A Greenpower Roasting at Rockingham
The latest round of the Greenpower Challenge qualifiers saw a day of technical difficulties. Issues with the brakes and steering gave the team problems throughout the day.
In the first race, Tom Hammond made a quick start from the back of the grid and we were soon up to 16th place, but then the car suffered a puncture. We brought the car into the pits and the pit crew, which included Toby Burrows, Helena Morgan, Amy Murphy and Carys Gaynor-Smith managed to make a swift wheel change. Ben Lee then set off in the car and suffered another puncture. Rory Frain then took to the cockpit, unfortunately colliding with another car, damaging a rear wheel and the rear axle. We decided to keep the car on the track and finish the race and finished in a respectable 14th place out of a field of 58 cars. The second race saw us gain 9th place which was encouraging considering that the rear axle had been bent in the collision earlier in the day.
It was hot and very frustrating work at times but we all had a fantastic day and would like to thank Marcus Milton for helping with telemetry and Mr Cotterill and Mr Boss for supervising the team. We owe a big thanks to Chris Ford (former DT technician) who came out of retirement to help with repairs and Mr Chaplin (father of Sophie and Harry Chaplin) who made some parts at his engineering company which got the car back on the road after last week’s accident.
In the first race, Tom Hammond made a quick start from the back of the grid and we were soon up to 16th place, but then the car suffered a puncture. We brought the car into the pits and the pit crew, which included Toby Burrows, Helena Morgan, Amy Murphy and Carys Gaynor-Smith managed to make a swift wheel change. Ben Lee then set off in the car and suffered another puncture. Rory Frain then took to the cockpit, unfortunately colliding with another car, damaging a rear wheel and the rear axle. We decided to keep the car on the track and finish the race and finished in a respectable 14th place out of a field of 58 cars. The second race saw us gain 9th place which was encouraging considering that the rear axle had been bent in the collision earlier in the day.
It was hot and very frustrating work at times but we all had a fantastic day and would like to thank Marcus Milton for helping with telemetry and Mr Cotterill and Mr Boss for supervising the team. We owe a big thanks to Chris Ford (former DT technician) who came out of retirement to help with repairs and Mr Chaplin (father of Sophie and Harry Chaplin) who made some parts at his engineering company which got the car back on the road after last week’s accident.
Toby Middleton – Greenpower Team Leader
