivers. It’s properly knackered with a torn meniscus, ganglion cyst, and 20 degree flexion deformity. Somewhat ironically, it was absolutely fine for the driving, but standing, walking and anything else outside the car killed it. Luckily I’m having surgery to fix it in a few days, so that will be the last gremlin out of my way.

Oh, and we might need a few bits of engine, too…

Thank you to everyone who helped out, welcomed me back! And to my supporters Primrose Hospice and The Birmingham Superprix Project, who I kept in the dark a little after letting them down with false-starts over the last few years.

As soon as my knee and engine are back together, I’ll be back out there again – and that shouldn’t take too long, this time!

Buying a Formula Vee racecar

30 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by in Formula Vee, Racing, Uncategorized

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Buying a Formula Vee racecar

Thanks to Tom for his comment on my last blog where he had several suggestions for future topics.  I will do a few blogs trying my best to answer and give whatever information I might have, and hopefully others will find that useful, too!

I suppose the first thing for most is getting a car.

If you’re willing to go through the roller coaster that is building your own car from the ground up, you have 4 options – building a car, buying a new car, buying a used car, or hiring a car.

Build it yourself

If you are inclined to build a car from scratch, it’s worth noting that Graham Gant has been steadily improving his Worms Eye View (WEV) for years, and there is some fascinating tech on that beast.  He’s a regular front-runner, and I’d highly recommend checking his car out in the paddock.

Perhaps at the other end of the spectrum, James Harridge and his Dad, Dave, have more recently used their karting expertise to build the Maverick.  I’m sure you’ll be seeing this right at the pointy end of things in 2016, after they proved at the Vee Festival it’s a winner.  In contrast to Graham’s tech, ask the Harridges to point out the chopped-up bits of old karts that make their chassis – and see if you can spot the Halfords socket used as the gear change shaft!  This is no rat car, though, and they know what they’re doing – the stand out point would be the only Formula Vee that has TRUE ‘zero roll’ rear suspension.

The biggest problem with building your own car, is you then have the massive task of infiltrating the black magic secret MI6 type depths of engines and cams and all kinds of things that will make you go glassy eyed or fume with frustrated rage.  Or just buy an engine from someone else and forever wonder if others have something that’s better!

Buying a new car

There are only a few manufacturers you can buy a new Formula Vee from.  

AHS are the most prominent, and as you might expect, they’re also bloody good, and the aptly named ‘Dominator’ hasn’t seen much that can touch it for years in the hands of Paul Smith.  The down side here is that it will set you back around 30,000 of your finest sterling!  I believe their Challenger car is a little cheaper, and a lesser evolution of the Dominator.

Contact Alan Harding at AHS and I’m sure he’ll be happy to give you more information.

You can also buy a brand spanking new GAC 01 – details here.

And I believe the final choice currently is a Storm from SG Race Engineering.

Buying a used car

The GAC’s, AHS’s and Storms are probably first on the wanted list, but if you’re buying it is worth noting that spending £20k+ on a car won’t necessarily mean somone in a sub-£3000, 20 year old Sheane, Scarab or Ray won’t disappear into the distance!  And there are people out there proving that the old cars are still competitive!

Because there are so many potentially competitive cars out there, they can pop up anywhere at any time.  The Formula Vee groups on Facebook ( Formula Vee Championship UK and Formula Vee UK ) are the best place to spot these, but people will also advertise them on the 750 Motor Club and Vee Centre websites, and you’ll even see them on Ebay!

There are also lots of cars sat in sheds in various states.  The Vee Centre are currently compiling a register to try and track down these cars, which will make it much easier for people to buy one.  Watch this space, and I’ll post more info once the register is up and running…

For most people, assuming you can store and transport your car, this is by far the cheapest option to go racing.

Hiring a car

If you have little or no mechanical skills (or interest!), or you just want to turn up at a track like your F1 hero and jump in a racing car, hiring is for you!

