UK Formula Ford Championship
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BRANDS_GP |  |
KNOCKHILL | |
SILVERSTONE | |
THRUXTON | |
COMBE |  |
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OULTON | |
DONINGTON |  |
SNETTERTON |  |
BRANDS | |
ROCKINGHAM | |
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Graham's weblog: 17th July: Snetterton  Rounds 5 and 6 of the UK Formula Ford Scholarship saw the circus head for Snetterton circuit in Norfolk. Having been to Oulton and Donington with the “Broons”, I jumped at the chance to go to my old stomping ground for the next group of races.Snetterton Snetterton has a special place in my heart, because this is where it all started for me, 33 years ago. I went there with the idea of seeking fame and fortune in the world of motor sport, but 10 days of living in a Coca Cola tent adjacent to the start finish line focussed the mind. I was treated well by a couple of mechanics at the Jim Russell racing school who persuaded me to treat the sport as a hobby rather than try to work in the industry. Their good advice shaped my life and I returned home skint but a lot wiser. I spent a lot of time in Norfolk doing the racing school course and raced at the circuit 3 times. Thirty years on, everything has changed, but it is still a great place and I had a great time. Qualifying But, back to the race meeting! David only knows a few of the circuits, so we have to be patient while he gets into the swing of things, finding his braking points, and trying to find the best lines. The boy is beginning to get the hang of the car and this is making a big difference by cutting down on the time it takes to settle in. For cost reasons we have to do these tests on old tyres, and because of this we cannot play about with the set up of the car in case we loose out when fresh rubber is used. Kenny makes calculated guesses on set up, then I add my ideas, and we reckon that we are getting this right, since at Snetterton the Avon tyre technicians agreed that the tyres were working at their best. By the time qualifying comes round, we have worked out the optimum tyre pressures for the conditions and this makes a huge difference to the performance. There is only a small window in which the tyres work, and we have to find it or they run too hot/too hard and do not deliver. A lot of effort is put in by Kenny and he mostly seems to get it right. We are also getting the hang of setting up the car for a good balance and this is now allowing David to fine tune the handling. Unfortunately, the car is still having the odd mechanical hiccup and this is losing us time that could be better spent looking at the data to find us that last few tenths of a second. David is doing this himself and he seems to understand the information from the logger because his lap times are becoming more consistent and nearer to the optimum. We are also starting to get fastest laps in our class which is great. Snetterton qualifying went well and David put in a blinder on the very last lap to start 2nd in class in race 1. His second best lap was a bit slower and that dropped him to 4th in class for race 2.<>br> The races Race one was good for us with David leading for most of the race. He slipped to second in class after a bug of some sort (the size of a mini helicopter) hit his visor causing him to miss a gear allowing the Japanese driver Nagase into the class lead. David fought back but a wheel bearing started to play up and he settled for 2nd. A great result for the team. Race 2 saw a good start followed by “the biggest accident I nearly had” avoiding a beached Duratec. This dropped him to second last. Some youngsters would have thrown in the towel but David got on with things and drove a stormer. The results will show that he finished 3rd but the climb back into contention was stunning. Fastest lap in class and the fastest Zetec car for most of the race confirms the fact that Daddy Broon will have to keep paying the money to keep the Scholarship class championship alive. David now lies 2nd in the championship. Next race: BRANDS |
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