After the marked improvement at Silverstone, I was really looking forward to running at the undulating Donington Park circuit. This would be a 1 day double header event so hectic is one of the best ways to describe how things would run!
The weather was forecast for a dry day, with highs of 23 degrees and lows of 17. Lucky as the weather either day of the Sunday looked super nasty.
Sleep the night before at the circuit was limited to say the least due to a loud party somewhere nearby that went on for ages. It didn’t help that my car alarm kept going off for no reason. Crappy Ford electrics.
Practice
The practice session started off well enough. I was building my speed up nicely before I simply over pushed it and lost it at Redgate corner on lap 4. The dust cloud was impressive several spectators said. Must wait for everything to warm up before going hammer and tongs!
I rejoined the track to be greeted by red flags the following lap. The restart meant only 2 more laps of running before the session was over, quite bitty to say the least.
4 place grid penalty
During our briefing session we were told that the timing sheets we had for the practice session were invalid. This was due to some complexity around reserve entries and a new timing sheet would be produced. As the new timing sheets were handed out to us I had a hunch as to what might be coming.
I searched for my name and there it was. Wham Bam a 4 place grid penalty for the first race! The punishment from Silverstone was still rearing its ugly head.
Overall practice results were 28th of 31 for race 1 (due to the 4 place penalty) and 25th of 31 for race 2.
Race 1
I had a good start off the line and immediately made up a few places, progress was generally good with a few more places pipped until the gremlin reappeared out of nowhere!
Once again, the power slowly drained away from the car, and I coasted the vehicle next to the marshalls post just before the Craner Curves. I frantically tried a few times to restart the banana, fearing this would signify the end of the race for me, just like race 1 at Croft.
Miraculously, she came back to life and I was able to rejoin the race. Unfortunately my timing wasn’t best placed, and I came out just as the race leaders were gunning through! Giving them plenty of room to pass through McLeans, I was firmly at the back and could only bring her home in one piece.
My race result was a rather disappointing 30 of 31.
Note to self: I really must get the fuel delivery issue sorted once and for all – 3 race meetings on the trot so far experiencing this problem!
Race 2
After frantically cleaning the carburettor for the 107th time, I was ready for race 2. We completed our green flag lap in the usual fashion, but after gridding up it was evident that another driver further up the field had a problem. The marshall’s removed the vehicle from the grid, and we were waved onto a second green flag lap which unfortunately cut into the overall time we had allocated for the race.
My start was ok, I didn’t lose or gain any positions; however poor positioning into Redgate stifled my momentum into the Craner Curves allowing Will Stenning and Dave Wallis past me. Gavin Buckley was on a flyer and zipped past the three of us!
The rest of the race was a battle with the #22 AHS Challenger of Dave Wallis; I eventually managed to pass round the outside going up the hill at the Old Hairpin. By this time the rest of the field were quite far up the road.
On the approach to the pit straight, I noticed a huge cloud of dust – a Bears GAC seemed to be parking itself on the gravel. This resulted in a red flag, and instead of gridding up again we all went into the pits. Due to the time lost at the beginning, and also the time it would take to restart the race, the chequered flag was shown in the pits after just 4 racing laps.
A very short race indeed!
Result: 19th of 27.
Post Race Activities
During race 2, I noticed that the low oil pressure light was coming on repeatedly, probably signalling an impending failure! Also in light of constant issues I’ve been experiencing with fuel delivery/carburettor I decided to take the engine out for a much deserved rebuild. The carb will also get a proper ultrasonic clean.
Snetterton is looking like a slim possibility, however the festival at Brands should be on the cards, especially as I’ve never been in attendance as a driver!
See you then 🙂