“Crashing hurts... in more ways than one”
The winter is exciting. It’s when you do all your planning and map the entire season out. You work out every logistic, expense and technical aspect. Then you may as well just throw that plan away.
Going with the flow is part of club racing. For example: round one at Snetterton. We’d bought our car, but also recruited former Mini racer Jon Attard to race a second, which Rob Sims and chief engineer Darren Crocker built from scratch in just over a week.
We get two cars to Norfolk, when Attard’s engine expires terminally after just three laps of testing. A spare is sourced from ebay, but Brandon and I give up some of our testing so Attard can also get a feel for the Puma. My plan was to get at least 90 minutes of testing before the first race… I got about 35. Three laps into the year, and already the plan was changed.
Or take Castle Combe in August. I was due to test, but an impending MN print deadline meant I couldn’t. That led to me replacing the physical test with a simulator one and heading to a track on race day essentially blind to what it was like in real life.
Regardless, Brandon put the car on pole, just before a clutch problem developed and damaged the crankshaft too. Engine gone, and we spent the race sat on the spectator bank at Camp Corner cheering Attard on.
No matter how solid your plan is, motorsport has a funny way of keeping you on your toes…