As you may have seen on Twitter and Facebook, Racing Team Vee have formed a proud partnership with Primrose Hospice for 2017!
Primrose Hospice is an independent charity supporting patients and families living with a life-limiting illness, across North East Worcestershire.
Their staff and over 450 volunteers are involved in a massive range of activities from supporting patients in the Day Hospice and Family Support Team to running fundraising events all year round.
With the main base in my own home town of Bromsgrove, the results of their help are well known to all my family and friends, and having recently witnessed how they helped my fiancée’s Dad come to terms with recovering from prostate cancer I knew I had to try and help out in any way I could.
The whole team is very positive and upbeat, and that shows with the strength and outlook it gives to their patients, too.
A unique thing I found on a visit is Trevor – the Therapy Dog. He wonders around the place making friends with patients and offering the kind of supporting ear that only dogs can. A brilliant idea, and you can follow his exploits every week on Trevor Tuesday on Twitter.
I’ll be showing my own support for Primrose Hospice later in the year as I jump out of a perfectly good air plane for a tandem parachute drop – so watch this space and please help me raise some much-needed funds!
You can, of course, donate directly to Primrose Hospice, and I’ll be setting up a facility myself, soon.
For me, this is a great chance to give something back to a charity I really believe in, and I hope you will welcome them aboard RTV. Their branding will be prominently on display on James’ Sheane Formula Vee car at the legendary Brands Hatch racing circuit this Monday along with existing sponsors JooVuu.
Please like and share and stay tuned for an exciting year!
After a major gearbox rebuild, we arrived at a very cold and damp Silverstone on Saturday morning, knowing we’d have to test the gears in qualifying.
Things were a bit hectic as we got scrutineered and sorted ourselves out ready to make the first session of the day. A lot of the others had been testing the day before or at least arrived the night before.
Not realising quite how wet it was on the track, I kept my dry suspension settings we’d last used at Anglesey, but raised the tyre pressures a few psi. With the gearbox to test out and both races within a few hours of each other, it was never the intention to set the world on fire in qualifying – just to get us in the races safely.
Qualifying
I was one of the first cars out onto the track, and immediately realised it was extremely slippery, and we should have softened everything on the car right up and gone far higher on tyre pressures! This was also my first time ever on this track in anything but bone dry conditions.
On almost every corner I was locking wheels on the brakes, the back end stepped out mid-corner, and then again when I tried to get on the power.
I counted off the three laps I’d need to qualify, and then tried to get the hammer down.
That lasted a until I got to the second corner, failing to catch a filthy great slide through Farm, but doing an excellent j-turn across the mud and gravel to get pointing the right way before rejoining the track.
A lap or so later I lost it again through another of the fastest corners, doing pretty much a mirror image of the previous spin and j-turn at Stowe.
I was having fun controlling the car out there, but this time – unlike at Croft – I wasn’t very fast to go along with it – only managing 23 and 22 place on the grids for the two races. I’d have preferred to be in the top 20, but with the 38 car entry and with a car that was a right handful, I guess it wasn’t bad!
Even better was that the gearbox now felt perfect, and we wouldn’t have to fine-tune anything!
Race 1
Moving out of the holding area, we were then held in our grid positions for a long time before being allowed out of track.
Being aircooled, Formula Vee engines do not like this sort of treatment. I have wondered a few times this year if the organisers are aware of aircooled engines and how fast they will cook themselves if left sitting there revving away… Switching off isn’t a great option, either, as we run a total loss system, meaning everything is powered off the tiny battery, and once that runs out we’re going nowhere. It doesn’t take many starts to zap all the juice – and so we’re using starter packs before we go out for a good reason!
Eventually, they let us loose, and I set about warming my tyres and feeling how much grip the now almost-dry track had to offer.
On the grid I held the revs, then after only a slight hesitation as the starter lights went out, I dropped the clutch and powered away.
It was an absolute beast of a start, and I felt the rear tyres right at the edge of traction as I shifted up to second gear, lifting off the power as I found space to get around a stalled car, then up to third gear as we came to the first corner.
I’d already passed around 8 cars as I dived to the inside where nobody else seemed to want to be, trying to stay with the pack, but losing a couple of places to the more powerful cars down the Hanger Straight as I was bulked at Village and hadn’t got back up to speed.
Coming back passed the start line, I was alongside another car and decided to try and go up the inside into Vale with barely a lift off the throttle.
