Chapter 2: Race Day

Some of the equipment that we were allowed to use during qualifying and racing was an earpiece, which enabled Geoff to relay times and instructions to me. This meant we didn’t have to rely on pit boards, which didn’t allow much information to be passed to the driver. You only saw them once a lap, a lot could happen ahead and behind you in that time.

On Saturday morning qualifying for the race took place. Geoff didn’t want me to go full out; he would tell me in my earpiece how I was doing and if I needed to go quicker or not. With the lap times I had been doing in testing, he knew I should be able to get pole position, but didn’t want to spook the other drivers if I did that straight off.

Qualifying was in two stages, two sessions of five laps each. The best lap time of either of the sessions, would determine where everyone would be placed on the starting grid.

The first session of qualifying I took it really easy. I was braking slightly earlier than I could for the corners, not accelerating till I was totally through the corner.

After my first qualifying lap, Geoff told me that I was 0.230 behind the leading time, which was good enough for fourth so far. I told Geoff via my mic, that I would increase my pace lap by lap; he was to tell me when I had done enough.

That’s what I did for the next three laps, each time hitting the brakes slightly later and accelerating slightly earlier on each corner, my fourth Lap equaled last year’s pole position time, so Geoff told me to back off. The last lap of the session I didn’t even complete the lap, diving into the pits, saving the engine and gearbox for the race.

There was a lot of work on the cars being done in between the sessions. Each driver was asking the mechanics to tweak the aerodynamics and settings of the cars, to improve the handling for the current track.

I was happy with my car, since the week I had spent testing on the track, had the perfect settings for me to drive the fastest I could round this track.

There were a lot of people around the pits surprised that I had set the fastest time so far, I got a few glances from both drivers and the team principals as they passed our pit garage.

I asked Geoff if it was even worth going out for the second session, did he think anyone could beat my current time.

He told me he wanted to be able to respond if someone did go quicker, so I was to go out. There were other benefits as well as keeping the car’s current qualifying position, I would gain experience with having other drivers on the course, I wouldn’t be pushing it unless I needed to put in a better lap, but would have other fast cars around me.

He did tell me to stay off the racing line, look out for other drivers in my mirrors, and keep out of everyone else’s way.

It wasn’t needed, as only a couple of the other drivers improved their times, but didn’t do better than my first session time.

Then there was a couple of hours of waiting. There were some other different formulas of racing that weekend, it was their turn to do their qualifying sessions.

That was when things got interesting, as one of the other drivers in our division came over and got in my face.

“Kid you may have got pole position, but don’t think you are going to win this race. I am going to win the championship this year, so when you see me coming up on you, just get the hell out of the way. I don’t want a rookie like you taking me out and risking me losing my title.” He gave me a glare then nodded as though he had gotten his message across and strutted off.

I turned back into our pit area, when Geoff came over to ask what had happened. I told him what the other driver had said.

“That was Billy Stiles, he is the championship leader. Don’t take any notice of him, he is just trying to put you off with his big talk, you just do the lap times like I know you can and he will never get close enough to pass. He didn’t even get second position on the grid, having had some issues and is back in fourth.”

I thanked Geoff for the talk, but I would make sure I kept that loudmouth behind me whatever it took.

I went off to relax and get something to eat and drink. I met up with Mom and Dad, both were looking really pleased with what I had done so far, I had a quick meal before I had to head back to the pits.

Then it was time for the race.

Race 1

The car had been filled with only enough gas for the twenty lap race, extra would just be excess weight to carry around. New tires were put on and it was time to leave the pits, I moved the car to the front of the queue at the pit exit, the other cars lined behind me as per their grid position. Once all the cars were ready, the green light came on to tell me to lead them onto the track on a warm up lap.

I took the lap steady, just allowing enough heat to get into the tires to allow them to stick in the first corner. I wasn’t sure how fast I was meant to go, but I wasn’t going to put any unnecessary wear on the tires. There would be enough wear in the race, that saving as much whenever I could was paramount.

I entered my grid box as I came down the home straight. I made sure I didn’t overshoot, allowing a little bit of leeway just in case, I didn’t want to get a time penalty before even starting.

Getting off the line was imperative, if I stalled or dawdled at the start I could easily lose several places. The first corner I had the inside line, so as long as I got to the corner first, no one should be able to pass me.

The sequence of starting lights went on. When we got the green light I engaged the clutch and used just enough gas to accelerate fast without spinning the rear wheels.

I concentrated hard on keeping everything smooth, gear changes and pressing the gas. I was pleased to see only other cars in my wing mirrors, the only other car in my peripheral vision was the car that had been second on the grid. It was on my outside slightly behind, so I had the inside line into the first corner, as long as I got through clean, there was no way he could overtake.

