Cadwell Park, 10 June 2007
What the other drivers had to say.
Richard Hawken:
A 4 hour leisurely drive up north for us from the leafy burbs of Surrey where we have now relocated all the gear. We stayed in a local B&B with a nice large 33c pool; at least the weekend started without any stress.
We pushed the car to scrutineering but noticed the clutch pedal felt strange. I had noticed the biting point of the clutch had got lower over the last few races but as it worked perfectly well thought nothing more of it. I asked 1 of the guys to look under the engine as i pressed the clutch to which he responded "you don't want to do that". The bolts holding the engine and gearbox at the bottom of the bellhousing had all worked loose. Being inaccessible without a major strip down we never checked them taking for granted they were tight...WRONG.
We therefore missed the slow pace 3 lap qualifying session withe car spread out all over the grassy paddock area (which we all hated). Having NEVER driven round Cadwell in my life (even on an Xbox) I begged them to let me have 2 slow laps over lunch behind a course car. John Hammersley gave me a quick guide to the course where to be careful where to overtake, best line etc (thanks John appreciate it and really helped in the race).
I lined up for the race in 8th assuming championship points order. Luckily i managed to slingshot past a few cars including Mal's Noble at the start which must have been off boost to right behind John Hammersley, perfect as i planned to follow closely and watch like a Hawk-en John's lines. Eventually after 5/6 laps i built the confidence in the circuit to pass John down the start finish straight, but i was slower in to the first corner, John nipped up the inside of me and we were level door mirrors almost touching together. we had a few exciting moments like this throughout the race which i have to say when you trust a fellow driver, racing that close is fantastic fun. Richard Gould in the other Noble came up behind me and was challenging several times to pass eventually managing it along the back straight with 2 wheels on the grass only to go off massively a few corners later in front of me. Hope all is ok Richard and hope to see you out racing again soon. This incident caused the red flag some 6 mins earlier than scheduled leaving me 5th overall and 3rd in class A....totally unexpectedly too on a circuit i've never raced on. I will tick that as a success.
David Roberts
Qualified 4th on grid. At the start of the race the 2nd place Vectra of David Hinde wasn't in grid formation, and I falsely assumed an aborted start... resulting in a lost place to the green Integra straight away; likewise Hinde lost a place to Ian Craig’s fast starting M3. I nailed the next two corners and got back up to 4th on the next straight. My camcorder and I had a grandstand view of a great battle between the M3 and Vectra in 2nd/3rd, with the Vauxhall finally getting the better of the BMW in Charlies-2, but not without dislodging his front splitter. I then caught the M3 and was all over him in the corners, along side him in the start of the straights but his 300bhp was too much for my 200bhp he just waived me bye-bye.
This went on for a few laps – then whilst I tried to get a tow from the M3 in the straight, the Integra out-dragged me - pah back down to 5th. I then started to lose grip, but still rode through the “Hall bends” rollercoaster without too much drama (what fantastic fun!) However, I quickly lost more ground first to Jim Mephams’ Megane, and then to Stephen Pearcy’s Rover 220 Turbo (he was going really well – proving Pembrey was no fluke). From battling for the 3rd place podium I now found myself down in 7th with overheated tyres and struggling to keep with the pack.
With my “anything can happen Dave” optimism I hung on in there, sure enough after another few laps the tyres started to regain some grip, the pack were still in sight and I was reeling them back in. Then the “anything” happened the M3 and Integra (still battling for 3rd) decided to out brake each other at Park corner (the Integra ending up in the Tyres). The Megane and other Rover were put off their stride and I seized a few more tenths (come on Dave I can catch them).
