Monday 16 October 2017

Silverstone International - Round Seven - 4th Place and Trophy Race - 2nd Place

Having finished in first place at Rockingham at the previous round, I was in a fortunate position which meant that utilising drop scores, I had already won the 'Green Group 2017 Caterham Academy Championship'. 

What I didn't realise is that the if I had an collision at Silverstone that was deemed my fault, I could be awarded a penalty and you cannot 'drop' a penalised round (you are allowed to drop one round out of the seven races), which could potentially mean I'd lose the Championship!  So with this in mind, I could either sit out of the race, or race (which I did); but I had to drive in a different manner and back out of situations I usually wouldn't.  To make matters worse there wasn't a last lap board, so didn't defend on the hangar straight handing second place to Neil Fraser, and then into Vale and Club - handing another place, and the final podium position to Toby Clowes - oh well, another lesson to learn.  I eventually finished fourth which was my worst circuit race result of the year. 

Video below:-

There was a paddock party hosted by Caterham on the Saturday night, and myself and Andy Morgan (who won the White Group) certainly 'enjoyed ourselves' with all the food and drinks that were on offer!  

The Caterham Academy Autumn Trophy Race
The Trophy Race had been over-subscribed which meant the grid was too large for everyone to race, so instead of qualifying in the morning and the race in the afternoon, the grids were based on all odd placed championship finishers in race one and all even placed championship winners in race two (in the afternoon!).  This meant Andy and I lined up at 10am on the front row of the grid, with hangovers from hell!

Was a great race, and I could race more like I normally would (without the thought of a penalty ruining my championship), so led for three (or so) laps, got mugged down the hangar straight due to the massive tow effect, slipped to around eight place, then clawed it all back, and nearly snatching the lead at Stowe corner on the final lap, but I went in a bit too deep, so had to settle for second place.

Video here:-


So that's it - the 2017 Caterham Academy Season is finished!  What an utterly fantastic thing to do - there were ups and downs (fortunately more ups for me, than downs) but wow - what a year.  If anyone is remotely considering entering, don't waste another minute - just sign up as it'll be well up there with one of the best things you'll ever do.

What's next?  
Well of course with something as addictive as racing cars, the only thing to do is another season - the 2018 Roadsport Championship!  So with that in mind, my car was booked in for the Roadsport upgrades and collected after Silverstone weekend.  More to follow.