We knew the only choice was to get the engine out and replace the oil seal. As I’d brought my fiancée in the car, I had to balance keeping her from getting bored out of her brain trackside and getting her home, with helping as much as I could. The delicate balance many of us drivers face!
Thankfully, and as is always the case with the helpful Formula Vee paddock, James Harridge, Jake Hockley, and my sister Michelle all got stuck in.
By the time I left, the engine was back in and Glenn doing his thing building it all back up. You can see how hot the flywheel had got with the slipping clutch!
I blasted back to the track on my ‘sensible’ Yamaha FZR600R on Sunday morning to find the car sat ready and waiting to go.
I had another good start, but being on the inside of the pack in turn 1 I was a bit cautious as I didn’t want to risk spinning into everyone else.
I think I am pretty good now at warming my tyres up before the start, and perhaps I should trust them more?
I lost out a bit in the jostle for position, but could see Andrew Cooper ahead who I thought must be 2nd in Class B, and Colin Gregory and Mark Lawton were also all in the mix together, with Bill Stenning, Martin Snarey and Jamie Harrison completing a monster battle of B Class cars!
On the second lap Ian Rea came absolutely flying past me and disappeared down Hangar Straight.
Unfortunately, he then misjudged his closing speed to a slowing car, spinning in the middle of the track on the corner entry.
This caused all kinds of havoc behind, as I slammed on the brakes and dived to the outside, and Bill Stenning came sliding through on the inside. There was then what looked like a car-width of a gap between Bill and Ian, and so I stamped on the throttle and got through the middle!
All the commotion meant I’d dropped off the back of the pack, and had become the new leader of the chasing group. I got my head down with clear track ahead and pulled out a safe gap.
It was at this point I realised something else wasn’t quite right. Normally I would get faster and faster – especially on my own with clear track – but despite pushing harder my lap times were the same. I actually set my fastest lap on lap 3!
I thought this was probably the tyres – they’re almost ready for the bin, so I’m sure they’re not giving great grip any more (they’ve served me well for 2 seasons, though!). I later found out the pressure is also quite badly down on one cylinder, so these probably account for the lack of pace.
Despite this I did chase down Colin Gregory, and then a few laps later was all over Mark Lawton’s Scarab. I braked late and went up the inside of him into Stowe and eventually survived his fight back and pulled a slight gap.
Still with clear track ahead, I could see the blue and yellow Sheane of Jamie Harrison cutting through the field behind.
I was watching and hoping he’d get tangled up in battle with Bill and Mark, but with 2 laps to go he must have caught sight of me and the final B Class podium spot, and caught me by almost 2 seconds a lap!
He got me going onto Hanger Straight, but I used the slipstream to glide back past him into Stowe.
Being on the inside line, I must have been on the brakes a bit too long, as he went in deep and got to my outside, meaning I couldn’t get back on the power or open out the steering for the exit!
I pressured him into the complex hoping to force an error, but he stayed strong.
I was stronger, however, taking a beautiful line through as I waited to take advantage, and as we came onto the pit straight I had a great run.
I dived out of his slipstream and powered past, the move done before the start line, and got through the first few corners until I saw a marshal wave again!
I’d missed the chequered flag again, and knew I’d got over the start line ahead – but again the finish line is before that!
Jamie had got me, much the same as Martin in the first race, by less than 2 tenths of a second, and he’d taken 3rd in class B from me!
After a race like that I can’t even say I was disappointed, though. Despite the dodgy tyres , power loss, and losing a podium spot on the last lap, I’d had a great race! It’s funny how that works out sometimes!
In fact I almost forgot – I finished 18th overall and 4th in class.
Next we’re headed to Rockingham on the infield track of the super speedway. It’s a track many hate, and it’s very hard on engines. Having done around 200 laps there on bikes, the place grew on me slowly, so I’m looking forward to trying it with 4 wheels!
Once you get a feel for the car that you’re racing – and that part is just down to getting laps in the seat – you’ll probably find that you have to have a bit of a think about how to get faster.
At first, it’s all your brain can take to be able to actually control your car at high speed, and try not to exceed the limits. This soon becomes a subconscious act, and you’ll find that you’re able to think about other aspects of driving – and here’s where you can improve.
In my experience, the most important things to work on:
Racing line
Learn the racing line. The racing line will effectively straighten out every corner, allowing you to carry more speed through them. There is a natural line to most tracks that you’ll get a feel for quickly, but there are lots of exceptions where the racing line will be different because of bumps or the camber of the track. Playing games may miss out some of these things, but watching onboard videos and following other cars around will help you, here.
And it leads neatly into the next thing…
Use all the track!
If you’re ever more than a few millimetres away from the edge of the circuit, then you could have done it faster.
It’s amazing how even experienced racers will drive like they’re scared of the edge of the track – often sitting a foot or more away from the edge before turning into a corner.
If you concentrate on being as close as you can to the edge of the track, and follow the racing line, it will open the track up massively. Everything will feel less rushed, and you’ll be able to carry more speed everywhere. A few inches really can make all the difference!
Braking points
This is the main thing I watch videos for. I want to know exactly where the fast drivers are slamming the anchors on, so that I have a reference point to do the same. Consistent braking is the key, here, because you need to spend time working on it to be able to brake at the maximum.
And I should say that I’m talking about straight-line braking – once you’ve got this down, you should brake even later and trail brake up to the apex of the corner. Not everyone trail-brakes, and I suspect a lot also trail brake without knowing they’re even doing it…
Getting the power down
This one is actually between straight-line braking and trail-braking. If you’re on the power early, you should be able to carry more speed down the next straight. You should get the power on early enough that it carries the car right out to the very edge of the track on the exit – if you’re exiting the corner 2 foot away from the curb then you could have got the power down earlier, and done it faster.
This is also the safest way to go faster. if you go slowly into the corner but are fast coming out, it’s better (unless you’re racing another car that will stuff it up the inside of you and do a block pass!). If you go into a corner too fast you’ll just crash, run wide, or naturally have to exit the corner slower to stay on the track, so this is a far riskier way to get faster.
If you go in nice and safely and then get on the throttle, you can get off the throttle again if it all goes pear-shaped, or save it with some opposite lock (or drift it around on the power and look like a proper hero!).
“Slow in, fast out” is a great mantra.
Break it down
Once you have all this, you’ll find you’re not doing it on every single corner. There will always be some corners that you’re slower in.
Take one corner at a time, and work on it. This is where testing helps a lot.
