MotorsTV UK Official Blog

Hi all,

I’m Dan Denis and this year I am competing in the Caterham Superlight R400 Championship, Caterham’s premier motorsport championship. All the cars are identical, featuring a monstrous 220bhp Cosworth engine and Quaife 6-speed sequential gearbox. Having all this power in a car that only weighs 600kg makes for some very fast speeds and having no aerodynamic aids, makes the racing extremely close and exciting to both watch and drive.

This is only my second season of car racing, having come out of karts at the start of 2008. After a busy few months trying to raise the money, I contested 5 of the 6 rounds of the Caterham R400 Superlight championship, where I had 4 consecutive podiums and one win, in the Caterham Eurocup.

For 2009, I have a different car and great support from sponsors KM Dastur & Co Ltd, Ian Hutcheson & Associates and The Haywaggon Inn, Heartfield. For a second season I will be running with Matt Blyth Motorsport, who will be providing driver coaching and car preparation throughout the year.

The championship got underway on Easter Weekend at the Silverstone International circuit, my least favourite track on the calendar. We arrived at the circuit Thursday night in foul conditions that didn’t disappear throughout the weekend, contrary to all the weather forecasts! This probably helps explain why there wasn’t a single soul in the grandstands for the whole weekend, which added to a very dull atmosphere. Friday was the wettest day of the weekend, and in free practice we showed good pace though it proved difficult to see our true pace because the seemingly endless string of slower Roadsport & R300 cars that we had out with us during the practice made it near impossible to get a clear lap.

For Qualifying the track was drier but was incredibly greasy meaning that grip was lower than in Practice. The conditions weren’t like anything I had raced on before and they quickly became my least favourite conditions. The lack of grip meant that, despite the best efforts of the team, there was seemingly constant understeer into the corners that was balanced out by a heap of oversteer on the exit. The challenging conditions caught me out on my first flying lap, almost binning it in the graveltrap at Abbey. Despite my best efforts we could only manage 4th on the grid.

Some setup tweaks for Race 1 made a noticeable difference to the car giving me much more confidence under brakes and through the corners. This allowed me to battle race long with the leaders only just missing out on the win, but got the fastest lap.

For Race 2 on the Sunday, conditions were a slight improvement with a dry line appearing for our race. I knew I had to get the lead early on as overtaking would be almost impossible given the treacherous conditions off line. I was able to get a fantastic start to put me into the lead, one I held for the whole duration of the race despite being put under immense pressure. I just stayed on line which meant no one could get past without seriously compromising their exit speed. Overall a very successful, if wet, opening weekend.

Round 2 at Oulton Park couldn’t have had more different conditions. Glorious sunshine basked over the track all day and a good crowd led to a very nice atmosphere. It was a real treat to race on the full international circuit (and a surprise for some who had mistakenly tested on the shorter Island circuit). The twisty, technical nature of the circuit really appealed to me and it has shot up to the top of my list of favourite tracks.

Using the same setup we developed in testing earlier in the month, I was confident of showing good pace despite my relative lack of experience and I was able to grab pole by two tenths of a second. Qualifying for this meeting presented a new challenge I have not experienced before. Due to the meeting being one day, the decision was made to combine our R400 qualifying with the qualifying of the slower R300 cars. This led to quite a busy track and made it hard to put in a fast lap that wasn’t compromised by being stuck behind the R300’s.

For race 1, my start was disappointing and knocked me back to fourth. However I was able to gain all these places back in the first two laps to retake the lead. From here I was able to break the tow on the fierce battle for second behind and pull out a good gap. An excellent setup by Matt Blyth Motorsport meant the car didn’t go off at all and I was able to take the win by over 9 seconds.

For race 2 I got a much better start and led into the first corner but this time couldn’t shake off the pursuers, and I engaged in a race long battle for the lead which eventually went the way of Simon Young by only a few hundredths of a second, with me in 2nd.

Losing by such a small margin is always tough to take, but me and Simon both raced extremely well and I didn’t feel disappointed at all, as having two very strong, consistent point scoring weekends gives me a 10 point lead at the head of the drivers’ championship and Matt Blyth Motorsport enjoying a comfortable lead in the teams’ championship.

We have a four week break until round 3 at Anglesey, a circuit I didn’t even know existed until a few months ago. It is a circuit very few in the series have raced on before and the first time me, or any of the official Caterham championships, have visited the circuit. Being a new circuit to most of the competitors, it should make for a very level playing field and some fantastic racing. From those I’ve spoken to who have raced there before, opinions are mixed. Some say it’s fantastic, others say it’s dull. I guess we’ll all find out on the 27th-28th June.

Hi Everybody,

This is my first blog for MotorsTV.

My name is Adriano Buzaid and I’m 20 years old from Brazil.

