Race Report Silverstone

Silverstone Race Report

The dust has settled and the build test results are in, after a very unexpected weekend!
Saturday afternoon started with the first proper self-propelled voluntary movement of the new build (exciting), with our media person Ciaran on hand to capture every moment from the first initial start-up to the artistic door opening shots. Jonathan was bustled (by Alison and Lawrence) into the car to take the first drive after the past (long) 8 years of planning and design coming from his imagination and effort. An emotional moment, I’m sure you can appreciate, as this build has never been undertaken before let alone by a self-certified novice in the world of motorsport professionals. The Focus fired into life 7 years after an engine rebuild. Tentatively 1st gear was selected
from the dog box (what was that clunk? so missed that sound). Jon (was seen) looking for a
handbrake that has been removed. The Focus moved under its power, able to be guided by
one of our own drivers Lawrence Green (we needed to make sure he could go forward). Jon
made his way through the factory, where he has been reworking the car, since the 4th of
January after the vehicle decided at Cadwell park (Dec 2022) it was not going to run.

Jon approached the final end door, which Lawrence opened for Cairan to carry on filming.
Jon was gone, out the door and out of sight only to be held in captivity by the boundary
fences (thankfully - “No, you’re not going on the road”). Jon said he was making sure that
the car was turning left and right, stopping, starting, and reversing. That is where the fun
ended as we needed (had to didn’t we) let him loose with his creation until it was time to
hand the Focus over to Lawerance to get a feel for the car for our debut the following day.
The next day (Sunday) would be a test/race day at the Formula One Silverstone circuit layout
with the Classic Sports Car Club Open series. With everything looking and sounding good
(with plenty of videos taken) it was time to load the car onto the trailer and (finally) setoff.
Made a change to get there this side of midnight. It was still Saturday when we landed
(thank goodness for that, Alison has done her fair share of 4 am landings).
Pre-evening meals and drinks showed jitters and expectations of just wanting to get the car
over the line at the end of the day, with as much data to take back and improve with any new
build. Lawrence was relaxed until Jay and Alison got to him. Just giving some snippets of
what a race season with the crew can look like. (“gulp” Lawrence).

Race day arrived, and after not much sleep by the team that stayed overnight had and an early start
for the rest of the drivers and team that arrived that morning. We unloaded the car from the
trailer and presented it to the rest of the team to see it in the flesh for the first time. Silence
from everyone as this amazing-looking car stood in front of us all. Other teams came over to
express admiration for the aesthetic appearance which we humbly accepted. Thank you to
those guys as that makes it worth the blood, sweat, and tears.
Terry Dolphin had brought his daughter Hayley Dolphin, and her partner Mark whom are
both recognised with the higher echelons of the motorsport world. We brought our very own
Jay Verlander, who was tasked with working Hayley and doing what these guys strive to
achieve, `Brilliance in their own fields` Jay has been our long-time chief Military REME mechanic
and Hayley, Terry Dolphins number one.
With the business end of the pit garage taken care of Matthew Potter, our other driver and
very long-time sponsor from Think Automotive knows his way around a race garage and pit
wall. Matt covered the important job of pitboard and pit assistance during driver changeover.
The drivers briefing was at 8am, and qualifying 9 am so not giving much time for Terry to get a seat
fitting but Terry had a huge job of being the first driver. That unfortunately meant new tires, new
brakes, an un-bedded in engine with a completely new car build to be gotten to grips with.

With time approaching FAST, Terry headed to the assembly area with Hayley. Nerves on tender hooks but only one instruction: one lap bring it in and do a check on the car, make sure everything is dry, and do another 3 laps. Then come back in and swap drivers so Lawerance can get his 3 laps in. Certainly not an easy task in a 27 minute qualifying session. One lap done, Terry comes in for the check. All is ok under the car, back out he went and put in 3 laps giving us hope that the car had pace for its class. Terry was signalled to pit and Lawrence was ready to take his stag at qualifying. The car squeaking to a halt, engine off, unbelt Terry and time for a debrief with Jon. Lawrence was strapped in and sent straight out to complete his 3 laps to the chequered flag. Jon reports from Terry that seat position, setup of the suspension and a few other areas need attention before any full send laps can be given. Plus side, it works as fine tuning needs to be taken care of. Tyre temperatures were struggling with rears not being much
warmer than the fronts. Back to qualifying and our transponder needed repositioning but on the drop of the chequered we managed to secure 2nd in our class with a 2 minute 40.272 seconds and under 8 seconds behind 1st. Out of the 50 entries we were 43rd. However, 27 minutes of running and 7 laps the new build was a success. It got around the track and qualified.

Our pit window was rapidly approaching and we had decided on a simple strategy and time rather than lap number, this came about on us at lap 8. Alison on the stopwatch, Jon on the release board. Terry drove in and disembarked the Focus looking like he had been very hard at work with Lawrence eagerly getting strapped in and released 1 minute and 15 seconds into the pitstop. 1 minute 43 seconds was our official pitstop time which we were
very pleased with, since this was our very 1st attempt. Lap times slowly fell, trying to edge closer to 2nd when on lap 12, Lawrence re-secured 2nd position (the team were glued to the TV and TSL timing). We were not even expecting anything of this magnitude to happen. With the 40 minute race coming to an end, Lawerance extended his lead from 3rd and the drop of the chequered flag saw our first silverware of the Focus’s career.

Our race was not until after lunch at 12:58, the team got to work with Jay repositioning the seat for both drivers, Hayley inspecting the car with Terry giving it a very thorough check over. 12:40 and we were set with drivers in a better position and time to get some precious data. To the team and drivers this was a test day but within a competitive environment and what a place to test the car.
A rolling start and off they went on the drop of the green flag. Terry making use of the extra throttle now that he was closer to the pedals and within the 1st corner we watched on the live streaming as Terry passes 3 cars keeping 3rd in our class behind him. Car number 39, the Porsche 944 3000 cc of Rob Hardy. Lap 2 saw the code 60 flag as a Seat had needed to visit the kitty litter, after this had been dragged out and cleared by the brilliant orange army of
amazing marshals Terry was back on it until Rob took 2nd on lap 6. Our pit window was rapidly approaching and we had decided on a simple strategy and time rather than lap number, this came about on us at lap 8. Alison on the stopwatch, Jon on the release board. Terry drove in and disembarked the Focus looking like he had been very
hard at work with Lawrence eagerly getting strapped in and released 1 minute and 15 seconds into the pitstop. 1 minute 43 seconds was our official pitstop time which we were very pleased with, since this was our very 1st attempt.
Lap times slowly fell, trying to edge closer to 2nd when on lap 12, Lawrence re-secured 2nd position (the team were glued to the TV and TSL timing). We were not even expecting anything of this magnitude to
happen. With the 40 minute race coming to an end, Lawerance extended his lead from 3rd and the drop of the chequered flag saw our first silverware of the Focus’s career.

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