Class Podiums for RP-X™-Equipped Caterham Racer at Oulton

“I’m very pleased to say I held the EBC flag high at the weekend, with most of my competitors asking ‘how the hell do I brake so late?!’

“We conducted a test day with the car and my long-term coach, Ben Clucas (also from Northampton) last week and found myself with a massive mountain to climb, being some 5.5 seconds off the lap time!

“By the end of a gruelling day, we got within 0.5 seconds of a decent lap time but I remained optimistic whether I could transfer that to race weekend. Well, the great news was, after subjecting myself to a couple of months of a strict fitness campaign and getting my car set up as best we could, it paid dividends with a hard-fought weekend.

“With just the Saturday at Oulton, Qualifying and 3 races in the Caterham 420R demanded all the fitness and endurance you could lay your hands on and fortunately, I felt good as did the car. Qualifying didn’t deliver any great results and my strategy didn’t work either, placing me down the grid in 9th for race one.”

Race 1

“A great start off the line saw me up into 7th by turn one, but a car off at the same turn lap one initiated a re-start and a grid re-shuffle which didn’t play out good for me. Turn one again and I made up 3 places and on the back of the leading pack. The tyres coming up to temperature by lap 3 and the EBC brakes doing their magical stuff and me feeling good, I managed to start pushing through the pack and closing up to the leaders.

“A couple of the leading pack cars making some mistakes saw me take the advantage and pushing right to the chequered flag rewarded me with a 6th overall and a class podium, seeing me 3rd in class.”

Race 2

“Only and hour and a half after the first race saw us lining up again for our second race of the day. A few tweaks to the setup and a new set of EBC RP-X™ front pads and we were ready. Another great start off the line saw me right on the back of the front pack again in 6th. A great battle ensued and the car and I were feeling awesome.

“By mid-race, we had made up another place into 5th and now starting to hunt down the leaders and whilst obtaining the fastest lap of the race. By the late second half of the race, a number of collisions occurred, ending the last few laps under the safety car. I was happy though, feeling great in myself and the car’s performance and together we were closing down fast on the leaders end only 0.3 seconds behind P5 though giving me a P2 in class and on the podium once again.”

Race 3

“Directly after lunch, we lined up once again for our final race of the day. Now in P5 off the line, I could smell a win, or at least a top-3 overall finish. Again, I was feeling good and we did nothing with the car other than a subtle tyre pressure change.

“The red lights out and we fired off the line and putting us in 4th place by turn one. Staying in 4th and eyeing up the pack in front of me for the best and most suitable passing places, I started my move on the pack. A mistake by the leader saw the pack bunch up and also that of P5 and P6 cars who were now biting at my heels.

“With a hot pace still afoot, a number of ‘brave’ moves by the car behind me resulted in me having to protect my lines and disturbing my efforts for an attack on the cars in front of me, so some late braking moves into some of the main points on the track saw me back on the rear of P4 and the car behind me fading into the distance.

“With everything feeling good, I started to plan my move on the race leaders in front of me until one of these cars spun out in front of us at island Bend at well over 120mph and come back on track backwards directly in front of me and the car in front of me enabling the front leading pack to escape away and the car behind me to take the advantage and put me back to P5 though coming over the line with another podium finish with 3rd in class.”