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A View From The Driver's Seat: It's wet, it's dry, it's wet, it's dry... it's Yorkshire!

By Dave Newsham / MJP Media | 27 June 2013

As the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship reaches the half-way point in the 2013 season, Dave Newsham looks back at the events at Croft.

The weather played a critical role at Croft

A reasonably local round for me and my family this time - a quick trip by our trusty motor-home to Croft, North Yorkshire. Still took us 7 hours to get there however. That's Fridays for you. Following our reasonably successful outing at Oulton Park last time, I was looking forward to getting back in my Speedworks Toyota Avensis again. The recent success had also, unfortunately, brought a turbo boost reduction for us, but Croft is more about the chassis than raw power, so I wasn't too concerned.

We finished free practice in P9 which wasn't too bad as we didn't use any new tyres. In qualifying I was strapped into the car ready to go but when I fired up the engine we noticed the power steering wasn't working. My mechanics started working under the dash to try and rectify the fault. It needed re-wiring which cost us 10 minutes of a qualifying session in which every second counts. This put us severely on the back foot and would ultimately cost us dearly! I started my first run on new tyres, just as others were leaving the pits for their second runs. With traffic getting in the way as drivers were busy getting their tyres heated up, that first run was a disaster! It's worth noting that Croft is extremely hard on the tyres and we would only get one flying lap out of a new set of tyres before they lose their pace.

In for my second set of new tyres. This was a much better lap - I could see from my display I was well ahead of my previous best lap but out of the final corner red flags were waving. I crossed the line with a time that would place me well into the top ten, however it was disallowed as qualifying was stopped! It just wasn't my day. We ended qualifying in P13 whilst my best sector times would have placed me P7.

Dave Newsham's Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis

Race 1 saw me making a decent start and I completed the first lap in P9 and on the boot lid of Tom Onslow-Cole's VW. I lost a position to Jeff Smith, but on lap 6 it was time to get that place back. Jeff couldn't find his way past the Volkswagen and he left a hole at the hairpin just big enough for my Avensis. We went through the corner side by side, the rear of my car just nicked Jeff's car, breaking my rear suspension - the very same damage as my Donington tap with Tom Onslow-Cole. It's clear my NGTC Toyota is not strong enough for the rubbing needed in BTCC! A DNF was disappointing. Since Croft, new drawings have been made to make the suspension parts stronger, so hopefully we can rub with confidence in future, without the DNFs! The constant development Speedworks are making to the car will stand us in good stead for the second half of the season.

For race 2 I was lining up P23 on the grid and I could hardly see the starting lights, I was so far back! To make things interesting, it was starting to rain as we were sitting on the grid with slick tyres. Too late to change if we wanted too, we would have to make the best of it and that is what we did as I was passing cars every corner, completing the first lap in P15. Lap three and my team were telling me I was the fastest car on the track and now P13. By lap seven I was inside the top ten, but with a large gap to the leading pack, P9 it was - a great effort and one for us all to be proud of.

Race 3 sees the reverse grid drawn from a hat, so to speak. Places 6 to 10 could be reversed. Number 7 was drawn and I was getting the feeling nothing was going our way this weekend. P9 is where I would start the final race. The heavens opened just before the race so full wet tyres were fitted. On the out lap to the grid it was clear - this was going to be one very tricky race. There was standing water everywhere and the car was aquaplaning at half race speed, so survival was the aim for this race. I made a cracking start, passing two cars on the opening lap. The spray from the cars ahead was really bad as I could hardly see the end of my bonnet. Driving the circuit on memory really, peering through the spay looking for brake lights. The more cars I passed the better it became.

The heavy rain during race 3 made track conditions difficult

I was in P4 by lap five and only five seconds behind leader Matt Neal. After a few scares and struggling to hang on to Andrew Jordan, the thought of survival entered my head again. With a gap behind me, I settled into a slower pace. Unfortunately, the headlights behind me of Gordon Shedden's works Honda were getting closer. With just a few laps to go I upped my pace and maintained the gap from Gordon. The penultimate lap and a downpour came again to really test our already worn out tyres. Heading into 'Sunny In' (the previous lap was fine) this lap there was a river running across the track. My car snapped sideways as it aquaplaned. I managed to maintain control however I was now well off the track. Bouncing across the grass to get back to the track, Gordon shot through pushing me to P5 which is where I finished.

It was a challenging meeting for our whole team as my team-mate didn't finish one race. However we are made of stern stuff and the second half of the season should go well for us. Time for a well earned holiday to recharge the batteries then it's off to Snetterton on August 3rd and 4th, the place of my first ever BTCC win last year. It can't come soon enough! Thanks to all my sponsors, partners and supporters. Without you guys we wouldn't be racing in this fabulous sport that is BTCC.

Dave #17

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