There are quite a few people doing this in Formula Vee, and it’s easy to see the appeal, if you can afford it. You’ll be looking at paying around £500 – £750+ per day (it’s hard to be more exact as most hirers will tailor the package to what you want), and obviously the more you pay you’ll get a (theoretically) better/newer car with full technical and mechanical support, or they’ll just give you the car to get on with it yourself. You’ll still need to pay the race entry fees on top, possibly fuel costs, and then you’ll also pay for any damages, or an agreed maximum fee towards repairs.

AHS are the kings here, with a huge inflatable bouncy castle thing over their stable of cars, a huge transporter bringing their cars to the track and the expertise of Alan Harding and his experienced crew. Bears Motorsport run a few cars, but you’d have to get in quick to get a seat from them. Contact them directly for further info (the links for both teams should take you to their websites).

Then there are a few independent people and teams with single cars that would be tough to list here as I’m not sure if the seats are free this year! I know Peter Studer has two cars for hire this year. If you ask on the Facebook pages they’ll tell you what’s available – and if you read this and have a car for hire feel free to comment with details.

If our own plans for a full team pan out, then Glenn Hay will have 4 cars on track by 2017 and be offering them for hire.

Trackside support

There is another option midway between buying a car and hiring one, and that is to buy your own car but then buy various levels of support for race days and/or maintaining your car between races. This is also very popular, and AHS and Bears are the main ones for this, too. For extra, they may also store your car and transport it to and from circuits for you – so that part may be of use if you don’t have anywhere to keep a car yourself.

——

As to what to look for if you’re buying a car – that’s a lot tougher.  Even if you’re buying a car that’s been a championship winner, it’s not to say all the best parts haven’t been butchered off it before it was put up for sale.  My best advice here would be to take someone who knows what to look for with you – or at the very least ask around about the car and the seller.

So those are your choices – and there’s something there for everyone!

I’ll stress again that the best ways of finding any of these is to ask the current Formula Vee people! Sign up to the Facebook groups, have a look at the links above, and get yourself down to a race meeting and have a chat to people!

Easy, isn’t it? Now you just have to get something sorted ready for Donington Park at the end of March!

***EDIT***

As an extra, there are a few contacts listed in the newly published series regulations:

Car suppliers and hirers:

Dominator
Alan Harding, AHS (Mechanical) Ltd,
Tel. 01455-553052/ 07989 414471
alan@formulavee.co.uk

GAC
Alan Woodward/Graham Card.
Tel. 01296 613222
http://www.vwracing.net
alan@vwracing.net

Leastone
Paul Heavey, Leastone Racing,
Kilmeague, Naas, Co. Kildare, Ireland
Tel. 00353 (0) 45 860658

Scarab
Andy Storer,
Tel. 01636 822033 / 07970 632874

Sheane
Peter Andrews, Centurion Motorsport
Tel. 0121 373 4426/07904102348
centurionmotorsport@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.centurionmotorsport.com

Storm
Steve Glasswell
Tel. 07500 836492
Stephen@sgmachining.co.uk

Race Car Hire & Repairs
Phill Foster, Bears Motorsport
Tel. 0121 742 2200/07976 715812
info@bearsmotorsport.co.uk

Osport, Storm
Formula Vee Team,Race Car
Hire,Preperation and Driver Coaching
Tony: 07920 425820
Jake 07917 166333
http://www.teamosport.com

 

 

A big old soppy thank you blog!

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

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A big old soppy thank you blog!

I’ve been holding off on a season review/thanks blog – mainly because I’m racing at the non-championship Formula Vee Festival this weekend at Brands Hatch! Also, I was kind-of hoping to be able to say that my wrist is better after the Donington crash, but sadly that is not the case…  And this will probably be the crappest post on this blog for most of you who read this stuff (and if you’re one of them, cheers for sticking with my ramblings!).

Anyway, I think I can now safely say that I have achieved my childhood dream.

