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Snetterton 300 Formula Vee – 12 & 13 September 2015

16 Wednesday Sep 2015

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Snetterton 300 Formula Vee – 12 & 13 September 2015

As soon as I’d slithered around the first few corners I was finding cars going much more slowly than I felt I could go.  All doubts gone as I dropped into the zone, I pulled out past them, opting to feel the track out at my own pace rather than take the safe option of following someone else.

After the torrentially wet Silverstone test day, I though I’d learned nothing – but maybe it had helped me.  I had a lot of confidence in the car, and it was only when a car spun in front of me that I panic braked, locked the front, put a wheel on the grass, and around I went.

It was no drama, and in the 5 laps I had to qualify, I spun another 3 times – still managing to clock the 15th best time of the 22 cars listed!

Above all, I found it great fun!  The times themselves weren’t worth much with massive differences making it a bit of a lottery, and I thought I’d most likely drop back in the dry for race 1.

After an ok launch the start line, I found myself up with the experienced drivers Martin Snarey, Tony Mitchell and William Stenning, when things settled down.  I was up to 11th on track but then started to drop down the order, as I wasn’t able to find much speed through the first corner and most of the infield section.

After losing about 4 places in one lap (I left it in 4th gear through the infield – doh!), I gave myself a mental slapping and watched the cars in front, braking later than wherever they were braking, and soon began reeling them all back in.

I swapped positions with Tony and Martin until they both got past me again. Tony went a bit wide onto the back straight, and I got a good exit to pull out of his slipstream and outbrake him (and nearly myself!) and made up a lot of ground on Martin.

The lap before I’d managed to get my front wheels alongside Martin into Coram, and this time I thought I’d see if I could complete the move. Getting a good run through the Bomb Hole, I closed in on Martin and seeing I had room kept it pinned in 3rd around the outside of him on the dirty line.

I caught him totally by surprise and flew past, skating sideways into the braking area and just about pulling it back into line to get around the left hander onto the main straight still ahead.

Feeling pretty chuffed with myself, I then saw the chequered flag was out!

I’d snatched an ecstatic 12th place – which then became 11th after Graham Gant was excluded for being under the weight limit. By far my best result, and more than I would have ever hoped for in my second race meeting!

Massive thanks to Tim Probert and the Vee Centre for organising the free BBQ on Saturday night, too – I got to relax and chat to a lot of the other drivers and their crews over a can of beer and great food. This kind of event is especially brilliant for us shy newbies, who struggle to match up names to faces and then match them all up again with the cars and helmets on track! I’m trying to get around all the drivers for a chat, but that’s almost as hard as the racing side of things!

Race 2 saw Snarey fly off ahead but left me in a battle with Wes Burton as I watched Tony Mitchell and William Stenning scrapping it out ahead.

I didn’t push anywhere near as hard as I should have at the start of the race, and although I was 5 seconds per lap faster, everyone else was even quicker!

Wes’s engine sadly blew as he slipstreamed me down the pit straight, leaving me trailing the two ahead.

I got up to a decent pace on the last lap, finally catching Tony and reaching the finish line 0.05 secs behind him to finish 17th overall of the 19 finishers.

This might look disappointing on paper, but I drove much better, and at that pace I should have been in the big gaggle fighting for 11th place again, if I’d gone harder at the start.

More importantly, I still enjoyed it and came away happy!

To keep this short(er), I’ll do another blog with my full post-race analyses.

ONBOARD VIDEO FOOTAGE:

Qualifying:

Race 1:

Race 2:

My First Race! Silverstone International 22/08/15

24 Monday Aug 2015

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My First Race! Silverstone International 22/08/15

Race time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’d done it!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***EDIT***

Onboard videos of both races here:

Silverstone International – Testing and Qualifying

23 Sunday Aug 2015

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Silverstone International – Testing and Qualifying

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I qualified 29th and 28th for the races.

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

I had to reset my brain.

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

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

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

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

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

Silverstone National Test 14/08/15

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

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Silverstone National Test 14/08/15

This was my first test on a ‘proper’ track that’s been used in the Formula Vee UK Championship in recent years, and so should have given me my first real benchmark in where my lap times would put me on the grid.