These are all the things you can do that can gain big chunks of time. There are a lot more smaller things that will chip away at those last tenths, and to be honest, even after a year and a bit of racing, I’m still not at a level where these smaller things are worth too much worry.
There are also the things that will make you smoother but not necessarily gain any time – heel and toe, anyone?
And so we’re nearly ready to kick off the 2017 season at Oulton Park on 01 April! I say “we” – my car still has no engine, but as I’ve said before, it wouldn’t be the start of the season if we weren’t still working on the car at midnight the day before the first race!
Good luck to everyone this year – let’s keep it safe and give everyone a great show of racing!
Let me get this out of the way first: I don’t like Brands Hatch.
OK, so that’s not entirely true – but it’s my least favourite track that I’ve done so far.
There are some corners that I just cannot get right, and watching others going through them at twice the speed irritates me.
That said, I do like the non-championship Vee Festival that MSV kindly put on for us, and it’s great to see some random Vee racers entered, and to have the Irish racers come over (even if they are all the quick ones!). It’s also where I’ve scored my best ever 9th place overall result, as well as the next best 10th place.
At least this year was set to stay above freezing, be mostly dry, and so not carry with it the abject fear that I would freeze to death overnight in the camper van, like last year.
Arriving early on Friday, we got to watch a few of the Vee’s testing, and they seemed to all be on it straight away.
Our aim for the weekend was to try and survive in one piece, if possible, so we can concentrate on getting the Ray out on track for next season. We were also testing Tesco Momentum 99 super unleaded for the first time, knowing we were still down on power for reliability.
Qualifying
I tried to look after the car for this one, steadily upping the pace. With 3 races to go, and only the grid for the first one being decided on qualifying times, it was more important to stay safe.
I was settling into a rhythm despite the car feeling very sloppy, when Tim Probert dived into the kitty litter at Paddock, and we had red flags.
This was perfect, as whilst we were sat in the pit lane I asked Glenn to stiffen the dampers 2 clicks front and rear, and then I went out again a second faster straight away. Then I took another half a second off that.
Then the car jumped out of 3rd gear going into Clearways.
I thought I must have messed up the shift, and carried on – but then as I hit the apex curb at Graham Hill it popped out of 3rd gear into neutral again, when my hand hadn’t been anywhere near the gearstick since braking for Druids.
The following lap it jumped out again, and this time I couldn’t select any gears at all. I rolled towards the rear pit entrance and pulled off the track, thinking the worst.
When I was towed back into the paddock, Glenn also thought the worst, especially with the rhythmic clunking as we pushed the car.
I thought it was the end of the weekend, but Ben Miloudi stepped in and offered his spare gearbox – which would at least give us the chance to get out for the 2nd race the following morning. This is very much the spirit of Vee, and it’s rare that you’ll be left to retire if there is anyone else in the paddock who can possibly loan you tools, parts or experience to get you back out there!
With some relief, however, as Glenn began stripping the car down, he found the circlip had jumped off the end of the shaft (don’t ask me what shaft – just the one that sticks out the back!). The problem now became how to get the shaft out far enough to get the circlip back on.
John Bowles advised getting a lever into the gearbox and trying to hoof the shaft back from the inside, which after much heaving, hammering sockets, and head scratching eventually did the trick! Of course we still didn’t know WHY it had happened, or if it would just happen again…
No matter – we had just enough time to get it all back together (I’d have liked to do a few laps of the paddock to test it, but sadly time was that tight!), and we’d be able to take our 12th place on the grid for race 1.
Race 1
Everything felt good on the out-lap, and I was getting all gears well enough to make a go of it.
I made up a couple of places before the first turn, but it wasn’t too long before Jamie Harrison and Gavin Buckley (his first time trying an English Vee) came back past me. Hard as I tried to hang onto them, they carried on easing away, leaving me in a bit of a gap on track.
I took advantage of the track space, concentrating on braking less and throwing the car faster into the corners to try and carry more speed around.
I must have improved quite dramatically at Druids, and was turning in and getting back on the power much earlier at Clearways. Unfortunately, I just could not get a grip on Paddock Hill – braking far too much, too early, and getting the line wrong every time.
Graham Hill I felt like I was doing well, but for some reason was still a lot slower through there than everyone else, whatever I tried!
For all my pushing, the car was still like it was on rails, for the most part – so I clearly wasn’t pushing it hard enough!
I’m definitely getting faster, but until I’m drifting it in on the brakes, drifting through the corner, and having to fight oversteer on the exit in every single corner I know I still have to keep forcing myself to go faster. It’s a mind thing, now, because I’m pretty sure I do have the skills to be able to sort it out if it all goes pear-shaped, so there’s no reason why I can’t be pushing that hard.
Oops – rant over! Back to the race:
I hammered it down the start straight and saw red flags and lights everywhere, so eased off to about 80% as I went over the crest to drop down into Paddock Hill… which is where I suddenly saw cars sideways on the track right in front of me!
Ian Buxton had hit Charles Merrill as he went to lap him, leaving an unlucky Ian Jordan nowhere to go as he ploughed into Charles, ripping both cars apart and ending their weekend, but not injuring either driver.
Buxton wasn’t quite so lucky as he hit the tyre wall backwards hard enough to bend his flywheel – then being lifted off to hospital and cut out of his race suit with suspected back injuries. (Don’t worry – he was ok enough to be seen hobbling around on Sunday morning back at the track to watch the action!)
The race restarted for a 2 lap sprint to the flag before Paul Taylor lost it at Clearways and brought out another red flag and the result was declared.
Final position for The Cater Kid – 10th, alive and unscathed.
Not bad – but the realisation soon set in that Race 2 would be a reverse-top-ten grid. To spell that out – I’d be starting the next race from pole position at Brands Hatch!
Race 2
James Cater, on pole position to start a race at Brands Hatch.
Now that’s one for the scrapbook!
Ok, so it’s not earned by being the fastest – but don’t discount the fact that I was the 10th fastest Formula Vee at Brands Hatch on that day – so that’s still pretty special!
I’d spent the previous evening psyching myself up for the start. I knew that I could push the car more in the corners, and if there was any time to try doing that it had to be when I was starting from the very front!
I was confident that if I got a half-decent start I could lead the pack into the first turn, and then would throw it into Druids faster than ever and just go from there.
Stephen Morrin was on the front row next to me in the 1600cc Irish spec Leastone with smaller wheels, so he’d be into the first corner like a stabbed rat, but I still thought I’d have the edge.
