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Silverstone Race 28 March 1999 |
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All credit must go to the team for actually getting the car to the race because it looked a tall order at the beginning of last week! Indeed the engine was only completed in time for practice on the Friday before the race. We weren't too worried however because we had both Yokohama technical support and Claudia!
So Friday turned out to be a "running in" day and a few issues were found......particularly with the brakes as my two huge lock-ups at Copse bore witness! Straight through the canvas to the wire of the tyre....oooops! I felt slightly better when Claudia did the same thing during Official Practice on the Saturday. We also managed to find some oversteer overnight and were looking at a lowly 4th on the grid. What was more important though was to somehow find a reasonable race set-up to a least stand a chance of doing well. A subtle ride height adjustment and a reversion to Daytona discs and we were all set for the afternoon session which finally arrived! We put Claudia out again but a ruptured oil pipe put paid to any improvement. I did 3 slow laps to qualify and we called it a day. I hadn't done a lap in anger yet....
That explains why I was a bit timid on the first lapof the race. I had a reasonable start and managed to overtake the Gaumont Porsche. The non-arrival of the Viper on the grid promoted me to second then and I stuck my nose through to first at Copse. The Marcos was not having any of it though and held his line and was much better on the brakes (we'll see next time though!) I was happy enough in second place although the Gaumont car was all over me at certain places on the track. It however spun coming under the bridge and gave me some breathing space - I could then concentrate on catching the Marcos. To my consternation however, the powershift decided to stop working and it took a while to recover.......and even worse I saw the Viper in my mirror!! Oh well I had just about done my job. I would hand the car over in 3rd place but it was nose to tail.
I pitted first and all was going well until I tried to extricate myself from the car...in my haste I knocked the gearshift with my leg. The car stalled and the electrics cut off - they had to be reset and 20 seconds later Claudia was on her way. She then put on a masterly display of driving to catch the Marcos and then set her sights on the Gaumont car which had executed its stop perfectly. Unfortunately we would run out of time as the race ran its course with us only 4 seconds behind the winner. Oh well !! It would have been a fitting reward for the team's efforts. I'll have to see what can be done about my leg!
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Claudia discussing the issues
with team boss Ron
Testament to the Team's
hard work 
Ready to roll.........
Receiving the spoils of War
