dbRacing - Snetterton Race Report June 29/30th 2002

Snetterton Race Report, June 29th/30th 2002

Saturday Practice

Snetterton is an interesting circuit for me. When I first started racing in the 911 Carrera 3 I seemed to like it and did pretty well. Then, I liked it in the 924 but had reliability problems, running the main bearings and scrapping the crank. After that I really went off Snetterton because I never felt comfortable going round Coram in the the 2.7RS and one time when I was doing a two driver event there with Andrew McKenna the car developed an oil leak in his practice session and left a trail all around the circuit, much to the ire of Barrie "Whizzo" Williams !. Was Snetterton going to be cruel or kind to me this weekend ?

Testing the previous day had gone well with the mechanical repairs to the car having been completed by Strasse to their usual high standard, though the car was carrying some battle scars from the previous weekends meeting at Croft. The car was handling well and my best lap was almost a second quicker than pre season testing and two seconds better than last year. Having the pit lane garages meant a welcome change of routine, though it was highly amusing when Messrs. Brown and White were sent back into their pit garages via the general paddock after they tried to start lining up just as the previous practice had taken to the circuit.

We eventually took to the circuit in pit garage order and a group consisting of Brown, Carman, Broster and Burke broke away leaving a clear track in front of me. On the second lap, while I was still getting the tyres working properly Patrick Pearce closed up on me as we approached Riches. At that point I kept my momentum through Riches but took a "98%" committed line through Sears, very much aware that Patrick would likely come alongside me on the exit. As I accelerated down the Revett Straight I first looked for Patrick to my left, then to my right, then behind me but he was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was in a blind spot so I moved the rear view mirror to the left (very relaxed this motor racing lark) and soon found Patrick, doing some early harvesting of the wheat on the exit of Sears. For the next few laps I had a clear track and tried to improve my time but just did not seem to be able to commit to the corners in the same way as the previous day. After that, each time I tried to have a good lap some class two car always seemed to arrive at a critical corner at the same time as me and the lap was lost.

I qualified in 8th place. My time of 1:22.6 was over one second slower than the previous day. If I had matched that time I would have been 4th on the grid and in a good position for the race. As it was Colin Broster was 4th, behind Brown, Burke and Carman.

Race One

In a repeat of the Oulton Park meeting, the start lights failed for the race before ours and so the race would be started by the Union Flag. The start/finish (Ayrton Senna) straight is uphill so you need to use the handbrake to keep station on the grid. A practice start on the green flag lap confirmed that just over 3000 revs would be a good level to hold the engine at, and as the flag was dropped the car leapt forward, with some wheelspin and a little axle tramp. It was a good start, but by the time I had engaged second gear David Rothwell was past me and Rob Williams in his white 911 SC passed me on the entry to Riches. I took an inside line and as we passed the first clipping point the back end of Rothwells car broke away. I expected him to take 3 or 4 cars with him as he left the circuit, but he kept his right foot buried on the accelerator and the back end found grip again and he continued on his way, still in front of me. Sears was interesting as I had a run at Rothwell and carried more speed down the straight, but cars were 4 abreast going down the straight and I had no choice but to lift off or run into the back of someone. This became even more of a problem when Graham Burke, who had taken the lead of the race suddenly appeared from the left about 300 metres down the straight. I thought he had been hit and speared off the track, but talking to him afterwards revealed that he had simply overcooked the entry to Sears and taken a similar agricultural route that Patrick Pearce had in practice that morning.

