A lovely morning again, but no time to sit and relax as I had a few jobs to do before scruitineering. I needed to set the toe and camber and also get a new rear tyre as it was well past its best, aswell as the usual sign on and new drivers briefing. After getting this all done and and very brief scruitineering session I was ready for practice. We were grouped in with Bikesports (due to their low numbers), which I initially thought would cause problems, but infact it was no problem at all, which I think was down to the nature of the circuit (wide and fast). Practice wasn’t good, I took the first few laps easy to check the chassis didn’t snap and to ensure I got the 3 laps in to qualify, but as I started to pick the pace up yellow flags started to appear and a different points until Phil Alcocks Pulsar spat a conrod out the side of the engine and sprayed oil all over the entry to copse. I saw the red and yellow flag and thought I’ll “stay out of …..” and then started squirming all over the track. I had visions I joining Phil at the Armco, but managed to run wide over astro turf back onto the run off tarmac and gain control. So at the end of the session I didn’t feel that I had had one good lap, but then again it was the same for everyone. I qualified 5th in class C on the 7th row alongside Bob with the other 4 class C cars directly ahead, so I was pleased with that and hoped for a good race.
A quick check over the car showed no problems with Andy’s repair, although the steering wheel was very very slightly out, probably one spline on the rack, but as it was going in a straight line I thought I’d leave it until I got home.
There was a bikesports race that a few RGB’ers had entered, but I didn’t bother as I had tested the day before. So this gave me a chance to actually go and watch some racing!!!!
I got a reasonable start and managed to get a head of Henry, and as usual Bob had a flyer. We were alongside each other around copse but he managed to pull away from me as headed up to maggots, he seemed to be going a lot quicker than before! Unfortunately at Beckets Duncan spun and collided with David. lots of cars dived everywhere and I went up the inside, but in doing so Richard T boned me in the drivers side and pushed me along at 90 degrees to the track. We both managed to carry on but as we went up club straight I was aware of flapping body work and the steering was definitely not straight. By the time we had got to Brooklands the race had been red flagged, unfortunetly while David was facing the wrong way, Andy C couldn’t avoid him and had a head on!! Both drivers were OK, but the cars were looking very battered and there was coolant all over the track.
We all lined up on the grid again, and during the lengthy stoppage I had a quick look at te chassis (well as best as I could with a helmet on and the bonnet down, and a marshal helped me to tape the now flapping front corner of the rear tub. The flappy bit of panel was right next to the extinguisher pul, so the marshal (and I) wanted to make sure it wouldn’t flap and set it off!!
I had a slightly better start in the restart, but Bob still powered past me coming up to maggots. Bobs car was flying, his airbox has made a huge difference to its speed, and I suspect his balls are getting bigger. It was great going around luffield side by side but I had to back off as Pauls contour conked out at my exit point, although I suspect Bob would have still powered away from me from there up to copse anyway. Was close up with bob as we came into beckets for a 2nd time, but he got a great exit as I slipped on the coolant on track and shot past Colin and and Al as we headed up to Brooklands. I think Bob was so surprised he forgot to brake and ran wide and Al, Colin and I passed him, but just as I was coming past his rear wheel just touched the gravel it caused him shoot across the circuit hitting me fairly hard in the drivers side. I kept hold of it but was convinced the car had had it. As I came up the pit straight the steering seemed to be even less straight, but the car seemed to be still going with no nasty noises so I thought best to continue. There was some nasty grinding coming from the body work as I braked and entered beckets but I wasn’t far behind Al and Colin and a trophy!!! The rest of the race was uneventful for me, I couldn’t quite close the gap enough to play with Al and Colin (I still obviously have a bit to learn to be able to play with these guys properly), I’d catch them as they were scrapping, but then make a mistake trying to over drive and get in their pockets. After what happened at Brands earlier in the year I decided my best plan of attach would be to drive as fast I could without making a mistake and taking myself out of the race, and hope that Al and Colin would have one of their small and frequent coming togethers and shoot past them. Unfortunately for me this never happened and I finished 4th and 8th overall. Al and Colin had a great race which I had a brilliant view of, and hope that I can eventually get up with these boys and be able to race in a such a clean and entertaining way!
In Parc ferme I had a quick look at the car, the body work was pretty battered and there was no obvious front suspension damage on the impacted side. The rear wheel had a large mark on it and had obviously take a fair whack when Bob hit me so I assumed something had moved at the rear causing the steering wheel to be at an angle.
So all in all a very eventful meet, I was happy with the result and know that I have got to pick up the pace very slightly to get to a stage where I can be in for a real chance of a top 3 result on a regular basis. The car looks a bit battered and will need some investigation and repair work for the next meet. I can’t make Snetts as my son is having his tonsils removed, so I have 6 weeks to prepare for Mallory! Roll on October!
