dbRacing - Donington Park Race Report April 14th 2001

Donington Race Report (expect delays at Clapham Junction)

Practice

Why the subtext for this race report I hear you ask. Well you will just have to read through all the report to find out.

Looking back at the Thruxton race report it seems that early mornings are a required skill for the Porsche Championship this year. When the final regs came through we had been scheduled for a 7:00 signing on time and were last race of the day. We decided that being our "local" circuit this year, there being no Croft round, that we would drive down to Donington on the day rather than stay overnight. This meant that we had be get up around 4:00 am. Oh, the joys of motorsport, particularly when I am most definitely NOT a morning person.

The first action of the day actually took place about 15 miles from home on the A19. Still driving in the dark, we could see the lights of a stationary vehicle at the side of the road as we approached Northallerton. It looked strangely familiar, sort of a Land Rover with a Brian James trailer behind it and a 911 on the back. I hit the brakes and pulled over to assist as the car was the one belonging to Mike Clapham and Darren from Redline Racing had broken down with fairly terminal engine trouble. Darren asked if we could put Mikes tyres on the tyre-rack on our trailer, leaving him to take the race car off the trailer and drive the car to the circuit. I was more than willing to help, and after about a 15 minute delay we continued on our journey, the first delay of the day over

Like the similar high profile event last year at Donington with the F3 and British GT Championships, the organisation was superb. Scrutineering was in situ and having had the front end of the car repainted the prior week, I had a couple of minor jobs to do to get the car through because the battery cut-off / extinguisher decals had been removed. That done, I took the car to the assembly area and lined up about 6th in line. Colin Broster and Mike Clapham (yes him again) were in front of me. I had done a half days testing on the previous Tuesday and decided that I did not want to risk delay by having them in front of me. As we went out on the first lap I accelerated past both of them and by the end of the first lap was past Rod Carman with about 40 yards space up to the cars of Ian White and Tony Brown. The other good thing about being at a high profile meeting was the fact that TV screens were located in the pit lane, F1 style, so you could immediately see what position each driver was in I had asked Gill to put both my lap time and position on the pit board so I could gauge how well I was doing. After the first couple of laps I was in 4th place, but then I dropped down to 8th and did not seem to be able to improve my time. I decided I needed to be braver in Craner Curves and strung together a couple of much quicker laps. I was quick enough for 5th, but when the times came out I was 0.003 sec behind Mike Clapham, 0.06 behind Paul Tilleard in 3rd and less than two tenths from second place. Like Thruxton I was so close, but just not quite there. To save you doing the maths, I have worked out what distance 0.003 seconds represents at Donington. Over the entire lap the difference is precisely 11 whole centimetres. I was ready to refuel and race there and then, but having being the first cars on track at 9:00 we were scheduled to be last race at 17:25, it was going to be a long day...

Race

I was on the third row, with Patrick Pearce alongside, Mike Clapham on the next row and Tony Brown in pole position immediately in front of me on the 2 x 2 staggered grid. Quite a few of my fellow competitors had reminded me throughout the day that I needed to learn how to get the car off the line. Some of them were being friendly, some perhaps had more mischievous intentions and were trying to play mind games in an attempt to get me to make a hash of it again. Having raced a 911 for a few years I know that almost no car on earth can get off the line better than a 911 and so these comments could have no effect as I know I will almost always lose out at the start.

As the lights turned green I let the clutch out, the revs soared and I seemed to be making a lot of noise but with no-go. It felt like an eternity, with the whole world in slow motion as suddenly the rear wheels got traction and I rocketed forward. The run down to Redgate was always going to be important and the car flew forward as I changed through second gear and made up a ton of ground as we entered the braking area. I had felt some body contact at the near side rear of the car just after the start, (later found out to be Mr Broster) but I took up a position on the inside, defending the inside line into Redgate. As it happened, this was a wise choice. Tony Brown had retained the lead but was too enthusiastic on the exit and span the car round. Rod Carman had to take to the gravel trap, meanwhile Paul Tilleard, Mike Clapham Patrick Pearce and myself slipped through and at the end of the first lap those were the positions we crossed the line in.

On the second lap Graham Burke sort of made a half hearted attempt to outbrake me at the old hairpin but I just took my usual line and accelerated away. I'm not sure where Graham went, but I suspect in his desperation he outbraked himself and took to the grass. He was nowhere to be seen the rest of the race. The next 4 laps were highly entertaining. Patrick Pearce was all over the back of Mike Clapham, but just could not find a way past. I was unsure whether to push and join the battle at close quarters, thereby making it much more difficult for Patrick or sit back hoping to take advantage of any incident between them, but far enough back not to become involved. I decided to push. On the 5th lap I passed Patrick on the exit of Coppice and set about trying to find a way to pass Mike. This was a really good race and Patrick came back at me as we rounded Redgate. Suddenly he seemed to lose speed, but even if Patrick had dropped out of the race for second place, others were only too willing to join. The battle at close quarter we had been having had allowed Colin Broster and Peter Tyson to catch up to us, even though they were having their own intense battle.

For the next 7 laps I tried to find a way past Mike Clapham. Colin Broster came close to me a few times, but I always managed to keep him sufficiently far away to retain third place. Peter Tyson meanwhile got past Broster and was visibly quicker. It must have need about this point that the race commentator showed he had a real sense of humour and started making comments like "and yet again there is a delay at Clapham Junction as he slows down, there's a train of cars behind him ". Paul Tilleard was only 4 seconds in front of us and I was sure I could close the gap on him, but if only I could get past Mike and keep Tyson behind me. Peter Tyson has being racing in his RS for almost 20 years and is a superb racer having taken the Championship in the 80's so I knew I would have to defend well. He came round Coppice very quickly and as we went under the Dunlop bridge I knew he would try a move along the inside. I moved over to protect the line and heard the screech of his brakes and tyres as he locked up. I was waiting for the impact from the rear when I turned into the Esses, but he managed to miss me. Sadly this defensive move cost me considerable time in my fight for second and Mike Clapham extended his lead by about 30 yards. The next lap was the final lap of the race and with sufficient space to avoid delay I posted my best time, which was also the second fastest lap of the day, but it was not enough to find a way past Clapham Junction so I crossed the line in third place, less than a second behind Mike while Colin Broster had taken advantage of Peter Tysons excursion onto the grass to take fourth. Over the entire 12 laps of the race there was not one single moment when I could afford to relax or drive conservatively. Great fun !

This gives real encouragement for the future, and I think that I can claim the record for the first water cooled car on the podium in class one of the Porsche Classic.

I have a break from racing next weekend, but the following weekend is the start of the NSSCC Championship at Croft, followed by another 3 weekends racing cumulating in the "away" round of the Classic in Spa. It can't come round fast enough !

Special note to Mike Clapham - I'm sorry, but when I heard what the race commentator was saying I laughed my socks off so much I'm afraid the nickname "Clapham Junction" is going to have to stay.

If you want to see a couple of pictures from this race please click here or here.