29th May

Catle Combe Race Report  – Spring Race Day 29^th May

It’s been the best part of a month since the last outing and I am eager to get in the car and see if the improvements I’ve been working on over the past 4 weeks has made any difference. As usual for a bank holiday the weather is looking suspect, good old British summers! When we arrive at the track the skies are blue but I have a suspicion that this isn’t going to last. Sure enough as soon as I line up in the holding area the rain starts to fall. At this point I am still running slicks on the car, the rain isn’t that heavy so I we decide to stick with the slicks for now. Have to admit I am a bit apprehensive about using slicks in the wet but apparently they are supposed to work! There is a incident at the start of the qualifying and we are held in the pits until the scene is cleared up. Before we are allowed on the track we are warned there is a pool of coolant on the exit of Camp, something to make sure I avoid. Finally, some 10 minutes late, we are allowed onto track, it is still wet and I am taking it very easy on the out lap. I am quite surprised by the amount of grip I am getting from the slicks in the wet but I wasn’t prepared to push it to hard just yet. First time into Camp and I remember the warning about the coolant. I negotiate the corner and get on the straight, gently applying the throttle and the car suddenly exits stage right, seems the coolant wasn’t on the corner but on the straight! One second I am on the track with the next micro-second I am visting the barley in the infield and stuck. I hop out of the car and watch the rest of the qualifying from my new spectator position doing a dam fine impression of a scarecrow! Not the best way to qualify I have to admit. Normally you have to complete 3 laps to qualify for the race however because I am a regular at Combe the clerk of the course allowed me to run from the back of the grid. So I am to start from dead last in 27^th position.

After the end of qualifying the sun comes out again, typical! We all set about cleaning the grass, barley and mud out of the car ready for the race, luckily the car hasn’t suffered any damage. Thanks to everyone, including my 3 year old nephew, for getting involved in cleaning the car.

Our race is a bit earlier today, 2.35pm, so we are soon getting the call to the assembly area, just as the call goes out, what happens? yes you guessed it the heavens open. It was that horrible stop/start rain so trying to decide what tyres to fit was a nightmare. We make the decision to stick on slicks….well that decision lasted about 30 seconds as the stop/start shower turned to a proper downfall. Justin/Barry and Dave chipped in getting the car ready for the wet race. We made the assembly area with about 5 minutes to spare, soon we were being directed to the grid, wow from 27^th place it’s a long way to the front. As usual it’s a rolling start and we all set off at a good pace. Just coming down to Camp the grid got really well closed up which was looking good to make up a few places, however this plan went to pot when the MR2 in 24^th place span coming out of Camp. This slowed us down and let the main group get away. The visibility was rubbish for the first part of the race, I managed to tack onto a group of three cars (a Ginetta, F355 and Mallock), I followed these guys for about 6 laps until I gained enough confidence in the conditions to get past. For the next 4 laps or so I started to pick off a few cars and then my target appeared in front of me…Simon Tilling’s Clubsport. For the next couple of laps I put my head down and caught up with Simon, the track had dry patches now and the wet tyres were starting to get a bit squirmy. The next 3 laps we the most exciting racing I’ve done so far. Simon officially has the widest Radical in the world, no matter where I went on track I couldn’t get past. I even tried going around the outside of Camp which seemed a great idea to start with, by the apex I was regretting this decision. But that didn’t stop me trying the same going into the Esses, again this didn’t work. The last lap and I am less than a few feet from Simon, just trying my best to goad him into a mistake. Every time I tried a manoeuvre he had it covered. We came into Tower the last time, the previous laps Simon has eased off mid corner to slow me down. I was ready for this this time, I had the engine in a gear lower ready to sling slot out of the corner. This goes to plan and I get along side him going up to Bobbies, however Simon has already pre-emptied this and starts moving over to the right leaving me no room. He brakes hard for Bobbies and so do I……however my brakes aren’t enough and I collide with the rear of Simons car, more of a love bite than a proper whack though! I try to get on the gas hard coming out of Bobbies but the now hot wet tyres let go and around I go! Bugger! Simon disappears into the sunset as I fight to find 1^st gear drop the clutch and leave in a cloud of smoke and applause from the marshals. I didn’t loose any other places and I crossed the line in 14^th behind Simon. So a very mixed day, it didn’t start well but ended with a great scrap. Keeping my fingers crossed the sun comes out to play properly on the 23^rd June.

Thanks to all the people that came and said hello and of course thanks to the team for their help!