After a promising first weekend at Silverstone, despite nursing some car issues, all eyes were onto Snetterton, a circuit that over the years has provided me with a lot of happy memories.
Before even getting to the circuit the drama started, setting off on Thursday afternoon, I got a mile down the road when one of the rear axles on the infamous big blue van decided to give way in a big way, and after a rather inventive rescue mission from my dad, we managed to get the van and car back home, when Melliard Motorsport saved the day, letting me borrow their van and trailer for the weekend... I cannot thank you enough!
This year was a very different prospect with the aim to try and break into the top 10 in what is proving to be one of the tightest and most competitive championships in the country, and with every time in the car, I start to feel like I can drive it more and more like I could in the mk1.
Having made a few changes to the car in between Silverstone and Snetterton, the first 2 sessions were mainly used to re-establish the base set up that we had on the car and then start to move things forward, with me battling some pretty horrendous understeer that left me mowing Mr Palmers freshly cut grass twice, something that I would say is pretty uncharacteristic for me. But as the day went on, James and the team managed to improve the car massively, finding nearly 2 seconds of pace, turning the Friday from a pretty dismal day to one of positivity come Saturday morning.
Being in the situation I am currently in the car, I decided to spend qualifying out by myself, even though Snetterton is a circuit where the tow can be critical for a good lap time. But playing chicken with others to find a useful tow can often lead to wasted laps, and when learning a new car, along with more set up changes to learn, Qualifying became all about putting clean laps in. Despite my best efforts and feeling far more at home in the car, 15th was the best I could manage, which is sort of where the pace of the car seems to be at the moment.
Race 1 found me lined up surrounded by some familiar mk1 faces from the past, sharing the row with John Langridge, and after a slightly dodgy start by myself, the race got underway and soon completely unravelled. Blinded by the insane amount of dust coming onto the back straight I managed to run wide, over the edge of the kerb and destroy my left rear wheel, and split the tyre, but miraculously I managed to carry on to the end, with even the Avon Tyres guys not quite understanding how the tyre managed to stay inflated!
However, the damage it self did make the car incredibly bad through all the right handers, meaning the pace I was able to get down to was pretty atrocious, resulting in an 18th place finish, which under the circumstances was a miracle.
Race 2 was looking to be a much improved race, despite having to run 1 new tyre on the rear left, which lead to some issues towards the middle of the race, however, despite running 16th for most of the race, i ended up with a 15th place finish due to disqualifications in front.
However, the race again was not without issue, with a car spinning point blank in front of me through no fault of his own on oil, causing a fairly big impact, again leaving the tracking of the car out massively, making it two miraculous race finishes in a row!
After race 2 we got some insight as to why we have been struggling at the first two rounds of the season, with the dyne reading showing the car as being 10hp down, making results around power hungry circuits like Silverstone and Snetterton even harder to come by.
For Race 3 on Sunday though, the car was beginning to come back towards me, after the Tucker Motorsport guys had done a great job of repairing the damage from Race 2, and with the new tyre on the rear left starting to balance up towards the end of the race, I could finally start to get my head down in a race situation, after initially waving Michael Knibbs through after his retirement from Race 2 saw him start from the back, I soon found myself racing for 12th place, and with the overall race pace being far better than the result showed.
Next up on the calendar is the race weekend I've been looking forward to more than any other since the calendar got released as we head back to Silverstone to compete on the Grand Prix circuit! I personally cannot wait to get there and learn the full circuit at a venue that has always felt like home to me after my years working there!
I must say a massive thank you to all my sponsors for the weekend at Snetterton, Airbourne Graphics & Signs, EPTA Projects, Melliard Motorsport and Performance One clothing, as well as all the Tucker Motorsport boys, who I kept far too busy over the weekend! And once again the man behind the scenes, Pezza aka my dad, especially after i've kept his hands far to full with all the van drama!
See you at Silverstone!
Jack
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