'A' Final at STCC Round 6 - Milton Keynes - 21 / 07 / 05

Dammit! I shouted at 8am Saturday morning as my Oakley sunglasses snapped in half as I went to put them on, surely this is a sign for the weekend!

	We weren’t however heading for Milton Keynes which was to host round 6 of the STCC series the next day but to Ipswich with dads hot rod for the National Hot Rods World Qualifier Round 1. (see his site at www.loramracing.co.uk) This made for a long weekend as we arrived in Ipswich at 4pm then practised and raced there before
Look at my shades!

leaving at around midnight then having to drive down to Milton Keynes ready for the RC meeting on Sunday! That was the plan anyway but we were so tired we pulled over into a lay-by about half an hour away from MK at about 2am Sunday morning and had some sleep. Waking up not much more refreshed less than 4 hours later we continued on our way to MK and found their roundabout system extremely amusing at that time of the morning. We reached the track at a little before 7am and the look of complete bemusement on some people’s faces as we arrived in the pits with a full sized racecar was priceless! ;)

The tight drivers rostrum overlooking the Milton Keynes track which produced some excellent racing throughtout the day

Practise & Qualifying

We made some big changes to the car during practise including the removal of front and rear anti-roll bars as well as shock location. The result was a pretty good handling car in the tricky damp conditions. After drivers briefing it was time for round 1 of qualifying where we’d be in the top heat again. It’s fair to say I made a complete hash of this round and to compile matters the car seemed a bit too loose on power. The result was 20 laps in 308 seconds which was 10th overall at the end of round 1 of qualifying.

Dad had no trouble locating the bar!

Heading into round 2 we altered the rear diff and things were going much better as we went over a lap faster for 21 laps in 305 seconds. The track was getting better all the time as the rain still held off and after round 2 of qualifying was over we had moved upto 8th overall. The sky was still looking threatening and with a provisional ‘A’ Final place I wasn’t going to complain if it rained before the last round of qualifying!

As it was the rain held off and the grip levels were now really coming up, so much so that a number of drivers in the earlier heats of round 3 qualifying were going faster so we needed another improvement in our heat to get that ‘A’ Final place and we got it big time! The race went incredibly well for us and seemingly everyone else was on a flyer too. I was running 6th for much of the race but had to let the red and white 7th placed car through as he just caught me. Fortunately I knew he’d started a second before me at the start so all I had to do was stay in his wheel tracks and I’d outqualify him. Thinking we were probably fighting for around 9th or 10th in the ‘A’ Final I was desperate to stay with him and just about managed to, finishing the race behind him on the track but close enough to finish in front of him on the timing screens for the 6th fastest time in our heat. I was delighted when I looked at the timing sheets and realised we’d gone faster than all the other heats so would be starting 6th on the grid in the ‘A’ Final! This really was something as our best quali result before had been 12th overall (Maritime & Bashley) and we were still using the TC3.

Final qualifying results and look, we're in the 'A' Final! 6th too! :)

Finals

Into the finals then and it was great to be lining up in amongst the top drivers. We flew off the grid and into turn 1 in pretty much start order and then for the first few minutes of the race I was in a titanic scrap for position. I was watching the race hardly believing I was driving in amongst this lot. There were lots of great clean moves and incredibly close racing. At one point I even passed championship leader Adrian Bidwell after he made an attempt to pass the car in front of him which put him slightly off line and let me slip through down the inside, now I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing! He did of course come thundering back past me fairly soon after but I was still chuffed anyway after passing him. About 3 minutes in and the race began to spread out a little more with me running in 5th place but with one of the front row starters closing in one me. With a clear track behind him and a couple minutes to go I didn’t put up too much of a fight against him and finished 6th which I was more than happy with. I figured that if I could get into the ‘A’ Final with the TC3 that I’d just be running round at the back but to be able to really mix with the midfield runners was more than I’d hoped for.

		We didn’t change anything for the second leg of the finals and once again we were in a close race for the first few laps until I got a little nudge and half spun off to the side of the track. I rejoined in 9th but unfortunately I had no grip after being off the track and I touched another car and caused him to spin.
Ross smiles as he announces his spare car for the day

I spent the rest of the race chasing and caught up the 8th place car with a couple minutes to run. I had tried for a few laps to get past but couldn’t make the move when we were caught by the leaders. I moved over and let them through and but made sure to stay close to them so when the car I was battling with for position moved over to let the leaders through I nipped through as well, the poor guy must have been gutted as there wasn't really anything he could do. I finished the leg in 8th, could have been better, could have been worse.

It was the same story as before for the third leg as we had a tremendously close race for the first part. In particular I ran side by side with 1 car for virtually a complete lap and we finished the leg in 8th which could have been 7th had it not been for a small mistake. After dropping one of the 8th place finishes the 6th and 8th were still enough to give me 7th overall which we were very pleased with, and even more pleased with being able to really race the other guys.

Ross looks on as his car is placed on the grid for the third leg of the 'A' Finals

Championship

With 94 points in the pocket from this round the championship is looking even better. We're still 9th overall in the standings with 2 meetings to run and providing I can keep up the same sort of results we've been having since round 3 it looks like we can stay in the top ten of the championship even after the dropped scores are taken into effect which I would be absolutley delighted with, especially considering my relative inexperience on large outdoor tracks and having the oldest car at the meetings ;)

The next meeting isn't until the 11th of September where we'll be racing at Barham. With Dad racing the night before in Ipswich it'll be another very long tiring weekend with little practise so I expect i'll probably be sticking with the old car again but i'm off to my local club with the Xray next week so who knows ;)

See you next time!

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