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James Cater Racing

~ Realising the childhood dream…

James Cater Racing

Tag Archives: preparation

Progression

23 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Technique, Uncategorized

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Tags

coaching, driving skills, formula vee, improvement, iRacing, iZone Driver Performance, preparation, progression, training

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I am faster than I was.

The only problem is that everyone else has got faster, too!

This can make it feel like you’re not making much progress towards the front of the grid, but does have the bonus that you’re scrapping with the same people, which can be a lot of fun.

People seem to get faster in leaps, almost like unofficial divisions. The way I see it, I have two more of these ‘leaps’ to go until I’m up there, fighting for race wins. Whether I’ll ever actually be able to make those leaps is another matter…

At the moment I’m hanging around the fringes of the top 10, and the next leap will get me fighting for the top 6. At Anglesey I stayed right on the back of the lead chain until the end of the first lap, and then started falling back (or technically they all started getting faster and I couldn’t match the pace). So, driving well and with a bit of luck, I can scrape in the top 10 but that’s about as much as I can hope for.

You may have noticed that I’m being brutally honest with myself, here, and I’m saying that this extra speed is still purely in me.

Sure, the Sheane would benefit from new Ohlins suspension all round, but would that really make me faster? I think I’d find a few tenths of a second, but it wouldn’t be a ‘leap’ forward.

There are a lot of people in Formula Vee who buy a new car expecting it to carry them forward, and in almost every case the only profound effect it has is on their wallet! And that is because whatever car they’re in, the limiting factor is still themselves!

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If you put me in Paul Smith’s all-singing, all-dancing Dominator, I have no illusions about the fact I wouldn’t go much faster. The best I could hope for would be that the new car made me feel more comfortable and confident, which may help me towards making that next ‘leap’. Otherwise I’d be much better off spending that money on a bunch of test days to pound around the track.

These thoughts were backed up at Cadwell, where eventual championship winner Ben Miloudi drove my car for RTV. Despite me thinking I was giving it about as much as the car could do, Ben battled for the lead from his first time out in the car!

I’m certain that if you put any of the front-running Vee drivers in any car from the rest of the field, they would still be front-running drivers – just like if you put anyone else into their cars they’d still be around the same speed as they normally were.

Alex Jones is one driver who has successfully made one of these ‘leaps’ – and he did it after driving a new car. However, this new car probably wasn’t the key. Alex had a load of professional driver coaching and worked really hard off the track to re-focus his efforts as a racer, and I think all of that paid off far more than his new car.

So is coaching the way forward? Quite possibly – but bear in mind you can’t suction cup the instructor to your car if you race single seaters, so that will make learning much tougher than having someone sat next to you. And it’s expensive, relatively. It’s not really an option for me, as I don’t have any spare budget at all, and driver coaches don’t work for free – especially for a new 40 year old driver who’s not expecting to quit his day job and reach Formula 1 in this lifetime.

A cheaper option is to have online coaching on a sim like iRacing. Here you will be coached on everything you need to drive faster, but then of course you’d have to translate that into real life – which is easier said than done when carrying 20mph into a corner can have you upside down and on fire in a gravel trap!

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I know a few drivers in Vee have also used iZone Driver Performance at Silverstone. This seems like a great idea – you basically pay around £160+VAT for 2 hours on a driving simulator. For that you get a full performance report showing your strengths and weaknesses. I haven’t looked into this too much but it does seem like the most viable option, and then no doubt there’d be a blog all about my experience – so watch this space!

The other option is to make sure you listen to what people are saying, read everything you can, and try and put the thought out of your head that you might crash and kill your car!

This year I do intend to push myself a lot harder, so expect me to try and put that into words as I figure out how to get myself further up towards the pointy end of things!

It’s not that long to go, now – I’ll see you out there soon!

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A Walk Through A Race Weekend

21 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

750 motor club, formula vee, guide, preparation, race day, walk through, what happens

A Walk Through A Race Weekend

When you first start racing it can all be a bit daunting when you become faced with the finer intricacies of getting through a race weekend.

As some of you will be reading this thinking of jumping in a Formula Vee for 2017, I thought you may find it useful.

