- Purchased new tyres , 2 sets the very latest batch
- Had the frame straightened at Zip based at Silverstone.
- Seat padding – to stop James moving in the kart
- Balaclava – to stop James’ helmet moving
- Reduced Weight – new lead, we ran 1kg too heavy in the last round
- Lighter nuts and bolts on the rear axle – every little bit helps
- Engine tune with Bontoft special race oil.
Booked a full days development testing at Bayford. We had Alfie Walker as competition for the day.
- Lifted the engines at the back – this didn’t work
- New Panther high quality chain.
- New chassis set-up and pressures
- New clutch (mainly because I lost the old one!)
- New chain guard – didn’t work, but looked nice
- New Fuel filters
- New Exhaust for the race engine (the one we used at the Test), 2nd best exhaust for the test engine so that improves too.
- Changed the oil in the Test Engine which was black.
- New Brake pads – red
- Plus normal full prep including bleeding the brakes/tracking/spanner check again.
Unfortunately Lewis was away racing at PFI so we were on our own, but after the great days testing we were still optimistic.
It was a day of 6ths! Not what we hoped for but the pace was encouraging.
Qualifying – 6th – definitely too low on the pressures.
Heat 1 – 6th the pace was coming, 3 tenths faster than Quali
Heat 2 – 6th again! Was looking very likely to finish 4th but a mistake cost 2 places and back to 6th. Set fastest lap, James’ fastest in 2017 in a race, but still 4 tenths slower than testing.
Final – Crazy race, dropped to 7th at the start, then drove well, taking 6th on lap 5, 5th lap 7, 4th Lap 8, then back to 6th then 4th again. A questionable move by Zach Walters left James in 6th and disappointed. It looked at one stage that 3rd was on the cards.
Lots learned, but need to work on defending!
