After Round 10 & 11 we move into 1st place in class A!

Another round and another track to learn. It was my first time driving the circuit in this configuration although I had been around several of the corners on my first track day several years before in my road car.

Qualified a disappointing 15th overall. Car was suffering fuel surge. No one else to blame apart from myself though on that one as I knew I should have topped up!

Race 1 – We moved from 15th to 7th during the race. I had been chasing down Ian Froggatt’s Subaru but just ran out of time.

Race 2 – Started well from 7th place and was pushing hard in the opening lap knowing I had to get past Ian Froggatt. I was travelling down Bentley straight in his slipstream during the first lap and noticed a couple of puffs of smoke out of the Subaru’s exhaust followed by very early braking at the 300 yard marker, and I shot down and around the outside of him going into Brundle. It was a real shame when I realised that he had retired as I believe it would have been a hard and entertaining fight to the end.

I next set about chasing down Wendt in the BMW and was joined shortly after by Richard Hawken in his Super Tourer who was chasing me down after he had stormed though the field. It was tight lap after lap but I was able to pull away a slight advantage on the straights while his Super Tourer was able to close through the in-field section.

Wendt made a mistake at Oggies and I used the opportunity to get past. Unfortunately I ran out of brake pad material, quickly losing brakes completely resulting in making an unscheduled off-track excursion on the final lap! I finished 3rd in class and 7th overall (it would have been 3rd in class and 5th overall if I had maintained my ability to brake).

 

The car needs a little TLC as the discs are horrendous after the final lap backing plate to disc action. The gear box also needs looking at which could be expensive!

Again I would like to thank Mark Harrison (Owen Developments) and the whole of their team for all their support in the lead up to the race weekend; Karen Roberts for all the support, Jonathan Faull (brother-in-law);  Bettina Gallagher and baby Jake for helping out.