MotorsTV UK Official Blog

It has yet again been a while since I posted a blog, and a lot has happened since my Oulton Park blog in June. Firstly, I have had two more race weekends at Snetterton & Silverstone – rounds 6 & 7 of the Ginetta G50 Cup.

Oulton Park was my first meeting back after my Thruxton crash, and was mostly about getting back into racing after the incident. With a two month gap between Oulton & Snetterton, it was great to get back in the car for Friday testing at the Norfolk circuit. Snetterton is a circuit that has always been kind to me, qualifying 5th for my first ever car race in 2008 and clinching the Superlight R400 championship there last year.

This year however, things didn’t go my way in qualifying as I struggled to get a consistent lap time together meant I lined up a disappointing 15th on the grid, doubly disappointing seeing as I was one of the fastest cars around the first half of the lap. After qualifying I had two races to complete on Saturday, making for a very busy day for us all. Race one took place in dry conditions and I made a new places off the start, but was prevented from moving further up after a safety car on lap 4 scuppered my chances of moving further up the grid. Due to the race only being 11 laps, by the time the incident had been cleared and the safety car had gone in it left me with too few laps to move further up the order.

Rain between race 1 and two meant, for the first time this year, I would be racing the G50 in the wet. Not being used to full on rain tyres (the Caterham’s always ran a treaded tyre, no slicks & wets) I was initially surprised by just how much grip the tyres gave and quickly gained confidence in them as I again climbed up the order, taking advantage of other people’s errors to get my first top ten finish of the year – a solid 9th place.

On Sunday the sun was back out and the crowds were flocking in. Our Sunday race took placein the afternoon in front of a great crowd. The race itself however was short-lived, an accident involving Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey, brought out the safety car for the second time for the weekend. However, a 7th place finish marked my best performance of the year so far.

Moving forward two weeks, I arrived at the home of british motor racing, Silverstone, for rounds 18 & 19 of the G50 Cup. Despite the forecast claiming that we would be in for wet weekend, all the weekends running took place under dry conditions. After some fundamental set-up changes in testing we seemed to unlocked something extra in the car, catapulting to an excellent 5th place on the grid. For the Saturday race, poleman Chris Dittman retired with a broken driveshaft, putting me up to 4th as the lights went out. Through all 22 laps I held my position well, to cross the line a superb 4th, meaning a podium place was insight for the race on Sunday.

After a losing a few places off the start on Sunday I was holding 5th position well, until being turned around by Dittman on the final corner, dropping me to 9th. A disappointing end to an otherwise fantastic weekend.

Unfortunately, budget shortages means that I will be missing the next round at Knockhill but will be out again at my favourite circuit, the re-opened Donington Park, at the end of the next month.

Hope to see you there
Dan

Hi there

It has been an awfully long time since I last posted here, for reasons I shall explain in a moment. After winning the R400 championship last year, I was looking for a new challenge for 2010.

After a lot of hard work putting together sponsorship deals, we were able to purchase a brand new Ginetta G50, for use in the extremely competitive Ginetta G50 Cup. Due to a number of delays, I wasn’t able to get a run in the car until the championship media day at Silverstone. Whilst we were down on our rivals in terms of seat time, my pace was strong in the on-track sessions only a few tenths shy of the top cars.

Unfortunately, all these efforts came undone at the first meeting of the year at my home track, Thruxton. Despite only living 30 minutes away from the fastest track in the UK, this was the first time I had raced on the circuit. After qualifying well, an incorrect tyre choice for the first race meant that I had to start race two from the back of the pack. After battling though the pack, a mistake coming out of Goodwood corner sent me onto the grass and hitting the grass sound bank at over 120mph, one of the hardest impacts ever taken by a G50 before. After being taken to Winchester hospital I was told I had suffered a broken collarbone and severe muscle damage, and could expect to be out of action for two months.

I would like to thank all of the marshals and paramedics for the excellent job they did that day, and to all the members of the racing community who sent their wishes.

This blog however isn’t all about bad news. For, despite my accident, I was able to rejoin the G50 Cup grid at Oulton Park in Cheshire, for rounds 10 & 11 of the championship. Getting back in the car was fantastic, especially at a circuit as exciting and challenging as Oulton. The car itself is great to drive, yet very different to the Superlight. Being a big GT car, getting used to all that extra weight and way it transfers at various points in the laps is something that I have never experienced before and something that, with more seat time, I will become more accustomed to.

