Rounds 9&10 of the APR Volkswagen racing cup were held on the snetterton 300 configuration on the 5th of August. Qualifying didn't go very well, unaware that the car had new brake pads fitted Jim got to the second corner and realised he had no brakes, so a trip into the potato field followed
Jim basically spent most of the session trying to bed the pads in, then with a few minutes to spare went to try and get a fast lap in, unfortunately he was t-boned going round corum and that was the end of a really bad qualifying session. Back at the team marquee we assessed that the suspension was badly bent and would need a fair bit of work to get the car handling well again, the schedule was very tight due to a qualifying and two races in one day so we set about putting new uprights and trailing arms on the car and with little time to spare got the car out for the first race in which i was starting from the back of the grid. As the red lights went out for the start Jim gets a good start but missed second gear, this in hindsight was a good thing as carnage ensued ahead with multiple smashes and many broken cars, Jim found his way through and got to word making up places but the race was soon red flagged and disappointingly a re-grid was decided. Second time round the race got off to a much cleaner start and Jim had some great battles and a big off after trying to go round the outside at corum and putting a wheel on the rubber marbles. At the end of the race Jim manages 11th out of the 29 starters. This would dictate his stating place for the second race. Just before the second race we had a huge rain shower but then hot sunshine followed, with a drenched but quickly drying track there was mixed decisions on whether to go wets all-round, a mixture of slick front-wets rear, or slicks all round. Jim decided that with little to lose he would opt for the riskier slicks all round, on the warm up lap the driver could just see a dry line coming through. The start of the race and Jim is very cautions, knowing that the track is drying and a lot of the competition are on wet tires means just being patient and staying on the track might pay off. After about 3 laps Jim starts to make progress and fight up the field. After his most fun race ever and a seriously disfigured car, jim manages to get up to third.
VW Cup website race report http://vw-cup.co.uk/news/2012/050812.htm
