Motorsport has been my passion since I was tiny and this grew into an equally intense passion for my family and my Dad, Paul, inparticular. So it was really sad that last year’s events left me feeling negative and my Dad hated Motorsport for about ten months. However time is a healer and his enthusiasm is quickly returning.

We were left unsure of where to go in 2011 and we looked at many options with the team and eventually decided to have a year out, however in the meantime Lunar Racing have continued their excellent job of education through Motorsport and the students have been busy building a MkIV Golf which is eligible for the VW Cup. So I was thrilled to receive a phone call from Paul Kneeshaw last week saying “come on grab your helmet let’s go racing.” We will be using the last two rounds of 2011 as a test, with a view to competing in the full series in 2012.

Unfortunately the car will not be finished until early next week, and as I have had to take a full time job while not racing the first time I sit in the car will be for 20 minutes qualifying, so in at the deep end again. New car, new series, partly new track (donington) and a year out of a race car, so I guess the pressure is off for this weekend then.

However during the break in the championship we have found the issue with the car that was causing the problem and in testing the car is transformed. I am so excited now as I feel I am on more of an even playing field although the Brands round will be tough as there is no testing for the first time typically, so I have no more opportunity before qualifying to adapt to the new handling characteristics of my car. Although with the plans for 2011 expected to include another year in the Trofeo I can’t wait for the first round next year, however I would prefer to be able to?start this year again!

I arrived at the circuit Thursday morning ready for the days testing, unfortunately we only had two 30 minute sessions so really not enough to do any quality testing, however enough to shake down the Thames Abarth 500 Assetto Course and for me to see which layout we are racing on as it changes everytime I race at Silverstone it seems. Sure enough even though we were on the old GP track it was with a slightly different configuration than when we were there for round two.

I always readily admit Silverstone is my least favourite circuit I race on. I’m sure it is great in a modern F1 car but the way it now has to be to fit FIA F1 regulations makes it a very dull place to race a small tin top. Just flat, wide an open it has little character in my opinion and I struggle there as I like close barriers, tight corners and hilly sections like Cadwell Park, Oulton Park and Brands Hatch where there are many points of reference on a lap.

However the car ran faultlessly on Thursday and we managed a few little tweaks during the two sessions. I found myself being very careful in testing though as we were mixed in with some very expensive and rare historic machinery and I did not want to be involved in an incident that could potentially write off an irreplacable bit of history.

The weekend was to start in earnest Friday tea time with qualifying and this is when we suffered from the major frustration of being in motorsport. Having parked up Thursday in a car that was running well and except for a change of tyres hadn’t been touched since I drove onto the circuit to qualify with a racecar that was misfiring badly at 5k revs. I returned to the pits but with nothing obvious to fix I went out to set the best time I could in the circumstances. After a couple of laps I had come up with the way to minimize the impact of the misfire as much as possible and the lap times started to fall. I was lieing 7th and only a few hundredths behind 6th and on a quicker lap when a wheel bearing failed sending me back to the pits again and ending the session. By the end of qualifying I had been knocked down to 8th.

For race 1 on Saturday my team of 14 year old Lunar Racing students had managed to change the wheel bearing and cure the misfire but the car was down on power, I had to work really hard to keep up in the early part of the race as every time we got onto the long straights everyone just pulled away from me and also despite a good start found myself back down to 9th. However about 5 laps into the race we had a light shower meaning for about 4 laps we were on a damp track on slicks and this took away the power disadvantage and I was able to move up the field a little eventually finishing 5th which in the circumstance was a pretty good result.

Sunday I started race two 7th and was looking to score as many points as possible for the championship. However unfortunately instead we suffered our first DNF of the year. Despite moaning about the circuit earlier I was pretty happy with the runoff areas when half way round a turn I suddenly lost steering and as I quickly exited the circuit found I had also lost brakes. A couple of exciting airbourne moments followed as I raced through the grass outfield before gathering it all up and limping back to the pits where I nearly ran over my team boss as despite my gesticulations stood in front of the car unaware of my lack of brakes.

So all in all Silverstone was not the highlight of my year by any means. However before the season started I said that the race that matters this year is Brands Hatch DTM in September. With DTMs policy of having a female driver in each of the marques this will be one of the only opportunities to race in front of the powers that be. So we will now pull out all the stops in order to make sure we have the racecar for the job.

Kc
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Photo by Marc Waller

I was at the event with Abarth who were there to launch the new Abarth Punto Evo and the gorgeous Abarth 500C the new convertible. The car that I was with was stunning in a gorgeous shade of red that suited the car perfectly. I had a T.V. interview with the car which, if you are interested, you can see on the festival of speed live website, http://www.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed/live-at-the-event/live-video-feed.aspx?go to Day One, Part Four and fast forward to approx 1hr 10mins, or watch the whole thing as it was a fascinating weekend so a lot to see on there.

At Oulton in round 1 and Silverstone in round 2 my qualifying time was a massive and embarrasing 5 seconds off pole, with drivers of the calibre of Stefan Hodgetts, Ben Winrow and Gareth Howell on the grid, this year was always about learning but as I’ve said before you can’t learn from drivers if you are 5 seconds a lap slower. Pre season I expected to start within a second of the front and be challenging for podiums mid season in preperation for a championship challenge in 2011. So I was pretty shell shocked by the end of Silverstone.

