June 2017 – 2021 Caterham 310R Racer

Had a departure from motor racing and did what normal people that build kit cars do and went on a nice blat in the countryside. Just a happy coincidence the route included a few days in Europe via the Nordschleife 🙂

Now I have to confess I nearly didn’t take the Caterham as I was thinking 3 day of driving hundreds of miles on a foam seat in the baking sun at high speed on motorways would be hell. Why not take the faster car which had a stereo and aircon right? Besides the ring is a long track and the Caterham would be too underpowered. After some last minute convincing over a pint (thanks John) I relented and took the Caterham.

Within 2 corners I knew I had made the right choice. Turns out that on a track with 154 corners the Caterham was awesome. Even on those ditch finder academy tyres I think a 9min lap is more than possible.

The other thing that I found surprising is how relaxing it was to drive around the ring. Considering all the horror stories online and the fact the track was closed several times due to accidents the day we were there. I guess I’m now so used to being on tracks that I understand the dynamics of the car without actually having to think about any of it. Compared to trying to match a lap time on a track i’m racing it was so nice just to chill out and drive.

Finished 5th at Brands Hatch after qualifying 3rd.

A few days ago I literally lived a childhood dream and took part my first race at Brands Hatch.

It was a 4 days event I will never forget from the on track freedom of test days. To the pressures of quali and culminating in an epic 15min race within the front of the pack. At the moment there seems to be 5 of us which are a little bit faster than the rest of the pack. It will only take a couple more races for that group to grow as several people were close behind. Great job by Dan, Graham & James taking the top spots!

I’ve been struggling to decide what to write about on Brands Hatch. Since I could go on for ages about the fun of racing, stuff I’ve learnt, near misses or what could have been if I had tried harder.

At the end of the day I think one phrase sums it up #CaterhamFamily. All the competitors & their families along with the Caterham staff are just such a great bunch of people and everyone celebrates the highs and supports each other through the lows.

I was fortunate that this weekend I managed to have a good one and apart from a few issues in testing I walked away with a second row quali and 5th in the race. Sure I would have loved to have been on the podium and without a doubt I could have got my elbows out more. Given some of the damage other people had part of me was happy to have finished the first race with the car intact!