I slept well after a celebratory pint of Guinness in the Kentagon, some fine banter, and a brief stint being dragged up to dance with a lovely marshal (Ginette?).
So I woke up to this:
Thick, freezing fog that was keeping the race track very far from the dry grippy perfection featured in my overnight self-motivation. Basically it was exactly the kind of conditions where I’d normally let someone past me just so I could follow them and let them crash first.
But I was still starting from the same spot that greats like James Hunt, Nikki Lauda etc had started from – and rather than being intimidating, it felt oddly relaxing to roll up to that start line. Like it was my home…
I was determined to get as much heat in my tyres as I could on the green flag lap, so weaved and stamped the throttle all over the place before stopping in front of the lights.
The red lights blinked off and I dropped the clutch – but bogged down as the revs I was holding hadn’t taken the crazy camber of the start line into consideration!
The car picked up again, but that had been enough for Morrin to charge past me into Paddock, and then on the exit Pete Belsey and Ben Miloudi flew out of nowhere around the outside before I got to Druids.
The quicker cars mugged me down to 6th place at the end of the lap, and over the next few laps the rightful order reasserted itself, and I found myself back in a lonely 10th – unable to hang with those in front, but well clear of those behind.
In fact, I’d been dragged around at a pace another second a lap faster, and so actually lapped those behind me!
The race was clean for the full distance, and I brought it home 10th – having used my time to control my breathing, concentrate on not gripping the steering wheel, and pushing for faster lines and corner speed.
Race 3 – The Final
Back down the grid to start from my last finishing position in the final, I gave a wave to my dance partner as she ran down the grid, and was prepared for another lonely race, unless I could get my claws into Jamie and Gavin who were lapping about a second faster.
With another fairly decent start I was surprised to see the blue Hawk (called Harry!) driven by John Bowles all over the back of me.
This spurred me on, as there was no way I was going to let anyone else get away from me, and I turned in some decent laps (there goes another half a second!) until I dropped him.
Luckily, I then carried on pushing hard, as I saw a red car on the grass at Graham Hill, and quickly took advantage by speeding past the recovering Gavin Buckley.
As he got back up to speed and caught me, the leaders caught us both, and we had to lift to let them through, but I stayed ahead of Gavin as he tried to dive up the inside into Clearways.
Already lining up a defensive line into Paddock, as we blasted down the start straight I saw the chequered flag being waved!
I’d stolen it just in time, as I’m sure I’d have struggled to keep him behind me for another lap!
And that resulted in a best ever overall result of 8th place!
Even better, although totally unofficial, it also made me the first B class car home, and so if the MSV Festival acknowledged the classes, I’d have also won the B class!
So all in all, it was a pretty good weekend, and very productive. Congratulations to everyone there – especially to the winner John Hughes. He drove so well all weekend there was never really a doubt he’d come out on top – even with his lack of time in a Vee this season! Results are all on the MSVR website.
Do I like Brands Hatch, now? Maybe a little more…
Next year is the 50th anniversary of Formula Vee racing in the UK, and there is talk of us using the full and very rare Brands Hatch GP circuit. Combine that with the potential to see 50+ Formula Vee’s entered, some big names on the grid (Ian Flux? Tiff Needell? Ash Sutton and Michael Epps from BTCC?) and a lot of media coverage, and we could be in for something epic!
Imagine if I can get it on pole for that, one way or another?
We had a new engine sat on the bench for next year, so with the disaster at Silverstone it was easier to salvage all the internals from the wrecked engine and get next years engine in the Sheane early.
Glenn did all the work in time for us to have a non-running car on display for the SPEAR (Sue Pike Equine Animal Rescue) charity open day. I’m not sure rescued animals would have fully appreciated a running engine, anyway, but the day went well with dog and horse shows and lots raised for the great cause.
However, when small children are jumping in and out of your racing car all day long, they apparently want to flick every switch in sight, and be warned if you have a brake bias adjuster in your cockpit at such events… I’ll come back to that point later…
A lot of other drivers either tested the day before the race at Snetterton, or took advantage of a 30 minute session at the start of the day on Saturday – unfortunately our preparation meant we could only be loaded up and on our way (very) early on Saturday, and so couldn’t test the new engine.
Qualifying
Knowing so many others were already warmed up and dialled in to the circuit, I opted to try and tag onto one of my usual sparring partners whilst using the bits of track information I’d gained from playing Project Cars, watching YouTube videos, and reading track guides.
The sun was shining and the track grippy and warming up as we headed out.
It’s surprising how well you remember a track you haven’t been on for a year, and it doesn’t take long to drop into the groove – however, you have to make sure you get 3 laps in to be able to qualify for the race, and with such a long lap this is half the session!
To make things worse, just as I was on my second lap and starting to push now the tyres were getting warm, the red flags came out to stop the session.
I didn’t see any of it, but Neil Aldridge had put a wheel on the grass on the exit of a corner, getting it sideways, and Bill Stanier had nowhere to go as he came off the corner behind. It looked like a pretty hard contact with both cars badly damaged and out for the day, but both drivers were unhurt.
The clean-up meant we sat in the pit lane for 20 minutes before we were finally let out again – but as this was only for another 2 laps I’d barely got up to speed again before the session ended. This wasn’t too terrible timing for me, as when I came into the pits for the red flag the car was stuck at 2,000rpm. Glenn checked it over and worked his magic with the spanners, and I still managed to get out on track with everyone else.
I tagged onto David Leniewski, sneaking past him but not able to shake him, and held him up twice at the hairpin as I struggled to find 2nd gear again (it was fine before!).
I was trying to get a bit of a move on, throwing the car into a few corners, but for some reason it didn’t feel like I was going very quickly.
After my 11th place overall finish last year, I was a bit disappointed to qualify 22nd and 21st for the races, but given the circumstances and lack of track time figured it wasn’t too bad.
The engine was making a few funny noises but the throttle problem wasn’t anything major. All my suspension settings seemed ok with the time I’d had, so I left it all the same, thinking any improvement would be more likely to come from me for the race.
Perhaps more seriously, I had Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” stuck in my brain, and was sure there’d be 3 seconds a lap improvement if I could just get the damned tune out of my head!
Race 1
They lined us all up on the grid extremely closely, so I knew straight away it would be tough to find any sort of gap even if I got a good start.
The lights went out, and I blasted away with another great start, but then had nowhere to go. Finding some space around the outside, I made up 5 or 6 spaces on my second attempt, but then got hung out around the outside of the first turn as most of them got back up my inside.