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Arriving at the circuit

More and more people seem to arrive the evening before. The main advantage here is that you can (hopefully) secure a spot in the paddock with the rest of the Vee’s. This is especially important if you have the garages, as most of the time there won’t be enough space for all the cars. Oh, and you want to be finding out where you are by looking in the Final Instructions that will be mailed out with tickets, or published online about a week before the race.

If you are testing at the circuit then you may have to move after your test sessions have ended.

Once you’ve unloaded your car and got yourself set up (tent up, sleeping back in the bag of your car/van, camper set up) then there will be thre options for you: relax, have a walk around the track or get the car scrutineered.

I’d advise always getting scrutineered the evening before, if this is offered, as it give you a lot more time in the morning, and possibly a lie in!

At this point, if you’re doing it the Posh Way, you can head off to your hotel or B&B. Otherwise there will probably be a few other drivers mooching around the paddock pub or restaurant.

If you’re getting to the circuit on the race day itself, be prepared to find you can’t get anywhere near the rest of teh Vee drivers, and you have to set up camp next to a few bins and an ice cream van (not entirely a bad thing!). This will make life harder because you won’t be able to see all the other drivers disappear to some meeting, or be able to follow them when they drive off to the assembly area etc. Not then end of the world – but not advisable until you’ve done a few meetings!

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Race Day!

Have a bit of a panic, now – but remember to try and enjoy it!

First off – have a look at the programme. The times your qualifying and race sessions start are pretty important – but there are actually a few more important things here.

Signing on – Sometimes you can do this the evening before, too. You need to show your race licence and sign a register, and then you get a programme and a slip of paper that you need to get your car scrutineered.

Check the times that you can take your car to the scrutineering bay. All classes are allocated slots so they can scrutineer the whole class together, and get you all done in time to get out on track. Stick to the time, and be prepared to stand around in the queue for ages.

If you’re hiring they’ll probably do all this for you, but the scrutineer will still want to check your helmet and race kit so make sure these are available.

When they check your car over they’re primarily making sure it’s safe to race, so will be checking bearings, fire extinguisher, dates on seatbelts and brake fluid, so you need to strip off all the bodywork and have a few spanners on hand just in case. If you’re using a camera you must have it mounted so they can check it’s in a safe position and all secure. They will also check things like your rain light is working, and possibly get you to start the car and then kill the engine with the kill switch.

They will also have a magical gripe list of stuff to challenge you on, so you might have to fight your case! I’ve been pulled up in the past for things like having a tinted visor and having someone else’s name on my race suit… Stay calm and polite and do what they tell you, or you might not be racing!

The first time they scrutineer your helmet you need to pay a small fee (about £2) for a sticker, too.

New Driver Briefing

If it’s your first time racing at a circuit IN THAT CONFIGURATION (and that bit is key), then you must attend a new drivers briefing. These are normally about every 30 mins for the first few hours of the day, and times will be in your final instructions. You can be fined for not attending this before you go out on track. They will tell you where you need to wait before you go out on track, where you need to go when you come back in, and other information and helpful advice/warnings. This is where it all starts to get real, and if the butterflies haven’t started yet, they will do here!

These are for all drivers from all series, so you won’t just be with Vee drivers.

Driver Briefings

These will only be for the drivers in your series, and you won’t have one of these at every race. They are generally to bring things like driving standards to the attention of your race series. They can be held or called for at any time of the day, so if you ever look up and notice all the other drivers have disappeared, ask someone! Also note that you may well have a new driver briefing AND one of these on the same day – you must attend both. Most of the time these will alos be listed in your final instructions, but be aware of flash meetings arranged by word of mouth.

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Now things are flying along, and you’ll feel the buzz in the air!

Try to keep an eye on the programme in case the schedule is ahead or behind. You need to be ready about 30 mins before your qualifying session – as in strapped in and ready to go out on track, so make sure you’ve done everything you need to.

