Well it didn't go quite as to plan as I was expecting or hoping for. In-fact the day had hardly begun and found myself heading home for an early bath :-(
I had asked Tim Gray to come along and help steer me through the mine field of setting a car up. Well its a mine fields to me.
Post sign on and briefing it was a case of heading out on track to the obligatory sighting laps. After 3 laps we all came off track and the day could commence.
Straight away Tim started questioning what have I got set on the car already, taking notes as he went. At this point the track was still wet from all the rain from the previous night, so Tim recommended we focus on setting up the car for a wet set up. Fine with me. Essentially a wet set up would be to soften every setting possible. Body work back on and strapped in and i was off.
Unfortunately for me....my first lap would be my last lap of the day. As it was wet and greasy still on track I took my time going round playing with the brake bias to achieve a sensible balance under braking. This done I proceeded to 'Charlies - Park Straight (up through the box) - into Chris Curves (making sure the brakes felt good, through the Gooseneck then into the Mountain section. This is where it all went wrong.
Approaching the 'S' bends at the foot of the Mountain section, I was determined to start the day i meant to go on. I.e. get my gear selection right. Last year in the Fury i would quite often go through this section in 3rd or 4th even....which really isn't quick. In the 'S' bends, through in 2nd gear. Applied the power for the Mountain, up over the crest.....back end went very light. The rears lit up as they broke traction from the wet track. Slightly off the line meant i came over the top at a slight angle. Downward force on the rear axle was regained and promptly spat me off the track, down the bank to the right hand side straight into the barrier.
Needless to say I was a little miffed with myself for stuffing it on the first lap......but everything happens for a reason. Although i punted the barrier with the front left the body work surprising just seemed to absorb the blow and flexed back into position. However, it was the second rear impact that did the damage with the rear wheel taking the full impact. Not knowing the extent of the damage; 20 mins later revealed all. I was actually quite lucky. The wheel and the rear upright took all the force of the impact. Wheel was bend and buckled and the upright was twisted, but other than a small amount of bodywork damage, that was pretty much it.
So after feeling very miffed; knowing the extent of the damage wasn't quite so bad, i felt somewhat relieved.
I dropped the car off at TG Motorsport as it was en route on the way home (sort of) and Tim set to fixing it all up over the following weeks. He also did another Geo set up on the car.......so i couldn't wait to see how it handled at the next race meeting at Pembrey :-)
