This gallery contains 14 photos.
Great Weather at Anglesey saw DPR Motorsport Drivers Ed Hayes, Ollie Taylor and Stuart Leonard familiarise themselves with this challenging track. Thanks to BookaTrack for a great day.
Blog Archives
2012 in Photos
Dec 17
This gallery contains 42 photos.
Gallery from a year in photos. Thanks to Rick Wilson for the images.
R600 Onboard Footage from Donington Park
Onboard lap from the new Caterham R600 race car from Donington Park. Car will be running on different slicks and harder springs but already it is running on the pace of a Ginetta G50. Thanks to DPR Motorsport for putting on the day.
2012 – RD13&14 Rockingham Race Review
Rockingham is a pretty cool track. It is not peoples favourite but the driver and actually car can make a significant difference. It is far better to come here for the final round then the tow fest of Silverstone International South as we did in 2011.
The job this weekend was simple on paper. Don’t balls it up. We had two races and simply put we needed an 8th place in one of the races to get the job done.
Qualifying was on a drying track I have to say is one of my favourite conditions. The ability to go faster and faster as the session progresses is such a brilliant challenge it was without doubt my highlight of the weekend. We sat in the pitlane for a minute to get clear track position and then went for it instantly going quickest and pretty much holding that position for most of the session despite coming across other cars which burn your lap. With 5 minutes on the clock I had slipped to 3rd place and I really took a lot of time to get track position with nothing behind or infront of me and hooked up two laps quick enough for pole in the end taking it by 0.8 of a second. The video is below; you cannot really appreciate how damp the track is especially the second part of the oval.
So, my 5th pole from 7 meetings. A pretty good return by all accounts and one that set me up nicely for the race. Flick Haigh lined up second with Aaron Head (Supersport Champion) in 3rd, Mark Shaw 4th and Ian Payne 5th. The start of the race took forever to come round but fortunately the start was good and we rounded the first corner in the lead. Mark who had waited for 3 years to get a blinding start chose a good time jumping straight into 2nd behind me and we set about trying to break the pack. 5 laps in or so there was a small gap back to 3rd and Mark was closing in little by little on me. I really didn’t want to get into a fight slowing us both down so waived him past out of the first corner thinking we would tow each other clear whilst I looked after my tyres. As it was Mark was shifting at such a pace I’m not sure he wanted me back in front. Racing him seemed like a crazy thing to do given my position so I sat in behind him waiting to see if his tyres went off but they didn’t, or rather if they did no more than mine. The half an hour shot past and Mark took the chequered flag for his second victory of the season. I followed him home giving DPR another 1-2 finish in 2012 but more importantly my first championship title. Ian Payne finished 3rd some 10 seconds behind.
So, that was that….job done, finally champion! The last two round were really about not making any mistakes and taking the points which isn’t the most enjoyable way to race but the season aim was to win the title and sometimes you need to drive with your head more than you would like to.
Due to the way the rules work on dropped scores competing in the second race of the weekend isn’t a wise move so we watched that one from the pit wall. An epic battle ensued between Mark, Ian and Aaron Head with Ian taking the flag followed by Mark and Aaron. Another fantastic and clean R300 race. Mark Shaw just held onto second in the championship from Ian Payne, both of whom had fantastic seasons.
Not really sure what to do with the blog now……it has technically served its purpose charting the highs and lows of trying to win a championship over 2 years. Its with huge pride to say I’ve achieved my ambition and done it the right way. We finished the season from 13 races entered on 7 wins and 3 second places, the highest ever return in a single season of R300′s and in doing so raced and beat the R300 champions from 2009 and 2011 in one off appearances, touring car drivers and other highly respected racers from different series. It was been a massive effort for sure.
So that is that, 2012 is over! Wow that shot by. It only really leaves me to say thanks in equal measures to my wife who has had to put up with me, my Dad who has done so much to enable me keep the costs as low as possible as well as providing endless useful and also not so useful tips but not least the teams that supported me. SPY Motorsport in 2011 and DPR Motorsport in 2012. I couldn’t of done it without you.
I finally emulated my Dad who won his championship back in 1978. Happy days!
2012 – RD7&8 Snetterton 200 Race Review
Time flies and I have been guilty of not keeping the website up to date. Work and family have kept me more than busy the last couple of weeks but its probably a good time to reflect on RD6 from Snetterton at the start of September.
