For an excellent Snetterton guide from Ten Tenths Motorsport click here.
Well, in what had seemed like no time at all, it's the last meet of the season. Were we determined to do well??? - HELLO!!!
As you can see from my build diary, I'd already squeezed in a test day (with some good results), but to play it safe I decided to do another half day on the Friday before the race and make a weekend of it. Boy, was I glad that I did!
We (Stu, my brother joined me) travelled up on Friday morning arriving in plenty of time to get sorted. Surprisingly, there were very few other racers attending (from any series) and the afternoon was declared open-pitlane. This was to prove to be invaluable later on! Intending to stay the weekend, we pitched up our Gazebo next to a steel container to keep the worst of the wind off (it was blowing a gale) and then prepped the car ready for the off. As you may recall, my last test ended with a bit of a misfire, true to form - this is how this one started!! I warmed up the car and made my way to the pitlane. All seemed fine at this point. Once checked for the obligitary armband by the marshalls, I was off on the run up to Riches. The great thing was that I felt completely at home on the track (a first!), the downer was that the car was coughing and spluttering like a good-un, or should that be bad-un? Anyway, before I'd crossed the startline for the first time I pulled back into the pits to try and ascertain the problem. Back under the Gazebo I explained the problem to my brother whilst we both did a bit of head scratching. Thinking he worst (well, you can hardly blame me can I what with my luck!), I decided to check the valve clearances in case a cam lobe/follower/push rod had gone. But, these were all fine? Next up came the question of fuel pressure. Off came the feed pipe to the carb and with the ignition on, fuel duly squirted out. Not exactly at pressure washer velocity, but none too bad either. Deciding to err. on the side of caution we opted to up the regulator flow in case the float bowl was being starved. This done, off I went again. Through the pit pane the car seemed fine, but once again, show it Riches and Sear and it was cough, cough all the way :( Once again I nursed it back to the pits feeling increasingly frustrated. Still, better it happen today than on Sunday during qualifying or worse, the race. More scratching of heads and stamping of feet, throwing toys from pram etc. until we both decided that it had to be electrical. So we went connection checking. Under the scuttle, the chassis earths, the ignition loom, the dizzy. Everything. Almost at the point of despair my brother spotted something. I was all set to go out again when I fired her up and she was misfiring at 3k as I revved her up. Holding the car at this point Stu whipped the bonnet off and proceeded to do some sort of tortoise impression with his jacket as he pulled it over his head like a Victorian cameraman! He got me to kill the power and explained what he'd seen. The weather had turned pretty overcast and dull as we were fiddling about and because of this, he managed to spot a spark which was arcing out from my Lumention connector by the dizzy onto the steering rack! Spurred into action by the fact that we'd actually found something that looked, well, wrong! Copious amounts of insultation tape were wrapped around the offending connector. Once done, with some trepidation, I fired her up again - fine so far. Helmet on I trickled across the paddock and down to the pitlane (thank God for an open pit!) and roared off towards Riches.... and roar she did!! I was elated to find that the misfire which had plagued us almost all year had finally disappeared. Giving my brother a big thumbs up as I shot past the pitlane (the poor sod was knackered by now having run back and forth between our pitch and the pit wall about 10 times! - cheers bro!) I got back into the groove. All I wanted to do was to get some consistency and get back into the 1:31's or 2's. As the laps went by the times fell. I did race distance (10 laps) and came in for fuel and everything was still sweet. A splash and dash and off I went again. First lap out and I was in the 1:33's, then the 1:32's. This meant that I had the confidence to push from the word go, which is exactly what I needed to qualify well. With another 2 dozen or so laps under my belt with consistent 1:32's and some 1:31's I called it a day not wishing to risk the car anymore. Roll on Sunday - we're gonna kick some arse!
So we packed up and left the car chained to the trailer so we could bugger off to Breckland Lodge for some celebratory beers. I must give another big shout to my brother, had it not been for his eagle eyes then things could've been well different. Cheers matey!