As it turned out, it was ridiculously wet!

As I signed on in the morning, we were all being sternly warned that the trucks had been there the day before, and so there was lots of rubber down, making it all extremely hazardous combined with monsoon conditions.

I did want to drive the Sheane in the wet so that I could test the limits of the car and push past the handling limits to see what happened.  I certainly did that!

I went out on track being very smooth and cautious.  Glenn has adjusted the clutch so that it’s not all or nothing at the end of the pedal movement, and this gave me much more control to pull away.

We were also using the brand new and shiny Hoosier tyres for the first time.  There is a recommended run-in and settle cycle, but being so wet we never even got any heat into them, and so kept them on the car all day, rather than switch back to the Dunlops.

I slammed down from 4th gear to 3rd as I came up to the hairpin, and the back end came around.  Ah.  Time to readjust the brain to how slippy it is, and carry on, then!

It wasn’t quite like driving on ice, but it was the next best thing!  I had my first taste of severe understeer mid-way through the left-hander coming off the back straight, and the back end stepped out with even the slightest jab of the throttle anywhere.

It was a bit disenchanting to see the MSA Formula cars and Formula Ford’s blasting past me, and my main mission became “Stay out of their way and don’t kill the car”.

In that first session I had another spin around Copse, where I just couldn’t find any grip all day, and think I actually managed to take a decent line through there once!  This time, the back went out and I caught it, corrected, and then it went again.

The third spin of the session was powering through Woodcote in 4th gear, having not had a single problem any other lap.  I thought about a Sheane that was written off there in 2010 when it spun and hit the pit wall, and just as I thought “As long as I don’t do THAT…” I lost the back again on the exit!

As it spun a couple of times I made tiny steering inputs when I could feel the tyres bite a little, and came to rest facing the right way inches from the pit wall!

OR, as I prefer to tell it, I decided to have a go at practising my race starts, and flamboyantly spun it onto the grid, where my test start went extremely well!

I decided to reign it all back in after that.  More than 3 spins in a session is bound to attract the attention of people holding black flags, and it was clear that I couldn’t find grip anywhere and wouldn’t be even attempting any lap times.

We disconnected the front anti-roll bar for the next session, but I think it was just too wet for anything to make a difference.  All that happened was it was even less happy about turning into Copse.

When it finally stopped raining for 20 minutes before the last session, I went out only to find someone had driven the Exxon Valdez around three quarters of the track, as a 5ft wide slick of oil had taken ownership of the racing line!

I actually really enjoyed that session, with a huge opposite lock drift around Luffield as I was watching a FF behind me just as sideways doing the same thing!

So, Formula Vee’s are pretty lethal in the wet.  The Sheane was well balanced, and I did manage to recover most slides, and wasn’t just spinning helplessly everywhere.  I was pleased to find my biking instincts meant that I kept my foot on the throttle whenever the back lost grip, rather then snapping the throttle shut on instinct and making everything worse.  This will probably help me better in the dry than the wet, though… And, of course, it should be noted that everyone else was spinning off everywhere, with loads of flags and stoppages!

The custom made waterproof case from JooVuu for my Mobius camera was flawless, and despite the rain I did get some good footage.

Here’s the full first session, warts and all – remember this is my first time ever on a wet track, and my second ever time lapping in the car!

First test in a Sheane Formula Vee

09 Thursday Jul 2015

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First test in a Sheane Formula Vee 

After finally sorting out the seized engine, we booked in to test at Llandow circuit in Wales. 

We had massive problems finding somewhere to test that was suitable to our needs – I think I’ll do a separate blog about that and what we’ve found out, so that might make it easier for anyone else for the future! 

In short, though, Llandow were brilliant and laid back.  I had sent a few emails to Louise and Sharon, but basically they let us book up the day before, and were happy for us to turn up “around 11ish” and get three hours testing in. 

Aims of the day:

  • Check the engine runs ok 
  • Get the feel of the car 
  • Gain confidence in driving the car 
  • (personal aim) Not to spin, crash or kill the car! 