At the start of the season my Dad, Lunar Racing and myself were all in agreement with who we had decided would engineer the car this season, the move to the Trofeo was a big step into high profile motorsport for myself and the team so having someone we believed had experience was important to us. This was a huge mistake!

Lunar Racing are now back to running the car totally themselves so we set off for Snetterton with team owner Paul Kneeshaw as Race Engineer and Nigel one of the project’s graduates from last year heading up a team of three new 14 year old?students to actually run the car. The set up that had been on the car for the first two rounds was ridiculous and we were excited to find out where we were now, we were confident that the car would now handle as I expected and we would be able to fine tune it.

Qualifying went ok, I felt comfortable in the car for the first time and was at last able to push it hard so was very frustrated to qualify 6th as I was absolutely on the limit. However how could I really complain when after being 5 seconds off before I was now 1.6 seconds off pole and with the car now behaving normally, I?knew what it needed to improve.

For the first time this season I was able to return to the pits and discuss with the team what we needed and we made a small change to the car for race 1.

Prior to the race we were given strict instructions about running four wheels off and we were told we would get a drive through penalty if we did. I changed my line in order to prevent this and despite the fact that this was now a slower line I went half a second quicker with the set up change. Nobody else seemed to heed the warning and I was the only car not to receive a flag and Stefan Hodgetts, Josh Wakefield, Charlie Butler-Henderson and Paul Smith all received drive through penalties. I finished 4th which although frustrated at being so close to the podium and missing out, I was now just seven 10ths off the fastest lap.

Race 2 was to be more than I could ever of expected, I got an excellent start from 5th and was up to 3rd when Stefan and Ben Winrow made contact which allowed me to move into 2nd behind Ben. I have to admit that being in 2nd I drove for the podium so my lap times were slightly slower but after the season I’d had upto that point I wanted that podium, so I shadowed Ben home, incredibly after 22 laps and 30 minutes I was just 8 seconds behind what a huge transformation!

I have to be honest the podium wasn’t the hardest earnt trophy I’ll ever have on the day but when you take into consideration the season as a whole it feels huge! However many cars are on the grid or what happens during a race to allow people to belittle a podium finish, one thing that is a fact is now I am knocking on the door of the pace of two of the most highly respected and successful tin top racers in the country. Ben was Clio Champion in 2008 and won in the Seat Cupras, Stefan has raced in the BTCC and has won races in Clios and SEATs as well.

We now move back to Silverstone so I am excited to see the improvement we have made for the first time we are racing on a track for a second time so know what we are aiming at. One thing I am very confident of is that this time the gap will not be 5 seconds.

Round 1 at Oulton Park was always going to be difficult as my deal to drive the Thames Abarth was only done 3 weeks before and due to snow we hadn’t had a chance to test properly. However I was really disapointed with my qualifying, not so much the position, 10th, but with the huge amount of time I was behind pole, 5 seconds. I was finding the car very difficult to drive especially through corners like Cascades.

Race 1 was the first time we had run the car in hot, dry conditions and I got a fantastic start and by the second lap was up to 4th however I was really struggling with the car hopping about and trying to understeer off at every corner exit and just could not hold my position eventually finishing 8th.

Race 2 we started with lower tyre pressures and for the first few laps the car seemed better and I again worked my way up this time to 5th, but then the handling went off quickly and then the car tried to throw me into the barrier at Lodge after I gathered it up I limped the now vibrating car to the end. Post race we found that the near side front?tyre wall had been folding over and eventually failed.

Round 2 was on the Silverstone Gp circuit in support of F2.?Unfortunately after being ill all week I woke up Saturday morning with a high fever and felt really ill, as I climbed in for qualifying I was shivering despite the heat in the car. I suppose my position on the back row was no surprise considering I set my fastest lap on the first lap when the tyres were cold.

Race 1 I didn’t feel any better and it was just a case of making the end, after a couple of exclusions I was listed as 9th.

Sunday I woke up feeling a lot better and was eager for an improved race, unfortunately though I got hit in the rear wheel at the start and only just managed to keep the car on the circuit after a real tank slapper. Once I got up to speed I found I had a horrible car to drive again, I presumed I had sustained damage in the accident, however this turned out not to be the case.

I left Silverstone feeling very low and with my confidence shot, I was really doubting myself and was seriously considering my future, I have always wanted to be a racing driver and I enjoy it more than anything else but not when I am losing, I am really competitive and although I know it is a year to learn from the top drivers in the Trofeo I can’t learn much if I can’t keep up with them.

For Cadwell Park I was going to get my first opportunity to test and it was make or break in my mind and I asked Danny Buxton who has coached me since 2007 to come and see why I was struggling so much. However although there was room for improvement in my driving the main area turned out to be the car. This was a huge relief to me, I had heard from all the front runners about how hard the Abarth is to drive on the limit and was thinking I was not good enough to drive through it, however turns out my car was handling very differently.

