Brands Hatch Rounds 15- 16

Race Report: Ramms Hatch?
As we sank deeper into the season the cars development had increased and so had driver ability across all teams on the grid, this said nothing would prepare us for the freezing cold temps and heavy rain we would see across the weekend making it difficult for everyone to find their groove in this November race.

Testing saw our old team mate Richard Knott joining us to get back in the swing of things before his return to the championship next season (Yes you heard right Swallows Racing will have 3 cars next season). From the start of the day we slowly began to get into the groove of the conditions and as the track started to dry track times were starting to reduce from 1.05 to 58 seconds, this however was short lived as the marshals black flagged Tom for what they thought was oil smoke coming from the engine. After talking to them and explaining that it was just smoke from the exhaust due to the tired old 140,000 mile engine we were offered another session in the afternoon for cutting the first short.

The following sessions had some great and consistent times until a coolant hose split and made Tom nearly slide out on his own fluid forcing a close to the day. Adams car felt stronger with a change to Mintex brake pads giving him more confidence in the corners and strong times. Richard had a great day too and we are all looking forward to the car back in the ranks next season. Unfortunately the curtain was drawn on the day with Micheal Holt braking a hub, disc and loosing a wheel in the last session forcing a late night to fix this issue before the morning.

Day 2 saw a late qualifying with fingers crossed that the rain would pass however laying water saw the cars and drivers on their toes as they tried to navigate surface water and post good times, a difficult session saw Tom and Adam post 1.16 laps putting them 9th and 10th on the grid. A safe mid pack time to see them through the weekend.

Race 1 soon came around after rumours that it would be cut as they were running behind with fading light, this session was deeply frustrating for the drivers as there was 8 minutes of racing and 12 with a safety car due to David Bye’s car dropping a huge patch of oil on the circuit there was no chance to improve however some great dog fighting with Guy Connew and later chasing down Derrick Pearce pulled Tom up to 5th overall and 7th for Adam. Great despite the limited time on track and fading light, choosing to run a wet weather setup helped massively here and put us further up the grid for race 2. James Ramm pulled home 1st by a margin and secured a great race.

Day 2 saw an early race with threats of rain again all morning, a last minute decision was made on Toms car to run the dry setup again however Adam stuck with the wet as the race began. The start saw tom dart his way past 3 cars using the low down power of the charger putting him 3rd but due to a crash on the first corner of druids by a handful of cars needing recovery the grid was gathered up on the straight for a restart of original positions, frustrating for Tom due to the progress made. Upon the restart places were made slowly as battles with Guy in the blue series 2 and Rodney Frost in the XJS pushed Tom up to 4th nursing it home for the class win. Adam struggled with the wrong set up in the now dry conditions and close battles with the orange XK8 saw him finish 10th and 3rd in class. Race winner James Ramm ran away with the race posting an unstoppable fastest lap of the weekend a 54.9. Well done James!

A difficult weekend for everyone for one reason or another however stable results saw the boys finish first and second in class for the end of the season great results guys and a huge well done! Bring on next season!!
Chris