I am a Racing Driver!

I have gone from playing with Matchbox cars on the living room carpet, to racing a full-on formula race car, and held my own out there, too! I have literally gone from no race experience – having never raced karts, raced anything at all, and not even done a car track day – to having a justifiable belief that I will finish in the top 10 of a national championship.

First and foremost I need to thank Glenn Hay – it’s been an honour and a privilege to have the help and support of a championship winner, and for him to even risk letting a total novice use his beautifully prepared Sheane has been amazing. He’s made sure I’m under no pressure at all, but in a way that’s made me want to get him even better results. He’s had to run around the paddock after me, push me and the car all over the place, and it’s 99.9% Glenn who’s slaved away on the car late into the night when I’ve had to admit I’m a bit of a mechanical numpty! I know he didn’t expect much from me as a driver, and the look on his face when I came into the holding area 11th at Snetterton was priceless!

I also have to thank fellow drivers Ben Miloudi for his advice and encouragement. Also James Harridge (who WILL be a championship winner!) for pre-race advice, braving the Silverstone Gestapo/Security to get me fuel, and race day chatter – and his mate Chris Kasch who I have a sneaking suspicion will also be on the grid at some point in the future. And Mike Oldknow and Nick Brown – who always race hard on track and have been big on advice!

When you race at a consistent pace, you find yourself mixing it up with the same people every race, and not only does this push you to beat them, but it’s good to chat to them between races and share advice. With this in mind, more thanks going out to:

Martin Snarey. He’s been a massive help to me, and we seemed to have a pattern going where I beat him in the first race, and then he beats me for race 2. I thought I might break this by beating him twice at Donington but then I cocked it up and he beat me twice instead! I’m hoping he returns to Vee next year, because not only has he been a major motivator on track, but he’s a thoroughly nice chap who’s always got time to chat, and the same can be said for all his race-day crew.

Tony Mitchell. I think Tony is one of the two people I’ve had more dices with than anyone. Again, he’s a great bloke off the track (I may as well not say this, because all the Vee drivers and crew are!), and I fully trust him to push me and stick overtakes on me safely. At Snetteron I finished a few hundreths of a second behind him, so I won’t get much of a closer finish!

Bill Stenning. This is the other car I’m normally to be found scrapping with. I managed to catch him for a chat at Donington, but weirdly before that had hardly spoken to him. I will try and chin-wag with you a bit more in the future!

Steve Bailey. His Dad used to race with Glenn in the early days of Vee, and he’s been nothing but encouraging to me since I was spectating.

Jesse Chamberlain and Jamie Harrison who are both coming on leaps and bounds, and happy to share advice with me. Also to Alex Jones, Ed Lowndes, Pete Belsey, Tim Probert (who says he’s never seen me without a smile on my face!), Sam Engineer, both Paul Smith’s, Wes Burton, Jack Wilkinson, Ian Jordan, Steve Ough (especially for pointing me the right way at Snetterton when I got lost in the paddock!), Peter Studer and Martin Farmer (who I hope gets back on the grid full time for next year). Oh, and speaking of part-timers, Chris Wilshire who’s been at the trackside this year but hopefully will also get back out there with us – He’s another driver I’ve been harassing for years with questions, and poking around his Sheane to see what he’s got that we need!

Also Graham Gant and his mate (told you I’m crap with names!) who proper saved our lives at Silverstone when we’d worked through any chance to get food, and they brought us over a few slices of pizza and a hot coffee!

And the fellow n00bs I’ve shared race nerves and new driver briefings with: Oliver Williams (you’re far too young to be that fast!), Francis Twyman, Patrick Liedke, Jack Davies…

And of course Alan Harding whose magic transporter of tools has saved many stricken Vee drivers in their hour of need! I think he was the one who came through with a steering link to get us out for race 2 at Donington.

