dbRacing - NSSCC Race Report Croft 21st October 2001

NSSCC Race Report - October 21st 2001

Practice

After suffering from rain forecasts for the 3 days prior to this, the last round on the NSSCC Championship, I awoke on Sunday morning to find out that this time the predictions had turned out to be true. Having had a half day testing on Friday, I was happy that the overheating problem from Rockingham last week had been sorted out and I would be immediately familiar with the circuit. I also had a choice of tyres and upon arrival at the circuit decided to go to full wet settings on the car and I robbed the wet Pirelli tyres from my RS that I also had at the circuit. The changes I had to make resulted in me personally going to full wet settings. Laying on the floor, in the rain, changing suspension settings meant that my clothes were soaked and were not going to dry out. Drastic action was required......I went to personal full wet settings and put my shorts on !

We took to the circuit, and for the first couple of laps there was not much grip available. However, the rain eased a little, and as the tyres became warmer and more communicative the lap times started to fall. As the session ended I thought I must have done quite well, as I had made up ground on Andrew Morrison in his very quick Rover 200. The times came out with the news that I was 7th on the grid. The usual suspects Doug Anderson and Steven Ferguson had both recorded excellent times and took up pole and 4th place respectively. That was not how the race was to start though, a couple of competitors had decided that they would use racing wets, not in compliance with the regulations, and so positions 2 & 3 were vacant on the grid.

Race

After brightening for a short while, the weather made a turn for the worse as we were in the collecting area. I had considered changing to dry tyres because the circuit was drier than in practice, but it very rapidly got worse and I was glad that I had taken the easy route and left my Pirelli P Zero wets on the car.

As the lights turned green I consciously tried not to accelerate too hard off the line. The tactic paid off, as I was able to pass David Pearson on the inside and was up to third by Clervaux, behind Ferguson and Anderson. Steven misjudged the amount of grip available as he entered Hawthorn and succeeded in attacking the tyres and bringing one bale of them onto the track. I was therefore up to second as we exited the chicane. The rest of the lap was uneventful as I stayed with Doug Anderson. This was to change quite quickly. Firstly George Tweddle powered past me up the old start finish straight. As we entered the braking area George tried to slow down but succeeded only in taking to the grass without attempting to take the corner at Tower. Steven Ferguson tried to pass on the inside in his 4WD Nissan Pulsar, but he seemed to be driving a grandfather clock, judging from the pendulum effect his car was exhibiting. I kept second through the Jim Clark Esses, but Ferguson was obviously keen to be with Doug as he passed me at the entrance to Barcroft. He succeeded in the move and then lost control and spun on the track immediately in front of me. I was pretty sure that we were going to have significant contact, but at the last minute his car swung to the left, out of my way, but I had lost so much speed that Andrew Morrison and David Pearson both got past me and were well away. As we approached Tower next time around Pearson repeated George Tweddles manoeuvre and outbraked himself, this left Morrison about 60 yards ahead. One lap later, the gap remained the same but Pearson had rejoined, just behind Morrison, but one lap down. Not only that, but Ferguson had managed to keep his car going after his spin at Barcroft, with all his wheels rotating together in a forward direction, and had caught and passed me too. Conditions were deteriorating, but the car felt good so I continued pushing, and the gap to Morrison narrowed. Three laps later I caught and overtook Pearson and set about Morrison, knowing I was quicker. For the next 3 laps I took about 30 yards per lap out of Morrison, and had almost caught him as we rounded the hairpin for the last time. It was a race to the line, but Morrison exited well and we crossed the line in 3rd and 4th place, the deficit to Morrison being less than a second.

This was a really enjoyable race and a great way to end the season.. except it isn't. There is a non championship round at Silverstone on 3rd November. The same day there is also the Bill Taylor Memorial Porsche race, so I might even be doing that, if I can get a car and driver sorted out