I managed to finish both races, improve my lap times from last time I was here, and get a top 10 position in a race for the first time ever - oh yes, and I have now completed 6 races which means I can ditch my novice badge!
I know how boring these blogs can be so I'll keep it short (I mainly write them for my own benefit anyway so I won't be offended if you skip the rest!).
Qualifying went reasonably well, apart from the minor issue of not pinning my bonnet down and having to fix it in the pit lane. Anyway, that fixed I was reasonably tentative being the first time out this year but the car felt pretty good. I couldn't detect any loss of power due to the cat, and everything was holding together.
In a way the problem with the bonnet did me a favour because I was half a lap down on everyone else for the session which meant I was well out of the way when a few cars had a big off at the bomb hole and dumped a load of oil on the track. It got a bit slippy so that was the end of that as far as getting a good time was concerned.
So I qualified fairly consistently on 16th and 15th (out of 26) on the grid (1:21:93 and 1:22:06).
In the first race we had a red flag on lap one. I didn't mind too much - I got a terrible start anyway! Second time round was a bit better. I forget how bloody quick this car is. If I get the start right I can easily keep up with the pack. Trouble is it all gets very messy at the first corner and my survival instinct means I tend to back off a bit which just lets people through. I suppose it has allowed me to avoid any damage so far, but I spend the next few laps getting past slower cars and letting the rest of the pack get away.
Race 1 was a long one - 23 mins plus a lap (it should have been 28mins but for the restart). It was a great race for me but at least four cars went off for one reason or another. Anyway I managed to finish 10th which is my best finish ever (out of 17 finishers). I was 4th in class which I was very pleased with (although someone will no doubt kindly point out that of the cars that finished I was last in class!). My best lap was 1:19:56, so I achieved my aim of beating my best time of 1:19.7.
Sunday's race was equally exciting for me. I end up 11th (4th in class again) and did a 1:19:41 so that time is creaping down. Another second off that and I'll be up with Mr Carter (fat chance!).
Anyway, I'm starting to feel as though I'm getting the hang of this. I can still see where I could gain some time. I could carry more speed into Corner 1 for instance, and it understeers like my Fiat 500 on a wet roundabout round Corum, so maybe I can work on that. But on the whole, I'm chuffed to bits.
It was good to have an evening out with the guys on Saturday. How about £2.99 for a full roast dinner? It's cheaper than not going out.
Also, first time I've camped out in the car. That went well. No really - it was very cosy! Who need a motorhome eh?
Anyway, looking forward to Brands.
Check out this video from race1 (that's me on the left most of the time in the picture):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqXS9SbV0d4&feature=player_embedded
