Jul
13
Dan Cammish: Snetterton weekend re-cap
Hello everyone and welcome to my fourth blog for the Motors TV website. In the last two weeks I have been very busy racing at Snetterton for Round four of the Formula Ford Championship and visiting the Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany, for my first taste of slicks and wings action testing Formel ADAC. It has been a great fortnight and I have enjoyed every minute of it, however it has certainly taken its toll on the body and I am glad that today I can finally rest.
Round four of the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain took place at Snetterton and once again all three races and qualifying were run in the dry. The weather was up and down all weekend, with a severe rain storm Friday afternoon but it soon dried up for our final practice so I was feeling confident for qualifying after setting some decent times in practice. My team mates Dan Erickson and Alex Jones also looked in good shape and it was clear the grid would be close.
Qualifying here was always going to be difficult, with such a long straight it was clear to get a good time you would need a tow. I teamed up with Erickson for qualifying and we practiced towing then rolling over at the end of the long straight to allow the other through. The hardest part of this was making sure you did your best lap when you were being towed, or it would be useless. I managed to get the job done, qualifying 3rd and 2nd for races one and two with Erickson 4th and 3rd. A good effort all round with Alex back in 8th.
Race one came Saturday afternoon and was run in dry, sunny conditions. Starting from 3rd I finally managed to get a good start and held station into turn 1. Ahead was American Josef Newgarden and Jamun’s James Cole. We quickly began to drive away from 4th place man Erickson and settled into the race. A brief safety car period closed the grid back up but on the re-start once again we made the break. Newgarden passed Cole and began to pull away, I was being held up by Cole but couldn’t find a way past with yellow flags waving at my only possible option. In the end I tried a bold move into turn 1 on the final lap and span myself into the field on the outside. Quickly selected 1st and dumped the clutch to restart the motor I recovered to 6th. I wont be trying anything like that from now on, after all I was going to finish 3rd not exactly bad for my Rookie year. Still better to have tried than never have had a go.
Race two was way more difficult. Sunday morning was much cooler and my Spectrum chassis really struggled to get tyre temperature in the first few laps. I dropped down as far as 6th from 2nd in the opening laps but managed to regroup my efforts and battled back through to 4th to finish behind Irishman Patrick Mckenna. It was becoming clear this track really favored the French Mygale Chassis with the Van Diemen’s also struggling for pace.
Race three was no easier than the last. Starting 5th on the grid I quickly got detached from the top four as once again I struggled with the car on the first few laps. I managed to gap 6th place for almost the entire race. However eventually Garry Findlay’s Van Diemen was breathing down my neck. Helped by the slipstream effect down the back straight he had slowly caught me lap after lap and got passed into turn 1. I would finish 6th, not my greatest effort. But still scoring consistently. I have now finished every race of the season in the top six and won every time out in the Scholarship Class. This really shows the consistency of myself and the team, however we really need to work hard now to improve the car if we are going to challenge for that first win.
So that was Snetterton, three races in the top six and three Scholarship wins. I now look forward to Donington Park in two weeks time where I hope we can get that first win.
Cheers
Dan Cammish