Snetterton, 9 April 2006

Picture courtesy of Ian Crockett (MSport-UK)

Regular readers will know that in all our years of racing (this is year 6) the only year we made the first race of the season was when we went out and bought another car the week before. This year is different!

Fresh from our success at Brands Hatch three weeks ago, trips to Auto Integrale and Owen Developments found that the fuel pump was failing, and thus not supplying enough fuel, and that the camshaft sensor was also not functioning. With these changes, and confirmation on the rollers that full power was once again restored, it was off to Goodwood with the Lancia Motor Club.

Goodwood, the scene of our disaster in 2005, and April Fool's day just to make us feel better. But this is 2006 and things are different this year! We did a couple of sessions in the kappa and things looked good. The kappa was pulling strongly down the straight, behaved well and in general people were impressed. There was even a lunch time photo shoot for a forthcoming Lancia Motor Club magazine article. The only slight bugbear was a very smoky turbo on the cooling down laps. Keith at Auto Integrale thought it best to take the kappa back in and remove the turbo. It was cooked! Once serviced turbo later, and a brand new set of coil packs to play safe, and we were ready for Snetterton.

We were booked in as last race of the day which meant in turn we were last to sign-in. This meant we could drive up on the Sunday morning rather than stay overnight. Better still, our series had been awarded the garages - very much better still as it turned out. So after a sunny and bright drive up to Norfolk, I arrived just as the sky was clouding over, and found myself sharing a garage with Peter Challis and his crew. Garages are great, amongst other things, the scrutineers come visiting which saves queuing up. With the appropriate scrutineering ticket sorted we were looking forward to qualifying.

Qualifying:
The first plan was to "go for it" as early as possible in the session in case it rained, but as we went out on track, it became apparent that rain was unlikely in the next 20 minutes. Mindful of how cold it was, it was important to get the tyres warmed up before trying to hard, so the first couple of laps were spent following Richard Buckley and Jason Holmes around, while at the same time remembering where the track went. A couple of laps in and John Hammersley went past in his Vauxhall Cavalier touring car, and I decided it was time to go. I followed him past Jason and Richard revelling in the fact that the kappa was finally delivering. I was gaining on John down Revett straight too, but as I tried to raise the speed, so it became apparent that the cold track was not giving much grip. Coram was like driving on ice. We were trying a new suspension set up, it worked fine at Goodwood but it was warmer that day. Here it was not working and I could not get any confidence going round Coram. Trying to push through Riches wasn't much better and even Russell where normally the kappa is very quick was just not happening.

Stuart Jefcoate was following me around for a few laps in his Porsche 911 Carrera 3. I could create a decent gap down the straight, but coming out of Coram he was all over me. Same again down the start-finish straight, but going into Sear he would be all over me. I felt comfortable that in a race situation I should be able to hold him off, but this was qualifying and there was no point in holding him up. I wanted to see how he was so fast, so let him by. Next time through Coram the Porsche was dancing like 911s are nmot supposed to - Stuart was on song, and disappeared gradually. After setting a string of steady laps in the 1:26s, and proving the kappa could easily clear 140mph down the straight, I saw some spots of rain on the windscreen. I didn't feel I could go any quicker, so took the option of coming in rather than risk being caught on slicks in the wet. As it happened, there was no significant rain and there was also only one lap left in the session.

Disappointingly, we were down in 14th place, to be honest I was surprised to have beaten anyone, but straight line speed counts for something at Snetterton. Other drivers were complaining of lack of grip, but most had still found more speed somewhere. At the front of the grid, Simon Blanckley had gone a full second faster than lap record holder Peter Challis and inside the lap record, with Tony Soper, John Hammersley and Martin Byford (Renault Clio V6) 4 seconds behind. First race of the season blues had afflicted Richard Hawken (a misfire meant he was 13th and level with me on the grid), and Matt Speakman in the Renault Clio Cup (front end vibration). Bigger woes afflicted Paul Overton whose Vauxhall Vectra was diagnosed with gearbox failure and Tim Morgan-Barrett whose VW Golf broke a driveshaft on the slowing down lap. Simon Jackson was complaining of poor braking performance on his Vauxhall Nova, investigation showed Pongo had cracked a brake disc. A trip to Halfords in Norwich provided the necessary part and Simon was able to take part after all.

Race:

Over lunch, just as it did last time we were at Snetterton, the weather got angry. The rain came down. And then it stopped. And then it started again. With no pit crew in attendance, a decision on tyres needed to be made at least 30 minutes before being called to the assembly area. I was aware that on both previous occasions when faced with such a decision I had wrongly gone with wets on a drying track. I was tempted to stay with the slicks but as the rain fell again I decided wets was the safer choice. Most other drivers made the same choice, but Tony Soper made a very late "all or nothing" call to run slicks on the Alfa Romeo GTV6, a couple of the production/road saloons drivers went with their "dry" treaded tyres. Stuart Jefcoate, full of confidence at Class C pole even played his joker in an attempt to get an early championship lead. Funnily enough, Stuart did the same in the first race last year.

