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Rockingham Race 28th May |
| Having decided to use my car for the ISC race at Donington we were obviously taking a risk for the scheduled first race at Rockingham. As it turned out the accident damage picked up was mostly superficial so we were able to run at the test day. It is obviously very unusual to drive at a "new" circuit in the UK especially one with a 160mph banking. I was really looking forward to it. The test went pretty well and both Mike and I were pleased with the way the car handled. Although the infield has been described as a bit "Mickey Mouse", I actually quite enjoyed it. Ironically it was a question of the faster you went, the more fun it became.......
With the balance of the car being so good, I guess we were both disappointed not to get our first pole position - we were however on the front row and we weren't starting from the back!! The main competition was as usual coming from the TVR and Viper squads, the former taking its first pole of the season and obviously enjoying the US styled circuit. Our new race slot meant that we didn't have to wait until dusk for the race to commence - it felt strange rolling out so early after lunch. The track was dry for our event although rain again threatened. They had warned us that they would hold the lights on red a long time and they surely did. The other idiosyncrasy at Rockingham was that the first lap did not use the Turn 1 chicane. This meant that the charging pack lunged straight onto the Oval which was grubby....
I slotted in behind the TVR and made a fundamental error at the first chicane. Mike had told me to be extra careful at the first hairpin as someone had fallen off in every race before us........I was careful but braked high near the wall. The Viper and a million GTO cars thought I was being "polite" and dived down my inside, collecting each other as they went. I came off the throttle and drove wide and then lifted again as the GTO TVR had a sideways moment. A bad error on my part which I will not be making again...... That left me with work to do and the GTO's made little effort to assist me. I passed each in turn but had to wait in some areas for fear of risking the car. All this meant the front two were stretching their legs ahead. I could see I was catching the Viper but the TVR had a good lead on me. It was about this time that I began to wonder why I was not being called in....and where had the Viper gone? In fairness I had not been looking for my pit board but I did the next time round and...surprise surprise it said "IN".
I dived in , hit the limiter, and we made a reasonable change. Our deficit to the Viper was about 8 seconds which I felt Mike could have a go at. It did not look good for an outright victory though.....what we needed was a pace car! Eerily enough 2 laps later that is what we got and the pack contracted. This was our chance and Mike harried the Viper everywhere eventually making his move under braking. Once again our power disadvantage was to show though as the American muscle car came back at us around the banking and contact was made at the hairpin. We lost out again and a bent steering arm meant that 3rd place was as high as we were going to go today. Le Mans next and then Castle Coombe...mmmmm......
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