The unfolding story of Damons’s pit-to-car radio from Suzuka 1999.

The Cast of Characters
Hill	Damon Hill, Car No 7.
Toso	Dino Toso, Damon’s race engineer.
Foster	Trevor Foster, Jordan’s Joint-Managing Director.

Friday first practice
Toso	I can hear you but there is a lot of noise on the radio. I'm not sure where you are.
Hill	I'm coming into the pits.
	Damon pulls into his garage
Hill	Michael's going out early!
Hill	The only thing I can say is the car's bottoming a bit when I get to Spoon corner.
Toso	We're looking at the ride heights and they're not particularly low ... the track's a bit bumpy.
Hill	Ferrari are putting bloody covers on their barge boards - it's a wind-up, isn't it?
Friday second practice
Hill	You may have noticed, but the wind direction is not exactly a tailwind down the straight - it's coming from the back of the garages a bit more?
Hill	I hate this car. Oversteer everywhere. I'm coming in.
Toso	Okay, all we can do is look at it.
	He pits to explain the problems
Hill	It's on the nose. It's going everywhere. It has to be aerodynamic; it makes no difference just changing the [anti-roll] bars. I can feel the car is that little bit stiffer, but I wouldn't say the car's any different like this. The traction is almost non-existent. You are going to have to take a fair bit of front wing out of it, I think.
Toso	I've put some rear wing on at the same time and I'll take a bit of front out.
Hill	With the rear, it's only dependent to where we are on max speed right now. I feel we need to run a bit less front wing.
Toso	I'll take four clicks out.
Hill	The only other thing I can think is that the front tyre pressure is too low.
Toso	We could soften the rear rollbar to see if we could get some understeer in the car.
Hill	For the moment, I would rather do it on the aero and see what we get. For sure the track will get grippier and I think understeer will come into the equation, but right now, I would rather just do it on the wing.
Toso	Four clicks out and that should effect two per cent of the front wing.
	After a handful of laps, he pits again
Toso	Is there any difference at all?
Hill	Not really. It's calmed it down a little bit, but it is more or less doing the same thing. Every time you put lock on you have to take it off again. It's not so bad through turn one and the Esses, you get a little bit of understeer, but it is so twitchy on the exit. And there is very bad traction out of the hairpin and out of the chicane. It is really difficult to put the power down.
Toso	Heinz is complaining of the same.
Hill	When you compare with the test we did here on Bridgestones last year, the balance is dreadful. It's loose and nervous.
Toso	Remember, the track is very dirty.
Hill	We need to move weight forward, or do anything to stop the back going like that.
Toso	The speeds we are doing are matching McLaren so I think we could play with a bit more downforce. We'll try to move the rear bar first.
Hill	Try it first without the bar and I will think about that one; I'll think about the diff load as well. At the line then it was a little tricky to get off without a lot of wheelspin.
	He tries another practice start
Toso	Red flag, Damon! Red flag!
	He sweeps back into the pits
Hill	To me, it feels like the back end just can't take load. It feels like the back end, after a certain point, just breaks away. It makes you back off getting on the power through all the corners. I think we need to try a bit more diff locking.
Toso	We can try a little bit more downforce.
Hill	Through turn 10 it feels as though it locks up the front, and at the very end of braking, when I change down, it locks up the rears.
Toso	Do you want to correct aero balance or do you want to go rear once again
Hill	I'll just try more downforce.
Toso	Go plus two clicks on the front wing.
Toso	We'll try more diff pre-load.
Hill	Yeah, okay. How much is each bar?
Toso	Eight-four pounds [of pressure].
Hill	It's not a lot.
Toso	It is quite a lot of difference, especially on this track.
Toso	We should think about more rear camber. Can we do that, guys? Can we correct the rear ride height, too?
Hill	How much rear wing is on that, Dino?
Toso	To the Malaysia level - I'd say that is the highest.
Hill	The tyres look pretty hard, don't they?
Toso	More downforce, more camber and more pre-load. Still not happy with the car, he pits again.
