The final round of the 2002 BTCC Championship had arrived at the Donington Park circuit. I have always enjoyed driving at Donington park although I prefer the short version of the circuit which I think is a more satisfying drive with corners that flow into one another for the entire lap. I won the last race class F race of the Alfa Champsionship in 2001 at Donington and had been fairly happy with the BTCC test there earlier in the year.
Practice and Qualifying
The weekend was one of the super racing weekends shared with the British GT and Formula 3 Championships and so practice for the BTCC cars was on the Friday with Qualifying held on the Saturday. Friday's practice session got off to a good start. The car was running well, handling was good through the fast corners but with the usual under-steer on the sharp hairpins (numerous on the Donington GP circuit). At the end of the session I had posted the 4th fastest time of 1:47.996 about a second slower than Gavin who posted the fastest time. For the second practice session I tried some new brake pads as the GP circuit seems to be particularly hard on them. They are a carbon based pad and needed a lot of bedding in but the end results were good, providing awesome braking power but with plenty of feel. I didn't manage to string together any particularly good laps in the 2nd session and the result was a 7th fastest time a fraction faster than my time in the first session. However, I was slightly disappointed with my lap times and so I spent several hours trawling through the data from the data logging system. It's a shame that it was only by the final round that we really got the EFI analysis software really working properly. This allowed me to compare my laps with Gavin's to try and identify where I was losing the time. I look mainly at the engine RPM, road speed and throttle position on the approach, braking, apex and corner exit. Its surprising when you look at that level of detail how much difference there can be between two apparently similar and 'consistent' laps. Anyway, I left the circuit quite late on the Friday night armed with a mind full of ideas to try in qualifying.
Michael Lindsey the Alfa Championship Co-ordinator was one of my guests on qualifying day providing some much appreciated support. I headed out for the first qualifying session confident of improving my times and moving up the grid from practice. Its difficult to get a clean lap in amongst the super tourers but I managed to post the 5th fastest time. At one point James Thompson came past me into Redgate and I was surprised to find that I could hang onto the back of his Astra down through the Craner curves and through the old hairpin. The lap was going really well but then I followed the Astra into Mcleans and found myself flying past the turn-in point on the brakes and scrabbling for grip. The braking performance is the biggest area of difference between the two classes as clearly demonstrated in this instance! For the second qualifying session I improved my time further and posted the 3rd fastest time of 1:47.64 which was 0.8 seconds behind pole man James Kaye.
Sprint Race
I pulled up onto the grid for the last standing start of the season along side my team mate Alan Blencowe. The lights went green and I got a scorching start. I moved to the inside of the circuit behind James Kaye for the run into Redgate, but the cars bunched up and I was rubbing the bumper of the Honda Civic whilst several other production class cars took to the outside. In the first corner mayhem Arron Slight's Astra went backwards into the wall on the exit of Redgate hitting the wall very hard - so hard that the rear of the car was flat up to the rear wheels! The first lap was full of action as I got past the fast starting BMW of Tom Boardman. However, the safety car came out half way through the 2nd lap as the Marshals cleared the stricken Astra. We did about 4 laps behind the safety car and then the race was back on. I swapped places with James Kaye a couple of times and then we both went past Mark Fullalove's Peugeot through Redgate. I was in 4th place behind Kaye, with Gavin leading the BMW of Norman Simon in 2nd. And then it all went wrong at the old Hairpin. The car turned in as normal but as it slithered out toward the exit the rear end started to break away. The surface at the exit of the old hairpin consists of a mixture of kerb, plastic matting and grass and so the grip changes significantly as the car moves across them. The safest action as this point was to get on the brakes and control the spin so as not to damage the car but being so close to the re-start of the race I knew that this would put me to the back of the field and so I decided to try and catch the slide and maintain momentum. It was probably the wrong choice as the car snapped onto the track and then fired me off towards the barrier just before Starkey's bridge. It was a fairly hard impact (the concrete barrier moved about a foot) and the front of the car was destroyed, ripping the engine off of its mounts prematurely ending my season in BTCC.
Feature Race
The car was eventually towed back to the team garage but it was obvious to everyone that there was no chance of getting the car running for the final race. The Barwell motorsport team did a fantastic job with a large hammer and several roles of silver gaffer tape to get Slight's Astra back out for the feature race, but sadly he only lasted to the end of the first lap as a collision at the hairpin broke a front strut.
Conclusion
This was not the way I had planned to end my first season in the BTCC. On the whole I was pleased with my qualifying performance and I had found the early race pace quite easy and so really felt I could have scored some good finishes. Of course that wasn't to be, but at least I got some coverage on ITV as my crash was shown no less than 3 times! Unfortunately, a brace of non-finishes sent me down the championship standings as Mark Thomas and Dave Allan crept past me by a solitary point. I am very disappointed with the final championship result as I don't think this reflects my speed in the latter part of the season and is more the result of mechanical failures. I am now making plans for next year. There are a few options on the table and I am working hard to put together the necessary funding.
Many thanks to all those who have supported me through the season, your support and generosity is greatly appreciated. Also many thanks to my Sponsors, Lake Communications, Image Magic and Business Interactive.