2000, Rounds 4 & 5, Lydden Hill
Several other Stock Hatch drivers gained new respect for paddock bend too
Of course, there is a better line through, and you get more points this way too!
Another incident that needed plenty of post-race discussion
| Weather | Wet qualifying, dry race |
| Qualification result round 4 | 30th of 50 (oops) |
| Qualification result round 5 | 47th of 48 (bigger oops) |
| Race length round 4 | 12 laps, 12.00 miles |
| Race length round 5 | 15 laps, 15.00 miles |
| 'B' race round 4 | Crashed out |
| 'C' race round 5 | 2nd |
| Lap | Time | Difference | Ave. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lap Record (prior to event) | 0:51.70 | 69.63 mph | |
| Pole round 4 | ??? | ??? | ??? mph |
| My qualification | 1:00.13 | +0:08.83 | 59.87 mph |
| Fastest race lap | 0:51.74 | +0:00.04 | 69.58 mph |
| My fastest race lap | none set | ||
| Pole round 5 | 0:51.74 | +0:00.04 | 69.58 mph |
| My qualification | none set | ||
| Fastest race lap | 0:51.45 | -0:00.25 | 69.97 mph |
| My fastest race lap | 0:52.07 | +0:00.37 | 69.14 mph |
|
How to throw away 5th place in the championship, in easy to follow steps... Step 1, gamble on the weather in qualifying. It was wet, most people went out on wet settings but I gambled that a dry line would form, and that I could set a much faster lap when this happened if I had a dry setup. It didn't happen, it was impossible to set a good lap with the setup I chose, and I end up qualifying near the back of the 'B' race. Step 2, crash out of the 'B' race. I had a reasonable start, made a place or two on the first lap, then towards the end of the second lap, I was behind a car that was cornering much slower than I was, now that I had the right setup, so I took a different line to him into Paddock bend, hoping to pop out alongside him, and be past by the next corner. I got it all wrong, (having seen the video) and had to make a minor adjustment to my line as I reached the apex, and ended up running into the gravel. I thought I was going to get through the gravel and rejoin the track, but just as I thought it was almost over, the back end caught the tyre wall, and bounced off, sending me into a spin that forced the front into the tyres, accelerated the spin, and launched me into the air. Landed on the wheels, and according to the in car video, I only went round twice, but it was pretty quick. Restarted the engine, signalled the marshalls that I wanted to carry on, but they were quite insistent that I got out. Not a bad decision really, there were bits of my car and the tyre wall all over the track. Step 3, Having not set a flying lap in the B race, I got demoted to second to last in the C race for the next day's race, as long as the car could be repaired in time. My thanks to Julian Griffin and team for the help, and to John Gladman for his help and sarcasm. The car was ready in time to take it's lowly place at the back of the C race. On the first lap there were several spinners and I had to come to an almost complete stop, allowing the leaders to get away. Once I had picked my way through the cars that were all trying to get moving again, I was able to pick off all but the front 3 cars, as the gap was too big for the number of remaining laps, despite being faster. This all changed when the race was red flagged. I was 4th for the restart, but this time my engine cut out through the left handed devil's elbow on BOTH the first two laps of this 5 lap charge to the flag. I lost several places, but got back up to 3rd by the flag, promoted to second following an exclusion related to the spinning cars on the first lap. Along the way I had managed to set the fastest lap, the tenth fastest lap of the day, which just goes to show what might have been if I had not made such a mess of things the previous day. The main race was won both days by Joy Frost from Paul Taylor. |