I didn’t really get a chance to be nervous after arriving at Llandow.  We basically unloaded the car, fine-tuned some things, and then I signed on, kitted up and jumped in. 

There was a brief moment of panic when I slowly let the clutch out (at my Silverstone driving experience they advised to treat the race clutch like a hill start – this was great advice!), only to find the car didn’t move!  I checked it was in gear, tried again, and still nothing… 

Then I remembered that the biting point on the Sheane is stupidly high off the pedal – unnaturally so!  I took my big stupid foot ALL the way off the clutch, and bunny-hopped it forwards a few times.  Doh! 

Just to rattle me even more, I then saw the light was red onto the circuit, so I had to stop again!  When it went green I stumbled away again, then crunched the hell out of the gearbox as I tried to find 2nd gear.  I couldn’t, and pulled off the side of the circuit, thinking I must look like the biggest rookie ever and that I’d be seeing a black flag waved at me soon… At least I was the only car out there! 

Several deep breaths and I found second gear, deciding to pull away in 2nd to at least get rolling, then 3rd and 4th as I eased onto the back straight with no problems.  I was easing the brakes on, and trying to warm the tyres whilst expecting the back to snap around on me like it did at Donington at every second, but after a few corners I realised that must have been the engine seizing that spun me, and all was now well.  I could concentrate on getting some heat into the tyres and brakes. 

Coming past the pits I braked progressively and changed to 3rd, then to 2nd just before I turned left… and just got lots of crunching again. 

Finding 3rd gear I kept it running, and decided to stay in 3rd and 4th for the rest of the session, as getting laps in the car was more important than lap times. 

I warmed everything up and after a few laps had found the line and (safe) braking points.    I pushed a little harder, raising the corner speed, braking later, and getting on the power harder and earlier, before the chequered flag called me back in. 

Second session, and I raised the bar even more.  Faster, later, more speed! 

I tried braking at the 100 yard board into the first corner, dropping to 3rd at the 50 before turning in, but, as I told Glenn after the session, “the front wheels were doing all kinds of crazy shit!”.  I could see both flapping around like a rabbits ears if you gave it a good slap (err, not that I ever have, or would advise doing this – that’s just the image it gave me at the time)!   

I thought this was just a combination of the bumps and crest in the braking area and me braking to the limits and locking the wheels a little (more on this later!).  I found braking 25 yards earlier and a little smoother seemed to fix the problem, and I could get Glenn to add more damping. 

I’d been discussing camber with Glenn on the drive to the circuit, and found exactly as he called it: more throttle in the corners squatted the car down and stabilised the rear.  This was the first time I’d felt the power of camber in action, and it felt good! 

Always wear a HANS device, kids!

The speed wasn’t intimidating to me at all – I’m used to 0-100mph in under 4 seconds on my bikes – but it also didn’t feel slow.  I had a feeling I’d enjoy the high-speed corners, hard on the throttle through the turn, and the two coming onto each straight were indeed my favourites!  The connection to the car was as close to riding a bike as I’ve found.  It’s still a fair way off, but far closer than I was expecting I’d ever feel on four wheels. 

It felt good, and it felt natural, as I improved gear change times and everything started to get into muscle memory.  My lap times for the session were consistently within the same second, even though I was still taking the complex in 3rd gear. 

I had a few twitches from the rear, but was making sure to push gently up to the limits. It was either Mansell, Senna or Skip Barber who said that if you spin you learn nothing, other than that you went past the limits, and you don’t need to spin to find the limits.  Glenn told me after that he was expecting me to spin, and wasn’t sure if I was taking it easy or being smooth and sensible! 

We added a click of damping to see what that did into turn 1, and did the 3rd session with me again raising the pace and feeling for the limits. I braked at the 100 yard board again, but the wheels still did their flappy thing, and I had to cadence brake to get it all back on the tarmac. 

I blasted out for the 4th session – with me forgetting to switch the camera on! 

