172 Race Car
17th October 2010 - Snetterton
We travelled up to Snetterton on Saturday afternoon and arrived around 6pm. This time we had been allocated a garage so setup for Sunday.
We went for a walk of the circuit just as the sun was setting. It was completely dark by the time we had finished the lap
Sunday morning was cold and dry. We prepared the car ready for our early morning qualifying session at 9am. I went out first and slowly built up speed, learning the circuit. My approach was a cautious one, not wanting any incidents.
Tony took over halfway through and finished the session without drama. We managed a 1:25.8sec lap to put us 12th on the grid. We were reasonably pleased with it as neither of us had been to Snetterton before and were aiming for a top ten finish in race 1. The first race was at 11:35am. I did the first stint and lined up on the outside of row 6. I got a terrible start. I must of held the car on the clutch for too long waiting for the lights. It got hot and all I had was clutch slip through the gears. I lost at least 5 places by the first corner and it all got a little frantic ahead of me.The clutch stopped slipping by turn 2 and I started to try and regain lost ground.
I passed a few cars on the straight but on lap 3 made a mistake into the esses and took too much kerb on the inside. It launched the car up on 2 wheels and ran wide onto the grass as I landed. I got back on the track and took a wide line into the Bomb hole, knowing there would be cars there. Bang! Bang! I got a tap from behind followed by another and I was off into the field. After figuring out what way I was facing I got back on the track dead last and could feel the car wasn't right. I pitted at the end of the lap.
Tony and Dave took a hammer to the rear wheel arch to stop it rubbing the tyre and I rejoined 4 laps down. The car felt fine after and I handed over to Tony with 17 minutes to go. We finished in 14th place so that is where we would start race 2.
After the race we had a closer look at the damage. Its not too bad, just a little battle scar.
Race 2 was to be a rolling start The first time we had done one.
We prepped the car ready for the start at 14:40 and had to buy some extra fuel at an eye watering price.
Tony took the first stint and made a great start from 14th to get up to 10th by lap 2 and a lap later was in 8th place fighting with a Fiesta. The swapped places regularly until Tony managed to get ahead for a few laps. At the end of lap 5 the car jumped out of gear over the kerbs at the chicane. A slow exit gave the Fiesta got a run on him along the Senna straight and he passed into the first corner. They continued fighting for another few laps until the Fiesta pitted on lap 12. We left Tony out there, delaying our pitstop as he had a clear track in front. Most other cars were pitting at this time and we moved up the order to 4th.
With only 4 minutes of the pit window left we brought him in for the driver change. It wasn't a bad stop and as I was strapped in Tony shouted that there was a knocking noise
I rejoined in 7th, just ahead of the Fiesta. I noticed the clunking noise at the first corner and suspected it was an engine mount working loose. The Fiesta started to gain on me and 2 laps later, as I braked and changed down for the 2nd corner the clunk got worse and I locked up the brakes. Over shooting the corner and the Fiesta was through.
I got my head down and tried to catch up but another lock up and the clunk getting worse I decided to settle for 8th and was generous to the leaders as they came up to lap me. On the penultimate lap the battling 3rd and 4th placed cars came by and I had a great view as they came together in the braking zone for the chicane, resulting in a fair bit of damage to both cars.
We found the source of the clunk as soon as we removed the bonnet. Lucky the engine stayed in. So that was the end of another interesting day. We packed up and headed for home. Quite pleased with our season overall.
We travelled up to Snetterton on Saturday afternoon and arrived around 6pm. This time we had been allocated a garage so setup for Sunday.
We went for a walk of the circuit just as the sun was setting. It was completely dark by the time we had finished the lap
Sunday morning was cold and dry. We prepared the car ready for our early morning qualifying session at 9am. I went out first and slowly built up speed, learning the circuit. My approach was a cautious one, not wanting any incidents.
Tony took over halfway through and finished the session without drama. We managed a 1:25.8sec lap to put us 12th on the grid. We were reasonably pleased with it as neither of us had been to Snetterton before and were aiming for a top ten finish in race 1. The first race was at 11:35am. I did the first stint and lined up on the outside of row 6. I got a terrible start. I must of held the car on the clutch for too long waiting for the lights. It got hot and all I had was clutch slip through the gears. I lost at least 5 places by the first corner and it all got a little frantic ahead of me.The clutch stopped slipping by turn 2 and I started to try and regain lost ground.
I passed a few cars on the straight but on lap 3 made a mistake into the esses and took too much kerb on the inside. It launched the car up on 2 wheels and ran wide onto the grass as I landed. I got back on the track and took a wide line into the Bomb hole, knowing there would be cars there. Bang! Bang! I got a tap from behind followed by another and I was off into the field. After figuring out what way I was facing I got back on the track dead last and could feel the car wasn't right. I pitted at the end of the lap.
Tony and Dave took a hammer to the rear wheel arch to stop it rubbing the tyre and I rejoined 4 laps down. The car felt fine after and I handed over to Tony with 17 minutes to go. We finished in 14th place so that is where we would start race 2.
After the race we had a closer look at the damage. Its not too bad, just a little battle scar.
Race 2 was to be a rolling start The first time we had done one.
We prepped the car ready for the start at 14:40 and had to buy some extra fuel at an eye watering price.
Tony took the first stint and made a great start from 14th to get up to 10th by lap 2 and a lap later was in 8th place fighting with a Fiesta. The swapped places regularly until Tony managed to get ahead for a few laps. At the end of lap 5 the car jumped out of gear over the kerbs at the chicane. A slow exit gave the Fiesta got a run on him along the Senna straight and he passed into the first corner. They continued fighting for another few laps until the Fiesta pitted on lap 12. We left Tony out there, delaying our pitstop as he had a clear track in front. Most other cars were pitting at this time and we moved up the order to 4th.
With only 4 minutes of the pit window left we brought him in for the driver change. It wasn't a bad stop and as I was strapped in Tony shouted that there was a knocking noise
I rejoined in 7th, just ahead of the Fiesta. I noticed the clunking noise at the first corner and suspected it was an engine mount working loose. The Fiesta started to gain on me and 2 laps later, as I braked and changed down for the 2nd corner the clunk got worse and I locked up the brakes. Over shooting the corner and the Fiesta was through.
I got my head down and tried to catch up but another lock up and the clunk getting worse I decided to settle for 8th and was generous to the leaders as they came up to lap me. On the penultimate lap the battling 3rd and 4th placed cars came by and I had a great view as they came together in the braking zone for the chicane, resulting in a fair bit of damage to both cars.
We found the source of the clunk as soon as we removed the bonnet. Lucky the engine stayed in. So that was the end of another interesting day. We packed up and headed for home. Quite pleased with our season overall.