From the time the calendar was announced this was the event we were least looking forward to. The 200 layout is the closest to the old Snetterton layout and the long straights promote pack racing and the potential for contact. Already carrying a zero from a DNF at Brands GP it was very unlikely the championship could be won at Snetterton but poor choices, or bad results could certainly throw a very big spanner if you harbour ambitions to win it. The plan therefore a simple one, leave Norfolk behind with the championship gap (on dropped scores 12 points) the same.
As it went the weekend went very much to plan for the most part. Testing both the DPR cars were very quick without tows and we looked to be very strong going into qualifying. For some reason, positioning, traffic the lap never really materialised and we qualified 3rd, the worst position of the season and team mate Mark Shaw 5th. Still it was Mark who is our closest challenger so the first objective had been achieved. Ian Payne had scored his first pole position of the season and Stuart Simpson lined up second.
All of this proved irrelevant as long term adversary James Sharrock got a belter off the start from P4 to round the first corner in the lead place. The start, which was good (albeit not as good as James) was blocked by Ian and Stuart holding position back in 4th.
At the end of the first lap we passed Simpson at Riches to make third and a lap later with Payne displacing Sharrock at the front passed James at the same corner when he made a mistake and ran wide.
One of the keys to racing in a pack is to not slow each other down; you don’t have to take every overtake that is available, some very wise words Simon Mason passed onto me back in 2008. Whilst others were going for last minute lunges at Murrays I tried to get past Ian where it would hurt us both the least. The first attempt didn’t quite come off; down the Bentley straight I had my nose in front but with both of us on the limiter in 6th it was stale mate until the braking zone. We both got under the bridge but my car was very offline and consequently slow out of the right hander Payne was straight back past. It took another lap to get into position again and carrying a lot more speed through Riches Payne was forced to go defensive into Melbourne. The plan was to actually compromise his entry speed in making it a lot easier down the straight but I had an unexpected bonus when Ian lost the car under braking for Melbourne offline and ran very wide. When I came out the other side and onto the Bentley straight all of a sudden there was a 2 second lead and most importantly the tow was broken. A lot had happened in about 8 minutes of racing.
The rest of the race was about managing the gap and looking after the car and more importantly tyres. The race finished without incident and we took our 7th win from 11 races. With Ian second and Flick Haigh scoring her first podium of the year the lead had extended in the championship.
The one slight fly in the ointment was front tyres. Having declared on 12 tyres (from a possible 20) and actually raced on only 10 my front tyres had covered Donington, Brands, Nurburgring and now Snetterton. To say they looked second hand was an understatement. The decision was mine; I didn’t want to use additional sets of tyres before Rockingham and already in race one we were unable to push as hard as we did in testing. Race 2 was going to be interesting…..
The first ten minutes of Race 2 were pretty good. With a great start we led the pack with Sharrock a close second before the safety car came out. Having never done safety car restarts as the lead car I’ve now done 2 in successive meetings. I chose to use the same formula I stumbled into in Germany. Surprise yourself and you should surprise the others……. the restart was good and we led the next few laps at one point getting the lead up to 1 second. However the car was not biting at the front end and the pace was not strong, not strong enough to properly break the tow. When Ian made it into second place it only took a lap or two for him to catch and pass me. For several laps we exchanged the lead until we went three wide into Riches. On the outside the speed was compromised and in the blink of an eye went from 2nd to 7th…….
Probably on any other track or any other day that would be signalled an attempt to charge back up the pack but to be honest the tyres were not going support the effort and secondly there was Anderson, Balon, Sharrock and Haigh all sniffing out a podium whilst Mark Shaw and Ian Payne battled for the win, settling for a solid finish seemed a very sensible idea. Anderson ran wide at Murrays on the same lap to give us 6th and we settled in behind Adam Balon for the remaining 5 laps or so. It was a great race to watch, wondering what was going to happen and with clear track behind didn’t need to worry about getting taken out by an ambitious move. The last lap came and going under the bridge for the last time the Fauldsport cars of Haigh and Sharrock touch sending them both off rejoining right in front of me. Navigating around the pair of them reminded me why I had chosen not to embroil myself in the battle although both cars still finished. With Mark pushing Ian for the win into the last corner I had visions of a Balon victory and a runner up spot but they both made it through the final corner giving Ian his third victory of the season. With Shaw second and Balon his first podium 32 crossed the line in 4th place. It felt like a victory!
Whilst Mark and Ian had clawed a couple of points back (they now tie on dropped scores for second place) the lead has edged out to 14 points with 2 races to go.