The other car tried to brake later than me, to get past me and enter the corner first, but he only came alongside rather than ahead. So he had to back off and just follow me as I went through the corner, from there I drove fast but smooth for the rest of the lap.

Geoff was in my ear, telling me how I was faring against the others. He was pleased with how the race had started, he told me I was doing fine, just keep driving as smooth as possible.

On lap three he told me I could back off just a little since I had a couple of seconds gap between me and the rest.

That meant it was time to conserve my tires rather than just burn off down the track.

The tires only had so much life in them. If they were used to hard during the early laps of the race, they would become almost unusable by the last few laps, slowing me right down and allowing the others to come past with better grip.

So that was how I raced, just pacing myself on the other drivers, not going any faster than I needed to. When there was a pass behind me and one of the other cars started to catch up, I would increase my pace to match the other and so keep my lead over those behind me.

The only time things became more interesting was by lap sixteen, I was coming up to lap some cars. They had either gone off the track at some point, or had ruined their tires early on and were really struggling through the turns.

The first I was lucky enough to catch just after the tricky eleventh corner, I was able to come up alongside them going up the hill and pass them easily on the downhill stretch to corner twelve.

The next car I wasn’t so lucky, on lap seventeen I was coming up on them in the slower combination of turns through corners five, six and seven, I had to back off so I didn’t run into back of it, but I got a much better run out of corner seven and passed them before corner eight.

There had been blue flags waving, which told the car in front that a faster car was coming up to overtake. If they didn’t allow me to pass before he had passed three checkpoints, he would be given the black flag. (Told to stop)

But he allowed me room on the next straight, so it was a safe pass.

Geoff told me I had lost nearly two seconds for that delay. So I pushed a little for the next lap and a half, not going flat out, but at a good pace. The car was still handling beautifully, and I didn’t feel any degradation in the tires that might affect the traction I had.

Entering the last lap I backed off again, since Geoff told me my lead was unassailable as long as I stayed on the track.

I didn’t want to risk going off now with so little of the race left, so just cruised around while keeping an eye on the wing mirrors just in case.

I passed the checkered flag and had to wince as Geoff screamed in celebration in my ear.

The celebrations started as soon as I entered the pits and pulled into the winner’s paddock. Geoff was first to greet me, lifting me up and swinging me around in delight. I was laughing my head off, but no one could hear since I still had my helmet on.

I got my helmet off once Geoff put me down, but he was still grinning from ear to ear. He had a good reason to be happy, now the sponsors for the team wouldn’t think about pulling out on him for the rest of the season.

I was a little surprised when Billy Stiles came over and shook my hand. “Good race rookie, I never got close enough to you to even be able to overtake. I was surprised you were able to maintain such a good pace at the end of the race, I was sure you would have burnt out your tires trying to stay in the lead at the start.” He turned to look at my car and he gasped when he saw my tires, they were worn yes, but not anywhere near as bad as his own were.

He had finished second in the race, so he wasn’t too unhappy, still gaining points on all of his main championship competitors.

He gave me another look, which showed his confusion at the state of my tires before moving off to await the podium ceremony.

That was not as impressive as you see on TV like the Indy car or Grand Prix events, we stood up on the podium when we were called out on the PA system, we were handed a small trophy from the race organizers and that was it, no Champagne or anything like that.

Then it was time to get the car back to the garage, check over the engine and gearbox before getting a good night’s sleep ready for the more difficult race tomorrow.

Race 2

Sunday was going to be a slightly different race, the positions we finished in was how most started the second race.

The difference was for the podium finishers, they started in reverse order from fourth to six, that meant I had to start sixth, that meant a lot more danger, being in the pack going into the first corner.

I had to get through that, hopefully still on the track and with no damage. Then I would be able to get on with the rest of the race, trying to improve my position, getting past those cars still in front of me.

The second race was over thirty laps, not twenty, so tire conservation was going to be even more critical in this race than the last one. Geoff had predicted that a few cars might not make the whole race, going off when their tires gave up and they couldn’t keep it on the track, others would pit around the halfway mark for new tyres.

I was being given much more respect today from the other drivers and crews in the pits. They were taking me as just another competitor now, not a lucky rookie who managed to put one lap together to get the pole position, like yesterday.

I didn’t have any more words with Billy. He just gave me a nod in acknowledgement as we passed each other, on our way to the cars.

During the warm up lap, I was surprised how fast the other cars were going. I didn’t go anywhere near as fast yesterday when I led the others to the grid.

I did the same thing as yesterday, giving myself a margin of leeway in the grid slot, so as not to incur a penalty.