The BUKC season sprang back to life at PF International circuit, swapping places with Buckmore Park to take pole position of the season.
Mains - Wednesday 7th March
Round 1 - Morning
The day started mild, but nonetheless began wet as always. PFI is a track of two halves (or rather about five sixths and one sixth), long, fast, sweeping corners in the first and final sectors ripe for generating tyre temperature and drying the track quickly, while the two hairpins in the middle tend to stay wet due to the slow nature of the corners and the long straights which proceed them, very effectively washing away the tyre temperature earned through the rest of the lap.
Jack - race 2, P20
"My race was the most enjoyable 20th place finish I've ever had. Usual lap 1 carnage left me towards the back of the pack, resulting in hard racing in changeable conditions to claw my way back up."
Adam - race 5, P27
"I started back in 25th, and had a relatively clean start until I had to take to the GeoBlock on the exit off the bridge. I struggled to find confidence particularly under braking in the middle part of the lap."
Race | Driver | Position | Fastest lap |
1 | Alexander Wilkinson | 15(-10) | 1:34.540 |
2 | Jack Hepworth | 20(-9) | 1:17.726 |
5 | Adam Ormondroyd | 27(-2) | 1:12.214 |
6 | Oliver Sier | 28(+3) | 1:12.184 |
We were 39th overall, and full results can be found on alphatiming.
Round 2 - Afternoon (endurance)
The afternoon event was the first of the two endurance events of the season, where each team takes part in two of the three hour-long races, in teams of two. The afternoon event remained dry, and the track almost completely dried out, though the hairpins remained a little slick to the end of the day.
There is a 78kg minimum weight limit for the endurance events, and there is plenty of time to be gained by adjusting the ballast as few times as possible. Each team is required to make two fuel stops, and must change driver during at least one of those two stops. The first stop must be between the 5th and 25th minute, and the second between the 35th and 55th, which makes it impossible to share the stints fairly without changing drivers twice.
Jack and Oliver decided to start with Oliver doing a short stint with extra ballast, so that Jack would be the correct wait when he took over. On the second stop, they then removed the ballast so Oliver was at the correct weight. Alex and I were a lighter pairing, Alex requiring almost as much lead as fits on the posts! We decided just to leave the lead on for my middle stint since I'm not that much heavier, and I quite enjoyed the stability it afforded through the final sector, and felt able to pump the laps in much more confidently than in the morning sessions.
Race | Drivers | Position | Fastest lap |
2 | Oliver Sier, Jack Hepworth | 25(-1) | 1:11.724 |
3 | Alexander Wilkinson, Adam Ormondroyd | 23(-11) | 1:10.955 |
We were 37th overall, and again full results are available on alphatiming.
Photos
All of the official photos from the event can be found on the private BUKC facebook page, and I have copied the photos featuring us onto our Google drive.