For an excellent Donington guide from CircuitDriver.com click here.
So here we go, 1st race of the season....
After my early start (see the build diary for details), we set off mid-Saturday afternoon in order to drop the car off in the paddock nice and early so I could get a good night's kip!
A mate of mine (James 'Slappy' Hall - the bloke with the Ultima) was helping to spanner the car as Martin had gone down with food poisoning and he noticed that one of my cycle wing stay brackets had fractured! I can only assume that this happened in transit as I hadn't noticed it before we set off. A complete absense of welding equipment meant that we had to fashion a 'make-do' repair by sandwiching the broken stay with a shelf bracket which we bolted through. The result, whilst not being very pretty, worked perfectly (in that it didn't snap!). Stu was kind enough to pinch a stay from his nearly finished Locost in case we couldn't fix it, but thankfully, it was redundant.
So we did a spanner and fluid level check, then covered her up and made our way to the hotel, where we were joined by my brother, for beer, bollox and bed whilst we watched the rain pour down outside :(
Sunday morning greeted us with overcast, damp conditions, but at least it wasn't raining (yet). It was great to see the old gang of Locosters with a fair smattering of 'newbies' too. I'd only heard from others about the events which unfolded at Mallory, but with 8 or so cars sustaining damage, the grid at Donington was just full with 32 or so entries. After a winter lay-up, most of the cars looked dead smart with some obvious busy workshop effort. Either that, or just pay someone to do it for you ;) Still, with all the hello's done we set about getting ready with the usual tyre/suspension/fluid checks. I'd taken the decision the night before to park near the assembly area entrance as I wanted to get out nice and early. This meant that I wasn't that close to the scrutineering bay, but with some judicious timing, we managed to get to the front of the Locost queue which had the luxury of a 9:15 scrutineering time for a change as Stock Hatch were running 2 grids. Something I noticed on the way there however was that the rear brakes were binding. For the trackday we'd removed the handbrake and re-routed it. I figured that the self'adjusters had got overtight and were rubbing the drums. Something to sort before qualifying! Scrutineering, was duly despatched with a lot more attention than normal from the scrutes (at last!). I think that this is an area that the 750MC are keen to clamp down on after some pretty blatant infringements on regs last year by some drivers. Everyone got through OK though (I believe) so it was off with the rear wheels to sort the handbrake problem, slap on the new sponsor stickers - Stuart Taylor Motorsport have kindly sponsored the series this year following the demise of Locost Limited) then off to the assembly area for qualifying.
My plan paid off and I managed to get to the front of the queue for qualifying too! Other than my wing mirror falling off just before going out, things were going bizarrely well! I felt confident about the circuit thanks to some practice at the recent trackday and Mike Topp's tips ('Topp' Tips - could be something in that Mike ;) so I just got my head down and went for it. Now last year, I used to take the view that I should pootle round for 3 laps to qualify and then floor it. This approach does not work. Get out there and give it the 'full pasty' (tm) which is exactly what I did. It paid off too. The first car I saw was a tail ended - no-one had even got into my rear view mirrors - I felt damn good. The tyres were slow in warming up and were only just up to temp as I caught slower traffic. The marshalls did a great job of waving flag to the slower drivers so I didn't get impeded too badly, but my times were suffering and I hoped that I'd done enough in the first few laps to get a hot one in.
Back in the paddock, the car was running as sweetly as when it went out. It had behaved beautifully for 10 laps with the only issue being that it was running a bit cold. Time to break out the old Hicost number plate to act as a rad deflector! We re-checked everything and ambled off to the cafe for a well earned coffee. I faced the usual barrage of questions "How was it?", "How well did you think it went" - I reserved comment until I'd seen the times.
So off went Stu to check the times. Being totally crap at hiding even 1 ounce of emotion ;) his face told me that I'd done fairly well. So, in true Bullseye, Ted Bowen stylee:
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnn won - Darryl Beckwith
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnn too - Darren Banks
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnn free - Chris James
And Bully's special prize..... oops, got carried away there ;)
Eh? Can it be true - well, yes actually. With a time of 1:36.529 I'd snagged 3rd on the grid. Was I happy? Well, yes and no. I was happy to be at the front of the grid with my best qualifying result to date, but I was far from celebrating until the race was run. After all, to finish first, first you have to finish (actually, the same is true to finish in any position but you get my drift ;) So with a good position, we all prayed for dry conditions and endured the 3 and a half hour wait for the race.
