What a weekend! The 600 mile round trip to the County Kildare circuit was certainly worth it.
Saturday was a very steep learning curve, it was the first time in a few years that I'd visited a brand new track to me, so after taking it easy in practice, a fresh set of rubber saw me ready to take the fight to the Irish locals. The track made for some very interesting racing, with sections that suited my car along with sections that suited some of the higher powered rwd cars, meaning that in some sections of the track I was repeatedly held up! Despite this I secured a grid spot on the second row of the B final, with championship leader Dan Rooke on the front row just in front. It was then that things started to go wrong. On final lap, having passed the Lotus of Paige Bellerby, I was chasing the similar Irish Lotus of Lloyd Spendlove when while pushing too hard, carried too much speed into a fast right hander and ploughed the car straight into a grassy bank. From in the car, I felt like it was going over and seeing the left front wheel bounce across the track to my right didn't fill me with overall confidence. A quick trip to the medical centre later, I joined the car back in the paddock and alongside my chief mechanic Duncan and set to work to get the car out for the next day. Amazingly, by the next morning, thanks in no small part to a very late night, and the borrowing of some spare parts (I must extend a massive thanks to both Tony Lynch at Team Geriatric and David and Tony Bell for this) the car was ready to race again. We replaced effectively the entirety of the front suspension, steering system and both driveshafts.
A cautions start with a not so straight car on Sunday meant that in the first heat I wasn't quite up to speed, however by the second heat I was 8th overall and second Brit. Despite this success, I only managed the C final, and after an accidental knock of the ignition switch at the hole in the hedge on the first lap, I fell back to second to last with the other Mini of Tony Lynch to chase. Unfortunately I couldn't catch Tony and that was where I stayed
Next up is the annual Classic Mini trip to Valkenswaard in The Netherlands, followed by the British Rallycross Championship at Pembrey.
Saturday was a very steep learning curve, it was the first time in a few years that I'd visited a brand new track to me, so after taking it easy in practice, a fresh set of rubber saw me ready to take the fight to the Irish locals. The track made for some very interesting racing, with sections that suited my car along with sections that suited some of the higher powered rwd cars, meaning that in some sections of the track I was repeatedly held up! Despite this I secured a grid spot on the second row of the B final, with championship leader Dan Rooke on the front row just in front. It was then that things started to go wrong. On final lap, having passed the Lotus of Paige Bellerby, I was chasing the similar Irish Lotus of Lloyd Spendlove when while pushing too hard, carried too much speed into a fast right hander and ploughed the car straight into a grassy bank. From in the car, I felt like it was going over and seeing the left front wheel bounce across the track to my right didn't fill me with overall confidence. A quick trip to the medical centre later, I joined the car back in the paddock and alongside my chief mechanic Duncan and set to work to get the car out for the next day. Amazingly, by the next morning, thanks in no small part to a very late night, and the borrowing of some spare parts (I must extend a massive thanks to both Tony Lynch at Team Geriatric and David and Tony Bell for this) the car was ready to race again. We replaced effectively the entirety of the front suspension, steering system and both driveshafts.
A cautions start with a not so straight car on Sunday meant that in the first heat I wasn't quite up to speed, however by the second heat I was 8th overall and second Brit. Despite this success, I only managed the C final, and after an accidental knock of the ignition switch at the hole in the hedge on the first lap, I fell back to second to last with the other Mini of Tony Lynch to chase. Unfortunately I couldn't catch Tony and that was where I stayed
Next up is the annual Classic Mini trip to Valkenswaard in The Netherlands, followed by the British Rallycross Championship at Pembrey.