Having participated in Roadsports for several years I felt it was time for a new challenge. In one sense the outcome of a race within the series was becoming predictable depending on who had entered and so I decided to compete in the AFR Championship for 2022.
The AFRC involves two 20 minute races at each meeting but utilises the same class structure as Roadsports albeit that the weight of the driver was included (so fatties were not disadvantaged!). This meant my car was about 40kg overweight for class but there was nothing I could do to lighten the MR2 anymore, neither could I increase the engine bhp without turbo/super charging it. Maybe next year……
Championship points are not awarded on finishing position but on a lap consistency system. This meant any competitor could win the Championship, even one in the least powerful class, rather than the one with the quickest car.
The first two rounds were held on Silverstone National circuit. The track was damp and greasy in parts for qualifying but I was thrilled to manage 2nd out of 15 in Class C and 8th out of 34 overall; my best result todate. The car felt stable perhaps because I had fitted slightly wider tyres of a new brand to me – Yokohama A052s.
Race 1 started well and I managed to gain a place in the first lap although was under pressure from a turbo charged mini in the same class. Unfortunately it went downhill very rapidly thereafter. The back end of the car stepped out halfway through turn 1 (Copse) at about 90mph on the second lap. I steered into the slide needing to use almost full lock to keep the car in check but then the rear suddenly gripped resulting in a snap rotation in the opposite direction through 180 degrees. Most definitely a passenger at this stage, I headed backwards across the run off, through the gravel and into the tyre wall at relatively high speed. Race over. Thank goodness for the help and support provided by the marshalls who sprinted over to make sure I was ok. It is most reassuring to know they are at hand should anything go badly wrong.
A recovery vehicle unceremoniously towed me back to the paddock once the race had ended where Dave Jacobs and Robin Jones started to assess the damage. Cosmetically the car was a mess all the way down the off side but that wasn’t going to stop me from getting out for Race 2. However the rear wheel was moved forwards by several inches, radiator punctured by gravel flying in from behind, driver’s wing mirror smashed, rear wing bent, boot lid flip broken, rear light cluster smashed, etc. Nevertheless the guys managed to get the car ready for Race 2, even though it looked decidedly second hand, and I was on the grid ready to do battle. What a superb effort by Dave and Robin. Without their support there was no way I could have managed to be ready since I had to spend time in the med centre being checked over by the duty doc given the size of impact with the wall.
Once the green flag lap for Race 2 was over and whilst waiting for the red lights to come on, I noticed steam coming from the bonnet which I had to assume meant the radiator repair had failed. Committed to the start to prevent a pile up behind me I waited for a gap in the traffic before pulling off and limping home. The decision proved to be the right one but what a disappointing day – from hero to zero in the blink of an eye. To add to the agony I knew I was faced with some long hours in my garage to repair the damage before the next two rounds at Croft on 28 May.
Thanks to Jonathan Elsey, Motorsport Photography, for the excellent photographs.