The next lap was my fastest race lap, whereas the 3rd and 4th place cars of Mepham and Pearcy now seemed to be struggling for grip, sure enough by the end of Hall bends I was now right on their exhaust - only to see them power away on the straight again. The “Last Lap” board came out, I could see the Megane and Pearcy’s Rover braking into Coppice (yep their tyres must be shot), no braking required - flat in 4th my Tomcat wailed through Coppice corner and by the end of Charlies I was on their bumpers again - Pearcy now side by side with the Megane (but momentum was now my friend). Pearcy was dragging my Tomcat up Park straight, just as he cleared the Megane I snuck into the inside and couldn’t believe my luck when he started braking early… the Tomcat was alongside and by the exit of Park corner I was up into 3rd FANTASTIC!
David Pierce
My practice went well. I was able to experiment with different lines, gears, lack of braking points etc whilst taking in the sights of Cadwell..."Hmmm, So they have removed the tree on the apex in the woods" as we went round following the pace car. I always had a feeling I could go at least 45 seconds faster if needed and I was on the limit or in danger of going off at any point. (unlike a Mondeo).
The race was "interesting". With the grid going on championship positions I was relaxed in thinking that I would be about 12th or so on the grid and safe from trouble at the front into Charlie's on the first lap....therefore I was surprised when the grid sheet was published with me in 7th and on the inside of row 3...with allot of faster machinery (including SuperTourers) behind me. There then followed a number of paddock chats as the faster boys explained to the, not so fast boys, Where they would overtake and how we should behave whilst they did so... I think the Big Boys had the whole race planned out before we even got in the cars for the race. Anyhow, once the race was underway. I knew the only thing that mattered was catching the 2 Clios of Fergus and Antony in front and overtaking them. I managed to get Antony in the confusion of Lap one and set off after Fergus who was a couple of places further on. After one attempt up the hill and into Park was blocked, I noticed some of the quicker guys were catching us up and would be looking at coming pass very soon. Into Park again on Lap 3 I managed to latch onto the rear of one of the faster cars and with Fergus having left the door open for them to come through. I followed after a bit of late braking and inside kerb hugging. However, being in the wrong gear on the exit almost left Fergus back through again but a quick block towards the inside made my position safe.
From then on, My race was just about concentration and making no mistakes whilst maintaining or expanding my lead over Fergus. On about Lap 6 or 7 I was court by a group of 3 cars including Tony Soper, Andy Thompson and Joss in his Sunbeam. Going into the top of the Gooseneck I left room for all to come through but in the hast of battle, I was "clipped" by the Sunbeam which left it's mark (and dents) down the right hand side of my car.
Shortly after that, the race was red flagged due to a Noble going off at the exit of Charlie2 and our days work was complete. 11th overall and more importantly, 1st in the Clio Class.
Stephen Oliver
I had a great weekend overall combined with probably the crappiest race of my career!! 10th on the grid and 16th overall is definitely the worst result!
I can find loads of excuses. Because so many of the class A cars either hadn’t made it to Pembrey or didn’t finish and so many Clios had, I was fairly well placed on the grid yet with many slower cars in front and faster cars behind. Confusion about whether we were going to do a grid line up or not meant I dropped a long way behind the leading cars on the rolling start, so I was easily picked off at the start. I managed to scrabble back one position when Tony Soper when he missed a gear between the Hairpin and Barn, but I couldn’t hold it. I haven’t done enough testing with the big wing and was obviously running far too much as I had absolutely no speed down the straights, yet I was in danger of running down any car in front of me on bends, particularly on the Club section. Sometimes that can work if you have a cooperative relationship with the fast straight line car, but since THEY were trying to muscle past the slower cars in front of them I was just permanently blocked. It took me 3 laps to pass the 3rd place Clio Cup car, but even that didn’t count as it was on the lap that the race was flagged. Arghhh!!
At the end of the day, though, the excuses mean nothing - I was just not fast enough. Lap times were no slower than last year, or even my best years racing with 750MC, but they weren’t any quicker either and a full 9 seconds off the fastest Class B cars. That’s a lot of time to make up!!
I have gearbox oil dripping from the left rear wheel and brake fluid dripping in the cockpit so I have my work cut out for me, but hopefully I will be out at Anglesey, and maybe I will have had a day of testing in the meantime so who knows? It can’t be any worse!!
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