For the next lap we kept in formation, but on the exit of Sears the next time I carried more speed through the corner and was able to get past Rob Williams down the straight. My next target was Dave Rothwell and the same manoeuvre paid off less than 90 seconds later. I was now up to 7th and the next group of cars in sight were those of Colin Broster Ian White and Mike Clapham, but the delay in joining the battle meant that these cars were some 100 yards in front of me. I worked hard for the next 5 laps and closed the gap sufficiently well that I was close enough to see Broster remove the rear overrider of Whites car as they went up the Senna Straight ! A couple of laps later we rounded Coram as I closed on Broster who had dropped back a little from the battle for 4th, gaining on him both round the bend and under braking. He seemed to get a bad exit from Russell and was unable to get the power down and I simply breezed past him up the straight and took a defensive line round Riches. This moved me up to 6th, but by now Burke had also progressed through the field and was close behind me. As I closed on White, Burke closed on me as he made an attempt to get past me on the inside into Riches, which was easily defended. This meant though that he was right on my tail. I took a good line around Sears, but so did he and we went down the Revett straight, almost side by side, but with about 500 metres to the end of the straight he pulled past me on the left hand side and was able to take the line into the Esses. This moved me down to 7th, which was my final position as the chequered flag fell on that lap.

Sunday Practice

Championship regulations provide that where there is a double header, the results of the first race are to be used as the grid for the second race. Unusually we had a second practice session which I used primarily to scrub a new rear tyre in. Although this was not a competitive practice session I was on track for almost all of it and chased and caught both Patrick Pearce and Graham Burke, who waved me through. Judging by other drivers times the track was about one second slower than Saturday. Patrick Pearce and I beat our times from that first practice and we ended up second and third on the timesheets behind Graham, though Tony Brown did not practice.

I would be starting the race from 7th however, could I get a good enough start to give me a chance of a top 4 finish ?

Race Two

The engineers had been busy overnight and the start lights had been repaired for Sunday. The race before us had been a one hour Classic Sportscar race and one car had left an oil slick in the braking area and all round Russell chicane. The marshals had done a good job of laying cement to absorb the oil, but in a repeat of my experience at Knockhill a couple of years ago almost every driver took the shortest line across the cement on the green flag lap instead of deliberately driving across it to clear the track. The car was making a louder than normal whistling sound, as though the wastegate was open, and more importantly it also made the sound when I was off the throttle. I had not noticed the noise in practice, but it was too late to do anything now........

The lights turned green and I got off the line with marginally fewer revs than the previous day and a little less wheelspin. This was quick enough to keep Rob Williams behind me, but as expected the cars of Rothwell and Broster surged past. As we went towards the Bombhole the yellow flags were waving and Rod Carman was stranded across the centre of the track as a result of a "committed" move by Tony Brown and we all took avoiding action. Colin Broster had made a small break away and I lined Rothwell up to be taken on Sears on one lap and Colin Broster on the second lap. In a repeat of yesterdays tactics I overtook Rothwell as planned and Broster was my target on the next lap.

Although Colin was complaining of a lack of power from his car it was only at the end of the straight that I managed to pull level with him and take the racing line on the first part of the Esses. I had watched his line from earlier laps and knew he would probably try to go around the outside, but that is an easy move to defend against and I moved over to take a tight line for the second part. There was then a bang and the car was jolted forward and to the right. Colin had hit my rear three quarters with his bumper and was spinning as I tried to engage second gear while the car was landing after being launched onto the kerbs. Initially I had 4th gear as first Rothwell and then Smyth took the advantage. I would have to do that work all over again. I chased hard and overtook Smyth one lap later on the entrance to Riches and on the fourth lap I was past Rothwell with a very close battle between Pearce and White about 6 seconds ahead. I set about closing them down, but the whistling from the engine was becoming louder and the car was clearly not giving full power and after 4 or five laps they started to pull away from me and the recovering Rod Carman pulled past me on the Revett Straight.

The water temperature started to rise and wisps of steam started to enter the car interior. There was no choice but to lower the drivers window! I then nursed the car to the finish line. The next couple of laps consisted of short shifting and using one gear higher than normal. On the final lap, which was some 12 seconds slower than normal, the needle had entered the red zone and power was well down but I had done enough to keep Rob Williams behind me and claim 6th in class.

So, was Snetterton cruel or kind to me ? I left the circuit pretty happy as I was confident in the car all weekend, some of the things we had done to improve the cooling had worked, my lap times showed I could run at the pace of the front of the field again and although I had both a mechanical problem and some body damage the car should be in good shape for Rockingham.