dbRacing - NSSCC Race Report Donington Park 20th October 2002

NSSCC Race Report - 20th October 2002

Practice

As this was to be my second visit to Donington Park in two weeks it felt very much like a trip home. It was even more so when thanks to the generosity of Charlie Kemps (TVR Tuscan) father we secured the use of pit lane garages for the second weekend in succession as we shared garages 3 & 4. As the day wore on the advantage of having the garages became more obvious with the changing weather.

Having been disadvantaged by the damp weather at the final round of the Porsche Classic I was looking forward to practice as the circuit was dry, but very cold. It took some time to get heat into the tyres and it was not too long before I was lapping people on their first visit to the circuit. After about 4 laps Steven Ferguson and Piers Grange in his white RS 2000 caught and passed me. I was not concerned about this as I knew there was ample opportunity to get a quick lap in. However that's about the point where everybody started falling off. John Parton went off at Craner Curves and for the next 3 laps someone had caused a yellow flag situation somewhere on the lap. I was about to start my 8th qualifying lap and approached the start/ finish chicane behind Simon Blanckley in his Pug 205. He threw the car in too aggressively and it snapped back lurching him from the apex back to the other side of the track and into the arms of the welcoming armco. The red flags were out and the session over as he got out of the car, uninjured save for his pride. The early laps I had done were good enough for eighth place on the grid, with the potential for forward motion.

Race

Dusk was falling when we finally took to the track. The rain had started at about 2:30 and gradually became worse as the day passed. Almost every race had been red flagged and I had decided to go for a full wet setup and wet weather tyres. So much for the new dry tyres I had bought a couple of weeks earlier to last the rest of the season.

On the green flag lap I evaluated how much grip was available and found that the track did offer a fair amount of grip but the risk of aquaplaning was quite high. As we lined up on the line I calmed myself and told myself to make a start as though I was out for a Sunday drive... hoping that lack of throttle would convert to faster acceleration as I avoided wheelspin. The personal team talk worked, and though I lost a little ground at first the short shift to second gave me a surge of acceleration with traction and I moved up to 6th place behind George Tweddle. We entered Craner curves side by side in poor visibility and just about 6 inches apart. Initially George held the advantage but I pushed hard and left the braking a little later thereby getting a cars length on him and moving up to 5th place. For the next couple of laps I chased David Pearson, Ray Pollock and Steven Ferguson. Once Steven and David got the heat into their tyres and became comfortable with the grip levels they both pulled away from the rest of the field while I pulled away from the pursuing cars behind me. George kept in touch and had a couple of nibbles at me under braking into Redgate but I was able to fend him off each time and then pull away about 20 yards over the next 2/3 of a lap until Coppice when his greater power started to tell and he caught me again on the long straight under the Dunlop bridge.

I kept on pushing, and having got some clear space from George slowly eeked out a gap until I approached Craner curves on the fourth lap. Ray Pollock in his RS Cosworth had lost control on the exit of Redgate. He was fishtailing back onto the circuit and I decided to go for the gap and hoped like hell it would still be there when I arrived! It was and I sneaked through into fourth while George kept Ray busy defending fifth place. Ray started to make some gains on me but I kept to my lines and with the failing light the race was declared a few laps early and so I retained fourth place overall, second in class. Despite the rain and having to put the car back on the trailer in pitch darkness there have definitely been worse endings to a racing season.