BARC Formula Renault Championship
Round 5
Croft - 1 June 1997

Our first experience of Croft, the Friday afternoon testing session, was dry and hot - and very bumpy! Still, half a day was all we could manage, despite the fact that some had already had two whole days of testing. Once Stuart had acclimatised to the track, his times improved quickly to end in the low 1m 26 mark but we had to miss the final half hour because of the appearance of a severe oil leak from somewhere around the top of the oil tank. Close investigation failed to pin-point the cause - but we concluded that the oil seal on the base was at fault so it was removed, cleaned and re-sealed.

Saturday morning was again bright and hot, track temparatures soaring by the time we went out to qualify. Fourth was the result of our labours - the bad news being that the oil leak was still there and getting worse. Still, as a diversion, we practiced stripping and re-building the gearbox so that the scrutineers could check we had the correct ratios!

Back at the awning, we scratched our heads, cleaned off the surplus oil and looked again for the problem. This time we found it - a small crack around the weld in the top of the swirl pot which was opening up as the oil pressure peaked - then closing again at lower revs! Of course, no-one had a spare so we set about wire locking and aralditing the crack closed!

And so to the race - and another little gremlin raised its head. As Stuart stopped on the grid for the start, the dashboard reset itself and lit up like a christmas tree! So, somewhat distracted, Stuart guessed the revs - and got it wrong, entering the first corner dead last! Up to 12th at the end of the first lap, then 11th, 9th at the end of lap 3, homing in on the back of Garry Taylors' 2000 division car in 6th place by the end of lap 8. Past Gary on lap nine, then past Marc Cramer on lap 10 to catch Matt Baldacci's class winning 1700 in fourth place at the end of the last lap.

At the front, Charles Hall pulled out an early lead but was reeled in and passed by Peter Clarke on the last lap. Matt Bettley was a lonely third, just 5 seconds ahead of Stuart at the finish!

All in all, an exciting race, but no real excuse for the start with or without the dashboard problem.

Major consolation though in taking fastest lap, setting a new lap record at 1m 23.52, nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than qualifying. Now for some more practice!

Next race is at Silverstone on the 28th of June - see you there!

Results

Pos	Driver	Car	Division
1.	Peter Clarke	Van Diemen RF96	2000
2.	Charles Hall	Tatuus RC96	2000
3.	Matt Bettley	Van Diemen RF96	2000
4.	Matt Baldacci	Van Diemen RF93	1700
5.	Stuart Wood	Van Diemen RF96	2000