Hello again,
Donington Park well it wasn’t a disaster but it didn’t go as I hoped. Having the Lap record and a mega car I was fairly confident of a good weekend but, then it rained. We haven’t been able to do any wet testing in the car and finding a wet set up was proving really difficult for us, it’s impossible without any previous data, then when it did dry up I was able to put in some respectable lap times and after starting in 14th was able to get myself up to 6th when contact with Nick Foster caused damage to my car. All in all we have still managed to finish in the points 5 times out of the 6 races, the team are doing a fantastic job with the new car and WIX Racing are still the highest ranking team in the single car category.
Qualifying!!! I was lying 4th for the majority of ‘qually’ confident that I was able to go faster, I was called in for new tyres while 5th and the WIX Racing A Class failed ride height by 1mm. The Car has to be a certain height from track, the advantage being, the lower the car, the better the aerodynamics. The top 8 cars were within the same couple of tenths of a second and we were just going faster and faster, so the decision was made to leave me out on track, to try and improve my time further. With about 10 minutes to go, I was brought in to change tyres and the stewards stopped me at the ‘flat patch’ to measure and weigh the car. Bumping over the kerbs had obviously dislodged something that had caused a part of the car to drop down by a couple of mm. Rules are rules and it happens to many teams throughout the year, even in formula1! It was just a shame that by the time the problem was rectified only 4 mins of the session remained and there was that many cars on track I couldn’t get a clear flying lap. All my previous times had been removed so from dead last, I was only able to put the car 16th but, that was on cold tyres, frustrating but no complaints. The car just felt so good!
Away from the track I have been really concentrating on my fitness, training with my brother Sam, who plays Rugby at quite a high level, it’s really paying off and I feel really good both physically and mentally which is important for my racing.
I am really looking forward to Thruxton it’s just so fast, but really hard on the tyres. Thruxton is the only track on the calendar that we don’t use the softer tyre because the surface is so abrasive, car set up is key to success.
After the race Norman Burgess the Teams Commercial and Marketing Manager and I are going to Oulton Park, to watch the British Superbikes, I have never been before and am intrigued as to what goes on. Norm is one of my best mates away from the track and the funniest bloke I know. I love that little fella!
This weekend I am presenting trophies at Anglesey, then I am at the NEC with WIX Filters for the CV Show, everything in my life seems to revolve around racing…..And that’s just the way I like it.