Sunday 11 June - Brands Hatch

A late start and an early morning 1 hour drive meant that I could get there on the day, which proved to be the hottest of the year so far - nice when wearing 3 layers of fireproof Nomex!  Qualifying was in 2 sessions as there were so many of us, and it seemed as though the conditions were marginally better for the A session, as the top 8 places were taken by drivers from the A session. Needless to say, I was in the B session, ending up the 4th quickest B driver and 14th overall - a little disappointing but I knew that I was getting terrible oversteer around Clearways which meant I was slow on the start/finish straight.  With the top 9 going straight through to the final, I was on 5th place on the grid for the Heat, which conveniently was the inside of the track.

The Heat race was in the hottest part of the day - 3pm.  As we lined up on the grid with cars and drivers starting to overheat, the marshalls held out a board saying "Start Delayed" as they were still clearing up the remnants from the last race.  A 10 min wait in the heat was not much fun.  My normal excellent start saw me gain a place (I think).  My brakes were working like a dream - I could brake later than people with confidence.  My decision to replace my brake calipers was clearly a good one!  I had tried to dial out some of the oversteer by hardening the front shocks.  This just seemed to make matters worse, and both Graham Hill and Clearways were spent sideways! Fun, but not very quick. So I couldn't get into a position to overtake people, and had to fend off people from overtaking me.  This didn't always work, and I dropped to 8th by the finish. Still, I had fun, and Brands is still a great circuit for Locosts.

So I started 17th on the grid for the final. A place or two gained at the start, then trying hard to stay with those in front as I suffered with the wrong diff - a 3.9.  Don't worry, a 4.1 has been sourced... Unfortunately I can only remember the bad bits about the race.  Someone overtook me on the inside on the way into Druids - locked up and 2/3rds on the grass. I had to take avoiding action to avoid a large accident.  He didn't give me back the place, but did at least find me straight after the race and apologise which was good.  2 people also overtook me on the way into Druids under a yellow flag.  In their defence they said they didn't see it, and my car was probably in their line of sight, but it was still very frustrating.  Finally a car pulled out of the pits just as I was arriving at the exit, 3 abreast and about to gain 2 places.  Some emergency avoiding action by me saw a huge collision avoided (some 70 mph speed differential) but alas the 2 places lost.  So overall my most frustrating race ever, and one I finished in 16th place.

Roll on Lydden at the end of July.