MrLizard Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 An intersting introduction to Brandshatch as a circuit. Ive never driven Brands unless you count some time on the xbox, was really looking forward to it until i heard the weather was going to be cr*p, then, having watched enough btcc races to know paddock hill is a killer i started getting a little nervous. Fortunately the crew, myself and the car managed to get to the circuit separately and still make it in time for last practice on the friday, thanks to the guy who pocketed the money and let me out on the track, legend After following the orange cobra through the tunnel i thought id try and follow that round the track to get an idea of....... oh..... its gone... right, so ill figure it out myself, practice went ok, got the lines and the braking points for my car, realised that the new drop links on the front were helping a lot with turn in and that the rear was now having issues keeping up, and finally managed to run out of petrol, car felt good through druids + clearways and not so brill through graham hill and paddock. Qually: Im obviously not brilliant here, i didnt do very well at Mallory in qually and thought that this would be a good opportunity to improve, however due to the poor conditions and my lack of TC or downforce i decided to concentrate on keeping the car on the track and myself out of trouble, the track was incredibly damp and i had a ‘moment’ coming out of the Graham Hill bend, Armco,grass,Armco,grass,Armco,roger,grass,road ... just managed to snake all the way down the following straight and catch it at the end, apologies if i held anyone up, and good job Roger in the CRX for making a good overtake there That shot the nerves a little and it took me a while to get back into the groove, i was on brand new cut tyres here so still had the gel coat on and no use, suspect that may have contributed a little. Race 1: Same idea as Mallory again, i managed to make up quite a few went from 19 to 10, didn’t have a great start but had great fun overtaking some of the MR2 mk2’s, good scrap with the blue mk2 which i managed to just pip near the end of the race, seemed to be a few casualties, having just gone past the mr2 i looked in my rear view mirror to see timmy spinning around at graham hill, Maxim seemed to be parked at druids and the 200sx had gone out as well, which having spent half the morning hunting for the signing on office with him was a shame, unlucky Jason. Race 2: Just so im clear here, on the parade lap it isn’t a great idea to be overtaking people is it?, i don’t want to cause a fuss but if this could be re-iterated at some point? Is it just a tactic to psych out the opposition or just people being silly, i was right up against the car infront and had to brake hard into paddock to let this person around the inside of me in order not to hit them or steer off the track, still even with the Christmas tree arrangements of lights that went up on the start karma got the better of them and i kept my position. Car felt much better in race two, droplinks raised slightly at the back, ARB softened up, tyres had some wear, times were coming down, i managed to overtake 2 people in this race from 10th but also had 2 people go past me, both people who didn’t finish race 1 i think... Had ‘that’ green teg on my tail again (you know who you are), however the zed was picking up pace each lap and some ideally placed back markers and one car for position got inbetween us and I managed to keep the gap, sounded like Lee had a similar event to me in the poor qually, good race 1 etc... Like a plonker i let Maxim past thinking he was lapping me, only to see the person i was fighting with give him all sorts of problems, guess that makes up for it as i wouldn’t of held you up for long anyway ïŠ, also in an attempt to go back past maxim the mr2 in front went wide into graham hill and i managed to get a good run through and up into clearways, kept taking more and more kerb on this corner, laptimes were falling all the time, 4.5 seconds quicker than qually and not as far off the pace of the front runner in gt300 as i thought. Abbey Motorsport have offered me some support for the car and I have a few things up my incredibly ape like sleeves so im hoping to be able to make more of a challenge of it next year in my own class, still, it was a fantastic race and a great experience considering the conditions etc.. Big Thanks to: The Crew - MrsLizard, Mark, Dan Mark from Abbey Motorsport Colin from the 350z-uk forum Darren & Alex, also from the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Thats a great right up and as I said in the other post it will be good to get some more support along for next year. I will be honest, those conditions would scare the hell out of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 they scared the hell out of me!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 More support would be excellent, i have an idea for a meet but need to run it past the nippon guys too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 More support would be excellent, i have an idea for a meet but need to run it past the nippon guys too! I am sure that would be well attended too. Colin can keep an eye on us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Great write up Steve, was good to see you out there pushing hard and gaining places in very tricky conditions hope its going to be dry for me and greekman on monday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-B Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I have some pictures too, will try and post up soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacW Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Great stuff Steve, keep it coming for those of us living the race car driver life vicariously Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 A nice write-up and pics Steve - looking forward to the next opportunity to give you some support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 A nice write-up and pics Steve - looking forward to the next opportunity to give you some support thanks for coming along m8, and that goes for you too Daz n Alex Im sure youll be fine no matter what the weather daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Great write up and pictures Steve, well done mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 ta alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT4 Zed Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Steve, nice one to post feedback! you've done well and made us proud keep us entertained and dreaming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick43 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 great achievement - much respect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 thanks for the kinds words all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbwold Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Great write up, that looks like a lot of fun in tricky conditions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.