Anyway, last weekend I was happy to be in one of the ‘love it’ phases of my relationship with ‘The Home of British Motorsport’. The weather was just beautiful and I got what I wanted: Close racing, good results and a lot of encouragement.
After Brands, I still didn’t have much idea about how much pace was in the car, or whether I was able to access it. But I knew the Silverstone meeting would go a long way to answering those questions. I’ve always gone well there and of course, I’d already driven the car there – albeit on the National.
We had 2 x 15 min races in store, but first we had to qualify. Now, with 50 plus cars, many driven by competitors who’d never been there before or hadn’t even driven their cars before (or perhaps even both), the chances of getting a clear lap were always going to be slim. They were made even more remote when what seemed like half the field got over excited and threw themselves into the gravel traps cutting the session to only four laps. I spent the first couple hunting down a bit of a space, warming the tyres and having a little feel around for the grip level. Everything felt comfortable so when the one clear lap came along, I could press really hard immediately. This came on the last lap and I got a completely clear run all the way to Vale where I had to thread my way through a few other cars, all of whom thankfully played along and made some space. Across the line, the flags came out, the session was over.
In parc ferme, most people including myself were pretty annoyed at the shortness of the session. But when Keith our eligibility scrutineer read out a list of numbers he said was the Top 10, and this list included my number, I felt a lot better! I was 6th overall with a number of Championship contenders behind me. Yes!
As a result of qualifying well up, my car became subject to a technical inspection, including Schrick test. All was good, apart from a minor bollocking for not having my race number displayed on the bonnet. Woops.
Having cocked up the starts at Brands three weeks earlier I suspected I might struggle a bit again in this department. I’m just getting a bit mixed up between different techniques for launching the car, coupled with little experience to inform the balance between bogging down and spinning the wheels! In both races it cost me three places within the first 20 yards, but I don’t think it made much difference to my finishing position in Race 1, following Nick Barke and Stu Waite home to a solid 9th place – my first Top 10 finish. This was a target I’d had in mind from the start so it was great to tick it off the list so quickly. I knew that I’d probably have ended up in the same spot even if I’d nailed the start as I doubt I could have held Nick or Stu behind me.
In Race 2, much the same thing happened again but this time I penalised myself further by attempting an overly ambitious move at Abbey that cost me a load more places. I recovered most of them during the 15 minute race, and probably enjoyed it more than the first but only came away with 12th this time.
In order to do well in this Championship, I’m learning that you need a lot of bases covered. The best analogy I can think of is the oft-heard ‘bag of golf clubs’. You’re going to need a full set, be reasonably expertise with them all, and be a genius with at least one. Currently, number 42 has got the idea with a couple of them, but the wraps are only just coming off the others.
A couple of pics worth posting I think... (courtesy of Jon Bryant - www.snappyracers.com):
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