The 2018 Formula Vee Championship is underway!
The first race weekend outing at Castle Combe saw an extremely wet qualifying session with the first laps being undertaken behind the safety car. Visibility was poor with the standing water and rivers making for a slippery track. Fortunately, all TJT Racing drivers survived the conditions and qualified – Francis was 24th, Matt 25th and Vaughn 26th out of 30 successful qualifying drivers. Not the best qualifying results but each driver was just happy to come away in one piece.
The first race started after lunch with the track drying out but the occasional light shower kept the driving conditions challenging.
All drivers had excellent starts making up several places with Francis and Vaughn fighting for a place heading up Avon Rise and Matt just behind. Sadly Francis ended up on the wet part of the track and span to avoid hitting David Leniewski (No. 62). Unfortunately, Francis then collected Peter Kennerly (No. 69) resulting in Peter’s car becoming airborne after hitting firstly the back, then the front wheel of Francis’s car. Francis then came into the paddock to assess the damage, resulting in a DNF.
Image courtesy of Steve Jones & 750MC
Vaughn and Matt managed to avoid the accident and continued to do well until a few laps later Matt moved aside to let fast man Tim Probert (No. 8) by and tried to take Camp Corner on the slipperiest part of the track. An immediate 360 scrubbed off some speed but Mat promptly hit the tyre wall head on. The subsequent damage ended the race for Matt. Matt later realised that the brake bias was entirely to the rear making any braking “quite exciting”. Matt’s notes to self-include sticking to the racing line and checking a car out before driving it!
Vaughn ended up in a race on his own but managed to put in good consistent times as the track continued to dry out. His best lap coming on the penultimate lap (lap 10) with a 1.29.275. Overall Vaughn finished 13th and 4th in B Class just off the podium.
Weather conditions remained cloudy and damp for the Formula Vee’s second race at the end of an excellent Howards Day event at Castle Combe.
A fuel leak was spotted coming from Francis’s car which prevented him from starting the race, and the damage sustained to Matt’s car also ended his days racing.
Vaughn started well making up about 8 places before Quarry. On lap 2 an accident between several cars resulted in Phil Waterhouse’s ‘Filari Tasso’ (No. 66B) rolling resulting in a red flag. The Vee’s returned to their original starting positions on the grid ready for the restart. Unluckily Vaughn had an issue with the gear selection on the restart causing him to pull out of the race and had a grandstand view from the Marshals post for the remaining laps.
So a little work to do on the cars. Matt’s steering rack issues with his Scarab Mk5 may mean he is unable to enter the next event at Brands Hatch on the 21st and 22nd April. Vaughn’s car appears to be good to go after a day in the garage. If the fuel leak that stopped Francis competing in Race 2 at Castle Combe is a small fix, he’ll be back out for Brands Hatch.
Take a look at TJT-Racing’s videos on our YouTube channel.
TJT Racing would like to thank Castle Combe for their hospitality and the superb work carried out by the Marshals (especially in the superb quick work they did helping the upside down Phil Waterhouse and recovering Vaughn after the final race).
As always, our thanks go to the Formula Vee sponsors Heritage Parts Centre, The Vee Centre and the 750 Motor Club.
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