Dan from JooVuu – who has been a huge help in making sure I’ve got onboard footage of every race. It’s the best learning tool you can have, and their Mobius camera has been outstandingly reliable, and they’ve sent me anything I’ve asked for to help out or replace components!

There are others who I haven’t had much of a chance to meet, yet, but I’m sure I will!

Not to forget all the brilliant marshals without who none of us could do this, the officials, and the trackside photographers!

And to my gorgeous fiancée Julie Kimberley, who’s had to put up with my outright obsession with all things RACECAR for the last few years, and shown nothing but support!

Lastly, I also need to apologise to anyone I’ve missed here. Even more so, I want to apologise to anyone I may have unintentionally blanked at race meetings – I’m still completely overwhelmed by the whole scene, and this combined with a crap memory for faces, an even worse one for names and matching up the drivers when they’re not in their cars, adrenaline/stress-fueled pre-race blinkers, and my pretty shoddy social skills means I’ve undoubtedly offended a few. It is a massive task for me to be thrown in with over 100 brand new people (drivers and their friends/family/crew) and to try and get to know them all! That said, I’ll chat to anybody, so if you think I’m missing you out PLEASE come and say hello.

You’ve all made me feel really welcome as a new driver – and whilst I suppose that doesn’t matter away from the racing, it does make it all a much more enjoyable experience!

I’m looking forward to seeing you all out there next year, and this weekend if any of you are doing the Festival http://www.msvracing.co.uk/cars/calendar/2015.aspx  

Post Race Analysis – Snetterton 300

18 Friday Sep 2015

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Post Race Analysis – Snetterton 300

Overall, I’m very happy with the weekend!  I brought the car back safe and well, didn’t take anyone else out, and got 11th place in the first race!  You may have noticed me punching the air when I saw the chequered flag, there!  It felt like I’d won!

For my second ever race weekend, that’s not bad going!

I am still playing it safe on track, because I don’t want to kill the car, and realise that I am still learning, and have a long way to go.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m pushing harder than I’ve ever pushed before, but as I’m doing that, it’s like I’m stretching my own limits, and I’m fully aware of how much harder I can use the car and still be beneath my own ragged edge.

At Snetterton, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I could be 5 seconds quicker per lap and still not be overstepping my or the cars limits.

I actually didn’t drive very well, and most of that is due to lack of preparation.  I simply didn’t study the track to know it well enough before I got there. Testing the day before as many other drivers did would have helped, of course, but we have a very tight budget to work to.

Watching my own onboard videos and seeing myself on the videos from other cars is a brilliant learning tool and very entertaining, but there’s no hiding your shortcomings, either.

My lines through the infield were a bit shoddy, and I should have been turning in much harder just about everywhere, lifting off less, braking later… The first corner alone I was pretty terrible at, and it’s exactly the kind of wing-and-a-prayer corner that I love and am good at!

I also wasn’t trail-braking enough, and I KNOW that that’s where massive chunks of time can be had!

And I love doing it!  That’s where I get a proper buzz of satisfaction from racing a Vee – being right on the edge, sliding it into a corner…

Tim Probert actually came up to me after having followed me in a race on track (before he pissed off into the distance!), and said “We’re going to have to teach you trail-braking!”.

This was backed up speaking to Paul Smith (note: He started dead last in race 2, having spent most of the night rebuilding his engine after killing it in race 1, and then was in the lead by lap 3!  Truly amazing stuff – and he clocked a 2:09 lap time to my best of 2:17!) who said it was weird being with us lot at the back end, as we were braking so much earlier into the corners.

I guess that easing into things this way and not going all-out is the sensible approach to be taking. I don’t want “my ambition to outweigh my talent” until I know for sure I have the practical skills to back up the theory that I’ve studied.

Donington Park is the next race and season finale on 3rd October. Again, we won’t be testing there before the race, but I know the layout well and have been on a bike track day there. It’s also my ‘home’ race, so there should be some people I know coming to watch – and qualifying and both races are all on the Saturday.

