Just got home after an excellent day. I managed to fix my fuel / injector issue from Donnington o Sunday morning (dodgy crimp connector behind the dash) before driving down to a mates house close to Brands.
Got to the circuit early and unloaded the car. The rain was hammering down so we put the wets on and had a twiddle with the dampers and the roll bar and stuff, in the hope of getting some kind of wet setup. I had never driven on the wets before in anger, so that didn�t do my nerves much good. Lol
Then it was a whiz out to the paddock to sign on, then a whiz back to the pit garage with my paper work so the scrutenier could sign it off. The car passed with no questions asked (WOO HOO!!!). Then I had to run down to the media centre for the rookie briefing. I was bloody knackered before I had even got in the car.
By this time the rain had stopped and the sun was out and the track was drying fast, but all of our group went to the holding area on wet tyres. The nerves were jangling a bit as we all filed down the pit lane, but once on track I let everyone go to try and make a bit of space for myself. By this time the track was 90% dry and wets were the totally wrong tyres to be on. However I thought as I would have to reconnect the roll bar and twiddle with the dampers as well as change the tyres I would just stay out and just try and get used to the track. The tyres held up for about 4 laps then they just over heated and it was like driving with a soggy marsh mellow at each corner of the car. All of that resulted in 7th on the grid.
Back in the pits we put the car back onto dry settings and gave it a bit of a check over and all seemed well.
The nerves mounted in the afternoon as our race got closer, and I don�t mind admitting I was really nervous. On the grid I had Dave Harvey in front to the right, Russ in front to the left and a bloody great Ultima to the side of me. I had got some good advice on the start and I held the car on the brakes (the start in on a down hill slope) with the outside of my foot holding the revs at about 4k, then when the redlight went out I slipped my foot off the brake, floored the throttle and dumped the clutch and the thing just went, I went through the middle of Russ and Dave Harvey, Russ went to the left and round the noble n front of him, I tried to go to the right of the noble and had the door firmly closed. The first part of the race had me battling with Russ, that was great and in the end I managed to eek past at the hairpin. All credit for Russ driving a car he had never sat in before that morning!!!
The rest of the race I was slowly reeling in the noble, but it doesn�t matter how hard you try and how many zillion revs you give it, 190BHP is no match for 400+ and even though I seemed to be better on the brakes and quicker through some of the bends, he would just blow me away down the straights. Then the cabin started to fill with oil smoke, I looked in the mirrors and smoke was billowing out of the back of the car, I made a �b� line for the nearest marshals post and jumped out of the car. There was oil everywhere, I guess my trusty old standard VHPD, just couldn�t handle the constant 8,300rpm onslaught and had called it a day.
We got the car back to the pits and there were no obvious signs of what had let go, the pugs were all fine, there were no holes in anything and it didn�t look like any hoses had let go. We didn�t bother having a good look and just loaded it back on the trailer. We think something like the crank shaft oil seal may have failed or something like that. Fingers crossed it isn�t terminal and it will be all back in one piece for Snetterton as I don�t think my new engine will be ready for then.
MASSIVE Thank You�s to the following!
Firstly Russ. You were a legend mate, he kind of took me under his wing today and gave me a hundred little pointers about what to do where and what happens next and stuff. Thanks mate, that meant loads to me and I really appreciate it!!!
Randy and Graham for all there help and pointers
The Edwards boys and Peksy for all of there encouragement throughout the day.
Graham and the Plans boys!!
Big thanks for my three trusty mechanics Wayne, Pete and Tony who really took the stress out of the day by making sure the car was where it needed to be and with everything done that needed to be done.
Lastly a big thanks to everyone else who came up and wished me well and commented on the car and stuff!!!
I was a little buzzed when I got back to the pits after the race, it felt like I was on drugs or something. I couldn�t stay still or stop shouting and stuff, so sorry if I annoyed anyone. I didn�t mean to be stupid. Lol.
Here is looking forward to the next one!!!
