So Silverstone went well apart from the slipping clutch. What would Donington be like if I had full power?!
So the small amount of time we had between Silverstone and Donington was eaten away by work and a week away in Pembrokeshire. This meant we only had a grand total of 4 days to take the gearbox off and see if there was a big issue with the clutch. Luckily no big concerns, the clutch was changed and the car put back together and back on the trailer all fuelled up ready for the trip to Donington.
We headed up nice and early and hoping to get to see a bit of racing on the Saturday. All our events were on the Sunday and the paddock we knew would be busy but we thought we would give it a go and see if a space was available. Well blow me down we managed to park up in a nice little area in the paddock, meet up with Francis, watch some racing and as the sun was out we had an ice cream!! A lazy start to the weekend was had.
After the MR2 cars had left the paddock we fully set ourselves up with our neighbours ‘Team Pork Pie’ and we settled in for the night.
So the day started off, we had to get the car through scrutineering then qualifying and after that a drivers briefing. All went well and I managed to qualify 19th out of 34. The session was a bit messy and a red flag came out. On the restart I managed to get one good lap in which saw a good starting position for Race 1 but a few places lower for Race 2 in 23rd.
Race 1
After a slight delay on the grid due to the organisers putting the reserve drivers on the grid rather than the pit lane we took our green flag lap then gridded up. The lights went out and I had another good start and made up a number of places. All was fine for the first lap until I came to the chicane where a couple of cars had spun. I eased off when arriving at the chicane and Mark Egan took to the inside. He couldn’t make the corner and went straight on through the gravel in front of me which meant I couldn’t turn for the chicane.
This then had the effect of me having to take to the area between the spun car of Colin Gregory, the curbs and gravel. This slowed me down when getting on the main straight which put me down a few places. I will say going over the curbs really does hurt when your backside is only 5cm above the ground.
I got my head back in the game and went after the cars that just past me. After a couple of laps I got behind Mark Egan, David Leniewski and Neil Aldridge. On lap 8 I managed to get past David at the chicane and then I gained on Neil and got on his gearbox until the final corner of the final lap when he out braked himself into the chicane. I thought I could have him but realised I had to ease off to avoid contact which meant David then passed both of us before the chequered flag. David will admit that his driving style was more ‘Rally Cross’ than Vee!!! A final position of 22nd overall with 5th in class. It was not what I wanted but I felt myself and the car was running really well and I also knocked 4 seconds off my fastest lap of last year. I was raring to go for Race 2.
Race 2
So with the light starting to fade it was the Vee’s second race. A green flag lap then turned into two. We were held on the grid for what seemed like ages so we were all up for a race. The lights went out and we were off. I had a reasonable start but got boxed in at the first corner and lost a couple of places but I then set out to get them back. On lap 2 I managed to pass Rik Lanyi and Mark Egan. Passing Rik was a squeaky bum moment with four abreast down the start/finish straight.
I took Mark on the outside at the first corner which I was very pleased with and I headed off after the next car knowing I was in with a shout of a trophy. I caught up with David Leniewski and Rik Lanyi and started another battle. I managed to pass David coming out of the chicane and tried to keep pace with Rik. I found visibility was limited due to some fluid coming off Rik’s car but I kept up. The race was then red flagged due to a stranded car in the gravel. Confusion then occurred when a group of cars entered the pits. I will admit I was one of these cars as a marshal with a flag was at the entrance to the pits so we all believed they wanted us to enter the pits. It appears they didn’t. A small wait in the pits and they decided that that was it. Race over. A short race and a feeling of disappointment and frustration. I headed back to the paddock and after the usual 5 mins of struggles to get out of the car I was greeted with a possibility of 3rd in class. We just had to wait to see if the results stood.
THEY DID!! 3rd place in class and 15th overall. Happy Vaughn.
So a good event was had and now a long wait till the final event at Snetterton. I am 5th in the B class championship with a possibility to move up. I now want more trophies!!!!