We did however need official approval to use our video equipment, yes it was for our personal use and yes we would pay Cadwell Park £25,000 if we didn't do what they said.

Convoy Run

After the quick but useful Drivers briefing, a Convoy Run was planned to familiarise ourselves with the track. 

Each car was only allowed one occupant, but you could use any car you liked.  I took the Westie.  Pete took his Seat minus the trailer, plus one, some would say slick, others would say illegal front tyre.  Sadly no-one took a motor home round!!

Practice Runs

To avoid the mistake I made at Croft I had spent some time learning this track (Thanks Youtube!) Sadly I had duff info (Thanks Pete!) so hadn't learnt the twisty bit through the trees.  Guess which bit of the track I was staring at waiting to race through whilst sat on the Start Line!!!

In the end it wasn't bad at all, other than a blind left hander that heads into the Hairpin.  Didn't make any mistakes other than not being very fast.

During the Practice sessions Adam, Official Photographer for Team NMR as we are now known, arrived. 

Team NMR (Needs More Revs) any spare, used or new, revs gladly accepted.  Any surplus revs to be passed on once we've got enough of our own.

We devised a simple signalling method so Adam would know when either Pete or me were leaving the Start Line giving him time to get photos of us coming towards him.  Clearly the process was too much for Pete and I left the Start line without being photographed once.  Photos of Pete doing the same run we have plenty of....spot the weak link here?

Pete said he would be going "flat" through the long uphill left hander called Coppice on his second run.  I tried it but its far too scary and had to lift off a bit.  Other than that the Second run was much better and I had a big smile on my face when I got back to the Paddock. 

Sprint Runs

Out on my first timed run, confidence increasing, I was really enjoying accelerating through the long right handed Chris Curve.  I knew the next turn was the Gooseneck.

Turns out that where my memory said it was and where it actually was were quite different.  I hit the brakes and, what appeared to me as a lock up of huge proportions (The video shows it as a slight screech of tyres), ended up me heading one way and the corner going the other.  I did get round, I didn't go off and posted my fastest time of the day!  Scared and pleased at the same time.

I'm convinced my second timed run was much faster until I got to the last corner, Mansfield.  Clearly pleased Id managed to get through the Gooseneck without smoking any tyres I slowed down too much for Mansfield and lost time in the run to the finish line.

I never once went flat through Coppice!!

Lessons learned for next time.

If you are going to the effort of learning the track, learn the whole thing not just the parts you think you might be racing on.

Ear plugs don't work if you leave them in your pocket, I only remembered to use them twice out of five runs.  Oh, and pushing them in too far probably does as much damage as not using them at all, doesn't it Pete?

I need to do something about my racing lines, which are a bit hit and miss at best.