Sunday 29 April 2012

Precision Artwork by Stuart Black

Tigger Profile (Orange Nose)

glidergraphix

www.stuartblack.com

Brands Hatch–Race 2

Qual P6
Finish P4

Brands Hatch–Race 1–21st April 2012

Caterham Classics

Race video from race 1. Including holding the Club Lap Record for 3 laps. Enjoy.

Monday 23 April 2012

Brands Hatch R3 & R4

Qual P2
Race 1 – Finished P6
Race 2 – Finished P4

Weather conditions. Dry during all sessions. However grey clouds and changeable every other time!

Qualifying – A great season and I set the pace early on. I had pole position as I crossed the line to take the chequered flag. Unfortunately Justin Cox crossed the line moments later pinching the position moving myself down to P2. Beating me by 0.013 seconds! Both myself and Justin set times faster than the club record. However lap records are only recorded on fastest lap times during racing and not qualifying. So I was very eager to have a dry race to challenge the clubs record books. With grey clouds and a bad forecast it was not looking good but I remained optimistic to repeat the pace.

Race 1 – Race video will be posted shortly.

Starting from the front of the grid for the second year running was great. However I had a comparable start with Justin Cox who was on pole but we both got swamped from 3rd place and 4th place drivers, Stuart Higgins and Dave Pearson. Who both got lighting starts.So i dropped down to 4th place after Paddock Hill bend. I lost another position to James Russell at Druids and finished the first lap down in 5th. Entering Druids for the second time Amanda lost another two places to Graeme Smith and Stu Thompson. Oh dear Amanda – your going backwards. Get your act together!!

We were all so close going into Druids at the start of the race. I had Deja vu from last years race when I had a DNF with significant damage to the car. I can’t afford for that to happen again this year and unfortunately I was too cautious going into the corner and lost a few places.

I dropped to 9th place by lap 4. But once the field had spread out a bit I gained in confidence and soon became the fastest driver on the circuit. This enabled me to make a fighting come back and I quickly caught up with drivers in front. Picking them off until I got to 6th position. On lap 12 I was the quickest driver, posting a new club lap record. By lap 14 Amanda had worked her way into 5th place. She unfortunately lost this position to Graeme Smith who then posted a new fastest lap and club record. The lead pack became a train of 6 drivers, which lead to a very exciting finish, with all 6 cars finishing within 1 second of each other.

I’m disappointed with 6th place to be honest, but only a second covered all 6 drivers, it was a very close race and a great one for the spectators! One nice thought is I was so close to getting a new club record, only 1 person has driven Brands Hatch Indy in a Classic quicker than me in race conditions. Smile

Sunday – Race 2 – Forecast for rain! Race two looked like it was going to be a wet one. As the grid was getting called to the assembly area it rained heavily. Then suddenly the sun came out, the wind picked up and the circuit dried up to make it a dry race. It was another action packed race in front of a very strong crowd at Brands Hatch. With loads of spectators coming to watch the truck racing. I started from P6 on the grid and dropped a place on lap 1. On lap 2 she had to take avoiding action to miss an accident which meant taking to the grass. This allowed the leading pack time to get away. It was going to have to be another come back drive. I slipped to 6th position and over 3 laps reeled in a 2 second gap to 5th position driver Andrew Outterside. After overtaking Andrew, I noticed Andrew going into a spin in her rear view mirror and then darting off the circuit towards the tyre barrier. Luckily he was ok but his car had too much damage to continue. I hunted down 3rd and 4th place drivers James Russell and Stuart Higgins. Managed to overtake for 4th place and just caught up to 3rd place but unfortunately ran out of laps to make a move.

A very positive weekend. The car was great and I showed a lot of pace in the car. I’m currently 3rd in the McMillian Caterham Graduates Classic Championship. Which of course is very pleasing although still very easy days. The next race weekend is at Rockingham in May. Thank you very much for all the support from Skegness Grammar School and Signs of the Times.

Saturday 14 April 2012

Brands Prep

Trigger now ready to race. A few minor alterations and preparation made. Main ones are listed below;
1. New right rear wing and light cluster. (The old one flew off at Donington)
IMG_1368[1]
2. Rear boot improvements
IMG_1373[1]
Got a knock back in Pembrey last year. McMillian did an excellent job bashing the dent out. Dad and I have filled the hole in and he has done a great job spraying it. On hindsight should have taken the old McMillan sticker off before we did the work, but with a new one the colour match is not as obvious (See above).
3. New for 2012 – Orange 7
IMG_1375[1]
Painted the 7 orange in the nose cone. Thought it would be good to look at photos and be able to tell what year they were taken.
4. Orange wing mirror
IMG_1377[1]
Next weekend is round 3 and 4 at Brands Hatch. Testing on Friday.
Provisional times
SAT - Qual: 11:05, Race 1 15:55
SUN – Race 2 14:20

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Donington Park Race Video’s

Race 1 – Qualified 2nd, Finished 2nd

Race 2 – Qualified 3rd, Finished 3rd

Table R1&2

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Donington Park

Caterham Graduates Series – Classics 2012

Race 1 – Q2 – Finished 2nd
Race 2 – Q3 – Finished 3rd + Fastest Lap

Joint 2nd in Classic Championship

ACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12ACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 2ACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 7ACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 8 Cups

The race was Live on Motors TV. Here are a few screenshots.

ACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 15 Motors TVACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 11 Motors TVACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 16 Motors TVACB Donnie - 31 Mar 12 18 Motors TV

The race video’s will follow shortly.