Action Man in the Camso V8

More V8 Action @Speedway Warneton

In the very attractive and competitive formula Camso V8 with drivers such as Kurt Dujardin (24 Hours Le Mans, 24 Hours Daytona, 24 Hours Zolder, Paris Dakar, Belcar), Anton Gonnissen (24 Hours Zolder, Belcar, Paris Dakar), Gary Ellis (champ 2005), Tony Roots World Champion F2, and Wim Peeters World Champion Hot Rods I got the chance to jump into an available seat. First we had to change the seat position. I knew from experience that car #9 is a quick car with a nice set up; lot's of grip at the back and the set up is built up for the agressive driver.

Because you can only pass somebody on the outside, it's especially important that the car is quick on the outside line of the track. On Saturday (due to the rain) I only had 2 practice sessions with a best lap time of 13.79. I had a good feeling about it. On Sunday I started the first race in the 6th place and had a fantastic start; 2nd in turn 1. In turn 3 somebody hit me and I was pushed outwards and 4 cars overtook me in the inside. I was really on the power now! I caught them up and managed to overtake 3 of them. At that time I was lying in 5th. The battle for 3rd was still open and we were in a close pack of 3. In the last corner the #66 car (Dodge Intrepid) tried to overtake me on the outside in the last corner and door to door we were battling each other.

I was in the middle of the last corner on full throttle and the car was going sideways, I crossed the white line, was leaning on the #66 a little bit and was lucky that the very experience English driver Andrew Bartlett was so smart to push me straight otherwise we both were into the wall. On the start-finish he passed me (I was busy with catching up the 2nd slip) within a few inches, so I eventually held 5th position.

The 2nd race was really fantastic although my start was not suberb. I started from 6th position, 4 restarts due to spins, a lot of overtaking, battles everywhere and in the end I was 3rd.

The final of 35 laps was a little bit dissapointing. In the beginning I saved my rear tires and I could follow the top 3 easily. After 20 laps was increasing speed and I looked for possibilities.
I was cathing the top 3 and suddenly the #11 lost his car and I placed my car beside him. He blocked me and I had to do everything I could to avoid a collision with the inner wall.

A few laps later I got massive understeer. I changed my way of racing a bit, but I couldn't overtake the #11 anymore; I just wasn't quick enough. The temperature of the right front tyre was increasing by the lap, so I have to slow down the pace to secure my 4th place. He finished 3rd, but I feel I deserved a 3rd place, because the #11 Jimmy Brian didn't hold his line and blocked me big time. The race was very exciting and very fast and also a new laprecord for me 13.6 sec on a 400 meter track. At the end great fun and when I came back in the paddocks I took some time to calm down and temper the adrenaline. Important after such an exciting race.

At the end we all had a good time, the car was still in 1 piece with some "battle damage". We all enjoyed a large beer in the workshop afterwards..

with Gary Ellis from Roots V8 Racing, the wizard, my mate and champ of 2005

I will be back!