The Caterham Roadsport season might be over but there are still some end of season racing to be done.
One of those is the 750 Motor Club Birkett 6 hour relay race at Silverstone. I did the race last year in a team of six Roadsport cars we came 48th out of 60 on the road and 31st in the handicap race. We got the band back together with most of the original team to have another go with 270R cars. From this years Roadsport drivers we had John, Adam, Mark and I. Matt C & Paul were both back on track having missed a year of Caterham racing. Mark unfortunately broke his car at Thruxton so was not racing but kindly still came along to help my dad out with the team management stuff and running the pit wall.
Both Mark and my dad deserve a lot of credit and thanks for standing out in some pretty abysmal weather to time our laps and hold out the pit board. It must have rained for 4 hours straight. Before that it was wasn’t what I could call warm either!
Summary
Out of the 66 teams we started 44th would run as high as 22nd and finish 25th. In the handicap we finished 17th. However we were 3rd at one point and if it wasn’t for a stop and go penalty we could have potentially got on the podium for the handicap race. Given most of the race was wet and most of the team haven’t done much wet racing it was a great result. The stop and go was unlucky but that is racing.
So big improvement on last year… along with a reason to come back next year. Each year we get better with the tactics of endurance racing.
The team agreed I would go out first and pull a double stint doing all my track time in one go. The logic being that at the start in theory all the cars in front of me should be faster and there will be a lot of them. Which meant I should be able to use those cars to get a tow and fight my way forward. Unless a safety car came out and it made sense for me to pit earlier.
In the Birkett the starting order is based on your team predicted speed and it’s a rolling start. I found myself in the middle of a pack of tin tops so being seen was going to be my biggest challenge.
I was lucky in my stint as I had a dry track while everyone else in the team got very wet. The 270R was brilliant and it turned into a busy race where I got past around 20 car less than an hour. My session got cut short due to a safety car and I spent the rest of the day being a mechanic for the rest of the team. Given the amount of rain outside I was more than happy to hang up my racing boots for the day!
The rest of the team did a great job of keeping the fast pace.
Hopefully will be able to do the race again next year.
The CaterhamMotorsport family descended on Silverstone a few weeks ago for the final round of the Roadsport Championship. Silverstone always provides some close racing as the all mighty tow means if you are in a pack there is no escape.
Summary
The weekend was the epitome of my Roadsport season. In testing showed a good turn of speed. Failed to capitalise on that pace in quali followed by a good start. Then part way through the races making a careless mistake and having to fight back through the field again.
On the positive side I have learnt a few new things at Silverstone.
I can do decent starts now and actually are making places up instead of losing them off the line.
When others try to crowd you off the track instead backing out or moving closer to the grass. Just let the other driver hit you… They soon move back over the other way.
Results
Quali – 12th place. Don’t drive a dry setup on a wet track.
Race 1 – 7th place. Very wet race, Great start up from 12th to 7th, spun off back to 13th. Then fought back to 7th.
Race 2 – 6th place. Almighty battle between 10 people over 2nd to 11th. Had a moment off the track on exactly the same corner as last year!
Congratulation to the podiums in both races.
Race 1 = James Murphy (P1), Dan French (P2) & Toby Clowes (P3)
Race 2 = Dan French (P1), Oli Pratt (P2) & Neil Fraser (P3)
Championship outcome.
Congratulations on James for winning the championship by one point over Dan F. Both drivers would have been worthy champions having made the least mistakes year. Also great job by GMac on 3rd place.
I would end up 6th in the Championship 2 points behind Tom A (P5) and 7 point off Dan H (P4).
So quali didn’t go close to plan and I had my worse result to date. Which was massively frustrating and my fate was sealed based on a choice I made an hour before we even got onto the track. I looked at the forecast and amount of rain falling at the time and decided that the track would start off damp and get dryer. Therefore decided to go out with a dry setup. The rain never got heavy but it was enough to keep the track damp and cold. I was left tiptoeing around the track unable to get enough heat in the tyres to make them grip.
