2006
Kelly Rogers Racing
Round 6 Silverstone 23/24/25 June
With this 3 day event at Silverstone, Kelly was determined to give the car a good shakedown in the free practice and qualifying sessions. With the front end totally replaced all things stemmed on the quality of the handling of the car.
Fridays first test session was tense, for the first few laps taking things easy and then putting the car through its passes. Kelly was putting extra pressure on the car to make sure he can push it to the very limit. With only 4 laps completed the session was red flagged as there was oil on the circuit. Kelly was happy as the car felt as good as it was before the incident, most thanks for that must go to my chief engineer Peter Vickers who has been working on my car non stop since it got back from Spa.
Sunday late morning and the 15 minute qualifying session went according to plan, with a time of 1:39.710 Kelly placed himself 3rd on the grid. Kelly knew the car was good and slip streaming in the race would play such a major roll.
2.40 pm and all the cars are lined up on the grid, the long drag up to the first corner was going to be so important at the start of the race. As the lights come on and go off Kelly is right on the boot lid of Sollis Keeping Hall on the outside as they go into the first corner. Kelly sat tight watching Sollis as they entered Abbey corner, the drag down to luffield was fast and hopefully the front two could make a break for it. Lap one completed and Kelly was still tucked in waiting to see if a passing manoeuvre appeared. Going into copse Kelly was so much quicker than Sollis who slowed things down and kept tight lines defending his lead. Lap 3 and the pack had closed back up, swapping of places from 3rd to 5th was entertaining for the crowd. Lap 4 and Hall had edged in front of Kelly, so lap 5 Kelly pulled past on the straight to take back his 2nd position. Coming out of Luffield on lap 6 the car jumped out of 3rd gear losing Kelly his 2nd position once again to Hall. Tucked in behind Kelly played the waiting game as Hall dragged them up closer to Sollis, it jumped out of 3rd gear again losing valuable tenths of seconds. Lap 7 and Kelly knew that 3rd was a good position so he stayed at a distance watching the front 2 battle it out, then out of know where Andrew Hack pushes himself onto the grass coming into Luffield putting Kelly off line. Kelly squares off the apex of the corner to retake Hack and keep his 3rd position as they go into the last lap. Hall is all over the back of Sollis at every corner but to no avail as they cross the line, meanwhile Kelly has Sims on his boot lid as the finish line approaches when the car jumps out of gear again slowing Kelly for a split second which enabled Sims to nick 3rd place off Kelly.
After the race Kelly was disappointed on losing 3rd position but was delighted that the car was so strong in the beginning of the race. Kelly knew that the spare engine that was in the car is not as quick as the no.1 engine which is still in bits at Peter Vickers workshop so there is so much more improvement for the car and engine, ready for the next round at Brands Hatch.
Round 6
Silverstone
Round 12
Donington Park
