Third in the 'B' at sweltering Snetterton - 21 / 06 / 05

Round 4 of this years STCC Championship was held at the fantastic Snetterton circuit in Norfolk. With this being a 350 mile trip for us we left early on saturday morning, but in amongst all the boxes, food and items we normally pack we appeared to have acquired something else - a mum! Yes, lured by the promise of a large market which is situated next to the RC track mum had come along - this being only the third time she's seen me race a touring car, so that'll put the kiss of death on the weekend I thought ;)

Leaving home at around half seven we arrived at Snetterton at half two after switching vehicles at Exeter and delivering a parcel on the way. Dads fantastic idea to spray the transit black and orange to match his race car (pictured right) backfired spectacularly in the 30+ degrees celcius conditions. So, after having been gently cooked we were glad to escape the van and set about practise. Fortunatly the track layout was fairly similar to our last visit to Snetteron in July 2004 for the Schumacher BTCC series.

The car was good from the off which was nice and we didn't need to do too many laps. Just one run to familiarise myself with car and track and then another timed run to check endurance and temperatures. After a quick bite to eat (god bless our little gas cooker) we headed over to Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich to watch the National Hot Rods and Brisca F1 Stock Cars. Unfortunatly my hayfever was really kicking in by this point and I couldn't see a lot - but I can tell you that standing right up against the fence when 20 V8 F1 Stock Cars come thundering past is not a good idea - they're seriously loud! Arriving back at the track around midnight we drove round in circles for a while in between those incredibly infuriating little posts, encountering dead ends, gates and at one point a little bank that had been built across the road! We eventually managed to find our way into the pit area and found people still whizzing around the track at gone midnight! Whoever you were you must be quite quite mad ;)

Sunday Morning

I must admit I didn't think i'd be able to race at this point due to my dammed hayfever. I couldn't see or go five seconds without sneezing but fortunatly we got through the day!

Myself and Dad like to go for a relaxed approach to a weekends racing ;)

Qualifying

As ever we were in the third of four qualifying heats for the 27T Stock Class. The heats are organised on championship order so this qualifying heat is generally your 'B' Finalists, the twilight zone occupiers as we are ;) We are however gradually creeping up the standings and would start the first qualifier from 2nd position in this heat. Few more meetings and we could find ourselves qualifying with the top guys.

Into the first qualifying heat and I really just wanted to drive off into the distance in this one and kind of expected to after practise but it didn't work out that way with the car having much more high speed push now the track had warmed up. It still wasn't dreadful but I was frustrated and tried too hard and a few unforced errors dropped me back to 4th. Due to some horrendus reliability rates in heat 1 however we were still 12th overall.

A quiet saturday practise		Ross turns away from the time sheets looking apparently stunned

We made some changes to the car for the second qualifier but in our rush had adjusted the front anti-roll bar the wrong way giving the car even more understeer in the fast middle section. Fortunatly the car was going well the rest of the lap and appeared to be one of the fastest through the awesomely fast first few bends. We ended the run still 4th in our heat but were 7 seconds faster which was much more like it. We had unfortunatly dropped to 14th overall though as others improved.

Into the last qualifier we had made more changes but they seemed to have very little effect on the cars handling and it still had too much push. I could see I wasn't going any faster than the last qualifier so started trying harder but realised this was a mistake as I barrel rolled the car out of 2nd. As a result we didn't improve this run and dropped 2 places overall to 16th out of the 40 entrants giving us 6th on the grid for the 'B' Final - meaning we've been in the 'B' Final at every round so far this season.

Me overlooking the fantastic Snetterton Circuit

Finals

I can't say I was looking forward to the first corner starting from a mid grid position and sure enough it got pretty busy in there in leg 1 and I had a quick spin but so did a few others it seemed and I was coming through at the end of lap 1 fairly well placed in 4th or 5th I think but I got turned around on the last bend and dropped right to the back. I managed to close in on the field which was still fairly bunched and got past a few but again got turned round on the same corner and dropped back. The car was going well near the end of the race and I was in 6th place (somehow) and closing down on the 4th placed squabble fairly quickly but just as I was nearly with them there two cars touched and one spun right in front of me. I had nowhere to go and hit it, turning him the right way round and leaving me backwards, again. I finished the race in 6th, feeling a little hard done by but knowing the car was at least fast enough given the chance.

Ross lines up 6th on the grid for the 'B' Final alongside Stuart Thurtle (Click for full image)

Leg 2 and the first corner went much more smoothly although I hadn't really made up many places. With the car working well though I managed to move up and get into hird by the end of the race which was much better.

Ross leads Barry Hughes onto the straight during the finals

Leg 3 went pretty much the same, a close first lap and we had a good little scrap going on in the midfield for a few laps until I managed to get through past Tony after following him for a few laps. This put us into third and was the cue for the commentator to start talking about us again ;) "Ross Loram in third, they've made the 350 mile trip from Torquay to be here - is Ross going to hold onto third and make the trip worthwhile....." No pressure then Paul! ;) Seriously, the commentary at these meetings is fantastic and it really builds the atmosphere, great stuff. Meanwhile the race was still continuing and although I was closing on the leading two (so the commentator said) we ran out of time and had to settle for third which was still enough for third overall which I certainly would have taken at the start of the finals.

Entering the main straight at full speed during the 'B' Finals		A view down the main straight of the Snetterton Circuit

So after packing up we just had the small matter of 350 miles to cover in the incredible weather in our black oven - black transit I mean! After leaving the track at 5pm we made it home at 11pm - thoroughly knackered and slightly red but having had a good weekends racing.

The next meeting is at the very nice looking track of Bashley. I've already decided I like this track as it's only 115 miles away ;) We've also been thinking of investing in a new car and putting my trusty old TC3 into retirement. The only downside is I can't decide what to have, X-Ray, Corally, TC4, Tamiya, Schumacher even? Shaft or Belt? Think i've got some research to do.....

See you at Bashley!

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