Hatching plans

Last weekend was another race meeting, this time at Brands Hatch. (As usual, the Indy circuit. I’ve still never even walked around the GP circuit. One day…)

So, I got the Fury dusted down, I even spent a while doing a nut and bolt check, before going to Brands on Thursday evening. The weather forecast was, for a change, actually quite good so hopefully I wouldn’t be spending the weekend in a confusion about whether to change the wheels, adjust the ARBs, and so on.

By the way, before you complain, my apologies for the lack of video/photos here. I bought a new video recorder (one of these) and the camera is rubbish, generating a truly gruesome vertical vibration. With luck someone will have taken some photos and I can decorate this post later.

Friday morning, true to the forecast, dawned cold and clear. It would clearly warm up soon and so it did. I was testing in the morning, just so that I could remember which way things went. I was also aiming to better my FL from last year which was 52.6 seconds. Surely I could manage to get below 52 seconds?

Apparently not. Admittedly the testing sessions were marred by a series of travelling roadblocks disguised to look like Morgans (along with a truly scarey classic Corvette that seemed to come around more than once a lap) but that isn’t really a sufficient excuse. After an hour pounding around the (resurfaced in parts) track I managed 52.38, although the theoretical time was much quicker, probably because of the traffic.

In the afternoon, I decided to treat the Fury to a new set of tyres (the ones I’ve been using so far this season are, to be honest, verging on the ancient). Surely that’d make me go quicker on race day?

The next day was again a nice day, hot even, and we lined up for qualifying at the appointed time. I’d managed to get into 3rd in the queue as it’s important to get out there at Brands as qualifying is often very busy and finding a clear lap none too easy. Problem was, we had a long time sitting in the queue as the previous Formula 4 qualifying was halted by a rather serious crash which took a while to clear. Luckily, things were mitigated by Anthea going and buying a few of us an ice cream. Club motor racing you see, it’s not quite the same as Formula 1.

When it was time to go I had to make sure that I got two decent laps as we had two races in the weekend. I got stuck in but, frankly, it wasn’t quick enough. What’s more, as a consequence of the prior fracas (which was followed by the Saxmax boys and girls getting their sessions red-flagged again) we only got 10 minutes on track which meant 11 laps. FL ended up at 52.43 with the second best lap at 52.51. I suppose at least that’s moderately consistent. That meant I was 9th on the grid for the first race (4th in class) and, I guess because of the consistency, 5th(2nd) on the grid in the second race.

Come the race later in the day I got my customary lousy start and had to spend a lap or two getting back to where I ought to have been. After that I had an absolute ball. Essentially me, Derek and Duncan (all class B) were in a gaggle behind Doug’s class A Genesis. That meant we were a bit bottled up and we spent the whole race nearly getting past each other. I’m sure on one lap we went round Druids (the hairpin) 3 abreast! Unfortunately, Duncan broke his gearchange just before the end and I passed him just before the line so I came 3rd in class, 6th on the road. Afterwards we were all bouncing, a truly fantastic race…

On the next day the weather looked a mite more inclement, and it rained a bit first thing. However, it was clearly warm as the ground dried really quickly and by the time of the race it was bone dry. This time I was on the 3rd row of the grid. However, I got an even worse start than usual and had to fight my way forward. Poor Duncan didn’t even get started as he did a driveshaft before the start and Derek hadn’t put enough fuel in and his car was missing on right handers so I got past him easily enought. I was then up behind Gary Goodyear who has a Hayabusa engined Fulcrum. Oddly, he didn’t seem to be that quick down the straights and I managed to get a decent slipstream and dive under him in the Paddock braking zone. Actually, I reckon this was the best race overtake I’ve ever done, right out of the classic driving manual, so I was well pleased with it.

Then I was up to second in class and catching Mat up in the Spire. However, when I got there he’d got the widest car on the track and I didn’t manage to get past him, although a good deal of that we because someone had put some oil down at Clearways and Mat’s car was losing water which was making the track behind him rather difficult. I did so nearly manage to pass him several times and at the start/finish line I was a whole 0.06 seconds behind him, rather less than a car length.

So, another good race and truly great fun.

Now, can I get the J15 going in the 8 week gap we’ve got before the next race, or should I just concentrate on the Fury… Suggestions on a postcard please…