Sam Engineer must have got an absolute flyer as he passed me into the hairpin – but now Dolly Parton had gone, and I got my head back in the game.
I passed Sam on the brakes into Agostini, locking the front wheels up all over the place as I pushed harder than I had been all day, and I remembered the brake bias adjuster, and all those inquisitive hands twisting it as they sat in the car. I made a mental note to tip the balance back towards the rear as soon as I got chance.
Jamie Harrison also had a bit of a lock-up in front of me, with Andrew Cooper sandwiched between all the tyre smoke somehow keeping out of trouble.
I tucked into Cooper’s slipstream down the straight, slipping through on the brakes into Brundle, chasing down Harrison to go down his inside into the hairpin. It seemed I had found the sweet spot with my brake balance again!
I also decided to take the hairpin in 3rd gear, rather than trying to find 2nd, as I couldn’t see a massive difference between the two.
I tried to tuck in behind a James Harridge as he worked his way back up the grid after a spin, which lasted all of 20 seconds – but did pull me onto the back of Darren Lomas.
Making use of a good exit onto the finish straight, I held onto his tow to get around the outside before we got to the first turn, and then tried to hang onto the rapidly disappearing Harridge hoping the horde of cars behind would trip each other up.
Alex Jones must have also gone off somewhere, as he passed me into the chicane, and I could see Lomas, Cooper and Harrison all very clearly in my mirrors again.
To my surprise, I was also catching European karting champion Harry Webb – who must have been suffering some problems – as Harrison overtook Lomas in my mirrors and piled on the pressure.
As I powered out of the hairpin I saw a thick line of oil (Alex Jones had hit Craig Bell, damaging his oil cooler) on the racing line all through Palmer corner.
It was one of those spills that was impossible to avoid, as at some point in the corner you had to either brake or turn on the oil. All you can do is adjust your line to minimise this, and hold on for the ride!
I got through alright with Harrison still on my tail, but could see that Lomas had dropped right back.
With the hard-braking into the next corner at Agostini, I had to make the choice to either slow down and risk Harrison overtaking me, or go for it and risk being the first one to spin off into the wall.
Being a bit of an idiot, I quite enjoy sliding around on oil, and managed to keep the nose at the right end of the car. As I slithered over the exit curb I saw a flash of blue and yellow as Harrison went off backwards – not hitting anything, but being unable to restart and so ending our battle.
Going into Hamilton – a small lift or even flat out but only one line through – was always going to be an interesting experience, but I somehow held that one, too, after several stages of lurid slide!
I could see Bell pulling onto the grass after the next corner, so was pretty sure that was the end of the oil, and got the hammer down, braking a little earlier and shifting a few rpm sooner knowing I now had a considerable gap over Lomas, with nobody within my sights ahead. There’s no point crashing out of a sure thing, but you also don’t want to lose your rhythm and slow too much or make a mistake.
The last lap board came out and I knew I just had to manage that gap and keep it safe on the oily bits, still getting it pretty sideways but virtually crawling around Hamilton successfully back onto grippy tarmac.
Driving out of the last corner towards the finish line I realised I must be well up the pointy end of the B Class, and began to suspect I was in the top 3!
A quick count of the cars in the holding area confirmed the B class was won by Jack Wilkinson with James Harridge 2nd – and some newbie called James Cater had finally fought his way to a trophy!
Race 2
Phew – that was long, wasn’t it? Fortunately (for you, the reader – not me) this one will be a lot shorter.
I made up a couple of places off the line but got blocked again and had to lift right off.
Within a few corners I’d edged past David Leniewski and caught the tail of Darren Lomas and Mark Egan, so all was set to resume the scrap with the big group before the oil in the first race.
On the second lap Jamie Harrison (after a terrible start) passed me down the back straight, followed a few corners later by Andrew Cooper.
I was driving much harder through the corners – for example, where I was dabbing the brakes hard into the first turn in the first race, in this one I was just giving a small lift… and yet I just couldn’t hang with anyone!
I managed to retake Cooper and stay ahead for a lap until he re-passed me and pulled out a little, and then he managed to hold that gap until the finish. I was clearly missing something, and think we’d lost some engine power.
Alex Jones somehow came from behind me once again (I don’t know how he keeps getting behind me like that!), but other than that my mirrors were empty.
I brought it home a fairly lonely 18th (perhaps appropriately for the final race of the season?) and 5th in Class B, but did enjoy the drive!
After the flag a mixture of lack of concentration and “I wonder if I can take the corner like THIS” into the first turn meant I clipped a high part of the curb and ended up all kinds of out of shape on the grass on the exit. My main thought was that if I spun after the flag I might get into Trouble with the Clerk of Course, so that motivated me to save it somehow as I bounced wildly over the mud!
But nobody saw that bit, right?
I think hitting that curb bent something, as the car was pulling left as I came in – oops!
Up front was titanic as ever, with Paul Smith winning a controvercial photo finish over Dave Hughes, and Adam Macaulay a tenth of a second back from them!
So I have my first B Class podium after so many 4th places, and I’m chuffed to bits!
No doubt I’ll do a year review – but for now I’ll be looking forward to getting back on track for the Vee Festival at Brands Hatch on the last weekend of October. It’s cracking value for track time, and I hope a lot of UK cars turn out for it, because I know the Irish will come over in force again!
Despite being so far away, the drive to Anglesey circuit is pretty special in itself. The A55 ‘coastal road’ takes in the beaches, but the A5 winds its way through the breathtaking beauty of Snowdonia National Park.
If you still have anything left in you, you arrive at Anglesey circuit, where we were on the Coastal Circuit featuring ‘The Corkscrew’ – the Welsh equivalent of its namesake at Laguna Seca.
A few drivers had been testing on the Friday, but due to time and budget, we were going to learn the track in Qualifying on Saturday morning and aim low for our first races outside England.
Glenn had done some extensive work on overall car set-up, improved 2nd gear selection, and in theory I’d have the Sheane at the best it had ever been.
Qualifying
Catching the weather out for once, the pack of Formula Vee’s rolled out onto an unscheduled dry circuit. I got my mandatory 3 laps in to qualify for the race, on what was a surprisingly slippery track, and then tried to tag onto the back of more experienced drivers.
I’d walked the track in advance, and was amazed at how much banking was in turn 2, and thought I’d fly around the first half of the lap taking full advantage. As it turned out, I was pretty useless in most corners, but did seem to be able to nail the right-hander coming onto the long back straight and make up time.