Saturday was spent arsing around the paddock waiting for the other racers to arrive. Snetterton were having one of their 'Supercar' days where for about 300 quid, you get to drive an Audi A3 (whoopee-doo), a 911 (better), an Esprit V8 (saucy and sounded good), a Ferrari 355 (Dancing Donkey) and finally a Dodge Viper (too quiet but looked the dogs). For a laugh we decided to time a few of them with, ahem, amusing results. Well, your average punter could hustle an Audi A3 round Snett in ooh, about 2:41!!!! Still, it's just a road car after all. So what could a 355, a V8 Esprit or a Viper do? Well, best time of the day that we got was a 1:44 (from a driver who was noticeably quicker than the rest). The slowest Locosts aren't much off that with the quick guys (and gals) almost 15 seconds quicker - A LAP!!!! Laugh, I almost offered him a trade in ;)
Anyway, come the afternoon and some familiar faces started to arrive. Darryl Beckwith and his wife Annicka arrived only to hide themselves away in a garage (not that he was worried or anything, no pressure on you at all eh mate ;) followed by the Saunders clan (the best looking family of racers in the series - OK, so I'm biaised ;). We gave help where we could to the others and set about the more serious tasks of walking the circuit and drinking Gin and Tonics ;) The rest of the 'Bitza Boys' turned up and sloped off to the hotel to get laggered. I knew it was time to go when Martin rang me and said 'I wash jusht wundering when you were coming to havsh shomething to eat - 'cosh I need to eat'. Having consumed the mandatory 6 pints in about 2 hours (nutters) Karl and Mart were mashed already! So Stu and I said our goodbyes in order to get some good pies (get it?!? - maybe not ;).
Onto Sunday - bloody 'ell, this is rambling on a bit isn't it! Finally it was time for the excuses to stop and to try for the last time to make a point (or two). The weather had smiled on us all for a change with blue skies and sunshine. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it was unseasonably warm too! Once I'd done the rounds of hello's to the other racers, I donned the nomex and got my head in gear. As usual I was in the first qualifying session due to my crap championship position with all my DNF's. Eager to get out in front Hels (Saunders) and I made our way to the assembly area and parked up behind the first group. With them out on the circuit I got into the position that I wanted which would allow me to get out first with Hels right behind me. Time to focus on the job in hand. Once we were given the all clear, off we went. Now I normally treat qualifying as a 'do three laps and then get a time' - not this time. It was more 'stick your bloody right foot to the floor and keep it pinned you big wuss!'. So, I was in the groove straight away. Never underestimate the value of testing if you're a novice!! First thing I noticed was the amount of oil down :( Riches was OK and Sear come to that, but the Esses were something of a lottery and there was a clearly visible line all round the Bomb Hole and Coram - not good for lap times. Still, as the laps slipped by and the tyres got some temperature in them, the times came down. I was in the 1:32's by lap 3 but then encountered traffic - I was positively tonking around compared to some of the slower cars. I lapped umpteen of them but got repeatedly held up round the bends by traffic precluding me from going much quicker. I finished the session with a low 1:32. Not bad, but was it good enough?
