Chris Stockton is back!
Discussion
Chris was progressing towards first corner with Phil Keen trying a move on the inside, unfortunatly the straight is not straight and curves towards the end. Phil keeped coming running out of track (He was on the grass towards the end)and clipped Chris causing him too spin in front of the charging Tuscan pack.
jamesc said:
and on Pole position as well! Only 12 though! 12th on the grid is Richard Stanton, so expect another drive through the field!
12th on the grid was Robert Stanton, in his first outing in a Tuscan. I'm afraid there was no charge through the field.
He needs more time in the car but thoroughly enjoyed it and says he will be out in the car for the rest of the season.
Hi James
Good luck with the op - hope it goes well.
My first time at Oulton and the 2 half hour tests on Friday were both cut down to 15 minutes or less when the Caterhams kept throwing themselves in the gravel. My gearbox and diff also broke. So I still had lots to learn come qualifying - which was in very very wet conditions.
Qualified 8th - not too bad. But I still hadn't managed to hook up behind someone to learn the lines and entry speeds properly.
The race was dry and after a good start I managed to avoid the first corner carnage (straight through the middle 'Days of Thunder' stylee) - must have been up to 4th or 5th. A few of the recovering cars came through pretty quickly and unfortunately I just couldn't hang on to the back of them. Finished 7th with no drama, with a big gap in front to David Mason and a much bigger gap behind to Ben and co.
With the small grids I have a potential problem - I'm now quicker than my old chums Peter and Hugh - but I'm not quick enough yet to challenge Darren, Tim and Ben. So I'm in danger of being on my own, not having much fun and not learning.
So for the second race I was determined to stay with Darren or Tim. Again I got a good start, but those two got past on the first lap. Coming up to Lodge I went past Darren up the inside (he had a problem with the engine intermittently cutting out) - but then understeered onto the grass. Recovered ok and blatted down the straight, through Old Hall and down to Cascades.
Between the two races we changed the throttle pedal on my car - made it much closer to the brake and adjusted the brake pedal so that it was level with the throttle when under load - i.e. to make heel and toeing easier. That was fine, except that the pedal had gone a bit soft by the end of the first lap.
The result was I went haring down to Cascades, jumped on the brakes, caught the throttle at the same time and put myself into a big and very high speed spin. Fortunately I managed to miss the barriers, sat whilst the rest of the field went through and re-joined flat last.
Managed to get three places back reasonably comfortably - although I nearly put myself off going past Hugh up to Island on the left - 2 wheels on the grass when I got on the brakes, a bit sideways but managed to hold on.
Ahead Darren was slowing, but the gap was too big and so I finished 8th, again in a big gap on my own.
I was 4 seconds a lap off the front guys - at most tracks I am 1.5 to 2 seconds off - so am disappointed. I desparately need to hook up with someone to see where I am losing all the time at Oulton.
Basically I need to go faster or the rest of the season could be quite dull.
Thruxton next and one of my favourites - I should be closer to the front guys times there.
Good luck with the op - hope it goes well.
My first time at Oulton and the 2 half hour tests on Friday were both cut down to 15 minutes or less when the Caterhams kept throwing themselves in the gravel. My gearbox and diff also broke. So I still had lots to learn come qualifying - which was in very very wet conditions.
Qualified 8th - not too bad. But I still hadn't managed to hook up behind someone to learn the lines and entry speeds properly.
The race was dry and after a good start I managed to avoid the first corner carnage (straight through the middle 'Days of Thunder' stylee) - must have been up to 4th or 5th. A few of the recovering cars came through pretty quickly and unfortunately I just couldn't hang on to the back of them. Finished 7th with no drama, with a big gap in front to David Mason and a much bigger gap behind to Ben and co.
With the small grids I have a potential problem - I'm now quicker than my old chums Peter and Hugh - but I'm not quick enough yet to challenge Darren, Tim and Ben. So I'm in danger of being on my own, not having much fun and not learning.
So for the second race I was determined to stay with Darren or Tim. Again I got a good start, but those two got past on the first lap. Coming up to Lodge I went past Darren up the inside (he had a problem with the engine intermittently cutting out) - but then understeered onto the grass. Recovered ok and blatted down the straight, through Old Hall and down to Cascades.
Between the two races we changed the throttle pedal on my car - made it much closer to the brake and adjusted the brake pedal so that it was level with the throttle when under load - i.e. to make heel and toeing easier. That was fine, except that the pedal had gone a bit soft by the end of the first lap.
The result was I went haring down to Cascades, jumped on the brakes, caught the throttle at the same time and put myself into a big and very high speed spin. Fortunately I managed to miss the barriers, sat whilst the rest of the field went through and re-joined flat last.
Managed to get three places back reasonably comfortably - although I nearly put myself off going past Hugh up to Island on the left - 2 wheels on the grass when I got on the brakes, a bit sideways but managed to hold on.
Ahead Darren was slowing, but the gap was too big and so I finished 8th, again in a big gap on my own.
I was 4 seconds a lap off the front guys - at most tracks I am 1.5 to 2 seconds off - so am disappointed. I desparately need to hook up with someone to see where I am losing all the time at Oulton.
Basically I need to go faster or the rest of the season could be quite dull.
Thruxton next and one of my favourites - I should be closer to the front guys times there.
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