Race Report - Donington Park 6th September


E-mail this post



Remember me (?)



All personal information that you provide here will be governed by the Privacy Policy of Blogger.com. More...



Karen and Richard's final race of the season was at Donington Park. This particular race saw a combined grid of the Modern Classics and the New Millennium series. Cars in the New Millennium series are allowed aero modifications and sequential gearboxes, etc. meaning the pair were even more outgunned than usual!
Karen certainly had an interesting time during qualification which saw the bonnet scoop get torn off at high speed. When it came time to hand over to Richard in the pits, it was also discovered that steam was rising through the gaping hole left by the exit of the scoop. This was ignored in favour of Richard going out and attempting his qualification. 
Thankfully the car survived, but when parked up there was a growing pool of coolant underneath. Whilst Phil, Darren and Richard tried to figure out where the coolant leak was springing from, Karen went to find out if the marshals could recover the bonnet scoop. Unfortunately, it had disappeared without a trace... The pair had qualified 25th out of 36 runners.
The leak was traced down to a split pipe under the inlet manifold. A suitable replacement was found courtesy of fellow racer Rob Baker. Richard stripped all the induction equipment out of the way and Phil and Darren replaced the pipe. Everything was then quickly reassembled and the coolant levels were checked. The car was ready to race.

Image copyright Caroline Wilson, used with kind permission.

Due to the number of cars in the combined grid the race began with a rolling start. Within a short period of time Richard found himself in a battle with Jamie Sturges Renault Megane 225 and Kyle Ward's rapid Toyota Starlet. It was a hard fought tussle but well behaved by all the drivers. Richard was happy to hand over to Karen knowing they were doing well.


Image copyright Caroline Wilson, used with kind permission.

The light and powerful Starlet and Karen's Impreza were obviously well matched and before the end of the race Karen found herself in a titanic battle with Kyle. An excellent race was had by all in the warmth of an Autumn sun. Karen and Richard finished 22nd overall and 1st in class.

The race has been immortalised in video using various angles from Kyle's Starlet. It's a stunning film edited together to produce a very exciting record of the race, especially against Karen's Impreza:


0 Responses to “Race Report - Donington Park 6th September”

Leave a Reply

      Convert to boldConvert to italicConvert to link

 


About Karen Phillips

  • Karen races her Impreza WRX in the Classic and Sports Car Club (CSCC) Modern Classics series, with her husband Richard as a 2nd Driver. The races are mini-endurance events involving a driver-swap. Karen has previously raced in the Nippon Challenge, a race series for Japanese and Asian cars. Karen has been racing since 2006, having started in the MR2 Challenge.
  • Please check this site regularly for updates on Karen's progress through the season and developments with her race car.

Contact Karen

Previous posts

Archives

Karen's On-Line Store

Image Galleries

Links

Karen's Sponsors