Race Report: Castle Combe (UK Formula Vee)

Filed under: Race Reports on March 27, 2006

A weekend of mixed, but overall positive, emotion best describes what I just endured.

On Thursday we arrived at Castle Combe hoping to get a few laps to run in the new engine. We didn’t actually have a place but we rationalised at some point throughout the day at least one car would fall off and we could “inherit their slot. Sure enough, just after mid-day the (friendly) administrators agreed that we could have a session out on track. Perfect! We just needed to get the car down to scrutineering to have the mandatory noise test and we’d be out. MSA regulations allow 108db at three-quarter revs which was enforced throughout 2005 with no problem. This time however, with the exact same silencer we hit a staggering 113db. 113db! For the record, that’s half way between a discotheque and a jet take-off! We weren’t able to sort it out in time and so qualifying really would be for running in the new engine.

In fact, there wasn’t a single car which passed the noise test first time until the morning of the race when to the best of my knowledge, no-one failed.

Qualifying

I would like to initially pass my best wishes to Neale Hurren who crashed at the fast Camp corner during qualifying. It is understood he has multiple fractures to his leg and I’d like to wish him a quick recovery.

It was pleasing to find we had qualified 8th fastest (effective 7th due to the loss of Hurren) and considering the circumstances I was reasonably happy. Unfortunately, because the first session was cut short as a result of the accident they staggered the grid as first quickest from session one along side first quickest from session two and so on. This knocked us back a little and we were to start on pole for the heat.

Race one ” heat

The heat was a bit of a disaster. As we left for the grid, the rain really started to fall. For once the forecasters had got it right and we were in for a monsoon like shower which lasted the duration of the race. However, in theory, starting on pole I should have the best visibility. After two green flag laps I’d started to notice what was to come. I was not able to put the power down anywhere on the circuit; there was simply no rear end grip. I know that it was wet, very wet, and believe me, people have said that, but I have driven in the wet and the car just wasn’t working. None the less, I messed up the start in the most spectacular of ways and promptly fell to 11th before the first corner, where I would stay until the end of the race.

After the debrief with my engineer we decided that we still needed to soften up the car but we were most concerned with the state of my rear tyres and the lack of tread depth in places. We assumed that instead of displacing water we were carrying it.

So not a fantastic race, but the final was still to come. After all, it is the final which matters as it’s a championship points scoring round. After qualifying 8th overall, starting from pole in race one, it was a bit disappointment to be back at 19th on the grid for the final.

Race two – final

It continued to rain, albeit not so heavily, for the remainder of the day. I’m pleased to say that the changes we made were fantastic and I suddenly had confidence in the car once again. After a cautious first few laps in appalling visibility I began to climb up the order. As you would expect I could only run at the speed of the cars ahead of me and once I had cleared them I was able to close right up to the back of the cars ahead.

With two laps to go I had caught the #47 Scarab of Paul Curran, who was running in 7th place. Looking ahead I could see that this was it, the next car was 20 seconds up the road. I had made the pass twice on Curran, both times running too deep into Quarry and allowing him back through. He just took the flag ahead of me, but I was happy considering events earlier in the day.

So an 8th place finish to start of the season is reasonable. When you think about it, we’re right back where we were in the morning, having initially qualified 8th. Considering I was running-in during qualifying, on a track I had never driven before, I’m happy with that result. We now have a three week hiatus until the Easter Saturday non-championship Champion of Brands race on the grand prix circuit. That should be a spectacle and I really fancy our chances.

Next week we have a test scheduled where we can finally work on setup ” let’s not forget after two rounds of the championship we are yet to test our new car, period. The next championship round is not until April 30th at Cadwell Park where we will continue our assault with a significantly stronger package than we have today.