You can rely on the Spa meeting being a good one. Apart from anything else, the circuit is amazing to drive let alone race. I had a freebie lift to Belgium off Alex Kapadia (pronounced Ka par dia, not Ka pay dia - durrr) who picked me up from Ashford. He kept on asking me to do his gears for him but naturally I refused. Even I have standards you know. OK they're low but...
Wednesday
It was a trackday. A chance to shake the car down with it having had the engine refreshed and a couple of other bits. It wasn't until the afternoon that I really had a chance to properly drive the car. Before that though, the circuit decided all of a sudden that they were going to impose a 107dB noise limit. How can they do that? We've paid a small fortune for the trackday and they suddenly do this to us? Craziness. More on Spa as a venue later.
L-R Mike Rowe (facing away), Big-Hair-Boy, Ted Hurrell (Powertec),
Derek "Golf Buggy"White, Ben Smith (crouching), Nick "old man"
Dove, Matt Fox
Photo: Ben Magee
We eventually changed the exhaust and got onto the track without being further noise-tested . What the...? Within a few laps of getting back out on the track though, the cockpit began smelling strongly of petrol. It transpired that the fuel tank had fractured putting paid to the rest of the day. I wasn't really up to speed so the failure came at exactly the wrong time. I did get to shake-down a couple of other cars instead and that gave the opportunity to give a few of the Radical Works team some passenger laps as well as looking at different lines. I also had the chance to practice my pit lane entry and exit speeds which was to stand me in good stead later on in the week.
My new race-suit was somewhat out of the ordinary
Photo: Ben Magee
Thursday
Nothing happened. Quite literally. There was nothing scheduled for the Thursday so I spent the day harassing Woody and Matty; I have to entertain myself somehow. Phil (my co-driver for the weekend) arrived mid-afternoon. Unlucky Rob!
Stuart Moseley arrives...
Photo: Ben Magee
Friday
With me apparently having had a full day's testing on the Wednesday (yeah right), Phil had most of the hour's official testing in the morning. In truth it wasn't a great deal of use as there was a steady drizzle and the track remained damp. I think I did three laps! The afternoon brought qualifying, thankfully in the dry. Both Phil and I have to qualify within a 30 minute period. I don't have the details of Phil's time but I did a 2.21.9 which was enough to put me fifth on the grid, fourth SR8. Trouble was, I just wasn't quick enough. You'll see why; here are the official qualifying results . Stuart Blimming-Moseley.
Saturday
Race 1
It was dry. Yayyy. Better still, I could stand by and watch Phil for the first part of the race as he was starting. Double-yayyy. I think he was seventh on the grid but by the end of lap two, we'd dropped back to eleventh. Being held up by Gary Kane, by the time he pitted on lap 9, we were back in twelfth spot. I was going to have my work cut out.
Leaving the pit lane, there's a very tricky run up the side of "Eau Rouge" bend ("Radillon" on the map) before you join the track. As I mentioned earlier, I'd been practicing that quite hard on the Wednesday, so when I emerged onto the track, I'd leapfrogged the Gary Kane SR8, now being driven by Tom Ashton. Tom's the guy, regular readers may recall, against whom I had a fantastic battle at Brands last year. Read the Club Cup Race 2 section . Was this to be a repeat performance?
The new layout
Approaching "Les Combes" at 160mph, Tom was right on me and I was defending hard, still unsure how the car was handling. He stayed with me all through the lap, but sticking religiously to the racing line wherever possible and defending hard everywhere else, I managed to fend him off. Once I had a lap or two under my belt, I started to pull away. I then overtook a 4-laps-down Manhol Allos who decided to join the fray. In his position, I'd have let the two of us go and preserve my tyres for the next race but he saw things differently. As I left the pair of them, I came up on slower cars at inopportune moments which kept allowing Manhol and Tom to catch back up. One particularly amusing moment was when I came up on the front-running SR3 of Colin Noble. Having accidentally covered him in beer a few nights earlier, I didn't want to impede his progress in any way - you know what those scots are like. Once again the other two were right on my tail into "Eau Rouge".
Formally the "Bus Stop", Tom and Manhol in the red and white cars
Photo: Ollie Read
Passing Colin, once again I stretched my lead. Coming into "Blanchimont" for the penultimate time, I came upon a slow SR3, but the whole section was under caution. Waved yellows means no passing. I had to stay behind it until after the subsequent chicane (previously known as the "Bus Stop"). Better yet, in his slipstream, I'd lost my left mirror. So entering the "La Source" harpin for the final time, I hadn't seen Tom execute a tighter line and was fairly powerless to stop him overtaking on the run down to "Eau Rouge".
