15th July

Before I start on the race report I better bring you up to date on what’s been happening since the last meeting. Regular readers will know that the last meeting didn’t quite go to plan with the car suffering from oversteer after I had made some changes to the suspension. So Neil (Corinium Motorsport) and I sat down over a coffee and discussed what was the best plan of action. After a number of coffees I had hatched a plan, not one Neil was completely buying into but we both agreed that if it didn’t work at least we would have starting point for further investigation. In the last race I had softened up the rear end of the car to gain some grip, as we know this backfired completely and I ended up with less grip and a toasted tyre. The plan is to gain more grip out of the slower bends where mechanical grip is more important that aerodynamic grip. And to make a car that can lap consistently for the entire race with out any sufficient loss of handling performance. Easy eh! Well this is where my bonkers idea comes into play, I looked at the way the car was handling with the softer setup, how the tyres were wearing and how the car performed from mid race distance. The softer setup allowed the car to roll more on the suspension which inturn increases the camber of the wheel that is under load. The cross-ply Avons don’t like lots of camber and this was causing the inner edge of the tyre to over heat and loose performance. Additional rear roll bar would be a work around but the cost of such things from Radical isn’t cheap, where as springs are. Yes you’ve guessed it, I make my way to Merlin Motorsport with my spring shopping list. John, one of the guys at Merlin, looks at me very strangely when I ask for my spring rates and mumbles something about I know what I’m doing under his breath…..little does he know! J As I mentioned earlier this was very much an experiment to see what works and what doesn’t. The new springs are between 15-20% heavier than the current ones so I should see something different in the handling. We have a test day booked to try out the different ideas but the day before this I take the car over to Neil’s and get the geometry set up again with the new springs in situ. While setting up the corner weighting we set the car up so as the fuel load decreases the corner weighting will change to a more even balance which will hopefully help the quest for a consistent car over race distance.

Test day, we are booked in for the afternoon for the pre-race day testing. This means that there are a lot of Bricars out on track i.e. full spec 911 GT3 RSR’s etc. I take my first trip out onto the track with the setup. The first lap I spent finding my feet and then I gradually built up speed and did about 6 laps in total. I pulled into the paddock to a waiting Neil and he takes all the tyre pressures. Everything was even so this is looking good already. Neil asks how the car feels, "brilliant I reply" I could see my reply took him back a bit as he was expecting me to say "it’s a back of over sprung poo" But for some reason the stronger springs were doing the job. More amazingly was the Nitron dampers that were coping brilliantly with the extra work load. Considering I originally spec’d these dampers with springs almost half what I am using now I can only be impressed with them. We do a quick spanner check and make sure everything is as it should be and line up in the pits again. We are told by the officials that we are now in group 4, apparently they were trying to group similar speed cars together and I was in the quicker of the 4 groups. There was a bit v8 Opel infront of me and handful of 911’s behind. This should be entertaining I thought to myself. Out of the pits I zip past the Opel and get on with the session. The idea was to do 12 laps flat out to see how the car lasts. Within a couple of laps I had caught up with the 911’s, what a great feeling being tucked up under the spoiler of these very expensive cars going up Avon Rise and thinking "get out the way" make you realise how nippy these little Radicals really are. As soon as I was past the 911’s I put a big distance into the very quickly. The next ten laps I just concentrated on putting in consistent laps. On returning to the pits everything was perfect, the car was working better than it ever had, it was quick and in the 10 laps it was consistent proved by the laps only being 2-300^th’s apart. I think we are ready for the race!

