Great to be at Silverstone, at least we didn’t have to far to come. Expectations were high after the great show by Danny at Croft 2 weeks earlier. Bryan and Nick had been burning the midnight oil at the unit again, Bryan reckoned he had “found something” on the dyno, wondered where my keys had gone. Set up of the awning was a little different this week with Bryan being AWOL, anyway we got there in the end
FP1:
More of that Spanish weather had followed the team down from Croft, with the mornings now a little chillier, it was really welcome. Right from the off, Danny was on it and threw down his challenge to the rest of the pack. Looking comfortable and smooth Danny reeled off the laps, he was pushing hard and climbing the leader board. Conner Behan was the man on a mission, picking up where he had left off at Croft. Danny settled nicely into second position with Rob Guiver in third. A fantastic start to the day and we still had some more to come from the bike. The confident young man from Tetbury was all smiles and happy to have a good base from which to work.
FP2:
Free practice 2 saw some changes to the bike, in particular a gearbox change in order to give Danny a little more drive out of a few of the Northamptonshire circuits slower corners. It was apparent early in the session that these changes had not had the desired effect. To compound the problem, Danny appeared to be having some additional issues and on lap 5 this was to prove to be the case. The Gloucestershire rider had slowed to a halt on the exit of Copse.
Once the bike had been retuned to the paddock Bryan and the boys set about trying to find the source of what appeared to be a water leak. A failed “O” ring was found the be the problem, which was duly replaced and a return to the gearbox setup the team had for FP1.
Q1:
The team held it breath as Danny set off for the first qualifying session, all seemed well. As the pace picked up Danny found his rhythm and was soon putting respectable lap times in and around the 1m 36.4 mark. Danny got the thumbs up and set about chasing down the half second or so that would see him onto a provisional front row position. Into lap 6 and in the same place, exit of Copse, the Aztec machine coasted to a halt. After the chequered flag the recovery truck took the stricken machine to “Parc Ferme” where we learned Danny had posted the 7th fasted lap with only a third of the session used. It had also became evident the team faced more work to overcome a different water leak problem, a change of radiator was now required.
Q2:
One advantage of being so close to our workshop was that we could return there and carry out some machining requirements, Bryan and Alan duly obliged. There was enough time for the work between sessions and the bike was now ready for Q2. Again with collective breath held, Danny set off up the pit lane determined to improve upon the disappointment of the first session. Sadly this part of the plan hadn’t worked out, when on the start of the 4th lap the machine suffered an engine failure at the end of the straight approaching Abbey. Upon inspection, the piston had succumbed to a melt down. Failure to post any times in this session resulted in a combined qualifying of 15th on the grid.
Warm up
Here’s one we made earlier, a new engine that is. Bryan, Alan & Tom all worked hard to fit the new motor and we went back to a base setting. Having now run out of breath to hold, Danny set off for “Warm Up”. The first 4 laps were spent bedding in the new engine and this showed Danny as P33 for the time being. Once again, he got the thumbs up and went about pushing harder to test the set up. As the session closed Danny was back up there in P7 and we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Race.
P15 on the grid was not ideal. Danny had shown remarkable coolness an professionalism under the pressures of mechanical failure. So a last minute chat from Martyn, the Green flag waved and off they went for the sighting lap. As the lights tuned Green Danny appeared to not get the best of starts up through Copse and the pack settled in some sort of order with Danny in P12. Some great battles started to develop and by quarter distance the Aztec machine and Danny were challenging for P9. At the halfway point Danny was settling into a tussle with the Replicast bike of Adam Blacklock the number 77 of Taylor McKenzie and Brian Clark.
At three quarter distance Deane Brown had now been drawn into the exchanges with Danny fluctuating between P6 and P7. Into the last lap, Deane and Danny were “neck and neck” into Becketts when something appeared to happen to the Aztec machine as it ran slightly wide. This sat Danny up immediately and he was forced to pull up a couple of turns from home with a flat tyre.
After a fantastic effort from Danny this was a sad end to the weekend. “His charge through from 15th on the grid was very exciting to watch and we are all very happy with Danny’s performance once again this weekend”, commented Bryan. Danny was understandably disappointed saying “the bike was very fast on top end but was missing some of the usual drive out of some corners.” He also added, “It was a shame that we could not complete a couple of sessions as this would made all the difference to the setup. The bike was competitive and I was comfortable lapping in the 1m 34’s”.
The team now heads to Oulton Park for the final round of the championship with the chase for silverware still firmly in their sights. As always we would like to thank all of our Technical Partners for there continued support and their valuable contributions. If anyone would like to join us at Oulton Park, please contact us to make the necessary arrangements.
It’s so close we can taste it.…...