I knew I was in for a shocker when drivers I would normally race are disappearing into the distance. Other drivers who I would normally breeze past were catching me up.
Another important motorsport lesson learnt about the effect tyre temperature has on the car handling. On the road the majority of people wouldn’t be able to tell if one of the 4 tyres on the car was a psi or two out. In racing the difference is huge and the closer you get to the limit the more you feel it. If you can’t get heat into the tyres they don’t stick and you might as well be driving round with van tyres.
With a wet race forecast and it being easier to overtake at Silverstone I was looking forward to a good race. I just needed to stay away from any midfield mishaps in the first few corners.
Race 1 – 7th Place
By the time our race started the track was soaking wet. Starting in 12th due to Neil having a grid penalty I knew it was going to be an exciting race. In the wet I could go pretty well and make up some places. Things got off to a great start and was up to 9th by the first braking point. By the last chicane I was 7th and feeling pretty happy with myself.
Typically it was short lived and I managed to lose the backend on the upshift taking the last corner at 90 degrees taking up half the track width. Luckily everyone behind me managed to avoid me and I was back to 13th! I really have to stop doing this to myself!
The rest of the race was a lot of fun as I picked my way past various drivers. Progress was curtailed by yellow flags to clear up an accident from Stowe to Club for several laps. Which left Abbey & Village as the only 2 corners to overtake. All the way to the end I was catching up with the cars in front so it was a shame I threw so much away on that spin early on. Due to all the spray and poor visibility I had no idea what place I was in so 7th was a pleasant surprise.
Race 2 – 6th Place
Race two was well just a bit bonkers and I really don’t know where to begin. So many overtakes, near misses, four or five abreast into corners. It really was a showcase in everything which makes Caterham racing exciting to watch and I’m sure the crowds watching loved it.
In the car it was fun but in a lot of ways frustrating. Dan F was able to walk away in front while five of us behind scrapped over 2nd. All this scrapping lead to us lapping a couple of seconds slower than we could. Later on in the race this pack of cars had increased to ten of us constantly battling.
Unfortunately the inevitable happened and a few people collided which gifted me three places on the last lap. I also gain a place when Simon missed a gear out of the last corner. Which was ironic since he had got past me two corners earlier when I accidentally went from fifth to second instead of fourth.
Thruxton is the fastest track in the UK where we would average 94mph over the 2.3 mile circuit. In a Caterham we only have to brake twice the rest of the time we are trying to slipstream each other to get the all important slingshot effect. All leading to a exciting scrap every lap into the last chicane where ‘3 places forward 2 places back’ was a common outcome.
Summary
After the accident at Castle Combe I wasn’t sure if I would have a car to race. Caterham Crawley did an outstanding job to rebuilt the car and I was just happy to be racing. As an added bonus Totally Dynamics in Redhill managed to fit in a last minute car wrap so it was almost like I never had an accident.. apart from the hole in my wallet!
Quali – 8th place. Had some bad luck with traffic and failed to get a clean fast lap.
Race 1 – 4th place. Great race and led for a while. Lost out in the last chicane.
Race 2 – 4th place. Another great race and managed to hold onto 4th.
Congratulations to the podiums in both races.
Race 1 = James McCall (P1), Graham Macdonald (P2), James Murphy (P3).
Race 2 = James McCall (P1), James Murphy (P2), Dan French (P3)
It was great to see James McCall do the double and pick up two wins.
I will admit my testing plan went out of the window after the crash at Castle Combe. It was only because of an awesome job by Caterham Cars who rebuild my car just in time for me to collect on the way to Thruxton I was able to race at all. Luckily Thruxton is a very simple track to learn and having done a track day there in April I was reasonably sure I would be somewhere near the front as usual.
Build complete
Vinyl wrapping
Half a car
As my car was getting rebuilt and I have a better idea of car dynamics I decided to take a gamble and have my car setup differently than before. To be honest I prefer the way it was and it took me a while to get close to the speed I was before with the old setup.
Quali
It was always going to be a mixed up quali at Thruxton due to the massive tow effect and lack of braking zones. 2nd and 10th would end up split by 0.5 seconds.
