Testing at the new Snetterton 300 circuit

Norfolk over a Bank Holiday weekend should be relaxing but for those of us in the Caterham Roadsport-B Championship, it would be the location of a few days worth of track-time.  Snetterton was the location for the weekend's fun and testing on Friday, 22nd April was the start.

We had been split into several groups and the four sessions in the day would see us get used to the new layout called Snetterton 300.  Last time we were here, I had to retire from third place with one lap to go when my throttle jammed open...

Sadly, my early time at the circuit was not proving positive.  The new layout was taking a lot of time to get used to and the car felt awkward around me.  I couldn't pick my line, I couldn't fell comfortable on the brakes and I couldn't get traction from the corners.  I couldn't put my finger on what the problem might be.  I just wasn't very quick - I struggled to get past cars I would normally be much quicker than and when I did get by, I'd struggle to pull away.

I tried all sorts - tyre pressures, different lines etc but still nothing.

The third session came and I felt slightly more comfortable.  I'd noticed the tyre pressures were coming in quite low so with the air in the rubber adjusted, I set out.  A dice with a Ginetta racecar gave me some confidence but as I took the new, sharp, left in the new section of the circuit, the car mis-fired...  It had never done that before and is often associated with low fuel.  I had topped the tank before heading out so this wasn't the problem.  Even worse, at the next right-hander ('Oggies'), the car cut out and slowed suddenly - the Ginetta nearly running into me.  I put my foot on the clutch and coasted to a stop by a gap in the barriers.  Despite my efforts to get the car running again, I was out and had to be towed back at the end of the session.

After a great deal of checking, fiddling and checking again, one of the race-team owners traced the problem to the Crankshaft sensor.  It's a small, plastic component that had been broken against the flywheel after it's mounting bracket had come loose.  Again a technical issue had brought my day to an end.

A quick note to say the next day, I was able to find a replacement part, 'botch' the bracket together and get the car started again.

Rachel Horgan once again with the pictures.