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Damani's Blog

Successful First Test at Brands Hatch

3 Feb , 2015  

My first ever track day in my Team HARD Volkswagen Racing Cup Car was absolutely awesome. I got to meet a lot more people in Team HARD and had an amazing day on the track.

The start of the day was so exciting. We arrived at Brands Hatch and saw my car for the first time. It looked so cool!

Damani strapped into the race seat ready to goFirst I had to sit in the car to allow the team to do the final adjustments to the position of the controls. Next, I had to sign on at race control and attend the drivers’ briefing. This was very similar to karting briefings. We were at a Brands Hatch track day so it was mostly adults with road driving licenses and some with racing licenses. Even though I’m only 16 and can’t have a driving license I was still allowed to drive on the day because I have a senior racing license.

The day started with ‘sighting laps’. Instructors drive around at slow speeds, following the racing line with the other cars lined up behind them. This is to show people the tricky parts of the track and to help anyone who is a first timer, like me.

I had an instructor, Wil Arif, working with me one-to-one for the first half of the day. Instead of me driving on the sighting laps, he drove me in one of the MSV-T Peugeot 206s. This was to get me familiar with the track and the conditions. Wil warned me that the track was really cold, damp and greasy and that going too fast too soon could easily send us off the track. He was so right. Quite a few drivers slid off the track into the gravel traps during the day. Luckily I wasn’t one of them.

Then it was time to go out in my car. I was a little bit nervous but I knew that Wil would guide me around. I made sure I took it slow and stayed in control to start with, building up my pace very gradually and just doing what he said to do. This process was really useful because it helped me get a feel for how little grip there was and how easy it was to spin the wheels.

On TrackWe carried on with this strategy, just focusing on feel, until just before lunch then Wil let me go a lot faster. I could tell he was more confident in me and that made me feel more confident. That was a really exciting session, the most exciting so far. It was the first time I really felt like I was going fast.

There was a one hour break for lunch which went by really quickly. I was interviewed by Chris Dicketts of Kent Motor Sports News and Chris McCarthy who writes for Karting Magazine. There were quite a few people there to support me and the team, including former Team HARD driver Tom Barley. During lunch I also had to get feedback from Tony Gilham, Team HARD manager, and from Howard Fuller, one of the team’s top drivers.

TONY GILHAM GIVING DAMANI ADVICE BEFORE FIRST SOLO SESSION

Tony Gilham giving me advice before I go out.

Before I knew it it was time to go out again. Wil came back after lunch for one more session in the car. He pushed me a lot further again, allowing me to go faster and faster. Then it was time to go out by myself. It was really nerve wracking as I was getting into the car. Tony Gilham told me to think of it just like I was driving in my kart. I always had to drive that alone. That really helped me feel calmer.

Once I was driving down the pit lane, suddenly, I felt a burst of confidence. In that session I went faster again. I focused on trying to apply everyones advice one corner at a time. In each session I just got faster and faster. At the start of the day, when I was taking it slow, everyone was overtaking me. Now, I was actually overtaking most people and they were in some really fast cars, like a BMW M3, some race-tuned hatch-backs and some Caterhams. I was actually amazed by this because everyone on the track looked like experienced drivers. I wasn’t expecting to be able to get past anyone on my first day. The main people faster than me were my much more experienced team-mates. When they did pass me I watched what they did to see if I could learn where I could improve my lines.

It was a really steep learning curve over the day and I feel like I handled it well.I learned a lot on the day but there is still a long way to go. It was awesome to get the amazing feedback from everyone who was there.

I want to say a massive thank you to Team HARD for believing in me and giving me the chance to do this and to all my partners and especially RiverGlide for backing me. Also a special thank you to Tony Gilham for his faith in me and Howard Fuller for his amazing feedback. I also want to thank Chris McCarthy and his team as well as Tom Barley, Malcolm Prior and everyone who came down to support me.

This has been one of the best days of my life so far, even if it did have to end with me coming home to finish my homework.

Can’t wait to be out on track again!


Check out the on board camera footage of my final few laps.


 

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