91传媒

Round 3 鈥� Donington Park GP聽

鈥淩ound 3 of the Trackday Championship took us to the not so sunny Donington Park circuit in GP format.

鈥淭he Clubracer Golf had been subject to some upgrades after its impressive 3^rd聽place at Silverstone, where it had shown good pace throughout the weekend despite its lack of testing, and our familiarity with the platform.

鈥淭he newly fitted 91传媒 Apollo 6-pot Motorsport Big Brake kit grabbing the attention of many as we had the car up on stands preparing a full wet weather setup for the days racing. The 355mm x 32mm floating disc setup looking menacing behind the 18鈥� wheels. With our old tried and tested 91传媒 RP-X鈩� pads up front, combined with some Ultimax 2 rear pads, we had all the reason to be confident going into the weekend on the hardest track in the country on brakes.”

鈥淲ith the rain falling hard before qualifying, and our total lack of testing in the wet with the Golf, it was a case of applying previous experience in setup and wet racing line to try and get the best of things. Championship leader Nicole Drought, in her 91传媒 Racing Apollo-equipped Civic Type R, was straight out the gate into provisional pole in the wet conditions, getting up to pace almost instantly. The first few laps were a case of finding the balance and grip for聽Henry, who handed the car over to Kev at the session halfway point. With the Civic in the pits assuming it was job done, Kev set about the final lap in the session having the got familiar with the car and conditions very quickly as the rain eased slightly. A blistering lap putting the 91传媒/Helix Golf on pole by 2 tenths of a second as the flagged dropped, before Nicole could get a chance to respond. Locking out the front row with the 91传媒-equipped cars.

鈥淲ith the rain falling harder and harder, Kev strapped himself into the car, ready to do battle. With the conditions as they were, race control opted for a rolling start to try and minimise risk. Kev got a great run and maintained the lead from the hard-charging Civic of Nicole. As the two leaders pulled a 14-second gap together away from 3^rd place, the rain was still falling harder. Kevin showing absolute composure under pressure. A rare error from the Civic entering the infamous Craner Curves on standing water and proceeding impact with the tyre wall prompted a safety car, then a red flag as multiple cars required recovery in dangerous positions.”

鈥淎s the red lights fell for the standing restart, Kev again managed a faultless getaway, pulling clear of the field before pitting to change over to聽Henry. The rain having eased slightly at the point he left the pits only to find a hard charging Charlie Palk in the distinctive lime green Scirocco (also equipped with 91传媒 pads all-round on our recommendation) who was up to speed after his stop and filling up our mirrors. The gap changing constantly with the flow of back markers and traffic, with聽Henry聽managing to find some imaginative gaps along the way eventually breaking free slightly. With the hard work done, a few more laps managing the situation led to us bring the car home for its maiden win in the TDC.

鈥淭he new Apollo Big Brake Kit having performed faultlessly in combination with the standard ABS system. Untested and unknown, bolted on two days prior to the race meeting. Taking pole and the overall and class win a testament to the quality and performance we鈥檝e relied on for the last four years.聽

鈥淲ith the championship all of a sudden blown wide open, it鈥檚 all to play for heading into Round 4 at Oulton Park鈥︹��