Race day, what is up with the weather! thunder storms, rain of biblical proportions and today was no different. The day was packed with racing and qualifying and we were out at 9.45am so it was a early start for us (Barry, Justin and Dave). Simon Tilling has invited us to use his awning again which a great relief as I don’t think my Argos gazebo would have stood up to the weather. Thanks Simon. I was concerned about the qualifying because I still haven’t got the car working properly in the wet. In the last meeting I was suffering from massive understeer and just couldn’t get the car to turn. Today I we had reduced understeer but this was replaced with oversteer and a general feeling of vagueness and lack of feedback. All this amounted to zero confidence in the car and this was reflected in my grip position which was an embarrassing 14^th! I haven’t been that low in almost a season. The poor old officials had a real torrid time during the meeting with lots of offs in the weather and a big crash in the saloon cars that delay our race by almost an hour. Because of this the race had been reduced to 10 laps from the usual 15. The weather was "dry" but there was water in the air but I decided to go onto full dry settings and risk it, after all it couldn’t be any worse than qualifying! In the holding area the rain was starting to get heavier and I was starting to wonder if my choice of slicks was a good one. I get on the grid and it soon become apparent that the grid marshals haven’t got the revised grid layout. Instead of shuffling everyone around they send us out on a lap and reorganise us on our return. I did some tyre/brake heating on this lap and it was a good job to as this turned out to be our green flag lap. I also had a new rear tyre so was glad to have scrubbed that in a little on this lap. The track is very damp, not soaking yet. Sitting on the grid I think to myself I need to get a good start here, I’ve only got 10 laps to get to the top 5 which was the target. The grid is tight and the only way to go is right and around Norman Lackford who is infront of me. The lights go out and I drop the clutch heading towards the right of Norman. Of course he has the same idea and I tuck in behind him. Just then its apparent that the car infront of Norman has made a mistake and is hardly moving, I jump on the anchors to avoid hitting Norman. No sooner had I jumped on the brakes I was back on the loud pedal and powering around the outside of Folly and upto Avon Rise. I fly over the top and I realise that there is sod all grip going into Quarry but on the plus side I am upto 5^th place already! The exit of Quarry is very greasy and a oil spill from the pervious race makes things very tricky and covers my visor in oil/water and wood shavings, which were used to soak up the oil. The car is sliding everywhere but I just keep the loud pedal planted upto the Esses. I am now upto 4^th and bearing down on Shane Marshal in his Mallock. I out brake him into Tower, well I say out brake it was more out slide him. I am now upto 3^rd and take up my usual position behind Simon. Mark Funnel is holding 1^st place in his Lotus Exige and for the next 3 laps we all hold station, neither of us able to make a move on the person in front, the conditions are very slippery causing oversteer on most corners. Shane starts to gain on my so I put my foot down a bit more and break away from him again. On lap 4 a safety car was dispatched so they could move a couple of broken down cars to safer places. Mark, Simon and myself are up each others exhaust pipes coming around Camp for the restart. At this point I didn’t know who was behind me and I didn’t care. I know that I can win this race and that is what I am thinking as I plant the throttle as the green flag is waved. I tuck up behind Simon up to Avon Rise and into Quarry. Simon goes slightly wide and I let my brakes go and dart up the inside of him. He gives me just enough room but no more. I plant the throttle in 3^rd gear, the two safety car laps had given the track a small opportunity to dry, the Avon’s grip the tarmac and I power out of Quarry with Mark lined up in my sights. I know Simon will have a go back at me as soon as he can so I make the decision to get past Mark to put him between me and Simon. I get a brilliant run on Mark up to the Esses and dive up the inside of him hard on the brakes. Again Mark gives me just enough racing room and I get past. Having battled with both Simon and Mark in the past I have a real respect for their driving and this gave me the confidence to pull off both these moves knowing neither of them would do something silly. Coming out of the Esses I just keep the loud pedal planted….I was in the lead and I couldn’t help but grin but I knew the hard work was about to start. The track wasn’t dry but it was better than the earlier laps. The car was moving around and I used every last rpm the engine could give me to make a break from Mark and Simon. It worked, by the time I crossed the line I had a 4 second lead, as Hannibal from the A-Team would say "I love it when a plan comes together". The lap counter on the pit lane wasn’t working so I had no idea what lap I was on. I came past the finish line a second time, no chequered flags yet, next lap and still no chequered flags. I’ve never wanted a race to end so much in my life. I was maintaining the gap on Simon, who had now got past Mark, but I could still see him in the mirrors. I cross the line again and still there is no chequered flag…ok this has to be the last lap I say to myself. Coming into Folly I am greeted by about 6 back markers in their own battle. I get past 3 on the right out after the exit of Folly and then switch to the left side of the track to get the other three. Just as I coming up to overtake the car infront starts to move over. I start thinking "this is going to sting" as at this point I hadn’t backed off the throttle. Just at that moment I saw the marshal at Avon Rise looking straight at me with a look of horror on his face, I guess he just didn’t see me cutting through the traffic until the last second. He grabbed the blue flag just in time for the back marker to see and move over to give me the extra foot I needed to get by. I doubt you’d get a fag paper between both cars. Stopping the car into Quarry was interesting but I made it around and looking in my mirrors I could see I’d done enough to stop Simon’s challenge. Finally I come around Camp and see the chequered flag, no words will ever explain the feeling crossing that line and realising that you’ve won. The cool down lap was something special, thanks to all the spectators for your cheers, horns and applause. The post race interview was a little brief and I think I need to improve my interview technique. I walked away thinking, dam I should have said this and that…so instead I’ll do it here –

Special thanks goes to Justin Timbrell, Barry Thomas and Dave Edwards for their help and support, I couldn’t do this with out you guys.

My family, Mum, Karen and Anna for their support and understanding when racing come before anything else. My nephew, Declan, who I had to have words with after I found out he was supporting Simon at the start of the race. I am sure my second nephew will be a avid supporter when he’s old enough

All my sponsors, you’ve all played a great part in getting me to this day and for that I thank you all.

Neil from Corinium Motorsport for the encouragement, perfect car setup and putting up with my sometimes wacky ideas.

The guys at Peter Hammond Motorcycles particularly Ray for his help sourcing/supplying spares and Joe, my engine builder. We did it chaps!

Simon Tilling for sharing his awning with us and making me go quicker every time we are on track together.

All the Castle Combe spectators/forum members, thanks for all your support you’re all what motorsport is about.

There is probably a load of people I’ve missed, but anyone that has even the slightest involvement – thank you!

Lastly and most importantly I want to dedicate this victory to the memory of Dad, he will always be my inspiration and without him I wouldn’t be where I am now. This one is for you mate!