Knockhill

Knockhill has special memories for Harry Vaulkhard, after all it was the place his career began being the venue for his first ever race in a Sierra Cosworth. The team have dreaded visiting the circuit all season long, despite Vaulkhards performance last year scoring pole position, a race win and the fastest lap. The fear of the team was that the Chevrolet would not be suited to the circuit due to its low torque characteristics.

Qualifying: After some good results in testing the team were beginning to see a glimmer of light that could emerge from the weekend. Despite the car not handling well over the bumps and being launched skyward on the kurbs, Vaulkhard managed to string to great sectors together good enough to see him finish the session 12th and only half a second from pole. After the session Vaulkhard commented “That’s a good result for us and the team, we consider tenth position to be pole for this car as we’re two seasons behind in development to the 2008 cars. I’m glad to have out qualified the two motorbase, and one RAC BMW’s however they will surely pass me off the line due to their starting capability but I’l try and get them back as the race progress’s.”

Race1: A good start from Vaulkhard saw only 2 of the 3 BMW’s behind overtake off the line. As the opening lap progressed Vaulkhard was tucked right in behind the BMW of Rob Collard. The pair were making good progress through the field when the safety car was called out on track. When the lights went out the race was back underway, Vaulkhard had now managed to pass one of the RAC BMW’s and was up into 11th position and looking faster than the pack of cars ahead. Again the safety car was called out after an incident between Chilton & Turner which allowed Vaulkhard to squeeze through and take three positions, as he slipped past Adam Jones on the run to the Chicane. During the safety car period Vaulkhard was deemed to have passed Jones too close to the safety car coming out and had to wave him through to re-take the position. Again the race restarted and Harry was chasing hard on Jones, looking very strong the young Tynesider was all over the cars ahead and sat in 9th position. It was not to be however, as Vaulkhard crested the blind summit of Glenvarigill he hooked a wheel over the inside of the kurb and nearly rolled his Chevrolet Lacetti I to the gravel. The young driver was able to catch the mistake however lost lots of time to the chasing pack of 5 cars who were steeped in an intense battle, going into the Hairpin Vaulkhards loss of momentum had cost him two positions, and was under threat from 3 other cars, as they exited the hairpin Stephen Jelley in the RAC BMW made contact with the rear of Harry’s car and spun him round onto the wet grass on the infield! Unfortunately the car had dug into the grass and was unable to be freed. Jelley was later penalised points on his license for the move but it didn’t help Harry who had pace to be running at the front of the grid, and was now sat on the grass!
“It’s disappointing, we had great pace and our car is a real handful where others look a joy to drive, we had pulled away from the pack a few times after the safety car and I’m sure I could have made a further 2-3 places by the end of the race. I don’t know who it was that turned me round at this point but it was totally unnecessary and it wrecked a strong race for us!”

Race 2: After some changes to the car Vaulkhard again got off to a good start however due to the retirement in race 1 he was now way down the order but confident of making up some places. A good opening few laps saw Vaulkhard make several positions, however after catching the Integra of John George it began to cost Vaulkhard lots of time, almost a second a lap to the leaders. Eventually Harry found a way by but It was too late in the day as the pack ahead had already pulled out a sizeable lead, Harry had to settle for his position of 14th.
“It’s so bad if you have to start at the back, I couldn’t get past the Integra, the thing is so fast I would catch through the corners to the point my engine was choking on his fumes and cutting out then on the straight he would just drive away again, those things are still a race winning car in the right hands. We will have to make the car faster in the next race as we’re still osing loads of time over the bumps, the cars getting flung into the air and we’re losing drive because of it.”

Race 3: The team and driver had made some radical set-up changes to make the car as fast as possible, as the lights went Red they went out then came back on again, Vaulkhard stopped and assumed the race would be re-started as did a few others. However it was not to be, going into turn 1 Vaulkhard had dropped down to 21st! A frustrated and pretty annoyed Vaulkhard began to race hard to regain his positions, after making some great headway overtaking almost a car a lap and 2 cars on one particular lap, he found himself chasing The Integra of John George, who once again was costing Vaulkhard almost a second lap by holding him up mid corner then pulling away on the straight. Eventually Vaulkhard had to make a move as he outbraked him and slid up the inside at the hairpin, as the cars dragged up the hill George tried a move that Vaulkhard later described as “the true work of an amateur” George was forcing Vaulkhard onto the grass going up the straight which is highly dangerous and uncalled for. Vaulkhard was again able to outbreak the Integra at the end of the straight to maintain the position, the next lap Harry was able to make a similar move on Chris Stockton’s SEAT, however this time there was a slight touch at the Chicane which later transpired to have damaged Vaulkhards steering, despite the rub there were no silly antics going up the straight this time and Harry was again able to maintain the position. Now with a large gap to the mid pack Vaulkhard began to drive hard to catch them. Despite having damaged steering components Vaulkhard was able to match the times of the crash that ended the race 2nd & 3rd. By the last lap of the race Harry had caught the pack and was able to make a move to pass Colin Turkington just before they crossed the line. Harry ended up 14th however it was very encouraging that the setup changes seem to have remedied an issue the team have been trying to overcome all season long.

“I don’t know what was going on at the start of the race with the lights, it should have been abandoned and restarted but it wasn’t and cost me a lot of time and positions. We just seem to get really bad luck all of the time, we had the car spot on in the final race and I’m sure we could have been right up there had it not been for the lights. I don’t know what’s wrong with George, if he didn’t over defend so much he would be closer to the pack, and when people are willing to put you on the grass at 120MPH they shouldn’t be racing at this level.”

Photo’s now on Gallery from Knockhill!

Next stop is Silverstone where the team are hoping for some better fortune and better results!