I’d like to get a top 10 result to close the season, but in reality this is the first track that all the other drivers will know very well, so it will be tough to get inside the top 20!

Whatever happens, I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun!

Driving Silverstone International

28 Friday Aug 2015

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Driving Silverstone International

I’m still buzzing from the weekend, and have woken up every single morning since then knowing how I can go faster, and how I should have done each corner better!

This blog won’t be an expert guide to driving the Silverstone International circuit, but it will be my notes on what I did, what worked, and what didn’t work.  Hopefully this will come in use for the next time I race there.

I still haven’t uploaded the qualifying footage – this is because the way I drove in the races was so vastly different that there’s not much to show for my qualifying, other than a bit more action.  Qualifying (and testing the day before) was me driving as fast as I could but still safely – that turned out to be so much slower than the other Vee drivers that I had to totally change my driving style and push way past where I thought my limits were!

So, let’s do a lap.

Turn 1: Abbey

Every Vee driver will tell you that this one is flat out.

From braking hard in testing, I did get braver through the day, and it might well be flat if you’re brave enough and get the line perfect.

There are a lot of entry points, but you want to be as far onto the left curb as you can on the entry, and turning in hard to a blind apex.  At best, I’d breath off the throttle, turn in and let the lift-off oversteer start to bring the back wheels around, then get back on the power and drift out wide towards the curbs on the exit.

There is a lot of time to be had here, and even the slower cars were doing this with a lift off the throttle, and absolutely hammering through the turn.  Get it right and it’s a shouting-in-your-helmet with joy moment!

Overtaking is possible with a bit of soft trail braking to keep you in tight, just in case the car on the outside doesn’t lift off for you.

Turn 2: Farm Curve

This is fully on the power.  The front tyres were skipping  through the turn as I tried to drag it back over to the left side of the track, but I don’t really know why I wasn’t just letting the car run out to the edge of the track on the right, anyway?  There’s still enough time to get back over to the left as you’re on the brakes…

Turn 3: Village

Brake hard just after the curb has started on the left side and whack it in to the ‘hairpin’, dropping down to third as you do.  Some were keeping the exit tight ready for the next left-hand flick, but I found using all the track was the way to go.

Turn 4: The Link

This is just a left flick that you can do flat, but if you’ve exited wide from the previous turn may find you need a brief lift off to get you turned in on the tighter line.  Mid-turn there is a big bump followed by a fair old drop, so expect to be in the air and sideways, angled towards the left side of the track…

Turn 5: Becketts

Stabbing the brakes as you land, you don’t have much time to get lined up on the left before you have to turn right.  This is your exit onto the Hangar Straight, so very important.  It’s a no-brainer to sacrifice the last corner to make sure you get a good exit here, because you’ll carry any extra speed all the way down the straight.  You can run out wide onto the other circuit, but watch out for the cones they may have put out, and make sure you’re back on the International track before the green stuff, or you’ll be at risk of being called for track limits.

Turn 6: Stowe

You need to get your brain to stay flat on the power until the impossibly late curb on the left. brake short and hard here and then trail brake to a late apex.  The curbing on the left hand side actually tightens on the exit, so it’s easy to run out from the apex too early and end up on the astroturf.

Gearing choice is split here, and depends really on your car.  I found snatching 3rd on the way into the turn upset the car too much, but you get better drive out.  I kept it in 4th through the whole turn, but the exit felt slow.  I did notice Pete Belsey was changing down to 3rd on the exit, last year, but didn’t get a chance to try this as there were still some worries about over-revving the engine.

I know I could have grabbed a lot more time here, and I was getting braver every time I took it.

There are loads of overtaking opportunities here on the brakes into the turn, or by cutting back for the exit and the short blast into…

Turn 7: Vale

The corner that I don’t think I ever did to my satisfaction – this section was definitely my weakest/slowest.