Rockingham, the season decider is a fortnight away……
2012 – RD9&10 Nurburgring GP Race Review
The plan for Germany was simple, get back to winning ways. Ian Payne had done a great job with 2 wins at Brands and Mark Shaw was hot on his heels both scoring excellent points. The top 3 in the table were close and there was no room for mistakes at the ring.
Testing had gone very well despite track temps of 42c, frequently a second or so quicker than most of our key rivals and over long runs even stronger, but you don’t score points for testing. Come race day the predicted change in weather arrived and the rain that R300′s had successfully dodged all year had caught us full on. Out on a wet track for the first time in qualifying we all had to find the grip, the lines and the times within a short 20 minute spell. Fortunately the car was hooked up and for the 4th time this season scored pole position this time with a comfortable half a second lead over Speed Series Driver and Caterham Instructor Darren Burke.
The weather was so bad for the first time our race was started behind a safety car. Darren made a move up the inside towards turn one as the race got under way and as I gave him room moving back across the track the car was braking on the blend line and not stopping as quickly as I would of liked. A run very wide conceded the position but fortunately that was all. 
The next few laps were spent building the lead over James Sharrock in third to the point where I was about a second behind Darren. Realistically to attempt to overtake Darren in those conditions would of required full commitment which was crazy considering we are not fighting him for the championship. Instead it was far more sensible to consolidate the points after Brands Hatch and give ourselves a good chance of race 2. Midway through the race the conditions worsened to the point there was standing water in several places and it was just the job to bring the car home in one piece. Still valuable points in the bag and over both Shaw (14th) and Payne (4th) with Sharrock taking the last podium slot.
A completely dry track awaited for race 2 and normal standing starts, albeit on a staggered F1 grid. We had run through various scenarios about where we might end up after the first corner and what to do; the most appealing option was to get the holeshot and checkout. As usual easier said than done. Fortunately it went according to plan and instead of looking in my mirrors for the first few corners we could drive the car flat out. By lap 2 the danger had passed and a healthy gap to Darren Burke was established which was continued to build over the first few laps until the safety car came out.
Apart from the safety car start to race one I had never had to restart the pack in all these years although I’ve been behind a few good and bad ones. As it turns out that too went to plan catching the pack slightly unawares before the final chicane I didn’t need to overly defend down the start finish straight and then set about putting in a qualifying lap to brake them again. On the first lap I pulled a 2.15.1 and probably one of my most committed laps ever gapping Darren Burke by 1.4 seconds.
From there everything went to plan driving consistently to bring the car home for my 6th win of the season. The usual fight went on for second place with Mark Shaw recovering up to second for a time before a last lap fight saw him overhauled by Ian Payne and James Sharrock. Burke finished 4th ahead of Shaw in 5th.
Having scored a fastest lap from race 1 the weekends haul was 49 points which put us back in the lead of the championship from Mark Shaw by 2 points, however the dropped scores position which is the one that really matters extends from 7 points to 12 with 4 races to go.
Snetterton is up next……
Nurburgring Update
A great weekend with very mixed weather but pole position in the wet, race 1 second place in very wet conditions and race 2 first place in the dry. Thanks to DPR Motorsport for getting the car sorted. It has been a difficult couple of weeks.
2012 – RD7&8 Brands GP Race Review
Brands Hatch was one of the fixtures looked forward to most when the calendar was published; Track time, or rather racing time is very limited and again the Caterham R300′s were supporting the British GT/F3 grid. Last year scoring two wins at the same meeting I went into RD4 of 2012 optimistic we could carry on delivering strong results.
Qualifying was interesting, the tyres took a couple of laps to come in and I had only just hooked up my first quick lap to put it on pole when on the next lap another car dropped coolant through Sheene and Stirlings. I immediately pitted as there was little point continuing with the track as it was to effectively park the car. The next 10 minutes none of the top drivers went any quicker and that was qualifying done and my third pole position of the year.
However there was a problem; I had a nagging doubt that my car was not as crisp as it normally is. The car was running in the tow of another car who itself was in a tow but it was merely holding station on the straights. I put it to the back of my mind, after all I had just run my quickest ever time round the GP circuit by several tenths and scored pole position. Its fairly difficult to convince anyone you have an engine problem and even I wasn’t sure.
Ian Payne had qualified well again, scoring P2 demoting Mark Shaw to third. The stage was set for a good race.
