2018

Donington Park Formula Vee race report

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Jonathan Elsey photography 1

With Racing Team Vee taking the tough decision to totally strip and clean the engine, we risked running out of time to have the Primrose Hospice sponsored Sheane ready in time for the penultimate round of the Formula Vee championship.

With a new found fire for a final assault on the championship, the care was ready and James Cater raring to go, with new pistons and barrels in the engine just in time.

After a few steady lap in qualifying, several flags around the circuit meant James never got a chance for a flying lap, leaving him a disappointing 21st on the grid, but knowing he had a lot more pace.

This was proven in the race as he charged up to 13th place, aided by a slight change in set-up that had balanced the car beautifully. After dicing with several cars before pulling clear, James was chasing down Bill ‘Wom’ Garner for 2nd in class, but couldn’t quite draw him in before the chequered flag.

This left James in 14th place overall and picking up a trophy for 3rd in Class B, with Wom ahead and Andrew Cooper taking the win.

Graham Gant won overall, chased hard all the way by Daniel Hands and Craig Pollard.

chicane 2

With full confidence he could go at least a second a lap faster in the final race, where he’d be starting 17th and first in class, a push rod tube sprung a massive oil leak in the holding area.

Despite being easy to fix, the timing meant there was no chance to make the start of the race, and James had to drop out, losing more championship points.

The second race was cut short with a red flag after only a few laps, leaving Daniel Hands as the winner from Craig Pollard and Paul Taylor. Class B was taken again by Cooper, with Wom and Vaughn Jones taking the final podium places.

From a 2018 season showing very promising driving, and the car being on the pace, the unlucky engine problems have devastated the run at the championship. This means the choice of running at Snetterton in October for a chance to take second in the Class B Championship, or ending the season now to fully prepare the car over Winter ready for 2019.

See the onboard video of Race 1 here:
https://youtu.be/RwJvsiajIHs

Silverstone Race Report

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SJN Photo 1

Since James had his very first race at Silverstone in 2015, one of his favourite tracks has been very unkind to him. This weekend was to be no exception.

Steadily building pace in qualifying, the Primrose Hospice sponsored RTV Sheane Formula Vee felt very well balanced with James running in the top 14 for most of the session. Sadly, at the end of the Hangar Straight near the end of the session, the engine suddenly lost power and James switched it off to coast in to the pits.

His final qualifying position was a respectable 18th in the 37 car grid, but with no compression at all in one cylinder, mechanic Glenn Hay was unable to replace the piston and barrel in time before the start of the first race.

Craig Pollard took the win from Graham Gant and Ian Jordan. Andrew Cooper took Class B honours from Jamie Harrison and Richard Waddingham.

Although James would be able to start the second race the following day, the highly tuned 1300cc VW Beetle engine was still untested so it would be a gamble to see if things held.

A fantastic start put James in 10th place into the first corner, and right behind B Class championship leader Andrew Cooper.

With the car clearly down a little on power, James was still able to claw the time back in the corners to hang onto the back of Cooper, but on the second lap oil smoke started spewing from the car along with a major drop in power.

James started short-shifting to try and limp the car home with the sick engine, and although he was still catching cars in the corners he became a sitting duck on every straight, with car after car simply driving past him.

With the smoke (from a crumbling piston) increasing in the final laps, James managed to hang onto 18th place and 4th in class before shutting the engine off on the warm down lap.

Craig Pollard took another victory from Daniel Hands and Pete Belsey, with Cooper beaten to the Class B win by Jamie Harrison on the final lap, and Waddingham took another excellent 3rd place.

With only a few weeks to go until Donington Park on 2nd September, it will be a race against the clock to strip and rebuild the engine, but with James driving better than ever RTV will give it everything to challenge for the title in the last four races of the season.

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