Qualifying

We ensured that we were the first in the queue for qualifying by going straight from scruitineering directly to the assembly area, having to wait behind the preceding formula to go into the assembly area themselves. Despite being first on track there was still traffic due to some late joiners to the track and then I started to lap people, so there were a couple of laps where I couldn’t set a fast time. During the clear laps, I managed to put in two particularly fast laps with the faster lap one hundredth of a second faster than my second fastest time (which is used for the grid order of the second race). My qualifying position for the first race was 3rd in class, 10th overall, only one hundredth of a second slower than Colin Chapman’s fastest time. My second fastest time was exactly the same as Colin Champan’s second fastest time, but as I posted the time earlier in the session I got the higher grid position at second in class (8th overall).

Race 1

Made a good start and got past Colin Chapman and Tim Hoverd off the line and held the position into the first corner. Tim’s extra horsepower from his class B car with a larger engine) allowed him to blast past at the first straight which took me by surprise as normally I can keep Tim within my sights. The first few laps I had to defend against Colin and then Matt Rowe to keep them behind, but then then pulled out a small gap as Colin and Matt tried to pass each other.

Colin then overtook Matt, caught me up and made an over-optimistic move into Mansfield which saw him sail past me with all wheels locked up and he then sped onto the grass. Matt then made a move into the first corner and took 2nd place, but a couple of laps later I re-took the position on the start/finish straight. Trying to defend into Paddock I broke a little early and Matt made a move around the outside that he managed to make stick. I kept him honest and he made a mistake into gooseneck, running wide onto the grass, so I took the opportunity to get alongside on the inside of the corner but Matt apparently didn’t see me and turned in, resulting in us banging wheels alongside each other as I didn’t have time to get out of his way. Matt held the position out of the corner, so I finished third in class.

Race 2

Great start – up to 4th overall, 2nd in class right behind Tim Gray, and kept with the pack for a lap until John Cutmore in his class B Spire got me on the start finish straight on the second lap. Gradually the class A and B cars behind me got up to speed and passed me down the straights with their greater power.

Colin Chapman caught up and tried an optimistic move where there was no room on the inside line at Park corner, and I had to avoid him as he sped across the grass then the track in front of me.

A couple of laps later Colin tried the same move again and ended up well into the grass and rejoined some way behind. Richard Wise and Al Boulton then started to close in and once Al got past Richard he was looking for a way past. Al managed a good run out of Barn and took me on the start/finish straight, but I managed a better exit from Charlies two corners later, drafted him on the next straight and re-took the position. On the next lap Al tried to go round the outside at Coppice but ran onto the grass due to running onto the slippery outside of the track. Next time round and another good run out of Barn saw Al managing to get past and keep the position. Richard Wise had managed to catch up and braked late into Park and managed to get round the outside. The last lap board came out and I knew I had to make a move on Richard down the back staright to stand a chance of regaining third place, but he was just too far ahead to make any move. However at the end of the straight, Al braked early for Park corner and Richard made an optimistic move round the outside that resulted in him out-braking himself and running far onto the grass. Seeing this distracted me from my own driving and I managed to miss my braking point and followed Richard onto the grass, although not at quite such a high speed. I managed to rejoin quickly whilst Richard was still investigating the parkland to finish third in class.