loggyboy
ClioSport Club Member
Its a positive start for me in 2021!
The season started at Cadwell park this weekend. It was my first time there but got to do a trackday on the Thursday with Javelin, and the times looked promising, (a few tenth off 2019s pole) but without a direct comparison we couldn't be sure if the times were comparable. We had a few issues with the alternator belt and a possible charging issue at high revs but nothing that was affecting the pace of the car.
On Saturday morning we Qualified and we placed in 5th only 0.5sec off of pole, it turned out positive times from Thursday were representative. A lightning start propelled us past Chris Keir and alongside Scott Edgar in to turn 1 - but after running wide out of Charlies 2 and a rough re-entry we dropped back behind them both. But a late brake in to Park saw us back past Keir and back to hunting down Edgar. I was closing in a few tenths per lap, but on Lap 7 I made a mistake and ran wide on the exit of Park and nearly ended up the wrong way, but I kept it mostly on the grey stuff but that saw me drop back from 3rd but had enough of a gap to retain 4th for my best finish and a welcome show of pace for the 2021 campaign.
I started 4th in Race 2 (identical lap time to 3rd, so I assume they base it on who did it first or they can get more accurate reading beyond the 1000ths they show us)
#
A slightly slower start in race 2 dropped me to 6th by turn 1, but some jostling and contact ahead gave me 5th by the exit of turn 3 and a great dive before the Mountain lifted me back to 4th. I stuck with the front 3 until Lap 4 when some cars started to slide around. (later realised this to be a car spilling coolant). This caught out Edgar in 3rd and as we came in to the right hand Chris curve his back end stepped out and ran on to the grass on the left so I dived for the inside, but his car snatched for grip a couple of times and he was forced in to my path and we collided side to side doing a fair amount of damage to both our cars. This gave me 3rd but the track was still slippery in random places and I assumed I had picked up damage as the car kept getting loose. After another lap all seemed to be well so I set about seeing If I could gain on the front 2 who were fighting. Sadly on lap 6 the back end stepped out in to the Gooseneck (possibly on the coolant) and as i fought to control it I bounced over the left kerb which lifted the car up on to the right side, then on to the grass and it dug in nearly flipping me. Sadly the tyre had been torn off the rim so I couldn't rejoin and my first podium slipped through my fingers.
I'll up load the race 2 video ASAP.
Despite the disappointment of loosing out, the pace shown and the leap from the mid field to top 4 fills me with hope that this form continues on for the rest of the season and the elusive podium I was aiming for this year will become a reality.
The season started at Cadwell park this weekend. It was my first time there but got to do a trackday on the Thursday with Javelin, and the times looked promising, (a few tenth off 2019s pole) but without a direct comparison we couldn't be sure if the times were comparable. We had a few issues with the alternator belt and a possible charging issue at high revs but nothing that was affecting the pace of the car.
On Saturday morning we Qualified and we placed in 5th only 0.5sec off of pole, it turned out positive times from Thursday were representative. A lightning start propelled us past Chris Keir and alongside Scott Edgar in to turn 1 - but after running wide out of Charlies 2 and a rough re-entry we dropped back behind them both. But a late brake in to Park saw us back past Keir and back to hunting down Edgar. I was closing in a few tenths per lap, but on Lap 7 I made a mistake and ran wide on the exit of Park and nearly ended up the wrong way, but I kept it mostly on the grey stuff but that saw me drop back from 3rd but had enough of a gap to retain 4th for my best finish and a welcome show of pace for the 2021 campaign.
I started 4th in Race 2 (identical lap time to 3rd, so I assume they base it on who did it first or they can get more accurate reading beyond the 1000ths they show us)
A slightly slower start in race 2 dropped me to 6th by turn 1, but some jostling and contact ahead gave me 5th by the exit of turn 3 and a great dive before the Mountain lifted me back to 4th. I stuck with the front 3 until Lap 4 when some cars started to slide around. (later realised this to be a car spilling coolant). This caught out Edgar in 3rd and as we came in to the right hand Chris curve his back end stepped out and ran on to the grass on the left so I dived for the inside, but his car snatched for grip a couple of times and he was forced in to my path and we collided side to side doing a fair amount of damage to both our cars. This gave me 3rd but the track was still slippery in random places and I assumed I had picked up damage as the car kept getting loose. After another lap all seemed to be well so I set about seeing If I could gain on the front 2 who were fighting. Sadly on lap 6 the back end stepped out in to the Gooseneck (possibly on the coolant) and as i fought to control it I bounced over the left kerb which lifted the car up on to the right side, then on to the grass and it dug in nearly flipping me. Sadly the tyre had been torn off the rim so I couldn't rejoin and my first podium slipped through my fingers.
I'll up load the race 2 video ASAP.
Despite the disappointment of loosing out, the pace shown and the leap from the mid field to top 4 fills me with hope that this form continues on for the rest of the season and the elusive podium I was aiming for this year will become a reality.
We are hoping to pop down to Snet to have a look this year all being well.
