Midnight Oil Fuels Birthday Podium

Photo Credit b46Photography

The BRSCC NorthWest season kicked off in April at my local circuit, Oulton Park, for the PBS Brakes Supersport Endurance Cup Round 2. I was particularly excited about this event because it coincided with my 18th birthday, and racing at a track I frequently visited as a young racing fan. I was also optimistic about achieving a good result following a promising performance in the previous round at Silverstone, where after qualifying pole and scoring fastest lap in class, we ended the race with a turbo and a gearbox issue (which probably cost us a win and ultimately resulted in a P4 finish).

In the weeks between that round and this, some repairs were made and so we had a short test session on Friday morning practice before race day to confirm that we had eliminated those issues. However the run was cut short with clutch cylinder failure, plus the turbo issue was still present too.

The clutch issue was quickly resolved with the help of BSB Motorsport although with the gearbox having to come out it meant us losing the rest of the day. The boost issue however still needed further investigation. After some help and advice from various people around the paddock we finally diagnosed the issue, but it was a long, daunting, and difficult task which lay ahead due to the very awkward position of the part which needed replacing, and the number of parts to remove first to get to it. Usually this should be an engine out job and we got the feeling people expected us to be going home.....

Huge thanks to our hero of the weekend Ryan, who's sheer perseverence and determination would push my dad and the team into the early hours in the garage, stripping off numerous parts, frustratingly with very limited room for spanners or hands. Often having to go blindly only by feel as you couldn't actually see the bolts which needed undoing, they finally got to, and replaced the part which was the source of the problem. Then started on the rebuild....Audrey was finally back in one piece at 1.30am with just fluids to replace.

Saturday morning arrived quickly, and not wanting to start the car without checking fluid levels after disconnecting numerous hoses the night before, we all pushed Audrey to scrutineering, and then back up to the garage. Once fluids were topped up, leak and airlock checked, and the pre qualifying checks were made, we were all tired but finally ready for race day.

At the start of the qualifying session I took a few really easy initial laps to complete the mandatory three without issue, and then pulled Audrey in for a check over and took aim at some faster laps. The car was back to feeling lively again, and once the trust had built up I pushed her to a 1:54.911 taking pole position in Clubman class A, (even with two laps disallowed for track limit infringements). It was an amazing feeling for us all, especially after the toil of the past few hours. We had qualified P11 over all from 27 cars, just 0.7s outside the top ten which was made up of only Pro class cars.

With a long gap now until our 2hr race at 4pm it was time for some 18th Birthday celebrations. Being my most local circuit it was special to have so many of my friends and family pay a visit to the garage. I received some very nice presents which I will treasure,.... Thank you all,....and my young cousins and friends very much enjoyed having a sit in a real race car.

After having Audrey in so many pieces the afternoon quickly passed with lots of checks, and pre race preparations such as, brakes, fuel, fluids, radios, etc. and it didn't seem like long before we were called to assembly area to leave for our out laps leading up to the rolling start. I made a solid start holding the lead, and despite the heavy initial fuel load consistently pulled out almost a second per lap to my rival in Clubman class A, the No77 Reuter/Boston car.

Photo Credit b46Photography

Deep into the top ten overall, we were just discussing a pit stop when there was an incident which brought out the safety car, bunching the field back up and destroying the 45 second lead which I had built up. We had to pit shortly after the return to green flag which lost us a bit of time but I was still able to get back up to second place once I got back out and into my rhythm. This was still all panning out for a close finish if we could get the second mandatory 3 minute pit stop done perfectly.

However, shortly after our second stop we would receive a drive through penalty for completing the pitstop four seconds under in 2mins 56 seconds, this was enough to end our chances of a battle for the win unless the Boston car suffered a penalty or failure. Still I pushed in hope to the very end, and even turned the heating on in an attempt to cool the engine a bit and improve on my pace. On lap 52 three laps from the end, I got my fastest lap of 1:53.541 beating my qualifying time by 1.4 seconds. Each time I posted my fastest lap it got an immediate response with a faster lap from the 77 car and we would take the chequered flag in P6 and P7 over all, (P1 and P2 in Class).

Although the drive through penalty cost us a close battle and maybe that elusive first win, it was still an amazing result to be on the podium at my local track on my 18th Birthday,...and was made even sweeter being such a long way from where we were at the night before at 11pm...In the end a real rollercoaster of a weekend which leaves us P6 overall in the series standings, and P2 in class.

The biggest thanks of the weekend has to go to Ryan "we get the job done" for his absolute refusal to be beaten, and without whom we would have been going home on the Friday evening feeling deflated.

Thanks also to everyone who came to see me on my birthday at the track, very lucky and grateful to have support from so many people. And we simply wouldn't be able to do this at all without our sponsors Nurburgring Tours & Critical Power, our racing family Aston, Ryan, Charlie and Carla, mum, dad....

Also thanks to Questmead, Shaw Tyres and Exhausts, BSB Motorsport, all our loyal Graph X Studio customers, Supergood Bikers for Autism, Xkart/Teamkarting, and Peter Bowman Towing Centre.

The next round is fast approaching with a long drive down to Round 3 at Snetterton on Saturday 17th May. Fingers crossed I can go one step higher on the podium for the next one and close that 10 point gap.

Sandro#19