Tim! Thanks very much for your help on Thursday, it was invaluable! I certainly wouldn't have been anywhere near as quick at Snetterton over the weekend if we hadn't done it! I'll definitely be booking some days with you next season when I'm moving up to the modified class!

Darren Humphrey
CSL Cup  - Standard Class Championship Winner

I was asked to provide some driver coaching at Snetterton last Thursday (24 Sept 09) for BMW CSL Cup driver Darren Humphrey... Darren was going into the final round leading the standard class and with a possible chance of taking the overall championship, and wanted to maximize his chances. Having never driven Snetterton he felt that some tuition wouldn't go amiss.

 
Image courtesy of CSL Cup and Thorney Motorsport

As it turned out, Darren's hopes of winning the title outright were quashed when there were no other entries for the standard class, meaning he would only get half points. His championship class win would be guaranteed but he still wanted to do as well as possible against the faster, modified class cars of which there were six in the race.

After the best part of a day working with me on Thursday in his road car (also a CSL) Darren spent Friday practicing in his race car (an E46 M3). Come qualifying Darren put his standard class M3 in 6th spot on the grid, beating one modified car and getting very close to two other modified cars... "They are usually two seconds quicker than me but today I was only tenths behind them!" Darren told me.

He was given a 40kg ballast for the races on Sunday and was still able to finish 5th in both races and even ran as high as 3rd in one race and 4th in the other!