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A View From The Driver's Seat: Lots of luck at Snetterton - most of it bad!

By Dave Newsham / MJP Media | 14 August 2013

In this edition, Dave Newsham looks back at the series of unfortunate events at Snetterton which caused him to loose places in the Championship.

We arrived at Snetterton with high hopes, looking to get our championship back on track. Following our test the week before, the car felt quick but you never know until you get on the track with everyone else.

Free practice proved we were bang on the pace, as we were P4 in both sessions. Even more impressive was that we hadn't used new tyres, opting to save our tyres for the races to put us in a better position. Qualifying was a sobering experience: on my first run, I saw a car in front head across the grass and he dragged a lot of dirt on to the track! At the next corner, with my tyres full of the dirt he had left, my car snapped sideways ruining my first run. Then the red flags came out after a huge shunt by Aaron Smith, so it was in to the pits for new tyres. I couldn't believe how quick the whole field had gone. I was lying 18th at this point!

Second run and I managed a very good time but was still only P9 and scratching my head as to how we were so far down as the car was feeling great. We tried a gamble on setup for the final run but it made the car understeer quite badly and so disappointing. We could have to be content with P9 but after qualifying, news was filtering through that the track was quick before the red flag. Looking at the data, we were one of only a handful of drivers to go quicker after the red flag. If you dismiss all the times before the red flag, we would be lining up P3 on the grid. This would tell us that we still have a quick car and no knee-jerk changes to the car were necessary.

Race one: Lights out and we were off, however there was a lot of noise and not a lot of pace. I soon realised that my clutch was slipping and cars were passing me on each side. Three quarters the way round the first lap my clutch started to hold and I could push again, however I was now in P17. The rest of the race I was busy fighting and passing cars. Final lap and I was all over the back of Jack Goff's P11 placed car. I made a move into the hairpin that would see Jack giving way after a little contact. Into the next corner, Jack repaid the compliment and pushed me wide. This fight allowed Tom Onslow-Cole to catch up. We would be three abreast on the run to the esses. I tried braking as late as I could but Jack was just as late and I was pushed wide onto the marbles, lost the rear of my car and bounced across the kerbs stalling the engine. It seemed to take an age for the engine to fire as all the cars I had passed, passed me again. I finished a disappointing 18th!

Race two: Starting P18, I made a good start and was fighting my way forward again. Lap 8, Jeff Smith collided with Rob Austin and they both span right in front of me and effectively blocked the track. I had nowhere to go and couldn't stop. I slammed into Jeff's car! Thinking that my race was over, I was surprised that the car was still going however my steering was very bent. I radioed to the team telling them the car was damaged and to check the damage as I passed the pit lane. The team radioed saying 'the car looks ok, keep going'. The car was a real handful and I was certain it wouldn't make the finish. I was considering saving the car and pulling in when the team radioed saying I was the fastest car on the track. Amazingly, I could see I was catching the leading pack, so I kept my head down. Managing to take advantage of a couple of cars going off, I was now in P8 and on the tail of the works Honda of Gordon Shedden. The steering was starting to judder now and I was literally fighting with the car to get it round the track. I finished the race 10 seconds behind the leader in P8. Considering I was 15 seconds behind on lap 3, that was not a bad effort!

Race three: P8 was drawn for the reverse grid giving me pole position. Finally we have some good fortune, or so we thought! On the way to the grid my rear brakes jammed on. The team frantically got to work to rectify the problem. It was the electronic thumb brake that we use for starts that was at fault. It needed to be disconnected. This meant I would have to start the race effectively without my launch control, something I haven't done in three years. The team have never had an issue with this brake and what a time for it to fail, when we are sitting on pole position!

On the run up to the line I was also concerned I may still have brakes binding too. The lights went out, I got a good initial jump, but then the car's engine bogged down and cars passed me on each side. Into the hairpin and I got a big hit in the rear, sending me sideways. Collecting it, I got another hit. More cars passed me! Matt Neal passed me down the next straight as I gave him just enough room and I slotted in behind him. Through the next corner he made a mistake which lost him some speed and he moved to the left. I had more speed and went alongside him, when he abruptly turned right and straight into me, pushing the front of my car right which turned the rear of my car and I was out of control. I went bouncing across the grass and hard into the barriers. With broken rear suspension my race was over! I have raced with Matt for three years now and have never had anything but clean racing with him. I believe he simply misjudged how far alongside I was - he is only human...

Focus now turns to Knockhill and there is no rest for Speedworks as they continue to develop the car with yet another upgrade coming. We may have dropped two places in the championship to be sitting in P12 but with 12 races to go there are still a lot of points up for grabs. We have lots of sponsors and friends coming along to Knockhill and we are eager to put on a good show for them and to everyone else who supports us. I'm sure there will be a few supporters heading down the road from Inverness too. Please Knockhill, give us some luck!

Thanks all for your valued support.

Dave #17

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