It was a fairly undramatic weekend which achieved what was needed. Two solid finishes in 6th position give us good points and is surely enough to secure 7th place in the championship. It's hard to be disappointed when you don't have high expectations and this weekend I'm confident we did the best we could with what we had. I reached the limit of the car early in the weekend and I don't think you can do much more than that.
Qualification
I lined up early in the assembly area with Donn, Hands and Jake Oliveira already there. On Friday I had managed to learn the circuit and I knew roughly where abouts we would be, not on pole but also not completely out of contention.
I latched onto Hands who was just holding onto Donn and Jake, the two of them towing one another around the fast 1.4 mile circuit. I wasn't quick enough to catch but then I also wasn't slow enough to be dropped and I remained less than a second behind, unable to draft until the red flags came out on lap nine due to a coming together between two cars at Brooklands.
The session was restarted after five minutes and during this time I set my fastest lap, good enough for 7th on the grid. It was the lowest I have qualified since Castle Combe (at which point I was running in an engine) but considering the circumstances it was a success. I couldn't have gone any faster.
Race one - Saturday
I didn't realise it at the time but qualification was a good rehearsal of my race. I lined up on the inside of row four with Hands on row three and Lindsay and Birch behind me on row five.
We all had apprehension about the start of the race. At Pembrey, the lap begins with a long run down to a tight hairpin. In fact, I suspect it's probably the tightest hairpin in the country and it's basically the equivalent of a cone being placed in the middle of a runway. No problem until you ask 28 racing cars to negotiate their way around it without making contact!
I actually think Formula Vee was in some ways expected to have a crash at the first corner, not that anybody wanted to.
I made a strong start, carrying decent speed from the line but quickly met a very slow traveling Sam Oliveira at the lights. He had missed second gear and with nowhere to go to my left and the pitwall to my right all I could do was brake " heavily.
I lost a row, Lindsay passed on my left and Birch was along side into the Hairpin where, to everyone's relief, there was no accident. We all staggered out, Sam went on the grass and it was all pretty much as it started.
I followed Lindsy onto the back straight with a sense of urgency to get on and pass him. I decided it would be at Honda, threw my car at the apex and waited for his move. He tried to turn in and then tried to hang out around the outside but on the exit I was released to get back onto the leading pack.
The next time around Sam had reasserted himself and I could see him pulling a distance out at the front. The next five cars, of which I was one were close but gradually beginning to space out. Hughes, Donn and Jake lost sight of Sam but continued to battle whilst Hands struggled to keep with them and I struggled to remain close enough to challenge him.
We were running at the same pace and that was the problem. I could not get to him and he could not get away from me. For example, between laps four and nine there was less than 1/10th of a second disparity between our individual lap times.
On lap 11 the trio of cars which was the battle for second ended with John Hughes suffering gear-linkage failure at the hairpin to run into the back of Honnick, who was being lapped. This left a river of oil between the Hairpin and Spitfires where both cars laid retired. After Kiddy went off on the oil the race was red flagged and the result declared.
I never found a balance in the car. I'm sure it was a combination of the extreme summer's heat, perhaps particles of oil dripping onto my right rear tyre and maybe even the batch of rear tyres we were running (many agree that batch 3205 is not at the consistent high standard). No matter what we changed in regards to set up I continued to have persistent oversteer.
Race two - Sunday
The second race of the weekend got underway at 1545 in even hotter conditions than the day before. The grid lined up the same at the front, with Jeremy Clark and Jake shuffling positions for second.
There were no problems for Sam this time and as a result I got away cleanly, uninterrupted into the Hairpin. I did not know at the time but Buxton and Evans came together to vindicate those who felt it was going to happen at some point.
Just as in race one the train lead by Sam included Jake Oliveira, Jeremy Clark, Martyn Donn, John Hughes, Daniel Hands and myself. I felt that in order to avoid a repeat of the previous race I would have to make up ground in the opening laps and so pressed Hands hard in the opening laps.
I got passed on lap three into Honda, again just throwing my car at the apex of the corner. Donn had dropped off the leading group and was now hovering between it and myself but with the pressure Hands was applying behind I was not able to concentrate on reducing this gap. I was still struggling with balance and my tyres were worse than ever so progressing any further was not really a possibility.
I tried to slow the tempo of our battle in an attempt to conserve my tyres but still I was working them too hard. Hands was much quicker in a straight line and with the benefit of my tow he was alongside me at least twice at lap. At the Hairpin, where I gave him the outside and also at Honda where he would try up the inside.
We were inseparable for 10 laps, posting identical lap times on lap's nine and ten. It was, however, all to go wrong when coming onto the final lap through Honda he got far enough alongside to claim the inside line into the Hairpin for the final time. He got through and we finished 0.17 seconds apart.
Unsurprisingly, Sam won by 12 seconds and is champion now if he choses to not enter the remaining rounds (if he does enter and is excluded from both, theoretically he could finish second " thanks Ian Sowman).
So what about me? Well, barring any exclusions I will finish 7th largely regardless of whether or not I visit Silverstone or Oulton Park. That presents the question - do I go? If I do, is it worth going without a fresh engine? And if I have a fresh engine I'm obviously committing myself to next year. But if I don't, am I even going to compete in this championship again? All questions which undoubtably will have answers shortly.
I would quickly like to express thanks to Nick Brown who played a big part in making this weekend what is was