Second gear was much easier to get, but still not perfect, so was still fighting me around the tighter corners, and then it was amazingly difficult to get the line right from there, through The Corkscrew, and around the rest of the lap.
I’d said I was aiming for the top 20, and would be starting from 18th and 17th on the grid for the races. Knowing I could pull back seconds in certain corners, and the car was also very skittish, I was pretty happy with this. I believe it also made me the fastest of those who’d never turned a wheel on the circuit before!
Race 1
In contrast, the rain had come well before the first race, leaving the track very wet but drying rapidly as the sun scorched its way over the surrounding sea.
I got an average start, but played it safe around the first few corners, staying on the back of a huge pack of cars down the long back straight.
As we all came to the very hard braking zone, Alex Jones dived up the inside of the pack on the wet line, unsurprisingly losing it on the brakes and spearing into Martin Snarey.
As the entire second half of the grid bore down on them, the pinball effect took out Sam Engineer in his new car, and everyone took avoiding action to try and get around the spinning cars blocking the whole track.
I had my own problems, however, as by this time I was at maximum braking heading towards Alex, and as I turned the wheel that tiny bit more the traction broke completely! I prepared for the collision, but somehow slithered out of harms way.
Caught out a little by still being alive, I was in 3rd gear for the tight right hander, and despite a valiant attempt to powerslide around when the rear broke loose, I spun slowly off the track.
Luckily for me (not so much for Martin and Sam) the race was red-flagged, and I was able to retake my original grid position for the restart.
After another average start I latched onto Craig Bell and Colin Gregory, but after a few laps they edged away leaving me in a familiar scrap with David Leniewski, John Hartin and Neil Aldridge. I came onto the pit straight to find Colin facing me in the middle of the track, and as I dived to the left for yet another close call, David went right and John also snuck through on the fast line for the first turn.
I used my favourite corner well again, taking the fast right-hander onto the back straight as fast as I dared, and got passed them both again on the drag up the hill.
I pulled a small gap and held that, but couldn’t catch Craig, eventually coming home 4th in class – just missing a podium again – and 12th place overall.
Adam Macaulay did the inevitable to get his first win in the UK championship, with Paul Smith following him home in 2nd after being unable to make it 9 wins from 9 races this year. Ian Jordan took 3rd place – wait… 3 Sheane’s on the podium? Who needs those £30,000 brand new cars, eh? Garry Newsome, another legendary driver from the Irish championship in a guest appearance won the B class – of course in ANOTHER Sheane (run by Peter Studer)!
Race 2
I knew I could gain huge chunks of time around the track – especially into the banked turn 2 by braking much later into it. As the car had also been a bit loose I added another click to stiffen the rear shocks. Hopefully this would keep the car stable mid-corner and on the exit…
Martin Snarey had repaired his car with the help of the great Formula Vee crews in the paddock, although I thought he may suffer from The Fear a little bit after his accident. Fantastically, this wasn’t the case, and set up a great battle!
Even better was the scorching sun and clear blue skies, and a bone dry and grippy track.
Another mediocre start saw Craig Bell flying around me as I got stuck into him and Colin Gregory once more. I cut back off the banking at turn 2 and powered passed Colin and held it alongside Craig down the straight, with Colin all over the back of me as we all caught Martin Snarey.
Craig blasted passed Martin in the 2nd gear right hander, and then Colin came passed me and Martin through the Corkscrew.
Smelling blood I also took advantage of Martin’s lapse and went around the outside through turn 1, closing back up to Colin as we slung it around the banking.
We came up to ‘my’ corner again, and I pinned it, showing the penalty we’d got at Mallory for illegal restrictors meant nothing as I rocketed out of his slipstream and pulled out 6 or 7 car lengths by the time we hit the brakes! My Sheane was running good!
Unfortunately I then ran a bit wide, letting Colin right back up to me but then Tim Probert, charging through after starting from the pits, gave me a bit of reprieve as I watched them scrapping it out behind me for a few laps.
With little point holding Tim up, I left the door open into the banked turn, but then I cut back as he slid out wide, holding onto him down the back straight but ultimately finding the limits of the Sheane’s power against one of the fastest cars on the grid. He disappeared into the distance and that was the last I saw of Mr Probert!
Colin was also back with me, and also passed me easily when I missed 2nd gear, and followed Tim off up the track, and I had no answer for him.
Martin Snarey was now also tapping his nosecone on the back of my head, but thanks to some great advice between the races from James Harridge, I managed to get enough of an advantage through the corners I was good at, that Martin couldn’t quite find an opportunity in my less-good turns.
I gave the car every ounce of my skills for the rest of the race, at last meeting my objective of pushing the car hard into every single corner. There was still, no doubt, more to be had, but I’d got the car on opposite lock, powerdrifting with total confidence, catching the spin into a few corners as I pressed on.
It was easily the best I’ve ever driven in terms of how in control of the car I was. Maybe I’ve finally clicked and got that kind of oneness with the car I get on my motorcycles?
With my muscles screaming at me I wrestled the car around with the white Sheane filling my mirrors, and didn’t even see the chequered flag – only realising it was all over by how fast I’d caught Colin into the next turn.
I’d thoroughly enjoyed it all and had no idea where I’d finished – all I knew is that I felt like a Racing Driver!
Paul Smith got his 52nd all-time win, with Adam Macaulay picking up an excellent 2nd place after James Harridge was given a time penalty for exceeding track limits. Dave Hughes brought it home 3rd for Bears, with Harridge classified 4th overall but again leading home the B class to regain his championship lead.
I also have to thank the Vee Centre for holding the annual BBQ on Saturday night – an amazing way to get to chat to all the other drivers and crews with a beer and burger. I found it a massive help socially last year, and again got nattering to a few I hadn’t had the chance to before.
Oh, and I came home 6th in class and 16th overall. Proof that sometimes your position doesn’t really matter all that much.
I just can’t wait to get out there again so that I can refine what I’ve finally found, and start chipping away at that time gap to the leaders…
It strikes me that this year we’ve been battling against the odds. If it’s not bits on the car breaking, mistakes, or my own self-doubts, it’s food poisoning or technical infringements!
I have to justify this stuff to the press and sponsors, and sometimes it seems hard to answer the same questions.
I think what a lot of people don’t realise is that racing is all about being on the edge. It’s a very fine line between blowing up your engine and not giving it enough revs and losing out, or lightening a component which then breaks under stress.
