Brands Hatch Club Race Report

[thegoose]

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP RACE REPORT (slower cars than Open but closer together!)

After a day recovering from jetlag on Thursday (Vegas, baby! - it's a hard life!) and a late night on the red wine I wasn't at my fittest at 5.20am Friday morning for the long trip from Cheshire to Kent, but got there in good time to prepare for the afternoon's testing. The car hadn't been driven since Spa and had only been off the trailer for a brief checkover and removal of pad pick-up from ths discs. I hadn't had the sense to check last year's best times (doh!) but probably a good job because I was quite a bit quicker, getting into the 55.8s a couple of times on a busy circuit that everyone said was slower than it'd been in the morning (last year's best was 56.92), so not bad on old tyres/brake pads etc.

I think the main improvements I made to my technique were smoothness through Graham Hill bend - concentrating on trail-braking into it to get a good turn-in, helping to avoid the outer kerb on the exit, (partly because they are strict about black flag penalties for using this) and not braking into Surtees and then left foot braking into Clearways, allowing a smoother (and quicker) transition onto the power through the bend but not over-egging the power there and provoking even a small slide, as this will lose you lots by the end of the straight.

Qualifying

Waking up in the tent at 6.30am after drinking in the Thistle bar until 1.30 (we probably would've stayed later if anyone with a room key had stayed up, allowing us to buy more drinks - perhaps better that we couldn't) is maybe not the best recipe for success, but the fact that none of my main adversaries had tested on Friday, coupled with everyone saying my times were good made me hopeful of a good result. The circuit was busy though and clear laps were hard to find. I had quite an eventful session with a lovely long drift through Clearways (never lift!!) and a complete spin exiting Graham Hill bend - I like to think it would've been great to watch. During a complete 360 I managed to keep it on the black stuff, select 1st gear whilst doing so and start off again without actually coming to a complete halt!! If you thought I'd meant to do it it would've looked very impressive. Anyway, I did find a few reasonably clear laps and put in a 55.819. Sadly this wasn't enough for class pole, Ben Demetriou beating me to it with a very impressive 55.138 in his 944, which is regarded as the better weapon of choice for the Brands Indy circuit. Close behind me were the 944s of James Hilliard (55.843 - only 24/1000ths behind) and Brian Robinson (56.161).

Race One

I was 7th on the grid, which is on the right of the 4th row, but off-set to the left. This meant I was two rows back but directly behind Ben in 3rd overall, with 2 968s (Tom Segrue to the right, Mike Clapham to the left) on the row in front. Using the handbrake to enhance a good start I made a blinding getaway (even if I say so myself ) and took the risk of driving through the narrow gap between the two. I made it through only to be completely boxed in by Ben in front and having to lift off to avoid rear ending him. He made it away and I ended up behind Mike Clapham with no-one close behind. I was held up a bit by Mike (which as a class one car who'd out qualified me seemed unlikely) who I was hanging onto but unable to pass (unsurprising given he has more power/better brakes/more grip). This prevented me getting further away from James Hilliard and Brian Robinson who were battling behind. Brian eventually passed James on lap 6 and broke free to then pursue me, but with James close behind.

The Safety Car came out on laps 10-13 causing us all to bunch up, with back markers bunched in amongst us. On auto-pilot I started to weave to "keep the tyres warm" as usual then realised in the conditions it was actually a good opportunity to let them cool down! Come the re-start I didn't lose out and kept Brian behind me, which continued with only a 0.2 - 0.4 second gap each lap. Each time I put a "grit-your-teeth-and-hope-he's-seen-you" move passing a back marker he managed to get through too and keep the pressure up, until lap 25 when (after another Safety Car period) I, having taken a back marker just before, got a slight slide on out of Graham Hill bend. This was all it took - Brian immediately went to my left and with a smooth exit obviously had better acceleration so got the drag on me down the straight and was off to pursue Ben. I had James quite close behind but he didn't seem likely to pass me in the final fews laps.

Approaching Druids I could see him (with the superior 944 brakes) having a look up my inside. I moved across on the entry to ensure there was no gap for him to move into, but still he kept coming (must have used the kerb AND the grass), we hit side to side but I managed to get away and remain in front. At the time I thought it was a ridiculous move to try but he said he literally had no more braking power left and hadn't intended it. Given the difference in braking performance between the two cars I'm not sure how likely this is but as I got out of it OK I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I still managed a 56.8 on the lap too. I could see Brian after Ben up ahead and was partly hoping they'd both try a bit too hard so I could profit from it. Ben got the win though, the two of them completing the last lap (29) in exactly the same time to the thousandth of a second, so I got class 3rd, 5th overall.

