Caterham Academy 2004

Academy Event 2 - Sprint, Harewood

Okay, personal aim again was for the top 5. I was 9th in the first event at Aintree.

Took just (!) 4 hours to get up there on Saturday afternoon, not too bad at all. Good to see a few other competitors at the Harewood Arms Hotel. A few of us walked the circuit, and as I'd been up to the school, I was able to point out a few things including the nasty camber change on the exit of Country Corner - more of this later.

Signing on was at 07:45, so it was an early start but the weather was glorious, just as it was at Aintree. After walking the course again with an instructor, the Academy group were first out for their practice runs.

It had been a couple of months since I'd been up to the school so I took it easy and was pleased to cross the line with a time of 69.64, 4th fastest. I was surprised at the number of people that hadn't been to the school, and I knew that they'd all be getting faster through the day. During the lap I'd overbraked for a number of the corners though so was confident for my second run. I managed to catch this one on my new video camera and bullet cam but was disappointed to be slightly slower, and was now 9th fastest after practice. Not too bad.

I then made the key mistake of the day. Basically, I didn't bother to think why I was fast or slow but just went into the first timed lap trying to keep my foot down. It was a disaster. The lines were very basically okay, but I was struggling to actually hold the line, sawing the wheel all over the place for grip. I put a wheel off the circuit at Country after turning in too early and getting caught by the camber and crossed the line with 70.36. Rubbish. You can see how pleased I was in the video :-). I did manage to get [too!] close to the thwacking stick on the exit of Orchard. A slightly cracked rear wing and the loss of a nylon bolt resulted!! 15th overall.

(4Mb Quicktime movie)

Second run. Didn't learn and just did the same again. Tidier round the first part of the course, but turned in too early and lost it at Country again. This time the bullet cam power lead came out so I lost video as well. Crossed the line in 70.13 for a slight improvement in time, but 18th overall.

(4Mb Quicktime movie)

The full results can be seen here.

It was a hard lesson to learn. Amazingly disappointed, but if I don't think about what I'm doing and how to go 'faster' what do I expect. Something to bear in mind for Castle Combe.

Congratulations to Chris Rome (cr) who not only won the day, but also broke the class record with a time of 67.21. Chris moves up from 7th to 4th, with Paul Jepson still leading Group 1 after his 4th at Harewood. I've dropped from 9th to 12th :-(.

You can see the full championship (Group 1) positions after round 2 here.

Back to normal on the way home. 5.5 hours!

Posted by charles at June 7, 2004 11:21 AM