Caterham Academy Round Four: Rockingham

Finally it's racing time for Riggers

Testing. It's got to be one of the most important words in motor racing. It's also a word I'm musing on while I fight down the butterflies on the starting grid and wait for the green flag to signal the start of the formation lap for my first-ever race. This is round four of the PistonHeads.com Caterham Academy at Rockingham.

The word 'testing' is playing on my mind because I haven't been able to do any, and the vast majority of my fellow Academicals have already had approximately 80 laps of Rockingham under their belts before qualifying.

Be warned: going off the grey stuff...

You see, unlike more advanced race series - where testing is all about fine-tuning the cars - testing for the grid of novices that makes up the Caterham Academy is all about fine-tuning the driver, and learning the circuit. As a result, I'm sitting 12th out of 22 on the grid, feeling rather under-prepared and with only eight qualifying laps to call my own.

But what's done is done and I try to push such thoughts to one side as we pull away for the green flag lap. As we pull back into our grid positions all that's in my mind is getting a good start. The red lights come on and 22 pairs of eyes stare at them intently, waiting for them to disappear and to signal the beginning of our racing careers proper.

...can cause bits to fall off

We're off. Things initially go well for the number seven car (that's me, by the way), as the 2800-or-so rpm I've dialled in work to take me off the line smartly - and I even gain a smidge on the number 96 car of Graham Newman to my left. But the penalty for a grid position on the outside of the Rockingham bowl is apparent within seconds, as I try in vain to shuffle across the track and protect the inside line on the approach to the tight left-hand hairpin that brings us off the oval and onto the infield circuit.

It's no use. My tentative defence is useless and cars are passing me left and right. This is not a good start. It gets worse, as I find myself pushed to the outside for the next two right-hand corners as well before finally settling into line with the rest of the field. I get back past a couple of cars before I have to take avoiding action to jink past the spinning red car of Chris Shackleton at the Tarzan hairpin.

After the first couple of laps the race settles into a rhythm and I find myself battling with Graham Newman and 14th-placed starter David Menzies for 12th (which soon becomes 11th as Chris Bingham spins out of the battle for the lead of the race). We busy ourselves trying to pass one another for a few laps before I take a deep breath and dive past both of them on the inside of the chicane, hoping that neither of them turn in on me - which they thankfully don't.

It's hard to pull far enough away from my pursuers to break their slipstream hold on me, but I manage it with a handful of laps to go and start to chase down the next group of cars. It seems like I'm catching them and finally beginning to get the hang of the twisty, surprisingly technical Rockingham circuit when the chequered flag waves and it's all over.

In a breathless nine laps I've managed to climb all the way from 12th to - er - 11th. It's hardly a stellar result, but the tussle with David and Graham has been great fun and we all leap out of the cars in parc ferme buzzing with excitement and eager to swap tales of lunges, locked brakes and oversteer.

It's been a baptism of fire for everybody, and we've all still got a lot to learn - "I've seen fewer lines on an etch-a-sketch" quipped a marshal to our esteemed snapper Rachel Horgan as they watched the entry to the first hairpin - but the damage count is impressively low for a first race. We even impressed the race director, we're told.

Next up is Snetterton at the end of the month. And this time I will not miss out on testing.

^{Pictures: Rachel Horgan}