My First Ever JSCC Race Weekend @ Silverstone International Circuit

What a weekend! Ok, so I have raced in karting before and I love it. However, racing a proper car at Silverstone International Circuit for the Junior Saloon Car Championship is a little bit different.

This is probably the longest post I have done (yet), but there is just so much to share. I hope you enjoy it.

You can help my to stay on track at https://www.gofundme.com/f/speedygonzalexjscc

I am racing with the Chandler Motorsport team and they are absolutely brilliant. Thank you to Eddie, Lee, Steven, Katelyn, Rachel and Ray. I couldn't have done this without all your support!

They say you shouldn't start on a negative, but the one complaint I have, is that I was not allowed to do testing on the Friday. Pretty much everyone else did, so I was on the back foot. Well, school and my dad's work got in the way. Actually, for the next round I have leave of absence from school and my dad booked a day off!

The format was a quali on Saturday followed by a race on the same day and another one on Sunday.

While getting ready for the quali, I posted this reel on Insta...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cbj7wdrAebh/

Quali

So the quali was the first time I ever drove a car completely on my own. The team filmed me driving off and posted another reel:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbkRLyKALvl/

The actual quali didn't go at all to plan, which is not that surprising, seeing as I had no experience whatsoever.

Either way, here is the footage...

The result was that I qualified last for both races, but that only brought out my fighting spirit.

Race 1

The team really got into these Insta reels, so here is the one for race 1:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cbkv0I9Al4F/

While I obviously started 30th out of 30, I made up 5 places finishing 25th.

There was a bit of an issue with the camera, so no footage for this race, but BARC have covered it on their YT channel:

https://youtu.be/KbSgc8-iBWY?t=6460

Obviously there is room for improvement, but making up 5 places is not a bad start:

The Interview

At the end of Saturday and after all the races had finished, we had a chance to do a track walk. Thanks Steven, that really helped.

As a bit of fun Rachel, Katelyn and I had a stroll and a bit of an interview. Loved it. Slightly pretentious? Perhaps, but we had a laugh.

Race 2

I already improved during the first race, but I was determined to improve even more during the second one. But before we get that, another reel. My dad went onto the Wing's terrace to capture the start...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cbm9xjCg9UM/

Camera problems resolved, so here is the footage:

Again, BARC covered the race on their YT channel:

https://youtu.be/Apk7ZusotZE?t=15827

In the second race I actually took about 3 and a half seconds off my qualifying time and again, came from 30th to 25th:

Ok, so I can improve, but in my books, this is not the worst start ever...

Some Pictures

Lots of people contributed to the videos and the pictures on this post, but I would like to especially thank Max English, Colin Jackson and the Chandler Motorsport team for their amazing pictures.

There has been a bit of a discussion if our garage was the 2021 Red Bull F1 one, or not. However, garage 22 got upgraded to Chandler Motorsport, so who cares? I loved it!