Practice | The Race | Results

I had booked a whole day of testing at the circuit on the Friday, unfortunately the car wasn't quite ready, so I ended up arriving just after midday. This left me with 2x 25 minute sessions to bed the brake pads in, familiarise myself with a completely new car, and learn my way around the changes made to the circuit over the winter. Although I was taking it fairly easy, I was surprised to be keeping up with most of the Caterhams that were out at the same time (more down to Paul's engine building skills than my driving!). I was very happy to note that I was lapping over 2 seconds quicker than I had managed the previous year, despite the circuit being slower due to the modifications. I was also extremely happy to have finally driven the car after all the effort put into building it, and that nothing had fallen off. Things were looking good for the car's first race!

After a freezing cold night, I awoke to find my tent covered in ice! Fortunately, although the weather report had forecast showers, the sun came out, and it turned into quite a nice day. I fitted a few last minute items to the car, and took it up to the scrutineering bay. Everything was OK except for the fire extinguisher, which didn't do anything when the test button was pressed. A quick look under the dashboard revealed that a wire had become disconnected. This had to be fixed before they would allow me onto the circuit, so I drove back to my space in the paddock, and frantically worked to take the dashboard off to enable me to fix the wire. With only minutes to spare before the start of practice, I went back to scrutineering and, much to my relief, the car was passed. With literally seconds to spare, I joined the back of the queue of cars waiting to venture out onto the circuit.

Having completed about 5 laps or so, I was called into the pits as marshals around the circuit reported seeing liquid leaking from my car. This was fortunate timing, as I had just noticed the engine oil pressure dropping as I braked hard for the hairpin. Paul Dunnell was waiting in the pitlane, so I stopped to ask his advice - he was a bit worried, but didn't think it too much of a problem for the rest of the session. A quick check by the marshals at the end of the pit lane didn't show up any obvious leaks, so I was allowed back onto the circuit. I spent the rest of the session trying to monitor the oil pressure, so didn't go for any more quick laps.

As I pulled into the pit lane at the end of practice, I was asked to go up and see the Clerk of the Course - this normally results in a stern dressing down at least, so I was a bit anxious, but it was only for him to inform me that my car was leaking fluid from somewhere, and that I would have to get it re-scrutineered. This meant that I had to first find the source of the leak, fix it and also do something about the rear tyres rubbing on the edges of the wheel arches when the suspension was fully compressed going through Paddock Bend. The leak turned out to be the fuel breather valve being fitted the wrong way round (obviously something I fitted late one night!), and was quickly resolved. The tyre rubbing took a little longer to fix - adjusting the rear camber to move the tops of the wheels in, plus a bit of surgery on the rear wing lip seemed to do the trick. Then it was off to scrutineering for a third time...

The Race | Results | Practice

Having passed scrutineering, it was almost time for the race. I'd just about got all my kit ready when the first rain shower of the day came down. I covered up the car, and contemplated trying to change the setup of the car to soften it up a bit. I decided against it, as time was short, and the shower looked like it wasn't going to last long. The rain stopped as we were sitting in the assembly area, and the sun came out again, which was a relief.

As the lights changed to green, I got loads of wheelspin, but didn't really move anywhere. I also messed up the gearchange into 2nd, and by the time I was moving properly I was back in last place. The only good thing about this was that I'd get to overtake a few people. I spent the next few laps clawing my way up to 7th position, but 6th place man, Martin Smith, proved to be a bit more difficult to catch than the others. I managed to get near him with about 2 laps to go, and was close behind going through Paddock on the last lap. He went wide at the hairpin, but I wasn't able to take advantage of this, and he was still ahead of me as we went through Graham Hill bend. Going through Clearways, I put the power down too quickly and almost lost the back of the car. Correcting the slide lost me time, and although I was able to gain on Martin down the main straight, he beat me by less than 0.3 of a second!

I was really pleased with this result, considering the car was only finished the previous morning, and I had only managed about 30 minutes of testing before the race. My fastest lap was also about 3 seconds faster than I had managed the previous year, despite modifications to the circuit making it about 1 1/2 seconds slower - an real gain of about 4 1/2 seconds! It was also really good to be able to race with Martin, who was also competing in his 2nd season, as he had encountered a few problems in previous races, and indeed thought that he'd blown the head gasket in practice. Martin is one of a group of Vindicator drivers and their families who took me under their wing in 1998, and make sure I'm well fed at all the races! We all spent 1998 learning the circuits together, and despite being at the back of the grid at most of the races, we were always able to have our own battles. I was made even happier when the results were published and I found that I had finished 2nd in class, and would receive a trophy! Paul Dunnell was overjoyed, as his other customer, Steve Taylor, had won the race overall.

Results | Practice | The Race

Qualifying Times

Race Results