Danger! Slippy when wet! - Silverstone 18th August 07

So, off to Silverstone with my newly repaired Westy. The forecast is rain so I'm a bit nervous, but it has to be done.

Actually the morning was ok weather wise. A bit dull, but at least it was dry.
I did my usual and made sure I was able to follow some of the quick cars during qualifying. I have driven the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit before, but never the national circuit so it was quite literally a steep learning curve! So after a 15 minute session I wasn't expecting much. I did manage to keep up with one of the leading class C cars for a while so maybe I was learning something.

Anyway, in the end I did a best lap of 1m 07s. The leading class A car was doing just over 1m02's so I was nearly 5s a lap off the leading pace. But I was 14th on the grid, out of 28 which I didn't think was too bad. I reckon I can improve on that time given a bit more track time, but that was not going to happen in the wet!

My friends Joe and Barbara turned up after practise to offer some moral support. Thanks guys! And thanks for the push starts - another new battery needed I reckon!

I thought at one point after the morning session that the rain might actually hold off, but by about 2pm that hope was crushed. Oh well! It's all experience isn't it!

So I'm half way up on the grid. We have a warm up lap, presumably so that we can guage to some extent what grip there is and to warm up the tyres a bit. All it did for me was scare me half to death. There was so little grip it was like driving on ice. It was pretty hard keeping the thing on the track on the straight, never mind trying to go round a corner. On top of the rain, the fastest corner was covered in oil from the last race. Oh yeah, and you can't see a thing except for the light of the car in front. But apart from that it looks like fun!

When the race starts I immediately have about 4 cars come straight past me. I let them go (as if I had a choice!). I'm thinking that my strategy is to stay out of trouble and you never know, I might be the only one left by the end! Unfortunately that plan started to go wrong on lap 2. I spin at one of the slower corners. Fortunately I stay on the track and get going straight away but I have lost a couple of places.

The next couple of laps start to get quite enjoyable. I manage to catch my nearest class A rival, Julias, and overtake him, and get past one other slower car. I'm then out on my own as the main pack has pulled out some distance. After I'm not sure how many laps I can see the back of the pack up front so I reckon I must be gaining on them. If only I hadn't spun I could still be up for a place. There were a few casualties on the side by now so I must have gained a few places by default.

Then, as if to put me back in my place, I am overtaken on the straight by the leading car who had lapped me. I can't beleive how fast he is going. How does he do that and stay on the track?!
Rather stupidly, I try to keep up with him for a few moments. I then realise that I am heading into the fastest corner of the track going far too quickly and with no braking power whatsoever!
The spin was so graceful, I really wish it had been captured on film. I did a compete 360 and ended up sideway across the middle of the track at the end of the straight. It gets worse. In my panic I have pushed the clutch pedal so hard it has got stuck. I can't get it free. Bugger! I'm sitting there like an easy target for 20 cars screaming down the straight at me in the wet! I'm going to die!!! And the marshals are all watching it happen (presumably they don;t want to die themselves, but need to know where to collect the body from!). Anyway, in that respect at least, luck is with me, and everyone passes without a problem.

So once again, my inexperience costs me a race finish, but I can put it down to experience.
To cap it all, I actually got a telling off for not being in control under a yellow flag. I'm almost the slowest car on a track with no grip, and they tell me off for going too quickly!!

There are some video clips here.

Next race is Snetterton in September. Watch this space for the next exciting installment.

Preparing for Silverstone

Ok, on to the next one.
I was hoping to get to Snetterton last month, but the late discovery of damage to the chassis rather delayed things. I had the car checked out by the guys at Spirit, but apart from some minor spanner work, couldn't find anything wrong. I then sent the car to PDQ for a major check over of the engine and to try to solve the cut out problem.
Well PDQ did a great job. They found the cut out problem - a loose connection on the fuel pump which amazingly was coming loose on a left hand corner and then dropping back on again - making it very difficult to find. They also put the car on their rolling road to get the mixture right and stop the flaming problem. It was only when on the rolling road that they found the source of my wobble at Mallory (which I had thought was a puncture). The problem was a broken chassis rail at the front (it was a clean break at the weld, and only showed when the car was stressed, making it difficult to find). So the car went back to Spirit to be welded. Whilst the front end was being taken apart I thought I would get the shocks refurbished, which I knew would need doing soon. I suppose unsurprisingly, what is turning out to be typical of my racing experience so far, this turned out to be rather expensive. The shocks couldn't be refurbed and were shot. So a new set of shocks and springs all round.
Big bills all round. I have done my budget already and only done 2 races! Still, if nothing else goes wrong I might just get away with doing the next 2 or 3 races. We'll see!