Race one got underway but I never make the best start from pole at Brands. You are just slightly too much in the dip on the right side and Ian Payne with his rocket ship engine took the holeshot. As always I wanted to get into the lead as soon as possible and Ian didn’t get the best drive out of Surtees and we went onto the GP loop side by side. As we approached Hawthorns I tried to take Ian round the outside, ageing my Dad by about 10 years. We had discussed at length the craziness of the Ginetta G55 crash there previously yet when the move presented itself you don’t think twice. Fortunately we both made it round putting me on the outside approaching Westbourne. The cars were neck and neck so I had no choice but to give way but as soon as I lifted off the car went into massive oversteer. At the time I put this down to cold tyres but it cost me places as Mark Shaw and James Sharrock took the opportunity to overtake. Unfortunately I didn’t have the perfect setup for race 1……
It was shortly after this I started to think all was not right with the engine. I was in the tow of other cars and simply not catching anyone. Mark overtook James with relative ease and I was just hanging on. For sure part of this was down to the handling of the car which was very loose at the back but unmistakably the engine was down on power. It took several laps to get a move lined up on Sharrock when he cut across me at Westfield forcing me off the throttle; the back stepped out and Terry Langley guesting in series overtook me and then the next lap drove straight past James with relative ease.
Still, the plan was to try and salvage a podium and make a couple of setup changes before the next race but within a lap or two I was watching the race from the gravel trap at Paddock. Sharrock got the entry wrong into clearways so I dived down the inside for the easy run down the pitwall, however James moved over and we banged wheels. I presumed he hadn’t seen me because at Paddock he went up high as if to offer me the inside line into Paddock. I still have no idea if this was his intention or not (probably not!) but as I went down the inside he then turned in, fearing yet more contact I jumped off the gas which instantly made the car swop ends and this time there was no saving it. As I sailed backwards down paddock hill Flick Haigh come over the top and with nowhere to go collected me as we disappeared into the gravel. My first DNF since 2008.
Luckily the car was not badly damaged, the sum total of a new exhaust but it meant I would start race 2 at the back of the grid. Ian Payne had held on to win his first R300 race beating my DPR team mate Shaw into second place. Congratulations must go out to Ian, but also Peter Young and his SPY Motorsport team, their first R300 win of the season and the team to end DPR’s 100% winning streak in 2012.
Race 2 like many of the races this year looked like an absolute certainty to be a wet one. Half of me wanted a wet race; a good chance to make a lot of places but on the flipside you are hindered by poor visability and the unknown….. As it turned out yet again, completely dry! From 27th on the grid you have to take nearly every opportunity presented to you. My start was good and the plan to get up high from the inside line worked and I was up several places on the run to Druids for the first time. At this point I was nearly taken out by a BookaTrack driver forcing me two wheels onto the grass on the run up the hill, I took a wide line around Druids and then saw contact between Trevor Carvey and Ian Anderson forcing Carvey into an early retirement; that could so easily of been my car just wrong time wrong place for Trevor.
Unfortunately the same could be said for Flick a lap later following me through the pack I drove round the outside of Mark Farmer at Surtees. Mark then got it wide going up the hill spearing across into Flick and ending her race. The first few laps trying to get through as many cars as cleanly as you can are daunting as you are mindful of not getting held up unnecessarily but you need to get past to salvage points. The setup changes made to the car were perfect and Caterham and DPR had both spent time on the engine and happily it was back on good form; infact on both counts completely transformed.
There was plenty of carnage going out over the 30 minutes, Sharrocks race 2 was ended when he drove into Peter Ratcliffes car holing his radidator at clearways. Being one of the first cars to encounter the spilt fluid put me off the road into the gravel but fortunately with enough momentum to drive out. The next cars through of Madg Mohaffel, Jonathan Ramsey and Paul Manyweathers were not so lucky; their races all ending in the clearways gravel with Sharrocks teammate Ramsey unfortunately hitting a stationary Mohaffel.
When the chequered flag finally fell I had achieved what I set out to, scoring 5th place but with the added bonus point of fastest lap and a new lap record to boot in clean air on the penultimate lap (I went quicker in clean air race 2 than I could achieve in qualifying in a tow) I only dropped 2 points to Mark who had again finished behind Double Winner Payne. Congratulations to them both.
What does this do for the championship? Well Mark now heads the leaderboard with Ian just behind me but rest assured we will be going all flat out next month at the Nurburgring!