Driving as fast as the Formula Vee drivers do is totally alien to me – and I’m not known for taking life slowly. To lap at a respectable pace for a track day will see you way down the back of a Formula Vee grid. To get my brain to make the jump from flinging it into a corner going over my own abilities (and then hopefully catching up and controlling it), to doing that 20mph faster like the front-runners do, is a massive struggle.
Already I’m half way through my first ever full season racing, and it’s only now I’m starting to shake the vague nagging voice telling me I’m not good enough to be out there racing. What most people may see as pretty poor results, to me, have been massive in letting me see that I CAN get there, and I am on the way.
It’s everyone’s dream to get into a car and win right from the start. To play football and instantly be top goal scorer. It would be quite easy to see an 18th place result as a bit of a failure – until you realise that you’re actually the 18th best Formula Vee driver on the planet at that moment!
There’s nothing stopping anyone else from doing it – but you’re the one out there, and that’s pretty special!
I’ve been getting a great response to this blog, and from the emails that people send a lot of you are finding it interesting or useful, so I’m happy to try and help out. The local press have been picking up my reports in the Bromsgrove Standard, with a lovely feature in The Village Magazine, too!
The support from everyone is still mind-blowing, but shows how many people want to be involved in motor racing, and get genuinely excited to see someone like me living his dream and enjoying every second of it. It’s nice to be able to surround myself with so much positivity.
For the last half of the season, we’ll be looking at the gear selection problems to try and get second gear reliably. There are still some modifications that Glenn wants to do to the front suspension to improve things, and at some point I’d like to get out my hand-me-down race suit into something newer (and less ‘snug’!) and have some of my own sponsors logos on there!
Speaking of which, I hope to have JooVuu-X stickers on the car soon – check out www.joovuu-x.com for the excellent cameras I’ve been using. There’s currently a special offer on them so if you’re after a dashcam there are no finer ones out there for the price!
Off the track it will be more analysis and reports, and I’ll be answering a few questions people have emailed that they want to see on here.
I’ve also just upgraded my iRacing setup to a new wheel to see if that can improve things in the real world, so I’ll write some more about that!
In the mean-time, I’ll be getting my head in the game and “pushing very ‘ard” to get closer to the front of the pack!
Thanks for all your support, and I hope to see you out there!
After the interesting heart rate readings from Brands Hatch, I once again wore my Fitbit for the races at Croft.
Qualifying was my first ever lap of Croft, and with the rain absolutely clowning it down, you might expect me to be a bit excited about it all.
Unfortunately, this was before I started to enjoy the rain, and so I just trundled around without even trying to kill myself – and this seems to be reflected in my heart rate:
So, much like I thought of my own performance in that session, it’s a bit ‘meh’.
But then things dried out for the afternoon, and for my first ever dry lap of Croft I’d have to be at full racing speed with no idea what the car would do in the extremely fast corners.
As you might imagine, this one told a different story:
So we have a new record at 172 bpm peak!
A lot of the back of the circuit is foot to the floor, and then just turn the sucker in and hop you’re on the right line. I like this sort of thing, but it’s unsurprising that it would get the old ticker beating a bit faster. There was also frustration at not getting 2nd gear, and Darren Lomas filling my mirrors waiting to pounce on any mistake.
And, of course the huge moment when my Z-bar broke and I put 2 wheels off and had it all got a little bit skew-whiff…
Race 2 saw the return of rain with a vengeance. I’d sworn to push, whatever the conditions, and couldn’t actually see much of the track, corners, or other cars because of the spray.
And I was taking those same flat-out sections as fast as I dared in those horrendous conditions.
So you’d expect, if my heart didn’t stop completely because of me being dead, or something, that my heart rate would be through the roof, right?
What the…?
OK, so this is the same pattern as Brands Hatch, but this time the high heart rate seems more linked to high speed than being inches and split seconds from disaster.
In that second race I was enjoying myself and having fun, but I’m pretty sure I remember having a bit of a whoop inside my helmet in the dry race, too.
Is it that I’m more used to the track and so much more relaxed for that second race? Because the pressure is off to get the car back safely for another race?
At Mallory Park the qualifying session and both races are all on the same day – so will this same pattern repeat, or will the hear rate get higher and higher like it has done on the first day of a race weekend?
It’s amazing how a few poor results can affect you.
So far this season, things have not gone well. I’ve been driving pretty badly, and combined with some car failures, I’d been questioning myself. Questioning if I can afford to be doing this if I’ve got no chance against faster cars and drivers with bigger budgets.
There’s no question that the other Formula Vee racers are more skilled than me – even those that don’t have a background in trackdays and karting have more experience in Vee’s, more testing, or just have youth on their sides!
I’d been starting to enjoy the stuff in between races more – editing and processing videos, writing race/press reports, and the quest to find some sponsorship. Learning to enjoy that is no bad thing, as it takes an ungodly amount of hours fo my time – but I’m supposed to be here to race.
When it was raining so heavily at Croft for qualifying, I was literally just following Tony Mitchell around for most of the session, eventually getting passed him but still just driving. If Miss Daisy had been sat next to me she wouldn’t have even spilled her cup of tea. Proper ‘meh’.
I’d lost any hope of testing out our all-new lower rear suspension mountings, or running in brand new brake pads for the first time. What a waste of time…
I gave myself a bit of a shake after that, reminding myself of my Brands Hatch blog where I swore I’d push harder everywhere.
As if to try and break my spirit even more, the track was now bone dry for the first race, and so my first ever dry lap of Croft would be at full racing speed.
Except this time I was ready.
I knew that in theory Croft would suit me. I’d watched video so I knew where to brake (although admittedly I’d watched James Harridges footage, which meant I’d know where to brake to get it ridiculously sideways and murder myself within three corners!), and now I could just about remember which way the track went.
So when those lights went out I just went for it.
Now, up to this point I realise I haven’t sounded like my own biggest fan. I do have self-confidence, and have proved I can drive quickly at the end of last year. More importantly, when you flip that visor down nothing else matters. Nothing. When I’m staring through my blue iridium tint I can win, and I’m there to win.
I still hesitated slightly before dropping the clutch and feeding the revs up, and the biggest gain I had over the rest was changing up to second, then to third.
In second I knew I’d got a bit of a blinder, because I was already a few rows forward, and everyone else was looking slower. I simply drove through a hole up the middle of the grid, lifting off briefly as I thought I’d maybe stolen enough places, then getting back on it and diving to the outside to pic up a few more positions.