There is a crest just before the start of the curb, and some nasty bumps that are the reason I was running such hard front damping. Any softer and the front wheels pattered around like the desperate hands of a drunken faller trying to keep his face off the ground.

It’s the only corner you’re braking really hard for, but I tried braking everywhere from the crest to about the mid-point of the curb, and couldn’t nail it.

Turn-in is at the end of the curb, but again this wasn’t ideal.

Either way it’s really a sacrifice corner, because you need to be setting up for the main straight through this complex.

A right turn is immediately after, and you can compromise your line into it by being far to the right and lifting to get turned in, or try to get out of the first part of Vale as far to the left as you can and try to power through.

Turn 8: Club

Club starts with an easy curve to the right, where you need to be heading straight at the curb on the left to get the speed up,  before the fast apex leading onto the straight. This should be flat, but beware as, much like the pit straight on the National track, there is a big hard concrete wall to the inside that you really don’t want to be spinning into.

I was at 7000rpm when I hit the exit curb, so was having to shift very quickly to fourth – there wasn’t much I could do about this, and so was the hardest section on the engine.

Also remember the finish line is a fair way before the start line, so get any last lap dives up the inside done early or it’ll all be for nothing!

My fastest lap was a 1:21.33 (avg. speed 81.89mph) when I was reeling in Ed Lowndes and Alex Jones, but from the footage I had a huge lift off in Club at the start of the lap to avoid a slower car. Although I took Abbey with probably my smallest breath ever off the throttle, the rest of the lap wasn’t particularly outstanding – so I know I can take a big chunk out of that.

I need to find another 3 seconds to be up with the leaders. 1 second I’m sure will be there. 2? Possibly, if I up my game considerably.

I was expecting to be 8-10 seconds off the pace, so I’m pretty chuffed with that for my first time out in a Sheane that was built back in 1995, and hasn’t had any modifications other than lowering the rear!

I can’t wait to see how far I can take the car! If my performance wasn’t a fluke, I can’t see a reason why I can’t put myself in the top 10, with a lot of hard work, a few set up tweaks, very hard work, and a bit of luck!

On the other hand, Silverstone International is the only track the other drivers don’t know so well, and their experience will make things a lot tougher at Snetteron and Donington…

My First Race! Silverstone International 22/08/15

24 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by in ARDS Test, Fitness, Formula Vee, Racing, Rules & Regulations, Technique

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My First Race! Silverstone International 22/08/15

Race time.

This was the peak of my fear. This was all unknown. What if I miss my place on the grid? What if I stall it at the start? I’d never even practised a race start in the dry, and even the wet ones after spinning last week were on my time and not to a set of lights!

I started my engine, took a couple of deep breaths, and followed the other Vees out of the holding area onto the track…

As I pulled up to the grid the marshals pointed my into place, showing me the exact line to stop at. I was calm and in the zone, but as the 5 second board was displayed my visor fogged up as I realised I was breathing quickly and heavily.

I got control as the red lights came on above the start line, keeping the revs up and slowing my breathing and heart rate down, and dropped into the zone as the lights flashed out.

I reacted so quickly that I actually hesitated because nobody else around me seemed to be moving. I got an ok start, but had to lift almost immediately as I couldn’t get around the car ahead.

37 cars piled into the first corner with wheels hanging out everywhere, twitching as everyone tried to find a gap.

I stayed out wide and drove around the outside of the track, having to drift wide to avoid people, and finding some bugger had put traffic cones there! I smashed into one with the left front suspension.

I kept the throttle open and the cone flew away, and the suspension looked ok as we all piled into the next turn.

The rest of the race is just a blur. I settled into the racing lines and found I was getting faster every lap. Total confidence in the little old Sheane as I pushed harder, braked less, turned in faster.

I stuck a few overtakes on people, and avoided spinning cars.

I found my car came out of the corners really strong, and after I passed people I could reel in the next car ahead even down the Hangar Straight.

