Just to explain my post below :) This weekend (well, Friday & Saturday)
I was given the opportunity to contest the final race of the Jim Russell
PRO series - on the proper Silverstone racetrack - well, part of it. We
were actually running the 'National' circuit which takes us through
Copse and Becketts (part of the F1 track) but from Becketts the circuit
double's back on a straight which rejoins the F1 track at Brooklands,
then Luffield & Woodcote. I can tell you, after a couple million laps in
GP2, F1RS, MGPRS2 and everything else, doing it in real life was so
fantastic! I really was in awe of the place; driving the same tarmac as
not only Schumacher, Hill and Hakkinen but also Senna, Prost and Mansell
- that's what it felt like anyway :)
Unfortuanately yesterday (Friday) when we were supposed to have a full
one-hour's testing, torrential rain turned that into 10 minutes (got
about 5 laps! :) on a completely soaked track! I nearly aquaplaned off
the track into the wall at one point! It was horrific!
Today, (Saturday) it was dry thankfully. I went straight into qualifying
having no knowledge about the track, except for my sim racing; it
must've helped as I spent most of the sesson 3rd fastest, only dropping
to 4th at the end! :o) I was well pleased and the instructors were
impressed!
Hmmm, then onto the race. It really started to chuck it down for 5
minutes before the start, but stopped thankfully before the green
lights. The track was damp but I managed to get a good getaway from the
start and squeezed through into 2nd, right under the pitwall. It was
narrow, and I was worried I might get slammed into the wall. First
corner, Copse; had to hold the inside line and fell to 3rd - then the
second corner Becketts! Chaos! Carnage! The front runners had a coming
together (Class A, in Zetec cars, I was in Class B, Zeus') I picked my
way through and got a good exit down the back straight and squeezed into
the class lead!!! :o)))
Unfortunately I misjudged my braking into brooklands and ran a bit wide
- the 2nd-placed guy retook the lead in a great manouver around the
OUTSIDE of Luffield :) That line does have better grip actually. Anyway,
starting lap two I made a silly mistake - locked up and went into the
huge gravel trap at Copse and lost everything :( I regained the track in
what must've been last place. Still this was great experince - I was
determined to keep trying hard. Next time round, disaster struck, I had
a great run on two slower cars in front of me, when one of them spun,
right around. He was going backwards, in a straight line and I thought I
could just nip through - but the *** suddently turned right into my
path - I had nowhere to go; here comes my first career shunt! Yippee!
:o(
I just tagged his right rear - my right-front wheel & suspension were
gone. Damn! I was really dissapointed. Maybe I should've passed him on
the right side. Off I skittled into the gravel, jumped out, shook my
fists and waved my arms at him in anger :) That was me done for the day.
An expensive accident, no doubt. Still, I improved my confidence alot
today in those wet conditions; and you can't put a price on confidence!
Watch out for the next exciting installment of "Rob Goes Motoracing!"
:-)
--
Rob Swindells
Goldline Bearings FFord Championship: http://swindells.8m.com
Juan Montoya 1999 CART Rookie of the Year!
Xlent stuff Rob. These are the kinds of posts I look forward to reading.
I am not jealous either. ;)
MRSisson
Tell me about the planing Rob. I had my share of it in Canada. Nice rain,
not pouring but by no means was it calm. I had someone video taping me
going through turn 1 which is a ~60 degree right hander at the end of a
130MPH straight. The tape has a nice little view of me coming down into the
turn with the left front locked (you can read Bridgestone on the tire as I
go by). I got off the brakes for my turn in and the back end steps out to a
point where I thought I was a goner. I must say that GPL really helped my
reactions to situations like this (I remember spending many times in GPL in
this situation). I gave it a little bit of gas and held a "controlled"
slide in which I was sure I was gonna drop my tires off at the exit. And
just as I thought $150 were going out the window (penalty for dropping off
tires) I tapped the 4 inch curb and the car straightened out with a twitch
and I was back powering down the short chute.
Of course this happened in 1 second but it gave me and everyone watching a
heart attack none the less.
Just had to write up my story while we were on the subject. Though it
wasn't hydroplaning, it was still pretty close. It is amazing how much grip
can be found offline in the wet without the grease. A lot of turns I would
think I wasn't gonna make it and then all of a sudden it would just stick
and go. The wet is tough to drive in but it sure is a blast.
J Black