Well, the times tell the story - car no. 13 had qualified 13th of 44. Well, not bad, but I had higher expectations of myself. Still, that was heaps better than 2nd from last at Lydden!! Cocking misfire!! So, in the fast race straight off. Back to the paddock and we checked the car over, re-fuelled and did a spanner check - all was fine. So this was it, almost my last chance to make a stand and get some respect from my fellow racers! ;) I'll cut out all the usual ribbing and piss-taking that goes on between qualifying and the race, yup, even the stuff about Glenn ;) and just cut to the chase. Out to the grid we rolled once more although I had some unfamiliar faces around me. Nearest to the fray were Tim Gray, Royce Grey and Glenn Boyer. I was determined to make a good start so kept the clutch carfully on the bite from the 5 second board and fed in the power on the greens - and they're awaaaaayyyyyyy!!!! Well, Glenn was! The bugger was running a 4.4 diff so had loads of acceleration taking him past me. I held position(ish) up to Riches dreading an accident which put paid to my chances last time. But, we were all very careful about it and everyone survived unscathed - phew! So, down to Sear, keep left for the turn and whoooaaaa!!! loads of cement dust had been put down and was now doing its best to blind everyone (Lydden anyone?), I decided to sacrifice the ideal line for more visibility and kept right. This meant that I was quite a bit slower onto Revitt than I'd have liked but we were all in the same boat. The Esses, Bomb Hole and Coram were dispatched without incident but on the approach to Russell, Alex Eacock had got a bit over friendly with the car in front and had twatted it sending them both spinning - right in front of me!!! Thinking long and hard about my desired course of action for about, ooh, 2 milliseconds, I went wide onto the grass and nursed the car back onto the track before I ended up in the pitlane! First crash out of the was meant that I was 2 places up - cool. The race settled down then and we all found our pace. Royce, Tim, Glenn and I had formed a little group with me at the back. I found that I was quite a bit quicker through the beds but was losing out a bit down Revitt's. Another lap and I opted for the drop back a bit and get a run-up school of overtaking which I made stick down Revitt's (can't remember who it was although I think it was Glenn). Making more progress round Coram I caught the other two, one of them fluffed it into Russell and I capitalised taking me past both of them and into 7th place!!! YYeeeehaaarrrr!!! With mirrors full of Royce and Tim we sped of up to Riches, I knew I could pull out some more time here as I don't brake at all for the corner and just settle the car with a tiny lift, keeping an eye on my offside mirror where I could see I was past the nearest car, I took my usual line and turned in then BANG!!!! I was now about a foot off the ground and heading backwards at about 70mph into the boonies. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT THE BASTARDS!!!!!! I was livid, however, the car didn't stall and I struggled on the soaked grass to get back on track as I watched car after car slip by. Finding a safe gap I limped back onto the circuit and got the bit between my teeth as I was determined to catch the buggers. Perhaps a little too much as I exited Sear and realised that the grooves in my Yokahama's now had enough mud in them to keep a small family of pigs happy, resulting in a major tankslapper! Got it, lost it, got it, lost it, got it, lost it, got it - ARSE! I finally spun (just as well really) to see Rodney Gildersleeves rounding Sear. Now those of you who've got REALLY good memories will remember that Rodney was the unforuntate sod who rearranged my car at Riches last time resulting in his being written off. Deja-vu? Not bloody likely mate - I reversed off the track, let him go past and re-joined safely. The crap now out of my tyres I went like buggery to catch up. I got past Rodney safely on the outside of Coram and the next few laps seemed to take ages. I wasn't confident with the car after that big off and just wanted to nurse it home so I could have a good look for damage. I'd almost caught the rest of the pack when the chqeuered flag came out. Knackered, full of adrenaline but most of all BLOODY FURIOUS I made my way back in through parke ferme. At first I thought that it was Royce who'd tagged me and was ready to introduce his gob to my fist when it was pointed out that it had actually been Tim!! Still, violence never solved anything - so I hit him with a wheel wrench.... only kidding. I did have a word with him though and whilst he wasn't exactly forthcoming with an apology, that was that. Id come in 15th which gave me my first points since Donington. Not bad considering (still gutted though). The honours for the win went to William Mitcham who tried everything in the book to keep Mike Saunders at bay. They both set a storming pace dropping into the sub 1:30's.
At this point I ran off back to the assembly area to give best wishes to the next lot only to arrive and hear my number being called on the tannoy to see the clerk of the course - doh! We'd been warned pre-Lydden, that contact would result in a fine FOR BOTH drivers so I wasn't exactly looking forward to confronting him - gulp! There was a LOAD of people who had been called for various mis-demeanours, sure enough, Tim and I were seen together. The CofC produced and observers report of our 'incident' which pretty clearly showed that Tim had gone for the inside, braked and understeered straight into me! He then produced a time sheet showing that I was faster than the group up 'til that point. I had been in front and was set to pull away. He then asked us whether that was a fair account of what happened (to which I obviously agreed), Tim concurred. He then told us that he intended to take no further action unless we (or rather I) wanted to. Being such a nice bloke and not wanting to cause ill feeling (even though I could have killed him at the time) I just put it down to 'one of those things' and left it at that. No point in making enemies that I may regret later.
