My Caterham race car
Discussion
The next round after Oulton Park was Donington Park - another great track. The weather had been changeable in the days leading up to race weekend but it stayed dry through testing and the races.
Until now 2 drivers had dominated the top 2 spots at each race and I was determined to at least split them up - only slight issue was the Melbourn Loop at Donington as I had never driven it! Testing had gone well and the car was feeling good and I managed to qualify 3rd for the 3rd time with the same 2 in front of me: pw32 on here and Mark Shaw, an ex F3/F3000 driver!
A picture from the 2nd lap of race 1:
I'd had another poor start and dropped back to 4th straight away and the top 4 broke away from the pack. Paul (pw32) didn't feel like playing so just drove off into the distance and let the rest of us fight it out. I was 4th behind Mark and James Sharrock and being patient. About 10 minutes in I slipped past Mark just after McLeans and a lap later managed to pass James. I was now 2nd and managed to break away from the fighting pair behind me. Here's a video of my quickest lap from the 1st race:
Until now 2 drivers had dominated the top 2 spots at each race and I was determined to at least split them up - only slight issue was the Melbourn Loop at Donington as I had never driven it! Testing had gone well and the car was feeling good and I managed to qualify 3rd for the 3rd time with the same 2 in front of me: pw32 on here and Mark Shaw, an ex F3/F3000 driver!
A picture from the 2nd lap of race 1:
I'd had another poor start and dropped back to 4th straight away and the top 4 broke away from the pack. Paul (pw32) didn't feel like playing so just drove off into the distance and let the rest of us fight it out. I was 4th behind Mark and James Sharrock and being patient. About 10 minutes in I slipped past Mark just after McLeans and a lap later managed to pass James. I was now 2nd and managed to break away from the fighting pair behind me. Here's a video of my quickest lap from the 1st race:
I was scoring well but the 2 zero's at Silverstone meant I was still nowhere in the championship. Still, I knew if I could be consistent and finish every race I could place well at the end of the season 
After Donington came Brands Hatch GP circuit. I have driven the Indy circuit dozens of times but never the GP circuit. I decided now might be a good time to get some instruction so I enlisted the help of Kieren Clark (www.kierenclark.com). Kieren had been helping some of the other drivers in one of the lower championships but I first met him by chance at a PalmerSport day.
Thinking I knew it all (being a typical bloke) and half expecting to get a pat on the back showing Kieren my data/video I was surprised how much I didn't know about car control and racing lines. Kieren was away on a paid drive the weekend of Brands so he instructed me from video in the week before and on the phone during the weekend - it worked
Testing had been a struggle as it had mostly been peeing it down but in the final dry session I went 5th quickest which was 'ok' for now.
It stayed dry on the Saturday and I went into qualifying feeling pretty good. I went out near the back and started picking off the slower cars before posting a quickest time of 1:38.34, good enough for P2 behind pw32. Here's my lap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AasQwgkEMC8&fea...
I should've mentioned, this was also the first time the guys from borro (www.borro.com) had come down to watch so there was a bit of added pressure
And a picture from under the Spy Motorsport awning:
After Donington came Brands Hatch GP circuit. I have driven the Indy circuit dozens of times but never the GP circuit. I decided now might be a good time to get some instruction so I enlisted the help of Kieren Clark (www.kierenclark.com). Kieren had been helping some of the other drivers in one of the lower championships but I first met him by chance at a PalmerSport day.
Thinking I knew it all (being a typical bloke) and half expecting to get a pat on the back showing Kieren my data/video I was surprised how much I didn't know about car control and racing lines. Kieren was away on a paid drive the weekend of Brands so he instructed me from video in the week before and on the phone during the weekend - it worked
Testing had been a struggle as it had mostly been peeing it down but in the final dry session I went 5th quickest which was 'ok' for now.
It stayed dry on the Saturday and I went into qualifying feeling pretty good. I went out near the back and started picking off the slower cars before posting a quickest time of 1:38.34, good enough for P2 behind pw32. Here's my lap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AasQwgkEMC8&fea...
