ON
TRACK WITH RICK PEARSON No. 18
in a Continuing Series
Hello and welcome to the second of my columns for 2001. It seems there is an ongoing demand for my musings and rantings so by popular demand I will continue to churn these out each week. Of those who have contacted my hard working Press Officer, Rebecca over the winter break, there seems to be a consensus that would like a summary of the 2000 season so they can catch up on the exploits before 2001 takes off. However, I don't want it to read as "then we went to Oulton, then we went to Donington" so forgive me if I skip a few rounds here and there!
The first big gathering for the Clio Cup in 2000 was held at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Previous tests had been held in changeable conditions; at Snetterton Champion-to-be Jim Edwards Jnr had put his Mark Fish- sister car to my own on its roof whilst I myself had completed a mere twenty two spins trying to find the limit of the unruly Clio including a 100MPH+ spin in the middle of the Revett Straight, (which was slightly scary).
The Donington test had been held in freezing conditions with the wet tyres unable to heat properly which had caused them to spit tread blocks so the dry and sunny weather that greeted the field at Brands was somewhat welcome. For me, this was make or break. I had come to the series as an amateur who was after fun more than prizes and hoping to break into the top ten on occasions. The first test saw me consistently in the top five and then come qualifying I found 1.3 seconds on my last flying lap to put the car on the inside of the second row of the grid. An eventful race saw lots of contact and an early finish as my ActiveShop teammate, Paul Lomax, barrel rolled his Clio into destruction down the Start straight. Not a glorious start as I was biding my time in fifth when it happened, but at least we'd proved the Clio was made of strong stuff!
The second and third rounds were both similar, Clio body-shell count rising as first the Donington pit wall and then the Thruxton chicane claimed over-exuberant drivers. By the time we'd reached Knockhill, Renault were concerned that drivers weren't respecting the cars on cold tyres and I'd picked up some more top five finishes and was in the top five of the Championship.
Although I was still a long way from having a good race set-up on the car and whilst I could hold on to the car for one flying lap in qualifying, there was still fundamental problems which were causing the tyres to deteriorate very quickly in the races. Scotland was to see a change in my luck as the undulating Knockhill circuit saw me bundled off at the third corner. Attacked from behind, I never saw him coming, but telltale green paint ensured I knew who'd hit me. My race was effectively run though, as I rejoined stone-last on a track where overtaking can prove tricky.
Oulton Park brought more of the same except this time it was my own mistake on cold tyres into Cascades on the opening lap that saw me ploughing through an advertising hoarding and dropping out of contention.
Round six at Silverstone saw a more contrite Rick, trying to stay out of trouble and get some more points on the board. Traditionally a strong track for me, unfortunately a poor run in qualifying left me seventh on the grid and a steady run to fifth was uneventful.
So at half distance, what had we achieved? Well, we had qualified inside the top ten everywhere, which far exceed my expectations and we were still inside the top five in the Championship. My team-mate, Jim Edwards Jr and I had also started to work together on car set-up and the benefits were beginning to tell. Initially he had been reticent to share development work with me as his father had been competing with me directly on the track, but after Jim Sr had left for another team we knuckled down and pounded the track trying to find appropriate set-ups for the Clio 172.
Without a doubt, I completed more laps in my car than any other competitor in 2000 and by the second half of the season this was to pay dividends for both Jim and myself. Next week, mixed fortunes in the second half of the season... Rick.