I decided that I would make a minor change to the front dampers and wind them to full soft in an effort to give more bite to the front end. During checking of the car before scrutineering I noticed that the one of the rear trailing arms was very loose, allowing the back axle to move considerably. I was quite sure this would be the reason the car juddered when taking up drive; something which has drawn comments from competitors in the paddock from day one. Still it gave me something to do – it just wouldn’t have been the same otherwise!

On leaving the paddock for my first practice run the juddering was gone but this meant the clutch engagement was vicious, very snappy, and I couldn’t move away without using lots of revs. I decided that the plan for the first run was to go flat out, no point cruising as I needed to learn the car on the limit. Turning in to the first corner the front had loads of grip and even stepped the back end out which woke me up! It was a similar story throughout the rest of the lap, the back-end kept stepping out and it was a real fight to keep it on the tarmac. It was particularly loose under braking, which was disappointing as I thought that with the rear axle tightened this problem might have gone away. I recorded a 61.60 lap at 97mph, not bad for a first run!

The n/s rear had been making some nasty noises throughout the run and going back to the paddock I could hear metal touching tarmac and assumed it to be part of the exhaust. On inspection the rear trailing arm mount had ripped itself of the axle. It is welded on and with no equipment on site there was no option than to pack up and go home to fix it. Unfortunately my welder had developed a fault which meant it didn’t have the power to create a strong weld and I knew that the temporary fix would not last another run. I returned to the track after missing the second practice run just in time for my first timed run.

I knew this would be the only run I would get so I had to make it count. Unfortunately the weld broke as soon as I left the line and the rest of the lap was a battle to control the wayward handling. The commentator was quite impressed with the sideways style but it didn’t help the lap time. I managed to record a 61.40 at 99mph which was better than I thought it might have been and good enough for 9th fastest time of the day. I was the only entry in my class so there was no competition to compare my time against but it would have been nice to have had a proper attack at getting under 60 seconds. Highlight of the day was John Bradbury in his Gould setting a new course record at 49.11 seconds at 135mph – wow!

There are lots of things to do on the car; I just need to find some time to get it all done. That’s it for this year, roll on 2012!

There were lots of things on the “To Do” list after my first event in the Matador but due to time contraints all I had chance to do was target the suspension settings. A check of the camber confirmed what my eyes were telling me which was that both front wheels had nearly 2 degrees of positive camber. The camber was so far out that it wasn’t possible to get enough movement on the upper balljoint to get the 2 degrees I was looking for and had to settle for 1 degree. A check of the front geometry also showed that the track width was different from one side to the other so this was sorted along with the bottom balljoint retaining bolt that was allowing 1” of travel without actuating the suspension. Hopefully these changes will help sort out the wayward handling and provide more bite from the front end to improve on my previous best time of 61.61secs.

The forecast for the day was initially looking like rain at about 10am and then on the morning I checked it and it had changed to 10pm which was great for me since I have no wet tyres! The weather looked great as I arrived at the circuit to a paddock full of Caterfields everywhere; I was definitely the odd one out! Just before the event I had managed to get some new brake pads, EBC greenstuffs, to put in to help bring the brake pedal up and to give some much needed bite to the brakes so I set about changing the pads – I’ve always got to have something to do on race day!

Due to the pad change the first run would purely be exploratory to see if I had any brakes and to check the handling. The car was much more positive and the brakes were completely transformed but required a lot more finesse than before to stop them locking. For the second run I gave it some death but it was a scrappy run simply due to not being used to the handling and brakes but the power wasn’t quite there either resulting in a 63 second run at 97mph. On arrival back at the pits the radiator promptly spewed water everywhere and the header tank was boiling away for about 5 minutes! I noticed that the vacuum hose to the MAP sensor had become detached and also the fan fuse had blown. Fortunately the engine seemed fine and after replenishing the water I was ready for another run.

Then it rained. Bloody weather forecasts! The track was completely wet for the first timed run and on slicks it was a joke so I was sideways everywhere and had to back off down the straight resulting in a 70 second 80mph run.

So it was all down to the last run. A quick tweak on the tracking for more toe-in to steady the car under braking was all that was required and lots of concentration for a good run. Fortunately the weather dried out and although the track was damp in places it wasn’t sufficient to cause any major problems. The run was quite good but I could have been more aggressive on the brakes and some of the gearchanges weren’t too good either. The time over the line was 60.16 and 99mph, a good 1.5 second improvement over last time shows how well the changes have worked. It was good enough to be the fastest Curborough Championship contender at this meeting and I received a very nice trophy too!