I was enjoying it, cackling madly as I nailed a corner here and there. I was battling with names I’ve been watching racing Vee for years, and coming out ok!

I pulled in Nick Brown, and as he got sideways onto the Hangar straight I got a good exit, passing him into the braking area, and he switched back on the exit to regain his position, but then lost the back end through the next turn.

I had nowhere to go, and flicked the wheel right to try and get around the back of him and straight into the gravel trap.

The nose cone took a battering, but I missed Nick by millimeters, and got back on the track in a shower of gravel, shaking the wheel and hoping none had got into the calipers.

I got back the places I’d lost and found myself with a clear track ahead. Knowing it must be near the end, I got my head down to make sure I dropped the cars behind me – I was having this one!

One of the things you can’t appreciate from the outside is after the chequered flag, as you do your cooling down lap, the marshals wave to you. This actually makes you feel really special, and I almost got emotional as I gave them all a thumbs up as I passed.

We were guided into park ferme where I jumped out and chatted to Glenn and the other drivers excitedly.

I’d done it!

I learned that I’d actually taken 17th place overall, and 4th in Class B – massively exceeding my own expectations, and at last I felt like I should be out there, and had proved that. Better still, I was only around 3 seconds a lap off the pace of the leaders!

Race 2 was more of the same, but with a slightly worse start, and I knocked another half a second off my best time. I found that I could trail brake into corners and slide the back end out just enough to get me through the faster turns quicker, then get straight back on the throttle. You have to get these cars sliding to be quick.

I won’t go into more detail about the races, as this has been far too long already, and you can watch the onboard videos for yourselves!

I found I’d got myself up to 18th place and 5th in class – but better yet was passing Ed Lowndes into the very last corner. He’d been the car 20 seconds ahead of me that I couldn’t even see in the first race!

To top off an already awesome day, I was given the Driver Of The Day Award!

I know I can go faster, and so can the car, so there is more to come. With a bit of luck, I can’t see why I can’t get a top 10 place with the Sheane.

Glenn has a few modifications he wants to make, and we’re working together very well changing set-ups (told you my time playing Forza 4 wasn’t wasted!).

So that was my first ever race. It’s still all a bit surreal.

All the drivers and crews are a great bunch, and I can’t wait to get back out there!

I hope you enjoy the videos, and thank you all for reading this and your support. I hope this blog has helped show people that you CAN go from nothing to racing driver on a very limited budget, and you can live your dream.

And seriously, get out there and do it! Now I’ll be keeping you updated on the equally as hard progress forward from here, to try and climb up the order and see how far I can really take this.

I still have a Hell of a lot more to learn!

***EDIT***

Onboard videos of both races here:

Silverstone International – Testing and Qualifying

23 Sunday Aug 2015

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Silverstone International – Testing and Qualifying

We went to Silverstone on Friday 21 August to test – my 3rd ever test, and 2nd dry one.

I steadily built up the pace in the first two 30 min sessions, before disaster struck in the 3rd one!

I was blasting down Hangar Straight when I suddenly lost power, and saw clouds of oil smoke in my mirrors… I rolled into the pits fearing the worst, and Glenn soon found that a piston had ‘picked up’ and trashed itself and the barrel. We think this was most likely caused by dodgy petrol – even though Glenn has always used Shell V-Power, and it’s my primary choice for my bikes!

Glenn’s skill got a new piston and barrel in by late evening, with a massive special thanks to fellow driver Graham Gant and his mate Paul(?) for donating half a pizza which saved our lives as we couldn’t go anywhere to get food!

Race day. After spending the night at the circuit in Glenn’s VW camper (nearly 40 years service and still towing the race car!), I woke up feeling the stress.

James Harridge (who wasn’t racing, unfortunately) drove me to get some more fuel, as we couldn’t risk what we had. I had to get to a New Driver Briefing with all the other n00bs before I could go out, then get the car scrutineered.

