...The first event was at Aintree Sprint circuit, which for us was a fair drive on a Friday evening... We camped out overnight, and after an interrupted nights sleep (too excited!) We got ready for the event, by initial sign on, helmet checks, scrutineering, a track walk and then it was onto our practice runs.
The sprint circuit is part of the old F1 circuit, and is now not much more than three corners and four straights... Here's a diagram of the circuit:-
Aintree Sprint Circuit |
How hard can it be? Well, quite tough actually - sprinting isn't really my thing, but there's a lot of pressure as you don't get many runs... You've just got to go out there and be 'on it' straight away... I definitely prefer circuit driving, and getting into a decent rhythm and then chipping away at corners and so on... Anyway, here's my best run:-
To be completely frank, I didn't get a good run in all day... The 1st practice run was 'ok', 2nd practice run I had a huge lock-up at the first corner, then four timed runs all of which I wasn't happy with, but luckily my time was good enough for the win!
Not wanting to knock any of the competitors, but I definitely could've gone quicker had I strung all three corners together in one lap! Nevertheless, my friend Andy Morgan in the white group (we both entered the Academy together, but requested to be in different groups) set the new category lap record time of 52.91 after withstanding some serious pressure from Dan Halstead - so nice one sun!
I picked up 1st place at Aintree Sprint, along with Graham Macdonald (Caterham CEO) and James Murphy |
Next weekend I'm off to Abbeville (France) for a track day weekend, and then the next Academy event is at Curborough Sprint course on Saturday 20th May. Looking forward to it already ☺