Caterham Academy 2004, Round 8 - Brand’s Hatch Race
Oct 10th, 2004 by Tim Skipper
And the winner is…
Congratulations Guy Harrington, 2004 evo Caterham Academy Group 2 champion!
The final round of our Academy year was at Brands yesterday 9th October 2004. The race formed part of the Caterham Fesitval programme where several other Catetham championships reached thier conclusions, and was covered and later broadcast by Sky Sports.
For me it was without doubt the best race of the season. It didn’t get off to a great start for me in qualifying, with a damp track and spitting rain the best I could manage was 9th on the grid. My worst grid position of the year by far. I was, as my friend Adrian kindly pointed out, driving like a girl.
Even the commentator announced to world my unusually low grid position! Pete wasn’t faring hugely better in 5th place. Pole man was Jeremy Ellis, who we were all very pleased to see back after missing two races. Kevin Dodd, the man I needed to keep close to in order to retain my championship position, was 2nd.
So onto the grid we go. My lowly 9th position means I’m sitting on the downhill part of the Brabham straight and so I have to keep my foot on the brake otherwise I’ll roll forwards and foul the start. Lights out, off the brake and yes! Another demon start sees me up to 6th by Paddock Hill bend. However as we’re going into Surtees, the red flags are out. Three drivers tangled at Paddock and the Clerk of the course has stopped the race.
Eventually Keith Chanter appears in front of me on the grid, minus a rear wheel arch, but I can’t see who else is missing. So off we go again for the green flag lap, and I pray I can match my original start. Luckily, I did. Up to 6th by Paddock, and Pete had taken Jamie Mackrill for 4th so we had a couple of laps dicing, mostly me getting up the inside into Druids but not quite far enough to make it stick. Eventually though I got a better line through Paddock and gained enough up the hill to out-brake him fully.
Pete by this time had taken Guy Harrington and was dicing with Kevin and Jeremy up front. Guy’s engine was showing all the signs of cracked pistons as mine was at Oulton, so I just prayed he was down on power and I could catch him. Slowly I reeled him in and we had a great scrap through Paddock, two-abreast around Druids and a gentle whack up the backside under braking for Graham Hill Bend (well he broke too early!). I made a couple of attempts at drafting him and popping out before Paddock before it worked and I took his 4th place.
Now I was happy – close enough to Kevin in 2nd not to worry about my championship position, and another point up on Guy as a bonus. I just wanted to fend Guy off until the end of the race. But lady luck was on my side again as I saw the yellow car of Pete pirouetting off into the gravel at Clearways. It looked like he’d gone backwards into the tyre wall, but fortunately it turns out he had stopped just short of it.
Getting towards the end of the race now and we were reeling in 2nd place Kevin Dodd. Now that would be sweet! Unfortunately I had forgotten that due to the restart we were doing 10 laps and not 12, so that potential chance was denied. Still, crossing the line in 3rd having started 9th was a fantastic feeling. Guy was right on my tail still but he didn’t have enough power left to make use of the draft.
So after interviews by the commentator, and a brief podium ceremony (I got really nice proper metal cup this time) that was that, the end of an utterly fantastic seasons racing. Even though I didn’t win a round outright, my consistency has been rewarded with 2nd place overall.
Had I not had engine problems at Oulton the championship really would have come down to the wire yesterday. As it is, Guy is a deserving winner and it’s been a pleasure to race against him, and all the other 2004 group 2 guys.
I’m so sorry that Pete DNFd on the last race, that really sucks, but he did at least take the fastest lap of the race (having taken it off me!).
Final championship standings (subject to official confirmation) are:
1. Guy Harrington 144 points
2. Tim Skipper 140 points
3. Kevin Dodd 135 points
4. Chris Fryar 118 points
5. Jeremy Ellis 116 points
6. Peter Earnshaw 115 points
7. Keith Chanter 108 points
8. Paul Ray Johnson 93 points
9. Jamie Mackrill 81 points
10. Roger Ford 79 points