Rebecca Jackson had a busy weekend’s racing last weekend when she raced three different cars at two circuits over two days! First up was her regular Turtle Wax sponsored Porsche Boxster.
She was racing in the final race of this year’s Cartek Roadsports series. She had bad luck at the last two races and so she was hoping the final round would let her go out on a high. Qualifying was wet with grip and visibility both in short supply. Initially Rebecca was third quickest when she had to pit to demist her windows. Sadly when she re-joined the circuit, third gear failed and the loss of pace this caused dropped her down the field as conditions started to improve leaving her seventh in class on the grid.
Next up was qualifying for the Smarts4You racing 4two cup which she had been invited to race as well during the weekend. She hadn’t even sat in it before but in another wet qualifying session she found herself in pole position!
Now it was time to head back to the garage to get ready for the Roadsports race in her Boxster. She got a great start and was soon past a number of cars on her way to get towards the front where she usually races. As they headed out of Redgate and down the Craner curves, the large pack of cars backed up and with some drivers ahead unexpectedly braking sharply, Rebecca had nowhere to go. Although she avoided hitting the car in front , the lack of grip sent her car out of control, it clipped another sliding car before sliding across the grass into the gravel. Sadly she was out already. Feeling very gutted, Rebecca had to watch the rest of the race from the sidelines. Hopefully the race in the smart car would go better. For a while it looked although it might not happen as a delay caused by an accident in an earlier race looked set to cause the race to be cancelled. Fortunately there was just enough time to fit it in before it got dark.
Again she got a great start, now on a dry track Rebecca was leading the Smart cars as well as a couple of the cars in the Stock hatch race who were sharing the same grid. This was looking good as she completed the first lap still elading. One of the regulars then put a move on her as they went down the hill into lap two but Rebecca hung on his tail looking for a way past. Rebecca’s luck then ran out again when her car went into limp home mode. She restarted the car to rest the issue but that let 3 more cars past. The problem arose as this car was missing the racing map on the ECU. Rebecca was initially supposed to race a different car but had to change to this one last minute and that lead to the issue on the usually very reliable Smart car. The car took off again after a reset but it still wasn’t happy but Rebecca hung onto fifth place at the finish.
Now a trip down to Snetterton in Norfolk for British Motor Heritage relay race run by the MGCC. The race was to last four hours. They Qualified in third place and things seemed to be going well as they stayed at the front for the first part of the race with Greg Dixon Smith driving. Things looked good for Rebecca as she had been fastest amongst the drivers she’d be racing. Greg then found the car had a fault and came in ten minutes early to get it fixed and handover to Rebecca. The team worked on the car and thought they’d fixed it but as Rebecca left the pits to rejoin the dual mass flywheel failed, putting Rebecca and the team out of the race without even completing a single racing lap. The team intends on changing the fly wheel for a different type that will be better for racing for next time.
So Rebecca finished her busy weekend of racing with problems in all three races, none of which she caused. Both the Smart and the Morgan are usually incredibly reliable and the Porsche accident was just an unfortunate racing incident. Rebecca had shown great pace in all three cars and had lots of fun. She was upbeat describing her weekend;
“Overall, despite it not being great on paper, I thoroughly enjoyed driving two different types of racing cars – the smart and the Morgan. They were hugely fun to drive and I cannot wait for another go!! All the people involved in both teams and competitors were really friendly and welcoming so roll on next season!” By Marc Waller