It proved too much for the slightly damp track and cool tyres, and I wasn’t able to catch the spin, slewing sideways across the track at an obscene speed as I looked at the rest of the field shooting towards me out of the fastest corner on the circuit.
Luckily, although stopped in the middle of the track sideways, I was well off the normal racing line, and slammed it into first gear to get going again right at the back.
Catching the tail end of the pack down the Hanger Straight, red flags were being waved just as my engine started making an uncomfortably familiar sound.
Back at the start line after cruising in, the noise had vanished, and I could see the marshals were gridding people up in their original positions for the restart, which was taking even more time as we sat there stationary.
At least I’d be able to reclaim my 23rd place – although I wasn’t expecting to do more than pull into the pits if my car started making the strange noise again.
As we finally started another green flag lap I could tell I’d lost a fair bit of power, and the car didn’t want to rev. I limped back and pulled into the pit lane to see what Glenn thought was the best course of action.
Finding nothing obvious, he told me to go for it, and although the other cars had left the grid some time before, I chased out onto the track to see what happened.
What happened was the noise came back down Hanger Straight, and then got twice as loud, with the car not revving over 5000rpm. I throttled off and pulled into the pits to retire.
The familiarity of the noise became apparent as we found the cause: two of the engine studs had snapped – much the same as the one at Donington earlier in the year, except these hadn’t shot a hole through the covers.
After the valiant efforts of Glenn Hay and Clive for a few hours, we reluctantly conceeded that we weren’t going to be able to make the grid for the second race. One of the threads was irretrievably stuck in the engine case, and all the drilling and hellicoiling wasn’t shifting it.
So it was a very expensive weekend, after showing so much promise.
Even more soul-destroying was that this was the first time ever I had a lot of people come down to watch me! By my sisters, Michelle and Stef, my brother in law Alan, their two beautiful kids Poppy and Calum – and even my fiancée Julie (wearing my old Redditch Arrows #18 US Football shirt!) were making their first ever visit to any race track! You’ll also notice the new JooVuu sponsor stickers on the car, and RTV decals…
Despite all this, it’s also hard to be too down about it. My ‘fan club’ seemed to enjoy the excitement of it all, and without a doubt their enthusiasm and jumping around spurred me on a lot!
I also got to watch some of the brilliant racing that is Formula Vee – with Paul Smith winning both races and the championship (and jumping straight into a Crossle for two more wins – the most total wins ever in a day in the history of the 750 Motor Club!), James Harridge sticking the Maverick on pole and hounding Smith in both races, Adam Macaulay storming through from the very back to challenge for the lead and a great drive from Tom Roper as he got to grips with the TCR Sheane.
We should make Snetterton – where I got an 11th place last year – but it will be a total engine strip and rebuild. We may even put another engine in that was being saved for next season. The problem with this being whether we’ll be able to do a shake-down test to avoid another expensive weekend of DNS’s…
The 2016 Ravenol Formula Vee Season is about to start!
Even though the Winter ‘off season’ has lasted forever, it’s also suddenly gone, and on Saturday 20th March we’re back at Donington Park to race again!
In true tradition, we’re far from ready for it, but hope to be able to get the car back together in time. Glenn should be getting the engine in today, and then we can look forward to a few late nights as we put the rest back together.
So what’s new for 2016?
We’ve remounted the engine, lowering the rear a little. We haven’t remounted the front shocks, yet, so that will be the same as last year for a while. The bare aluminium sides are still there for now, but will also be getting painted yellow when we get chance.
We’re also hoping to have a very kindly helping hand from Chris ‘Vard’ Vardon in the paddock when he can, with another few offers to help out, from others. That should make our life a lot easier between races!
There’s also an exciting new partnership with a company that you should see in place in time for Donington, and I should fall under the banner of Glenn’s race team. This will lead to another car out on track before the end of the year, with a view to getting 4 cars out for the 2017 50 years of UK Vee celebrations!
The cars out for 2017 should be the Scarab in which Ian Flux and Glenn Hay both won the UK championships, with the other car being the Beech in which Jenny Nadin won the first ever Formula Vee race in the UK.
I’ll also be pushing more to raise my profile, looking for more sponsors (and trying some new things) and have already spoken to local newspapers to print some race reports, as well as a good few other ideas.
