Curborough with the Caterham Academy

 

Nick Grahame is competing in 2016 in the Caterham Academy, a series where you build your own car then race it in a variety of motorsport meetings around the UK. Here is his report from his latest outing at Curborough sprint course near Lichfield.

 

“I went in with a very different mindset to Aintree (the previous sprint round in the championship) and clear objectives: get some points, bring it back in one piece, and not to get hung up on other people’s times.

 

I’ve had some inside thoughts from a couple of sprinters I know (one who’s driving can be read about on this website), and I tried to make work the advice that I couldn’t at Aintree. For me the answer was video footage, something that I hadn’t bothered with at Aintree (and I wish I had).

 

We were limited to one practice and two timed runs, with two hours in between! I went out exactly as planned on the practice run – driving at 7/10ths and camera running. The next two hours were spent relaxing and watching the practice run on my laptop. This helped massively as this time it was fresh in my mind and I knew what I had to do.

 

First timed run put me 4th, and watching the footage I could see where I still lost time. Despite knowing where I had to fix my run, I overcooked it into a corner on the second run. I knew I’d stuffed it, so enjoyed the rest of the the final run, showboating for the spectators, and called it a day. Frustrating to see myself slip down to 6th, but pleased with the day, my time and my strategy.

Bring on the racing!”

 

Nick is competing next on 11th June at a race meeting at Rockingham in Corby. Go along and show your support, or catch up with him at a later round: http://uk.caterhamcars.com/motorsport/academy/events