I should've mentioned, this was also the first time the guys from borro (www.borro.com) had come down to watch so there was a bit of added pressure
And a picture from under the Spy Motorsport awning:
My team mate, Ben Tompkins, in the sister borro car asked me to write some notes/a report for his blog so instead of repeating, here's a link:
http://oneracersview.com/tag/r300/
I will link to the MotorsTV coverage a bit later
A few pictures from the weekend:
Feel free to ask questions or pass comment as it's good to know people are still interested
http://oneracersview.com/tag/r300/
I will link to the MotorsTV coverage a bit later
A few pictures from the weekend:
Feel free to ask questions or pass comment as it's good to know people are still interested
It's Xmas, I'm in the office so time for an update
After my double win at Brands Hatch GP I was closing in on Paul and Mark who so far had been dominating proceedings after my crash at Silverstone.
The next round was in Germany on the Nurburgring GP circuit (next to the Nordschleife). To keep costs down I transport my car everywhere on an open trailer but for this one I asked Peter at Spy if he could put the car in the truck.
One of the other drivers has a private plane (as you do!) and asked if I would like to join him for the flight to Germany - I didn't need asking twice
We landed in Cologne and arrived at the circuit on the Wednesday evening. After some steak on a stone at Pistenklause and a couple of beers Thursday had arrived and day 1 of testing commenced.
Lap times were all over the place because of the nearly 40 degree heat with the fastest times coming in the first session when the air was cooler. Despite this I was struggling to get away from some of the midfield guys and couldn't work out what was wrong. The guys played around with the set up all day on the Thursday and Friday and finally found the problem - a blocked cat! A very expensive weekend had now turned into an extremely expensive few days. £650 later and at the end of Friday I was feeling a bit better going into qualifying.
We were being joined by 2 professional racers for this weekend. Caterham drift experience intructor and works Juno driver Darren Burke and BTCC driver Paul O'Neill. It was a good chance for some of us wannabe's to see how we compared agianst some top class drivers!
Qualfying was wet (very wet!) and I struggled but managed 5th after a banzai last lap. I don't have the same amount of confidence as I do in the dry so race 1 was about damage limitation and just finishing as high up as possible. Darren Burke had qualified P2 and Paul O'Neill P10. Here's my quickest lap from the race to show how wet it was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ZhDOsApXE&fea...
I went on to finish P4 but was completely outside my comfort zone and felt exhausted after the concentration levels needed!
The following day I was really happy to see dry weather and not a cloud in the sky. I would be starting from P4 for this race and with the car performing well I was feeling confident. A quick chat about my plans with instructor Kieren and I was ready.
I got a good start but forgot to defend the first corner and got hung out to dry in the first 2 laps. Paul O'Neill barged his way through (well, what did you expect
) and by the end of lap 2 I was 8th and very annoyed!
I decided to up my game and get on with it, first on the list was 2009 R300 champion Jonny Walker. He was defending and holding me up so I threw him a dummy one way and then went the other. Next was Paul Brannan who I had an epic battle with in race 1 and then Paul O'Neill who I was quicker than but he would launch it down the inside at the next corner. I finally got through and set off after Paul Wilson, Darren Burke, Mark Shaw and James Sharrock. I had the help of a safety car and then picked off James and caught a battling Mark and Darren.
The last lap board went out and I was 4th but got a massive double tow from the guys in front. I went passed both of them with some help from the pit lane exit and was in 2nd! I pulled 2 seconds clear on the last lap to finish 2nd and take the lap record by less than a tenth of a second from Paul Wilson who won.
Wet:
Dry:
After my double win at Brands Hatch GP I was closing in on Paul and Mark who so far had been dominating proceedings after my crash at Silverstone.
The next round was in Germany on the Nurburgring GP circuit (next to the Nordschleife). To keep costs down I transport my car everywhere on an open trailer but for this one I asked Peter at Spy if he could put the car in the truck.
One of the other drivers has a private plane (as you do!) and asked if I would like to join him for the flight to Germany - I didn't need asking twice
We landed in Cologne and arrived at the circuit on the Wednesday evening. After some steak on a stone at Pistenklause and a couple of beers Thursday had arrived and day 1 of testing commenced.
