For an excellent Mallory guide from Ten Tenths Motorsport click here.
Well, another 'lucky' day for Bitza Racing - not. Still, at least we weren't alone.
Sometimes I wonder whether I'm just not cut out to be involved with anything mechanical. After all the problems we've had with the race car, today my TOW car decided to play up! For the first time ever we decided to go to Mallory on the day of the race, rather than the night before. Everything was ready to go, all I had to do was to drive to the workshop to meet the rest of the team and hook up the trailer. So, bleary eyed at 5:30am I got up and casually got my gear together. Everything in the Trooper, key in the ignition and.... nothing. Nada, sod-all! Damn battery had flatted - 'typical' I thought. I had a spare battery in the garage so managed to cover myself in oil and crap to change it. Once done, still no joy! Double-bugger :( Rang Martin for a jump start (who lives down the road) only to find that he'd left his mobile at the workshop so didn't know I had problems. Triple bugger. Finally got hold of my brother, poor sod, who'd travelled for 45 minutes to get to the 'shop, only to have to grab a power charger and race to my place. In record time (in a Fiat Uno diesel), he screeched to a halt outside the house. A quick 'jump' and we could finally go.
So, we got the trailer hitched and boogied on up the A34 towards the M40. Had to stop for diesel (this has some significance) and filled up the jerry cans with LRP. Off we went. Conditions at the circuit were good. A hell of a lot different from my first outing here with plenty of sunshine even if it was a bit cool. An entry of 41 Locosts made finding a space in the paddock a bit of a pain, but we squeezed in all the same. For once, scrutineering wasn't due to start until about 9:50 so we all had a chance to grab some breakfast and a coffee before getting ready. I signed on, and joined the others. Scrutineering was a straightforward affair (as usual) for us. Still, I have to say the car IS right and most scrutes look fairly impressed with the attention to detail so it's worth it.
A wander round the paddock showed all the usual suspects ;) Darryl Beckwith was there with his dad - Colin, who'd bought David Garthwaite's old car and was eager to stretch it's legs first time out (except for some pretty impressive testing times). Fine looking car that. Darryl always runs well at Mallory and was well set to break the lap record I reckoned with testing times as low as the 56's!! Still, this was not to be, but more of that later. Glenn Boyer made a point of parking away from us to avoid our bad luck ;) Glenn was still stuck with his stock engine although it doesn't seem to slow him down that much - still, it's a 1600 after all (JOKE!). Graham Walker and Kev Lucas were impressively turned out as usual and Mark Benton was back on the grid with his new car which was looking good too although he was concerned about the state of the engine (prohetically).
So back to the pit we went in readiness for qualifying. Qualifying was run in two sessions based on Championship position, which with all my DNF's, put me in the second. The first lot went out without incident and then it was my turn. Due to the large turn-out and a delay in starting, the qualifying sessions were cut to 10 minutes. I'd only been round Mallory once before (1st race) and manged about 12 laps of qualifying in the wet before 100 yards in the race! This didn't exactly inspire too much confidence in me but I had to go for it. More so with the cut-sessions. The usual pre-race nerves faded as soon as the car got out onto the circuit and I set about trying to put some decent times in without stressing the engine too much due to it's lack of mileage (see the build diary for details). The engine was a peach. It finally pulled cleanly all the way through the rev range. Oil pressure was fine as well as the temperature. So stop looking at the bloody guages and drive damn you!!! My lap timer was working properly for a change and my times came down lap by lap. 1:05, 1:03, 1:02, 1:01, 1:01 oops, bugger yellow flag, I came into Gerrards to see a car which had spun, not too serious I thought... until I saw poor Colin Beckwith emerging from the mess which was his newly acquired Locost. It looked fairly comprehensively fcuked and the offside front corner was missing :( I felt SO sorry for him and he was flying! So the yellow flag knacked that lap with a 1:04, then it was time to get back into the groove, 1:01, stuck behind a slower car but after half a lap of waved blues they saw me and I outbraked them into the hairpin, 1:01 right, get going again... oh bugger, chequered flag. Still, the car had run like a dream and was still in one piece. Just a wait for the times now.
