Graham (GE2) and I were at Brands Hatch on Saturday for some more racing - I'll let Graham fill in his details!

I went down on Friday for a day's testing which was eventful! The weather was appalling - torrential rain for the first session which saw me drive straight off at Druids into the gravel - I braked and turned and absolutely nothing happened With hindsight I guess I must have locked up the fronts, and having been towed back into the track and got to the pits, I had a lecture from my support crew about cadence braking I got an opportunity to practise that later when I touched the rubber going into Graham Hill and started to lockup and slide, and yep I can vouch for the fact that cadence braking works !!

Next session was very greasy, and then it got worse - I span at Graham Hill in the third session and hit the wall on the inside. I actually took both hands off the wheel to cover my eyes before I hit the wall, but judging by the damage I hit the back, bounced and hit the front. Limped to the pits with the car pullin to the left, and found a badly bent top balljoint for the front wishbone. Fortunately Caterham are in Dartford so I lept in the Landcruiser and drove down, making it with seconds to spare.

Spent the rest of the evening with a couple of friends fixing the car, replacing the balljoint, taping wings, and borrowing a camber gauge to get it straight again. Thanks to the Scottish chap for loaning us that !!

Saturday was race day - again the weather was horrible and it was lucky we had a garage booked! Quali 1 went really well, and Graham and I both qualified in front of some quicker cars - I think because it was so greasy they couldn't put the power down which equalled things up a bit. Quali 2 was similar, but as the track was drying out we were a bit further down the gride.

Race 1 I got a great start, but got boxed out of Paddock, losing all the places I had gained. I then had a brain fart and forgot the track had dried out, and proceeded to drive the wet line, and at wet speeds, and wonder why everybody was getting away from me. Shocking and I was in a foul mood when I came back to the pits!

Race 2 and 3 I picked up the pace - Graham locked up under braking at one stage and shot up the inside of me at Druids. Fortunately I moved out of his way and got a light tap from him, and he had a slight spin shortly after, leaving space for me to get past. Race 3 was great fun - I had a play with an R400 which by rights should have anihilated me as it has loads more power, but the driver can't "do" corners, so I caught him and overtook him about 3 times !!! Unfortunatley he pulled away on the straights so I couldn't actually beat him, but it was a real buzz as we were really close on the bends - I thought we were going to touch a few times as I took the inside lane but at the last minute he would give way. I thought I was ending up his backend a couple of times too as he braked early and hardish, but luckily no contact

Probably my last race of the season as I've decided to move series next year, and I've got so much work to do to the car I need to start as soon as I can - I need a new diff, gearbox, clutch, springs, dampers and various bit of engine work But I ended the season on an "up" with a cup for winnig my class (no glass plaque graham but at least it's metal this time!!)

No photo's I'm afraid as I was too busy to take any and the weather was awful! I think there was someone there taking pics on the circuit but I haven't got hold of any yet.

 

 

Great report, my apologies again for letting you down photos wise else you'd have something to show this lot

 

Sounds real fun. Great effort.

 

What series are you moving to Jo?

 

She's off to the Grads series (Megas) as of next year Mark

 

Quick Summary of my day:

Picked up the car from my brother's on the way back from work and dropped it off at Brands the night before which meant I was alone in the garage with Jo's car.

Considered 'tweaking' the set up but saw the funny angle of one of the cycle wings was at and decided it had been through enough already

For me, the first qualifying session was just a struggle to keep the car on the track and at times I couldn't see a thing. I span coming out of paddock, couldn't tell where the hell I was on the track but when I'd stopped spinning I worked out I was facing up hill, was therefore facing the right way so put it in second and carried on. I came in not long after that, having done enough laps to race.

Second session was better but my confidence had been knocked by then so I just concentrated on keeping it in a straight line and honestly thought I'd end up right at the back of the grid.

When the grid positions came out I was pleasantly surprised. As Jo said, we didn't do too bad at all. Of course Jo's best in both was a few tenths of a second quicker than mine.

I don't know why they bother timing her, they might as well just get my time and knock half a second off it

First race was bloody great. I was still very apprehensive about the general slipperiness but on the warm up lap, I saw that pretty much all the circuit was bone dry.

By the time we got round to the start grid, I was absolutely gagging for it, the lights went off and I just belted it as hard as I could for what felt like about 2 minutes.

As ever, I got passed by the more powerful cars that were behind us on the start grid but managed to beat all the other 'little' cars. I thought Jo must have had a problem because she did get a blinder of a start. I was very well placed for the first corner which gave me a big advantage but kept expecting to see her looming up behind.

I came back in a very happy person which is just as well because it didn't go so well after that.

Race 2 was in the wet again, it was complete chaos for the first couple of corners.

I not sure if it was the first or second lap but we were three abreast coming into druids, me on the inside and Jo in the middle.

It got to the point where the line was Jo's and I had to concede. Stood on the brakes, it's very very wet, nothing happened.

Credit to Jo, she saw what was going on and moved over a little to give the idiot some space to sort himself out.

I put a wheel on the kerb but got things sorted out and made it round the corner.

On the exit I was right on the inside but got the wheel straight, started to accelerate and promptly span.

I was surprised because I've span there before so was that little bit more careful this time.

After a lot of swearing I got going again but noticed that the steering was quite a way out, I had to have the wheel at an angle to keep it straight.

Very odd as there weren't any noticeable bumps coming into or out of the corner.

I drove back into the pits, got out of the car and me and Chris had a quick look around to see if anything was broken, seemed OK so I went out and finished the race at about half pace. Pretty pointless with hindsight but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining it.

There wasn't much time between races, but I borrowed Jo's mechanics and they jacked up the front and found that a nut on the lower wishbone ball joint was almost undone. Very odd.

They tightened it up and I got out for the last race which wonky steering half expecting to have to give up half way through.

First lap, I see the engine cover making a bid for freedom so come back in, shout at someone to do it up and go out again for a bit of drive round on my own.

The steering problem gets worse, it just doesn't want to turn right so I quickly decided to call it a day rather than cause anyone else any problems out on the track.

Still don't know what the problem is, the thinking is that the balljoint is faulty and just collapsed somehow but I won't know until my brother's had a proper look at it later this week.

The first race made it for me though, and I haven't got the same fear of the wet anymore. Not that I'll immediately be any quicker when it's slippery but it's changed my attitude towards it and hopefully from now on it'll just be something I get on with rather than tying myself up in knots about it

Stupid hobby, too expensive, too time consuming and quite cruel at times but I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing

 

Good work guys. COngrats on the trophy Jo.

Before I ever did a wet race I thought it was crazy to go out and do that sort of thing. When I was doing a wet race I thought it was the most mentally draining thing ever. Since then I find the wet kinda fun (except for the not being able to see and being cold and damp bits).

Matt

 

Amen.

Once you lose 'The Fear' in the wet, you realise that half the grid still has it and you can make decent progress.

Couldn't be the new rack causing problems with the steering could it? If the pinion is jumping over teeth on the rack it couldbe winding the steering more and more one way.

 

Pfft you luxo boys with your heating and your roofs

Good writeup Graham, spot on !! Glad to see you felt sorry for my car and decided not to tamper with it