This was my last race in the UK before I
emigrated to Australia. I was driving a Formula Vauxhall Lotus, being
run by Nemesis Racing.
This weekend was quite challenging. Its my
first race at Donington Park, so I needed to learn the circuit and acclimatise myself
to the new car. It was extremely damp and greasy on the track, so I spent most of my time
in the corners on opposite lock at near walking speeds. I never even attempted a
flying lap, so was surprised when I qualified halfway up the grid.
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In race 1 the heavens opened and there were 2
green flag laps. It was raining so heavily that I almost span off twice during
these laps and I couldn't see anything other than my steering wheel and a cloud
of mist. In the race, I got a good start, passing 3 cars into the first corner,
but after this my visor steamed up and was covered in so much spray that I
couldn't see the road or other cars, so I retired on lap 5 to save damaging the
car.
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Race 2 was dry with a much grippier surface
on the track. I got a great start of the race, passing at least 6 cars
straightaway. Unfortunately, I missed a gear when I changed to 2nd, and 3 cars
passed me again. I overtook a few more by the end of the lap, ending up running
in 11th place by lap 4. The race was then red flagged when Jim Blockley and
Jonathon Lewis had a coming together right in front of me at the chicane before the start finish
straight.
At the restart, I got another good start to
5th place by the first corner, when a Comtec car span in front of me and
collected someone else, allowing Lee Bennett to sneak through the inside. I then
missed a gear when lapping backmarkers, and Russ Giles got past me, with Doug
McLay also having a look. I pulled off a scary overtaking manoeuvre back on Russ
Giles into Redgate, which saw my car passing inside Russ Giles's car fully sideways and drifting across the track to the far kerb before regaining grip. Luckily this very ambitious move came off without incident and we more or less
held position till the chequered flag, despite my having a few more gearbox
selector problems. I finished 7th overall, an improvement of 14 places and 22.5
secs from my qualifying position, so I was very happy with the result.
The season is now over, and it was great to
finish my last race of the season and my last Monoposto race on a high note.
Thanks to everyone for clean, close racing, especially Russ Giles & Phil
Moore who never seemed to be more than 20cm from (the back of) my car throughout the last 2
years. ;-)
Another big thanks to everyone who assisted
Spawny Whippet Motorsport since 2002, but especially:
Dermot Healy, Annukka Sairanen, Phil
Dickens and the bunch of reprobates at Nemesis Racing
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