Another thing different on the G50 is the use of racing slicks, as opposed to the treaded tyres used in the Caterham’s. Learning to get the most out of the tyres, especially in qualifying, is something that I will learn with practice. After qualifying 15th, I had a lot of work to do in the races.

Race one took place on Saturday afternoon, and I enjoyed an incredible battle with Phil Broad, with him just beating me across the line meaning I finished 14th. One thing this race taught me was how hard it is to overtake in these cars, compared to the Caterham. Being so wide and at a notoriously narrow Oulton Park circuit, finding a way past Phil proved impossible for me this race, but hopefully I will be able to improve my race craft in the G50 as I gain more race time.

For race 2, my primary objective was to improve on my race 1 result. A great start put me up into 10th by the end of lap two, a position I held for a number of laps until contact with Adam Morgan through Cascades put be back down to 18th. Despite the setback I pushed on eventually recovering to 12th place, rounding off an excellent weekend for my return to the series.

 It is now less than two weeks until Croft, a circuit I haven’t been to before but one I have been told is a great circuit to drive. My main objective, seeing as I have not raced there before, is to continue learning as much as I can about the car and how to race it.

Just a quick thank you to Matt Blyth Motorsport and Ginetta Cars for doing such a great job rebuilding my car in time for Oulton, as well as all my sponsors for remaining with me despite the accident.

Cheers
Dan

Hi everyone.

This blog is a mixture of happiness and sadness. Happy because after a fantastic season I was crowned champion, but sad as it means another season of motorsport is nearing an end.

Leaving Silverstone a few weeks ago I didn’t know that I’d just wrapped up the driver’s championship. It was fellow competitor Ed Hayes tha t worked it out on Monday morning. A very excited call from my Dad that afternoon marked one of the most incredible moments of my life, though admittedly it didn’t feel quite real.

Snetterton will always be special for me, as it was where I took part in my first ever motor race, on my 17th birthday in June last year. Back then I wouldn’t of imagined that I’d be returning a year later as driver’s champion and two finishes would earn Matt Blyth Motorsport team’s championship.

Testing on Friday took place in dry conditions and we were setting the pace, a couple of tenths up on our rivals. The same could be said the next day however, with damp conditions making for a very tricky qualifying session, where I managed to grab 2nd on the grid, the highest I have qualified since taking pole at Oulton Park back in May.

 Come race 1 later that afternoon, and still the damp conditions persisted. I made a fantastic start to get into the lead on the first corner and was able to pull out a small lead over the first few laps. However, due to the treacherous conditions and the need to finish in order to secure the team’s championship for Matt Blyth Motorsport,  I drove cautiously, perhaps a little too cautiously and ended up dropping back to 4th. However this was enough to mean I could really go for a fantasitc in race 2 and end the season on a high.

Race 2 took place in much more pleasant whether, so the final race of 2009 took place in dry conditions. It was a fantastic end to the 2009 season, with a great battle between me and old rivals Peter Ratcliff and Simon Young. I’ve had some fantastic battles with them this year and so I must thank them both for a great season of clean, hard racing. For this race though I was happily the one who came out on top to win the last race of the season, and take both the driver’s and team’s championships.

So as 2009 draws to a close I would like to thank my team Matt Blyth Motorsport for all the effort they have put in this year as well as my sponsors KM Dastur and Ian Hutcheson & Associates, for without them I wouldn’t be on the grid at all.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading these blogs, take care of yourselves.

Dan

Hi all

Apologies for the lateness of this blog, but I have been very busy lately due to starting university at Goldsmith’s College, University of London. I still haven’t got my Internet sorted so am currently writing this from my local Internet café.
 
Sine my last blog a lot has happened in the Caterham Superlight R400 Championship with arguably the two most anticipated races of the year: Spa Francorchamps & Silverstone GP.

So onto Spa, and a very exciting occasion for my team Matt Blyth Motorsport, who after months of talk were finally able to use their incredible new lorry – with a nicer interior than my house! Spa itself is simply incredible; there is defiantly a really special atmosphere there that is not present at any other track.

