A Typical Race Day
If we have been testing on the Friday before a race, we tend to camp at the circuit and spend the night there. Alternatively, it’s up early, around 6 o’clock in the morning to load the car onto the trailer and then it’s off to Oulton Park or where ever the race may be. From home, at worst, Oulton Park is an hour’s drive.
Upon arriving at the circuit, each Championship has its allotted area in the paddock and you set about setting up camp for the day. On certain occasions, you may have been allocated a pit lane garage, so the car can go straight into the pit garage.
On the final instructions you receive a few days prior to the meeting along with you tickets and passes, you are given details of your allotted Scrutineering, Qualifying and Race times. As the driver, I have to go and sign in at the start of the day, so I make my way to the circuit office and sign the relevant form to let the timekeepers and officials know that I have arrived and I am okay to race.
Scrutineering
Tyres, engines, shock absorbers and clutches are all controlled and must fall within the technical regulations. Legality checks are often carried out at the circuits following Qualifying and Racing. All cars have to be safety checked on the morning of a race meeting prior to being allowed on the circuit. This is carried out by official Scrutineers and the purpose of these checks is to make sure that the car is in a manner deemed safe for the driver and fellow competitors alike. The car is wheeled to the scrutineering bay where an official scrutineer carries out many safety checks to the car. He/she will check for wear to wheel bearings, joints, drive shafts. They will check for play in the steering rack and that all the hoses are correctly attached. They need to check that the fire extinguisher is fully charged and that the rear rain light is working. During these checks, the driver’s helmet and racing overalls are also checked for legality on safety grounds. If a car passes Scrutiny, a ticket is passed to the driver and this ticket must be in a visible place on the car to prove eligibility. If a fault is found with the car, it must be rectified before a scrutiny ticket is released. Furthermore, if there is an incident on track involving that car during qualifying, the car can have its ticket taken from it and repairs must be made before the ticket is given back. This is essentially a pass onto the circuit and when we go out to qualify or race, the pit lane marshal will check that this pass is attached to the car.
This is usually the first time during the day that you get to meet your fellow drivers and friends. Everyone swaps stories and many of the excuses from the last race come out here as to why he ‘didn’t do so well’ and why he ‘crashed at Old Hall corner’.
Qualifying
When the call comes that it’s your time to qualify, you make your way down to the assembly area. As you arrive there, the marshal checks for your scrutineers pass and allow you into the assembly area. This is where the car is fired up and left running to get some heat into the engine. You climb in and the team tightens your belts and on goes your helmet. As the last cars of the previous session enter the pit lane, the circuit is cleared and you are given a green flag. You exit the assembly area and down the pit lane towards the pit exit. At this point, there is a traffic light. If the light is green, away you go!!!!!
The real art to qualifying is to find yourself space on the track, which can be difficult at times, especially somewhere like the Fosters circuit (the smallest configuration of Oulton Park) as it is only just over a mile in length and there can be up to 26 cars on it. The benefit of finding some space is that you can optimize your line through each corner instead of having to go around people. One of the rules of qualifying is that you have to complete at least 3 laps before they will let you race, so the first 3 laps are usually used for getting up to speed. Qualifying is usually 20 minutes, so 15 – 16 laps would be achievable on the Fosters Circuit. A good approach to qualifying is to do two fast laps and then a slow lap, and then two fast laps again. The purpose of this is to allow your tyres to cool. Tyres get very hot and can get so hot, that they go past their effective temperature.
At the end of Qualifying as you cross the start finish line, the Chequered Flag is waved to signify the end and you slow down to a safe pace as there may be marshals on the circuit attending to stricken cars. You complete one more lap and peel off into the pit lane and back to your area in the paddock and park it.
Qualifying is always one of the most nervous parts of the day. Racing, okay, but qualifying is when you have to get it right. There is also the thought that you have come to race and if you have an accident or a problem in qualifying, then that could be the end of your day. You also have to push very hard because you want to get a good starting position on the grid. So, whilst trying to push as hard as you can, you have to be mindful of looking after the car and not overstepping the limit.
 So, with qualifying out of the way, you will have several hours to prepare for the race. If everything is okay with the car, then it is just a case of letting it cool down, then topping up all the fluids (brake fluid, fuel, oil, water) and carrying out a nut and bolt check. With all the stresses and vibrations a racecar is subjected to, it is not uncommon for things to work loose or indeed, come away all together. Every nut and bolt holding the suspension and wheels on are checked to see if they are still tight. The wheel nuts are tightened to the right torque settings and the hoses are checked for leaks. Occasionally, you do have big problems. On one occasion, we had a clutch failure. To replace the clutch, the whole back end of the car has to come away, so between 3 of us, we managed to replace the clutch in 45 minutes. Once everything is done though, you have time to wander around the paddock, meet people, look at some of the cars you don’t see every week and watch some of the other races. As part of the North West championship, there is a hospitality unit. This is where all the time sheets for the qualifying and race results can be collected. You can get a drink and meet people for a chat and at the end of the day, the trophies tend to be handed out to the winners from here.
Race
When you get the call for your race, you follow the same procedure up to the assembly area as with Qualifying. When the green flag is waved, you move out onto the track, this is known as the green flag lap. As you come towards the starting grid, everyone slows down and you are directed to your starting slot on the grid by the grid marshals. No team personnel are allowed on the grid at this point. Once the cars are formed up on the grid and the marshals have cleared, a single marshal waves a green flag at the back of the grid to notify to the officials on the start gantry that all is okay to go. The officials then hold out a 1 minute board………followed by a 30 second board………followed by a 5 second board…the revs rise as some cars start creeping (clutches getting hot)…the red lights come on…the revs rise higher…and then anytime from 4 to 7 seconds…. they go out…Gooooooo!!!!! Everyone is away, jockeying for position down to the first corner. All 26 cars, trying to get to the same piece of track, before the other. And the race is on. Rather than laps, the race is timed. Usually 20 minutes + 1 lap. You get into a battle with a group of cars, but concentrate on passing the man in front. Where are his weak points and where are your strong ones? Which corner do you exit quicker than him? Are you better under braking than him? Brake here, change up to 4th there, turn in now. Forever thinking and forever trying to pass cars or keep them behind you for the most frantic 20 minutes +1 lap of your life. Well, since the last race at least. And then as quick as it started, it’s over. The chequered flag comes out. Hopefully, you passed a few people and bettered your grid position. Hopefully, you finished!!!!!
 Again, you slow down and drive a steady lap back to the pits. Once there you drive through to the Scrutineering area where the car is to be scrutineered again. Not for safety this time though, but for legality. The car is weighed to check it isn’t under weight. The ride height is checked to see the car hasn’t been running to low. All the cars are checked and all is fine. The result stands. You take the car back to the paddock and then spend the next 30 minutes excitedly chatting to your fellow racers about the race that was. The passing moves. The wheel-to-wheel battles. I say 30 minutes, that appears to be how long it takes for the effects of adrenalin to wear off! And then, it’s time to pack up. We usually stay and watch some more races before we head off, as the whole point is to make a day of it. Once home, the car is tucked away back in the garage.
Most post-race Sunday’s are spent preparing the car for the next race and talking to other drivers on the phone about supplies of parts and incidents in the race.
If the meeting is a weekend event at Anglesey, after getting the car ready on Saturday evening for Sunday’s race, you can have a walk along the beach or have a Barbeque. We usually camp at the circuit. Some drivers stay in Hotels, but we like staying on the circuit as there is always something happening and a motor racing paddock always has a buzz about it during an evening.
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