Next time, more improvements to the gearchange and hopefully break the 100mph barrier and get below 60 seconds.

I had entered in the Sports Libre Class for up to 1700cc cars in the fifth round of the Curborough Lifeline Sprint Championship, a 2 lap event. There are some Championships that have Sports Libre categories up to 1400cc, which would be better suited to my 1197cc engine, but unfortunately the 1700cc class is the most common. I was therefore going to be up against some serious competition in the form of Les Procter and his OMS (think Radical) Hayabusa engined car that’s been bored out to nearly 1600cc! Talk about taking a knife to a gunfight!

The first outing in the new car, the Matador (Mallock) motorbike engined sprint car, was always going to be a baptism of fire. I didn’t have chance to test the car or even drive it more than a few feet before the event so what could possibly go wrong? Things didn’t start well when I tried to get the car in the new box trailer the day before the event and managed to badly bruise my ribs when it made a bid for freedom when it was half way in the trailer and I was at the access door at the front. All I could do was leap in the trailer and grab the front wishbone and got slammed in to the door post as the car tried to drag me through the door! Then came the fun part of trying to work out how to stop it from disappearing any further out the trailer without letting go of it but in true MacGyver style I managed to make a strap using my belt, shoelaces and wristwatch one-handed to save the day (either that or I just moved the front wheel to wedge it against the side of the trailer – I forget which).

The forecast for the day was light rain and then heavy rain which wouldn’t have worried me at all if it wasn’t for the fact that my choice of tyres are slicks, slicks or slicks. Fortunately the rain that was forecast for the morning held off and I managed to get to the track on time and through scrutineering without any issues, which is a novelty for me.

The day then took on a more familiar theme when I tried to demonstrate the engine to some interested spectators and the car promptly decided not to fire up and flattened the battery in the process! This was the first time I had had any difficult starting it and it was also the first time ever that I have not taken my Jumpstart pack with me, despite looking at it in the garage the night before and thinking “Should I bother taking it when this car has an alternator/generator…” Clearly the answer should have been “Of course you idiot!” and I just wondered if I should have just stayed at home. Fortunately Mr Procter was able to lend a jump start and I got the car going in time for the first practice run.

There is no rev counter in the car and with no experience of motorbike engines it was hard to judge how many revs I needed to get off the line cleanly. The advise from Mathew was to give it plenty and it would fly off the line. So that’s what I did, and boy he wasn’t joking, that car shifts! First gear was pretty breathtaking but second gear was just as savage and the first corner came round really fast. Trying to handle an unkown car at race speed can be difficult with some cars; others just feel natural and inspire confidence. This one felt very at odds and wanted to drive all over the road and I wasn’t convinced that it was due to the power either. The power down the straight was awesome and the flatshift worked a treat with the sequential gearbox. It was even more exciting at the end of the straight when the brake pedal went flat to the floor! Fortunately I wasn’t giving it full beans on this first run and was conservative on the brakes; it really could have been a big off. I pootled round to the pits and started investigating the problem.

The car had been fitted with reconditioned callipers early this year and had not been run since so I assumed the problem to be an air lock, particularly as the front hose appeared to be kinked. A quick bleed of the brakes was needed but the other thing I didn’t bring with me was a brake bleeder or brake fluid! So it was a trip back home to get all the things I should have taken with me in the first place. By the time I got back and bled the brakes I had missed my second run but the session was still going. With some more assistance from Les I got out again out for another run, thanks Les!

Once I’d got in the car I could tell that the problem was still there but at least the pedal wasn’t going all the way to the floor. I gave it a bit more beans but I was still cautious with the brakes and recorded a time of 65.26secs and 95mph over the finish…nice!

The brake problem was traced to a leaking brake calliper fitting and the brakes were sorted just in time for the first timed run. This time I was in “Attack” mode and tried pushing in the corners. The car still felt wayward and the throttle had a very snappy action which made it difficult to have a smooth run. The grip on turn-in wasn’t as good as I was expecting and it hurt the run out on to the straight which meant the top speed was up by just 1mph to 96mph but the time had dropped to 61.81sec, a good improvement.

