Round 2 - Race 2 - Donington Park - Out of the frying pan...

Race day 2; saw slightly better weather. Not raining but still cold. The race was at 10:15 so we were able to afford a slightly later arrival time at the circuit. Fortified with a banana for breakfast (food of champions), we had a 9am briefing for our next race which was going to be a handicap race.

Through a rather complicated formula each driver was positioned on the grid taking into account their performance in previous races and qualifying. This basically meant that the fastest drivers were at the back and the slowest were at the front. We were split down into 6 groups and were released at intervals, with the theory being that everyone should cross the line at the same time and would give slower racers a chance of winning. That saw me positioned mid grid in Group 3 (with a 45 second delay before I could start) as I had done rather well in the wet due to my consistency and, yes, caution!

This wasn't a great positioning for me. My peers who had been slower in the wet were equal to me in the dry so I never really stood a chance of catch them up. I'd basically shot myself in the foot!

None the less, I gave it a good try and saw very little traffic throughout the race. Unfortunately disaster struck on the final corner of the final lap. I checked my mirrors before turning in only to be confronted by flames shooting out of my engine bay. I genuinely couldn't believe what I was seeing. I pulled off immediately, hit the fire extinguisher, turned off the engine, undid my harness and did a rather ungraceful scramble backwards out of the car before rolling along the tarmac!


The marshalls ran up with their extinguishers and finished putting out the flames. I was ok and bizarrely I was unphased by the fire, but I was so frustrated with not finishing that I had tears streaming down my face! You can hear me pleading with the marshalls to push the car over the finish so that I could get my signature that I need to be able to race in Spa, but this was to no avail.

This was my first DNF. The car and I were taken back to the pits on the back of a recovery truck for the scrutineers to check over the car. Everyone was brilliant and I had so many racers come over and check on me.

At this point I also found out that if I had crossed the line (which was about 50 meters away), I would have come 16th.

We washed the fire extinguisher powder off the car and trailered her up. I was very despondent as I wasn't going to get my signature now, was facing a damaged car (again) and the certainty that I needed to cram in some marshalling to get my signature so that I could upgrade my race license.

Fortunately the Clerk of the Course took sympathy. As I had 99% completed the race in a safe manner and the fire was beyond my control he very kindly awarded me a signature which gave a silver lining to the weekend.

We trailered the car back and tucked her up in the garage to be repaired next weekend.

I would like to thank the marshalls who help put out the fire.

Round 2 - Race Day 1 - Donington

It was an early start today as I was qualifying at 9am. The weather had been heavy rain over night and the track was damp, which is not a good thing at Donington as it's a very slippery circuit due to the aviation fuel (as a result of being at the bottom of the airport run way).

We got to the circuit nice and early to prepare the car. It was a completely different sight to the evening before as lots of cars, lorries and camper vans had turned up over night and set up.

Qualifying came around quickly and there was an air of tension due to the track conditions. It wasn't a pleasant experience; I pretty much locked my wheels up at most corners on the ciruit at some point during the 15 minute qualification. There was several offs by other drivers and we came back in feeling stressed.

There were now several hours of waiting until the race at 14:45. This was spent catching up with other drivers, sun bathing, reading, eating and watching the weather closely.

Unfortunately in the final hour before the race big rain clouds rolled in and there were several downpours. It was rapidly looking like our first race was going to be similar to qualifying and I was not looking forward to it as I was worried about the potential carnage of 30 odd drivers trying to get round the first few corners in very slippery conditions.

Starting 22nd on the grid, I lined up along with all the other Class A cars. I got a reasonable start but lost 5 places due to caution; there was lots of spray and a lot of determined drivers trying to get through.

My caution paid off as there was carnage over the next 3 corners with lots of incidents and cars coming off. To make matters worse a particularly huge rain cloud chose to dump it's contents over the circuit so we disappeared in a deluge of rain and hail.

Bizarrely about 2 laps in I found myself with a huge grin plastered all over my face.

I overtook a few cars but got stuck behind another racer (car 46) who did a good job of stopping me from getting past. Ultimately I was faster than him (I've got the lap times to prove it) but my lack of experience (particularly in such heavy rain) meant that I was too cautious in my attacks and I opted to stay put and not sacrifice my car.


I used the time wisely and took the opportunity to get comfortable with close proximity driving. I did manage to outbrake car 46 at the GP Esses to get past but lack of race craft meant I left the Melbourne Loop wide open for him to get past again. I was getting more confident in the conditions as the race went on I think I would have got past as I started paying careful attention to his weaknesses. Unfortunately I ran out of time, finishing 18th.

This was a difficult race which ended in frustration when I realised that I hadn't turned on my camera so had recorded none of my efforts!

Donington Park - Test Day

As I couldn't get to my track day at Donington (the weekend after Brands Hatch), I've managed to book myself on a half test day at Donington Park on the day before my race.

Getting here involved a late night run after work down to Somerset on the Thursday evening, and an early morning start to load up the car. After a 4.5 hour drive to Donington (nr Derby) we unloaded the car and I went off to sign on and kit up (it's full race wear so out came the flame retardant under crackers, race suit, balaclava, boots and gloves).

This afternoon was spent putting the car through it's paces and familiarising myself with the circuit ( I'd only done one track day there about 6 months ago in a different car). It was great practice as I was out with a variety of different cars, including Radicals that were very fast in comparison. My fastest lap came in at 2 mins before the heavens opened at the end of the day.

After the test day had finished we set the car up in the paddock along with the other Elise Trophy cars that were turning up, plus competitors from the other series that were competing during the weekend

Back to the hotel now and an early night.

Welcome to the family...

It's been a sad day. We've just waived goodbye to the RX8 and purchased a Focus CMax (2ltr TD) as a tow car for the Elise. It's not as fun to drive but does the job and now means that we don't have to rely on an ageing Mondeo Estate and the goodwill of my Dad!

Unfortunately, with my track record, it's no longer an option to drive the Elise on the roads.

A kingdom for a single wheel....

Good news, I've been able to locate a wheel in Norfolk that's been sent down by courier.

This weekend has seen the new wheel put on the car and the car geo set up with the "Race Team" using strings, metal bars and generally getting very excited if you went too close to this equipment. Thankfully their magic has worked and a short run out in the car proved that it was running smoothly.

Next stop, Donington.

Tidying Up - Post Round 1

We've been back to repair the car today. There's been a liberal gaffer taping to the body work to patch up the holes / cracks and the rear end has had a thorough going over. Fortunately there's nothing more serious other than a buckled wheel.

Hopefully we'll be able to locate a 2nd hand one before Round 2.

Video footage taken from a car behind me shows a car stalling and in the chaos to get around it another shunted into my Elise's rear which turned me slightly allowing another car to T Bone me, which spun me backwards into the barrier. Puts things into perspective.

Whilst I can't post footage on my blog, I'm sure if you went onto YouTube and searched you'd find several examples of the videos available... I've got an account under Joannah66.

Roll on Donington Park.... and a replacement wheel.