I’m living in Oxford while I race in the International British F3 series with T-Sport powered by Volkswagen engines.

Last few weeks I have been training hard on my fitness with Stewart Wild and I achieved my target weight of 64.1kg which is important for F3 so we can distribute more weight around the car.

This week my focus has switched for the Rockingham race this  weekend. After the recent test day that we had on the track a week ago, I feel we made some good improvements on the car. We need to transfer these improvements into good qualifying positions and race results.

I think Rockingham is a different style of track mainly designed for Nascar and IRL races so is a good challenge. It’s quite technical in the slow speed and I really enjoyed the consecutive fast left hand corners which is Turn 5, 6, 7, and 8.

T-Sport is working very hard back in the workshop in association with another company on a simulator program and I hope to learn the European tracks on it.

Thanks for reading and sorry for my English.

Ciao

Adriano

Good morning everyone, and welcome to my Motors TV blog!

I’m Julien Gerbi, a French racing driver competing in Formula Palmer Audi

My 2009 season finally officially started at the beginning of the month at Brands Hatch.
For me, it was the first time racing in England, after competing in 7 other countries around the world throughout my short-career.

To be able to start this adventure on a track as famous as Brands Hatch gave me great pride, especially driving in Formula Palmer Audi. Having competed in the US Barber Mazda Series for the last two years, where the car is only powered by 150bhp, jumping into this 360bhp car with large, slick Avon Tyres is something quite exciting.

In France, Brands Hatch is unfortunately not as well recognized as Silverstone or Donington, but to me, as a motorsport aficionado, it reminds me of images of Prost winning his first F1 world championship, or even images of James Hunt, Jim Clark or Mike Hawthorn racing on that particular track. With those images in mind, I had some butterflies in my stomach when we started my Audi turbo engine for the first practice.

Unfortunately, my weekend didn’t go as well as I expected. After being hit on the second lap of my free practice, I didn’t manage to discover the track before the first qualifying. It was quite tough to be competitive enough without knowing the track, but I decided to take my time, try to bring the car home and take as much experience as I could.

Starting from far back on the grid, I was expecting my races to be long and difficult, which eventually happened, but I did manage to bring my n°14 Van Diemen Audi car from Team Biotech International to the chequered flag without any major incident. The fight in the midfield was tough, and contact between cars quite frequent. But the good thing is that I took as much experience as I could, staying with the main field and pumping in competitive lap times which would have allowed me to fight at the front with better qualifying.

This experience will help me throughout the year, and I am already getting ready for next race at Silverstone. Even so, I recognize that 2009 Formula Palmer Audi is very challenging, with lots of drivers able to reach the top level of motorsport. My own challenge will be to prove I am one of them, and to step up to Formula 2 when the time comes.

Before  that, I advise you to watch our Formula Palmer Audi highlights on Motors TV, you will really enjoy it.

Cheers,

Julien

Hi all

Apologies for not posting sooner but we’ve had a busy couple of weeks so thought I’d save the blog for after Adria.

As I said, it’s been a couple of weeks since I was last here and since then two FIA GT3 races have come and gone. The first was at Silverstone at the beginning of May and to be honest we weren’t as competitive there as we’d hoped.

The nature of the championship means that it’s important to have all the cars equalised. It’s intended to make for closer, action packed racing without the manufacturers getting involved in an arms race of sorts, which keeps grids packed, the costs low(er) and the result unpredictable.

CRS Racing’s pair of brand spanking new Ferrari’s 430 Scuderias didn’t arrive in Dover docks until the Wednesday prior to the race, meaning we had no time to test, set-up or explore the car’s limits. Not ideal. So we turned up at Silverstone just hoping to get some millage on the car. In qualifying it was clear that we were desperately short of testing with all the teams using the new Ferrari – including Kessel who build the cars – struggling.

To their credit, the FIA Performance Balancing Bureau recognised this and allowed the Scuderias to run larger restrictors, effectively increasing our power. It certainly helped but had the adverse effect of also increasing fuel consumption and we struggled with fuel pick-up issues throughout both races. Still, we were the first Ferrari crew home which boded well for the following round in Adria.

We’d tested at Silverstone the week after the race there and found a really good balance and plenty of extra pace. It was just what we needed and headed to Italy full of confidence. The results of the team’s hard work were instant, the car running much better in free practice where I was 5th and 3rd in the two sessions, despite this being my first visit there.
It set us up nicely for qualifying where we were again fast and I managed to put the car 3rd on the grid for the second race.

The opening race didn’t go exactly according to plan though. Robert Hissom, my team mate, had put in a decent first stint and we were well set as he came into the pits. We’d had a problem with the brakes for the entire weekend though and, thanks to the high temperatures in Italy, the brake fluid boiled as the car sat there. It was one of the only times I can remember seeing the disks glow in daylight. Anyway, I went out, turned into the first corner and sailed straight on despite my left foot and brake pedal hard to the floor. A lap later we were out for good after hitting a patch of oil and beaching the car in the gravel trap, along with a Porsche which had just done likewise in front.

