| Mallory Park - 27th May 2008 |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Thursday, 29 May 2008 00:00 |
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At 8:30am I made my way to the drivers briefing, where its normal practice to go over safety regulations for the circuit, as well as a few points to remember regards to pit lane entry and exit procedures during practice and the race. By now I was thinking how the hell am I going to get on in first practice? The pedals felt awful, I knew it will be hard! Myles find a bit of sponge foam which he places behind the seat, to bring me forwards a inch of so... but once fully strapped in, the sponge is compressed, so that’s not an effective solution. We took the car to scrutineering and passed with out any problems. At last the moment could not come sooner, it was 10:30am, and practice had begun. I was fully strapped in and made my way into the pit lane assembly area. As the green flag was waved I put the car into 1st gear and proceeded out of the pit lane. I headed into Gerard’s (Longest corner in the UK) I was in trouble, I could not depress the clutch and my crotch belts we so tight that I was beginning to get cramps in my legs, ouch! I was now in 3rd gear doing around 80, I some how managed to get 4th on the exit. I realised that this will be a disaster and could see some of the faster bike engine Jedi's and JKS cars closing in on me and going past. On my very first flying lap I set a lap time of 1:06.207 driving around making very limited gear changes and still getting used to the car I managed to get some 13 laps and getting down to 1:03.488, which was my fastest lap, still some 13 seconds off the pace of the fastest 1800 class car. I was not impressed, but I cannot blame anyone but myself, looking back I should have tested the car before the event. Lessons learnt the hard way! After practice we made some adjustments to the crotch belts, so not to get cramps for the race. We still had over 3 hours till the race which was due at 14:45. Time was spent just reflecting on how the car felt and my driving and things I can improve. The handling of the car did feel very good; the back end was very stable and also under braking, gave me good confidence for the future. I know that once I get comfortable I could concentrate on getting the maximum out of the car and driving. Track conditions were mixed; there was a strong side wind along Stebbe Straight, which was unsettling the car for braking at the John Cooper Esses. The weather was now going from windy to wet it had been raining on and off since practice and with only 30 minutes to the start of the race another shower hit the track, in anticipation for a wet race we changed the tyres to wets. I was really looking forward to racing this car in the wet! Not! Luckily with 15 mins to go the rain stopped and the high wind soon dried out the track. There is nothing much to say about the race, except I went 3 seconds faster than my best lap time during practice. Yes I finished at the bottom of the pack, but some important lessons were learnt that day, but instead of being de motivated, this has just made me more determined to get the issues sorted out for the next time I go out on track with this car. |
| Last Updated on Monday, 23 February 2009 02:17 |
