A few weeks ago a customer contacted me enquiring about track driving tuition…

Dean Peach is in his first season of racing, he had bought himself a Mini and entered the “Mighty Mini” Championship. He had been struggling with pace over his first four race meetings, always qualifying and running near the back of the 25 car field.

With his next race meeting coming up at Oulton Park, we decided to spend the day at the Cheshire track (my local circuit) on an MSV track day last Wednesday (15 Aug ’07).

As he had never driven around Oulton before, I drove Dean’s racing Mini first, to help familiarise him with the circuit, show him the line and point out braking, turn, clipping and exit points.

Dean drove next on the very damp track (there was almost continuous drizzle all morning) while I assessed him. Having established Dean’s weaker and stronger points, we set about addressing them. One of the problems with a “Mighty Mini” is its lack of power – it’s essential not to lose momentum in a low powered car; so we worked on building Dean’s confidence in carrying higher speeds into the corners while keeping it neat and tidy; we also worked on his steering technique to eliminate driver induced understeer.

The track day was held on the full International circuit whereas Dean’s race was to be on the shorter “Fosters” circuit, so during the lunch break I walked him through Cascades, Fosters and Knickerbrook, the only chance we had to work on that part of the track!

Throughout the day Dean’s pace improved. I took over the wheel again after the track had dried late in the afternoon and demonstrated the potential of the Mini in dry conditions; when Dean took over he improved further.

Yesterday (Saturday 18 Aug ’07) Dean qualified 17th, the highest position he has ever qualified in so far!

In the assembly area prior to race 1 I told Dean to treat it the same as a track day, not to get too excited and wound up, keep it tidy, on the road and added that starting 17th there was every chance of getting a top 12 position if “he kept his head” and other competitors broke down or fell off. In the race Dean held his 17th position for much of the race, fending off some other competitors very well! Three-quarters into the race there were a couple of incidents that Dean benefited from, and subsequently he finished 12th!! His best result so far by a long way!

Starting race 2 from 12th on the grid (his finishing position from race 1), Dean saw an opportunity going into the first corner and snatched it, moving up to 7th place! He held onto 7th for three laps, doing really well for his first time in the thick of it at the deep end! Eventually, under pressure from some of the more experienced pilots, Dean slipped to 10th which would still have been his best finishing position so far! He held 10th until the very last lap when, under pressure from another competitor, he made a mistake that sent him into the gravel trap at “Druids”, He recovered and was classified 19th, still his second best result ever! Well done Dean, good driving!

Here are screen grabs form MST Sports Timing... Qualifying, Race 1 Result and Race 2 Lap Chart...

“Hi Tim,

I just wanted to say a big Thank you for the coaching session we had at Oulton Park. As you know it all worked out and my driving skills and confidence to drive faster have improved considerably. I never thought I would be up there with the 'Big boys' but I certainly was yesterday and I had a lot of compliments off a few of them!

I have blamed my car and anything else I could think of for my lack of speed around a track. Having spent a fortune trying to make the car better I now realise that I would have saved a fortune if I had contacted you earlier as advised by numerous competitors.

I can't wait until the next session at Brands Hatch.

See you soon

Dean Peach”

Dean’s next race is at Brands Hatch in September and we’ll be doing a day there together beforehand!