Max Spooner - A challenging start to the season

Max Spooner has had a challenging start to his Locost season
Photo: Dan Cornell

Well this is my blog for the racing season ahead. From this I hope to give an insight into the workings of a team and driver making their important first step into the world of Motorsport and that perhaps other 'newbies' can learn from my experiences.

The first race was at Mallory Park. We were going into this weekend having had a productive winter and my dad and Garry (my mechanic) were raring to go. I wasn't sharing in this enthusiasm. For me the problems we had over the past year were playing on my mind for about a fortnight before so I was never really in the right mind set. It was a very cold day when we went racing and although not feeling up to it. We were confident that we had found a trick up our sleeves with the engine. As qualifying came, we found out we hadn't and qualified 34^th, 7 seconds off the pace. This did not help with my confidence going into the race. As the lights went green I made a good start and took a car or two out of the first corner. By the second corner I went straight on at the corner and broke my wheel bearing in the process. Game Over. Having not had the spares required we missed the second race. The following morning I was kicking myself and was determined to make right of it come Castle Combe. Unfortunately I only work part time at Halfords so money was tight and by the time I was ready to place my entry, the race was fully booked. So instead I booked for Snetterton.

The next race was at Castle Combe and I was at this meeting as a spectator. It was being broadcast live on Motors TV and I was really looking forward to seeing everyone racing at their best and creating a great advert for the championship. Unfortunately there were a lot of accidents. But it made for great television. No one was hurt and my car was in one piece at home.

Spooner had brake failure at Snetterton in qualifying
Photo: Michael Barrett

The next round at Snetterton bought its own challenges. It was the first time we as a championship raced on the 300 layout and I was more prepared mentally this time round. We still had problems with the engine so we weren't expecting big results. The night before we had to change the wheel bearing and as a precaution we bleed the brakes. As we went out for qualifying I was trying a new setup in the hope of cracking into the midfield. It was a disaster. I had no brakes. I spent more time off the circuit then on it and came in straight away. We thought our day was over. But as I went to get the results to see where everyone else ended up. I saw my name 41^st on the grid with a time of 12:49.31, I think that might be a record of some sort. Having then spoken to Viv, the Clerk of the Course, I was allowed to race under the instruction “no heroics”. At that point I was hoping she would have said no and I could go home. But with the allowance to race, we did. I was cautious at the start but kept to the back of the field. A car spinning in front of me though lost me time so I was never in a position to climb places and my objective for the race then on was to finish and collect my signatures. Everything was going to plan till the last corner when I was lapped by Matt Cherrington who was waving his arms in the air at me. I thought that maybe there was something wrong with my car as I just kept to my line and didn't think I was holding anyone up. Turns out Matt tried to go down the inside for me to cut him off. Oops. The second race was a little better. A good start was unfortunately interrupted by a red flag after an incident at Montreal. When we lined up again (after a short panic of my engine overheating) we were off again and this time I was right on the back of Steve Wright. I spent most of the time behind him hoping he would make a mistake and he did on the exit of Williams and I was able to get his tow. As I pulled up beside him I noticed my throttle was stuck open a bit and as a result I dropped back and just concentrated on nursing the car to the finish. And just for the record, racing a car with a stuck throttle is not fun. Next we go on to Silverstone where we hope to fit on some more upgrades and hopefully find some speed.

Written by Max Spooner