Like the last couple of rounds I failed to put a lap together when I needed too or met slower cars at the wrong points of the track which caused me to abort my faster laps.
In the end I lined by 8th which is one of my worse quali results but I knew that where I started would be academic to the race later that day.
Race 1 – 4th Place
Had a ok start and moved up into 6th place by the first chicane and narrowly missed the carnage at the start of the following lap. Where Oli, Dan H and Tom A tried to all occupy the same spot on the track. As Oli speared across the track towards me ‘please not another chassis’ was the my first thought before narrowly avoiding him. By the time the inevitably red flags were out and the race was stopped I found myself in 3rd.
After all that effort I was slightly disappointed with the 1st lap restart rule which meant they put everyone back to their original starting points.
On the restart the front of the field had a few cars missing. I didn’t get a great start and lost a few places. Nothing to worry about since at Thruxton the slip streaming effect is massive. Pretty much all the overtaking happens once per lap into the final chicane where it was easy to gain or lose several places.
Found myself in 6th for the first few laps happy following the lead pack waiting for my tyres to balance out. As the half way point passed I started to work my way forward and soon found myself battling for the lead few places.
With one lap to go I made a critical mistake… I took the lead a lap early. Right position to be on just not on the correct lap!
I knew I would be mugged into the last chicane. My best hope would be to try and pull a small lead and sit on the inside on the run up to the chicane. The spectators must have gotten a good show as the eight of us arrived as one into the last chicane. The inside line proved to be a good choice as managed to hold onto 4th. Still annoying to have lost the lead on the last chicane but that’s motor racing.
Race 2 – 4th Place
I went into the second race with high hopes of a better finish but knew it would be just a close as the first race. After a good start I slotted into 4th place and waited for the inevitable towfest into the final chicane. Again there was a bit of carnage, this time it was Neil who had a nasty airborne moment but got out unhurt unlike the car.
The next lap around there were waved yellows at the same point. Several drivers didn’t notice them and overtook me and several others around me. At the time it was annoying but by the end of the race all of the guilty party ended up behind me so I cared less about it. Now back in 11th place with 15 minutes to go I knew I had some work to do.
The rest of the race was a cat and mouse game to try and come out on top of the chicane games every lap. It really was a case of make up 3 space go back one. Every lap.
Mark Tredwin was the surprise driver in the mix who drove his heart out and it was awesome to have a proper tussle with the purple car. Such a shame he a moment on the last corner. As he deserved a top 5 finish.
Like the first race it came down to a manic last lap where I was in 5th by the time we got to final straight and in the run up to the chicane the race could have been anyone in the front 5. After a 3 into one moment at the chicane I managed to just out run Dan H to the line and walk away with 4th.
The final round at Silverstone is only a week away. I’ve gone well there in the past so looking forward to another fun race.
As ever photo credits go to Jon @ Snappy Racers.
Castle Combe was a race weekend that I’ll never forget. “Race fast don’t crash’ has become a bit of a saying between the drivers before we head out on track. Unfortunately after a long period of ‘getting away with it’ I ran out of luck. But more on that shortly.
Combe is a very ‘old school’ track which predates the discovery of gravel traps or run off. In most cases you are either doing well on track or hugging a tyre barrier. If your having a lucky moment you might be dancing between the two. Looking like a driving god as you drift within inches of the barriers and rescue the car. Some really gifted drivers even managed to fit in a cheeky 360 spin without hitting anything.
Summary
Straight to the point. I totally smashed it. Not a lap record or a win but the car.
Quali – 5th place. Had some bad luck with traffic and failed to get a clean fast lap.
Race 1 – DNF. Monsoon wet track. Great start and into 3rd off the line. Lap 2 got into 2nd place. Then hit a puddle and ‘floated’ into a tyre wall.
Race 2 – Did not start.
Congratulations to the podiums in both races.
Race 1 = Dan French (P1), Graham Macdonald (P2), James Murphy (P3).
