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Qualifying
This was my 2nd visit to Castle Combe and 2nd drive of the
year in Andy Yeomans Formula Vauxhall Junior. Work commitments prevented me from
testing as usual, so I started the qualifying on very old tyres and having to
learn the track layout again. The car was terrible over bumps and oversteered
badly whenever power was applied coming out of a corner, making a quick
laptime impossible. I struggled through to a 1:16, over 6 seconds slower than last
year in a misfiring TOM's on old tyres. This was very disappointing, but
nonetheless good enough for 2nd in class, 25th
overall.
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After qualifying, we examined the rear suspension and
found that the car seemed to be over-damped, causing the springs to load up over
bumps then just bounce. We changed the tyres to some relatively new ones and
dropped the rebound setting on the rear dampers to minimum. |
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Race
In the race, I got a great start, picking up at least 6
places immediately, including the faster cars of Geoff Fern and the Dallara F300
of Phil Moore. Geoff outdragged me to the first corner and disappeared off into
the distance, and I settled down to defending my place against 3 faster Vauhall
Lotuses and Dallaras. The changes we had made to the FVJ had absolutely
transformed the handling and the car was immediately 2 seconds a lap
quicker.
On the straights, the higher cornering speeds of the FVL's driven by Michael Kremzer
and David Brown finally allowed them to get by me, then David
Brown lost control immediately and span in front of me. I narrowly avoided a big
shunt by guessing the direction he speared off to and turning the opposite way.
I then concentrated on keeping my place in the race and not letting any other
cars by. I finished in 15th place overall, 2nd in class. |
