Caterham Graduate Racing

Great start and an excellent race to watch! You really do blaze through the Mountain, looks like you've got that bit nailed. You seem to get left behind at Barn though. I was told to take a later apex through there to widen the line, perhaps that's why people are getting away?

Very entertaining race, you seemed to make the time up at gooseneck and the mountain but then loose it again at turn 2 and the sharper right half way round the circuit (where you had a scary grass cutting moment). I'm there on the 27th July with opentrack and then racing on the 29th. Current information is a green flag lap but a rolling start but will check the final instructions carefully.

Scary grass cutting was during a little rain shower so there was a bit less grip than I expected. I could have lifted and made the exit but it's such a long straight I didn't want to get passed at the end so decided to just keep the boot in and deal with it. There's quite a lot of GrassCrete on the outside of the corners so there's more grip there than you would imagine (unless it's been raining!)

Check again on the day with regards green flag with the Clerk of the course. It was only mentioned in the new driver briefing and wasn't mentioned in the final instructions that were sent out. Key thing is, if there's a 5 second board and red lights, your racing. Obvious maybe but not when you're expecting a green flag lap!

Great start and an excellent race to watch! You really do blaze through the Mountain, looks like you've got that bit nailed. You seem to get left behind at Barn though. I was told to take a later apex through there to widen the line, perhaps that's why people are getting away?

It's the entrance to Barn that I struggle with as the back steps out. I had a chat with the guy chasing me in the race (you can't see me defending behind - need a rear camera) and he suggested a stab of the brakes rather than feather the throttle is quicker and keeps the car more settled. Same thing for turn 2. However the guy running in 1st doesn't brake for either...

I'd like to go back and have another go without the pressure of the race. A bit more practice will get me the time - it's such a technical circuit!

 (you can't see me defending behind - need a rear camera) 

There were a few occasions watching the race where I thought you were taking an unusual line but quickly realised you were defending

I still have a lot to learn at Cadwell and need to get back there at some point.

Race 1 video

The eagle eyed among you will notice that I'm racing with the same 3 guys that I was in race 2.

The way the field seems to be split in terms of pace is:

 - there's a lead group that seem to consistently take 1st to 4th

 - then there's a second group that fill slots up to 8th

 - and then there's a 3rd group & the rest of the field that seem to have a bit less consistency.

I seem to have established my qualifying and race pace among the 2nd group of drivers.

The challenge over the next few races will be to work my way towards the front of the 2nd group and start to get some 6th & 5th place finishes (except some races have lots more attendees so the exact position will vary). It'll then be a big jump to try and get on the back of the lead group as they just seem to have a clear pace advantage. 

Donnington is great.

Time for a long overdue update....

Donington was the last race I did on 7th June... it had high's and lows.

Qualifying

The test day was really expensive and was on the Thursday so I opted for a track evening on the Friday, as did most of the other racers. I've been round the Donington GP circuit before (once on a cold/damp day) so figured I'd be OK with just a short track evening. During the evening session, it started rained for the last hour but forecast was dry for Saturday so I called it a day after a couple of sessions. I have no idea of my lap times as I had no data logging and there was no official timing available (track day).

I went into qualifying with no idea where I'd end up but just did my best. There was a much bigger grid than usual (17 Mega's and 3 Supers) so was hoping for mid-pack, which is where I've been in the other races. 

Qualifying went great! Probably helped by the lack of testing of the other drivers too, I was straight on the pace and was at the top of the timing sheets after the 1st lap. Needless to say, that didn't last but I stayed near the front, ending up 4th in class and 5th on the road. Timings were pretty close at the front though and I had the championship leader behind me - he was never going to stay there!!

Will add race update shortly...

Race

I was a little slow to react to the lights (need to work on that) but just managed to hold my position through turn 1 by just sticking it on the apex. Unfortunately I was offline and tried to exit in 3rd gear - which didn't work.The engine bogged and I lost a place into craner curves. Here's a pic from lap one (I'm at the back of this group in P6) showing that it's fairly close racing...

I was generally outraced for a few laps - too busy trying to keep my nose clean and watching mirrors while lapping much slower than I had in qualifying. Not a bad way to approach racing when it's only my 5th ever race against much more experienced racers... However, on the 3rd lap I didn't spot an overtake 2 cars in front and hadn't anticipated someone crawling along in the middle of the chicane and just clipped their back wheel by about an inch. Here's the result (great camera work from Hazel!!):

Woops!

The result was a very bent chassis for me ( I didn't know this at the time) so the front right/rear left wheel was bent up in the air. I was left with no grip on left handers as the car tipped and dangled the rear wheel in the air . A particular problem exiting the final corner making me slow down the main straight and vulnerable into turn 1. I did OK from this point even though the gear knob then decided to fall off as well so I had to change gear with the threaded stud However, I generally held station with a few attempts at passes. In fact once I'd figured out the 'interesting' handling characteristics I managed to get the lap times back down into the 1:50's.

Had a great battle with Mark Jones (109) even with the damage, he's a thoroughly nice guy who I'd shared a beer or two with at Cadwell - every cloud....

The end result was P8 in class, which was about where I expected to come at the start of the weekend but after qualifying I had hoped for more.

More disappointing than the result though was the bent chassis and a cracked braze which meant I wasn't allowed to take part in the endurance race and also meant another car strip/rebuild.

Video of the race will follow (I'm only creating it now, it's been too painful to watch until now).

Video from Donington race:

VTEC must have kicked in

ah bad news about the chasis

They dont seem to be very strong at all however easy to repair i guess.. 

bad luck though but stick with it, it must be great fun, am very jealous!

Nice work Kevin Bet you can strip it down very quickly now

The first time I just handed it over to someone else, so this was my first attempt but it is pretty straight forward to do.I wouldn't hesitate to do it myself again, hopefully I won't need to though!

The race team told me they can get the engine out in 30 minutes.. It took me loner than that!!

Thanks to Sizetenboots for the loan of the engine hoist!

Good going, don't you just love Craner Curves.

You quite regularly see the BTCC boys go three abreast through there which I think is madness. They do have slicks and aero but it must take some serious commitment.

Wondered when the writeup was going to be done. Going to watch the race now.

I went round the outside of the second part of craner near the start of my race. Great fun

Both videos at about 2.40

My car

https://youtu.be/yVMr2b0_fkU

Car behind

https://youtu.be/ueCaapLxqMA

You go side by side down through the curves at 11.50 in the race too.