For the final run I put more positive camber on the n/s front and adjusted the tracking to give toe-in as it looked to be toeing out a huge amount. Then it started raining….a lot. So much so that Les Procter decided that another run would not improve his time, a stunning 56.10, and packed up! I decided that I would go out again to see if my tweaks had made any difference and sod the rain! As it happened the track had mostly dried out by the time I lined up and although the track was slightly slower I still managed to improve on my time by two-tenths with the improvements to the car being very effective indeed. I got way too much wheelspin on to the final straight and it hurt my top end speed, down to “just” 94mph.

With a proper set-up on the car (all my settings were done by eye and I have since found out that my tyre pressures were several PSI too high) and with some work on the brakes and gearchange, I think a sub-60 time is on the cards…but a 56 second run isn’t! However, as it turns out under the championship rules you can only win one award. So Les Procter got FTD which meant I inherited the Class win! Well I’ll take ‘em any way they come but it’s a bit of a head-scratcher as to whether to try and do anything to get on terms. I have been looking at turbo kits for the Blackbird….

By choosing sprints, and hillclimbs if desired, it means I can keep within a similar discipline to circuit racing and hopefully when I eventually go back to the circuits I won’t have lost my touch. Testing for sprints and hillclimbs is quite rare and is not usually available the day before an event therefore it suits my needs perfectly. Needless to say that sprinting is against the clock therefore there are no other cars on circuit to hit!

The Curborough sprint course is just 15 minutes away and is a regular venue that I visit to see the interesting array of cars that go sprinting; anything from roadgoing Vauxhall Corsas to big V8 powered single seaters. It’s not the most exciting venue and I remember sprinting there in my first year of motorsport and finding it rather underwhelming compared to other circuits on the calendar. However I thought that if I could find something more interesting to drive than the roadgoing Opel Manta that I used back then it might make it more exciting, so the search for a suitable car began…

First on the shopping list was a Jedi Mk4. These motorbike engined single seaters are rapid and ideal for sprinting. I had one particular car in mind and despite numerous offers a deal couldn’t be reached. A Mallock derived car called a Matador came on the market which had been used for sprints which had been fitted with a Honda Blackbird motorbike engine instead of the usual Crossflow and it had big slick tyres. The car looked exactly what I was looking for and I agreed to purchase the car over the phone. I made the trip to Wakefield to see Mathew Suttcliffe and the car was exactly as described so the deal was done.

So all I need to do now is get booked in to an event at Curborough to see if the car makes an ordinary track more interesting!

The first to go was my Subaru Impreza WRX, a completely standard blobeye model in a rare metallic green and it really was an excellent example. I never got on with the handling though; it always felt nervous and snappy with no feedback through the steering. The road noise was intrusive as well and in the end I thought I’d see if it would sell and put I up for sale along with our long-term tow car; the Jeep Grand Cherokee. There was little interest in the Scoobie so I decided to get rid of the Jeep and put it on the Bay of Temptation. Typically, a couple of days after it was listed I had one enquiry on the Scoobie and the guy bought it there and then! So then there was just one vehicle left that I could use…my VW Camper that was away being painted after it’s 12 month bodywork restoration.

I chased the camper up and got a garage to put it through the MOT, no mean feat when it required nearly £2k of parts to get it through….ouch! It was a few days before Xmas during the severe cold that I travelled to Kettering to collect the van. It was an interesting drive back up as the prat that sprayed the van hadn’t refitted the door seals, window seals or retaining trim. It was the coldest, noisiest trip up the M1 I have ever experienced! For the next few months any spare time was spent putting the van back to some kind of order and it turned in to a real time vampire, not to mention a money pit!

The first race car to go was the Formula Vee Mk2 that I raced at the end of last year. It was a well sorted car with a strong engine but it was a bit tired and I wanted to improve the aerodynamics and induction system. Around the same time another Mk2 came up for sale that had all the improvements done to it and was in much better condition. So I put the car up for sale with the intention of moving in to this other Mk2. I received a lot of interest from Europe and the car eventually went to a very nice chap in Belgium.

The next car to go was my long-term project, the Peugeot 106 Rallycross Stock Hatch car that has been on the go for the last 10 years! It was eventually finished to a very high standard and was a superb car. I never got the chance to try it as I didn’t want to risk pranging it so it was sold for a ridiculously low price to Sean Smith, completely untested and he is due to race it in this year’s championship.