Still, our pace was good and I felt confident starting from third in the second race which was to be run at night. I made a good start and maintained third for the first two laps, hustling the leaders. Then, on lap three, the car developed a misfire. It was minor at first but I could see from the dash read-out that the battery voltage was getting lower and lower. In a desperate bid to save the battery until the pitstop, I turned off the headlights, not something I’d normally recommend at 150mph but necessary to at least get us somewhere near the pit window. It did initially help but it wasn’t long before the volts continued to tumble and the train of cars behind continued to grow. 25 minutes in I had to pit to at least see what the team could do. Sadly it was terminal, the alternator having packed up and with it our chances of a solid points haul.

Now, you’d probably expect me to pretty glum about it all, but to tell you the truth it’s one of those occasions when you have to take the positives and move on. The car was competitive all weekend and we had the pace to qualify and race in the top five. The championship moves on to Oschersleben in mid-June where I’m confident we can trouble the podium again.

Phil.

Hello everyone,

Well, I am back now from my first race in Barcelona at the weekend and it would be an understatement to say I was disappointed with my results.

I flew out on Wednesday evening and walked the circuit with my team on Thursday morning followed by the normal scrutineering and signing on etc. The weather was warm all weekend, always around 24 degrees celsius.

Formula BMW is situated in the F1 Support paddock along with the GP2 and Porsche Supercup teams. To be honest, it is not that much of a nice place to spend your time, all the teams are situated in a fenced off area where we can only get in and out through 2 exits with our unique ID passes.

The BMW hospitality can be a welcome break from this but it is pretty basic with just plastic chairs, tables and some TV’s which have a live feed of the circuit and the timing screens. The place usually gets incredibly busy for the F1 qualifying and the GP2 races because the passes we are given don’t allow us to any viewing areas so we too have to watch it on TV!! The highlight of the weekend in the hospitality is always the Saturday evening BBQ where BMW open up to the entire paddock to see Dr. Mario Thiessen and either Nick Heidfield or Robert Kubica come and talk to us drivers. It is great because we always get to hear firsthand how qualifying has gone and what they expect from the race the next day. Last year at the final race in Monza it was great as after the first race on Saturday evening nearly all of the past FBMW drivers now in F1 came down to the BBQ. Sebastien Vettel (after his debut pole earlier in the day), Nico Rosberg and Timo Glock were all present and it was very special.

Something else very interesting on a Saturday night is the GP2 area of the paddock. The cars are usually being rebuilt after the first race with the entire rear end usually separated from the car. I often just take a walk along to see what is happening. I stand at the front of the awnings gazing in and I hope one day I will be able to be part of that tremendous championship. The level of preparation is incredible from the teams and for a driver it must just be awesome.

Now, down to the serious stuff. My driving. We were very good in free practice and looking strong for the qualifying as we didn’t use any new tyres. However in qualifying all of my times were deleted due to the officials judging me to have left the circuit with 4 wheels on more than 2 occasions. It seemed very unfair, especially when they agreed I gained no advantage. It was frustrating but those were the rules and there was nothing I could do about it. I was just using the exit kerb on a corner!… I have done the same for 2 years at the circuit and nobody has ever said anything to me. F1 and GP2 do it lap after lap but when things are not going your way you just have to take it on the chin I guess.

I went to bed on Friday evening devastated. Essentially it was my fault but still, I was angry with everything but as I was starting in 26th there was not much for me to do apart from get on with it.

My first race was very good. From 26th I came through to 15th in 10 racing laps which is all I could do especially as I had a very bad understeer balance on the car.

For race 2 I managed a much better race into 15th but was right on the back of the group for 9th but I was out of laps. My pace was very good with 6th fastest lap and the balance of the car definitely felt much more suited to me and the conditions. The problem for me starting so far back was that even when I come through on the first lap I am about 5 seconds behind 10th place and because the pace is so close it takes so many laps to close up 5 seconds…. and get past people! I was still happy to end up in the final points scoring position for both races as those 2 points may count for something at the end of the year. The evidence was obvious for everybody to see though. If I started from the front 2 rows then for sure I would have finished there.

We will just have to wait until the next weekend for me to show my true potential.

I now have a test at Hungary next week before my next race at Zandvoort. I feel there is more time to be found in the car so we will work on this in Hungary to improve and have a better package at Zandvoort.

Apart from all that I will continue training hard here at home and also building my new remote control plane which is taking up a lot of my time!!

Thanks for your support and I look forward to updating you all again soon.

Rupert