Saxmax Championship Round 7 - 26th August 2006 - Silverstone
Round 7 of the first Saxmax
Championship was eagerly anticipated as it was being held at the
legendary track of Silverstone. Today was an extremely important day
for me as not only was I desperate to perform well, but also it was
a dream of mine for me to compete on the circuit of Silverstone
after being a huge Formula 1 fan from an early age. Another very
special thing for me was that it was the first opportunity that my
mum and brother had to see me race in my car and I was keen to put
on a good show for them.
Weather conditions were going to
be key in the race again today as after an overnight downpour,
standing water was left on the track making the conditions a lot
more difficult than expected, especially through Copse Corner which
can be very testing in the wet. In Un timed practice, most drivers
took it relatively cautious as surprisingly not many had been on the
Silverstone Short Circuit before and we were adjusting to the
conditions. Going into Timed Practice I was more confident as I had
got a quite quick lap time and I had a real chance of a good
qualifying position. But as the track dried out and all of us went
onto slick tyres, my car just didn’t have it in it. It just seemed
to lack power, mainly out of the corners and I struggled through the
session hoping the car wasn’t as slow as I thought it was.
Unfortunately I was right and the car did seem to have some kind of
problem and had left me on the back row of the grid. It was so
disappointing as so many observers had commented on how quickly I
had learnt the track and how good my lines were.
On the start
grid I was so far back I was on the bend, which didn’t help, but I
managed to overcome this and get the start of my life. I headed down
the right hand side but was forced to change direction as two cars
touched and remains of a wing mirror were thrown at my car. Luckily,
I was in a good position for Copse and managed to get a few more
places through the middle and with a couple spinning out as well,
this really helped my position. I had managed to move up to about 14th
by the first corner, but this wasn’t enough. My car soon started to
fade all the places I had gained were slowly lost through the course
of the race. I ended up about 17th, which was higher than
I expected to be with the pace of the car.
Overall, I’m
obviously disappointed as my championship is set further back and I
have something wrong with my engine, but I’m happy as I achieved a
lot this weekend, purely by just fulfilling the dream of racing at
Silverstone and knowing that my starts are a lot better and that I
have a lot of potential. It was also nice just to race in front of
my family who are proud and supportive of me in whatever I do.
Amy Scarisbrick
|
