Saxmax
Championship Round 3 – 11th June 2006 – Brands Hatch
Today was going to be a difficult day, as I knew
going into this morning’s timed practice that I had an underlying
problem down the straights, but I was still determined to achieve a
decent result from the qualifying and the race.
Before timed practice we made some adjustments to
the suspension, which hopefully would gain me some time through the
corners and get me a better qualifying position on the grid. This
paid off as I managed to improve on yesterday’s time by a whole
second, but unfortunately it was not enough to move me places up the
grid and I started on the same position of 19th for the
second day in a row. After timed practice more problems occurred as
after inspecting the car, we noticed cold patches on the radiator.
All that afternoon became a desperate search for a radiator I could
use for the race and this latest event proved that I have had not so
much luck in this championship so far. As the temperature increased
during the day, we installed a borrowed radiator, which to our
dismay leaked water out of the bottom. I was left with no choice but
to use my original radiator.
The race came and the temperature was well in the 30
degrees and would be a test to all drivers. Off the line, I didn’t
get a very good start and went round the outside into Paddock
Corner. This move paid off as a car on the inside hit the barrier
and came back across the track showering debris everywhere and
blocking all the cars on the inside. My car felt like a different
car and had a lot of pace down the straights, which allowed me to
overtake another driver into Druids Bend just before the red flag was
issued. After all the debris was removed from the first corner
accident, we undertook a complete restart. I got a better start and
went down the middle gaining 3 places, but I knew immediately the
car wasn’t as good as it had been after the original start. I had
only completed 2 laps and I came down Paddock Bend and the car just died
and crawled slowly to the marshal’s post at Druids.
After many attempts from the
marshals and myself, the car would not start at all and after the
race had finished I was towed back to Park Ferme. It was incredibly
disappointing to not finish as I really like the track and I needed
some Championship points. The only thing we can really benefit from
this weekend is that we suspect the problem is a fuel pump
problem and that I have learnt a lot more as a driver as well. This
race weekend has also shown that the racing within the class is
extremely close and that the Championship is going to be very tight
and competitive for the rest of the 2006 season.
Amy Scarisbrick
|
