Photo Credit @om1d Motorsport
This months Silverstone Race weekend was another rare chance to get together with Matty Street and do some racing. Had a great build up to this one with a visit to Blyton to see the next generation of Xkart drivers take their first steps in a new karts to cars initiative with their partners BPC Motorsport who also ran my car for the first race of this year. Brought back great memories getting to drive the first car I ever drove once again too. We also got to meet Xkart driver coach Finn Leslie who was preparing to head down to Silverstone too for his very first race in Fiesta Junior.
Arrived safe and sound on Friday night thanks to Adam Kluj Transport Services, we got the car unloaded into the garages and all set up ready for Saturdays early start with Qualifying for the two sprint races to come later on.
Saturday morning came and we were all ready to go early but there was a technical issue with the International circuit which caused a lengthy delay. This meant that my qualifying session was out an hour late and cut very short, with barely enough time to get the tyres warm (4 laps) I was disappointed to be P20, P16 in class for the starting grid of race1. Benefitting from the warmed up racecar and raring to go having missed the last couple of rounds Matty faired much better with a P7, 4th in class, the car was looking quick.
Our crew was cut a little thin this weekend with a couple of members missing, so me and dad went over the car checks preparing for the afternoon races. After going through data with Matty and seeing just how much pace we had in the car I was feeling confident about making progress in my sprint race. Had a decent start staying out of trouble in the first couple of corners and then picking places off to finish the race 8 places up in P12, which was actually 10th in the 116 class, plus very happy with how close my laptimes compared.
Matty started his race really well and took P3 early on, and he held onto this position for most of the race. His pace also had us thinking that we may have our first top three finish...Frustratingly with just two laps to go he took a hit and was slammed into another car before glancing off, luckily only onto the wide tarmac at the side of the track,... we could only watch as he lost lots of places waiting to make a safe rejoin. From near the back he fought back to P16 and we were thankful the car still drove ok, but fast laptimes and Matty getting back up to 14th in class wasn't enough to console us about that P3 getting away. My dad had held off putting the P3 on the pitboard for fear of jinxing it...didn't matter in the end.
There was a lot of activity at Silverstone that weekend with some of our friends racing on International with us, and more racing "next door"on the National circuit which we did earlier this year. Thanks to everyone who came over to support, it was good to see so many of the X-Kart family again, and we have got to say a huge well done to Finn Leslie making his dream debut with a win in Fiesta Juniors. Also happy to see my friend Adam Parker finally finding the source of his recurring problem with the help of Darren (DT Motorsport), and finishing his Honda Civic race in P16.
An early start again on Sunday with Darren (DT Motorsport) and dad having fitted a new track rod and realigned the steering after the damage suffered on Saturday. A few more checks and we were ready to go for qualifying and claim our grid slot for the afternoons 90 minute endurance race. Again, Matty had great pace but it was a very close session and we only narrowly missed out on a top ten start by one tenth of a second, with only 1.7 seconds covering the top 20. Still learning I couldn't match his laps on my outing but we would start the race P12 which is actually our highest starting position so far. We checked over and fuelled the car ready for the 90 min race, and went over the data to compare laps. We also managed to watch some of the other races, before waiting to be called to assembly area for our mid afternoon race.
This time the plan was for me to start the race and then swap with Matty on one of the two mandatory pit stops. I was a little nervous to be going off so high up on the rolling start of a 43 car grid, but I made a decent start and came around on my first lap in tenth position and battled hard all the way through the first 20 minutes for 8th being forced off the edge of the track a couple of times. We called the first pitstop early as I was being blocked by the car in front slowing up my laptimes, and we had already picked up a 5 second track limit penalty. With a couple of team members missing, the stop wasn't as clean as we did in the early rounds and we lost a few extra valuable seconds as Matty jumped in the car for his stint.
He had great pace again and brought us back up to a good position after the stop, however during his stint we were also given more track limit penalties,... now 15 seconds to be added to our total racetime at the end. Later Matty was also slowed down after catching a group of cars in front, and as we approached the 1hr mark we decided to make our second stop with me swapping back in to drive the last half hour to the finish.
Settled back to my previous pace within a couple of laps and immediately recieved a drive through penalty, again for the same corners exit track limits. At this point it was difficult to tell what position we were actually in due to the amount of penalties handed out to almost all the top twenty cars. After the drive thru I channelled my frustration and pushed hard to the end of the race to make back as much time and as many places as possible. Closed a 12s gap and passed the car in front, and also chased down a 40s gap on the next one and got it down to under ten seconds, but ran out of laps before the chequered flag was waved.
We came across the line to finish in the top 15 on the road, but were disappointed as our pace would have put us firmly in the top ten. Then to add to our misery we were handed an extra penalty after the race end as apparently we should have served two drive thru penalties. The total sum of 122 seconds added meant that we were officially 22nd after everyones race penalties were factored into the results,... how could one corner cause so much trouble?
A little late with this report as after the race weekend we had to get the car back to looking its best for the very next Saturday where we had it on show for the JPC Smiles for Miles event at Croft circuit. Look out for the amazing car photos posted on my socials.
Now a short break from racing for September but still an exciting and busy month ahead, starting college and we will also be preparing and looking forward to the final 116 Trophy round of 2023 on Saturday 7th October. A huge thanks for the support from all my sponsors throughout the season, I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to race at these iconic circuits, and next one will be very special..... Racing for the first time at Oulton Park, it has been a dream of mine since my first visit age 5 going watching BTCC with dad. Also hoping to have a few friends and family watching me as the track is so local to us, fingers crossed the weather will be kind.
Sandro#19
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