Even before the Oulton Park debacle, I knew testing at Rockingham would be a wise idea. It seems ages ago that I was checking track and test day dates off on the website: June 21?
N24 weekend
LM Classic
. The Friday before the race? Required in the office. Oh.
And a dab of oppo for the crowds. Ahem
Of course I expect no sympathy for having too many cool work commitments to drive a Caterham more, but attempting a circuit for the first time with 15 minutes to qualify is really rather daunting. At least this time the rain had held off so Rockingham was greasy rather than the submerged like Oulton Park.
Rockingham's a great circuit. I'd previously been a little dismissive of it, but how wrong you can be! It's fast, even in a 125hp Caterham, the first corner is a brilliant challenge and there's a great combination of quick and slow turns throughout. The Kirby hairpin, followed by the fast Gracelands left and then the Tarzan hairpin is brilliant fun, even if I never did quite do it justice. Gracelands is far more of a challenge than it looks as the exit isn't visible in turn in and the apex is late. In qualifying the Caterham's inside wheel was spinning up as the surface and grip fluctuated. The kerbs are lethal.
Matt gets stuck in and comes out the other side!
Anyway, even with what transpired as wimpishly early braking points I'd qualified seventh. Still a fair chunk of time behind the fastest guys but (I thought) not a bad effort for my first laps on the circuit.
I made it through the first corner! Of all the places to go after that terrifying spin, Rockingham's 100mph to 40mph hairpin wasn't ideal. But the start was pretty good and I made it through without any drama. Phew.
A couple of laps were spent dicing with Don and Martin, switching position corner after corner. It was superb fun. We weren't the fastest but it didn't matter. It was the thrill and excitement of competition and it was fantastic. Then I made a couple of errors and they just started to edge away. Brands Hatch is next and I'm absolutely testing there.
The race finished early because of two cars beached in the gravel with not enough time left to deploy the safety car. I'd finished eighth which, given the circumstances, I'm really chuffed with. Hopefully we get the full 15 minutes at Brands and I can be a little further up the field after some practice. Can't wait!
[Pics: SnappyRacers.com, video here. There are a few mistakes, just so you know.]