2nd September

At the start of the year we did a meeting with MSVR (Motorsport Vision Racing) at Brands Hatch. At the time they mentioned that they would be holding a meeting at Donington Park so I penciled the date in.

After the last meeting at Combe we had a lot of work to do to try and improve the handling of the car. The decision was taken to use the Donington race as a bit of a test to see if we can work out what is up with the car. The first thing to do was to get on the phone to Avon and order up a set of tyres. The biggest problems at Combe were understeer and turn in. Myself and Neil, Corinium Motorsport, sat down and looked at what we could do to improve the situation. One solution was to reinstall the dive planes on to the front of the car. This was a simple fix and also simple to remove should it turn out to be the wrong decision. The next step was to play with toe settings of the car to try and improve turn in at the expense of some straight line stability. After all the changes were complete the car was loaded up on the trailer ready for the trip to Donington.

4.30am the alarm goes off and I drag my carcass out bed, the trailer is hitched up and I start the journey to Donington, pickup up Barry on route. We arrive at the circuit at 7am, Simon (Tilling Motorsport) was already there as he was competing in the Powertec Challenge which had a race on the Saturday. As usual Simon has allowed us to share his awning.

We get everything setup, I get signed on and the car scruinteered ready for the 9.25 qualifying session. Along with the new tyres we had also fitted new brake pads all round so the first 4 or so laps were used to bed both items in. On top of all that I had to learn the track, I did a few laps here a couple of years ago but that was in a much slower car. The cars handling was very sharp on turn in, we had improved it a bit to much and now it was upsetting the rear. All this was compounded by the sheer lack of grip the Donington track gives. I just started to pick up a bit of speed and the session was red flagged. Even with the little time I had I managed to put the car on 6^th position. To try and reduce the aggressiveness of the cars turn in Neil resets the front toe to the normal setting we use.

The first race was at 1pm and there was a full grid of 30 cars, mostly sports cars like the Radicals, Nemesis’s etc and a splattering of Caterhams and a Lotus. The grid at Donington is slightly downhill which meant the car kept rolling when I was trying to build the revs the start. The lights went out very quickly and I got a average start but still got myself upto 4^th by the Redgate corner. It was obvious that the car wasn’t handling well and I dropped a few places while I battled with the car. The oversteer was still there and was causing me to back off through the fast corners. Craners was a real challenge to keep the car on the black stuff. After a few laps I was getting to grips with the track and how the car was behaving. Simon had a stonking start from his 16^th position and was soon on my tail. I had no answer for him when he made a lunge at the Esses. This left me in 7^th position, I started to make some ground on Simon and his battle with the 4^th place guy but I made a mistake coming out of the old hairpin that put me on the rumbles and allowed them to get away from me. The car was now oversteering everywhere and I was finding it really hard to get the power down. Unfortunately for Simon he suffered a misfire later in the race and I was able to get the position back. I held position to the end of the race and crossed the line in 6^th place. I was reasonably happy with the result considering everything and took some comfort that my lap times were only a second off the front runners, if I had a car that was working we could have been up there.

For the second race I decided to remove the dive planes in an attempt to get the cars balance back. Learning from the experience from the last race I felt the car was to soft, as I’ve been running a Combe the suspension is on the soft side to cope with the bumps of the Wiltshire circuit. A few tweaks on the shocks, dive planes removes I was more confident for the next race. About an hour before our start time there was moisture detected in the air, this is all we need. As we are in the holding area the rain is getting heavier and we are all on slicks still. The green flag is an interesting affair with one driver falling off the track at the Old Hairpin. As we come around to the grid the officials are waving arms looking generally frantic. The delayed start board is shown and we are directed back to the pits to allow us to change to wet tyres. Barry and Neil and the Lotus Trophy boys all get involved in changing the wheels. We just make the restart and it is properly raining. I am a little unsure what to expect after all the track had very little grip in the dry. Even so I got a decent start and found myself in 4^th place. The track was very greasy and my car was drifting all over the place. After the last wet race at Combe I went back to Avon and explained my lack of grip and they supplied me with a new set. These tyres were doing the business, even with the car on full dry settings, and remember I had stiffened up the car, it was very predictable to drive on. Unfortunately I soon found the limit of the grip of the tyres but I was able to maintain a consistent lap time. Simon got past me going into the Esses, I made him work for it this time but I just couldn’t match his pace. I had a good little battle with one of the new Radical PR06’ him for a few laps before he started to sneak away from me. I am the first to admit I don’t like the rain but I was enjoying myself, it was like being on a 2 mile skid pan. I cross the line in 9^th position and more importantly in one piece.

So not a bad days sport all things considered. I think we have developed the car so well for Castle Combe that it was really compromised at Donington. The lack of circuit grip wasn’t helping but that was a pit wide complaint so it was the same for everyone. It was fun to drive another circuit and good experience to drive against some different drivers. There is another MSVR meeting at the end of October at Brands Hatch so I might make the journey up there.

Thanks to Simon for the awning, Barry and Neil for their help during the day and Mum, Karen and Declan for coming up and providing the moral support.