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Performance
Racing, Spa-Francorchamps, Round 21
 Performance
Racing had a decidedly up-and-down weekend at Spa-Francorchamps
for the 21st and 22nd rounds of the 2004 British Formula Three Championship.
There was certainly a lot more work required than anyone could have
envisaged, to say nothing of far more spare parts than are usually
necessary.
In
testing on Friday it was Ronayne O'Mahony who ran into the most
trouble, literally, when he went off at the Bus Stop. Afterwards,
he was distressed that everyone knew about it: "It's all round
the whole paddock. It's just not fair. I crashed at the Chicane
and did a lot of damage midway through the session, so I only got
10 laps on my first visit here, so that wasn't so good. I was fastest
on old tyres, but then I went off." Needless to say, the resultant
pile of bent bits made him somewhat cautious in qualifying. "Today
I was just cautious for the first seven or eight laps, then did
a couple of quick laps on my first set of tyres. I came in, put
a new set of boots on, and then went out and tried to get into it
again. But I kept overshooting at La Source, so I chilled out for
a lap, then I had one lap left. I hooked up la Source and bang -
I was just a tenth of a second off Ryan Lewis (T-Sport). Unfortunately
I missed out on my pole, so unfortunately I'll have to wait till
Brands Hatch for that."
In
comparison, Stephen Jelley was fine in testing, but unusually for
him he got qualifying badly wrong: "I tried to take Eau Rouge
flat in the damp. The lap before I wasn't flat and the car wasn't
moving at all, and there were other areas of the track that I needed
to concentrate on, so the sooner I got Eau Rouge sorted the better.
I went in there and got it nailed, and then halfway through the
car gave a bit of a twitch just up the hill. I got off the throttle
a little bit there, and it seemed to be all right so I got back
on it and as I got back on it the kerb on the left hand side must
have been a bit damp, and as I came off that I spun and nailed it
backwards into the barrier. The marshals had the rear wing so we
had to go and get that back… and then I went round the other
side of the track and got various bits and bobs back." It was
a huge accident, and the car was pretty comprehensively wrecked.
Nothing daunted, the Performance boys started to try and rebuild
the car, even though they were working against the clock. The job
was finished minutes before the start of Round 21 and Stephen duly
rolled out onto the grid in last place, the car held together with
tank tape and hope.
Shortly
after the race started, they were left wondering why they'd bothered.
From Stephen's point of view, things had been looking quite good
until the closing yards of lap one: "I got a mega start - I
was feeling all right considering the accident in the morning -
and I got two of them off the line and I was right on the back of
Ronayne. I came round to la Source and Fairuz Fauzy (P1 Motorsport)
came past me, and tagged Lewis. I saw it happen so I just took my
normal line, and I could actually see down the inside, and suddenly
boff! There's a car on my head!" The car in question belonged
to Adam Smith (Alan Docking Racing), and all Stephen could think
was: "If I could just get this car off me, I could get going
again!" He couldn't; and even had he been able to, the car
was too far gone. By the time the Safety Car had been out, and the
wreckage cleared it was obvious that the mechanics were in for a
very long night getting it repaired for Sunday's race.
The incident also made life more interesting for Ronayne than he
really needed too. "The first lap was just absolutely manic,
absolutely. I was off on the grass at the top there, got back on,
then I was outside and I got past Ryan into the Chicane, just as
Fairuz was coming back onto the track. I had to brake and Ryan went
round me, so I went round the outside of Fairuz and coming up to
the Hairpin Fairuz got by me. After that he was behind Ryan, and
the two of them collided, so I had to go inside. Meanwhile Vasilije
Calasan (Promatecme F3) got through on the inside, and the rest
is history!" At least one Performance Racing car had survived
the first lap carnage! After that, all Ronayne could do was try
to catch class leader Lewis. It wasn't that easy: "Once we
finally got into a rhythm after the Safety Car, I don't know what
it was with my car - we're going to have to look at it - but I was
struggling big time for the first part of the lap. When I got up
to the first complex I was able to catch up with Ryan and that was
where I knew I could do him, on the second last, or last lap."
he got close, almost claiming his first class victory on the very
last lap of the race. He couldn't quite do it and had to settle
for second place, and an extra point for fastest lap. "On the
last lap going down to the Chicane it just got a bit overheated,
and we sort of came together slightly, but we both agreed it was
a racing incident. It was pity - I could have had my first win but
we've got a race tomorrow. We've got to do some work on the car
before tomorrow, and hopefully we can wring a bit of speed out of
it."
Performance
Racing, Spa-Francorchamps, Round 22
After
the mixed fortunes experienced in Round 21, the boys at Performance
Racing were rather hoping that both their drivers would finish the
latest round on the British Formula Three Championship, run on the
ultra-challenging Belgian GP circuit. Having worked flat out to
get Stephen Jelley's car rebuilt after Adam Smith (Alan Docking
Racing) landed on him during the first lap of Saturday's race, the
least they could hope for in reward was a podium placing. The car
looked less than pretty as it took its place on the grid, being
a mix of new unpainted spares, any old bits that were still reasonably
serviceable, Ronayne O'Mahony's spare rear wing, and an awful lot
of tank tape. It may not have looked pretty, but at least it was
there, even if it was at the back.
Ronayne's
car, at least, was in good shape and would start the race from 2nd
in class, the starting positions determined by the finishing positions
in Round 21. Ronayne was keen to get that elusive first victory,
and was rather hoping it would happen this time out. It wasn't to
be, however. "I made a good start but Vasilije Calasan (Promatecme
F3) came charging through. So I think the two of us banged wheels
as we left the grid, and then unfortunately I got caught up a little
bit with some Championship Class cars. By the time I got through
Ryan Lewis (T-Sport) was just that bit too far ahead for me to catch
him." Ronayne would take a podium placing and a point for fastest
lap for the second time this weekend. It wasn't quite what he was
hoping for, but it was pretty impressive for a first time run at
Spa.
Stephen
wasn't having anywhere near as much fun. He was feeling very battered
after his exploits on Saturday, and probably shouldn't have been
racing. "Today I got a rubbish start and was following Calasan.
I started to catch him, but the car was wobbling a bit. I thought
it might have just been me overdriving, or not feeling confident
in the car. I was blaming it on myself." It wasn't anything
to do with Stephen, as it turned out, rather a problem that was
developing with the much abused Dallara. "I had a couple of
big moments, which shook me up even more, so I backed off a little,
and lost a lot of ground, and then coming down the pit straight
I got a huge wobble on from the rear. I thought 'Oh no! What's going
on here?' So I had to crawl back round to the pits where they found
that the left rear wheel had come loose and was wobbling about."
It was rapidly put right, but he'd lost a lap by then. All he could
do was go back out and see if the car felt normal now. It did, which
did a lot to restore his confidence, but not a lot to move him up
the order. He finished the race in fourth, and resolved to spend
the next few days seeing a physiotherapist to get his neck straightened
out. Meanwhile the team will spend the next few days rebuilding
a badly mauled car. As Stephen admitted afterwards: "The old
girls in a bit of a state!"
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