Lap times were all over the place because of the nearly 40 degree heat with the fastest times coming in the first session when the air was cooler. Despite this I was struggling to get away from some of the midfield guys and couldn't work out what was wrong. The guys played around with the set up all day on the Thursday and Friday and finally found the problem - a blocked cat! A very expensive weekend had now turned into an extremely expensive few days. £650 later and at the end of Friday I was feeling a bit better going into qualifying.
We were being joined by 2 professional racers for this weekend. Caterham drift experience intructor and works Juno driver Darren Burke and BTCC driver Paul O'Neill. It was a good chance for some of us wannabe's to see how we compared agianst some top class drivers!
Qualfying was wet (very wet!) and I struggled but managed 5th after a banzai last lap. I don't have the same amount of confidence as I do in the dry so race 1 was about damage limitation and just finishing as high up as possible. Darren Burke had qualified P2 and Paul O'Neill P10. Here's my quickest lap from the race to show how wet it was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ZhDOsApXE&fea...
I went on to finish P4 but was completely outside my comfort zone and felt exhausted after the concentration levels needed!
The following day I was really happy to see dry weather and not a cloud in the sky. I would be starting from P4 for this race and with the car performing well I was feeling confident. A quick chat about my plans with instructor Kieren and I was ready.
I got a good start but forgot to defend the first corner and got hung out to dry in the first 2 laps. Paul O'Neill barged his way through (well, what did you expect
) and by the end of lap 2 I was 8th and very annoyed!I decided to up my game and get on with it, first on the list was 2009 R300 champion Jonny Walker. He was defending and holding me up so I threw him a dummy one way and then went the other. Next was Paul Brannan who I had an epic battle with in race 1 and then Paul O'Neill who I was quicker than but he would launch it down the inside at the next corner. I finally got through and set off after Paul Wilson, Darren Burke, Mark Shaw and James Sharrock. I had the help of a safety car and then picked off James and caught a battling Mark and Darren.
The last lap board went out and I was 4th but got a massive double tow from the guys in front. I went passed both of them with some help from the pit lane exit and was in 2nd! I pulled 2 seconds clear on the last lap to finish 2nd and take the lap record by less than a tenth of a second from Paul Wilson who won.
Wet:
Dry:
Lynch91 said:
Just read through the whole of this thread, really interesting read. I currently race rotax max karts and would like to change in to cars at some stage, just wandering if you would be able to give me a rough guide to the cost of a season racing caterhams?
I came from Rotax Max and will be doing the odd race here and there this year. Drop me an email and I will tell you more: ianp'at'second-sight.comCheers,
Ian
Following on from the Nurburgring update here's the TV footage for the dry race. I was one of the camera cars again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvdWhR-iKtc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvdWhR-iKtc
GokTweed said:
Dear God yes
Right then:With Nurburgring out of the way I could concentrate on the last 2 rounds, Snetterton and Rockingham. For some reason I had always liked Snett, I had my first ever race there in 2009 and took my first Roadsport A podium in the wet there.
We would be racing on the 200 circuit which is basically the original layout. This meant it would be slipstream'tastic so good qualifying would be key. Testing had gone well and I was second or third quickest behind the same 2, Paul and Mark. Paul annoyed me at the end of the test day with his smart arse comment "I thought you would be closer..."
I had made minor adjustments to the car since the 'Ring and jacked the rear up a couple of mm to aid fast turn in. I was happy with everything else.
Qualifying started and I had Paul Wilson in front of me leading up the pit lane. I was looking forward to sharing a tow with him round the circuit but he decided to pull to one side and let me pass
I did a couple of quick laps and then put this one in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MCBunX4nOI&fea...
I was fortunate with a couple of tows but it was good enough for pole by 0.3 of a second. Paul had 'only' qualified 3rd! Strange, I thought he would be closer
GokTweed said:
Haha well that's the way to get back at him! looked like a nice lap as well, the other borro car might have held you up on that last corner but the slipstream made it up so there was potential to get a bit more out of it i recon.
The second slipstream was the deciding factor, I caught him at just the right time to drag the length of the pit straight It was nice to start from pole with circa 25 cars behind me but I still hadn't got my launch sorted. James Sharrock from P3 had been immense at starting all season and catapulted into the lead with me in second and Paul in 3rd. Stuart Simpson who qualified second was in fourth but fell back.