Half an hour to go and the O'Donnel brothers (who shall now be known as Running Giraffe and Stands With Stupid Grin) did a rain dance and managed to bring on a soaking - twats ;) Still, it soon stopped and the sun made a guest appearance in between the clouds. Phew! The first race passed without incident, but I believe that race 2 involved a big off at Redgate which got it moved to the end of the day (a situation they were bound to regret!). So off we nt to the assembly area on the Melbourne hairpin with brolly's on standby. Bloody good thing too as it absolutely pissed it down :( Just wait 'til I get my hands on those O'Donnel boys!! :) I was lucky enough to have a brolly-dolly (not very glamorous as it was Stu) so survived the downpour in relative dryness, but there must've been a few soaked crotches out there. Luckily, we weren't stuck there for long and the marshalls soon waved us out to gather on the grid. What the marshall's didn't tell us was that there would be a green flag lap! Well, thinking about it, when conditions change between qualifying and race there is a green flag lap so you can suss the track surface - however, I'm not sure that the newbies knew this so a fairly odd start ensued. Still, most realised soon enough that this wasn't 'the race' and formed up in grid order to trickle, or rather 'slither' round the circuit. The surface was really poo. The trouble with Donington being in the flight path for East Midlands airport is that the dumped Avgas soaks into the circuit and only comes out to play when it rains. Avgas + rain = stained underwear. Total understeer followed by total oversteer was the order of the day - how we'd all make it round was anyone's guess.
Lined up back on the grid, once the full pack were in place the red lights soon came on. Now I'm the first to admit that I'm a shite starter, but this time I got a flier! I'd lined up between Darryl and Darren to try and squeeze past - a move which I almost carried off. However, before we'd gone out I'd made a plea to them and Kev Lucas, that we all get round the first bend in one piece - so no time for heroics. I backed off and Darren got the better of Darryl to take the lead with me still in 3rd. The first couple of laps were NO fun. We all struggled round with very little feedback from slipping rubber. The pace got quicker and the track stayed wet, I decided to hold station and try for a podium 3rd. But then Darren got it wrong going into Redgate and spun onto the infield - I was in 2nd!!! Darryl was now free to bugger off, but he didn't. I was holding pace with him, in fact, i felt that he was now holding me up a bit. I decided to go for it now that I had a chance for the lead and got a good run out of Coppice to take him down Starkeys Straight. The decent traction (there are advantages to being a bit heavier than other drivers you know!) meant that I could pull past, Darryl however had other ideas and despite being a bit slower, drifted from the left to the right of the circuit as I pulled alongside forcing me onto the kerbs!!! I wasn't about to take us both out from bloody mindedness so I backed off. Annoyed, I kepy my head and looked for another 'safe' opportunity. That came on the next lap. I'd drafted round just off of Darryl's rear for a lap and took another run at him through Goddards where I'd found a line with good grip. The tactic paid off and I made my move as we entered Redgate. Darryl weaved, but I wasn't giving up this time and trail braked round on the inside to take the lead!!! I was well happy, but couldn't sit on my ficticous laurels as I knew he'd be on my case. I knew the move wouldn't be long in coming and the dashed down the inside at the Old Hairpin as I was turning in. Again, not wanting to smack him one, I backed off and let him through. I'd just have to have another go. In the meantime, Alex Jullien and James Grantham were looming large in my mirrors. I could pull ground on them round the bends, but Alex in particular seemed to find an extra 20bhp down the straights and my lead disappeared! To make matters worse, my tyres were going off and the car was pulling sharply to the left under braking (that rear brake bind again) which would dramatically unsettle the car for right handers (which account for about 90 percent of Donington). I crossed the start line again and went to brake for Redgate, the car pulled sharp left forcing me to ease off the brakes, I drifted wide of the line and onto the kerbs. The car wanted to spin as these were like glass but i eased it back on. That mistake however allowed Alex and James through dropping me to 4th - damn. Still, must concentrate or I may end up not finishing at all! I caught them both up again by the time we got to McLeans but couldn't make a safe move to pass down Starkeys where James got the better of Alex as he braked into Goddards. I was a little slow out of Goddards and the front 3 got away a bit, braking for Redgate the car pulled left again and this time I couldn't catch it. I did a leisurely half-spin but kept her running and on the black stuff. By this time I just wanted to finish in once piece! Brian Turvey did his best to catch me as I eased off the pace a bit but I knew I could hold station. The next surprise came when the chequered flag came out on lap 8! Thanks for telling you were shortening the race guys :( Still, I was in one piece and I was 4th - not too bad for the first time out in 2002 eh! :)))))))
Back through the pits, all cars were tested for ground clearance and weight and the top 5 held back for inspection of valves/pistons. With nothing to hide, I just enjoyed the moment and kicked myself for not getting onto that podium! ;) As I left the scrutineering bay, Darrly's car was still being given a good going over. Dunno what the outcome of that was but I'm sure it was fine.
So there you go. No snapped cams, no terminal mis-fires, no excuses (other than those above ;) Last year, I scored 26 points over the course of the whole year. A 4th puts me on 18 already for this year (and makes a nice signature on my new 2002 licence!). What will Oulton bring? Who knows, all that I can say is 'Watch this space'!
Cheers - CJ