Hey guys!
First of all, I’d like to apologize for the lack of enthusiasm in the writing of my last entry – I thought what I submitted was for the sole purpose of informing the guys at zerotohundred of what went on during the weekend, so my mistake! I hope that reading this blog entry will be slightly more enjoyable and less of a chore.
Anyhow, what a hectic 2 weeks it’s been! I’ve just completed a double weekend of racing, firstly in the Asia Cup Series (of which you can read my stale blog entry here), and then in Zhuhai for the Formula Masters China Series.
I had always envisioned that a double car-racing weekend would place a spectacular strain on my body and muscles, where I would have to consume an unappetizing amount of protein-shakes each night just to be able to recover for the next day of driving – fortunately, my expectations were dismissed. As I’m writing this from the (un)comfort of my seat on the KLIA Express, I’m proud to report that my only bodily complaint is a lack of sleep and food from my 10-hour journey.
All in all, despite my results on track (which I will get on to later), the week has been an enjoyable experience. Travelling around the world to do something I love is incredibly exciting, and I hope more opportunities like this crop up as my year progresses.
My Team Meritus Formula Masters race car
As is mandatory with these entries, here’s my review of my race weekend in Zhuhai. I’ll give you the liberty of having this portion of my blog in italics, should you wish to skip the ‘race report’ and get to my off-track experience of China:
On a typical Formula Masters weekend, there’s the standard routine of test sessions, two qualifying sessions, and three races. This weekend, however, had an added fourth race (which was cancelled from earlier in the year due to a heavy typhoon). Despite the extra race giving me more track-time, it also meant that all my competitors were already familiar with a track that they had raced on earlier this year. My disadvantage was further exacerbated by the fact that I had never driven a single-seater formula car at a track away from Sepang. Regardless, I was extremely excited to try something new. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. The track layout came across as fairly simple at first, but became much harder once I was actually driving around it in a car as there were many variations in track camber (essentially changes in the angle of the track surface, which has a large effect on the handling of a car into a corner).
The test sessions were extremely tricky, with conditions ranging from dry, extremely wet, and drying track surfaces. This made the process of learning the track, and finding the limit, quite difficult.
When it came around to the two qualifying sessions, I had managed to qualify 8th and 9th (Qualifying 1 dictates the starting position of Race 1, Qualifying 2 dictates the starting position of Race 3), with the potential to still learn and progress in speed.
A selfie with my engineer Ramiro on the grid of Race 1
Race 1 went off to a fairly good start off the line, but, when we came around the first hairpin, I got caught up in an accident with the front-runners. 2 drivers were fighting for 2nd place, and spun in the process. This caused the driver infront of me to take evasive action – but at this point, I was already turning in for the corner. This meant that we too had a collision, which put me out of the race in the opening lap. You can watch the footage of the crash on my Facebook page by clicking this link:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1533462130200449
Having not set a lap time in Race 1, I started from last in Race 2 (the starting position is dictated by your fastest lap in Race 1). This race saw me move from 16th to 10th in the 7-lap sprint race.
Much like Race 1, Race 3 got off to a good start. However, luck didn’t stay by my side for very long. Again, on the first lap, I was part of an unavoidable collision. Coming in to a fast double left-hander, I got on the gas pedal to exit the corner, just as the driver infront of me hit the brakes in order to avoid another driver spinning ahead of him. This caused me to accelerate into his rear diffuser. As I pulled out to continue the race, I had a piece of this diffuser lodged into my front nose cone in the shape of a spike. After the safety car period, I continued racing hard, with no knowledge that I had a carbon fibre spike protruding from my car, which actually had massive aerodynamic effects on the car.
The rear diffuser of another car lodged into my nosecone – loosely inspired by current F1 nose designs
Race 4 was the extra race to the weekend, which had been postponed from an earlier race in the year. As I only joined this championship one race ago, I never actually ‘qualified’ for this event, which meant that I had to start from the back of the pack once again. Pushing hard on the opening lap, I got the car on the grass on the exit of a corner doing about 160kmph, which resulted in me doing a 360 spin on the main straight with 4 cars dodging me infront of a 15,000 strong crowd. It was a proper pant-sh***ing experience.
It was a real shame that we had the luck we did, because at the time of the races, we had the pace to fight for podium finishes. A lack of track-time and bad luck lead to a weekend worth forgetting, but one that provided me with a wealth of knowledge and experience.
A selfie I took after I decided to jump on an empty stage behind the grandstands. It took a few seconds for nearly 100 people to gather around me and join in the photo
Aside from the actual racing, being in China was an incredible experience. I have never driven infront of a crowd exceeding a few hundred people. It was amazing to sit on the starting grid and have a grandstand packed with 15,000 excited spectators. What was even more incredible were the autograph sessions! Although most of the Chinese spectators had no clue who I was, they were all going crazy to get my autograph and photos. By the end of it, I had an aching hand, taken a hundred selfies and signed a girls’ hat!
The first of my Chinese ‘fangirls’
Leaving China was equally as hectic. We had to walk across the border into Macau to catch our flight at 6am on a Monday morning, yet it was still packed with thousands of people. What started off as a calm congregation of people quickly became a stampede as the immigration gates opened, with people both old and young scampering over each other just to get further ahead in the line. I couldn’t help but feel like Simba in the Lion King.
The border crossing between Macau and China
I now wait until early November until my next race. I’ve had a few race opportunities pop-up for before then, but my budget for the rest of the year has become quite tight, so for now its back to training and playing the waiting game.
So until then, take care!
Drive safe,
Dan