By this stage the campervan was nearing completion and by using it as a daily driver I managed to get the reliability and driveability to a satisfactory level. The camper really needed a new interior to complete it but by this stage it had already cost me far too much money so I decided to cut my losses and run before it cost me even more money. I had loads of interest in the van and it has now found a new home in Weston Super Mare.

The Bay of Temptation struck again and I soon became the proud owner of a Rally Opel Manta with red top XE engine, quaife 4 speed straight cut box and LSD rear axle. It was a potent bit of kit and I had grand plans of restoring it back to its former glory.

Reality soon hit home after the birth of number two son, Harvey, born on 18th May. Since then I haven’t seen the inside of my garage or a spanner! All plans of car restoration and racing weekends soon went out the window and the acceptance that this won’t be on the cards for the next few years.

So next up on the forecourt was the second Formula Vee Mk2 Scarab. Again the enquiries were from overseas and this time it went to Portugal. Second up, and with much regret, was the Opel Manta. Much like the camper I could see this being a money pit if I didn’t carry out the work and there was no chance of this so to avoid the temptation it too had to go. Because of the condition of the car I decided to sell it to a rally specialist to avoid the countless questions about the car. It now lives at Fuzznagg rally in Hull; Gavin is a really nice bloke and I can highly recommend them.

In between all this was a flight to Scotland to collect my current daily driver, a Mitsubishi Pajero, and a car trailer. There was also the purchase and sale of no fewer than 5 car trailers too!

There is still one more car left to sell, a Fiesta RS Turbo, and no doubt there will be a race car of some description back on the drive soon.

So it has been busy behind the scenes but not much happening on track. I will try to rectify

This time I had worked out my departure to the circuit so that I would arrive at the track with plenty of time to prepare the car and relax so that the day would be stress-free. That was the plan anyway. I managed to get as far as hooking up the trailer before it all went pear-shaped….the trailer lights weren’t working. And at 6am it was too dark to risk travelling without them especially with the box trailer you can’t even see the lights on the car either. As I pulled out the tool box and set about stripping the lights apart I thought “Here we go again…”

Once at the circuit (with working lights!) I managed to get a place in the AHS garage which was a bonus because I could enjoy the witty banter and tap them up for advice too! I managed to join the scrutineering queue last due to my late arrival but fortunately this wasn’t as much of a problem as it would normally have been because of the low number of cars entered (11 Vees) and I made it out for qualifying second in line. Even Alan Harding came up and asked if I’d shit the bed!

Qualifying

Being one of the first cars out on track is very important to get a clear lap and it’s not something I am normally blessed with! So on this occasion I thought I would adopt the same strategy as Silverstone (where it was starting to rain hence an early lap would be the quickest) and just go flat out straight away. It’s not my normal style but it certainly helps to blow the cobwebs away to focus the mind and makes the most of the track time. I let Steve Ough (AHS Dominator) take the lead because he had practiced the previous day so I thought I would use him to gauge my performance. The new track layout also meant it would take a few laps to find out what the new chicane was all about.

The car felt good and inspired confidence (which is a characteristic of the Scarab and the main reason for choosing one), even the wet line through Redgate where the back was stepping out quite wildly didn’t deter me from keeping my foot in and holding the slide. I was expecting to see the GAC’s and Storms come blasting past but I didn’t see another car all session. I knew that I hadn’t put in a really fast lap and Steve mentioned a target time of 1.19sec and from my on-board lap-timer I knew I was in the 1.22’s and a long way off the pace.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find out I had qualified third! It would appear that the track was slow for everyone but I knew the pace would be quicker in the race and that there were at least 2 cars behind me that I would struggle to beat (Ian Buxton and Tim Probert). Whilst checking the car over I found that the bottom of the front wheel could be moved in and out by 1 inch – massively effecting camber! The stud holding the lower torsion beam had come undone and allowing to move from side to side. Jason from AHS was soon on hand to provide assistance and was able to put it right before the race so once again a big “Thank you” to AHS.

