2013 Ginetta Junior Finale – Brands Hatch – by Jack Rawles

Jamie Chadwick – friends off track but my championship rival

The last round of the 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship took place at the famous and challenging Kent Brands Hatch, 3 mile long, GP Circuit on Sat/Sun 12/13^th October 2013. With Harry Woodhead having been crowned the 2013 Ginetta Junior Champion elect at Rockingham, the fight over the top two runners-up spots was set to go down to the wire at Brands Hatch at the last round of the season.  I entered the weekend positioned in the middle of the championship and with one job and that was to finish the championship ahead of my  rival, Jamie Chadwick, the competitor that I lost the scholarship winning place to. 

What’s that coming over the hill…. Is it a monster?

Monsterwraps had created a monster themed one off fun livery specifically for this last race. The eye catching, attention grabbing, bright green beast of a car was certainly doing its job and causing a stir amongst fellow drivers, spectators and most of all the ITV4 camera crew. I knew that whatever my performance was going to be, I was sure to get a lot of attention and exposure. Already the inevitable banter had started “What’s that coming over the hill, is it a monster, No It’s Jack”.

Torrential rain meant Friday practice sessions were reduced from 2 to 1

The weekend proved to be a very mixed one starting on Friday with the first 30 minute practice session in torrential rain conditions. I managed to control the car to put in the 5th quickest time of the day. Wet conditions do test a drivers ability and skill as they are put through there paces, having to concentrate more, controlling wheel spin and slides, coupled with bad visibility, gauging breaking distances and avoiding other drivers who may have spun into your path. By the time the second practice session of the day was due, the rain was still falling relentlessy from the sky and the session was cancelled.

Qualified 9th for race 1 and 7th for race 2

With little practice I started Saturday morning with one more practice session, again in the wet. I was running 6th fastest and on the last lap when everyone went faster I was held up by a fellow competitor and finished the session in 10th. Qualifying then came along at 12:30, the track had dried and it was now all about the quickest lap time, two fastest times work out grid positions for race 1 and race 2.  I was again held up on my fastest lap by rival Jamie Chadwick and only managed to qualify 9th and 7th out of 15.     Race 1, on Saturday, started as dusk was falling providing challenging conditions. After a good start I climbed from 9th to 6th position, and executed an amazing move to overtake Jamie Chadwick and Jack Mitchell in one corner at the start of lap two. I then developed problems with my steering which caused me to run wide out of the second to last corner allowing Jamie back through, I then had a really good run out of the last corner and pulled back alongside Jamie into turn one and then I decided to make a very brave move around the outside of her. This paid off until I was pushed wide, squeezed out and lost control hitting the tyre wall at over 50 mph destroying the whole front end of the car and unable to finish the race. You can see footage of the crash, recorded by a member of the public and uploaded to  You Tube 

By 9am Sunday morning there was no evidence of the extent of the previous days damage – Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Monsterwraps

A combination of a lot of hard work from the team, generosity from sponsors and fellow competitors we managed to get enough parts together to rebuild the car and we worked most of the night to get it fixed. A quick call to Monsterwraps to fill them in on the bad news and they did not even question what was required of them. They turned up at the crack of dawn to rewrap the car and by 9am Sunday morning nobody would have known the extent of the previous days damage. The dedication and committment of Monsterwraps has been so amazing and we cannot thank them enough for all there support.

I achieved my goal – finished my 1st year in motorsport in the top 10 and ahead of Scholarship winner Jamie Chadwick

Sundays race was looming and so were the clouds and then the  rain started to fall again,  which did not concern me as I quite like these conditions. Starting 7th on the grid and scoring zero points yesterday, I knew I had a lot of  work to do, to gain places and to finish the race with a respectable amount of points. Sitting on the grid, with a mixture of emotions, excitement tinged with apprehension, the lights came on and we were away. I started with a wheel spin off the line but I controlled it and dodged the spinning car of Ben Pearson and the championship battle to finish in the top 10 was on between myself and Jamie. turning into sterling on lap one I was again knocked wide by Jamie but managed to control the car on the wet grass, dropping right back to 13th. while other cars spun off in the slippery conditions I managed to controlled my Ginetta G40 whilst overtaking 7 cars all the way to the finishing line where I took 6th place. The poor conditions had produced a slippery track and reduced visibility and resulted in Keith Donegan, Jamie Chadwick, Will Palmer, Ryan Hadfield and William Taylforth not finishing the race. I achieved my goal finishing the championship 9th, in the top 10 and ahead of Jamie Chdwick, who finished 10th. It was an incredibly difficult but enjoyable  year and I would like to thank Monsterwraps.co.uk , Jake Hill, Mick Mercer of Basingstoke Skip Hire, Drive at 15, Tarantula Tools, The Crieff Hydro and Action Glen, M & D Motorsport Connections and everyone else who has supported us this year. I have achieved a lot, learnt a lot and my confidence and skills have improved imensely. I sometimes still can’t believe that I have raced in front of over 20million people this year on ITV4. The advertising platform is huge for business and I am always looking for local companies to support me next year. To find out about opportunities for TV advertising on my car please  email me –Rawles46@hotmail.co.uk – Thank you Jack Rawles