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I came back down to earth with a bit of a bang at Donington after a great opening weekend at Brands Hatch, where I had some strong finishes and accrued a load of championship points.
Things started badly in qualifying at what is effectively my home track and I never really recovered from there. It was wet at the start of the session and I did manage to set a time that was good enough for third or fourth at that point.
Then I got called for a rideheight check. The championship runs a traffic light system to inform drivers if they need to go for a spot-check test and I got summoned. My Motorbase Ford Focus failed the test so, in line with regulations, I lost all my times. And that was the start of our downfall, really, because the track was drying out but I no longer had any banker times, so didn’t want to take a risk by running slicks.
And then in my haste to get some decent times in, while still on wets, I put it in the gravel at the Old Hairpin, which was the final insult in a pretty poor Saturday!
On raceday, I struggled, to be honest. The car didn’t feel right, although I tried my hardest to move up the order from 25th on the grid. The balance wasn’t there, which was a shame as my team-mate Mat Jackson was going so well. We looked at the data afterwards and there was disparity in the steering lock I was having to apply. The front of the car was over-sensitive to throttle application. Whenever I got on the throttle the understeer was horrendous. I wondered if it was a diff problem. All would become clear for race three. Still, I got up to 14th so managed to nail a few points.
This year our grid positions for race two are determined by finishing positions from the first race, rather than fastest laps, so I duly lined up 14th.We changed the set up to be the same as Mat’s – he won race one after all! – but the issue was still there so that was annoying.
I only managed to make up two places, to 12th, in that one, but at least it equated to some more points. I said to the team that we needed to try something big for race three, in which I would be running the soft tyre.
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And that’s where the diff change comes in. The boys put Mat’s spare diff in the car and it was immediately better – I could tell as I drove round on the out-lap to the grid. The car came alive for that one, but I was mindful of looking after the tyres; the pace was good for about four laps and then they started dropping off.
I held on for 10th place after some good battling in the final few laps. The Focus finally felt like it should, so I think it was the dodgy diff! We’ll look at it this week – and then possibly throw it away!
It was a frustrating weekend and we dropped a lot of points, although at least I actually scored some in every race. In three weeks we’re off to Thruxton, which is my favourite track. I love that place – it’s proper! You’ve got to run the car with a bit of free will so that you don’t chew the tyres. You need to really float around that place and let it come to you. I’ve had pole there for three of the past four years and I’ve still got the lap record so I think I’ve got it taped.
I’m really looking forward to kickstarting my season in Hampshire after the issues at Donington. That’s racing though, isn’t it? You can’t expect a mega weekend every time; you have to mitigate against the problems and make the most of when it all slots into place.
Images courtesy of BTCC.net
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