Practice | The Race | Results

The first job of the day was to have the engine checked by the scrutineers. At the last race, at Cadwell Park, the camshaft timing on all Zetec powered Kit cars was checked by the scrutineers, but myself and Steve Taylor requested that our engines be sealed, so that they could be checked at Paul Dunnell's premises. In the end, Paul decided to come down to Lydden to oversee the inspection, and to ensure that the engines were put back together correctly.

This didn't take too long, and soon we were out on the circuit for practice. It was an extremely hot day, and this caused me problems, as my tyres began to overheat and loose grip after only a few laps. The car was understeering all over the place, and it felt as though I was driving on ice. I was a bit worried that I was going to be horrendously slow, but at one point Steve Taylor passed me, and I didn't loose much ground at all, so my fears were allayed slightly.

Returning to the paddock, I checked the tyre temperatures, and noticed that they were extremely hot - some 5 minutes after the session finished, they were still over 50 degrees C. The pressures had risen too, which explained some of the lost grip. I reduced the pressures in the hope that this would help matters in the race, which was to be 25 laps.

The Race | Results | Practice

As usual, Robin Knight, and all the other officials and volunteers who organise each meeting had done a brilliant job, and the timetable was 30 minutes ahead of schedule. This meant the race started at just after 4pm - unfortunately the temperature hadn't dropped at all, so many of the drivers were worried about tyres overheating and losing grip during the 25 lap race.

I had been slightly disappointed to be so near the back of the grid, and was determined to make up some places in the early laps. I actually made a good start, and had gained 2 places, but as I went to change into 2nd gear, it refused to go in, and I was free wheeling for several seconds while I persuaded the gearbox to select 2nd. This resulted in me dropping the 2 places I had gained, plus the 2 people who were behind me on the grid passed me too, leaving me in last place by the first corner.

I overtook John Sims on the first lap, then passed Dave Sullivan on the 2nd - I was now back to my grid position. I managed to close within a few car lengths of Richard Welch, who in turn was following Charles Sterling, but I couldn't get any closer. I was trying hard to gain on the cars ahead of me, but I could feel the car was losing grip, so I had to work hard to keep it on the circuit.

After about 20 laps, Charles Sterling spun off, and both Richard Welch and myself went passed as Charles was regaining the track. At this point I hoped that Richard could be pressured into making a mistake, as the temperature was obviously affecting grip for some of the other cars. After another 2 laps, Richard ran wide at the hairpin, and I got passed him on the run down to Old Paddock - brilliant! I was now up to 5th in class, and had regained the 2 places that I had gained at the start then lost. All I had to do was hold him off for the last few laps...

As I turned into the right hander after the start/finish straight, my throttle pedal jammed, so I couldn't get full throttle. A couple of jabs on the pedal freed it, but I had lost momentum, and Richard had closed up right behind me - this was going to be more difficult than I had thought. Going down the straight towards the Devil's Elbow, I saw 2 yellow flags. I guessed someone had gone off at the Devil's Elbow, which is a tight left-hander, so I slowed slightly. Richard had obviously missed the yellow flags, and flew past me on the inside. This surprised me, but didn't worry me too much, as I thought the stewards would penalise him for this after the race, as overtaking under a yellow flag is illegal, and very dangerous. This thought didn't last too long though, as when he turned in to the corner, he spun! I had two choices - to hit his car, or to head into the gravel trap. I chose the gravel, which put an end to my race. Richard managed to continue, and finished in 7th place overall. I was pretty annoyed about this, as I had lost 4th in class, and valuable championship points. It could have been worse though, in fact, for Steve Taylor it was worse, as he had lost control at the corner and crashed into the barrier, damaging the front of his car - this had caused the yellow flags to be shown.

Richard was actually parked next to me in the paddock, and immediately came over to apologise. He had been concentrating on trying to pass me so hard that he didn't notice the yellow flags, and when I slowed slightly, he thought it was a golden opportunity to pass me.

Results | Practice | The Race

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