Well, Round 1 of the JSCC is now complete and what a weekend it was! Our goal for my debut weekend was simply to finish both races and stay on the tarmac so I was delighted to finish P17 and P18.
**FULL RACE REPORT** Friday testing was a great chance for me to build a little more confidence in the car and to adjust to the handling difference of not having an instructor on the left side. In session two I started to push harder and experiment more which was going very well until a puncture caused the car to spin round on entry to the chicane and the tyre to burst off the rim. Luckily it seems I only kissed the armco barrier and the damage to the car was very quickly repaired by Andy. Unfortunately this was the end of my tracktime on Friday and I had to watch the rest of the session from the sidelines. Thankfully, John the marshal was very kind to me and I got a great view from his marshal post!
Qualifying-Due to my shortened track time on Friday, I wanted to use qualifying to further practice before race one. With so many cars on track, I got stuck in traffic so only managed to qualify 22nd. However, I was hopeful this would give me the opportuinty to move up during the race.
Race 1-After a good start, I managed to pass a few cars in the opening laps before settling into position behind Luke Browning. We had a very good battle until the end of the race and I made a few attempts to try and squeeze my way through but it was not to be. Was more than happy to finish my first ever race P17!
Race 2-Eager to equal if not better this performance, I had another decent start, passing a few cars in the first lap and was running in P15. I worked very hard to keep the other cars who were hot on my heels behind me. Some contact going into Old Hall by one of my teammates, who was unfortunatley struggling with gearbox issues, lost me two places. I then set about maintaning this position. Unfortunatley I then took a big rear shunt from another driver who made a mistake on the entry to the hairpin. This caused quite a bit of damage to the rear of my car but I continued with the exhaust hanging off! I nursed the car through the final 2 laps, desperate to finish the race. Unfortunately due to the lack of power, I lost one more place on the last lap but was happy to at least cross the line. Suprisingly after the events we still managed P18.
Off the track, it was lovely to be interviewed live by Jake Sanson from Downforce Radio. The interview and great race commentary by Jake and Scott Mitchell can be found on their website-http://downforce-radio.co.uk/jscc-oulton-park-race-1-march…/. I also really enjoyed working with Ian from TestTrack.Tv, who streamed live 'behind the scenes' footage from our pit garage. It is now up on youtube-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNZE9xkWzyk. We also took some shots for a promo video to be released soon!
Overall a fantastic experience and I learnt a lot. What an immmense opportunity this scholarship has given me! Particular thanks to my team (Orex Competition) Andy, Mark and Dave for looking after me all weekend. I'm excited to put in more time at the gym and study my onboard footage from Oulton to prepare myself for Round 2 in April at Pembrey. I know there is so much more speed to find and I look forward to trying to finish above P17 next month!