Turbos.
Last year i completed just a few laps at the new Silverstone 'Arena' (new GP) circuit, so i was hoping to make amends in the first race of the Lotus Cup this year. We approached the weekend with mixed confidence; i had gone fast in previous testing, but i'd also blown the engine so we were stuck with the 'B' engine for the race. The rush to get it in in time also inevitably meant preparation wasn't quite as relaxed as we'd hoped.
My dad also wouldn't be racing me, but instead a mate living in Boston had flown over to join me for the hour race. He is a great driver, but hasn't raced for some time and hadn't been on the new Silverstone circuit at all. He had a couple of sessions to learn it, and crucially, get on the pace. So i could give him the maximum amount of time, i was getting to grips with my Production spec Elise, with its fresh engine.
Pleasingly, my mate James got within a second of me by the end of the day, which was a relief. With the lesser spec engine at our worst circuit (three long straights) against the likes of ex-F1 driver Martin Donnelly in the new Evora GTN, we had to make sure both our stints were strong. Oh, and hope the weather would stay nice as the 2-11s have traction control
Thankfully the gods were on our side in the morning when it came to the weather, and i felt much more relaxed. I also saw overnight the 911 had a bit of company outside the hotel!
At the circuit, we started talking about strategy for the race. Some planning was needed for the pit stops as the team were looking after after Liz Halliday (has done Le Mans and ALMS) in her 2-11.
Seeing as it looked like i would set the fastest lap, it was James who did morning practice whilst i was allowed the full quali session. James did well, but surprisingly a new 2-11 driver was the fastest, but i was confident come qualifying it would be easy to beat if all things went to plan.
As everyone knows, in racing not quite everything goes quite to plan! Quali started well, on just my first flying lap i was top of the timing sheets for a while, but disaster struck as on a coast down lap (to avoid traffic), i was hit by a white Honda'd Exige who was supposedly too 'committed' to avoid me. You can see my best lap, and the hit in my YouTube clip below. Qualifying was prematurely over.
[youtube]CCoqnRogF8w[/youtube]
I came out of the car..slamming the door and all that jazz, but fortunately my lap had still counted for something and i was 3rd on the grid. And then revised timings were issued and i was then on the front row! Pole sitter in a quick Europa had gone over circuit boundaries one too many times and therefore he was demoted 10 places. As it would be me and the white Exige going into the first corner side-by-side, we were asked to kiss and make up before the race start!
Meanwhile, the team endeavoured to straighten the car up (bent tie rods etc.) in order to get me out. Their day suddenly got interesting!
Although delighted to be on the front row, i knew i was up against it on the first lap. On a rolling start we are always eaten up in a straight line, so i knew i had to get over that and avoid being scruffy to make up time. All sorts of scenarios started playing in my head as we warmed the cars up.
As over 40 cars piled into the first corner, predictably quicker cars such as the Evora and the supercharged 2-11s made it past me. Check out the cool clip of the race start below...
[youtube]1aBp4fJ44eg[/youtube]
By the second lap i think i had lost 5 places. Frustrating, but at the same time i knew i was quicker so bid my time and started to retake places in the more technical sessions. You can watch the first few laps onboard of a Honda'd Exige i had a tussle with, including a sneaky re-pass of the Europa!
[youtube]xoBPvDNkCjo[/youtube]
The issue was getting caught amongst slower cars meant that the Evora (now in the lead) and the white Exige had streaked away. However, they were starting to hold each other up. I could see that, slowly, i was catching them bit-by-bit, lap by lap.
Halfway through the stint, bad luck had spread to the white Exige. I saw the Evora locking up, a puff of smoke, and then a cloud! The Exige's engine let go seemingly in sympathy. It was then me versus the F1 driver!
I closed the gap a couple of laps later, but i was going to have to be crafty getting past. The Evora was so quick in a straight line that i had to ensure i drove as cleanly as possible in the technical areas so i could get a tow on the straights. At one point i was so close i as pushing him through the apex!
We then got to the stage where we were lapping cars. Easy for Martin as he breezed by on the straights; i had to squeeze through on the corners. The gap yo-yo'd, but i kept reeling him back in.
Finally, Martin did me a favour. After a brief spell of rain, he had a moment coming through the fast corner onto the new pit straight, he fluffed a gearchange and for once i got to feel like it was to out accelerate someone down a straight! You can see our full battle in my video (sorry for the quality!) from 22 mins onwards.
[youtube]K2M8lzfeMq8[/youtube]
We both pitted within 2 laps of each other, so it would be interesting to see how well timed our respective stops would be. There is a mandatory 2 minute stop which seems like a life time, the trick is timing it so you are out of the pits on the button! James was raring to go...
We clearly did a good job, as within a lap or so James was about 10 seconds up the road from the Evora. Meanwhile, the Europa had fallen way down the grid with drive through penalties and a couple of spins. The 2-11s were not going to cause us trouble (worth noting that Liz Halliday started from the back due to issues, and made it up to 6th!), so it was all looking good as long as the car stayed in one piece.
James was consistent, and the Evora was slower with the second driver. We were eeking out around 3 seconds each lap.
And...you're waiting for it to all go wrong aren't you?! Well, for a change, it didn't! James cruised home and took the win by over 30 seconds. Needless to say we were delighted. The car, the package, had finally delivered.
It was also a bit of a treat to get onto a proper podium...