Race Two

I was now on the right side of row 3, which is offset to the right (directly behind pole two rows up), with Ben in front slightly to the left and Brian to his left. My aim was to try to get up the inside of Ben off the line and jump them both. Ben had expected this and tried to move across at the start. I gritted my teeth and went for it though, hoping not to become aquainted with the wall in the process (although my car's tougher than his so he probably had more to lose if we did contact). I made it through and ended up right behind Mark McAleer's pole-sitting 968 and again having to back off a bit before the first bend. Tom Segrue had got the better start though and took the lead.

The two of them battling and the same happening behind with Brian fending off the Class 2 964 of James Neal, meant I was right up there with the top two to begin with, having to be slightly cautious not to get too close or risk collecting one of them if they had any incident. Mark passed Tom by lap 5, by which time Brian was hot on my tail (again about 0.2 behind), the battling James Neal, Ben and James Hilliard only about half a second behind with as little as 0.5 between the 3 of them at times.

I survived the pressure from Brian, finding the right places to position my car so he couldn't pass. The others caught us so he then had to keep an eye on his mirrors whilst pursuing me. On about lap 17 we were all tight going into Clearways, with me dictating the pace. From what I can gather, at this point Ben ended up tapping Brian from behind, which jolted an electrical connection in the car somewhere and resulted in his retirement, the incident also delaying Ben somewhat. This left me in class lead with James Neal 0.7 between me and Ben further back.

This relieved the pressure somewhat until I was heading towards Paddock Hill Bend and in my mirror saw James Neal spin into the pit wall (he later told me this was caused by him just catching the grass on the outside of Clearways). Ben was 4 seconds behind but a combination of:
1) me being a little more cautious passing back markers
2) discovering a back end wobble - might be just wearing through the nearside rear anti-roll bar mount as the car bottoms out on the exit of Paddock Hill bend (which was already half worn though after testing!), but could be more serious, hasn't been checked yet and
3) Ben being bloody quick and on a charge,
meant he was only 0.5 second behind by lap 21, down to 0.2 the next lap.

I had learnt how to defend lines when Brian was chasing and managed to do the same again with Ben. He even tried to go round the outside at Druids on one occasion, so I turned in extra late, leaving him nowhere to go but behind me. In the closing stages I was desperately checking the countdown clock at the end of the pitlane to see how long there was to go. (It's strange - you spend lots of time and money preparing for the race, travelling to the circuit, testing and so on and then when you're racing all you want is for it to be over!) I realised though that I could keep him at bay with the right manouvres and still within the right etiquette - one occasion I didn't make a good exit of Graham Hill bend and Ben tried to go down the inside so I moved left to block him, he went right instead and I then did the same in order to get the best line into the nest bend. You're supposed to move to block only once (as I did), which was enough on a short circuit like Brands Indy.

In one of the final laps there were yellows at Paddock Hill, the following lap I passed a back marker there and (from memory) Ben couldn't/didn't. The hazard that caused the yellows was still there and I drove the rest of the lap panicking that the yellows had still been out and I'd passed under them!! It was a big relief when there was nothing on the pitwall and the flags were indeed not displayed next time round. Further relief came when I saw just 1 minute on the countdown timer and I concentrated on a clean lap. It wasn't perfect though, I slid a bit out of Clearways meaning that on the drag to the finish I took the chequered flag just 0.214seconds (less than a car length) in front, meaning a class win.

I wasn't certain of my overall position - my concentration had been elsewhere as I'm sure you can imagine, so I put the car in the garage and didn't park by Race Control. When I saw just 2 cars down there I realised it was mine that was missing so ran down just in time for the podium pictures and commentators interviews (a first for me). It was strange talking into a mike whilst looking across at an all but empty grandstand, but satisfying none the less. I had a great weekend (although I was knackered when I got home at 1.30am) and some great racing and I'm very grateful that Brian and Ben both kept it clean when following me (I made sure I told them so too). The Open, 924 and Britcar races were great to watch too and the weather superb. I hope that everyone who came to watch enjoyed themselves too - including the 924s there were 8 Porsche sessions on track all in one day! Castle Combe on August Bank Holiday Monday (27th) will be another double header one day meeting and is great for spectating too.

[thegoose]

Sorry, I thought you lot might have been interested - I'll get me coat.

[Henry-F]

You had to be there, we enjoyed watching both races and you were certainly kept honest in the second race ! I was just waiting for him to spin you out at Clearways but he obviously had our noble leader`s pre-race chat ringing in his ears

Henry

[clubsport]

thegoose said:

Sorry, I thought you lot might have been interested - I'll get me coat.

Interested to hear it was a close race, unless I am going nuts did you not post this report in one of the other Brands open posts earlier??

[thegoose]

clubsport said:

Interested to hear it was a close race, unless I am going nuts did you not post this report in one of the other Brands open posts earlier??

Err, I did, but I then realised Steve started a separate thread for his report rather than used Henry's, so it seemed appropriate I did the same, especially as mine was a different race.