I’m a bit gutted about this, because I was pushing to what I’d say was a ‘safe race pace’, and would have liked to see the onboard footage.  I was fully on the throttle and not touching the brakes until the 50 yard board on the back straight, dropping to 3rd just as I tipped into the chicane, then straight back on the throttle, hanging the right wheel over the grass on the inside all the way around the curve.  I was changing up to 4th on the corner exits onto both the straights just as I hit the curb, and giggling like a loon! 

The front was still playing up into turn 1, and Glenn waved me in for a closer look after  a particularly bad shake of the old bunny ears.  And we found this: 

Note the very thin metal plate where the shock mounting is welded on.  We thought my shoddy braking was the cause, but looking back over the video I can see it first moves around after that very first 100 yard braking attempt in the second session! 

When stationary, the mounting must have been moving back into place so we didn’t even spot anything when using the adjuster on the bottom of the shock – and although it’s clearly moving in the video footage, I couldn’t the top of the shocks from the drivers seat. 

So that was day over for us, but to be honest I’d got all I needed from the day, and was at the stage where I’d just be taking risks to shave tenths off my lap times – which is not what we were there to do. 

Here’s the onboard footage from the 3rd session:

Results: 

  • The engine is strong and ran flawlessly.  I’d like another 40hp, but after 30 mins in any vehicle I’d tell you that! 
  • I got a great feel for the car, but some things need work – like changing into 2nd gear and clutch starts. 
  • I’m fully confident driving the car to the levels that I did. I know I was pushing close to the limits, but I also know I can push closer, and then I need to know how to go over that line and still keep it on the track. 
  • (personal aim) I didn’t spin, crash, and it appears I didn’t kill the car, either! 

 

Silverstone Single-Seater Experience Review

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

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Silverstone Single-Seater Experience Review

After the somewhat disastrous Formula Vee testing, a saving grace was that I had booked a Single Seater Experience at Silverstone.

The original plan was to do this before jumping in the Vee, and then I would have a benchmark for driving a single seat racing car.  I couldn’t book the day up until AFTER I should have had my first Vee race, but as it turned out, this all righted itself.

So I was up bright and early yesterday to be at Silverstone for 08:20 am.

The ‘Experience Centre’ is easy to find at Silverstone (just follow the signs to the right and over the bridge), and presenting a valid road license for signing on was quick and easy.

I’d taken my full race kit, but didn’t want to look like a Tit-Head, so decided to sign in and check out what everyone else was wearing/carrying.  Nobody had anything at all with them, so I decided I’d use my own helmet, gloves and boots, but my three-layer race suit would be overkill.  Silverstone provide gloves and helmets free of charge – but if you’ve got your own kit, you may as well use it!

There’s a half hour driver briefing with a video covering all the essentials like racing lines, flags, the track and braking and turning points/cones.  It’s very good for novices, but if you hold a race licence you should really know this stuff already!  The main difference from the ARDS test briefing was probably that you’re expected to do all your braking before you turn in to the corner. 

Also, you can’t overtake anywhere on the track apart from on the straights and only on the left.  The marshalls will show a blue overtaking flag to the car in front, who is expected to accelerate ‘more gently’ out of the corner to allow the car behind to pass safely.  This does work wonders for safety, as you know nobody is going to try to come past you on the brakes, or pull a block pass mid-corner.  The day works incredibly well because of this.

Next you go over to the Stowe infield circuit and meet the cars.

They’re special ‘Formula Silverstone’ cars – a 1.6 litre Ford Duratec engine and four gears on the right hand side, with treaded tyres and wings.  They look the part, and I noticed the bodywork was pretty heavy duty, which I’m sure is part of having reliable cars that any old numpty can jump in and thrape around a circuit!

The cockpit was quite spacious, and much easier to get into and out of than the Sheane Formula Vee, but you felt very safe and secure even just using a four-point harness.

It’s a full racing clutch – so pretty much an on/off switch!  You need to rev to around 5000rpm and very gently ease the clutch out until it punches you in the back and away you roar!

When I first slid into the cockpit I realised how much confidence I’d lost after spinning the Sheane.  I had a bitter metallic taste in my mouth from adrenaline, and realised I’d put myself under serious pressure not to cock this up, and to prove that I actually CAN drive a racing car.  I was much more nervous than sitting in the Vee for the first time.