Race One

Going out on the green flag lap I knew the car was going to handle a lot different and I almost spun twice just warming the tyres. I got a good start and passed Steve Ough to move up to second going in to Redgate. As I went down the Craner Curves I wasn’t sure how the car would handle and was too tame going in to the Old Hairpin allowing Steve back through. On the second lap Ian Buxton (GAC) also came past which just left Tim Probert (Storm) as the next likely challenger. I could see him about 6 car lengths back and I was pleased that I soon got to grips with the new handling and for the next 5 laps he wasn’t catching me at all. Then all of a sudden he took huge chunks out of my gap and I wasn’t going any slower! Tim admitted post race that he just wasn’t awake at the start and stepped it up a gear from half distance. I managed to keep Tim and the leaders in sight and was close enough to have a go at Tim in to the chicane on the last lap but he had me covered. This was how the race finished but I couldn’t believe the gap between us and the rest of the field and was really pleased that I was able to keep the leaders in sight. The car had felt really good and I was pushing the car a lot harder than I ever managed to in my old GAC.

Race Two

For the second race I sought advice from AHS on tyre pressures and made a change that I hoped would give me more grip on to the Dunlop straight and allow more speed to be carried in to the chicane. In the assembly area my curse struck again – the car wouldn’t start! The rest of the cars had disappeared and I had to get a push start from AHS – bless you guys! I made it to the grid by the skin of my teeth and I just hoped that the dead battery would supply enough sparks for the duration of the race…

I got another good start and managed to challenge for the lead going down the Craner Curves but Steve and Ian were soon past down the straights. The car felt much more stable in the corners and I was a lot faster than in Race 1. The leading trio weren’t pulling away and I was being held up though the chicane by Paul Taylor (GAC). I managed to pressure Paul for 5 laps and quite fancied a challenge for second when the engine started to lose power – nooooooo!!! I couldn’t believe it as it got harder and harder to rev the engine out and was only just getting in to fourth gear along the straights! I gave it some real charge through the corners and had a huge 80mph slide through Copse in an effort to maintain speed. I kept waiting for Tim Probert to come flying past but I didn’t know that he had spun and was miles behind. I could still see the leading trio but they were now almost the full length of the straight away. Watching the leaders going in to the chicane on the last lap and I saw the big bales go flying and a car in the gravel – third place was up for grabs!! I kept watching the car in the gravel (Paul Taylor) and prayed he wouldn’t get out as I negotiated the chicane with a huge bale in the track to take third place – woohoo!!!

I really enjoyed pushing the car and sliding the car around; you actually feel like you are going fast without looking at the lap timer. The feedback through the chassis and steering on this car is great and even though it had been months since the last race I was soon on the pace. It wasn’t until Monday that I even bothered to check the official results and found that in the second race I got the second fastest time, 1.19.71 vs the fastest lap (and new lap record) of Paul Taylor at 1.19.48. If would never have thought I would be lapping less than three tenths off the fastest lap pace but the car was great and the set-up and help from AHS was excellent.

That’s it for 2010, see you next year!

My last outing in the Legend was to be at Birmingham Wheels raceway on a Saturday evening. The day had been preceded by my usual last minute preparations and in true style I arrived at 6.00pm, thoroughly missing the practice which started at 2.30 and the official practice at 5.30pm – why break the habit of a lifetime? It wasn’t too bad actually because it had been raining in the afternoon and the track was still wet when I arrived and was very, very slick so practice would have been pointless anyway.

Out on track in the first heat and I finally got to start from the front – woohoo! The starts are more tricky because the green flag gets dropped whilst still going through turn 4 and getting the power down is seriously tricky and I was sideways most of the way down the straight and had to change gear mid powerslide too! The inside of the track was horrendously slippy and the car understeered all the way to about halfway up the lane. Turns 3 & 4in particular had an oil slick on it and the understeer was absolutely chronic. It soon became apparent that there was only the outside lane to drive and that overtaking would be very tricky. I did make a move down the inside and promptly understeered in to the car on the outside – oops! I did manage to put some good laps together and found some grip and with the inability to overtake I managed to come home in 8th place!

The second race was better but turns 3 & 4 still had a very slick line and it took a few laps to find the grip. I managed to get a good start but there was a yellow flag caution after 3 laps which brought the pack line astern. At the restart I got caught up behind the 75 car on the outside and the whole pack streamed by on the inside and I couldn’t get to the inside to overtake; I literally had to let everyone go past to drop in behind the last car. I managed to gain a few places after I got back up to speed again to salvage 10th.

