Donington Park 18th of March 2001

Circuit guide

For an excellent Donington guide from Ten Tenths Motorsport click here.

Race diary:

After last week's disaster, Donington finally gave me a result! As last week, I spent Saturday (see the build diary for a more detailed explanation) prepping the car in readiness for the meeting. With the overheating and lean mixture resolved (fingers crossed) I just needed to crank over the accelerator pedal so I could heel-and-toe (essential in the wet as it helps balance the car under braking), adjust the tappets as one of them was getting a bit rattly and check the nearside brake caliper for binding pads. Then it was just a question of loading up the Trooper and cruising up to Donington where we'd booked into a local B&B for the night. The Trooper's weaving problem was down to a slow puncture in the offside rear which was duly fixed allowing 75mph plus cruising speed. We booked in for the night and walked to the local pub for a hot meal. It also mentioned to us that the other 'local' was having a St. Patrick's day night. Needless to say, with Guinness at 1.75 quid a pint I woke up on Sunday feeling a bit shabby! The forecasters had lived up to their fine reputation once again and instead of the sunshine and blue skies we were expecting we got cloudy, overcast conditions and snow! Nice.

Feeling a bit more confident that I knew what I was doing (yeah, right) we arrived at the circuit in reasonable time to find the paddock already very busy! Finding a decent space in the Locost area was impossible so we squeezed in on the end of the Stock Hatch boys where we set up my newly acquired Gazebo - 35 quid from B&Q and damn good value at that. It's about 3.5m square and keeps the worst of the weather off which, given that the snow was still falling - sideways! Proved to be a very good idea. The crew (thanks Marty/Karl) set about getting the car ready and I trotted off to race control to sign on and attend the new drivers briefing (I had driven at Donington before but on a track day) before scrutineering. The briefing covered the usual stuff with track safety obviously being a focal point with black and yellow flags being given special mention (just to show I was paying attention - see later for more info.). Then I trotted back to the paddock to find Karl and Martin already joining the queue for scrutineering - oh, the beauty of the finely tuned machine that is Bitza Racing - ahem, back to reality eh! ;)

Scrutineering was a far more thorogh affair than at Mallory with my particular scroot seeming to be by far the most attentive. Which of course is a good thing really - really? Well, the way I look at it, they're there for both your and other competitors safety so if it ain't right it's better that they tell you as you might have missed something important. Anyway, I needn't have worried as the car once again sailed through with the only comment being about not having taped up the lights (which I knew about anyway). Met some more of my fellow racers in the queue - the infamous Mark Benton of Locost Limited fame and Glenn Boyer who had pitted next to us in the paddock - nice blokes. Scrutineering passed it was pack to the pit to warm the car up a bit before practice and qualifying.

To be honest, the weather at this point was so damn cold I couldn't have overheated the car if I'd tried. Anyway, the cooling system was working fine so there was no need for concern. Before I knew it, it was time to go to the assembly area which in this case is on the long hairpin of the GP Circuit at Donington. Oil pressure fine, temperature fine, we stopped there for a couple of minutes before venturing out onto the track proper. The conditions were horrible. Freezing cold and a wet track do not make for fast lap times. As I did the week before, I concentrated on getting in my mandatory 3 laps for qualifying before upping the pace a bit for a better start position. As I mentioned earlier, I've been to Donington before which, along with some very intensive sessions on TOCA 2 on the PC ;), gave me loads more confidence that at Mallory which was all new to me. I'd arrived at the assembly are a way back in the pack and before I knew it I was encountering traffic which slowed my progress. Off line manouvers weren't that good an idea due to the slippery conditions (made worse by the 'grasstrackers' as the session wore on), but hang on a mo. I'm overtaking! I'm actually up someone's chuff and harrying them for a place!!! And now I've made up a place!!!!!! For the first time I actually felt as though I was racing. I was really quite quick through Redgate, Craner and especially the Old Hairpin where it was dead easy to fall off. The same went for Goddards where some hill assisted late braking was allowing me to make up some time that I was losing on the straight (despite the rolling road my car was getting pee'd on by almost everyone in a straight line - note to self: need more power!). Those TOCA 2 sessions were paying off and I loved every bloody second of it!

Once again, before I knew it the chequered flag was out and qualifying was over. Despite the snow I'd made it round without incident (saved me a clean) and was looking forward to seeing my times, hopeful of a mid-pack position.

So after an age the qualifying times were out. Actually I was a bit disappointed with 25th (same as Mallory though) and was convinced I could do better in the race. Still, I was upbeat. The car had behaved (we've decided that it's DEFINITELY female as it does the exact opposite to what you want at the least opportune moment - no offence all you feminists ;) the only problem being that it was running too cold! That's the trouble with not running a thermostat. After a chat with fellow racer (and bloody funny bloke) Glenn Boyer No.33, he recommended a 65 degree stat. Something to fix when we get back to the workshop, for now a piece of cardboard over the rad. had to suffice.

So whilst all these shennanigans were going on I bumped into the film crew that I'd spoken to earlier in the week (did I mention that?). A message got posted on the locost-racing egroup asking wether anyone fancied being filmed for a Discovery Channel pilot for a series covering self-build and race cars. Although the exact format had still to be decided, they'd braved the weather to get some footage 'in the can' for the first edit. Tim, Helga and crew (sorry chaps, I'm crap with names) were a great bunch and I happily obliged with an interview or two. I felt like a right 'prima donna' but have had some 'on camera' experience so I hoped to put in a good performance for them. Besides it would be great leverage for getting some decent sponsorship - despite not being able to show any stickers to say so! (racing list joke).

