dbRacing - Donington Race Report August 26th 2001

Race Report - 26th August 2001

The Circuit

Donington Park is probably my favourite circuit in the UK. Having held the European Grand Prix in 1993, its facilities and track layout are among the best, with the wonderfully fast and courageous Craner curves, blind Coppice and deceptive Redgate corner.

Practice

Well, the rare luxury of a one day meeting close to home meant no overnight stays in hotels, but an early rise in the morning.... before 5:00. The test day on Thursday had gone well, with various tweeks all moving in the right direction being applied. As a support race to the FIA Sportscar championship, sign on was before 08:00, and practice just after 9. I knew that with the possibility of just 7 laps to count towards times everyone would be trying for a good time very quickly. With over 30 minutes before practice was scheduled to begin cars started arriving in the collecting area, I joined the queue in fourth place.

We went out onto the circuit, and, looking at what the times were from the last race in the dry at Donington, it looked like pole would be in the low 1 minute 54s, with a 1 55 being good enough for a top 6 position. I was delighted to clock a time in the 1:55s, but it was only good enough for 10th, but the next 5 cars were all within one second, definitely possibilities here. The bar just keeps being raised !

On the last lap before the chequered flag want out, I felt that I was suffering from brake fade, so decided to look at the brakes before the race. As I looked at the NSF caliper and pressed the pads back brake fluid squirted out of one of the unions.....hmmmm, that would definitely cause brake fade, if not failure. A quick visit into my toolbox yielded the necessary pipe and unions, and with the assistance of Chris Sargent of GCR, we soon had the problem fixed.

Race - Sunday

It looked like it was going to be a dry race. After the last few meetings, I wondered if there was such a thing as a dry race !

I lined up on the grid with Colin Broster alongside. Colin is quick off the line so I was delighted when I managed to get the right amount of traction and beat him into Redgate. Safe negotiation of Redgate left me behind Rupert Bullock and Patrick Pearce, who I followed through Craner curves etc. until we came to the Melbourne loop. We were all within 10 metres of each other, and I lined the car up to use plenty of kerb, so that I could have a chance of getting past at the hairpin turn. I got the power down early and succeeded in passing them both in one move as I headed for the inside of the track. Application of the brakes brought some squeeling noise, and as I looked in my mirror I saw Rupert slewing sideways across the track in a cloud of smoke, and felt that perhaps some of the tyre noise was coming from me. This was confirmed by my inability to take the turn as I headed off the track onto the grass. I kept control of the car and came back onto the circuit. Within the space of a few seconds I had gone from 9th, to 7th, and back to about 13th. This put me in the middle of the class 2 battle between Steve Winter and Steven Smythe. I closed Winter down over the next half lap, thinking I would have the power to take him on the Dunlop Bridge straight. It was not to be, as we entered the Melbourne loop for the second time I went from 3rd to 4th gear and got second. 924 engines are not the most revvy engines in the world, but I swiftly put the clutch back in, changed into 4th and accelerated back in pursuit of Winter. Just over a lap later, I had caught him again and outbraked him going into Redgate. We rounded Redgate and headed towards Craner Curves, and as we approached the clipping point, I was forced onto the grass, somehow, Winter had managed to out-accelerate me after Redgate. I pursued him for another 3/4 of a lap, but as I came onto the start finish straight the engine started cutting in and out. I suspected the overboost cut out, and heard the dreaded whistling of an air leak and pinking of the engine. I decided to see if the car would survive until the end, if I didn't drive too hard, but 1/2 a lap later there was an explosion of white smoke behind me, and visibility in the cabin dropped to about 20 cm. I pulled off to the side, ruing the opportunity lost, and already thinking about how I could get the car ready for testing at Pembrey next Friday, with a bank holiday Monday interfering.

Then it started to rain !