[youtube]5z3HuucNWjk[/youtube]
There we have it, a great start to the season. Next up is Brands Hatch where we are supporting DTM (yes, i have a few free tickets, PM me!). And STOP PRESS, the k-series has had it's last race. A fitting end; an engine that always had the potential but has just cost too much in both money and heartache. We should have a Cosworth Duratec in for Brands, fixing our one weakness: straight-line speed. For reference, at Silverstone our trap speeds put us a pathetic 16th. A Production car was just 2mph slower in a straight line! I therefore cannot wait to sample some serious power... and a 2nd win
My dad also wouldn't be racing me, but instead a mate living in Boston had flown over to join me for the hour race. He is a great driver, but hasn't raced for some time and hadn't been on the new Silverstone circuit at all. He had a couple of sessions to learn it, and crucially, get on the pace. So i could give him the maximum amount of time, i was getting to grips with my Production spec Elise, with its fresh engine.
Pleasingly, my mate James got within a second of me by the end of the day, which was a relief. With the lesser spec engine at our worst circuit (three long straights) against the likes of ex-F1 driver Martin Donnelly in the new Evora GTN, we had to make sure both our stints were strong. Oh, and hope the weather would stay nice as the 2-11s have traction control
Thankfully the gods were on our side in the morning when it came to the weather, and i felt much more relaxed. I also saw overnight the 911 had a bit of company outside the hotel!
At the circuit, we started talking about strategy for the race. Some planning was needed for the pit stops as the team were looking after after Liz Halliday (has done Le Mans and ALMS) in her 2-11.
Seeing as it looked like i would set the fastest lap, it was James who did morning practice whilst i was allowed the full quali session. James did well, but surprisingly a new 2-11 driver was the fastest, but i was confident come qualifying it would be easy to beat if all things went to plan.
As everyone knows, in racing not quite everything goes quite to plan! Quali started well, on just my first flying lap i was top of the timing sheets for a while, but disaster struck as on a coast down lap (to avoid traffic), i was hit by a white Honda'd Exige who was supposedly too 'committed' to avoid me. You can see my best lap, and the hit in my YouTube clip below. Qualifying was prematurely over.
[youtube]CCoqnRogF8w[/youtube]
I came out of the car..slamming the door and all that jazz, but fortunately my lap had still counted for something and i was 3rd on the grid. And then revised timings were issued and i was then on the front row! Pole sitter in a quick Europa had gone over circuit boundaries one too many times and therefore he was demoted 10 places. As it would be me and the white Exige going into the first corner side-by-side, we were asked to kiss and make up before the race start!
Meanwhile, the team endeavoured to straighten the car up (bent tie rods etc.) in order to get me out. Their day suddenly got interesting!
Although delighted to be on the front row, i knew i was up against it on the first lap. On a rolling start we are always eaten up in a straight line, so i knew i had to get over that and avoid being scruffy to make up time. All sorts of scenarios started playing in my head as we warmed the cars up.
As over 40 cars piled into the first corner, predictably quicker cars such as the Evora and the supercharged 2-11s made it past me. Check out the cool clip of the race start below...
[youtube]1aBp4fJ44eg[/youtube]
By the second lap i think i had lost 5 places. Frustrating, but at the same time i knew i was quicker so bid my time and started to retake places in the more technical sessions. You can watch the first few laps onboard of a Honda'd Exige i had a tussle with, including a sneaky re-pass of the Europa!
[youtube]xoBPvDNkCjo[/youtube]
The issue was getting caught amongst slower cars meant that the Evora (now in the lead) and the white Exige had streaked away. However, they were starting to hold each other up. I could see that, slowly, i was catching them bit-by-bit, lap by lap.
Halfway through the stint, bad luck had spread to the white Exige. I saw the Evora locking up, a puff of smoke, and then a cloud! The Exige's engine let go seemingly in sympathy. It was then me versus the F1 driver!
I closed the gap a couple of laps later, but i was going to have to be crafty getting past. The Evora was so quick in a straight line that i had to ensure i drove as cleanly as possible in the technical areas so i could get a tow on the straights. At one point i was so close i as pushing him through the apex!
We then got to the stage where we were lapping cars. Easy for Martin as he breezed by on the straights; i had to squeeze through on the corners. The gap yo-yo'd, but i kept reeling him back in.
Finally, Martin did me a favour. After a brief spell of rain, he had a moment coming through the fast corner onto the new pit straight, he fluffed a gearchange and for once i got to feel like it was to out accelerate someone down a straight! You can see our full battle in my video (sorry for the quality!) from 22 mins onwards.
[youtube]K2M8lzfeMq8[/youtube]
We both pitted within 2 laps of each other, so it would be interesting to see how well timed our respective stops would be. There is a mandatory 2 minute stop which seems like a life time, the trick is timing it so you are out of the pits on the button! James was raring to go...
We clearly did a good job, as within a lap or so James was about 10 seconds up the road from the Evora. Meanwhile, the Europa had fallen way down the grid with drive through penalties and a couple of spins. The 2-11s were not going to cause us trouble (worth noting that Liz Halliday started from the back due to issues, and made it up to 6th!), so it was all looking good as long as the car stayed in one piece.
James was consistent, and the Evora was slower with the second driver. We were eeking out around 3 seconds each lap.
And...you're waiting for it to all go wrong aren't you?! Well, for a change, it didn't! James cruised home and took the win by over 30 seconds. Needless to say we were delighted. The car, the package, had finally delivered.
It was also a bit of a treat to get onto a proper podium...
[youtube]5z3HuucNWjk[/youtube]
There we have it, a great start to the season. Next up is Brands Hatch where we are supporting DTM (yes, i have a few free tickets, PM me!). And STOP PRESS, the k-series has had it's last race. A fitting end; an engine that always had the potential but has just cost too much in both money and heartache. We should have a Cosworth Duratec in for Brands, fixing our one weakness: straight-line speed. For reference, at Silverstone our trap speeds put us a pathetic 16th. A Production car was just 2mph slower in a straight line! I therefore cannot wait to sample some serious power... and a 2nd win