Anyway, in amongst all this poncing around putting my helmet on, taking it off, driving out from the gazebo, driving back in, you know, really usefull stuff ;) I remembered that I had a race to attend! The general drivers briefing covered the obvious (crap conditions) with the not so obvious (a line of fuel/oil on the line all the way round) and it was a rush back to the pits to get ready. Final checks and everything was fine, the new battery span the x-flow over with gusto and I was ready to go. Out in the assembly area it was the long (and I mean long) wait to form up on the grid. Temperature had struggled to get past 90, so no problems there. Engine was firing on all four cylinders, which was nice and oil pressure was behaving at about 2.5bar. Only problem I was having was that after tightening the shoulder straps of my 4-point harness my lap belt was almost under my chin! The damn locking buckle had trapped itself behind the side chassis rail and so the belt kept coming loose.! After a lot of fiddling I managed to get it into some sort of order. It wasn't ideal but it was time to go! No formation lap this time (why?) to remind me of the marshals posts (more of this later) so it was straight out to the grid for all the Locosts (the heat/final had been scrapped in favour of a single race to save time given that we had fewer competitors). I managed to park up in the right grid spot this time after taking my time and hanging back to wait for the marshall to show me EXACTLY where I needed to be so I was set. The 2 minute board came out and I focused on what was coming, 1 minute, I figured Redgate could be a potential nightmare given 33 cars and a very wet track so planned on getting a good start, findind a decent position on the left hand side of the start straight and watch the ensuing carnage! 30 seconds, I need the loo - should I use second to reduce wheel spin?, 5 seconds am I in gear? Is it overheating, have I lost oil pressure??? Red light, green - GO!!

I made a reasonable but not spectacular start although no-one got through. Mark Benton got off the line a bit quicker than me and I let him go in order to get a decent line into Redgate (I'd started on the far right of the grid). I found some space, checked to see if it was going to be occupied in the next few milliseconds and slid across, Redgate proved to be fairly drama free with plenty of tail wagging in the wet which allowed me to slide up the outside of a couple of people - yessss!!! Down through Craner I took it a bit easy with stone cold tyres and lots of traffic. Into the Old Hairpin on a good line and it was full bore up past Starkeys. I was struggling a bit with the line up towards McLeans but held it all together whilst watching a couple more go lawnmowing - a VERY muddy experience. Down the back straight under the Dunlop bridge the car struggled with wheezy power - must sort that, so late braking into Goddards saw me approaching Locosts coming the other way - EH! Well, some VERY late braking and consequent understeer had caught a few cars out who had passed the turn in point completely making them turn back to get on the start straight. More placed were made up - woohoo! I'm REALLY enjoying this. Keeping my cool (trying - unsuccessfully) it was back round Redgate, better line this time with good drive into Craner. Late brakes into the Old Hairpin and I'd got the better of some more cars. Braking was proving to be an increasing challenge as the car was pivoting around the nearside rear quite violently. I could feel the drum dragging on the way round too which wasn't helping the lap times. I had noticed it in the paddock but it was very mild and given how cold and miserable it was (that and we'd forgotten the jack!) I left it be. Mistake! Another job to sort out before the next race. Held position for the next lap to find myself up Paul Crankshaw's chuff, a great dice ensued even though he was driving like a pensioner ;) (joke mate) which finally saw me past, only for him to get me back up towards McLeans. More casualties at Goddards included Dominic O'Donnel in car No. 25 last seen heading backwards past the pits - unlucky mate but your loss, my gain! Back to the pit straight and good old car 99 was up ahead (he'd slipped by early on after a back of grid start). Adrian was driving his usual style (I'll leave it at that) and the result was a spin at Redgate. Paul and I managed to tighten our lines but another wasn't so lucky and neatly T-boned him with no space to go. Needless to say the yellows came out. On we went for another lap and Car 11 and me continued our duel. Errr... except it turns out that on the next lap I outbraked him into the Old Hairpin, a great move except that I'd missed the black and yellow flag at the marshalls post!!! Doh! A trip to the Clerk of the course was on the agenda :( Lap 5 saw the red flags come out and the race was stopped. Disappointed with the shortened race but delighted to have finished I returned to parc ferme where the cars were weighed. I was greeted by my crew and other bald hangers on to find out what I'd done. I was too happy to get too worried and made my way back to the paddock to find smiles all round. The car had faired well although it needs more power. The tappets were a bit too noisy for my liking on the way in. Investigation required.

Needless to say, a few minutes later and the paddock tannoy announced that I (and four others) needed to 'pay a visit'. Given the conditions and the concentration on keeping the car on the black, allied to the fact that I'm a novice and a prat, I just prepared myself for a bollocking and hoped that it wouldn't result in a fine or worse. Julian was very fair and we all got off with a warning. Worries that this might preclude me being awarded a signature evaporated when I got my licence back. There it was in biro - signature No.1 (just under the DNF!!).

By the time we'd compared war stories at race control and I'd got back to the paddock the car was loaded and ready to go. What a bloody ace crew I've got - even if they are drunken bums for the rest of the time ;)

A big shout goes to my brother, his partner Karen and my nephew Sam who made the 5 hour round trip to see me for ten minutes - cheers bro!

I rounded off the day with another quick interview from the TV lot who asked me about the race etc. Managed to garble most of what I was saying in all the excitement so I hope they don't use it or I'll look a right tit. If they do, a National 'B' licence shall be known as Group 'B' and National 'A' as Group 'A' - hope that clears up the confusion!

So next up, Oulton Park. Never been there before so it's back to the learning mountain (no curve). Must get some testing in before the meeting so until then, keep an eye on the diary for my progress!

Qualifying Results

Race Results