Rockingham: 9 July 2006

After the disappointment of the Snetterton meeting we were determined to solve the head gasket issue once and for all. Andy Mcloughlin www.apmautomotive.co.uk took the car to his workshop to investigate the cylinder heads. They were removed, inspected and refitted with special copper head gaskets. However on restarting the engine once it was reassembled, it was clear that there was still a problem – a minhute crack in one of the ports in the head. Andy then meticulously built up a new cylinder head from the incomplete spare we had acquired from TVR and once again refitted it to the car. This time the problem was solved – and in the nick of time – the car was completed just two days before the meeting.
On to Rockingham and like most of the field we had not raced on this circuit configuration before. I made my Tuscan debut at ‘the Rock’ in 2003, but two engine failures in each race meant I only got 2-3 laps. That was on the ‘International’ circuit and today we would be on the ‘Sports Car’ layout. Still, four of the corners are the same and it was only three years ago….!

The Tuscans were the first out on track which was still covered in dust and dirt - the sweepers had been round the oval but not the infield.

We built up slowly getting some heat in the tyres: 1.19, 1.15, 1.13, before really starting to push hard on the 5th and 6th laps. 1.11.514 was the reward for lap 5 and quite a scarey 1.10.098 on lap 6. Scarey because exiting Turn 4 on the Oval, the front of the car broke loose without warning and we under-steered straight for the wall. A gap of a few feet became inches! Feathering the throttle very slightly we got away with it, but I decided that was the limit and pitted. The team told me I was in P1 and I was pretty comfortable that it was enough for the front row, so we parked up to prepare for the race which would only be some 40 minutres later.

Tim Hood in the more advanced Sagaris continued to circulate, with his fastest lap also coming on his 6th lap - 1,10.127. The chequered flag came out and I was still expecting Tim to put in a really fast final lap, but the order remained unchanged and I was delighted to have secured the first pole position of my race career. Tim had not had any problems with the car, so pole was entirely on merit. With a difference of 3/100s of a second, it looked like we would have a race on our hands! However, I didn't kid myself about the race itself because the Sagaris, with its down-force and sequential gearbox, would have the advantage round this circuit.

Marc Hockin and Graham Walden took the second row of the grid, less than a second splitting the pair, with the two class B cars pipping the more powerful Class A Tuscan of Steve Glynn.

Race 1

As usual Tim was relatively slow off the line and I lead into the first corner. Tim was soon tucked up behind me, with Marc and Graham following in what would be a race long duel between the two. Tim and I immediately pulled away and I held the lead for laps one and two, with Tim looking very fast and very comfortable on the fast oval section. On the approach to the hairpin Tim went past up inside but I took a deeper line, tucking in closer to the apex and getting the power down quicker to retake the place on the way out of the corner. Close stuff - in fact so close we even swapped paint! On to lap 3 and the inevitable happened, with Tim's superior aero really making the difference and he slid past just after Turn 4 on the Oval to take the lead. With the tyres now well up to temperature and before we started encountering serious traffic we both hammered round and set our fastest laps on lap 4 - Tim with a new lap record for the circuit of 1.08.698, and mine 1.09.527. I was amazed afterwards to discover I had put in 5 sub 1.10 laps, given how hairy that qualifying lap had been.

My mission to stick with Tim went somewhat awry as we started lapping the slower cars. Rounding Turn 4 Tim lapped a Tasmin before the very fast chicane without losing time, but it didn't fall quite right for me and I had to brake sharply, tuck in behind the slower car and then pass after the chicane, losing about 1.5-2 seconds, a gap I would struggle to make up.

With Tim always in sight, a maximum of 6 seconds ahead, I worked hard to try to reduce the gap. He was locking up heavily under braking for 2 of the corners and each time that enabled me to close a little. I was also hoping that the traffic would work in my favour later in the race, and sure enough it did; the gap reduced to 2.9 seconds on lap 15. I was pushing right to the limit through the chicane (taken at 100mph) and clouted the floppy markers, fortunately just breaking the bonnet mount and radiator frame, with no serious damage other than a lot of white scuff marks.

I finished the race 2.8 seconds behind Tim, the only cars on the same lap.

Meanwhile Steve Glynn had taken 3rd place, 3.4 seconds ahead of the titanic battle between Graham and Marc, who crossed the line 2 tenths apart after 20 minutes of hard racing.

Race 1 Results

Race 2

Tim discovered that his many brake lockups had destroyed his front tyres, with the steel reinforcing wires showing through. He had no choice but to put two brand new tyres on the car and that, I sensed, was my goose cooked for race 2. My tyres had seen previous outings, and with the wear from the Oval we were forced to fit a couple of front tyres which last saw action in 2005.

The difference between new and old tyres was immediately obvious as the race started. Marc Hockin got a good start to briefly take the lead, but Tim and then I led the field through the hairpin. Tim cornered as if on rails whilst I slithered through struggling for grip. Through the twists of the infield Tim immediately pulled away and I knew we could not live with him in this race. Tim pushed the lap record down to 1.08.326, whilst my best worsened to 1.10.672. Tim took a very comfortable victory, some 19 seconds ahead - again we were the only two cars on the same lap.
So, our first pole and two 2nd places. More importantly we showed once again that we can live with the pace up front, and there is little doubt that with equivalent machinery we will consistently be challenging for race wins.

Race 2 Results

Next races

Our next race will be on 5 August at Donington Park in the Dunlop V8 Supercar Series. This should prove to be a tougher challenge with a variety of V8 powered race cars including ex DTM and Aussie V8s.