I decided in qualifying to short-shift at 6000rpm to try and save the engine because we weren’t sure what killed the piston, and I at least wanted to get a race. Most of all, I had to do a minimum of 3 laps (fastest and next best lap times would decide grid positions for both races), and had to keep the car in one piece.

I took it safely but quickly, staying out of trouble, but unfortunately someone spun in front of me just before the start line, ruining the fastest lap I’d managed and also the next one as I had to stand on the brakes to avoid his car.

Then, as I pulled into the pit lane the engine cut out. I thought that was game over, as it wouldn’t start… Luckily it was just because we hadn’t got the tiny battery on charge over night, and everything else was fine.

I qualified 29th and 28th for the races.

It’s easy to watch the slower cars racing in Formula Vee, and you like to think that you’d easily beat them… I found out that even the ‘slow’ people out there in the UK championship are REALLY fast! Much better than I was doing.

I had to reset my brain.

I’d followed Ben Miloudi briefly as he passed me, and noted how he was braking for a much shorter time than I was, and then just throwing the car into the corners at a speed that was mind blowing to me!

I tried it tentatively on the last lap and was surprised to find my car made it! There is no way I’d have made the corners at that speed on a bike without the front washing out.

I chatted to a lot of drivers through the day, and listened to all the amazing advice they gave me. I had to put my trust in them and in the car, and just go for it. It was either that or give in to the doubts creeping in about whether I should even be out there with these real racing drivers. All my time, energy and money wasted? I wasn’t good enough to mix it with them, as I’d greatly underestimated the skill levels in Formula Vee, and I didn’t have those skills…

Hell no! I realised I had to forget almost everything I’d learned to get through the ARDS test. I trail-brake to the apex on my bikes, so I’d have to do this in the car – braking in a straight line and then turning into the corners had to go, if I were to even get close to the other drivers.

Last weeks wet test had done a surprising amount of damage to my confidence in the car, but this was now my time to properly test myself – I couldn’t let myself down, and I couldn’t let Glenn down after all the work he’d put in!

My First Race Is Approaching!

22 Monday Sep 2014

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My First Race Is Approaching!

“Life is racing.  Anything before or after is just waiting” – Steve McQueen


After a lot of waiting as my car is being built and prepared, a lot has happened all of a sudden.

We decided to set a target of entering the last round of the UK Formula Vee Championship at Donington Park on 4/5 October 2014.  It would still be a bit tight, but having a target forces you to push, so with exactly one month to go, I paid my entry fees… and then went to Spain for a couple of weeks.

This meant that whilst Glenn was working away at the car, I still hadn’t even sat inside it yet – until only last night, with less than 2 weeks before the first race!


I was expecting the car to feel uncomfortable and awkward, and was pleasantly surprised to find it quite comfortable.  The seating position is almost perfect for me for the steering wheel and pedals, and once I’d contortioned myself around the chassis and dropped into the seat the car fit me quite well.

I did find that changing from 3rd to 4th gear means my knuckles brush against a metal tube, so will be expecting a bit of pain after a few hours pounding around trying not to cock up the right handed gear shifts.

Which leads me nicely on to testing.

We are hoping to do the morning session at Mallory Park in *panics a bit* 2 days time!  This looks a bit tight, so we may revise that and try and get a day at Llandow.  Failing that, it will have to be the test day at Donington Park 2 days before the actual race!

I’m prepared to do that, but I think things would be much better if I can have some time in the car just to get used to the feel of it.  I have no idea what to expect from a single seat race car – except that it will be very different to anything I’ve ever experienced before.

If I can get a few hours driving on my own, and be comfortable with that, then maybe I can aim to do more at Donington than stay out of everyone’s way and get the car home in one piece.

I hope to get cameras onto the car (or even a helmet camera) for the testing, so that will be up on YouTube, and will also be studied to help me improve as much as I can in this short window we have before the race.

I’m not expecting to sleep much before that!