Silverstone Race Weekend Summary

  24.05.2016 Sports & Leisure

On May 15, 2016  we were at Brands Hatch as a preparation for this weekend's Silverstone. We played all our cards for a good result, but there were several challenges.

Bronze session: We used 20 minutes of a 60 minute session to bed the brake pads. The rest of the session was used to familiarise ourselves with the car and set-up. No drama.

Free-practice session: All three drivers were able to get in the car for their first real match of the day. The car had a lot of exit oversteer (meaning the rear of the car would move, and in this particular case on acceleration). The term exit in this particular context means the exit of the corner. As you try to analyse the car's behavior, you look at the three phases of the corner—braking, apex and exit. During those three phases you, the driver, need to identify what the car is doing: understeering (the car not turning as you turn the wheel) or oversteering (the rear of the car moves abruptly). Within those two parameters (understeer and oversteer), you need to then give a degree of how much the car is moving—slightly, to uncontrollably, generally 0 to 10. 

Pre-qualifying: We tried a number of set-up changes in order to reduce the exit oversteer. We went from a stiffer (harder) to a softer rear. However, this did not help and we went back to a stiffer rear, but using different tools in making the car stiffer—rather than using stiffer springs, we used softer springs, but then had to stiffen the roll bar. We were going in the right direction. Unfortunately, I only had a few laps to go, as during my run the red flag (stop session) came out due to a dangerous positioning of a car that had spun out. 

Qualifying: My co-driver, Olivier, did a good job on his qualifying. When my turn came, just when I was about to engage my timed lap, the red flag came out, session over. I had an opportunity to go out again, but a better lap did not materialism. The last driver, Julien, went out and did a great time, but the competition was, and is, "so" tough that being 3.5 seconds off from pole put us in 49th place on the grid!

Race: Julien started and did great job and went from 45th to 38th, 12th in class.  Oliver took over and also did a great job ending his stint 28th overall and 8th in class.  It was my time to take the car.  The times were coming down, but after the 4th lap, the safety car was deployed due to an unsafe car on the track. Twenty-four minutes lapsed before the safety car came in. My restart was a mess! I was being passed left and right. At one point I had contact with a Mercedes ever so slightly that the hood of the car came off.  I was just able to see and bring the car to the pits for a quick repair.  Then something really odd happened - I got a drive-through penalty! For what?: A new regulation this weekend implemented by the organisers stated that a car, upon a pit stop, had to leave its box before 70 seconds or after 90 seconds! Don't ask! When the team repaired the hood, I left before the 90 seconds which caused the drive-through! The motivation was somewhat lost, but I still tried to work on the track. The race came to an end, and we finished 35th overall and 13th in class. A weekend to forget ASAP.

Next: Testing, testing, testing!!!!


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