I got round James on lap 1 and Paul followed shortly after. The 4 of us were swapping positions because of the 'tows' but it was all pretty clean. James hit me going into the second part of the esses and I lost my second wing of the season - not bad going considering they are classed as a consumable
I was in the lead heading up to turn 2 and made a mistake. Someone had cut the corner and there was dirt on the apex which I skidded on and went wide. Paul slipped through and more importantly it was enough to allow him to break the tow
And that's how it finished, Paul won (again), I was second and Flick Haigh took 3rd and fastest lap. I was less than a tenth off her time in clean air so the car was going well Despite that I was peed off. I felt strong at Snetterton and knew I could do better, I couldn't wait till the second race on the following day to put things right!
Anyway, enough words, here are some pictures
An arty one from qualifying:
Sitting in the collecting area before race 1:
The swarm!!
Taking second:
And finally Paul (pw_32) consoling me
Will update more tomorrow
Time for race 2
I remember sitting in the collecting area still being annoyed. I had barely spoken to anyone that morning and just wanted to get on with things - very unlike me as I'm normally very nervous before the race.
The usual warm up procedure followed and on the start I bogged again so ducked straight in behind Paul to cover the first turn. By flatshifting all the way up through the box (not advised) I was comfortable in second and challenging for the lead on the Revett straight. Then a mistake! I didn't brake hard enough for the last turn and went wide and off the circuit - result was back to 5th
Strangely I remember relaxing once that happened. I took 4th from Flick Haigh up the straight with a good tow and ducked in behind James Sharrock in 3rd. A few laps later I took 3rd, then 2nd from Mark Shaw and was back challenging for the lead. Paul had been getting away up front so Mark Shaw waved me passed to see if I could catch him - thanks Mark
In 4th behind Paul Wilson, James Sharrock and Mark Shaw:
And back up to 2nd behind Paul:
Paul and I traded the lead lap after lap until he eventually dropped back to 6th. I started to pull a little gap on Mark in 2nd but went across the grass entering the esses. I rejoined in the lead but with dirty tyres dropped back to 3rd. I gained 2nd again and then the lead and that's how it stayed - I had won and was ecstatic
I beat the previous days lap record but unfortunately so did Adam Balon who got his first podium. Shame, that extra point might come in handy.
Still, it was celebration time
I remember sitting in the collecting area still being annoyed. I had barely spoken to anyone that morning and just wanted to get on with things - very unlike me as I'm normally very nervous before the race.
The usual warm up procedure followed and on the start I bogged again so ducked straight in behind Paul to cover the first turn. By flatshifting all the way up through the box (not advised) I was comfortable in second and challenging for the lead on the Revett straight. Then a mistake! I didn't brake hard enough for the last turn and went wide and off the circuit - result was back to 5th
Strangely I remember relaxing once that happened. I took 4th from Flick Haigh up the straight with a good tow and ducked in behind James Sharrock in 3rd. A few laps later I took 3rd, then 2nd from Mark Shaw and was back challenging for the lead. Paul had been getting away up front so Mark Shaw waved me passed to see if I could catch him - thanks Mark
In 4th behind Paul Wilson, James Sharrock and Mark Shaw:
And back up to 2nd behind Paul:
Paul and I traded the lead lap after lap until he eventually dropped back to 6th. I started to pull a little gap on Mark in 2nd but went across the grass entering the esses. I rejoined in the lead but with dirty tyres dropped back to 3rd. I gained 2nd again and then the lead and that's how it stayed - I had won and was ecstatic
I beat the previous days lap record but unfortunately so did Adam Balon who got his first podium. Shame, that extra point might come in handy.
Still, it was celebration time
I had taken a few points out of Mark Shaw at Snetterton and we were now equal 2nd in the championship after dropped scores.
If it ended there and then I would've finished 2nd due to more wins than Mark but there was still 1 more round - Rockingham.
I had driven Rockingham before in 2010 but only once, many people don't like the circuit but I was fine with it - unless it rained. I had scored a 7th and 4th there in 2010 in Roadsport A so was looking to improve on that.