Again, if you’re a hire driver most of this will be done, and so you just need to make sure you’re ready to jump in the car and race! If you’re running your own car, or want to get a bit more hands-on, do these:

Fill up with fuel. This is easy to forget. If in doubt, just brim the tank – the chances are a few kg of petrol won’t be the difference between pole and last row. I once ran out of fuel when going for a best ever position at Donington because we adjusted a few things and forgot to compensate…

Check and adjust tyre pressures. Again very easy to forget. You’ll get a different answer whoever you ask – but Hoosier recommend 16psi in the front tyres and 18psi in the rear. As a base setting you won’t go far wrong with this. If it’s raining then you want more air in the tyres to open the grips up and help the tyres heat up a bit more. Some drivers go well into the 20s here, but if you’re around the 19-20 mark in the wet it won’t do you any harm. Tyre pressures are a black art, and if you’re new you won’t have a lot to gain here…

Adjust suspension settings. Another black art. Most of the suspension set-up is done the night before we put the car on the trailer – camber, castor, toe, rake etc and it’s all specific to your car and your suspension and weight distribution and driving style. It’s tough to even hint at a base setting here, so this is why you should have tested!

Other driver may help you out here, but be wary they might not know as much as you think, either!

These settings will pretty much stay the same on the car, unless we’re having some kind of issue, and it’s where Glenn’s experience comes in.

What we do adjust at the track are the dampers and roll bars. The Sheane only has one adjuster on the dampers for both compression and rebound – which keeps things simple, but isn’t ideal if, like me, you’d like to separate the two settings. The more expensive shocks with have separate adjusters to fine tune things more. Either way, the biggest quick change you can do with a Vee is with the dampers. In general, you want these softer in the wet, and the harder you have them, the faster your reactions need to be to catch a spin.

The roll bars front and rear should also be softened in the wet, but remember changing something at the front may well also change what the rear is doing. Get advice off an expert, if you can! Or play lots of video games where you can play around and learn what the settings do…

Noise Testing. Before you drive into the holding area, you’ll see a couple of marshals there holding strange long sticks and a clipboard. Stop near them and they’ll tell you to hold the throttle at three quarters or a specific RPM to make sure you’re not above the noise limits. At most tracks this will be about 106db, so if your silencer is any good you should be fine… if you’re over you may find you’re excluded from all the racing and putting the car back on the trailer. But no pressure!

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Qualifying

Get to the holding area nice and early – but not too early or you might be the first on track with nobody to follow. At most tracks they will let you out on track in whatever order you’ve arrived at the holding area.

You must do at least 3 laps to qualify for a race – so get these in before any heroics. If the worst happens go and see the Clerk of the Course as soon as you can, and they may be able to get you to follow the course car around for a few laps between sessions or over the lunch break. Take your best puppy-dog eyes.

Once the session is over you’ll come in off the track, guided by marshals, and either stop in parc ferme where nobody does anything, you chat to the other drivers, and then push your car back to your paddock place, or they’ll let you go straight back.

Timing sheets. Relax, and wait for the timing sheets to be published at race control. Most races are now covered by live timing that you can get to on the 750 website, so you may find your Mum is already ringing you to find out why you’re the slowest car out there!

Have a look at where you wil be starting from on the grid, and take note of which cars will be around you so you know where to line up.

Recheck tyre pressures and make any tweaks to dampers/roll bars, and remember to refuel!

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Race 1

You need to go to the holding area again, but this time the marshals will line you up in grid order. When they give the signal, start up and follow everyone to the grid. Have a look to your side and try and find a marker to remember where your grid spot is – a post or advertising hoarding on the pit wall is a good one to look out for. The Vee’s will normally have a ‘Green Flag Lap’ – this means they wave the green flag and you all leave the grid and do one lap to warm your tyres and sight the circuit conditions, before returning to your grid spot.

This time look at the boards that are displayed from the start position. These boards say stuff like “3 minutes until start” but ignore that – it’s usually seconds between these boards and then you’ll see the red start lights come on.

Give the inside of your fogged-up visor one last wipe and set your revs, because those lights are about to blink out any second!

After surviving this you’ll then come back in, and much the same as after practice, you’ll either go to parc ferme, get sent straight back to the paddock, or if you’re really lucky be in the top 3 and have to stop somewhere in pit lane to speak to the commentator.

Race 2

This is exactly the same as race 1 – but check the time sheets as this time you’ll be gridded up according to your second best lap from qualifying.

Awards Ceremony

At most races, there will be a brief awards ceremony for A and B class, so try and attend and do some clapping and cheering! There may also be some information about ‘stuff’ relayed here, so it is useful to go along.

Then you load up, get out of there (or collect your card if you’re getting your rookie signatures done), and that’s it!

The rest of your day will be spent drinking water, going to the toilet, and finding out you can’t go more than 5 steps in the paddock before you end up chatting to someone else for the next hour!

Enjoy it all while you can!

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Things Nobody Tells You About

11 Thursday Aug 2016

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

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driver briefing, harness, helpful advice, need to know, pre race, preparation, safety pin, secret, things, visor fogging, waving to marshals

Things Nobody Tells You About

There is a lot to take your attention when you turn up to a race meeting. It’s a massive help if you can ‘buddy’ up with someone else for the first few races, so that you can learn how things work on a race day, where you’re supposed to go, and when.

But even then there are some things that will catch you off guard, because nobody remembers to tell you about them.

I get a lot of questions from new and potential racers, and have discovered some of these myself that hard way. So when you roll into the holding area ready to go out for your first time, and a marshal leans in and yells “IS YOUR PIN OUT?” – hopefully you’ll know what they’re talking about!

New driver briefings

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If it’s your first time racing at that circuit configuration, then you MUST attend a short New Drivers Briefing.  These are normally held every 30 mins in the morning, last 5-10 mins, and you can get a hefty fine if you miss them!  A couple more things to note on these: 1) Check you’re using the same configuration, even if you’ve raced at that track before – i.e. if you’ve raced at Donington on the National circuit, if you’re racing on the GP (with the Melbourne Loop), you need to go to the briefing. 2) These are in addition to any other driver briefings – so you may well find you need to go to both on the same day.  Check your Final Instructions for details.

How to do your belts up

I still remember sitting in my car the day before my first race, then having to telephone Ben Miloudi to ask how the Hell you’re supposed to do the 6 point harness up properly!  It seems easy, but it’s a fact that even experienced racers are still doing it wrong.  Get used to putting your belts on, and adjusting the straps etc – because you’ll find yourself having a flap before you go out on track, get pulled by the marshals for having done it wrong, or at worst get trapped in your car when you need to get out.

Taking the pin out

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There is a fire extinguisher system in all racecars, with an internal and external way to activate it.  To make sure you don’t accidentally foam yourself whilst scrabbling to get in your car, there is a safety pin on this system somewhere, and before you go out on track you may be asked if you’re taken the pin out.  Find out where the pin is, and how to use it!

Sign on before scrutineering

The first thing you should do when you arrive at a circuit is go and sign on.  When you do this, they give you a slip of paper that you have to hand to a scrutineer when they are checking your car.  Without this slip of paper, you may find you just waited in line for an hour, only to be told they can’t check your car. You might also want to take a few spanners so you can take bits off the car.  And then don’t lose the ticket that the scrutineer gives you to stick on your car to say it’s been passed…

Waving at marshals

Don’t switch that YouTube onboard video off after the driver crosses the finishing line!  Now keep watching – the driver is waving as he does his cool down lap.  This is unlikely to be at his fan club waving banners around the track in a Formula Vee race… No – the driver is actually waving to the Orange Army – the marshals stood at their posts!  We do it because it’s nice to thank them, and also because they will be waving back at you, and you get a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside!  Feel free to also wave at your wife and kids, if they’ve prized their hands off from covering their eyes after your dodgy last lap antics.

Hit the brakes!

You’re going to spin your car in the middle of a filthy great pack of race cars.  Don’t just sit there swearing/crying/waiting for the bang – stand on the brake pedal (and the clutch, if you think you’re going to get going again).  This will lock up your wheels and so you’ll slide in a predictable direction, and the other drivers might not clatter into you.  If you don’t do this, the tyres may grip and send you flying off at very odd angles, almost certainly into the path of someone trying to avoid you.

Plug ’em up

Your engine is about 6″ away from your ears, and putting out the same kind of noise as a jet plane taking off.  This is Not A Good Thing for your hearing.  To save you going deaf or getting tinnitus in later life, use some ear plugs.  A cheap pair stolen from the factory floor will do the job, or you can get special custom-fitted ones made up for you.

Fogging Hell

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As a biker, I was prepared, but if you’re not used to wearing a helmet you’re in for a shock as the visor will fog up on the inside, and you won’t be able to see a thing!  This will happen mostly when you’re coming around to line up for the race start, as you’re breathing heavily, and especially if it’s cold or wet.  There are millions of anti-fog sprays and people will give you a million other ‘miracle cures’, but the truth is that the only thing that works is a pinlock visor insert – and these don’t fit 99% of car helmet visors.  I leave my visor open a crack to shove a finger in and give it a wipe until the race starts, and you may see me sat in the holding area with my visor down breathing deeply – this seems to prime the inside of the visor so it gets less fogged up.  Any decent helmet will have vents that clear the fog as soon as you get going, so try not to panic too much!

Pants on fire

Fireproof underwear is not compulsory.  It’s a good idea, but as long as you’ve got a good race suit you don’t need it.  Some common thinking is that if you only have a 2 layer suit – get nomex underwear, but if you have 3 layer suits it’s less essential.

Getting help

One of the many great things about Formula Vee, and most club-level racing, is that it’s extremely rare you’ll have a problem that other drivers and crew can’t help you with.  You’re not on your own, and the chances are it’s happened to someone else (whatever it is), so don’t be afraid to get help!  We all want as many cars out there as possible!

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Anything else that I’ve missed?

Half way through my first season

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

750 motor club, formula vee, joovuu, learning, positivity, preparation, problems, racing, rookie

Half way through my first season

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!

Snetterton 300 Formula Vee – Preparation and not wanting to be there

15 Tuesday Sep 2015

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

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Tags

#18, 750 motor club, confidence, formula vee, james cater, open wheel, preparation, psychology, qualifying, racing, snetterton 300, vw camper

Snetterton 300 Formula Vee – Preparation and not wanting to be there

My second ever race weekend, with the goal of finishing all the sessions intact and getting signatures for my licence upgrade.

We chose not to test the day before, and set off at 5am for the long drive to Snetterton in horrible weather conditions.

At the circuit I had a quick chat to the other drivers, then signed on attended the New Drivers Briefing.

When getting the car scrutineered, I forgot to bring my signing on sheet, then forgot my gloves and balaclava, then had to trek back across the paddock yet again to fetch my camera mounting, before getting a mild bollocking about my tinted visor.

We were called to the assembly area quicker than I expected, so I donned all my kit and then found the car was totally dead!

Glenn shorted across the starter motor with a screwdriver, and luckily it fired up, so I shot through the paddock, not knowing where the Hell I was going, before eventually catching up with everyone after asking for directions (thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Steve Ough!)!

I sat in the holding area with all the other cars, staring out across a very wet track, and was fully aware that I did not want to be there at all. I don’t really know what it was, but I wasn’t happy with anything.

I’d struggled to find any videos showing the 300 layout, and only done that last minute, so didn’t really know where the track went.  I worried I’d be far too slow, or just spin off everywhere, and miserably decided to trundle around and try to qualify for the (forecast) dry races.

I had a feeling I wouldn’t even get the car back safely…

I took one last deep breath and tried to force myself to focus, and then followed the pack onto the puddle-filled tarmac for my first ever lap of Snetterton, and my first time ever on a wet track with all the other Vees…

Of course, then I stalled it.

Silverstone International – Testing and Qualifying

23 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Technique

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Tags

750 motor club, doubt, driving, fast, first race, formula vee, piston failure, preparation, qualifying, rookie, silverstone international, skill, testing, vw camper

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!

Mounting cameras on a Formula Vee

08 Monday Jun 2015

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

camera, fitness, formula vee, joovuu, mobius, mounting, onboard camera, preparation, racing, roll hoop, sheane

Mounting cameras on a Formula Vee

When I had the Donington test last year, my mounting bracket hadn’t turned up in time, and so I went with the easy option – I put a bit of foam underneath the camera (a Mobius Action Camera in JooVuu waterproof case) and duct taped that sucker to the roll hoop on the Sheane.

Whilst this does work, and is very secure, it does come with a few problems.  First, we found I’d taped over the LED that shows if the camera is switched on or running, so we had to guess whether it was working.  It also means it’s hard to take the memory card out or charge the battery up.

For this year I’m going to make use of the bar clamp mount from JooVuu.  It’s not perfect because it’s a bit too small for the 32mm chassis tube – but as I came to find when testing things out, the tube isn’t exactly round everywhere, either, so that makes things a bit tough.