Whilst Spa is notorious for its weather, we had beautiful sunshine all weekend making for a simply unbeatable weekend’s enjoyment. As for the racing itself, we had the biggest entry of the year with an incredible 28 Superlights on track. The nature of the circuit made for some very close racing, with the high-speed layout and tow affect that is so apparent in Caterhams heightened even further to mean that you could enter the Kemmel straight in first, but be in 6th by the end of it. Whilst this encouraged ultra-close racing, it made it very hard to stay in the lead and so led to a very tactical first race, which I judged very well and was able to take my 3rd win in a row, albeit by only 0.078 seconds from championship rival Peter Ratcliff.

The second race was much of the same, however I didn’t judge my ideal position on the final lap meaning I was 4th heading into the bus stop chicane. Fortunately though a spinning car ahead of me gifted me 3rd place and a 9th podium of the year. To add to that, I also collected my first ever lap record, a 2:41 second lap that just added to an already phenomenal weekend.

Two weeks later and back in the UK to go to another magical place, Silverstone. This was my first visit the Grand Prix circuit and I have to say it is an incredible circuit. Like Spa, it encourages close racing because of its high-speed layout. Another strong grid – 23 cars for this meeting and more beautiful weather set the one-day event up to be another thriller.

After struggling to get enough out of the car in qualifying I faced an uphill struggle with my two main championship rivals taking up the front row. Race 1 was very tough with 5 cars fighting for the lead. Whilst I couldn’t take the win, a third place was good damage limitation as my rivals didn’t take too many points out of my championship lead.

For race two I started in a better position and took full advantage of it, by taking my sixth victory of the season and another fastest lap. This means that I now have a 13 point lead in the championship going into the final round at Snetterton in three weeks time. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Take care,

Dan

After a tough weekend at Anglesey three weeks ago I was determined to make up for it at Donington Park, one of my favourite circuits and one that I always go well at.

It was great to be back on the British F3/GT package, and there was a really good atmosphere in the paddock all weekend. Despite the miserable weather, a big crowd turned out to watch all the action.  Furthermore, a strong 20 car grid including reigning champion David Mayes promised some fantastic racing. This surely indicates the benefits of being part of the F3/GT meetings, so hopefully there will be more than one meeting on the package in 2010.

For me, the weekend itself couldn’t have started any worse thanks to an engine failure just 20 minutes into the first practice session on Friday. We still haven’t had any word from engine builders Minister Power as to what has gone on the engine, but we have our fingers crossed it won’t be too expensive.

Thankfully a spare engine was on hand and thanks to great work by Mat Blyth Motorsport, Rob from Tecserv and Simon Lambert for finding an oil filter in a van I was able to get a good run in the car before racing.

So onto the racing. Qualifying presented a tough challenge for me because I am running in a one car team. it would be better to work together with another car to capitalise on the huge performance advantage a tow down the straights can give you in these cars. This meant that whilst I was quickest in clean air, it was championship rival Peter Ratcliff and team mate David Mayes who took the front two positions on the grid, whilst I had to settle for third.

Race one of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon in lovely sunshine and the race itself was defiantly one of the best of the year. Having eight cars fighting for first place underlies why the R400 Superlight championship is so good. As Mayes built up a good advantage at the head of the field I had to deal with all three of my closest championship rivals trying as hard as possible to find a way past me. Luckily, their squabbles meant I was able to break the tow and hunt down Mayes, eventually passing him into Goddards to take the win. It was a great feeling to finally finish in front of him after spending the last three rounds of 2008 coming second best to David.

Race two on Sunday provided challenging conditions, with heavy rain falling minutes before we went out to race. A late tyre change by us proved a great move as, despite losing the lead on the first bend to David, I was back in the lead again by the start of lap two from where I sped off into the distance, winning the race by over 32 seconds.

A really great weekend more than made up for the disappointment at Anglesey and made the hard work of changing engines on Friday very worthwhile.  The fantastic results mean I am now 13 points clear at the head of the driver’s championship with six races left to run. There is a long two month wait until I’m next out, but it should be worth the wait as the next round of the championship is at the awesome Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Many people consider this the best circuit in the world, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Dan