I just figured I’d do whatever the car ahead of me did, and trust I had the skills to hold onto the car.
When we came to the Jim Clark Esses I knew everyone said they didn’t lift off, and so I just kept my foot in and trust Glenn’s suspension work would help. It felt great getting through easily, and then taking the first two flat-out right handers the same!
The brakes must have bedded in despite the wet qualifying, because they were sharper than they’d ever been. I looked through the corners and pressed on, seeing cars in my mirrors but nobody close enough to make a move.
Then I hit the hairpin, and cars streamed passed as I tried to find second gear. That’s something I have to work on, because I lost masses of time!
After that I just kept pushing a little harder everywhere. There is a big twitch where the weld on the anti-roll z-bar at the back snapped, and I dropped two wheels over the drop of a large curb, which pitched me back across the track in 4th gear flat out. I thought I was going to spin but caught it so fast, still keeping the loud pedal pressed down, that Darren Lomas behind me barely made up any time.
Of course I didn’t know that the z-bar had snapped until after the race, and so just kept going, and despite the flying Alex Jones also getting passed me as I fished for second gear at the hairpin again, I came a respectable 13th.
I knew I could take big chunks out of my time, but that wasn’t to be, as we had some of the worst race conditions ever seen for the second race…
I’d also been revving the car higher, and although Jake Hockley in his much newer GAC was able to pull away on the straights, he wasn’t pulling away all that much. I have found that as I hit around 7000rpm the needle on the gauge starts doing all kinds of funky stuff except stay still and tell me what revs I’m pulling. I was estimating 7400rpm for my gear changes, and the car seemed happy with that.
Anyway – between races we got one of the AHS crew to re-weld the z-bar, and were ready to go.
I’d hyped myself up for the wet.
I knew it was totally pointless driving like I had in qualifying. I wanted to use the dreadful conditions to get the car moving around a bit. In the wet you obviously reach the limits of traction much sooner than in the dry – but when the car does let go it does so more progressively. If you’re fast enough you can catch it and get the balance and drift. In theory, this will happen in the wet exactly as it would in the dry, but be more controllable.
I hit the brakes about 4 times before we reached the first corner – because all I could see was spray from the 20 cars ahead, didn’t know if I’d be pushing my face up against their engines at any second in a surprise inspection, and couldn’t actually see the edges of the track to know where the corner was!
I knew people ahead would spin off, and sure enough some cars appeared out of the spray at funny angles through the first chicane and I picked a way through as best as I could. My tighter line may have taken me passed someone under yellow flags, but as I couldn’t see more than 6ft away and didn’t even know which way any of the cars around me were facing, or if anyone was following me, I think I’d be forgiven for that one.
Feeding in the power down the next straight the puddles were tearing at the steering wheel and the rears were spinning up at the same time, making things ‘educational’. As I gently eased the brakes on I could barely see if my wheels were locked up, and as I was aquaplaning anyway it was just plain weird.
I cadence braked whenever I knew my wheels were locked, but to be honest that’s not as obvious in those conditions as you’d think.
There were huge puddles on the inside of some turns, but already I was starting to enjoy myself. I even started dropping my front wheel into some of these puddles to help me turn the car!
I wasn’t getting the power down as hard and soon as I’d have liked to, but I was pounding down the straights and braking pretty late into a few corners. The wheels were still spinning up in 4th gear on the straights, then puddles ripped you sideways under braking, the car slithered straight on through the corner and then snapped to oversteer, then even more so as you got back on the power! What a rush!
I was getting a move on when Ian Buxton overtook me (he was one of the first corner spinners), but unlike every other time he’s done that I realised he wasn’t disappearing – I was still on him and actually had to drop back a bit as I didn’t want to spear him into a corner again!
I knew it was treacherous braking into Tower, and so should have been braking much earlier with my new-found speed, but I either forgot where to brake or got too enthusiastic. The wheels locked several times and I knew I’d have to run wide, so let off the brakes deep in the corner, ready to snap on the opposite lock to catch it for a spectacular drift, and something went *ping* and the back swung around.
I saw mud spray into the air as I hit the grass, and let the car spin 360 so I could get control in the right direction again, hitting the starter button and finding a gear to get me back on the black stuff.
But the ping had been the weld on the z-bar braking again – meaning the rear had dropped down and that lack of clearance beached me in the mud.
I tried rocking out in reverse before giving up and holding my hand up for the marshals to know I was stuck.
I still had the engine running hoping for a push, but they pulled out the red flags to stop the race. They said it was too dangerous, anyway, so don’t think the race would have carried on much longer either way… At least they did give me a push so I wasn’t towed in behind the Wagon Of Shame again!
So whilst it wasn’t great to end that way, psychologically the weekend was massive for me – in a very positive way!
I know I can still drive fast in the dry and hold my own – even on a track I don’t know, with a broken car. And I know I can be properly quick in the wet. I mean, I was 9th fastest when I went off, but was barely getting up to speed, and properly enjoying myself as I did so!
I didn’t think the weather was that bad! My test last year on Silverstone National was a fair bit worse, so I’ve got that as my wet benchmark – and I survived that!
Mallory Park for the next race could be interesting, because I’ve done around a hundred laps around there on a Kawasaki ZX-6R B1H, but that was with the little bike chicanes in place. And I could find gears at the tight hairpin.
One thing for sure is that I won’t be worried about it raining anymore!
I made the call with Glenn to travel 180 miles up to Croft on the Saturday morning, rather than the night before. Glenn used to do this all the time when he raced, so I figured I’d try it and see how tired I was – assuming we made it in time for qualifying!
Glenn has remounted the rear suspension lower down. This means we get a lot more suspension travel than before which should help with set-ups, and it’s lowered the rear and thus the centre of gravity. The aim of the weekend was to see how this all worked, and also run in some brand new brake pads – so Croft would be very much a learning weekend rather than anything competitive.
I used to like the track on the old TOCA Touring Cars computer game, and spent some time watching onboard videos to try and remember which way to turn, but a lot of other drivers were there testing all day on the Friday, so it was looking like a weekend to stay safe and accept we’d be at the back.
Qualifying
One thing you can’t account for is the weather. As we rolled into the collecting area, the rain absolutely hammered it down on us. With track conditions being borderline dangerous (they cancelled the following sessions for safety), we trundled out into the puddles.
I followed a group of cars all tip-toeing around in the treacherous conditions, eventually skating passed Tony Mitchell, but was pretty much just driving around the track boring myself.
