|
|
|
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
Navigation: |
30th July 2005 - Oulton Park Race - Bang!: |
|
Nice weather greeted us at the circuit and what a difference from yesterday, the paddock was jam packed. I could feel the adrenaline building up and was looking forward to qualifying. Tim Hood, of Jet Black Motorsport was kindly looking after us today. Terry, his race engineer mentioned that he thought the front driver side damper was a bit soft, but that it was stuck and couldn't be altered. As this had been the case for a while, we felt that it would be fine, but I knew Tim and Terry were not happy about it. I followed Tim out of the the assembly area for the first lap of qualifying. Just in front of us was a white Porsche GT, which I had been quicker than during testing the day before. After the second lap, I decided it was time to push on faster and aim for a decent qualifying time. Coming over Deer's Leap, I floored it hard down the straight, going past the Porsche and keeping Tim within eyeshot. Into Old Hall, and I felt that I had apexed a bit early, heading out rapidly towards the rumble strip on the exit of the bend. I knew I had to get the back end round quicker and decided to hit the throttle (which was exactly what I was doing in testing the day before, and it brought the car around nicely). This time however, just as the rear wheels gripped hard, I hit the rumble strip with the car still at an angle. The car was immediately thrown across the track towards the tire wall opposite. As I was going over 100 mph, I knew there was no way of being able to get control back or avoid the grass. All I could think about was hoping that the car ("My Baby") didn't get hurt. It was impossible to take any speed off and we hit the tire wall hard at the front left side which then flipped the back end round into the wall too. After coming to a rest, I remained in the seat furious with myself and thumping the dashboard in anger. It was then I noticed smoke coming from the petrol tank - I think I could have given Colin Jackson (the hurdler) a run for his money in exiting the car! The marshal's were a bit of a distance away and hadn't appeared to notice that the car was on fire. I was shouting for assistance, and soon, what was left of the car was covered in white powder and looked like a complete write off. Despite Tim and Terry's valued efforts, the was no way the car could race again that day and so my first race at Oulton Park turned out to be a total disaster. Also, given the amount of work and money needed to put her back together again, there was no way I would be able to do the next race at Castle Combe either; but that I'm told is racing! |
|
| ^Top | |
|
Website
created and designed by Glynnder - contact him for more information on
alexglynn@gmail.com |
|
