Rounds 2&3 of the BTRDA clubmans rallycross championship out at Pembrey in south Wales really were an international affair, with a huge group of Irish competitors crossing the water to take part and give us brits a run for our money.
Round 2 on Saturday started poorly for us, with a poor start in heat one caused by driver error only getting us 6th place in that heat. However for heats 2 and 3 we vastly improved on this by finishing second overall in both. After the unfortunate retirement of Tommy Graham in his mk2 Escort due to engine troubles, it left me and the Irishman Kieran Curran to battle it out for overall honours in the final. The Corsa driver got a slightly better launch than I did off the line, meaning I had to fight my way through the clouds of dust to keep up with him. We streaked ahead of the rest of the field, finishing a massive 12 seconds ahead of third place, but remained in that order by the small margin of 1.4 seconds by the end.
The light of the following day showed us that we had a potentially race ending problem in the race car's driveshaft. However, due to the resourcefullnes of our chief mechanic Duncan and the spare parts of fellow David Attiwell a replacement part was constructed using a combination of MINI and Peugeot parts. A big thanks goes out to David and his team for letting us use his valuable spares! A very wet circuit led to us only scoring an eighth in heat one, but this was succeeded by a 3rd and a 4th in heats 2 and 3 respectively placed us on 3rd for the A final. The field had increased in competitiveness massively overnight with the arrival of Steve Cozens in his 400+BHP clio v6 and Irish 205 driver Peter McGarry stepping up his game overnight. A freshly wetted track saw the RWD clio struggling for traction in the A final, resulting in an epic battle between myself and Steve, resulting in me taking 2nd overall and in class with McGarry taking the win.
The next round I'll be competing at is the 'BRX vs IRX' double header round held at mondello park, which means another chance to go door handle to door handle with the boys from across the Irish sea. Bring on another great weekend's racing!
Round 2 on Saturday started poorly for us, with a poor start in heat one caused by driver error only getting us 6th place in that heat. However for heats 2 and 3 we vastly improved on this by finishing second overall in both. After the unfortunate retirement of Tommy Graham in his mk2 Escort due to engine troubles, it left me and the Irishman Kieran Curran to battle it out for overall honours in the final. The Corsa driver got a slightly better launch than I did off the line, meaning I had to fight my way through the clouds of dust to keep up with him. We streaked ahead of the rest of the field, finishing a massive 12 seconds ahead of third place, but remained in that order by the small margin of 1.4 seconds by the end.
The light of the following day showed us that we had a potentially race ending problem in the race car's driveshaft. However, due to the resourcefullnes of our chief mechanic Duncan and the spare parts of fellow David Attiwell a replacement part was constructed using a combination of MINI and Peugeot parts. A big thanks goes out to David and his team for letting us use his valuable spares! A very wet circuit led to us only scoring an eighth in heat one, but this was succeeded by a 3rd and a 4th in heats 2 and 3 respectively placed us on 3rd for the A final. The field had increased in competitiveness massively overnight with the arrival of Steve Cozens in his 400+BHP clio v6 and Irish 205 driver Peter McGarry stepping up his game overnight. A freshly wetted track saw the RWD clio struggling for traction in the A final, resulting in an epic battle between myself and Steve, resulting in me taking 2nd overall and in class with McGarry taking the win.
The next round I'll be competing at is the 'BRX vs IRX' double header round held at mondello park, which means another chance to go door handle to door handle with the boys from across the Irish sea. Bring on another great weekend's racing!