Picture courtesy of Steve Jones

It was to get worse, as the previous race ended and we were waiting in the assembly area, it started to hail. Hailstones were coming through the ventilation slots in the side windows and I started to get cramp in my foot due to the cold. Yes, I was looking forward to this race - NOT! As the track was now wet, we got two sighting laps before the start, although with the pace that drivers shot off on the second lap, I was wondering if they had forgotten. Maybe it was just a test of how fast they could go as the pack slowed right down as we came round to the start. From the 7th row, it was a long way back watching for the lights which went out just as the front row approached them. I accelerated hard and was looking for a way through, confident that the kappa could out-accelerate most cars this far back on the grid. I got the better of Richard Hawken's Nissan Primera (misfire now cured) and moved over to the right trying to find a way past David Roberts' orange Tomcat (at least it stood out in the rain). Being on the inside of Riches, we almost came to a halt as the traffic made it way round and I lost places to Ray Byford (Proton) and Matt Speakman (Renault Clio). John Hammersley had made an excellent start from the second row to lead at the end of the first lap. I couldn't get past the orange Tomcat down Revett, just too many cars slowing into the Esses for me to make a clean pass and I ended lap 1 in 14th place. Tony Soper was struggling on slicks, it was still raining/hailing and I passed him on the run to Riches on lap 2. Jason Holmes spun his Tomcat inside the Bomb Hole on lap 2 and with me overtaking the Proton I had moved up to 11th by the end of lap 2, gaining fast on Stuart Jefcoate, who I took down Revett Straight on lap 3. By now David Roberts had pulled out over 4 seconds on me, and he was already some 6 seconds adrift of the next car. Somehow I was still in front of Richard Hawken at this stage being able to pull just enough of a gap on the straights to be able to defend the corners. On lap four, I saw the Tomcat going across the grass at the end of the start-finish straight. Unfortunately I locked up too and elected to carry on rather than try and make the turn. This was David's first race, I've overshot Riches before so knew when I could turn back onto track, and came back on track 5 seconds in front of him. Sadly this had allowed Richard to get through and charge off into the distance, The Proton and the Porsche also temporarily got by, but I was passed them again with a lap.

Picture courtesy of Ian Crockett (MSport-UK)

I now had an empty track in front of me, by the end of lap 6 the next car (Richard Hawken) was almost 20 seconds ahead and taking 5 seconds a lap off me. But I did notice Matt Speakman's Clio in the pits - he had stopped to demist his screen - and thought "that's another position gained". Being lime green, it was easily visible even in the spray and I soon spotted Matt coming up behind again. So started 10 laps of jousting, he would pass me, I would power by down the straights. I had my biggest slide ever at Riches trying to follow Matt through, but somehow caught it - and another at Sear a couple of laps later. I was enjoying this so much I was laughing - not good for the concentration. On the 12th lap, the leaders came though - Simon Blanckley (Honda Accord) first. He had taken the lead from Martin Byford on lap 7 after shooting the chicane at Russell. I was busy defending from Matt and needed all the advantage I could drag out down the straights to stay in front, so I was not of a mind to slow down to let the leaders through. Keeping my foot down I found that neither Simon (nor any of the other front runners) could catch the kappa down the straights, so I made it to the Esses then sat wide to let let through without losing too much to Matt. Near the end of the race I retook Matt once again down Revett Straight and had the inside line to the Esses. Suddenly I couldn't see him in my mirrors and realised he was alongside. Somehow I was still in front at Russell although Matt pulled out to pass as we exited the chicane. I was just able to hold him off to reach the start-finish line first, spotting the "last lap" sign as I went past.

Picture courtesy of Steve Jones

One more lap to hold him off, one more lap to concentrate on not falling off, or being distracted by the rainbow at the Esses! I kept it together through Riches and Sear without running too wide, I needed to get the power on down the straight. Going into the Esses I had a small gap and I went defensive. If Matt was passing me he was going to go the long way round. He shaped up to take the inside as I exited Coram but I sat right over to the right of the track leaving Matt to shape up and attack down the outside going into Russell. I was having problems locking the brakes into Russell so had to be extra careful, almost tippy-toeing through Russell. Matt got alongside as we came out but feathering the throttle in third to control the wheelspin, before being able to give it full throttle in fourth, I beat Matt to the line by 4/10ths. All that for 7th in class and what turned out to be 9th overall.

So that's it, another season started, but just to make a change we have points on the table after race 1. Next is a double header meeting at Croix in France where Matt will be a much tougher proposition unless I can arrange for his screen to mist up again!

Read Simon Jackson's report.

Visit the LMA site for details of the LMA Euro Saloons championship and standings so far.

Check out the current points standing.

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