KUTUKA MOTORSPORT

HELEN FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT

And still, after 6 months, the question is unanswered, was it the right name?

HELEN FTDS 28909

With efforts concentrating on the red devil Helen is cast outside for the week. With her bodywork beaten back into shape and the filler laid it’s the standard, laborious practice of flatting and smoothing ready for paint.

Make no mistake, Cadwell was a mess. The damage was bad, by far the worst I've had in 3 years of racing, the bumper through the radiator was one thing, bu the full-side slam from the Sunday race means hammers and filler. There wasn't any in her before, and it's a bit of a sad day when you apply the first bondo to any car. That's gloomy.

It’s not interesting, and it’s not fun. Boo. It’s messy work, and no reason she can’t sit outside for now, she’s at least ready to drive away, whereas little sis is not.

At the insistence of Chris Palmer I’m refitting a front bumper. I’ve not run one in 2 years, but Chris does and suggested I copy him to avoid anymore incidents like the one that spoiled the first Cadwell race, fit a bumper and screw the bodykit to it good and proper. Fair enough, can’t argue, if we’re going to have these little tags off the start it makes sense to build additional survivability in, but it was the first startline nudge I’ve ever had.

Weight penalty is 3kg, but I can offset that. Shame it’s so far forward, it will fractionately affect the weight balance, but 3kg out of 1510 is not what we’re calling a big issue, it’s 0.19%... See, it’s almost exactly nothing like F1.