Hans Baumhardt
Sunday before the race I was cutting the roll hoop out of my car so the cage could be nailed in whilst I was working in the US for the week. Fell of the plane from Vancouver Friday afternoon and rocked round to Steves to get my car out the way so he could focus on getting the COShesWORTit ready, and finished off some bits and pieces in my garage at 23:48 on Friday.
Up at 06:00 with monster jet lag to get to Brands by 07:30 to change the camber shims that I had forgotten last night then the standard track day pressure and click adjustments and all set for fun !
The next bit is a blur, I cant really remember what happened (except I know I didn’t borrow any money before you try); signon … chitchat … scrutineering (damn that was easy !) … chitchat … briefing … chitchat … qualifying was no biggie as have done test and limited rules days before just remember to ARM and DISARM the fire system. Really happy with 56.149 which put me P15/30 and P2 in Class … a second off my best trackday time despite the pies.
Whenever my car came in Shangani my crew chief sorted pressures, fuel, winscreen etc leaving me to smoke cigars (6) and sign autographs (3). As a valuable resource we can't be letting him race now !
Chatting to Mike Edwards my garage mate we faffed around sticking different schedules and programmes on the wall until we worked out that they were all out of date and we were missing qualifying for the Invitation race, bugger so on with socks and rocked out for a whole one and half laps before the end of session.
More chatting until it was suggested that Lotus drivers should mount their steeds … holy crap its happening … round the track form up … green flag lap where a couple of folks get over excited … on grid … 30sec … 5 sec GO
At this point I realised that I had forgotten to actually switch the hanscam on D-OH :wall
Christian Watkins ahead of me was a bit slow off the line so Martin Roberts in the other S2 starting next to me zoomed off and tucked in ahead. Bollox. Into Paddock take it easy, yay made it and lots of traffic splitting us up, but I kept catching Martin and then falling back in traffic then catching up – whilst faster through Surtees I couldn’t seem to exploit it and spent the last 3 laps on his bumper trying to find a way past or capitalise on a mistake, but Martin is damn consistent. I was cautious and backed off a couple of “up the inside” moves into Druids and out of Clark so ended up crossing the line just behind him – a little more aggression could have got me P3 in class but could have cost both of us some paint which I am not up for causing on someone elses car.
During the race car control was second nature (pats 60 hours of track time in that car), I didn’t think about steering or braking and 99% focus was on positioning to take the car infront plus scope out the field ahead. Keeping track of all the other stuff e.g. flags and cars behind was subconscious and managed to defend a Blue VX (sorry don’t know you) who was slower in corners but caught me in traffic several times and managed to finger point faster cars through when I had a tight exit planned.
I was working so hard that time seemed dilated and the race felt that it went on for 60 mins, at one point hammering through Surtees I did think “[Censored] me HB your actually doing it” :up and the run from Paddock to Druids after crossing the line was, well quite emotional as I had realised an experience I have been investing in for several years. Finished P15/30 which is consistent with qualy but P4 in class as Gavin and Martin had clearly improved more than me.
My crowd were quite impressed when the door opened and steam came off my race suit :lol
There was a lot of faffing around race 2 which I just let wash over me; just get me to the right place on the grid and indicate when its time to race … when group one set off I counted 20 seconds so knew our drop was coming and nailed it as I didnt want Martin to get ahead again. Paul Golding not starting ahead of me was on the phone or having a snooze so I took the inside … a little too tight and 4 seconds later put OSR on the damp white line as I hammered in 2nd and the back end came round faster than I have ever experienced. CRUNCH me thinking “please let no one hit me” … then without any pissing around I wanted off the track so restarted the engine and pulled forwards into a revetment to hide. At that point I thought “yup that’s racing” and had a chuckle cos race 1 was simply that good I didn’t care about the crunch (well, till I know what it costs).
As I was loafing around the marshals post the TV crew grabbed me and asked what happened and all I could think to say was "It was a great start but I just ran out of talent" D-OH a Homer moment of grand proportion that really sounds better in your head than out, hope that doesnt make it to air.
Since the lights all work and car drives OK Lotusnick taped up my car and it got back to Maidenhead at 60mph where I will be attempting some DIY :-)
This was the most madly enjoyable thing I have ever done and just one 20 minute race a month is worth it (we get two :up), so anyway arses to power/weight ratios and that – if you can catch a bit of oversteer on semi slicks then your more than ready to race, all you need is the cash to pay for the tyres and cover the odd knock that wont infact "polish out".
WANTED: S2 Front clam slightly less knackered than mine
