WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES –
Olson Struggles in 2004 Formula Renault Season Opener
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For Immediate Release
Zhuhai International Circuit, Zhuhai China –
Sunday, race day. A million television viewers, dozens of
cameras, and above all, the pressure to win.
Racer Pete Olson has come a long
way from a quarter mile karting track in a small
beachside town in sunny California -
from hanging out with his racing buddies at the local dirt oval on a
Saturday night to discussing the merits of monocoque
chassis design with Renault Sport representatives visiting the ZIC [Zhuhai International Circuit] on a trackside tour from
Europe.
However, Olson’s experiences at
the ZIC this past week mirrored the topsy-turvy NASCAR debut of Tom Cruise’s
character “Cole Trickle” in the 1990 film Days
of Thunder.
Olson demonstrated great natural
talent and potential in the few days he had to test and learn the advanced
Formula Renault race car [article] and managed
to qualify almost halfway up the grid during Saturday’s qualifying session in
the pouring rain in only his sixth day in the advanced race car and second day
ever on a race track under rain conditions, only to lose succumb to mishaps on
the start grid which included getting stuck behind a stalled car and as well as
jumping the second start and causing a second ‘formation lap’ for the race
while on Chinese national television.
Despite the high expectations
for the rookie Formula Renault American race car driver that he created as a
result of his excellent testing and qualifying sessions, Sunday’s competition showed
that the Olson still has much to learn about racing in the big leagues.
By noon Sunday, the photo
sessions were over and the marching band and umbrella girls had cleared the
grid. In its place were twenty one
screaming race cars putting out a combined total of nearly four thousand
horsepower, waiting to launch from 0-100kph in three and a half seconds.
It was also Maryland racer Pete
Olson’s first Formula One style standing start in a race car, in a vehicle that
he had sat in for the first time just two weeks ago. Olson admitted later that he had been
seriously concerned about stalling when the start light signal was given – but
little had he known that worse things could happen.
When the red ‘start light’
blinked off and twenty one clutches were released within fractions of a second
of each other, Pete Olson found himself accelerating straight towards the rear
wing of a stalled race car directly in his path. Olson turned toward the inside to get around,
but was an instant too late as he found the inside gap taken by another
racer. With nothing to do but almost
come to a complete stop during the middle of the adrenaline-filled start, the
few seconds lost were enough to allow the seven cars starting behind him to
rush by the frustrated Formula Renault rookie.
Olson only made things worse by then accelerating aggressively to make
up for the lost positions, which resulted in massive wheel spin on the damp
track as the pack rushed away toward the first turn.
Olson spent the entire race
playing catch-up, but his lack of track time showed as he did not have enough
speed to create a single passing opportunity during the ten lap race. Finishing seventeenth resulted in Olson
losing his qualifying advantage by being placed at the back of the grid for the
start of the second race three hours later.
During the second race start, Olson showed improvement in his ability to
launch the car off the line, but again lost valuable positions as the result of
heavy wheel spin on the still-damp track.
He spent the second race dicing with a pack of four other cars, but as
the result of starting in the back of the grid and another tire smoking launch,
he finished in the back of the pack.
Surprisingly, Olson was in an
upbeat mood as he rushed from the ZIC to cross the Macau border in time to make
a late flight back to Taipei. It had
been quite a weekend for the American racer, who was making calls to the States
at 3am on Saturday morning, the day of qualifying, in order to receive last
minute approval from the SCCA in America [The organization that sanctions
professional race events in America] to race in an international FIA-sanctioned
event.
“It was quite a week” said
Olson. “I expected to do better in the
races of course, but I am actually happy right now because I know exactly what
I need to do in order to win. When I
started in karts, I had mediocre lap times.
But within six months I was running at the head of the pack. By the end of my first day in Formula
Renault, I was faster than guys that have been running here for three
years. I know I have the potential, and
that is what is most important to me. I
know that this whole first race weekend was rushed, I mean, I hadn’t even practiced
a single race start before I was actually in
the first race! [laughs]. I feel that I
am suitable for Formula Renault, and the thing that is sometimes strange for me
is that the faster the car, the higher the level, the faster I drive,
relatively. Formula Renault is
everything I dreamed of in a race car – it is a pure bred, built with one
purpose in mind – incredible speed. And thanks to the instruction of FRD drivers,
engineers, and mechanics, I feel, and I know,
that I can do much better. As a matter
of fact, I can’t wait to get to Shanghai in June for Round Three and Four. I mean, before then, I intend to get to know
the Formula Renault better than any driver.
That is my primary goal right now, apart from getting back into the gym
to condition myself for the physical stress of piloting the car, as well as
studying everything I can about race car dynamics. And then, in June, we go to the Shanghai F1
track, the Great Equalizer – it is a brand-new circuit, so no one in the entire
world has driven it. It is a great
opportunity for me, because I will not be racing against guys who have done
five hundred or a thousand-plus laps around the circuit. It will come down to pure guts and car
control. I can’t wait to get there. There is just no point in being down after
what happened Sunday. A good driver is
compelled to evaluate his mistakes and learn from them. If you get yourself down, you will never win,
and I can tell you that from experience.
In order to win, or even to simply drive at the limit, you have to
believe in yourself and also have
faith in your own abilities. It is like
that with anything in your life, I think.
But the point is always to learn, and be better, to get better. You must never stop improving, never stop
being hungry. I think anything is possible as long as you want it enough.”
Quite a statement from Olson,
who seems to believe that his success in racing is a self-fulfilling
prophesy. What will happen in
Shanghai? No one knows the future, but
one thing is certain - Olson certainly
has his work cut out for him for the next nine weeks.
- - - -
Charles Schepens
Schepens Promotions
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