Silverstone Fun Cup Race report

[Crunchie Gears]

Ian last stint and he has some work to do as the cars in front aew somw way up the road. He did brilliantly and handed back the car back and after no fuel and just driver change I went out P11. For my last stint the car understeered like you connot believe. out of Copse it wanted to go straight on Trying to get the car working out of Luffield 2 onto the straight was difficult.

I got it right on one lap round copse. Thinking about it afterwards it was about getting the rotation right means the car is pointing in the right direction so you need to do less turning (I need to learn to do this as it will make me quicker, next challenge).

I was lapping quicker than I had but hated the way the car handled. I was hitting the rev limit on the start finish straight and the back straight without a tow. Ian could not believe it. Down to skill as clearly driving down the straight takes a lot of skill I had some good battles but the field was spread out a long way and CCS got past me at the end. Handed over in P12 after pit stops.

Ian brought it home.

[Crunchie Gears]

I am a little disappointed. one in my performance at the start and I did not push for the right stategy to make us as good as we can be. it got worse when I spoke to the mechanics next door who came 6th. I was capable of lapping a second quicker a lap and they took our trousers down. Granted the pit crew put them in that place and they were lucky but it shows what we could do!

two we can run with good teams and, with luck, and a sound strategy can make the podium.

three I need to work on rotation of the car. If I get that I will be on the power earlier and will be nearer Ian's lap times. Then we really stand a chance

Four look for a few more revs so I do not run out of revs on the straight.

So what can we do better for Brands? All of the above (although the top speed may not be an issue at Brands). Make sure the car is as good as it can be and still performs on low fuel. I only knew that the last stint understeer was due to running low fuel when I told the pit crew it understeered, which reducing the wieght over the front will do (car rotation is more important for me when the car is understyeering IMHO).

[b33fy]

Solid result Paul and great write up, as Duncan, really looking forward to Brands.

[Crunchie Gears]

Brands should be good. I need to learn the circuit as I have only done it last year and got sent off for noise so have not spent much time getting it together. I hope I get the track before race day

[greenwoo]

well i normally only read 3 chapters of a book at night...
this had me engrossed...looking forward to seeing these cars in the flesh at Brands.....

[David T]

Just a quick note to say thanks to Paul, Ian and the rest of P T Motorsports for letting us share in their race day - they were the perfect hosts.

After watching the first few laps out at Copse in a bracing wind, for a moment I thought 4 hours might seems like a long time, but it literally flew by. We spent time at different viewing spots, including the one grandstand that was open.

The race itself is punctuated by the 10min pit windows every 40mins. We made a point of returning to the garage for these. The most exciting (although I do have other describing words) was the one where all 27 cars came in together after they had bunched up behind the safety car. In PT's garage were five cars in total and its only three doors wide, so you can imagine the scramble for parking. Cars three deep, at angles, arriving and departing at slightly different times. Made our Reims Le Mans style start on previous Euro Road trip look positively calm. By some miracle, all cars and crew escaped unscathed. It's certainly was a spectacle unfolding just feet away.

We did feel very smpathetic for the Apollo team next to PT in the garage. After their win at Snetterton in the last round, this time they were dogged by four hours of reliability issues. The car was constantly in and out of the garage. Spanners wielded often and the pit crew becoming regrettably very practised at removing the front bodywork. Having said that, our 12 year old daughter was very inspired by their young female driver. By the end of the day Liona was convinced she wanted to be a racing driver and was very frustrated at not being able to cross to the pit wall as well as having to wait another three and a half years until she can get behind the wheel of a Fun Cup car. Time for some more karting.

I thought that PT's finishing position was very well earned. After previous realiability issues, the stand out thing for me was the absence of any significant issues. This is credit to the whole team - drivers and pit crew alike. I'm sure like the serene swan with the legs paddling furiously below the waterline. Maybe with a few more places earned from the race start, they could have kept that position and finished even higher (just sayin').

Will take a look at the camera tonight and see if I've captured any decent photos. So, we'll be at Brands with many of the club members and we've added Donnington to our diary too.

[Crunchie Gears]

David your troupe were great Looking forward to he next races!