The previous run with it taped on top of the roll hoop gave a good picture, but a lot of the screen was filled up by my behelmeted noggin.  This is hard to get around, but with this proper mount it should raise the camera a good few centimeters up, which might make all the difference.

The best camera view will show as much action as possible – both outside and inside the car.  This means mounting it on the right hand side, so you (hopefully) get a view of the gearshift and the steering wheel, and maybe even the pedals.

I may be able to get around this even more effectively by mounting the camera on the side of the roll hoop, although the mount that I currently have limits this, as you can’t have the mount in place with the camera horizontal…

This is probably what I’ll go with at first, but it’s no problem to unbolt and move the camera around a little.

As Glenn rightly pointed out, if I put the car upside down it could cause a problem for the camera with these mountings, but then I will be hoping not to do that, anyway!

We also need to consider getting into and out of the car – in a single seater it’s an even that requires an almost Olympic level of strength and contortionism, without having to worry about knocking a camera.  And we need to ensure there’s somewhere for them to put a tow rope if we end up getting towed off circuit again!

I will hopefully experiment with rear-facing cameras (providing there are going to be other cars behind me on the track!), but that will need more thinking about with types of mount, heat from the engine, and vibrations from bodywork.

If the test day goes without drama, then I should have a bit of time to rethink what we’re doing with cameras, and make improvements where we can.

Formula Vee – The New Attack Plan

25 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by jamescaterracing in Formula Vee, Racing, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

formula vee, preparation, race fitness, ray, sheane, starting racing, uk championship

Formula Vee – The New Attack Plan

 

So, you may have noticed my posts dried up about my start to racing.

I didn’t crash and explode in my first race, or anything exciting – in fact, I had to write off the 2013 racing season.

The Ray and the Sheane Formula Vee cars are both still in pieces.  The Ray, from the Mallory Park crash at the end of 2012, and the Sheane because we’re dropping the ride hight at the rear, and adding some extra strength to the rear of the chassis.

This all would have been done and dusted, but unfortunately, ‘life’ got in the way a bit, and due to work commitments and illness of family members, Glenn hasn’t been able to do as much to the cars as he’d anticipated.

Whilst this is frustrating for me, I fully understand and support his decisions.  He’s giving me an awesome opportunity to drive one of his cars, and so I’m more than happy to wait until next season.  I’ll also have more budget for a proper attack at Formula Vee, rather than maybe a single round or two.

Formula Vee has been in a bit of turmoil for the last few years.  It’s not something I want to go too deeply into here, because it feels wrong to talk about this to ‘outsiders’.  Basically, some competitors have been taking some liberties with the rules and/or the outright spirit of Vee as a cheap and tightly controlled series.  Many felt the 750 Motor Club were sorely lacking in the way it was all handled.

It’s no secret that a lot of the competitors were unhappy, and I know for a fact that this all contributed towards a lack of motivation with Glenn as well as some of those competitors.

However, I am now pleased to say that rules have been clarified, changes have been made, and the future for Formula Vee looks great, once again!

I’ve been to a few rounds this year, and found that rather than seeing any of the racing that I’d paid for, I spent the whole days chatting to other drivers and people from the Vee circles – literally only watching the Vee races when there was nobody left to talk to as they were on track.  The worst thing about this, is that I really bloody enjoyed it!

Looks like I’ll fit right in with them!

I have kept up my gym membership, and although I haven’t even been karting for a long time, I find visualising the view from a Vee cockpit when I’m running on the treadmill gives me a massive burst of energy.  It’s why I’m there, and if I can lose a few stone it can only be a good thing.

So for 2014 my eyes are back on the target.

There will be a race in June at Castle Coombe, which may be a good target for my first race.  It’s also Rob Cowburn’s home race, so hopefully he’ll be back in the car and we can do a 1-2 finish!

I’m thinking about grabbing one of the Experience Days whilst they’re cheap over Winter – but I’m not sure how much driving a Ferrari will teach me, and having seen the single-seater experience at Silverstone, they seemed so slowwwwww I think I’d end up headbutting the steering wheel in frustration – so I’ll have to see…

Either way, I still want it.  In the worst possible way.

car

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