Snetterton 300 - Round Five - 1st Place and Lap Record

All 'racing drivers' seem to have a good list of excuses, and I managed to find one for what happened at Donington - I'll leave it up to your discretion if you think it's an excuse or not... but, it turns out the gearbox had pretty much imploded on itself, so the car was collected after Donington engine removed, gearbox removed and with the gearbox being sent off for rebuild, car checked over andthen  returned back to me all (just!) in time for this weekend.  Thanks to David Rowe and all the boys at DPR Motorsport for getting this all sorted for me.

So with all mechanical excuses (hopefully) unavailable to me, it was time to get back on it and have a good weekend.  I had a good couple of track and test days before the event, and set a pretty respectable time on the Friday test session, so was feeling confident.

Qualifying was 'interesting' and fun too, as there is SUCH an advantage of getting a tow down the two long straights there was a fair amount of tactics involved, but I managed to qualify 2nd on the grid alongside Matt Sheppard.

I got a great start, and led into the first corner...

Round Five of the 2017 Caterham Academy championship at Snetterton - the start

Matthew Creak had a superb start from sixth? on the grid, and made an attempt for the lead at Wilson's hairpin, which I held off and then he made a bit of a mistake at Palmer corner which enabled James Murphy to take second place.

On three wheels at Murrays corner at Snetterton 300 circuit

In the meantime I'd managed to build a small gap, which I really needed to capitalise on (as with a tow off me, James would easily catch me as it's worth up to 1.5 seconds here!), but I put some mega laps in and broke the tow...

Here's the onboard video of the race:-

And WON!  yyyeeeaahhhh!!!!  I managed to win by over twelve seconds, (which I was told was unheard of here at Snetterton in the Caterham Academy) AND set a new lap record of 2:17.593 (without a tow!) on my way to victory.

Daniel French winning the Green Group of the Caterham Academy race at Snetterton 300 circuit in 2017

Time for some bubbly - the podium celebrations!  Well done the James Murphy p2, and Neil Fraser p3!

Time for some bubbly - the podium celebrations!  Well done the James Murpy p2, and Neil Fraser p3!

Charlotte, my girlfriend / partner thought it'd be highly amusing to get some baseball caps embroidered with my name on (I used to have a cap just the same when I raced remote control cars as a child, many, MANY! years ago!)... They are pretty embarrassing, but I like them really! ☺

Team Daniel caps out in full force - definitely gave me a boost!

So I think (points adjusted) I've got a nine or ten point lead in the championship, which is really, really good at this stage, and Andy Morgan has a similar lead in his group too.  In true 'racer' style, I'm still not thinking about the championship, so will take the next two races as they come and try and do my best at those too.

Next up, Rockingham ISSC on 16th and 17th September, and without seeing the timetable, I guess the qualifying is on the Saturday with the race on the Sunday.  

Feel free to come and say hi if you're around on that weekend, but you may have to wear a 'certain' baseball cap!

Donington Park GP - Round Four - 2nd Place

Round four of this years' Caterham Academy championship was at Donington Park GP circuit, which is certainly one of my favourites...

...I arrived on Wednesday night, setup 'camp' for the next few days and got ready for two days testing, and then 'a bit' of hanging around.  Testing was great (especially the Thursday), having set some good times which I was very happy with.  Friday was a bit more 'red flaggy' so I couldn't really get into a good rhythm in any of the sessions.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda

Qualifying was on Saturday evening (18:30!) so there was a fair bit of hanging around from Friday afternoon, but I again found myself at the back of the pack, so tried my best which (again) was only good enough for 4th place on the grid, as the advantage from a tow is quite large here (which I didn't get).

With qualifying over - Caterham hosted a paddock party, with a band, free booze and food, (as it was their 60th anniversary) and that was a really good night - I was 'careful' not to get too wasted, but still had a great time.

Onto the race... I got a great start, and before I knew it I was into first place...  I held onto the lead from an eager Toby Clowes practically the entire race... I tried to gap him, but with a tow he could keep reeling me back in on the straights.  The final lap board came out, and there was a bit of a margin, and although I thought I had enough in the bag, I managed to get my only 'tank slapper' (of the whole weekend) into the Esses, lost some momentum and Toby got a decent drive out and then defending my position into the Melbourne Loop I outbraked myself and Toby got through!  arrrgghhh what a c0ck up, and then to make matters worse I shifted from second into first (rather than third) so that was that.  

Here's the onboard video (sorry about the default VBOX scene as there is a problem with my custom scene since I upgraded the firmware on the VBOX):-

Second is good for the Championship (which I'm still leading at present) and I won't make a mistake like that again - I'll come back with that lesson learnt and will come back fighting (as always) at Snetterton in four weeks time.

The race and qualifying are likely to be on the Saturday morning (5th August), but the timetable is still 'TBC' at this stage.

Brands Hatch Indy - Round Three - First Place!

Having been bitterly dissapointed with my result at Curborough a couple of weeks ago,it was certainly time to have a good result this weekend at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.

I arrived on Wednesday night as had booked two test days (for the Thursday and the Friday) and then some marshalling for the Saturday, with quali and the race on Sunday.   Unlike quite a few others, I came out of the two test days with my car intact.  Marshalling on the Saturday was a bit drawn out, but really gives you an appreciation for them as they are all volunteers and without them we could not race (the same goes vice-versa, but even so!).

Onto quali... I headed up to the holding area and luckily got the first slot out so could have a few clean laps to get some decent times in - well that was the plan; until the session was immediately red flagged by someone ending up in the gravel after Paddock Hill bend, which somehow meant I lined up last with 27 cars ahead of me!  Battling through the traffic I managed a time which was enough to get me 4th on the grid, which I wasn't overly happy with, but still would give me a chance for a podium finish.

