Well that's it, season over (breathes sigh of relief)
I want to start this one a little differently, as I have a lot of people to thank for what has been a truly amazing year, which has been reflected by the amount of support I have had from the entire Mx-5 paddock during the weekend, as it was obvious to everyone what was happening on track.
Firstly i'd like to start by thanking the entire Redline Team, TSW (I'm not going to put your full name on here!) NHA, and Owen Mills Racing for their support this weekend, whether it be in the paddock or out on track, you guys proved that even though I was battling a 10 man army, I wasn't alone. I would also like to thank Zak Oates and Brian Trott for their honesty over the weekend.
However, at this point it's only right that I single out one person in particular who, although he is in a different team, has been nothing short of an amazing team mate this year, Steve Foden. Having worked together for every qualifying session, and conversed and gave each other feedback all year throughout the Friday test days, its been honestly an amazing year, and to say that combined we came away with 10 race wins shows how well we have worked together this year. Seeing you get your 3rd win of the season at Brands with your mum there to watch after such a tough year was truly special and thoroughly deserved for you and your family!
Next, and well in all honesty, I don't think anything I say will be able to do justice to how amazing Tucker Motorsport have been this year. Having helped me grow from my first ever race at Snetterton in 2016, being miles off the pace of the lead, to winning 7 races and battling for the championship is something that I will forever be grateful for. James has built one amazing family unit, and although we missed out on winning the championship, it feels like as a team, we are unbeatable. To Deano, my number 1 and the main man, I cannot thank you enough, I genuinely thought when I crossed the line for my 1st win at Croft that you were going to jump over the wall and join me in the car, and to cross the line seeing Paul & Clive cheering whilst knowing Liz was at home cheering at the tele is truly special. And Ding Dong, you're alright as well ;) to everyone that's helped out with Tucker Motorsport this year, through the highs and the lows, you are all amazing and I can't wait for more success with you in the future...
Finally though, none of this would have happened without my dad. He has quite literally given up all of his free time to make all this happen for me, starting off with a car that I bent at Oulton in 2016, re-shelling the car and constantly working on it to make sure that since then, I have always had the best prepared car on the grid, we finally got the success that all of your hard effort deserves. You always stay in the background on race weekends, but when I cross the line, you're always the first person I think of, now i've got to try and keep you busy over another winter :D
Now, onto the weekend, here we go...
For the final weekend, of the year, I decided to test both Thursdays and Friday, with James only with us on Thursday, I had to make the most of his expertise!
Thursday was a beautiful dry day, which wasn't exactly relevant to how the weekend was going to plan out in terms of weather, however, throughout the day we worked on and perfected the set up of the car in the dry, leaving us with the wet and the damp conditions to contend with on Friday to make sure we were competitive in all conditions.
Friday was a far more difficult day, having gone out on the wrong tyres in the 1st session, and just generally struggling with balance and judging the grip levels on circuit in the 2nd session, it looked like the wet conditions would prove to be difficult for us this weekend. However the rest of the day we spent preparing and trying things, eventually settling on a comfortable set up for the wet!
After raining over night and into the morning Qualifying on Saturday morning looked like it would be a wet session, but with the October sun coming out before the session, the circuit seemed to be doing fast. We opted to start the session being first out and going on the full wet treaded tyres, and on the 1st flying lap I set my fastest lap of the session, with the red flag coming out, we dived straight into the pit lane, and with the circuit being damp, we changed to a set of new dry tyres which surprisingly didn't work at all and I spent the rest of the session skating about to eventually finish P5 in qualifying.
Race 1 got off to a good start, with the circuit now dry, we could show our pace throughout the race, albeit being on a compromised set up between the dry and wet conditions, and the car not quite handling as consistently as it had done on Thursday, I got through the pack pretty quickly, running in 2nd and catching Brian Trott up for the lead, but with Brian defending very well, it was impossible to get through without contact. As we were battling Allwood caught up and overtook for 2nd place, and from there, the race unravelled with his team mates behind ganging up on me, eventually resulting in the contact that would ultimately lose me the championship.
From there though the fight back was on, albeit made a lot easier by Seb Fishers mechanical issue, and the Owen Mills, Ollie Graham and Michael Knibbs waving me through to allow me up to 6th which would eventually be taken from me.
Stating down in 14th on a wet circuit is never an ideal place to start with a lot of risk involved and potential for cars to spin in front of me. but with a clean start I found myself battling for 9th place pretty much the entire race, but unfortunately despite claiming 9th twice, every time I took the position I then found myself getting hit, which eventually resulted in a penalty, this time not for me though! Proving that we had got to the bottom of our issues in the wet as well, I managed to set fastest lap on the last lap of the race.
By the time Race 3 came around the championship was already massively out of reach, which seemed to mean everyone returned to racing as normal, and with the target off my back, and starting from 9th the sole aim for the race was to go out and show exactly why we have been the combination to beat this year, and that's exactly what I did. On a track that was dry apart from wet patches, it was all about finding the best way to maintain grip on the two slippery sections. As many struggled with the water running across Paddock Hill bend, I soon discovered that taking the kerb on the apex helped avoid the water, and through that I was able to make most of my moves, eventually climbing up to 2nd place and chasing down Knibbs in the lead, but unfortunately, luck still wasn't on my side as they decided to throw the chequered flag 2 minutes early. But to finish the season on the podium and fastest on track, fittingly following Knibbs as he finished behind me at the first round of the year at Croft, was a very good way to finish the season. To Michael Knibbs and all of NHA, congratulations on your first win, i'm sure if it wasn't for the Silverstone injury there would have been many more.
The post race celebrations with the team, even though we hadn't won the race or the championship were probably the best feeling i've had in racing, no matter what others threw at us, we stayed strong and remained true to ourselves. Unfortunately even that was marred by bad attitude and language towards our team, but no matter what, we showed our class.
The final note must go out to my sponsors who have supported and stuck by me all season, EPTA projects, Airbourne Graphics & Signs and PerformanceOne Clothing, I cannot wait to continue with their support next season as we look to move onto a new challenge.
It feels weird to think Brands could have been the last time I race my Mk1, being my first ever race car, and the love we have had for the car, I feel like both myself and the car have grown together, and it will be a very tough day if I do decide to sell the car.
Now for a few weeks of planning for next season and a bit of time to refresh ready for next season, one things for sure, next year i'll be back stronger than ever and ready to go!
Thank you for the support this year
Jack.
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