The feature final was held on a terrible track after the demolition derby boys did themselves proud with oil just about everywhere! I made a reasonable start and got past the 75 car (phew!) up to 5th. After a yellow flag period on lap 3 the fast guys were on my tail and I was soon down in 8th place. There seemed to be incidents going on everywhere and I ended up with more knocks and dings than I had collected all season! Circuit racer Stephen Treherne got past plenty sideways on lap 13 so I gave him room to come past and he promptly slid in to the 365 car right in front of me and I had to anchor up on the straight to avoid a pile up which let several cars past to leave me in 10th. I managed to get past the 57 car to move up to 9th and had a close battle for several laps before contact sent me spinning to the infield and a very close call with the banking. I lost my rhythm and with cars going out left, right and centre I decided to bring the car back in one piece and cruised to the finish. Due to the huge attrition I still managed a respectable 10th and the car still had all four wheels on it – just! It was a hugely frantic race and I felt very lucky to have escaped a lot of close calls without serious damage.

So that’s it for Legends, the car is now back in the safe hands of Racecarsdirect boss Keith Whalley. It’s certainly been an enjoyable experience piloting these rapid cars and it’s something that I would love to do again in the future but only when I have more time to dedicate to the sport to work out how to set them up and get the most out of them.

Even though Hednesford was the only oval track that I had ever been to regularly as a spectator, it had taken all season to actually get to race there for one reason or another. I had heard lots of good reviews about racing there with it being the longest track and also slightly banked corners allowing fast cornering speeds.

I thought that it would be a good idea to get to the track early to ensure that I got out in the practice session to get used to the track. Having got there at 10.30 in plenty of time for the 1.30 start I was quite perplexed at the relatively empty paddock. After waiting around until 12.00 I thought I would ask what time practice was and guess what…there’s no bloody practice – typical! At least I was no longer a Rookie and so I would be starting from the front…..wrong again! For the European Championship we draw starting positions out of a hit and my lucky number was 14, right in the middle!

The pre-race chat in my pit was about the tyres. I had been promised some new tyres for a while because mine were on their last legs but Keith & Rob weren’t at this meeting so I was debating fitting the wet tyres instead. After consulting with some more experienced members of the paddock the consensus was that there was still life left in them but if it even thought about raining I’d be in trouble. Well I’d checked the forecast a million times and there was no rain forecast, in fact it was supposed to be quite nice.

As we lined up in the paddock waiting for the Lightening Rod drivers to stop scrapping with each other the inevitable happened, yup it started to rain! But only a little bit, yes it waited until we got on track to properly chuck it down. So here I was on the fastest track I’ve never even drove around on virtually slick tyres, oh joy. At the start, our pole sitter and fellow Vee racer on his comeback after breaking his arm at Hedno last time out, managed to rotate at turn two and scatter the field – an exciting start! I had experience of driving these cars in the wet at Skegness and that came in handy here, basically the key is to not accelerate unless it’s in a straightline and then only gently. I lost a few places at the start whilst I got used to things and then found the grip in the highline and managed to get back up to 14th at the finish, so not a bad start.

The sun came out for the next heat and I finally got to see what the fuss about Hednesford was all about. This track is seriously fast and the difference in exit speeds out of the corners is noticeable straight away. It seemed a lot more natural to drive this track than any others and I think that was because when the power was applied coming out the corners the back didn’t step out as much so it was more controllable. There was a tangle that brought out the yellows after two laps and on the restart I lost 4 places to the faster cars. After a few laps under greens there was another spinner that brought out the yellows and again on the restart I lost 4 places. I was using all of the race track and it started to feel like I was pushing the car but without a lap timer on board I couldn’t be sure which lines and style of driving was working best. I finished in 20th position with a best lap time of 16.300 and the winner’s time was 15.368 so quite a long way off the top.

