Cadwell Park Double Header (3rd and 2nd)

The Cadwell park visit this year was a double header. It was a very enjoyable weekend but I didn't quite reach full potential but I did come away with some good points and overall lead of the RGB Championship.

Qualifying was wet to start with and drying throughout until a slight increase in track moisture for the last few mins. The lap times kept coming down, the first surprise was to see the Dash show a lap of 1:49.71 which is faster than my dry qualify from last year. Then on the next lap I saw the display read 1:48.8! The lap after this was half a second faster in the first sector but I had a misunderstanding with Neil on the back straight. I went right to pass him, just before he signaled and guess what he signaled for me to pass on the left! This left me almost completely on the grass over the brow at the fastest part of the track. I just got it back onto the track before the entry to Park corner so I could scrub off some speed but entered the corner with excessive velocity. An interesting pirouette on the grass followed and I returned without any damage but with a slightly raised heart rate. On my final lap of qualifying, I was also well up on sector times but I caught back-markers through the mountain and then between the hairpin and Barn corner which completely ruined the lap.
So although the lap time was well under that of last year with a 1:48.8, it was only good enough for 4th overall and 3rd in class C.

The first race of the Cadwell double header was on the Saturday afternoon and the rain had set in again so it was soft settings and huddling under umbrellas pre-race. Out on to the grid and a really long wait until we went for our green flag lap, why we could not have waited in the assembly area under cover whilst they towed back the cars from the race before I can not work out. The track was not too bad despite the amount of water and I got a fairly good start, getting in front of Mike for 2nd in class off the line and holding that for 6 laps. On the 7th, I had a very small lock up into Park corner at the end of the back straight, just missing the apex by a few feet and allowing Mike to come up along side me. As the visibility was quite limited and I know how slippery that next corner was, I backed off to let Mike take the inside rather than risk a tap and resulting spin into the barriers. For the next lap I could see Mike increase the gap each time we came to the exit from a slow corner, where his more compliant rear suspension enabled him to get better traction. Although I could make up some of the gap in the faster corners, I decided to be a little more cautious, reducing the risks I took as I had a 15second gap back to Matt and cross the line for 3rd in Class and 10 more championship points. Rob took a fantastic first win in Class A and with Gordon missing the race that has helped the championship standings.

Sunday dawned much brighter although still menacing clouds but delivered a dry period for our race. Off the line, I got a very good start although I got baulked by Martin on the run off from the line as Mike had a clear and easy run down the inside before we got to the first corner. I followed Mike very closely into turn 1, stopping Martin from getting to the apex and arrived at turn 2 with enough room to turn in front. I followed Mike for the remainder of that lap, although the increased slipstream effect of the head wind on the Park straight caught me out as I touched the back of his car, sorry Mike! As we came around to the end of the first lap, I dropped back a little and made a run through Barn corner which allowed me to easily overtake on the start / finish straight and into turn 1. From there on I put in some fast laps, straight into the 1:37's for 4 laps and then a final burst on lap 6 with a 1:36.84 to give me a 4 second lead over Mike in 2nd place. From there on a backed off a touch to maintain the gap , staying well within the limits of the car to bring it home for the win. Until, that is, braking downhill for Mansfield on the final lap, the rear wheels locked up expectantly and I headed sideways onto the grass! I gathered it up, arrived back on the track facing the wrong direction, flicked it back around to the right way and just as Mike passed me for the lead, I fired up the engine and recovered. From there all I could do was to follow Mike to the flag, recording 2nd in class and the fastest lap which gave me 13 points to his 15. Rob had his second win in Class A, whilst Gordon who had started from the back of the grid made it up to 2nd in class A, giving him 8 points.

So although I don't think I could have held off Mike for the entire length of the first race, I should have been able to record an easy win the second race. My plan for the weekend was to return with 2 podiums and I managed that. I am also quite happy to have recorded a 1:36.84 at Cadwell, which is the fastest anyone has managed in a race since the series moved onto the current specification of tyres.

The rear brakes issue has been diagnosed as a problem with one of the rear brake shoes braking up along with a build up of brake dust from the new pad material. We have cleaned this up, added a leading edge to the pads and will instigate regular maintenance checks to stop it from happening again.

So if my calculations are correct, I now lead the overall championship both before and after the dropped scores are taken into account.

This coming Sunday we are racing a double header at Snetterton. Cars ready to go and it will be interesting to see how much quicker we are this year at my home circuit. Amazingly there are 5 more rounds left, 3 more race weekends and only 2 more tracks.