Race 2 = Dan French (P1), Tom Allen (P2), Graham Macdonald (P3)
Race 1 crash video in 4k 360
Race 1 video in 4k 360 (well just under 5 mins or 3 laps)
Testing
I ended up testing the Tuesday and Friday. Neither day was what I would call a typical test day. I was fast on the Tuesday but my testing buddy James had a big off early on which was a big shock. At that point I admit I lost interest in the day and spent as much time helping James take his car apart ready to be fixed as I did on track.
That one of the things I love about the Caterham Family, everyone helps each other out.
On Friday it was very wet to the point the track got closed. Between that and the red flags I only did 10 laps over the whole day. Which is less than I would normally do a 15mins test session.
Quali – 5th Place
All of the front runners managed to get to the front of the queue for a dry quali and I was hopefully for a good position. With quali you have to work with people to get good lap times as the tow is everything. Ultimately I didn’t do a good job of managed this and failed to string together a good lap. I was far from alone and there were quite a few ‘grumpy’ drivers around. One day I’ll get around to writing that post of the art of quali games because it gets more tactical every race weekend.
Race – DNF
By the time we started our race in the afternoon the stormy weather had returned. After a flying start I had moved up to 3rd place by the first corner. With just two cars ahead of me I couldn’t see much in the spray. I dread to think what it must have been like back in the pack. I almost found myself in second place at the start of lap 2 but I backed out of it as I could feel the car floating towards the wall. Deciding that crashing out on the start of the second lap would be a daft thing to do. A few corners later at Dan H made a mistake and I was able to get into 2nd place. It was short lived as I hit a puddle and slide off the track hitting the barrier. As I bounced off Dan H had made the same mistake and he smashed into me.
The impact was huge however Dan and I were both uninjured which is a testimony to how tough Caterham 7’s are. The track marshals and medics were amazing and at the scene really quickly. They really are the unsung heroes of motorsport who volunteer for free to pickup the pieces when us drivers make a mess.
Aftermath
I have to thanks all my fellow drivers and the Caterham staff for their support after the race. Without them all I would have been a lot more grumpy than I was!
The car was badly damaged and will need a new chassis and a total rebuilt. It was just really unlucky that Dan H followed me off and we collided. The initial barrier hit wasn’t too bad. It was the second impact which finished the car off. Just one of those unlucky things.
I’m hoping the car will be built in time for the next round at Thruxton but it’s going to be really close.
One of my fellow racers summed up Zandvoort pretty well as ‘If Carlsberg did race weekends’. Caterham Motorsport put on a perfect weekend of sun, sand and slipstreaming. I’m pretty sure regardless of the results all the drivers went home happy having had a fantastic few days on track. Being next to an amazing beach and perfect weather helped!
The circuit was a stones throw from the beach bars and a gem of a place with lots of fast sweeping corner which demanded a lot of commitment to get the best lap time. With a couple of long fast sections the tow was going to be all important again.
Summary
I went into the race weekend with high hopes of getting back on the podium. Which is a lot easier dreamt about than actually delivering. The battle between the first 7 in every race is really close and now at least 3 more people are joining that fight. So it’s only going to get tougher. Looking back at the videos it’s now easy to see how decisions you make at the start on which side to be on or how much space to give other people can make or break your race.
Still such an amazing buzz to race with such a great group of friends.
Quali – 9th place. Worse result so far. Took a tactical decision on tyres to sacrifice quali and have a better set for races.
Race 1 – 5th place. Fun race. Could have been better if I hadn’t come off early on.
Race 2 – 6th place. Poor start and struggled with tyres. Had some great scraps.
Congratulations to the podiums in both races.
Race 1 = Dan French (P1), James Murphy (P2), Tom Allen (P3). Dan Halstead was really unlucky with a penalty dropping him from P2 -> P6
Race 2 = Dan Halstead (P1), James Murphy (P2), Dan French (P3)
The saying goes ‘all good things must come to an end’ springs to mind with quali. After being one of the fastest two people for six quali’s in a row that streak always had to end at some point. Like all the best racing drivers I have a ‘racing driver excuse’ or two in fact… Traffic and tyres. They are just excuses as 8 people ahead of me did a better job!
