Race 7: Castle Combe

The Sixth Sense ESP Lotus Motorsport Elise was back out on track recently at Castle Combe.

The circuit, located near Bath, was a new experience to the team and drivers. The race was part of  the 'Summer Racing Carnival' weekend which promised a large crowd and an impressive 33 car grid for the Britcar race.

The weekend began with problems however, a broken radiator causing the engine to overheat. A replacement engine had to be fitted urgently before qualifying!

Fortunately, the skilled mechanics at JDR Racing managed to get the new engine in and working before the end of qualifying, resulting in a 2nd grid place in class.

The team approached the race confidently, but sadly it wouldn't prove to be a good race. Just four corners in, the car was shunted by a BMW that had locked up before a slow chicane. The car took a heavy impact to the front wheel which resulted in a severe loss of braking power.

After limping back into the pits, the car was soon sent out again after a checking over. Unfortunately, braking was still nowhere near 100% which meant the car was lapping a couple of seconds behind the pace.

The braking problem was caused by the brake disc touching the suspension thanks to the previous incident. Eventually, the suspension dramatically collapsed  as a knock-on effect which sadly meant retirement from the race.

Thanks to the team soldiering on though, we were still classified in the results where we completed most of the race. This meant we were still awarded points for coming in 4th in class!

The No.66 Lotus is now residing in 3rd place in the Britcar Production championship and will require good results at the last few races to finish on the podium at the end of the season.