I was given the opportunity to contest the final race of the Jim Russell
PRO series - on the proper Silverstone racetrack - well, part of it. We
were actually running the 'National' circuit which takes us through
Copse and Becketts (part of the F1 track) but from Becketts the circuit
double's back on a straight which rejoins the F1 track at Brooklands,
then Luffield & Woodcote. I can tell you, after a couple million laps in
GP2, F1RS, MGPRS2 and everything else, doing it in real life was so
fantastic! I really was in awe of the place; driving the same tarmac as
not only Schumacher, Hill and Hakkinen but also Senna, Prost and Mansell
- that's what it felt like anyway :)
Unfortuanately yesterday (Friday) when we were supposed to have a full
one-hour's testing, torrential rain turned that into 10 minutes (got
about 5 laps! :) on a completely soaked track! I nearly aquaplaned off
the track into the wall at one point! It was horrific!
Today, (Saturday) it was dry thankfully. I went straight into qualifying
having no knowledge about the track, except for my sim racing; it
must've helped as I spent most of the sesson 3rd fastest, only dropping
to 4th at the end! :o) I was well pleased and the instructors were
impressed!
Hmmm, then onto the race. It really started to chuck it down for 5
minutes before the start, but stopped thankfully before the green
lights. The track was damp but I managed to get a good getaway from the
start and squeezed through into 2nd, right under the pitwall. It was
narrow, and I was worried I might get slammed into the wall. First
corner, Copse; had to hold the inside line and fell to 3rd - then the
second corner Becketts! Chaos! Carnage! The front runners had a coming
together (Class A, in Zetec cars, I was in Class B, Zeus') I picked my
way through and got a good exit down the back straight and squeezed into
the class lead!!! :o)))
Unfortunately I misjudged my braking into brooklands and ran a bit wide
- the 2nd-placed guy retook the lead in a great manouver around the
OUTSIDE of Luffield :) That line does have better grip actually. Anyway,
starting lap two I made a silly mistake - locked up and went into the
huge gravel trap at Copse and lost everything :( I regained the track in
what must've been last place. Still this was great experince - I was
determined to keep trying hard. Next time round, disaster struck, I had
a great run on two slower cars in front of me, when one of them spun,
right around. He was going backwards, in a straight line and I thought I
could just nip through - but the *** suddently turned right into my
path - I had nowhere to go; here comes my first career shunt! Yippee!
:o(
I just tagged his right rear - my right-front wheel & suspension were
gone. Damn! I was really dissapointed. Maybe I should've passed him on
the right side. Off I skittled into the gravel, jumped out, shook my
fists and waved my arms at him in anger :) That was me done for the day.
An expensive accident, no doubt. Still, I improved my confidence alot
today in those wet conditions; and you can't put a price on confidence!
Watch out for the next exciting installment of "Rob Goes Motoracing!"
:-)
--
Rob Swindells
Goldline Bearings FFord Championship: http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Juan Montoya 1999 CART Rookie of the Year!