For the European Championship race I qualified 18th out of 22 starters so at least I wasn’t last! I made a steady start and held my position for the opening lap but I got sideways in turn 2 and Stefan Lloyd (21) got passed on lap 2. I then had Harry Nicklin and John Townsend all over me and I got my head down to keep ahead. Harry spun in to turn 1 which put John right on to my tail. I tried to keep him behind for as long as I could but he made a lunge in to turn 3 and I had to back off to avoid a crash. Derek Linley got in to the wall out of turn one which moved me up a place and then Dan Hughes too got in to trouble. I had a good 7 laps chasing John but I couldn’t quite keep up with him. Late on in the race the Paul Gerrard got on the Raceiver to say there was a crash in turn 3 and then “FIRE!” and everyone was told to stop where they were. It looked like Stef Lloyd had lost an oil line which had caught fire on the engine and which also took out Andrew Embery and Richard Pullen. Fortunately the fire was extinguished quickly and the Raceivers kept the other racers off the oil slick an out of the way. On the restart I lost a place to Derek Linley and then a few laps later the yellows were out again for Harry Nicklin and the result was declared. My best lap time was a 16.082 so an improvement and the race was certainly fast and furious!

It felt good to be back in the paddock at Silverstone for my first circuit race for nearly two years. Everyone was as friendly as I remembered and it seemed as though I’d never been away.

For once the car was ready to race and there was nothing to do on the car….but that was because AHS had prepared the car and brought it to the track for me!! It’s definitely the way forward. Alan Harding (AHS), Jason and co had their work cut out looking after a healthy number of cars and there was a great atmosphere in the garage with plenty of good humoured banter (mostly from Alan!).

The aim before the weekend was to try and get to grips with the different handling characteristics of the Scarab and to hopefully begin to slide the car through the corners which I know is the way to get the most out of it. I found that with the GAC once you lost traction it would spin the wheels up quickly and you would lose speed out of the corners but the Scarab is completely different. Looking at the entry for Class B and previous race times I was looking at finishing around 15th and second in Class B as the best finish. The fastest race time for a Scarab Mk2 around Silverstone was a very low 1.07s and my best time in the GAC was a 1.06. I therefore set myself the goal of getting in to the mid 1.08s which would be a reasonable debut for the new car.

In qualifying the weather looked uncertain and I knew that I had to put my foot down from the start in case it started raining. I tried to get to know the car’s braking and handling characteristics as soon as I could but on lap 5 it started raining so I had just 4 laps to set a time and get used to the car. I carried on pushing in the wet to see how the car handled and it was much better in the wet, something I remember from my old Scarab. My best time of 1.11s was enough for 19th but as long as it rained I knew I would be able to make up places in the race.

After qualifying Jason from AHS came straight over and asked if anything needed doing to the car; he went away with a shopping list that included two new tyres – I could get used to this service!

For the race the sun was out and it was actually quite hot – doh!! Hopefully the new tyres would help improve my lap times and I set about trying to scrub the tyres in on the green flag lap. Another baptism of fire was to get the car off the line for the first time; I played it safe and gave it plenty of revs and made a semi-decent start. With 36 cars on the grid it was pretty manic through Copse but everyone managed to keep it on track and I found myself a bit of space. The new tyres weren’t having the desired effect and I was losing time out of the complex and through Copse. Starting the fifth lap and fellow Legends racer Pete Andrews’ car was stuffed heavily in to the pit wall and the red flags were out. His car was badly damaged and was lucky to escape serious injury, I hope he’s back soon. The restart gave me time to reflect on where I was going wrong, my best lap time was only 1.10s and I needed to be a lot quicker.

On the restart I got a better start and made up a few places and ended up in a dogfight with Alan Swain – in my old GAC! He was quicker down the straights and would simply drive around me but was slow through the corners (he is a novice driver so I am sure he will improve) and this meant I had to back off mid-corner through Copse. We swapped places a few times but the long straights did me no favours and he won the battle.

I had changed my driving style after thinking about things before the restart and managed to get the car turning better mid-corner by lifting off completely and letting the rear slide out before getting back on the power. This seemed to cure the understeer and I think the tyres were better after cooling down too. My best time was a 1.09.11s so I didn’t make it in to 1.08s but I know there was more time to come.

There was a last lap tangle which took out a few cars and I ended up finishing 12th and first in class B! I think without the tangle I would have ended up pretty much exactly as predicted but I’m not complaining!

The new car was great, a real pleasure to drive, maybe not a thoroughbred racing car like the GAC but a user-friendly and very capable racer. I came away with my first victory and had an enjoyable day; something that I haven’t experienced for a long time and I have AHS to thank for that.

A Thursday evening trek over to Skegness might seem quite a strange night to be racing but the mid-week crowd at Skegness Stadium is huge and with a Monster Truck and freestyle motorbike stunt team it’s easy to see why. There were only three Formulas racing, plus the aforementioned entertainment, and the Legends were top of the bill.

