UK Racing Review #1 - Northampton

Its been a hectic week for the team here at Joblin Motorsport. Scott and Rob arrived in the U.K last Thursday and immediately travelled north to Staffordshire, where both the car and team are based. After a few days settling in after a long flight, both Rob and Scott prepared the 'Red Arrow' for its first run on English soil, held at Manchester's Belle Vue Stadium.

Track conditions where extremely wet and difficult, which made learning the car a real 'mission'. As the track slowly dried off, Scott was able to put in a few consistent laps, but still found it hard to get any power to the ground on the boggy shale surface. The pristine looking Lintern car was an absolute mess by the time it drove off the small Belle Vue oval.

After cleaning and re-prepping the car, the team moved on to a test-day at Coventry Stadium. The track conditions were a lot better than Belle Vue, which allowed Scott to gain a lot more confidence in the car. After three 25 lap runs, and a few small setup adjustments, the car looked to be on the pace. Both team and driver were a lot happier with the Coventry performance, and with the World Final drawing closer, the extra track time will be a real advantage.

The first official race meeting for the 'Red Arrow' was at Northampton International Raceway on Saturday night. It was a new experience for Scott and the NZ Lintern-built car, as it was there first outing on a tarmac surfaced oval. A lot of work went into the car prior to the meeting, changing the setup from shale to tarmac, which included the addition of slick racing tyres and a low-slung double wing.

The team arrived at the Northampton track a lot later than expected, which cut into valuable practice time. Although Scott was able to get out for a few short runs, a flat RR tyre cut short his practice time. The weather was also against Scott, with incoming showers making racing conditions very slippery. The NZ52 car started each race from the back of the field, and slowly made progress each race. After a few setup changes, the car got better throughout the evening and was only half a second off the pace by the end of the night. The final race of the night, the 'Grand National', provided the most action for Scott. He was challenging for position mid-pack before being caught up in a turn 3 tangle involving #4 Dan Johnson and #55 Craig Finnikin. Although both Scott and Craig were able to continue, they were forced to rejoin at the back of the field. The NZ52 car was able to crawl his way back up the field for a 13th place finish.

NZ52 Race Results - Northampton International Raceway

Heat 1 - 13th
Heat 2 - 12th
Final - 12th
Grand National - 13th

The team are currently hard at work preparing the car for this weekends race meeting at Birmingham Wheels Raceway. The 'Red Arrow' suffered a badly damaged front bumper from the Northampton Grand National crash, so Rob and Scott are hard at work repairing the damage.

Check out the exclusive in-car footage from the Northampton 'Grand National' race and from the test day at Coventry Staduim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MwiAK-mKBs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AFBJnpJBjI