Caldwell park

THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF MOTOR RACING

We set off for Cadwell Park Circuit on Thursday night with a view to testing on the Friday (2 half hour sessions) with a further 15 minute session plus qualifying on Saturday with 2 races on Sunday.

Friday practice was dry and Scott seemed happy with the set up and loved to track. All was looking good for Saturday.

SATURDAY

PRACTICE
15 minute practice we used for scrubbing in tyres and was uneventful . Scott was fastest in the session so all was going to plan for qualifying.

QUALIFYING
Scott was loving the track and setting fast lap, after fast lap, culminating in pole position for both races on Sunday. Luckily for us Alex Jay Racing had his fastest lap disallowed for exceeding track limits, or it could have been a whole different story.

SUNDAY

RACE 1
The track was slightly damp, erm OK. It was soaking wet.

The grid was to start behind the safety car. After 2 sighting laps the race was started and the safety car pulled off.

Scott controlled the pace up to the start line and had a blinding start. By the time he went past me he had a 3 second lead and managed the gap back to second place like a seasoned veteran.

He continued to put on a display on masterful driving (to use the commentators words) through till the end of the race, which Scott won by some 4.5 seconds and a fastest lap to boot.

Alex had managed to take himself off (but rejoined) and crossed the line 7th.

Scott now held a 75 point lead in the championship as long as he finished well in race 2 the championship was all but his.

RACE 2
The track was drying and with Scott in pole again the object was to get a good start and then to try and hold first but not to fight too hard if someone was to try and pass him as at this stage we just wanted as many points as we could gather.

Scott had a blinding start and pulled a couple of car lengths as they disappeared out of sight. as they came back into view Scott had increased his lead by some margin but as they went over the start finish line he was visibly slower.

As he went up the hill just about everyone passed him.

As he came past me again Scott was turning the wheel from right to left as if he was trying to get fuel to the fuel pump. All sorts of things were going through my mind. Had I filled the car? Was it bad fuel?

The next time round Scott was even being lapped by some of the slower drivers. I Have always told him that unless it is a safety issue, just keep going no matter what, as you never know what could happen.

It was painful to watch. The man who set double pole, won the 1st race and fastest lap now languishing at the back.

Scott was eventually shown the mechanical flag, meaning he had 2 laps to pull in to the pit lane, which he complied with. Paul and Eddie crawled under the car and Scott was wanting to go again but they wouldn’t allow him back out.

In my view the car was undriveable. How he managed to complete 1 lap let alone 3 or 4 I will never know.

It wasn’t Scott moving the car round, it was Scott fighting the car to try and make it go in a straight line.

He had a snapped wishbone meaning the steering had a mind of its own. Scott described it as having suspension made of rubber.

Every time he touched the brakes the car shot to the right. Going in a straight line was almost impossible and every time he tried to accelerate, the wheel shot back and rubbed against the wheel arch. Nightmare. I couldn’t have driven the car for 300 yards, never mind 3 laps of Cadwell.

On a brighter note

We are still 54 points ahead in the championship going into the double points last round at Brands Hatch in 4 weeks time.

As always we would like to thank the following without who’s assistance we couldn’t go racing

Team HARD Racing
Old Hall Performance
Jim Morris
GoBobby.uk
Air Accessories (Sheffield) Ltd
Autobrite Direct LTD
Amber Valley Fitness Centre
NGK Spark Plugs
Andy Bennett
Parallax Media
Eddie Endo Chandler
Lee Xmummyx Chandler

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