All the cars went out in small groups, following single file behind an instructor in a Renault Clio.  I was the lead car in my group, so headed out at what felt like a very slow pace.

Much like a Vee, you only really use first and second gears to get going, and the whole of Stowe was third and fourth gear.

After a few laps slowly building up the pace, we came into the pits, a different lead car went behind the Clio, and we went out again.

This pace was actually pretty perfect for all levels of driver.  If you’re brand new to it all, you won’t be intimidated, and have plenty of time to learn the track and racing line.  Even for me, once again having my Tom Cruise ‘crisis of confidence’, it settled me right down so I could concentrate on getting the feel of the grip and the responsive throttle.

Once more we came back to the pits, and then were let loose for the last 20 minutes on our own!

When you push the throttle down properly, it all gets a lot more hectic.

With the revs up you’re instantly lapping the circuit in less than half the time, and having to really stand on the brakes coming off the straights.

Out the pit lane you come down to an awkward entry to a left hairpin, with a late apex meaning you feed the power in onto the longest straight.  Then you realise you’re being a wuss and squeeze the pedal more.

It’s a fair feeling of speed and a very bumpy journey as you ease the brakes on before you get to the ‘Brake Now!’ board, kicking yourself for not leaving it 50 metres later even as you slam it down to third gear and turn into the corner.

As you exit you drag it back to the left and dab the brakes again for a right hander, leading into a complex of corners all in third gear, some requiring a dab of brakes as you get later on in the session and pick up speed.

There’s another really awkward entry to the other hairpin, and it’s begging you to turn in too early, so you hold off and look for the yellow apex cone and bring it in to that, building power through a lovely left hander that snaps right onto the pit straight as you scream the revs up to fourth gear, braking hard but keeping as much speed as you can through a right-left s-bend back down to the first hairpin.

I was there to have fun, and pushed a fair bit with a few wiggles, but don’t think I ever strung a decent lap all together without hitting traffic (or missing a gear!), which I wish I’d concentrated more on, because in the debrief they hand you a printout of all your lap times!

I did ok, and I’m happy with my performance because I know there was a lot more to come.

As mentioned before, it ironed out some confidence issues both with driving itself, and also the big fear mentioned in previous blogs that my braking would be a major weak point.  It wasn’t, and I was very comfortable with it, and willing to push much further than expected.

On about the only clear lap I had, I put in a 1:04, and although I did get caught in a fair bit of traffic, it looks like I got lucky with a very fast group, so didn’t get held up nearly as much as I’ve seen watching other peoples videos.  That’s the chance you take with arrive-and-drive things.

So I’m feeling good about driving, and that should get me through to next years Formula Vee campaign.  Shame there weren’t any spaces in the next session, or I may have had another go…

The full experience is available from Silverstone for around £199 – but you’ll find loads of vouchers, offers and cashback around to bring that down to around £140 – I bought mine through www.buyagift.co.uk.  Then there’s the £20 damage waiver (it means you pay nothing if you kill the car), CD of top quality photographs for £20, and £30 for a full video of the day on a USB stick (plus you get £5 off the photographs with this).  Not cheap, but welcome to motor racing!

The Donington Park Test

03 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by in ARDS Test, Formula Vee, Racing, Technique

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The Donington Park Test

Anyone following me on Twitter and Facebook will already know that This Did Not Go Well.

Basically, the engine seized on the 3rd corner on my first ever lap, and unfortunately that means it’s season over for us!

I mentioned in my blog about the ARDS test that I have absolutely no frame of reference for driving a car on track, and although this didn’t contribute to the death of the engine, it did lead to my first spin.

I spent literally two minutes stalling the car in the paddock before deciding to hit the track and go for it.

Leaving the pit lane I dropped it into 4th (top) gear with the aim of cruising around for a few laps.  The tyres were not only cold, but hadn’t done a lap for 6 years.

It was here I also realised I hadn’t adjusted my mirrors! I couldn’t reach to sort them out properly, and could see a little, so thought I’d cruise around and pull into pit lane at the end of the lap to sort them out.

