Monday 28th April 2014

Caterham Academy 2014: Aintree sprint

Matt reports back from the first Academy round at Aintree. The verdict? Could do better...

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This year Caterham want the Academy weekend reports to focus on the community side of racing, how all the competitors chip in together to help others out. I, of course, want to tell you about the path to global motorsport superstardom. There's a compromise somewhere.

Looks like a proper racing car now!

But shedding the racer's ego for a second (easy to adopt, harder to relinquish), I have to extend a huge thanks to Jamie Stokes and his Dad for helping me out over the Aintree weekend. Having to travel some of the way by train (picking the car up from Showtrax who had done a great job of the decals) meant travelling exceptionally light and their help was invaluable. Much appreciated mate, thanks.

Anyway, global motorsport superstardom. It may take a while. Shall I deal with excuses first? Thought so. Alexis in Group 1 had a malfunctioning ECU. As I was last in Group 2, it made sense to swap with mine for his runs. But it meant joining the queue late, a little flustered and with a car not properly warmed up. And that's the reasoning for a slow terminal speed. Absolutely nothing to do with my entry into the last corner...

Aintree looked simple from the videos and the track walk. Just left, right, right er, right? The racer's ego never knew three corners could be so challenging. Late turn-ins and apexes make it far more demanding than predicted. This is starting to sound like another excuse, isn't it?

On the way to another missed apex...

The first two practice runs couldn't have been more different, despite clocking near identical time (56.72 v 56.73). One was slow and steady, the other a little reckless as I tried more speed and different approaches. Not feeling particularly prepared, the timed runs started before lunch.

But then a 55.95 put me fourth in Group 2. Excellent, given the terminal speed was third slowest. A bit of finessing here and a decent result could be on the cards. 'Could' being the operative word.

Everyone else got quicker through the day and I didn't. Another 55.95 with some mistakes, a terrible run with a first corner more out of shape than Eric Pickles and a final effort in the 56s meant finishing the day eighth. Frustrating given the encouraging signs from earlier but something to learn from nonetheless. It's amazing how the red mist descends so quickly on a group of mild mannered guys (it's not just me, honest), all determined to beat their last time and move up the order. It looks to be a competitive year, with two very quick guys at the top of Group 2 and then a close contingent behind, with fourth to ninth on Saturday separated by 1.07 seconds.

All the gear no idea?

Still, the aim for this year was to finish top ten so that's been achieved at least. Next stop is Blyton, where I've been before and is of course closer than Liverpool (these things have to be considered when you're driving to the event!). So there can't be any excuses for not improving. Can there?

Finally, an apology for the lack of video and therefore nothing to giggle at. Dug the GoPro out on Saturday and it was dead. Probably for the best all things considered.

 

[Pics: SnappyRacers]

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Caterham Academy 2014 - Game on!
Caterham Academy 2014 - Handling day
Caterham Academy 2014 - Test day

[Zumbruk]

I spent my first couple of years sprinting getting steadily slower through the day. I wish I could say specifically why it stopped after a bit, but it just did. Calming down helped a lot, treating the practice as practice and not another timed run helped, too. And I suspect that thinking too much didn't help, either.

Good luck!

[RacerMike]

A bit self promoting, but if anyone wants to see what it looks like in an Academy car.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klwm47kFvTk&t=0...

Everyone gets fairly fed up of the sprints, but they're actually quite a good intro in to full scale motorsport. If you carry on, you also look back on it with hindsight and remember how relaxed and laid back it all was!

[turbobungle]

RacerMike said:

A bit self promoting, but .....

I'll have some of that too! Here's me at the Aintree Sprint in 2007 - 3rd place which I was over the moon with!

Brings back some happy memories seeing those pics, wish I could have carried on racing

http://www.turbobungle.com/aintree_28.html






PS. If anyone is interested, will be selling this Caterham as soon as I get round to placing an ad, it's done a massive 1,400 miles in 7 years!!!

[Evo]

Job well done for a first outing, now you have a benchmark so next time, lets have an improvement and more importantly a video

[RWDKurt]

Great write up Matt. I've been sprinting for 10 years now. It does sometimes take a while to get the hang of what looks like a very simple discipline. One thing I recall from my first event down in Essex was how easy it was to overdrive (and get slower). On that day I developed a hydraulic leak from the clutch slave, which meant that on the last run I was only able to change gear once (first to fourth off the start). I thus had no choice but to drive smoothly and preserve momentum, especially through the technical corners. It was easily my fastest run.

That said, there are no slow corners at Aintree...

Good luck with the rest of the season!

[Matt Bird]

Thanks for the feedback guys, video definitely coming next time!