Normally the fastest group of drivers are the ones that start the quali queue but some drivers were super keen and started queuing early. In hindsight we should have joined them but instead the fast crew decided to stay in the shade and go out last. The plan was leave enough of a gap and trying to do some fast laps early on. Then pick off some slower drivers before getting clear air and working together to do some more faster laps. The plan failed. After 1 flying lap the traffic started and continued till almost the end of the session. You know it’s not gone to plan when you look back at the video and notice that there was more overtaking in the quali than the race!
I won’t go into the (not) exciting world of tyre rules and what effect tyre depth has on lap times. Short version is I made a tactical decision to save my better ‘dry’ tyres for the two races and qualify on the ‘wets’. We call them wets, drys but they are the same tyre with different amounts of tread left. It can be worth 1-2 seconds a lap. I knew this would lead to a tough quali. Where only a good tow was going to get me near the front as my best time on the ‘wets’ in testing had been a 2:03. While the ‘drys’ were good for a 2:01.
I would eventually end up 9th by far my worse quali result so far. Not an ideal spot to start but the highest I expected to be was 7th and after a lot of scrappy laps I wasn’t expecting any better if I’m honest. On returning to the paddock I couldn’t get those ‘race’ tyres on quick enough.
Race 1 finished 5th
The first race was really just about moving forward so I would be in a better position for race 2. I knew with the worn tyres on my race pace would be far better than it was in quali and was looking forward to some good battles. It all started well as I got past three people in the first couple of laps. Pushing my luck I ran wide off the track out of the last corner giving up two of 2 places I had made up!
A few laps passed before I managed to get the double tow and overtake Simon & Oli down the inside of turn one. One lap later I got Neil around the outside of turn one. I was then surprised to find GMac in front of me, who had started on pole but looked like his car was struggling. After the race it turns out his tyre strategy was the reverse of mine. While I was going forward on ‘drys’ he was going backwards on ‘wets’. So I’m really happy I made the choice I did on that dilemma.
With 6 minute to go the lead 9 were nose to tail and it was shaping up to be anyones race. Tom overcooked it into the chicane and bounced back in front of GMac and my path narrowly missing Dan F in the process. All of this lead to one of the most ‘exciting’ moments in the race where we piled 4 wide into the hairpin at the end of the main straight. It’s the times like that I love where you put all your faith in the drivers around you that no one will screw up and everyone came out the other side. Annoyingly I was the guy on the outside and lost a place.
A couple of corners later GMac ran wide after hitting the kerb and I was up to 6th. I would remain in 6th for the rest of the race and be gifted 5th by Dan H who had an unlucky post race penalty for track limits.
Given I had started in 9th I was happy to get 5th. I obviously would have preferred higher but after coming off it was a good save on points.
Race 2 finished 6th
Sloth like is how I would describe my reactions when the lights went out and it’s something I really need to work on! The first couple of corners I got squeezed and fell back a couple of places. This put me on the defensive trying to ensure that the gaggle of cars behind me stayed there.
Having suffered with my tyres overheating in race one I dropped the pressures a little to much and it took several laps for the grip to return. 8 minutes in and the car started working and I was able to start attacking the guys in front. Within a couple of corners I had got past Neil and followed GMac past Simon into the fast 4th gear corner later in the lap.
At this point I had to chuckle as GMac and I were on track together again. Which has been the case pretty much every race since we started the Academy. Having learnt from our past mistakes we set about working together try and bridge the gap to the lead 4. Alas the gap proved too large to bridge. I missed the last lap board and just failed to nab 5th place over the line.
Next round will be at Castle Combe on the 11/12th of August. Combe is a bit of fiddly track and really not sure how it’s going to go. At this point I’m assuming the usual suspects are likely to be near the front and hopefully I can pick up a podium.
Photos as always from the excellent Jon @ Snappy Racers.com. Except for the blurry one. That was someone else 😉
2021 Caterham 310R Racer 