So rush, rush, rush back to the pitlane to cheer the second race on - and what a race it was! Helen Saunders took the lead in fine style only to have it snatched back by errr... James O'Donnell - eh? Who? Yup, the mild mannered spannerman for his brother Dom all season, was out there and kicking butt! He'd qualified in pole for his first race ever and was now proceeding to keep it that way! An ongoing tussle between him and Colin Beckwith almost saw them both off the track at times. Ian Gray (of Stuart Taylor) got the bit between his teeth and got past Helen relegating her to 4th. It was nip and tuck all the way to the line when Ian Gray seemed to lose power going into Russell, James made slight contact with him on the way out but held Colin off to tag the flag and the win. As Ian struggled, Helen also got past to take 3rd. Ian coasted along the pit straight only to run out of fuel just before the finish! Top stuff and well done to all :)
By now the times were in for the second race. Fastest laps in the first races dictated the grid positions for the second. My pace was proved when the results put me in 11th place on the grid for the next outing. Pressure on, we had to go through it all again!!!
Back on the grid, at least I had some known quantities around me! With some non-finishers te grid had been whittled down to 32 meaning that we would all go out at once. Gulp! Let battle commence!!! Once again I made a pretty good start and held station into Riches. We all got round (well, those that I could see) in one piece and settled into our stride. At this point the race just felt surreal, I was totally relaxed, brake, corner, floor it - it all seemed second nature. It made a complete change not having to look at the dials every few seconds, or listen for weird noises, or try and slosh fuel around to cure misfires - bizarre - it meant that I could actually concentrate on racing! As the grid settled down I was stuck like glue to Tim Gray's tail, I was quicker round the bends than him but just couldn't get enough acceleration to get by (well, without risking taking us both off which I wasn't prepared to do), but after sustaining the pressure for about 4 laps he gave in, I got a good tow down Revitt's and made my move at the end, Tim didn't swerve or try to block for which I have to thank him, he just made passing a safe move. As he conceded after the race 'Well, you were faster so I got out of the way!' - thanks for that Tim, although I think there was a hint of guilt from the first race in there! ;) Anyway, past Tim and Glenn I chased the pack of Royce Grey, Darren Banks and I think, Malcolm Mitton. They were dead close to each other and I was catching at a good rate of knots. Then, coming into Sear Royce tried to slip up the outside of Darren as he tried to find grip, seeing there was no chance on the inside, Darren swung back onto the racing line only to find Royce's front wheels there! They clouted each other and Royce came off worse and ended up sailing into the cornfield taking out the polystyrene sign in spectacular fashion! I kept my nose clean and my foot down and chased Darren all the way to the flag. Another lap and I could've caught him but as it was, .4 seconds split us as I chased him home. Hang on, I've missed something - bloody hell - I've FINISHED!!! The realisation set in and I felt absolutely fantastic. This really was a team win and I'd got 2 signatures, a 15th, an 8th and 5th fastest lap of the day!! After a year of despair and joy, we finally achieved a top 10 finish. Fanflippintastic!
Back in the paddock the boys were as elated as me and Martin finally handed over a bottle of bubbly which he'd been carrying around (unbeknown to me!) all season!!! The traditional champagne shower was duly given to the crew and swigs were taken all round (once we'd finished the girly hugging stuff ;). I'd finally proved that it WAS the car and NOT me. If the car runs well I can do the biz and I'd finally got the chance to prove it.
So that's it for this year. It's taken a whole year of pain and anguish to finally get what I'd call a decent result. As I write this, I've gone all misty eyed thinking about all the bad (and good!) times. However, I certainly couldn't have done it without all the help and support of my team and the rest of the racers - a nicer bunch you couldn't meet. I've made countless new friends and have loved every minute of it - honestly ;) But big shouts must be given and so they shall be:
So:
So BIG UP! to you all - here's to next year!!!!!!
Thanks for watching. I'm picking up another chassis on Sunday so those of you who thought that this was it - think again!