Well it?s safe to say I have just had a new favourite weekend of racing! BritCar is a great experience a really terrific mix of professionalism and friendly rivalry.
The team of students did a phenomenal job all weekend, and under pressure in the pit stops never made a mistake. Friday night they practised late into the night changing wheels and managed it in 3 mins 40 which was within the 4 mins we needed. However come race conditions, under pressure they managed it in 2 mins 20 secs. Remember that is without airjacks on the car or compressed air for airguns.
Any professional teams looking to employ new mechanics in the future should always look to the Lunar Racing students as they will be proven talent!
I was quite nervous about meeting my new teammate, Alan Bonner, as he is so experienced and a fabulous endurance racer with an incredible record. However he couldn?t have been nicer, really made me feel at ease, and if my future holds endurance racing any success I achieve will have a lot to do with the advice I receive from him.
One of my favourite things was the pit to car radio! This is something I have never had before, and being able to talk to Eddie my race engineer is incredibly helpful. When you have GT cars flying past you everywhere it is easy to lose track of who you are racing. I was 34 seconds behind the Clio when I got in the car so I couldn?t see him so constant updates on lap times and the gap really helped me keep pushing, and it was really exciting when suddenly there he was in sight. He had my podium and no way he was keeping it Lol!
Britcar classes are decided by power to weight ratio, so we have a maximum power we are allowed and we are way way beneath it and giving away a lot of power to our rivals. So the fact we are 2nd in the championship is incredible, it really shows what a great job the team have done in pitstops, setup and reliability.
Roll on Snetterton on 29th August, I can?t wait.
On a personal note I have kept my podium record going and this is now becoming an important statistic. Having stood on the podium in every vehicle I?ve driven seemed a silly statistic when I was first told, but everytime I drive a new car it becomes more important. However now I have the new statistic of having scored podiums on my last 4 consecutive championship debuts, I am starting to feel a bit of pressure over what the next car I drive will be as I?d love to make that 5.
