Indifferent at Brands
A superhuman effort from all at EMC Motorsport saw a very battered 944 race car turned around in record time and able to take the grid at Brands. It was to our, as well as the other competitors, great surprise that we actually made it to this meeting! The oversubscribed nature of this event also brought about a slight change in format. Class 2 of the Club Championship would now compete on the same grid as the Open Series runners in order to accommodate more drivers.
Qualifying
Arguably the most bizarre qualifying session we can remember. Two red flags, a car in the pit wall, punches thrown by drivers in the pit lane and that was before any of our own dramas! In light of these incidents, it was a much reduced qualifying session. The villains of the peace were the Open Series boys who certainly hampered the efforts of the Class 2 Club competitors. We had a rear shock absorber fail early in the session, which made right hand corners, how shall we say, interesting! With no danger of being able to set a fast time, the session was spent bedding the car in after its surgery, rather than going for outright pace. It was therefore with no great surprise that we qualified on the back row of the grid.
Race 1
To be quite honest the first race was a very poor effort. With our driver clearly still suffering a mental block from the substantial crash at the previous round, we didn't really show up at the races. We did finish, and pick up some points, but rarely threatened the other competitors.
Race 2
Determined to make more of a go, we looked better from the outset. Scrapping with four of our rivals, we were finding it difficult to pass on the narrow Indy Circuit. A reminder of what happens when you try a lunge off-line was given by Mike Donnelly. An attempted overtake around the outside of Druids saw him collide hard with the wall, ending his race. We were looking good for a pass on Alan Newbold when exiting Clearways, but could only find a box full of neutrals! We could do nothing more than coast the car off the side of the track on the start finish straight and watch the rest of the race from the Marshall's hut!
Reflection
All in all, not a top weekend for the team. We had not lived up to our own expectations, and left the meeting very disappointed. We have only one week to regroup before the next round at Castle Combe.
Qualifying
Arguably the most bizarre qualifying session we can remember. Two red flags, a car in the pit wall, punches thrown by drivers in the pit lane and that was before any of our own dramas! In light of these incidents, it was a much reduced qualifying session. The villains of the peace were the Open Series boys who certainly hampered the efforts of the Class 2 Club competitors. We had a rear shock absorber fail early in the session, which made right hand corners, how shall we say, interesting! With no danger of being able to set a fast time, the session was spent bedding the car in after its surgery, rather than going for outright pace. It was therefore with no great surprise that we qualified on the back row of the grid.
Race 1
To be quite honest the first race was a very poor effort. With our driver clearly still suffering a mental block from the substantial crash at the previous round, we didn't really show up at the races. We did finish, and pick up some points, but rarely threatened the other competitors.
Race 2
Determined to make more of a go, we looked better from the outset. Scrapping with four of our rivals, we were finding it difficult to pass on the narrow Indy Circuit. A reminder of what happens when you try a lunge off-line was given by Mike Donnelly. An attempted overtake around the outside of Druids saw him collide hard with the wall, ending his race. We were looking good for a pass on Alan Newbold when exiting Clearways, but could only find a box full of neutrals! We could do nothing more than coast the car off the side of the track on the start finish straight and watch the rest of the race from the Marshall's hut!
Reflection
All in all, not a top weekend for the team. We had not lived up to our own expectations, and left the meeting very disappointed. We have only one week to regroup before the next round at Castle Combe.
