Anglesey June 2012
Qualifying Practice
Anglesey is unlike all other venues on the calendar that we go to, in that we use two circuit configurations over the course of the weekend. Saturday played host to the longer, if not as technical, 2.1 mile international circuit. Weather conditions were dreadful to begin with, heavy rain and high wind making conditions absolutely treacherous. James had a reasonable session finishing P5 out of the 24, lapping in 2.04.692 at an average speed of 60.62 mph.
Round 1 - Saturday 16th June.
Race 1
James drew pole position in the grid draw, and with conditions still tricky, he immediately got away into the lead, fending off early pressure from the #4 car of John Mickel and the #2 car of Lawrence
Davey. A close opening lap ended with James making an audacious move around the
outside of Mickel to hold on to the lead, but problems had already set in for
the JRA Motorsport driver, with the engine down on power, James slipped to 4th by lap 3, and at the end of that tour he was forced to pull of the circuit in a plume of smoke. Not the start to the weekend the team was looking for!
Race 2
James started 18th for the reverse grid heat 2, held now in dry conditions, with the team and official INEX scrutineers having worked hard to get the engine repaired after the first race, and James flew through the order getting up to P3 within 4 laps. On lap 5 however, the gremlins returned and a stunning drive went unrewarded as he
pulled off, again with smoke pouring from the car. At the time of circulating, James had been the fastest car on track, which makes the retirement all the more disappointing!
Final
With all the disasters that had struck the team during the heats, James lined up P2 for the final, and once again the team and the INEX scrutineers worked incredibly hard to get to the bottom of the engine problems that had plagued us. James made the perfect start immediately taking an early lead, he was joined by the #8 car of Nick Brace on lap 2. Nick nipped by on lap 3 and son Dean Brace #7 also made a pass on lap 4. With such little running during the day, the set-up wasn’t quite perfect, but James hung on to coat-tails, or should it be 'Braces' of the two Braces, whilst increasing his advantage over the 4th placed #2 car of Lawrence Davey. To the relief of the team, all the hard work on the engine paid off as James crossed the line in 3rd, the podium finish a nice little boost to end the day on.
Round 2 - Sunday 17th June
Qualifying Practice
After the trials and tribulations of the Saturday round, Sunday started beneath sunny skies. It was an extremely important practice session for the team, as we wanted to confirm the reliability of the engine. James had an excellent session, producing fast,
consistent lap times, James finished P2 on the shorter, more technical 1.55
mile coastal circuit with a lap time of 1.20.03 at an average speed of 69.72 mph.
Race 1
James drew 14th position in the grid ball draw, and made a good start, getting up to P7 by the end of the opening lap. On lap 3 he progressed up to 4th position, and in the process, broke the lap record with a lap time of 1.19.685, securing his and the
team’s first ever fastest lap in Legends.
The drama really unfolded on lap 4, as James closed in on the leading trio of the number #2 car of Lawrence Davey, #7 of Dean Brace and the #41 of Eliot Bunn. On the run up to the hairpin James looked to make his move on Eliot, but Eliot lost his brake pedal careering into the side of Lawrence and wiping the two of them out of the battle. This left it down to a duel between Dean and James, and they put on a fantastic show battling for the lead. Dean was slightly quicker in the first half of the circuit, whilst James was quicker in the latter half. After several attempts of trying to make a move, Dean was driving an exemplary defensive race, James decided his best
option was to try and spring a surprise overtake in the downhill cork-screw section
of the circuit where passes are extremely rare, so on the last lap he set the
move up and as Dean went to cover the pass he slid slightly wide in the last corner allowing James to draw alongside for a drag race up to the line. In one of the closest finishes of the season, Dean won by 0.048 of a second! A fantastic race, and one which all the crowd enjoyed, and despite missing out on the win it was still James’ best result thus far.
Race 2
James was due to line up 5th for the second race, and with the pace he had demonstrated in heat 1, was arguably the favourite to claim his first victory in the series. However, more bad luck intervened as the car failed to fire up in the assembly area, and despite the best efforts of the team didn’t make it to the start. Members from other teams as well as the JRA Motorsports team pushed the car back to the garage and the fuel pump was diagnosed as the problem. It was quickly changed and James made it on to the track for the last 3 laps of the race, which still wasn’t enough to be classified, but in those 3 laps James set fastest lap of 1.19.955 which only
confirmed how much of an missed opportunity this was.
Final
Starting from 11thposition on the grid, James made a fantastic start, getting up to 4th position on the opening lap, and the progress didn’t stop there, as at the end of lap 2 James was up to 2nd catching the leader, the #3 car of Nathan Anthony.
Going up the hill towards the hairpin, James got into the tow of Nathan, pulled
alongside, but realising that he would be on the outside for the hairpin, he switched back, taking the inside line, completing an incredibly breathtaking overtake. James then set about just setting fast consistent lap times to ward to any pursuers, and in fact James just kept gradually increasing the lead by around 0.2 of a sec a lap to take a brilliant maiden victory, with the team celebrating wildly on the pit wall! It’s a mark of how the Legends series is a community, as the Brace’s gave James a special celebratory champagne shower!
Overall the weekend didn’t go as planned, but when we were running,
we finished 3rd, 2ndand 1st. Down to P4 overall
in the championship, but the speed was there and we look forward to the next
round in Knockhill next month.
