Snetterton test day 5th March

So, first time out since last October.
I arranged a day's testing with Tim Gray, last year's championship winner and all round motor racing expert.
Tim prepares and runs his own car as well as several others on behalf of other drivers. I asked him if he would help me get my car set up properly, or at least in a state from which I can start to make improvements.

An early start and a frosty but sunny morning in the Norfolk countryside. That wind doesn't half go straight through you!
Anyway, down to business.
Tim must think i'm some kind of muppet. On checking the current set up he was scratching his head wondering how I manage to drive this thing at all, the set up was so bad. I said it was down to pure driving skill! Yeah right!
Basically, all the wheels were pointing in different directions, every damper was on a different setting. I didn't even have the right spanners to adjust anything!
So having established that what I know about setting up a car could be written in very big type on the back of a stamp, Tim made a few adjustments and sent me out for a warm up.

It's amazing how quickly I forget how bloody quick this car is. Even if all the wheels are pointing in the wrong direction, it's accellerates like it's been dropped off a cliff! Mind you, it was so cold that I was struggling for straight line traction at first, wheelspinning in 4th!

So the day consisted mainly of Tim telling me how to go quicker, making a few adjustments and seeing how the car then felt, and then making some more adjustments and so on. I was also practicing some late braking which is where I lose most of my time at the moment. The chicane at Snett is a good example. A very fast approach, downhill, into a very slow corner. It's very heavy on the brakes and I always back off way too soon. So I practiced braking a bit later, then a bit more, then found myself in a big cloud of front tyre smoke and only just managing to turn in. Ok, that's it. Do that but just a tad earlier and i've cracked it!

We didn't really get any consistent times, but what times I did were getting back to my best race time which would have been on on a hot day so quicker anyway. So I am hopeful that I have made some real progress.

Ok, now I'm really excited about the new season.
First up, Snetterton on 14th March - same as the first F1 race - oh, and Mother's day! Oops!

It will be on the telly again!