Testing came and went and Mark, Paul and me were within half a second of each other. We had also been joined by the newly crowned Supersport champion Aaron Head who was going well, as was Flick Haigh.
Paul put it on pole in tricky drying conditions - his lap here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUHP1k9PKcU
Flick was second, Mark 3rd, Aaron 4th and me 5th. Race 1, lap 1 looked like this at the start:
If it ended there and then I would've finished 2nd due to more wins than Mark but there was still 1 more round - Rockingham.
I had driven Rockingham before in 2010 but only once, many people don't like the circuit but I was fine with it - unless it rained. I had scored a 7th and 4th there in 2010 in Roadsport A so was looking to improve on that.
Testing came and went and Mark, Paul and me were within half a second of each other. We had also been joined by the newly crowned Supersport champion Aaron Head who was going well, as was Flick Haigh.
Paul put it on pole in tricky drying conditions - his lap here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUHP1k9PKcU
Flick was second, Mark 3rd, Aaron 4th and me 5th. Race 1, lap 1 looked like this at the start:
Long overdue update:
From 5th on the grid I got a good start and managed to grab second but was off line going into turn 1. Flick snuck down the inside forcing me a little wide and so I was back to 4th after 1 corner. Paul led with Mark second though that changed as Mark was looking quick and took the lead shortly after.
Unfortunately Flick held me up for the first part of the race allowing Paul and Mark to get away up front. By the time I got round her they were too far ahead to mount a challenge so I took third. Mark was now 3 points ahead in the championship and it wasn't looking good for second overall
Some pics, starting with Flick ahead and Aaron Head bearing down on me:
Me in front:
And out by myself:
From 5th on the grid I got a good start and managed to grab second but was off line going into turn 1. Flick snuck down the inside forcing me a little wide and so I was back to 4th after 1 corner. Paul led with Mark second though that changed as Mark was looking quick and took the lead shortly after.
Unfortunately Flick held me up for the first part of the race allowing Paul and Mark to get away up front. By the time I got round her they were too far ahead to mount a challenge so I took third. Mark was now 3 points ahead in the championship and it wasn't looking good for second overall
Some pics, starting with Flick ahead and Aaron Head bearing down on me:
Me in front:
And out by myself:
It's rare that I go out on a race weekend but as it was the last race of the season we decided to have dinner and a few beers. The last thing I remember was having neat vodka poured into my mouth at 2 in the morning - not ideal prep for the race
Anyway, the race wasn't until early afternoon so despite feeling a little jaded I was feeling good but knew second in the championship would be a long shot. Paul Wilson had won the championship with his result the previous day so he decided to sit this one out.
I was in third on the grid with a gap in front and then Mark who had been very quick all weekend. We both took off and immediately pulled a gap on everyone and went off to have our own little battle. Mark was super quick through the infield and would pull a gap but by staying close enough I would get a tow on the straight and catch up again - just not enough to pass him. As the race went on I noticed his car looking a bit loose and I was keeping pace in the infield and could mount a proper attack on the straight. With about 10 minutes to go I got passed and pulled a little gap. Aaron Head caught us but it stayed like that - I was happy with the win but still a bit disappointed. 10 podiums from 12 races (including 4 wins) and 2 4th places would normally be enough for the championship or even second but not this year. Still I had a ball
Some pictures from the final race weekend:
Anyway, the race wasn't until early afternoon so despite feeling a little jaded I was feeling good but knew second in the championship would be a long shot. Paul Wilson had won the championship with his result the previous day so he decided to sit this one out.
I was in third on the grid with a gap in front and then Mark who had been very quick all weekend. We both took off and immediately pulled a gap on everyone and went off to have our own little battle. Mark was super quick through the infield and would pull a gap but by staying close enough I would get a tow on the straight and catch up again - just not enough to pass him. As the race went on I noticed his car looking a bit loose and I was keeping pace in the infield and could mount a proper attack on the straight. With about 10 minutes to go I got passed and pulled a little gap. Aaron Head caught us but it stayed like that - I was happy with the win but still a bit disappointed. 10 podiums from 12 races (including 4 wins) and 2 4th places would normally be enough for the championship or even second but not this year. Still I had a ball
Some pictures from the final race weekend:
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff