The Club's First Racer! - Part 4 - Silverstone

Posted in: Racing & Competition by UK S2000 Owners Club | 11th Jun 2012 @ 11:43:12 AM

The 10th June saw Mark's third round in the VTEC Challenge at Silverstone.

Click below for the full article!

A group of us got together and drove to Silverstone in convoy to support him.

After a great drive and a breakfast stop at The Super Sausage, it was on to Silverstone.

Mark was there with his trusty support, Andy Vey, it was great looking around the car and interesting finding out more about it.

Here is Mark's write up, with pictures and videos...

The day before race day, I got a test day in and really started pushing the car. Looking at my times compared to last years event, I was quietly confident for the race!

I was really pleased to see the S2KUK turnout for the race - I really appreciate the interest guys and girls! It also gave me an extra incentive to do well.

Qualifying went very well, but due to traffic I only got 3 quick laps in. Fortunately this was good enough for 4th place and 1st in class lap time. Second row on the grid! Very chuffed.

Race 1 got underway and I got a poor start, and lost a few positions - reccuring theme! I clawed both places back with some possibly over aggressive driving, and then got caught up behind the Civic of Mark Chese.

I was clearly faster but it's such a hard circuit to pass, and he was defending very well. Some very close racing, and I took 2nd in class and 5th overall. Slightly disappointed that my lap times meant I could have got a 1st! Next time!

In-car footage - Race 1

Race 2 saw me on the 3rd row for the start, due to the 5th place in the last race. My start was a bit better, but I still lost position. The race boiled down to me getting caught with a different Civic, and was being held up with no clear way past.

While trying to get past him, I was fending off a DC2 which was right up my butt and having to cover my lines was tricky, but great fun!

Sadly in a desperate effort to get past the Civic, I ended up in a fairly big slide 2 laps from the end, which would have been ok were it not for hitting the astroturf! It's like ice.

Eyewitness Video from Luffield:

It's worth watching the in car footage; I was waiting for a loud bang as I was heading towards a wall, but managed to save it from that. Only thought was to start the car and get straight back on, and luckily the car fired up! I passed one more person but my lead was gone.

In-car footage - Race 2:

"The moment" is at 14 mins and is rather large - 1.2g seems to be the limit!

What you can't see on the in-car footage is the DC2 right up my chuff, so I was having to defend a line whilst trying to think about a pass. Tricky, and hence the different lines to Race 1.

The Super Tuner / Tuner class cars cannot be caught, they are way too fast, so to be putting in faster laps than all the others was really pleasing.

Onwards and upwards!

Mark's final result was 2nd in class (trophy!) and 5th overall. 4th was on the cards, but he just could not overtake anywhere. He dominated the commentary in the second race, it was all about the S2000! He made new fans, and some even wanted autographs! We all felt very proud of him.