After the first 2 laps, just as I was learning the track enough to pick up speed, the rain increased even more. It paid off for those who’d tested or raced at the track before, as they could get straight on it in those 2 laps, and lead to some excellent surprises such as Alex Jones snagging 5th place on the grid, and David Leniewski qualifying 10th!
I dribbled my way home in a deserved 19th place to start from the back in both races.
Of course, we found out absolutely nothing about the handling changes, and I had no idea if I’d even started to bed the new brake pads in. I was kicking myself, because I knew I’d wasted my time by not trying to push – but then I guess stating at the back is better than finishing in the armco barriers…
Race 1
A mere four hours later, in scorching sun (I have pale blue, Polish skin, ok?) we lined up to go out again. Despite the drastically improved conditions, it wasn’t actually very much help to me, as I’d never driven a lap in the dry before!
I’ve had major self-doubt creeping in following a few disappointing results, and so had a lot to prove to myself to justify spending all my money on this racing malarkey…
The lights went out at the start and I got a pretty good start. As I changed to 2nd it turned into a belter of a start, as I flew passed a few cars in a hole up the middle, and then after a hesitation dived to the outside into the first turn to pick up another few spaces – 6 in all!
I was already up with David Leniewski, and having no clue what I was doing, just figured I’d copy him only brake later, carry more speed in, and get on the power sooner – and just hope I could hang onto the car! Back to my old “Throw it into the corner and sort out whatever happens” philosophy! I kept it absolutely nailed through the 4th gear Jim Clark Esses, and through the following rights as I hoped I’d remembered which of them you had to brake hard for.
I eventually eased passed him when he had some mechanical problems, but not before my next biggest obstacle – the 2nd gear hairpin.
2nd gear is such a low ratio it’s very rare that you have to find it in a Formula Vee. Which is just as well, as you can’t find the damned thing.
As I fished around in a bag full of crunching neutrals, a few cars streamed back passed me onto the pit straight. Eventually I found 2nd and fired off after them all.
The red and white car of Darren Lomas was filling my mirrors as I tried desperately to keep on the racing line, now Jake Hockley ahead in the GAC with exactly the same dry Croft experience as me – i.e. none.
As I came back into the flat-out section my car lurched left in the turn, making me run wide and drop two wheels down the small cliff on the exit at 120mph+. I caught the resulting slide quickly and kept my foot planted, turning the wheel back the other way to recover, and by some miracle stayed not only on the track, but still stayed ahead of Darren.
He chased me hard for the rest of the race, and it was probably quite funny watching us at the hairpin as neither of us could get 2nd gear!
Martin Snarey was right on the back of us, but I held on for an excellent and much needed 13th place and 4th in class B!
More importantly, I knew I could hold my own against faster cars, and hit a brand new circuit first time out and be quick. I’d started to doubt this. And I knew I could knock a good 2 seconds of my time even if I still couldn’t find 2nd gear!
As I climbed out in parc ferme, Darren pointed at the back of my car.
Ah.
The weld holding my anti-roll Z-bar had snapped – explaining my high speed moment in the race!
So we still didn’t really know what the rear modifications had done for the car. One thing I did know for sure was that the new brake pads were awesome already!
At the pointy end Paul Smith romped home to another win, with the 2 Bears cars of Dave Hughes and Paul Taylor coming in a chuffed-to-bits 2nd and 3rd.
Race 2
After a hot and sunny Sunday, precisely as we were kitting up, the skies went black again!
All thought of knocking those 2 seconds off my times were washed away in the waterfalls that hit Croft as we waited for 20 minutes for the officials to decide if it was safe to go out.
Sat under umbrellas, joking with Sam Engineer, Adam McCauley, Glenn Hay and Chris Wilshire, I figured there was no chance of them starting us, and was tempted to be the first to start up and drive back onto the trailer.
Suddenly, they waved us out on track. Good – because I couldn’t live with my wet performance from qualifying.
Already soaked, I could barely see the track even on the slow lap around to get on the grid, let alone the car ahead. And there’d be about 20 of them off the start!
The lights went out and I got away without wheelspin, but as soon as we were in 2nd gear I couldn’t see a thing through the spray. I hit the brakes about 4 times before I even got to the first corner, and could see carnage through the deluge.
I held an inside line and skittered passed a few spinners, wary of anything going into the back of me, and tried to find a compromise between having some visibility and getting between the puddles without them ripping the car off the track.
I was determined to use the conditions to get the car a bit sideways (it’s easier to do in the rain) and try and get more comfortable doing that, and found that I was really enjoying it!
Cars kept appearing out of the spray, and I was able to get by them despite locking up a lot, getting wheelspin in 4th gear on the straights, and having to save a good few slides.
Ian Buxton slithered passed me, and I hung on to the back of him fairly easily (that’s a first!) so knew I must be doing something right!
Martin Snarey was ahead, and I was flying up behind him when I had a major loss of 2nd gear at the hairpin. I watched Martin drive away down the straight, and was about half way down myself before I found a damned gear again!
I kept powering on, actually hooking my front wheel into some of the puddles to get the car turned in better, and knew where I could grab loads more time, and then disaster struck.
I had a huge lock up as I braked for Tower, and drifted out very wide – not a problem, as I eased a bit of throttle back on to slide it back into the corner when the back end twitched again as the re-welded Z-bar broke again, spinning me off into some filthy great muddy field.
Even that wasn’t so bad, as I was ready to drive out, but the car had dropped as the z-bar disconnected, and I got beached in the mud. I tried in vain to reverse out, then had a vague recollection of an off-roading technique of rocking it out, but it was no good.
I waved for the marshalls and the race was red flagged as conditions were too bad and nobody wanted a stack of Vees growing in their turnip field on top of me.
A quick push and I was on my way again, but despite having been up to at least 12th when I went off, I was only classified in 19th at the finish.
I’m not disappointed with that in the slightest – because I also set the 9th fastest lap overall!
That’s a huge confidence booster on its own – but combined with my dry performance in the first race it was a psychologically fantastic weekend for me!
I had brilliant fun in wet and dry, and my confidence in the car is coming on in leaps and bounds. I know I’m headed back in the right direction at last, and I know I can do much, much better – and that’s all with a damaged car!
There might be 2 James’ in Formula Vee doing rain dances for the rest of the year!
Speaking of which, James Harridge came in 2nd behind the seemingly unbeatable Paul Smith, with fellow n00b Harry Webb picking up an excellent 3rd on the podium!
