|
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Navigation: |
9th July 2005 - Brands Hatch Race: |
|
At Brands, The Tuscan Challenge was
combined with the Southern Sports Championship bringing the entry numbers
up to 18. Sign-on, scrutineering and our qualifying session were all
comparatively late, so we could have a fairly relaxed start to the day.
Well, it would've been if the tail lift on the Race truck hadn't stuck! We
couldn't off-load the car and there was no sign of Andy (our race
engineer), who was stuck in traffic on the M25. What started as a relaxed
day was now suddenly thrown into a bit of a panic. fortunately, Andy
arrived as I was attending the drivers briefing and he managed to get the
tail lift down just in time for scrutineering and then I had to get
straight out for our qualifying session. It was a dry, cloudy day, but the circuit felt pretty grippy enabling me to take 0.5 sec off my previous best when testing here. I qualified in 6th place with a time of 51.75 secs. I was feeling quite confident and determined to get nearer to 50 secs in the actual race. We were race 7 and by then it was bright and sunny. Once again, Andy Nunn and I were battling well together. I felt as though I could go faster than him but just couldn't fins a way past on this tight circuit. On lap three, Darren's head gasket blew, leaving a trail of white smoke behind him as he pulled up on the verge just before Druids. Most unlucky for Darren but also bad timing from my point of view as I was just trying to come up the inside and take Andy on the bend. The yellow flags put paid to that idea!. Although the weather was good, grip didn't feel as strong as earlier in the day. Coming through Graham Hill bend I got a good tow from the car in front and was just about to go past when a Caterham suddenly lost control and span in front of me. Taking avoiding action, I lost two places. Annoyed about that, I focussed on getting back with the cars I'd been battling with and quickly managed to take one place again before finally finally getting past Andy coming up the straight before clearways. However, on the very next lap, grip seemed to allude me altogether on exiting clearways and I ended up in the gravel. I at least managed to keep the car moving and pulled back onto the circuit only to see Andy go past me again. Then on the next lap, the same thing happened to Andy and we swapped places yet again. Although my fastest lap time didn't improve, I ended up 3rd in the Tuscan's and on the podium for the first time. |
|
| ^Top | |
|
Website
created and designed by Glynnder - contact him for more information on
alexglynn@gmail.com |
|
