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20th August - Mallory Park - TVRCC Challenge |
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This should prove to be another
interesting day's racing. I'd never been to Mallory before so that in
itself adds to the challenge, but in addition to that we had no idea
what had caused the overheating issues at Donington, only that we had
lost some 4 litres of water from the radiator and there were no leaks to
be found. To top it, the evening before the races, it absolutely chucked
it down all night long with the occasional thunder and lightening for
good measure. By morning it had stopped raining but was very damp from the night before. We felt that if the car managed to get through qualifying with out overheating, then we should be alright for the two races ahead of us. If not, then hopefully we'd at least be able to find the cause of the problem. Given the weather conditions it was a difficult decision to chose wets or stay with slicks on. We were the first session out to qualify and the circuit was quire damp and there was still moisture in the air. As there was a good chance it may rain later in the day, we decided to preserve the wet tyres and go out on slicks and see what happens. Well, it was certainly pretty lively, going through the long right hander (Gerrards) we were more sideways than straight. Then a slight mistake at the Lake Esses on my second lap and I completed a rapid 360. Note to self "don't put foot to floor on bend when still rather wet!" Clearly wets proved to be the best option in terms of lap times with all the cars qualifying at the head of the grid on wets. For fun though, the slicks were fine and I did at least manage to get a time of 59.9 secs, within 3.5 secs of the pole car. Better still, no overheating problems and so Race 1 should go well, hopefully enabling me to take a couple of places higher up the grid. Race 1 Red lights out and away we go - yet again my starting lets me down, losing two places by turn one. I settle down reasonably quickly and set about taking some places back. After the disasterous first lap, my times go straight down to the 52 sec mark. A dry surface makes a huge difference, at Gerrards in particular, as it's a very fast, long corner which induces plenty of oversteer if you're not careful. I managed to make up a couple of places but my pace was not quick enough to make an impression on the front runners and then, suddenly, the engine starts to overheat once again. I could see no steam coming from anywhere, so after a few slightly slower laps in the hope the engine would cool down a bit, I decided to push on again and was much more on the pace with my time just under 51secs. I finished the race in 6th place a little worried about the continuing overheating issues, but at least I was only 0.4secs off the fastest lap time of the third place car. Providing we could sort out the engine problems and improve on my race start, I should have a good chance of doing better in race 2. Race 2 With the weather much hotter again now, the probability of overheating was a real concern; we still couldnt find what was causing the problem, despite having lost two litres of water in race one. Everything else seemed to be normal. Anyway, at the last moment, Tim decided to put some Rad-Weld in the radiator to see if that would help. Meantime, I was concentrating on trying to get a good start. I knew how difficult it would be to overtake quick cars on this circuit, so a good getaway was going to be essential to a successful race. Red lights out and... "Oh s**t!", in my effort to get away fast, I stalled the car, it wouldn't move and I was stranded with the cars behind me flying past, until the inevitable happened. steve Hall in his Tasmin couldn't avoid me and thumped into the back of me. He was able to carry on, and I still couldn't restart. A full 30 seconds had gone by before the engine finally started up. I had no idea of the damage done, but really angry with myself I just went for it, in order to catch up as fast as possible. By lap three my time was down to 50.8 secs, and I was passing the back markers. Tim and Darren seemed to be playing around towards the back, and I took my chance and went straight past Tim on the pit straight, and tucked in behind Darren around Gerrards. I kept up with Darren for a couple of laps with Tim just behind me. Slight mistake on the exit of Gerrards and I had two wheels on the grass. Tim went past as I carefully guided the car back onto the black stuff. Half the car on grass at over 110mph is a little tricky, although I avoided a marjor moment, it spooked my a little and my times dropped back to around 51secs. After a few more laps I had lost sight of both Tim and Darren who were now chasing down the front runners. By now I realised I had no chance of catching the leading cars, as we were lapping at a similar pace, so once again, my task was to bring the car home and simply race the track for a quick time. Lap 4 ended up being my fastest at 50.5secs, which was slightly annoying as I should have got down to the 49secs area. Still, the good news was that the car didnt overheat at all in the second race, perhaps the Rad-Weld did the trick? Also, my 50.5 sec lap was faster than some of the drivers ahead of me- a small consellation but at least tells me it could have been a great race if I had managed to get off the start line! On reflection of the days events, it became clear to me (with a little assistance from my wife Jan) that it was my attitude on track that is holding me back. Tim revealed that the two laps he couldn't get past me looked really good, the pace was therabouts, and the pace was spot on. Therefore the only thing missing is the controlled agression needed to win. Easier said than done maybe, but thats what I need to focus on. Every time I have got angry so far (usually due to making a costly mistake) like my spin on bend one on the first lap at Castle Combe, and now at Mallory today, I've gone on to drive with much greater aggression and a very different attitude. I know what I need to do, so providing Tim and Terry can get the car ready in time, Brand Hatch in two weeks (2nd September) is the place to try and make it happen. Watch this space... |
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