After making a few changes for qualifying suddenly the car was beginning to behave how I expected, I qualified 7th but with a feeling of optimism. As we have no budget for testing we took the option of using Cadwell as a test, the best we were going to finish was probably 7th and with a small grid the worst that could happen was 9th. So we decided on two set ups, one a big step one way and the other a big step the other. Although the team told me that we would be slower they said that by the end of it we’d know exactly what the car wants.

On return from Cadwell the car returned to Rockingham and the car was totally reset up. We then had a run on Rockingham Speedway and the car is transformed it is a totally different car. I am now able to push it and can’t wait for the next round at Snetterton.

Friday morning’s testing was dry so for the first time we fitted a set of new slicks and headed out on circuit, with two sessions on the slicks we started to work towards a set up but then the rain came and this time we fitted our first set of new wets. The work we had managed to do at Rockingham on the very old worn wets paid off as on the new wets the car handled superbly, in fact so well we didn’t take part in the fourth and last practice as that was also wet.

Despite all the weather reports saying heavy rain on Saturday we lined up for qualifying with a dry track and hardly a cloud in the sky. The team have told me that they knew my transponder wasn’t working immediately and was giving me the In board from the second time I passed the pits and I failed to see it five times, so I only have myself to blame for not getting my timing sorted early and I was pretty frustrated about qualifying 10th, really not the result I wanted.

Race 1 took place Saturday afternoon in really warm weather so we had to guess at a setup, the race weekend had turned into a test session. I was thrilled with my start passing 3 cars off the line, then passed another that spun at the first corner almost collecting me. I then was handed 5th place later in the lap when pole sitter Ben Winrow went off. I then passed another to get into 4th so the first 3 laps were great. Unfortunately we still had another 75% of the race to go and the handling of my car was going away from me quickly with the car hopping through the corners leaving me unable to get the power on as early as I wanted. Quickly cars started catching me and I found myself reversing back through the field to finish 8th.

My main frustration was with my driving, with this championship and being signed by a dealer presenting me with a massive opportunity I made the?biggest mistake a race driver can make?of letting the thought, “I don’t want to crash the car” get in my head. Trouble is that attitude has only got to be in there for a second and it has an effect. Although I pushed hard and raced well, what I didn’t?manage to achieve all weekend was find the limit of the car, this left me a long way of the pace of the frontrunners. There is a big difference between driving fast and driving on the limit and currently I am nowhere near the limit.

Race 2 took place on Monday and this time I started 8th, I made another good start and by mid race was lieing 5th, unfortunately though as I came up the hill to complete the next lap the car suddenly tried to throw me into the barrier, I just about managed to hold on but then found I had a horrible vibration and turning right was difficult. However everything sounded ok so I slowed down and concentrated on finishing which I managed in 10th place. As I expected when I came in the problem was my left front tyre.

My Thames Abarth of Slough racecar received a lot of attention and while the parents discussed their new road car their children had a sit in the racecar so everybody had a great time.

My next action is tomorrow at Cadwell Park as the new championship will be officially launched at the media day. I am looking forward to this immensely as Cadwell is my favourite circuit, I enjoy interviews and there will be loads of those and we are with the British Superbikes so that will be really exciting.

So I will blog on Thursday and let you know how that went!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody at Thames for having the belief in me to give me this opportunity and I will be giving 100% everytime I take to the track.

I see the names of driver’s that are already?being mentioned?and it is amazing how many have been to where I want to get to, with Gareth Howell, Fiona Leggate, Ben Winrow and Carl Bradley to name a few?I have a fantastic opportunity to learn from some excellent drivers, but I have to learn fast because I am driving for a Dealer that deserves to be right at the front.

After driving for Lunar Racing in BritCar last year?I will be running with them again this year in the Trofeo Abarth 500, as I totally support their educational project and they deserve to be on the stage that this championship provides. The students always work extremely hard and their professionalism puts many teams to shame. My race engineer will be Chris Rapps and when we completed a shake down test of the car last week we hit it off immediately and our communication is excellent so this bodes well for us to be able to set the car up quickly, I am really looking forward to working with him.

I also want to thank Paolo Callea organiser of the 2010 Zing Trofeo Abarth 500 GB, he has put a lot of work and help into making sure I am on the grid this year.

My biggest thanks though has to go to two Pauls! Paul Kneeshaw from Lunar Racing and my Dad Paul. Both have given everything they could to help??make this happen and are working so incredibly hard to try and make sure I get to fulfil my dreams. There is a lot of work in front of us but things have moved incredibly quickly and with a team of people like these we have as much chance as anyone of being successful.

My first official role as Thames’ driver will be this Sunday at the British Leisure Show at the Royal Windsor Racecourse where I will be with my racecar on stand CB100, helping promote the Abarth Brand. Then next Wednesday it’s off to Cadwell Park for the Championship Media Day!

In the meantime work has continued on bringing a deal together and yesterday I attended a meeting at the Fiat Group Building where I received the news I was hoping for, that I have been selected to drive a dealer backed car. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I have never been so excited pre-season before, I just cannot wait for the season to start!!!

My deals with both the dealer and race team are to be officially announced next Thursday at Silverstone so I will give all the details after that.

Kc