Anyway, onto the race, here's the video:-

yyyeeaaahhhhhh - I won! ☺ What a rush!  One of the most incredible feelings of emotion in my whole life, and a moment I will relish for a long time to come.  Well done to Graham Macdonald (p2) and James Murphy (p3).

Top step of the podium was an absolutely perfect result to my first race

With some interviews out of the way, it was time to spray the champagne (well Prosecco)

Podium celebrations were fun

I think I'm now leading the championship again, and with four races to go it's very close indeed!  The race highlights will be on TV this weekend - Saturday 10th June 2017 at 15:45, on Motorsport.tv (Sky Channel 447).

I'm going to take a bit of a break from the car for a bit and get some of my life back for a bit, so I think the next time I'll go out will be for the next event at Donington Park for the 60th Anniversary of the Seven festival over the weekend of 8th and 9th July.

Three Years Later - My R500 is SOLD!

It's a week away from three years, since I took delivery of my beautiful Caterham R500 Duratec... And now its become Cliff and Alli Malone's beautiful Caterham R500 Duratec.

Handing over the keys of my Caterham R500 Duratec to Cliff Malone, the new owner.

I've had a great time with the car; with a few ups and downs along the way (downs mostly  throughout the build phase) and plenty of fun/expensive upgrades - which was all part and parcel of the 'Caterham experience' which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Cliff and Alli were a genuine delight to deal with, and although I've asked for 'first refusal' if they ever decide to sell it, I can see them both having many years of pleasure out of the car.

Here's a video of Cliff leaving in 'the beast':-

I trust they had a safe journey home, and will hopefully see them on a track-day or any other event in the near future.

I'm pleased I've sold the car, as the Academy season is more of a commitment than I initially thought it would be and the additional space in the garage will make general 'maintenance' more straight forward.  It's a shame as I utterly loved the R500, and now I'm left with a 125bhp Academy car in my garage, and an empty space where the R500 was - how did that happen?!?  Again, all part of the 'Caterham experience'!  ☺

Next up, Brands Hatch this weekend....  My race is at 4pm on the Sunday, so hopefully see some of you there ☺

Curborough Sprint - 5th Place

WARNING - MOTORSPORT CAN BE CRUEL!

Having been to Curborough a couple of times in my R500, I was feeling confident about the day ahead.   The only thing that was going to get in my way of a win (and hopefully a new lap record) was the weather which looked like it could be a bit of a lottery.

Onto the day...  There were two practice runs, followed by three timed runs...  The practice runs were dry, then there was a shower and the first timed run was wet; we stopped for lunch, the track dried out, the first seven runners in my group had a dry run and then a monsoon hit flooding the circuit,  leaving no-one else the opportunity of a comparative time which was highly frustrating.

Here's my times for the day:-

• Practice 1 - 68.05 (fastest overall - dry)
• Practice 2 - 67.28 (fastest overall - drizzle)
• Timed Run 1 - 77.44 (fastest overall - wet)
• Timed Run 2 - 79.15 (weather effected - dry/wet)
• Timed Run 3 - 74.44 (fastest overall - wet)

And the full times are here:-

Timed runs for the 2017 Caterham Academy Green Group at Curborough Figure 8 sprint course - wet/dry/wet/dry

It's safe to say I was very unlucky with the weather, and I feel pretty down right now, but that is the harsh reality of motorsport - in particular sprint racing, where a 15 minute downpour in the middle of a session can win or lose you a weekend.

Here's two of my notable onboard videos from the day
74.44 Lap in Timed run three which was 2.5 secs faster than anyone else in like for like conditions:-

67.28 Lap with a bit of drizzle was the fastest time of the day - shame it was in practice 2:-

Having calculated the points I think I'm still 2nd in the Championship after this event, but I feel somewhat robbed, but I will dig deep and will be even more determined for a podium finish at Brands Hatch which is the first 'proper' race of the season two weeks today (4th June) - hopefully see you there!

Aintree Sprint - 1st Place!

So today was the first day of the 2017 Caterham Academy Championship season...

...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

My hopes for this season were to have one podium and to finish in the top ten...  I'm utterly thrilled to bits at winning the first event, but having achieved a podium already, is it wrong I want more?!?  I guess that's racing in one sentence - never happy!

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 ☺

Castle Combe Test Day

So yesterday was the first 'on track' official Caterham Academy event of 2017.   

Without wanting to go into too much of the 'boring' details, we arrived the day before, camped out overnight, signed on at 8am, had the briefing around 8:45 and were split into four groups with each group getting a fifteen minute on track session.

We all had to have our decals fitted, along with our sprint race numbers (which are different to our race numbers) and had to line up in sprint number order before heading out onto the track.  I was in the pink group, with our first session at 9:15

Lining up in sprint number order - waiting for lights to go green

Just before 9:15 the silver group came in, the track was clear and the pink group were out... Time to get on track and start pushing...  Jon from snappyracers.com is the official photographer for the season, and he managed to get this pic whilst I was on three wheels!

On Three Wheels at Castle Combe Test Day

Here's an onboard video of one of my fast(er) laps...  However, I was a little 'cheeky' with the track limits at Bobbies corner...

There was another lap where I wasn't as cheeky with the track limits, and was up on the above time, but got held up at camp corner and had to lift, so lost the overall lap time.

It was all in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day for a number of reasons:-

• Great to see (and meet some of) the other competitors 
• Superb to get on track with all Academy cars and drivers
• Great weather
• Hospitality and organisation great too

I've been pushing it for some time in terms of my 'Academy commitments' so will hit the gym for a few weeks and give the car a spanner check etc etc.  

Next up, is will be a track day at Snetterton on Good Friday - the 14th April - hope to see some of you there ☺