A small part of the epic "Eau Rouge"
Going up the hill, I was right on his tail at 120mph but my only consideration was where to get him back. I knew I was loads quicker than him through "Pouhon" so my plan was to get him there. But as we approached "Les Combes" he was a little late on the brakes and went wide on the exit of the right hander. I saw my opportunity and pounced as we went throught the next left. I knew he wouldn't be likely to defend this bend as it's not really a passing opportunity and got alongside him, forcing him wide into the next right. Having taken the place back, I now only really had to navigate "Rivage" successfully and his assault would be over, so much quicker was I through "Pouhon". And that's how it finished. I'd fought my way back up to eighth overall (fourth in class) and had there been one more lap I'd have got seventh (third in class).
It had been a fab race and as Phil pointed out, there's far more enjoyment having a tremendous tussle for a lower place than a lonely drive for (say) fifth. The points would have been nice though.
I keep going on about Blanchimont. This is what can happen
if you don't get the turn quite right.
Just one or two g-forces at over around 140mph up 'Eau Rouge'
Photo: Ollie Read
Race 2
My turn to start. As we left the paddock, there were a few spots of previously-forecast rain on my visor. Rounding "La Source" before gridding up, I went straight into the pits for wet tyres. We just managed to get out in time thanks to ace work by Matt and the Woodster, with my Rob overseeing. It was a battle to do it in time as everyone else was doing the same thing and I know other people were not so lucky. On completing the rolling lap, the green lights signalled the race start and I got a scorcher. Coming into "La Source" for the first time, Derek Johnson (yes him) went a bit wide and I managed to get my nose in front. I was up into third. The heavens had really opened by now and going through "Eau Rouge" for the first time was like driving blindfold. Completing the first lap in third, Phil came on the radio; "The race distance has been shortened. We think it might be best for you to do the whole race." As I said to him, it was a big ask but I was only too pleased to oblige.
Approaching 'Les Combes'. The Derek Johnson and Swift/Stanley cars
in close attendance
Photo:
Ollie Read
On lap 5, I came into the pits in second place (Filip Berg-Nielsen had suffered a breakdown) and the decision began to make sense: The race was reduced to 32 minutes in total. If Phil got in, he'd have to learn how the car was handling whilst trying to maintain the position. For a total of like four laps in the car? The only liklihood was our going backwards.
Phil: " I can't help thinking about Amanda..."
Photo: Ben Magee
I sat for the obligatory two minutes whilst the water seeped further into the murky depths of my race suit and eventually emerged back onto the track in outright eighth. Some of the cars only stop for one minute so they had got ahead. My job now was to keep the car on the track, make sure nobody overtook me and pick off as many as I could. The conditions were really bad now and when I came up on cars in front, it was like a wall of water, I could see nothing. Stuart Blimming-Moseley passed me and I make no apologies, he's in a different class at the moment. Him aside, I did maintain track position and picked up three more places to finish fifth overall, second in class. It had been fab racing on my own and I felt that although I wasn't as quick as I could have been, it was nevertheless a great, hard-earned result.
Post-race
Pete had come over to watch and that meant that we headed off early to a fab hotel in St Vith, twenty kloms away. The Hotel Zur Post boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant and we ate ourselves a fab meal before a well-deserved and long-overdue night's sleep. Heading back the following day on the Eurostar, we caught the same train as big-hair-boy Cameron MacDonald and his entourage which gave me lots of mickey-taking opportunities.
I have to give a massive vote of thanks to the Woodster and Matty. Without their hard work and diligence, the results would have been very different. Although not specifically at our disposal, Mike Rowe and Derek White gave sterling support with set-up and gearbox issues respectively. Thanks to all of you. And of course Phil "how-old" Abbott.
Woodster. He'd forgotten to put his teeth in again.
Photo: Ben Magee
Matty. Looking like he knows what day it is, for a change.
Photo: Ben Magee
Thoughts
I love racing at Spa. It's an honour. I feel like I'm really racing somewhere special. That said, we were put in the outer paddock which feels very much like we're third-class citizens, not least because of the appalling facilities which are nothing short of scandalous. Dreadful toilets and no showers. You have a ten-minute walk to get to the shower block. There is no excuse. It's not like they've just opened the circuit. The noise testing fiasco on the trackday beforehand should have served as a warning of what was to come in the second race. The disorganisation surrounding the change from a dry to a wet race seriouly disadvantaged numerous drivers with poor communication. Worse still, they prematurely shut the grid, leaving some to endure a pit-lane start. It just wasn't good enough.
You know, I'm not scared to say this: I am used to having poor facilities at Pembrey and Croft, but they do try and you wouldn't dream of saying their income in any way compares with Spa. I'm seriously considering whether to race there again. It is a long way from cheap and I think want more for my money than the 'privilege' of racing there. If Bernie Ecclestone has problems with Silverstone, he should spend a day at Spa with me. Silverstone's comparatively palatial.
Next meeting
Next up is the UK cup races at Brands Hatch on 6th and 7th June. Here's the timetable . Now I know there's going to be loads of people coming to watch so get your names in early. You know how to contact me.
And I'm going to win.
PS. Video and more pics to follow. Yes they will. |
