- I'll be adopting a fully plumbed system for next season.Qualifying was interesting, and perhaps an indication of things to come as several MR2s spun off in the first couple of laps.
I'd never driven Silverstone before so my plan was to hang back for a few laps and get an idea of the circuit. I'd been warned that it was fast, and that copse corner was a little deceptive so after a couple of close calls with the kerb I picked up what was going on and started to find my own lines. After about lap four or five the yellows lifted and we were able to push harder and get some times in. I felt I was just beginning to get into my stride when the chequered flag came down and the session finished.We were racing with the Roadsports guys again so all of the MR2s were down the grid, but I managed to pip Steve Vince in his mk1 supercharger for MR2 pole by just
.06 of a second! The lead car - the usual Noble M12 - was lapping 10 seconds faster than me.The start of the race couldn't have gone better for me.
I slipped between the Porsche 928 turbo and Clan Crusader ahead of me, and feeling well pleased with myself decided to push my luck a little further. A gap opened up between the MG TF and Honda CRX who were next on the grid and I was able to insert myself between them going into copse. As we came out of the corner I was ahead and found myself chasing an Audi TT 1.8 turbo. The gap behind me grew to a comfortable level through maggotts and I was amazed to find myself pushing hard on the heels of the Audi, backing off only when I realised I was unlikely to be able to follow his line through luffield as he had four wheel drive. I figured I'd see what I'd got on him down the Pit straight and look for the inside line into copse. Unfortunately as we came onto the straight the red flags came out and the race was halted with me in seventh place overall.The procession around the circuit showed the reason why.
Steve Vince in the supercharger had been tagged from behind - I think by Simon Hepplewhite - and in the ensuing spin had managed to collect another three MR2s, Sarah Wherry picking up a near carbon copy of the damage sustained at Mallory.The track was cleared and the race restarted with a number of gaps in the grid.
I knew for certain that I wouldn't get as good a start this time and sure enough although I got past the Porsche 928 and Clan Crusader the CRX and MG had wised up and made me work to pass them. George Taylor in the XL Autos mk1 made a better start and was pressing hard on my heels as we went into copse at the start of the second lap. I saw a cloud of smoke in my driver's wing mirror as George went sideways and risked a glimpse in my rear view mirror to survey the situation as I straightened out to set myself up for maggotts. I was amazed to see the MG TF I'd passed earlier rolling onto it's roof and was genuinely worried that it might have T-boned George.Again we proceeded to the Pit straight where we were formed up for a restart.
The ambulance went past us and after a short while we were led off the track and the race was abandoned.All of the roadsports drivers were called to a breifing later where we tried to figure out what had happened.
The central car had been a white Ginetta, whose driver claimed to have been hit from the rear by a white MR2 before colliding with George and then collecting the MG and causing it to roll. This started a witch hunt to find the mk1 driver responsible - a difficult task since all three of the MR2s shown to have been behind the Ginetta were white! Silverstone's start-of-the-art video system provided a replay showing that in fact the Ginetta driver had *not* been hit at all, simply taken a bad line and failed to brake into copse, collecting George and causing the ensuing pile-up. I won't go into what happened in the paddock afterwards.The race was rescheduled at the end of the day, seven cars lighter than it had begun.
The four mk1s from the first incident were missing, as were the MG TF and Ginetta from the second - a Porsche 968CS Turbo retired with headgasket failure. Sarah Wherry kindly donated the radiator from her crashed racer so that Tony Gilham was able to continue and her mechanic Stuart Skinner helped George and Spencer straighten his bent rear track control arm.As I'd predicted the restart proved to be my worst start of the day.
I took the Porsche but the Crusader ahead and George's mk1 behind stuffed me for Copse and I ended up conceding to the XL Autos mk1. It took me a couple of laps to wear George down and pass him although he stayed right on my tail for another lap before letting go and battling with the Porsche behind him. The 928 won the battle and eventually managed to put in fantastic 1:15.38 lap and slip past me too, leaving me to chase him for the last couple of laps of the race.As the chequered flag came down I'd just picked up sight of the tail end mk1's, finishing overall 11th and taking my first win in the challenge series by a little over 9 seconds.
My commiserations to those who picked up damage, and I hope everyone manages to get sorted out in time for the double header at Cadwell Park next month.
Rogue
PS.
Photos tomorrow!
