REDNAL driver Tobias Owen is currently enjoying his debut season in motorsport – he writes for the Standard two weeks before his third race at Donington Park.
My first season of racing has been entertaining, but it has seldom run smoothly.
In my last race at Cadwell Park in May, we discovered a fundamental performance issue with the race car’s engine, so I elected to take an in-season break from racing to resolve the issue.
Two months later, and we have had some very positive tests with the car and identified where we’re losing performance.
I recently completed a test day at Donington, on the GP layout of the circuit that will host round seven of the BRSCC MX-5 Championship in August.
It was a good opportunity to learn the track and to compare myself against my team-mate’s data to identify where time could be found in both the car and myself.
I work with data in my day job, so this was a really enlightening and useful experience.
Frustratingly, my day was cut short by an electrical issue which caused a misfire in the afternoon, preventing my car from starting altogether, which neither me or my teammate were able to resolve.
The next three weeks are very important to my season, as the engine is being rebuilt and a few other bits of the car are also being developed to try and find some more performance, but I can expect to be significantly closer to the pace when I arrive at Donington to race next month.
Of all the tracks on this year’s racing calendar, Donington is the one closest to home.
I’m really keen to give a good showing because the lack of performance in the car so far this year has prevented me from showing my true potential.
The planned upgrades over the next three weeks should allow me to give the home fans something to cheer about, provided we can make it to the end of the races!
I will be organising a special meet-up and behind-the-scenes tour of the MX-5 Championship paddock at Donington on Saturday August 17 between 4pm and 6pm, so it would be great to see some locals drop by.
For more details on the meet-up, head to my Facebook page, ‘TobyOwenRacing’.