Hill	You're turning and everything is okay, and then suddenly the inside rear wheel just picks up. Somewhere like turn seven, you feel like you are going to go in a lot faster, but when you build up or turn too quickly, the front is very stiff and you feel like you are going over the front. I don't think it is all downforce, it is the chassis as well. But I think the [increased] camber has helped me. I feel I can trust the back of the car again. We could try even more front wing, because I'm starting to get understeer through the Esses.
Toso	To put your lap time into perspective, nobody is going quick at the moment. I think it is quite good considering where we are at the moment.
Hill	It feels like I am too much on the nose going into turn one.
Toso	Maybe less front aero will help.
Hill	I think I might try a little bit more pre-load, Dino.
Toso	First try, then see if we need any more.
Hill	I did a practice start and I must admit it was dreadful. I had to back off the throttle and got too much wheelspin and then could not get on the throttle again.
Toso	Even in Heinz's last lap, which was a slower lap than yours, he was a bit quicker through turn one.
Hill	I'm quicker through turn eight, so I think I am catching him up on that one.
Qualifying
Toso	As soon as they have finished clearing Ralf's car we should do the first run. He might have gone off at the same place - I saw Trulli's car shed some oil there.
Hill	As soon as possible really, I think it is more or less clear.
Toso	It is all waved yellows there at the moment, so as soon as it is clear...
Toso	Oh, they've got the flag out for Panis, it looks like he put a bit of Oil down, too.
Hill	You think he would be able to do a lap without going off?
Toso	The track is clear.
	He goes out for his first run, then pits
Hill	I lost a bit of time in the last corner. I went in too deep. I probably lost a second in the last corner.
Toso	Up until then you were only three tenths behind Heinz.
Hill	Let's not change anything with the car right now, Dino - let's just get out.
Hill	I've got a 40.1 on my overlay. We're going to have to get a move on if We are going to get a time. I'll have a quick look at the overlay and then I'll go. There's quite a lot of loss there on the straight before the 130R. I feel like I am losing a lot at the chicane ... going into the last corner. And I am losing a ton to Heinz on the straights here, just through 130R.
Toso	He's running less downforce.
Hill	Sorry, I didn't know that.
Toso	We'll take some wing off for the last three runs.
Hill	I think we should go... He does his second and third runs
Hill	There's a little bit of traffic. I thought I went okay that time but I was a little slow going into Spoon. I want to see an overlay of my last lap and my previous lap to see if I got it right.
Toso	You got three-tenths back on the last run. You said yourself that you lost quite a bit through the Esses. How is the balance?
Hill	As good as I can expect it to be.
Toso	Did it run a bit better through the last corner or did it not make any difference?
Hill	A little bit I think. I think it is going to get very busy over the last few minutes. I think we are going to have to leave it until the very last lap.
Toso	An out-lap takes two minutes from the minute you drive out of the garage. We have two minutes to go...
Race
Toso	Radio check.
Hill	Just count ... it is a bit quiet.
Toso	One, two, three, four...
Toso	Just go straight to the grid. You're on a qualifying set, so it's relatively fresh.
Toso	Radio check, Damon.
Hill	Yes, I'm in turns nine and 10 now. Now I'm at the hairpin.
Toso	I could hear you at the hairpin, but I couldn't hear anything after that.
Hill	Sorry, I didn't give you any radio communication.
Foster	Two minutes to the pitlane closing.
Foster	Ten minutes to the start. Ten minutes.
Foster	Five minutes.
Toso	Your start this morning was good, so same again. Make sure that you keep your foot on the brake as it slopes down.
Foster	Two minutes.
Hill	Have a good one everyone.
	Damon runs 13th in the early stages
Toso	Damon, you are now four laps from your pitstop, try to close up to Rubens.
Toso	Try to push harder Damon, you are only three laps away from your pitstop and only three seconds from Rubens.
Toso	It's going to be two stops Damon. Try to catch up to Rubens.
Toso	[Tyre] Set 207. Same pressures as we started on.
Toso	Keep this rhythm for your pitstop.
Toso	In this lap Damon! In this lap!
	Damon spins off at Spoon Curve
Toso	Front wing change, guys.
Toso	Okay Damon, stop on the mark. We will change the front wing anyway.
Toso	Well done, guys.
Six laps later, and unannounced, Damon pits and retires - for good.

© ITV-F1- November 1999. .

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