Adam Ashmore: Proteus Sports Cars Jaguar Challenge
25/26th May 2002
One of the most exciting races for Dennis and a class win for Adam!
Rockingham was another successful and enjoyable race meeting for the Ashmore Racing father and son team. The race meeting took place over two days and was organised by the MG Car Club.
Saturday brought rain for Adam, water of a different kind for Dennis and poor handling and overall grip for both drivers during the practice sessions. A water hose split towards the end of Dennis' practice session causing the engine temperatures to rise dramatically. As is usual the burst hose was the most inaccessible and Andy's lunch break was taken up changing it; a spare being kindly donated by a fellow competitor, Charles Hunt. Hard work and scraped fingers had the car running again before Adam's practice session. Suspension settings and tyre pressure changes overnight transformed the car for race day. In the XJS race Dennis made up for a poor start by battling his way back in his class and also overtaking some of the more powerful V12 machinery in the process! The wet race provided some of the best racing of the year so far.
The XJS Challenge competitors hadn't practised in the wet so they got two 'warm-up' laps behind the pace car, in preparation for the rolling start. For the first racing lap at Rockingham the field take the banked Turn 1 of the oval, followed by using the chicane for all subsequent laps. It was through Turn 1 that Dennis made his only mistake. However it was costly. He slowed much more than the others and went backwards (relatively!). Now he would have to spend the rest of the race making up lost ground - and more. He had to battle past a more powerful V12 to get up to the first of his class positions that he had lost. After dispensing with a couple more cars he set about getting past an identical 3.6litre XJS. After many laps he pressurised the other driver into a mistake and after taking avoiding action over the grass, into the chicane, set about chasing the next car. The next car was a modified V12! Dennis was not about to give up, after all "everyone is fair game and passable"! He tried the inside line into the hairpin, but his opponent was wise to it. That was the last chance for a bit and Dennis concentrated on keeping close through the twisty infield section. Then onto the straight he got a better exit and was consequently quicker through the daunting Turn 4 of the oval so that he managed to get by the more powerful V12 on the start-finish straight. Then there was just the last lap to keep his head and the car on the black stuff. A great race.
Sheffield based Adam enjoyed a lonely race that yielded Ashmore Racing's first class win! After a poor first corner most of the places lost were made up in the second corner. After that and a couple of laps battling with a light and powerful Jaguar Special, the rest of the race was an opportunity to get used to the car and track and set some fast times.
Keeping up the family tradition of having a bad start, Adam also lost a load of time through the first corner despite reacting well to the lights. Towards the hairpin chaos reigned and he gained a few places back. Approaching it the cars were three or four abreast, with a certain Modified XJS pointing backwards! The Jaguar Special shot past him later on the first lap. It was a decisive move and very impressive. Still Adam concentrated on getting back at the Special and down the start finish straight, a lap later, he managed it easily. The Special had the advantage of better acceleration, but was no match for the top speed of the XJS. Now Adam had the track to himself and set about trying to put in some times. The car was screeching on its tyres constantly on the whole of the twisty section from the hairpin to the start/finish straight! "Was this good? - I have no idea!" he said afterwards, "I'll wait to see the times!". It was; his fastest lap was a 1m29.379, which was the fastest by a standard 6 cylinder XJS all weekend; showing that the changes made on Sunday morning really paid off. It was this pace that netted a comfortable class win.
For photos of the race meeting go to www.adamashmore.co.uk/racing. The website also includes information on the formation of Ashmore Racing, tips on going racing and reports on all the previous races.