Mentally, I’ll be getting my head back in the game to hit the ground ready to build on last years pace (although we won’t have time to test before qualifying), and getting some iRacing laps in to see how that helps.
It’s hard to make much judgement from the entry list for this race, as I’m sure a lot of others are leaving things a bit late, but it seems most of the usual front-runners will be back to battle it out. Paul Smith may be concentrating more on racing his Crossle this year, but Martin Farmer will do a few rounds when his HRX business allows.
James Harridge will be going all out, but so will Adam Macauley over from the Irish Championship, with Ben Miloudi back out in a newly built car as well. Ian Jordon will be hoping to go one better this year, and I’ll be here all day listing the many drivers who are in with a realistic shout of winning the championship this year!
There’s a Harry Webb listed in Class B for AHS who may be one of the new ones to watch, and I’m sure the usual battles will rage all the way down the grid.
I’ll be aiming for the top 10 this year, and if I can get close to the top 3 in Class B whilst keeping things safely on my learning curve, I’ll be happy with that. Not as happy as if it all comes together and I get some wins myself, though!
We’ll see… either way 2016 should be another great year!
“Just throw it into the corner, and sort out whatever happens afterwards!”
I’ve done 3 championship race weekends (plus one non-championship festival) on a very tight budget, proved I can actually drive a proper Formula Vee race car, and realised my childhood dream!
2015 has been a pretty good year in terms of my personal development.
I’ve had huge help from Glenn Hay who’s basically carried me along the way, but have also overcome my own fears, doubts and lack of skill along the way!
Since coming to my epiphany of how to drive a Formula Vee quickly at Silverstone in my first race (hence the title, “Just throw it into the corner, and sort out whatever happens afterwards!”), I’ve realised it fits quite well with my attitude on life.
Take that gamble. Get off your ass and DO IT – and then deal with the consequences be they good or bad.
If you’re not pushing forwards into the unknown, well, you’ll never know what might have been possible for you.
I’m looking forward (bit of an understatement!!) to driving for Glenn next season, but am also acutely aware that I can’t really do this forever.
I still believe that it IS possible to do a season in Formula Vee for £2000, but I’m not sure it’s sustainable.
In my current job, that’s about all that I could spend. One big crash and that could easily wipe out my budget. Without Glenn to help me, I don’t think I’d have any chance of carrying on. Even if I keep improving and do everything right, realistically, I can’t afford this.
The obvious next step is to find some sponsorship.
I have a lot of ideas, but am also realistic in what I think it’s even possible to get from sponsors in this day and age, and in a race series that’s far from the BTCC or F1.
I may reveal my methods if they yield some success, but for the obvious reasons of competition, this may be the one thing that I won’t be very open about on my blog.
If you read this and would like to help me or the team out in any way at all, from fees, parts, to just getting your hands on at race weekends, then please get in touch!
For 2016 Glenn will be stripping the excellent engine in the Sheane, remounting the front shocks, and then working at getting the Ray and his championship winning Scarab back together, too.
Why?
Because 2017 will be the 50th anniversary of Formula Vee in the UK! We aim to have as many cars out as we can, and it should all be a huge year for Formula Vee, and for British racing!
My aim for 2016 will be more of the same. A steady improvement, and moving up the grid. I’ve proved that I can be quick even with a damaged car and injury, and I was still able to drive around these problems and get, for a total rookie, some pretty fine results!
I’ll be aiming to finish in the top 6 – especially on the tracks I’ve already been to. If I can afford to test before the races I’ll take full advantage so that I can hit the ground running. If I knock out my mistakes I can do well – if I can grab the car by the scruff of its neck and get confident with it at the limit, I can maybe surprise a few of the front runners!
I’ve had some support from JooVuu.com, and hopefully I’ll also be using one of their brand new JooVuu-X cameras. I’ve had a sneak peak of the prototype that arrived just too late for me to use at Brands, and it’s a proper quality bit of kit with loads of amazing features, and it should be huge for them. I’ll also be running multiple cameras where I can to capture all the track action!
Glenn is modifying the front shock positions, so that should also take care of anything I bent getting airborne at Donington, and then the car should be good to go.
Before that, the Vee Centre are holding their annual awards night this Saturday, with a lot of the drivers doing a bit of karting before! I’ll take a helmet camera for that, but with skinny kart experts out there I don’t expect to be winning anything there.
