Thruxton - The circuit of high speed

Thruxton was a bit of a new experience for me I must admit, firstly Vince kindly took my car down to Castle Combe on Saturday morning (he was running an MGB there) and then took the Droop Snoot on to Thruxton Saturday night, so all I had to do was drive down to Thruxton, well, I didn’t even had to drive as Sarah very kindly drove.  We stopped in Fleet to pick up my friend Simon and then I showed them a few of my old haunts and off to Thruxton, arriving about 10:15, nice and early.

I found Vince, made sure the damp night hadn’t got into his creaky old legs and then went off to sign on and drop off my upgrade card and then on to Race Control for my new driver’s briefing (getting used to these now!!).  I must admit this was probably the best new driver’s briefing as there were only three of us with two officials and they were very good and kept it brief but informative.

Back to the car and as ever the Snoot had got very dusty in the workshop, so even though I’d only washed her last weekend Vince and I decided another wash wouldn’t do anyone any harm, plus it meant Sarah and Simon could go off and stuff themselves with bacon rolls whilst Vince and I chatted about the car and Thruxton and also comment on the sad passing of Bill Blydenstein and Colin McRae, obviously my thoughts and condolence to both their families and the families also involved in the helicopter accident.

I had an idea what to expect from Thruxton, I did my ARDS there, plus I had some great in-car footage of Dad in the Opel Monza and also some footage in a Mk 2 Escort in the Battle of the Sexes versus Davina Galica and a TVR Tuscan race from 1992.  Vince decided now was the time to remind me that Dad’s late business partner, John Wingfield, was killed at Thruxton, thanks for reminding me!! 

Once I had a sparkly car it was off to scrutineering and everything checked out okay, which is always a bit of a relief!!  I now had some time before practice so I went and had a chat with Stacy Vickers to get some ideas on what to expect from the track, as the last time Vince raced at Thruxton was in 1978 in a Mini and I think all he had to do was steer and keep his right foot planted, even for the chicane and complex!!

Armed with my information from Stacy it was back to the car to get ready and make sure my Mum and step-dad Miles had arrived safely, which they had.  I told them and Sarah and Simon to watch from the outside of the track at the Chicane, as you can see the most of the track from there and I felt the chicane would be good in the Droop Snoot, so off I set. 

First off I got told off for going the wrong way in the paddock, as it’s now got a one way system in place (no signs and wasn’t mentioned at the briefing, so I think Thruxton or BARC need to tighten up there!!) and then just before the collection area they decided to noise test everyone, guess what, we failed the first one and the second one but passed the third.  Apparently when you do the test and the marshal tells you to rev and says okay you need to keep revving for 2 or 3 seconds, otherwise if you lift off straight away it gives a louder reason.  At least it wasn’t a problem in the end and something learned for another day, plus the car had really warmed up so probably sounded louder than usual.

I took my out lap very easy, make sure the brakes and tyres are warmed up and try and work out where the bumps in the circuit are and where the apexes are.  I started my first flying lap and thought lets keep this easy still, nice and smooth, everything went swimmingly until Church; I thought it was a lift off and turn, which I did, the tail came round, I caught it, but then it came round again and flung me onto the grass, oh no I though, the car span once, came round and then started to spin again and went up on two wheels, this time I thought OH NO, as I had visions of a roll, but luckily it came back down and there didn’t seem to be any damage and I’d kept the engine running.  I checked everything was clear and got back onto the track and just procedded cautiously, everything seemed fine so I accelerated, just then I notice one of the bonnet pins had come loose and the bonnet started to come up, OH NO again!!  I braked, the bonnet came back down but at an angle and I thought well that’s that, it’s bent.  I drove slowly and off lince back to the pits and luckily the bonnet fell back into place.  Vince came over and put the pin back in and off I set again, gingerly of course!! 

This time I took it extra careful, especially Church, and completed a lap, next target three laps to qualify.  I decided to go a bit quicker, my confidence came back a bit and all was going well until braking for the chicane, I managed to brake okay for the first bit but as I turned in I gave it a bit of power, a bit too much, but I had my left foot ready to ease the pedal and bring the back end back in but as I went to press the pedal my feet slipped, I missed the pedal and spun 180 degrees, dam, and to make matters worse the bonnet pin had come out again, so back into the pits!!  This time Vince put some good old tank tape on the pin whilst I checked my feet to make sure I hadn’t turned into Christy Brown and when I looked into the footwell there was oil everywhere.  I thought not much I can do about it now as we’re running out of time, the oil pressure was fine, so off I set, as I needed one more lap to make sure I qualified, which luckily I got, but I did take it very easy, plus I put a bit more front break on, as the car was a bit twitchy over the bumps.

Back in the paddock there was a lot of oil to clear up, it looked like where I had spun on the grass the dipstick had come lose and that was allowing the oil to spray everywhere and it made it’s way into the footwell through the pedalbox.  I cleared everything up and cable-tied the dipstick in.  I had bought some new rings for the bonnet pins but they were two small and unfortunately for some reason the mixture of high speed and bumps at Thruxton was making the rings shake off the pints, so I cable-tied those up too!!  It was now time for me to sit down and think about the race and what I could do a bit better on the track.  I adjusted the rear to make it a touch softer and other than that, not much else I could do other then engage my brain a bit better!!

Race - I got a decent start but unfortunately most people out-dragged me but by the time we all came to the complex (Campbell, Cobb & Segrave) I managed to dive down the outside and make up a couple of places but on the drag down to Noble got overtaken again, this was going to be a long race!!  I managed to catch up again at the chicane and got help up a bit and decided to use some of the kerb, whoops, I won’t do that again, it was like hitting a brick wall, Touring Cars must be built like tanks!!

The second lap was relatively trouble free, other than one of the Escorts to dry to use the line on the outside of the track, span and then came back onto the track, luckily I narrowly avoided him. 

I now had the track pretty much to myself and just concentrated on getting my lines right and nursing the car, as the engine was sounding a bit rough over 6,000rpm.  My times came down on each lap but I did get more oil into the driver’s footwell and it did resemble something a bit like the Exxon Valdez disaster by race end but luckily I knew it happened this time and was a bit more careful what I was doing.

On the 6^th lap I started catching the car in front, he was quicker through the complex but I was taking huge chunks out of him through Noble, Goodwood, Village, then he would get a bit of a gap after Church and then I caught up again.  On the 7^th lap I thought I must make sure I get Church right as that was where I felt I was losing time and I got right up behind him out of Village, so much so I went down the inside into Church and actually set my fastest lap of the race, just shows that you do mentally go that bit better when someone is in front.

By now my tyres were getting a bit hot and the front near side brake didn’t seem to be working as well as the off side, so under heavy braking the car would pull to the right.  I could also see the Escort that had enjoyed its trip on the grass was catching.  I managed to stay in front coming out of the chicane but he out–dragged me down the start/finish straight and then really held me up through the complex, my Snoot was a little close to his rear at Cobb!!  I clung on to him for the next two laps, hoping I could get close enough under braking into the chicane to go down the inside under braking, but never quite got close enough and on the last lap backed off a little as I didn’t want the engine to go bang just yet!!

I finished 12^th overall and 7^th in class, not too shabby, had bettered my practice lap time, felt comfortable with the circuit and more so with the car.

After the race Vince and I had a good poke around, the catch tank had filled with oil and unfortunately had leaked onto the nearside disc, which had caused the braking imbalance I had felt and the car had breathed very heavily/used a lot of oil, so looks like I might need to take the head off before Oulton Park, as it’s a long way to go for the engine to go bang!!

Watch this space….