I turned through the first corner and saw some cars coming up fast behind me, and at the top of the Craner Curves a Ginetta G55 flew past me very close.  As a biker who loves filtering, this didn’t phase me, but pulling such a close pass on a Novice in the opening minutes of a test day did seem a little harsh.

No matter, I stayed in 4th through Old Hairpin, and on the exit the back stepped out.

Now, this was my first time ever driving the car.  I had no idea if I could go into that corner at 30mph or 130mph safely.  I honestly thought I was cruising at about 50% of the cars ability, so wasn’t expecting any loss of traction at all.  I took Old Hairpin FAST when I was last there on a bike!

From there it all happened very quickly.  I though it had just spun before I’d had a chance to do anything.  It was only when I watched the onboard video that I saw that I HAD corrected the slide on instinct, and kept a good constant throttle.

I’ve been drilling “Correction – Recovery” into my head for about a year.  Correct the slide then bring the wheel back to recover, so you don’t spin the other way.

The problem is I have no idea what the steering is like on this car, and as it came back into line I cocked it up and around it went.

Whee!!

I stalled it during the spin just before I remembered to get the clutch in, but caught it nicely so I ended up facing the right way and was hitting the starter button before I’d stopped spinning.

It didn’t start, so I thought it might be because I was still in 4th gear, so fumbled into first and it took a few tries before the engine roared back to life.

I felt like an idiot for spinning on a damned out-lap, but I guess I was asking too much of the car/tyres without knowing it.  

I was still perfectly calm (even with cars whizzing past me as I was stationary in the middle of the track!) and wasn’t having a flap.  I’d just take it even easier for a few laps and be ready to catch the back if it stepped out again.

I gave a stab of throttle and eased off the clutch, and it went about 10 yards and then died.

Thinking I’d stalled it somehow, I used the momentum to pull over to the right hand side of the track out the way and hit the starter button again.

*CLUNK*

I tried a few more times but just got the clunk.  I figured the battery must be dead, and got my hand in the air to let the marshalls know I had a problem.

They red-flagged the session, and I got towed back to the pits by the Wagon Of Shame feeling like a right dick-head…

Glenn knew instantly that the engine had seized, and getting a spanner on it confirmed it was locked solid…

We think it’s either a piston or main bearing, but we also had a very tight tolerance on the crank (or cam? Hell, I just drive the thing!) which could also have failed under load for the first time.

Either way, our test day was over.  And with no time in the car, even if we could get it fixed for the race on Saturday, we thought it best to withdraw our entry.

So that’s all for 2014 for me!  Gutted, but that’s racing!

We’ll make sure I get some proper time in the car to get the feel of it in early 2015, then will be able to think about doing a full season.

I hope you’ll continue to follow my progress, and thanks for all your support!

This video isn’t the proudest of my life, but I’m giving you the warts and all tale of my journey into racing, so it’s only fair you get to see this:

Testing The Waters

26 Friday Sep 2014

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Testing The Waters

We’ve had a few setbacks to our very tight, last minute testing plans.

The car wasn’t ready for Mallory Park on Wednesday.  No problem – Llandow is cheap and are bound to be quiet on Saturday, right?

Wrong.  They’re fully booked!

I did some desperation research to see if we could get testing anywhere else…

Bruntingthorpe was our original plan, but it seems they will only let you test there if you have full public liability insurance in place.  You try finding that for one day, for something that isn’t a road car!  It isn’t happening…

There are lots of small tracks around England – mainly airfield type ones.  Unfortunately, I suspect the story with them is much the same.  I think they’re all more geared up for the ‘Driving Experience’ days and corporate events that they run.

Track days are plentiful all over the UK, but what you might not know is they don’t let ‘open wheel’ cars mix it with their average customers.

Even Mallory Park’s infamous Wednesday test days run separate sessions for open and closed wheels.

I believe this was originally because of the risk of a closed wheel car riding up over a wheel and getting airborne.  That kind-of makes sense, until you have a think about open wheel cars on the track together, anyway.  Or things like Caterhams, Locosts and Ariel Atoms, which are all allowed out with closed wheel cars!

