Looking at the in car video for lap 2, I actually got the run through Coppice (blind entry over a brow, double apex corner that leads onto the long back straight) almost dead on. The video is something I should be able to share, as we did not have to sign any of the normal non-publishing forms, except for the fact that I have packed up the computer with the Firewire connector in preparation for my house move. Opps
After the session I had some comments from spectators that I was pushing hard right from the start, mainly spotted as I was locking my front inside wheel going into Redgate (Turn1) on both lap 1 and lap 2 ☺
Lap 4 had a handful of mistakes but the line was better overall. Lap 5 was much better, getting me into the 1:21’s but still had a couple of small mistakes, mainly redgate and then into the old hairpin. Lap 6 was better still and the sectors times were much improved but when I got onto the back straight I could see a lot of traffic ahead, so I backed off to get some space.
Bad mistake because as I came down the cranner curves on lap 7 the car got very out of shape and tried to spit me off on the infield whilst flat in 6th gear! As I gathered up the slide I saw in the distance that Matt had gone straight on at the old hairpin and was having some fun running through the gravel trap. At this point alarm bells started to ring. I kept the car over to the right of the track, instead of heading left to rejoin the track, which meant I could brake in a straight line and check out the state of the track. From there you could see a lovely neat oil slick exactly on the racing line, all the way through the old hairpin and up the hill. This continued all the way around the track and meant almost everyone’s fastest times were to be in those 5 or 6 initial laps. Boy, do I wish I had not backed off at the end of lap 6. Anyway that would turn out to give me a 3rd place and 4th place in class on the grid for the following two races. Not to shabby bearing in mind the last time I was on track here must have been nearly 3 years ago at a trackday. I spent the rest of the session avoiding the oil and trying different lines, mainly overtaking and defending lines for the key corners. It was also a good time to try out the curbing that we had cycled over the night before. Thinking about this after the event it was also a good learning experience as I don’t think I have even driven hard on a circuit covered in oil before. It’s similar but still quite unique to driving on patchy ice. In icy conditions on the road you tend to, and rightly so I guess, slow it all right down and treat the whole road as if its icy. On the track you are pushing all the time looking for clean track. When it is clean you are getting very good grip levels like normal and then all of a sudden there is absolutely nothing at all. Quite a different experience. Fun though, in an out of control type of way!
Donington is definitely one of the more technical circuits that we race on. Although not as complex as a whole when compared to Cadwell, each point in the circuit is more critical due to the higher speeds and wider track. In the RGB cars with somewhat limited straight-line speed it is imperative to maintain good momentum as one mistake at the hairpin for example hampers you all the way up the hill, through 2 to coppice and then onto the back straight. In the race this is even more apparent as it is reasonable easy to pass due to the width. This means a small mistake can mean loosing places in addition to a loss in lap times. At Cadwell in comparison you can loose some time but its fairly easy to defend, collect yourself and get back into the grove.
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