Anglesey is unlike all other venues on the calendar that we go to, in that we use two circuit configurations over the course of the weekend. Saturday played host to the longer, if not as technical, 2.1 mile international circuit. Weather conditions were dreadful to begin with, heavy rain and high wind making conditions absolutely treacherous. James had a reasonable session finishing P5 out of the 24, lapping in 2.04.692 at an average speed of 60.62 mph.
Round 1 - Saturday 16th June.
Race 1
James drew pole position in the grid draw, and with conditions still tricky, he immediately got away into the lead, fending off early pressure from the #4 car of John Mickel and the #2 car of Lawrence
Davey. A close opening lap ended with James making an audacious move around the
outside of Mickel to hold on to the lead, but problems had already set in for
the JRA Motorsport driver, with the engine down on power, James slipped to 4th by lap 3, and at the end of that tour he was forced to pull of the circuit in a plume of smoke. Not the start to the weekend the team was looking for!
Race 2
James started 18th for the reverse grid heat 2, held now in dry conditions, with the team and official INEX scrutineers having worked hard to get the engine repaired after the first race, and James flew through the order getting up to P3 within 4 laps. On lap 5 however, the gremlins returned and a stunning drive went unrewarded as he
pulled off, again with smoke pouring from the car. At the time of circulating, James had been the fastest car on track, which makes the retirement all the more disappointing!
Final
With all the disasters that had struck the team during the heats, James lined up P2 for the final, and once again the team and the INEX scrutineers worked incredibly hard to get to the bottom of the engine problems that had plagued us. James made the perfect start immediately taking an early lead, he was joined by the #8 car of Nick Brace on lap 2. Nick nipped by on lap 3 and son Dean Brace #7 also made a pass on lap 4. With such little running during the day, the set-up wasn’t quite perfect, but James hung on to coat-tails, or should it be 'Braces' of the two Braces, whilst increasing his advantage over the 4th placed #2 car of Lawrence Davey. To the relief of the team, all the hard work on the engine paid off as James crossed the line in 3rd, the podium finish a nice little boost to end the day on.
Round 2 - Sunday 17th June
Qualifying Practice
After the trials and tribulations of the Saturday round, Sunday started beneath sunny skies. It was an extremely important practice session for the team, as we wanted to confirm the reliability of the engine. James had an excellent session, producing fast,
consistent lap times, James finished P2 on the shorter, more technical 1.55
mile coastal circuit with a lap time of 1.20.03 at an average speed of 69.72 mph.
Race 1
James drew 14th position in the grid ball draw, and made a good start, getting up to P7 by the end of the opening lap. On lap 3 he progressed up to 4th position, and in the process, broke the lap record with a lap time of 1.19.685, securing his and the
team’s first ever fastest lap in Legends.
The drama really unfolded on lap 4, as James closed in on the leading trio of the number #2 car of Lawrence Davey, #7 of Dean Brace and the #41 of Eliot Bunn. On the run up to the hairpin James looked to make his move on Eliot, but Eliot lost his brake pedal careering into the side of Lawrence and wiping the two of them out of the battle. This left it down to a duel between Dean and James, and they put on a fantastic show battling for the lead. Dean was slightly quicker in the first half of the circuit, whilst James was quicker in the latter half. After several attempts of trying to make a move, Dean was driving an exemplary defensive race, James decided his best
option was to try and spring a surprise overtake in the downhill cork-screw section
of the circuit where passes are extremely rare, so on the last lap he set the
move up and as Dean went to cover the pass he slid slightly wide in the last corner allowing James to draw alongside for a drag race up to the line. In one of the closest finishes of the season, Dean won by 0.048 of a second! A fantastic race, and one which all the crowd enjoyed, and despite missing out on the win it was still James’ best result thus far.
Race 2
James was due to line up 5th for the second race, and with the pace he had demonstrated in heat 1, was arguably the favourite to claim his first victory in the series. However, more bad luck intervened as the car failed to fire up in the assembly area, and despite the best efforts of the team didn’t make it to the start. Members from other teams as well as the JRA Motorsports team pushed the car back to the garage and the fuel pump was diagnosed as the problem. It was quickly changed and James made it on to the track for the last 3 laps of the race, which still wasn’t enough to be classified, but in those 3 laps James set fastest lap of 1.19.955 which only
confirmed how much of an missed opportunity this was.
Final
Starting from 11thposition on the grid, James made a fantastic start, getting up to 4th position on the opening lap, and the progress didn’t stop there, as at the end of lap 2 James was up to 2nd catching the leader, the #3 car of Nathan Anthony.
Going up the hill towards the hairpin, James got into the tow of Nathan, pulled
alongside, but realising that he would be on the outside for the hairpin, he switched back, taking the inside line, completing an incredibly breathtaking overtake. James then set about just setting fast consistent lap times to ward to any pursuers, and in fact James just kept gradually increasing the lead by around 0.2 of a sec a lap to take a brilliant maiden victory, with the team celebrating wildly on the pit wall! It’s a mark of how the Legends series is a community, as the Brace’s gave James a special celebratory champagne shower!
Overall the weekend didn’t go as planned, but when we were running,
we finished 3rd, 2ndand 1st. Down to P4 overall
in the championship, but the speed was there and we look forward to the next
round in Knockhill next month.
