Time Attack 2024 Round 7 – Brands Hatch
Before Round 7 we fitted a set of new tyres having switched from the AR1’s which I have been using for the past few seasons to the Yokohama A052 which will be the 2025 control tyre. On top of this I had made the decision to try some new geometry settings on the car, the idea behind this was that I know Brands Hatch really well so there was no need to really familiarize myself with the circuit, using it as a chance to test something I normally wouldn’t be able to do.
Warm Up
The plan for warm up was to bed the new brakes and tyres in while giving the new setup a little run to see if it was a step in the right direction. I eased into the session to give the new parts a steady introduction to life and hopefully get the most out of them going forward. After 5 laps I pitted due to the cabin filling with smoke. There was a strong smell of brakes which was the likely case but it’s always better to make sure it was nothing more serious. After confirming it was the brakes I head back out and put in a decent lap, clocking a 53.027. At the end of the session I made the choice to switch back to previous setup as I didn’t feel like we had gone in the right direction. Luckily this wasn’t a massive job to do and the car was good to go in about 30 minutes.
Practice
While waiting to go back out the weather decided to mix the day up with one of the worst rain showers I have experienced at a track in a long time, so much so there was what can only be described as a river running down the pit lane. On the tyre front for the conditions, I had zero hesitation on what I was going to do which was head out on the new A052 tyres. I had been told that they are very good in wet conditions, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to gather some knowledge on them in these conditions. Out on track with it only being practice I had decided I was going to slowly build the pace lap by lap – Which was working out extremely well for me with no major incidents, by the end of the session I had managed to register a 1:02.138 leaving me in 3rd place in class but with plenty of lap time left on the table. I was also happy to report that the A052’s offered so much grip once warm!
Qualifying
Now it was time for qualifying the first of the points scoring sessions and it was still wet. I was feeling confident and with 20-minutes on the clock there was plenty of opportunities to try something new. Frustratingly, as we got on track the Garmin Catalyst went blank, displaying no data. I tried to reset it while out on track but I couldn’t get it to go into the right setting while driving. I made the decision to stay out and keep lapping, unaware if my experimental lines where helping or hindering my lap times. I ended the session with a 1:02.050 leaving me 3rd in class. With hindsight we probably should have pitted to reset the Garmin and give me a clear picture of my lap times during the session but we can’t go back now.
Final
Over the next hour the track had dried up significantly. I headed out with one thing in mind, to win my class, I was being very aggressive out of the box to make it happen but was struggling with traffic. After four failed attempts I slowed it right down on a build-up lap to create a nice gap in front of me before going again.
Throughout the lap the Garmin was showing green so I knew I was on a good lap. After crossing the line I glanced over to see a 51.329, nearly half a second quicker than I had ever gone around Brands Hatch Indy circuit before! I was delighted by the news but felt there was more time to be found and the Club 2WD lap record was there for the taking.
I headed back to the pits for a quick check over before going out again. The first lap back out was down on my new PB by 3 tenths but frustratingly I was starting to struggle on down shifts from 5th to 4th gear, a tell-tale sign of worn syncros.
After a seven more attempts, all of which come to nothing, the chequered flag fell. However, in parc ferme I got the news we had bagged P1 in class! There is just something about Brands Hatch which brings out the best in my driving.