Although there was no rain forecast for the area I wondered if I should have fitted wet weather tyres as the skies got darker and darker all the way there. By the time we got to the circuit the rain had started to fall and it soon became fairly persistent. I didn’t have time to fit wet tyres before the first heat and I also managed to miss practice, so a good start as always!

The first race was therefore just a case of keeping it in a straight line and getting out of everyone’s way. When I saw the 5 lap board I wasn’t sure if it was to show how many laps were left or how many times I’d been lapped by the leaders! I made sure I got the wet tyres straight on the car after the race but I wasn’t too sure on tyre pressures so I had to make a guess. Lots of people were making camber and spring adjustments to their cars but I just don’t have the knowledge to make those sorts of adjustments so I just resolved to try and be a bit faster next time out.

The second heat was much better with wet tyres on (no surprise there then!) but the track was very wet by now and still very slippy. I only got lapped twice and managed to set some reasonable times but the front guys were 2 seconds a lap quicker using the new Federal wet tyres. It was interesting finding the right groove; out high and very low had plenty of grip but in between was seriously slippy. I stayed out wide to try to keep a steady pace and keep out of everyone’s way which worked for me. I’m sure with more experience I could have found a better set-up but at the moment being a Rookie it’s all about proving that you are a “safe” driver.

Before the final we were treated to the Big Foot 17 Monster Truck car crushing display and it was pretty cool seeing a huge truck leaping 20 feet in the air on such a small track. The massive crowd were certainly entertained, as was my young son Alex who thought it was amazing.

The weather for the final was appalling and it was going to be a battle to keep it on the track. At the start I managed to make up a couple of places and was mixing it with the tail end, yes I was surprised too! I was feeling quite confident of moving up the field but on lap 17 I got too carried away with the right foot out of turn 3 and went broadside down the start/finish straight, ending up beached on a kerb near the infield. Unfortunately with no reverse gear and no grip from the track I couldn’t get off the kerb and had to watch the remainder of the 30 lap race from my car and kept my fingers crossed that no-one wiped me out!

The car was relatively unscathed, just a bent rim, but the weather forecast for the next race, also at Skegness, at the weekend is for better weather so fingers crossed!

Skegness 22nd – Des Chandler Trophy

The weather could not have been more different from Thursday night; hot and sunny with plenty of blue sky. Just when I thought I might have an easy morning and make practice the car failed scrutineering due to a dodgy brake light. I had to babysit too and trying to fix the car in a busy paddock with a 2 year old is not easy so the babysitting came first and the car had to wait. By the time the car was sorted I had missed practice – again!!

The first race was just a case of trying to find the right line and getting used to the car in dry conditions. The handling was so completely different to the last time I drove the car at Northampton. There was loads of grip on turn-in and I had a battle to stop the back-end stepping out but there was not so much grip from the front out of the corner. There was a hefty crash at turn 2 early in the race which took out a number of the front runners, the main casualty being Russ Bull also from Burton, who was to take no further part in the meeting. The pace car came out on track and we had to wait for the restart. On the restart it was just a case of finding the right line and trying to get my speed up and I had a good dice with Mark Brown who is also running one of Keith Whalley’s Racecarsdirect Legends.

In the second heat I found that the track had rubbered-in more and the car felt more balanced and I was able to push the car a bit more. I managed to keep up with the field and felt more confident with the car. There were a few spinners to avoid but other than that I was trying to get a feel for the car and gradually build up confidence to push harder.

For the feature final, being a Rookie, I still had to start from the back of the grid and at the start I managed to keep up with the pack. There was an incident on turn 3 involving Rob Preece that brought out the pace car until it was cleared and on the restart I thought it would be better to let the recovering cars through than risk being pushed in to the wall. I then kept the pack in sight and only the front 2 cars got past just before the end of the race and even then they didn’t pull out too much of a gap so overall I was quite pleased with my pace. Looking at the lap times I was 0.2 seconds off the tail end times and 0.5 seconds from the front guys pace. The time will come from getting the power down much earlier out of the turns and controlling the slide up to the wall. At the moment I don’t have the confidence to push that hard but I know from watching the Legends that the quickest guys push their cars 100% right from the green flag and that’s where I need to get to.

Next time out I will not be classed as a Rookie so I will be starting from the front!