The mini se7en season had ended, but I was talked into entering a sprint event driving my Westfield SE narrow 1800 zetec. I had never raced in any other car or championship so whilst I was intrigued, I was also full of many questions and concerns. The sprint event was to be contested on the Snetterton 300 layout and organised by Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series. It was their season finale so I hope I didn't affect their championship standings! ![]() After selectively packing and securing things into the westie it was onwards to start my adventure to Snetterton. The fact I had never driven the car in anger or even driven it at all on a race track was a little daunting. On top of that I am used to FWD on a race track, not RWD! How many times do you think I could spin?? We were able to get scrutineering out of the way Saturday evening. I was thankful Tim let me park the westie in the pit garage to keep dry overnight and David taxied me to the hotel and back - one less thing to worry about. The weather certainly did me no favours in easing my tension of this new experience in a lairy RWD monster - it was horrid - very wet and windy! Once signed on Sunday morning, we had a drivers briefing - it was a very busy event and fully sold out - 70-odd cars! Following briefing we were straight out for 2 group sighting laps to see which way the circuit went. Luckily this was one thing I did know already, having had my maiden race win here just a couple of months prior in the mini se7en challenge supported by Mini Spares. It was extremely wet! ![]() There was time for two timed runs in the morning session, which were both extremely wet conditions. It was quite an experience of driving super careful in the wet with the aim of getting from start to finish in the quickest time possible without falling off the circuit. I did manage to take to the grass on the exit of the last corner in my first run due to locking up. The start point was on the exit of the pit lane by the marshal post and the finish point was just beyond the last corner near the pit lane entry. It was all very new to me and a big learning experience. I was glad to see the lunch break - not just because I missed breakfast but a good time to reflect ready for the afternoon timed runs. Following the lunch break, the track had dried a lot, allowing for a different style to driving and confidence to be built up on a dry racing line. I was able to do two dry timed runs - each time the track had more grip. The 2nd dry run was my quickest and was set to be my best of the day at 2m15s32. I was really enjoying building up the pace and learning the car in the dry and was looking to pushing more later in the afternoon. However that was not possible - the heavens opened and we experienced a rather tropical stormy downpour! Any hope of improving times were now squashed. ![]() At the end of the day, I had a surprise to be presented a trophy for P2 in class B3 - very chuffed and not expected at all considering so many new experiences in this adventure to Snetterton. It was a far more relaxed event to what I was used to, lots of variety, very open and friendly, but overall good fun. Who knows, I may try one again in the near future. If you fancy a go - get involved and go check out the Javelin Trackdays Sprint Series website for more info and have a go in 2017 when it starts back up! Thank you for all for helping us get out there: Simply Race Best laptime - 2:15:32 - dry conditions: Slipping and sliding in the wet - 2:42:14: |
Blog >