Either way it’s not going to help, though – the fact is we can’t test before Donington Park on 4th October.

Apart from the official test day on the Thursday before, right?

Umm… yeah… except I waited until I was back off holiday, and was horrified to be told it’s fully booked!

I managed to wrangle the morning, so at least that’s something.  It’s also an open pit lane (you basically go out on track when you want and do as many laps as you want), so potentially we have up to 3 and a half hours of track time available.

Then I ‘just’ have to turn up on race day and qualify…

Obviously a higher power thought I needed a bit more of a challenge!

My First Race Is Approaching!

22 Monday Sep 2014

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My First Race Is Approaching!

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


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

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

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


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

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

Which leads me nicely on to testing.

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

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

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

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

I’m not expecting to sleep much before that!

ARDS Test: Following My Childhood Dream To Be A Racing Driver

31 Friday May 2013

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ARDS Test: Following My Childhood Dream To Be A Racing Driver

Note: This was first written on 20 July 2012, when my journey first started. This is a new blog created to purely document my racing.

From my earliest memories, I always wanted to be a Racing Driver.

Well, that and a Bounty Hunter – and as I’ve been a Surveillance Operative/P.I. I’ve pretty much covered that one.  But didn’t get to shoot Bad Guys.

After riding sportsbikes for 12 years, and having blogged about the bike trackdays, you’d be forgiven for expecting me to be banging on about getting my bike racing license here – but no!  This is the ARDS National B License for four wheels!

I’ve only been driving cars for 2 years, but found straight away that I enjoy driving almost as much as riding a bike.

The thing is, I’ve crashed bikes and know it hurts!  Whilst I am pretty quick on two wheels (on road and track), I’m not going to push my limits into the kind of realms where I might be looking at actually racing.  Trackdays for bikes, whatever they try to claim, ARE racing, anyway!  You thrape the Hell out of your bike, try to be the fastest in every session, and the only thing missing is a trophy for anyone at the end.

I’ve never driven anything faster than a 14 year old Honda Civic Sport, but have done any advanced training I could grab, such as learning from Police/Pursuit trained drivers to a Skid Control course as soon as I’d passed my test.  I’ve done karting and am pretty fast there, too, but am under no illusions that drifting a kart will bear any resemblance to hammering a full-size car on a circuit.

I’ve grown up around the racing scene – namely the 750 Motor Club, as my Step Dad (Glenn Hay) raced Formula Vee single seaters.  He still owns several cars – one is being run currently by Rob Cowburn – but as he’s looking at racing again himself, and my sister Michelle Hay also passed her ARDS license a few years back he might run out of spare cars before I get enough cash to be able to try a race myself!

Doing a bit of research online, it seems first you have to buy the ‘starter pack’, which contains loads of useful info for the budding racing driver including a handbook of contacts for various ‘stuff’, a DVD to prepare you for the test itself, and the application forms.

The practical test and written test are done together on a half day course at just about every circuit, with most costing around £300.  That’s for a written test to show you can do everything safely and know the flags etc, and then you use their cars to hammer around a track and show the instructors that you can be trusted on track to not kill everybody around you.

It seems Silverstone also offer a whole days course for £400 – which includes all the above plus a lot more track time in the morning including more skid control training.  This option seems like a bargain for another £100 over the half day – especially as you get to use their Caterhams, rather than what appear to be things like Honda Civics and Peugeot Hairdressers at the other tracks.  I quite fancy a blast in a Caterham!

You also need to find a Doctor to give you a full medical examination – this is around £100 and I’m not happy about it!  Some people have told me you can get it done for half this, so it may be worth shopping around.

Assuming you pass all that, you just get the application forms back (there might be another fee here), and they send you your shiny new National B Race License in return!

And then the first step of the childhood dream is in motion!

I shall do a series of blogs about each stage of my application for anyone who’s also interested in doing the ARDS test, and if you have any more info or tips please feel free to post a comment!

You can get the initial pack from these two sites:

http://www.ards.co.uk

http://www.msauk.org/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=784