A quick note here about driving standards. Now, although I'm a novice with only 5 or so races under my belt, even I know when someone is being a twat in a race. Lack of observation and awareness for others around you seems to be the biggest problem. Colin Beckwith (who got taken out by a spinner in qualifying) is a case in point. Colin had completed an entire lap with waved blues, but the novice in front gave no quarter despite being significantly slower - about 5 seconds a lap! This is just bloody stupid. I know that the novice in question had only done one previous race but that's no excuse. ARDS teaches you about these things and it's up to the driver to adhere to them. Bearing in mind that most of the cars are built by the drivers I find it ridiculous that they would risk the safety of themselves and others by over ambitious moves. It's got to improve and as some drivers become more experienced, it will. But it might prove to be a costly lesson! It's a cliche, but the championship is supposed to engender a spirit of 'Gentleman's' driving. You can still race, but not like it's a banger or stock car series!! Rant over.
Back in the paddock, with great relief I told the crew that everything was fine. Their stopwatch times agreed with mine so I was happy(ish) although I KNEW I could be faster. I was much slower round Gerrards and the Lake Esses than I knew the car was capable of, I just didn't want to push it too much. Still, the race would be different as red-mist would keep the old right foot planted! When the times finally came out, I was in 22nd (as usual) which put me 5th row of the heat grid. With Colin not being able to continue, I'd be up to 4th row in 8th - a good start point which put me in with a shout of a top 3, or even win (he thought hopefully!). At the very least I hoped to get another 2 signatures as by holding position I would qualify for the final (top 15 of heat go through). Another stroll round the paddock to compare notes revealed another 'darker' side to the series.
A chat with Darryl (who'd qualified in 2nd) and the guys from Pro-comp made for disturbing news. Darryl had left his car unattended in the paddock overnight. Nothing strange about that I hear you say. What WAS strange however was the way that his suspension damping had gained 10 clicks on one side and 5 on the other! Now that's just bloody daft. If someone had tampered with his suspension (and I've no reason to doubt Darryl or Pro-comp), then they're being a) VERY unsportsmanlike and b) bloody dangerous! Darryl had complained of bad understeer after the qualifying session and this is what made them check the settings. I've no idea who would do such a bloody thing but it's well out of order. If you're caught, and believe me, you WILL be caught, well, Darryl will definitely want more than a word with you as will the MSA.
Back to the action. We watched a couple of races which made a nice change, especially the roadgoing bike engined cars. At around 2pm I made my way back to the paddock to get ready for the race at 3. It was only at around 2:30 that we realised that the circuit had gone very quiet? The Caterhams had been out and there'd been a big incident on the start straight. Apparently, someone span at Gerrards and the black/yellow quartered flag had come out. The lead cars had seen it and slowed considerably. A couple of cars further back who were fighting for position and made contact causing one of them to spin at high speed into the tyre wall where he was bounced out again :( The paramedics and ambulance came out and the race was suspended. It must've taken a good 30 minutes to extract the driver and a lot of somber faces didn't bode well. I don't know the outcome but I sincerely hope the driver was OK. The ambulance left the circuit with the doctor which delayed things further as racing couldn't continue without a doctor on site. Racing was due to restart at 4:15. As time went on, the chances of a race looked less and less likely and sure enough, at around 3:45 the organsiers said that both the Locost race and the 750 Trophy races had been cancelled. So no racing. With the circuit gates only being open for about 15 minutes, we rapidly packed up and loaded the car (had to jump the bloody Isuzu again!), shot off to get my licence and left the circuit. Later it appears that the entire meeting was cancelled with no more racing taking place that day. It will be re-scheduled for later in the year).
As a footnote to the above, it turned out that tragically the Caterham driver - Nic Fairman, died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the crash. My heartfelt condolences go out to the Fairman family and I'm sure the same goes for the rest of the Locosters.