After finishing the last round of 2022 on the podium, there was always going to be an increase in expectations going into 2023, internally and externally.
However, with 49 cars entered, multiple champions returning to the championship, and plenty of champions from other classes within British motorsport trying their hand at an already extremely competitive championship, we all knew that 0.1 seconds can make the difference between a great weekend and a bad weekend. But this is why the BRSCC Mazda Mx5 Supercup is the best club championship in the country.
Friday testing set the scene for the conditions we would see throughout the weekend. With the track being damp & drying throughout the morning, and with a timetable not in our favour. 3 out of our 4 sessions ended up being in mixed conditions, an already highly competitive weekend became even more challenging.
The one dry session of the day did start to raise a few alarm bells though. The pace we had on the pre-season test day seemingly gone, and no time to try changes. overnight became a process of elimination as to what had changed on the car from the pre-season test day to the race weekend. Going into qualifying was an unknown as to whether the balance issues we had were fixed or not.
Saturday morning and the track was once again damp when arriving to the circuit, with the overcast conditions, the circuit was taking a life-age to dry. Everyone up and down the paddock seemed to have different opinions as to whether the track was going to favour a dry or wet set up, with most going for a set up to suit the wet conditions better. A chat with James and quite a few set up changes later, we opted to go to near enough a full dry set up on the car.
Going out onto the circuit and through the first section of corners it became clear that the circuit was predominantly dry, with a few wet areas, particularly in the last sector that I would just have to try and survive to try and get a lap time, meaning the last 2 laps on a drying track would be crucial.
Knowing this, as the session was getting closer to the end, I decided to come into the pits and get the car fully set for the dry conditions, giving myself 2 laps to set my first and second fastest laps, as did a few others, and set about improving on what had been a pretty bad start to the weekend.
My first lap out of the pits instantly went to pieces. Having built myself a nice gap to any traffic, by the time I got to Vale, I had already caught the cars in front back up, watching my lap delta lose 1.2 seconds through Vale and Club. My second fastest lap was already going to put me in a weak position for Race 2. The final lap was a clear lap, but a mistake at turn 1 at Copse lost a huge chunk of lap time.
The result, Race 1 starting P14, Race 2 starting P17, a pretty disastrous start after what had promised to be an improvement on last year.
Keen to make a strong start and to work my way back through the pack, Race 1 started well. Getting a decent launch off the line and holding position through the first sequence of corners. Unfortunately from there my luck once again unfolded, as going down the wing straight, the 2 cars in front went extremely defensive / aggressive for lap 1 of a long race, and as one went off the track on the exit of Abbey, they then decided to rejoin causing contact between the 2 cars, forcing me to take avoiding action. By the time lap one ended, I was down in 16th, with a big gap to the lead group.
From there, and with the help of a few retirements along the way, I eventually progressed to finish up in P11, following a race long battle with Patrick Fletcher as we moved through the pack. Eventually finishing the race how I ended last season, battling the similarly coloured car of Nic Grindrod (the 2nd best looking car on the grid) ;)
Race 2 was always going to be the most painful race of the weekend, starting P17 based on my 2nd fastest qualifying time, and once again a damp track with a drying line, making overtaking cleanly even more difficult than normal. Everything was against a miraculous recovery drive, even with the handling imbalances we had from Friday now fixed and a distant memory.
To make things even more tricky, my start was dreadful, getting too much wheel-spin off the line. Recovering the places back immediately through the first run through the Maggots & Becketts sequence of corners, it was then all about having eyes forward progressing through the field where possible and using the dry patches as much as possible. Making my way up to P13, after narrowly avoiding getting my car destroyed as 2 cars behind decided to brake way too late going into Vale, causing 2 retirements. Unfortunately for me with the race being cut short by 1 lap, and with the final 2 corners under double waved yellows, the 2 cars in front that I had caught very quickly managed to finish in front. So it was on to race 3 to try and salvage anything decent from the weekend.
Race 3 always seems to be the race that presents the most action of any weekend, with the shackles seemingly off for most, making it a crazy race, and well at one point, things got a little close for comfort...
After a poor first lap, being at the back of a 15 car train for the lead, it was starting to look like it would be another case of struggling to get through the pack. However, the car was back to how it had felt in winter testing and the pace advantage I seemed to have on the cars directly in front of me was significant.
With a few opportunistic moves at Club and Farm corners, I found myself up to 12th by lap 2 and setting after the pack in front very quickly. By lap 3 and having cleared Simon Baldwin, it was all about closing the gap to the Allwood / Grindrod / Bray / Wiggin battle for 6th, crossing the line on lap 5 1.9 seconds behind them.
By the time I arrived to Abbey corner on lap 6, I was already onto the back of the group, finally being able to showcase some of the speed within the car when in clear air. Going into Luffield corner, I was on the back of my team mate, Joe Wiggin, and able to push us both through past Allwood down the start finish straight. For the next lap, we worked together to close up to Grindrod and Bray.
Onto the final lap, and that moment. After getting a good run through Copse and lining myself up nicely through Maggotts and Becketts, I had a great run down the Hangar straight into Stowe. Wiggin holding and defending the inside line, I stayed tucked in till the last moment to go up the inside, and the next thing I knew... BANG!
Two wheels off the ground. My front wheel had just shaved his rear wheel lifting the front of my car up at 120mph! Amazingly though, on landing, the car was still pointing in the right direction. I fed it down the gears to go into Stowe and defended into Vale and Club, I was up to a strong 8th, and by the time I got to Luffield, I was already on the back of Bray and Grindrod, but unfortunately out of time.
After the race, Joe and I had a chat about our little incident, and a good laugh about it. Amazingly both cars in one piece, and albeit not the weekend results either of us had wanted, the progress we made and the promise for the rest of the season is something we can both build on together.
I would like to say a massive thank you to all my sponsors, Airbourne Graphics & Signs, EPTA Projects, Melliard Motorsport, Lex-Tools, EdsonGFX and The Beaded Seat company for their support getting me on the grid and racing this season.
Next round of the championship is at Brands Hatch on the 15th / 16th April with another sell out grid, promising a truly action packed weekend on an extremely short circuit, anything could happen, and it usually does...
See you there,
Jack
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