Wow, what a circuit !

As you know I was racing out there this weekend, and had never been before - spent a couple of weeks playing the circuit on the XBox, which helped massively just in terms of remembering which corner came next, then did a Lotus on Track day there last Thursday, followed by qualy and two races

Eau Rouge is not as scary as I thought it would be, and in fact I wasn't too sure what all the fuss was about. In the wet it is slippy slidey and of course my laptimes are not the fastest, but even so although it is an impressive corner, I found others more intimidating (primarily Rivage 2 which is off camber, has little runoff, and reminds me of Graham Hill @ Brands which I have similar issues with, and Pouhon which is slippy in the wet!)

We had one dry race and one really wet race -

Race 1 in the Dry
Great fun - I decided to really go for it during Race 1 - I've been quite intimidated all year by close racing, and really need to improve my "racing" as well as my driving, so I really decided to be more decisive. We were running a mixed grid which is really weird; we have 3 classes of car, and ours is the quickest, but running a mixed grid means if you are like me and in the middle of the faster pack, you are mixing it up with the quicker cars from the middle pack, although you're not racing them and you end up getting in each others way. Eventually the inevitable happened and I tapped somebody up the back end coming into the bus stop chicane (might show on the video), backed off a bit, then went back on and caught them all up again. Finished a very respectable 19th overall (64 on the grid) and 12th in my class.

Race 2 in the Wet
Very different although still fun - the start was terrifying!! The only way I knew Eau Rouge was there, was because some rain lights started going up hill. You know you have to stay off the paint/kerbs because they're slippy, but you can't see them as you approach the corner because of the spray. Additionally because the only lights we have are rain lights, you can't see us braking (no brake lights) and you can't see us coming up behind you (no headlights) so it's all pretty scary. I've seen some big crashes where cars spin at the top of Eau Rouge and get collected by the following pack so I really backed off and went slow.

After a lap or so of me driving like Miss Daisy, the pack thinned out and I could see where I was going, and started to push on a bit. I was overtaken by loads of people, but slowly I started to re-take them Made up a few places and got a bit cocky going into Blanchimont into a big tank slapper, and then overcooked it going into Rivage 2 and ended up in teh gravel. Got myself out again but unfortunately gave up 4 places in the process and that was the last lap - boo !

Finished 30th overall (haven't worked out my class finish yet) which is still ok given the weather, but I know I can do much better.

FWIW we are completely flat out (in the dry) from La Source, all the way to Les Combes at the end of the Kemmel Straight, then if we get it right with a short brake into Pouhon we are flat all the way around that, and also flat all the way from Stavelot 1 to the bus stop chicane

Brilliant - I think all the UK circuits will feel so short now!

Massive thanks to Chris for coming with me - 4 days of sitting in a cold paddock surrounded by the smell of the open sewers which run through the paddock (YUCK) is not fun, let alone when it rained, listening to a bunch of racers do nothing but talk about racing -

Can't quite believe it's all over for a year though! The car needs a bit of TLC (something broke int the gear box yesterday - a selector or something, among other things) and I could do with some time off!

 

PS - only got a bit of video but will post later

 

Sounds like you had a top time, and Chris is happy cos he won at karting, so I sholdn't worry too much about him

What are your plans for next year? From your write up, it seems that you have a new found determination to mix it up with the front runners and not be pushed around. So, same again, or a different series in the same car?

 

Oh yes, much more determination! I've shown myself I can do it, I know the car has more to give (how cliched does that sound) and at the moment the main limitation is my own lack of bollox!

All year I've been struggling with confidence in my own ability to chuck the car around, and I have improved that massively, then the next limiting factor was my confidence to get up close with other cars - Spa really helped with that too

In fact around the wiggly Sector of Spa my quickest lap time was only 0.3 seconds slower than the guy who came 2nd in our championship Ok 1.something off in the other two Sectors! It's the flat out ballsy corners I struggle with now (Pouhon and Eau Rouge)

 

Well, that's hardly surprising

 

Well done to you Jo for walking the walk rather than us keyboard warriors

The main thing is you survived.

 

Yep, and I achieved all the goals I set:

First I wanted to just be there and finish a race in one piece
Then I wanted a sub 3 minute, which I did - 2.58.something consistently
Then after qualifying in 25th on the grid (remember mixed up classes) I wanted a top 20 finish, which I did
Then when it was wet I just wanted to finish - which I did, and overachieved

Have finished 13th overall in the championship, with the same final points score as 11th and 12th - in the event of a tie they defer to the Blue Book, and their rules put me into 13th, but I'm chuffed with that! Nearly an 11th !!

 

And in many ways I'm pleased

 

Not as pleased as Chris is, I suspect

Glad you had a great time, and that I was right about that tricky corner!

Eau Rouge is far more scary in a car that can't do it flat out, I imagine. That and the blind part of Radillon. The fact that there were a lot of crashes there probably sums up how it got its reputation.

Well done on the racing.

 

Sorry, by Eau Rouge I meant ER + Radillon - that whole complex of 3 corners.

Not sure why it's more scary if you can't do it flat? There is a moment as the car transitions and goes light, where if you're not properly set up makes me forget to breathe, but I find it more scary to think there may be a car at the top across the track, and nothing I can do about it

I took Pouhon as one corner, no small straight in the middle