Congrats to gavin today especially in the 2nd race where he drove a great race iirc he came in 6th overall
marc.
Results are here.
http://www.msttiming.com/meeting.asp?event=72868&source=ccrc2006&eventtype=ccrcclub
Those results show Gavin in 9th.
Those results show Gavin in 9th.
yep, good effort none the less
my sheets say 8th…
Full report to follow guys… what a cracking day!!
Another fantastic weekends racing in the LOTRDC!!
Castle Combe is another one of those circuits I had not done before (too bloody far away for one) so the trackday that had been organised on Friday was booked to get some practice in and learn the track.
2 dry sessions in the morning just about got me upto speed followed by 3 sessions in the afternoon with varying degrees of wetness!! As it was it helped me out immensely giving me a good idea of the track in a varity of different conditions. All ready for Sunday then!!
Saturday was pretty much a free with no plans, so instead of hanging around the circuit I made way to Cheddar Gorge for the day to buy some cheese… Cant wait, I have a big jar of Aunt’s homemade strong pickle onions here which will complimant it very nicely…Mmmm, propa cheddar cheese and pickled onions!!
So onto Sunday then…
Woke up in the mornimg to the patter of rain on the window and although it had just about stopped by the time we got to the track at 7.00am it was not drying out and the 9 o’clock qualifying session was looking like a wet one…
Come on guys, lets get this train moving!! I just couldnt get a clear lap in for love nor money. Big groups of cars toghter and no one making any moves just blocked the track up for me, I even hung back for a couple of hundered yards at one point and gave myself a good run over the line only to catch back upto the back of the group half way around the track again!! Bugger.
Luckily the very last lap I did was a clear one and I knew I had put a resonanbly good time in, just how good was soon to become apparent…
20 minutes latter the sheets are handed out and I think everyone (including myself) are somewhat surprised to see a little olde’ class ‘A’ car sitting in 6th place nestled in behind Funnel, Randy, Walshy and Steve williams and sitting next to our very own Mr Treasure on the the 3rd row with some very powerfull machinery looming behind!!
Over the moon? You bet ya!! If im going to go that well in the rain then let every race be wet…
Unfortunaetly the weather forecast for heavy rain in the afternoon never came and the track had all but dried out for the start of the first race.
To say I got monstered off the line was an understatment… I actually managed to get a nose infront of Russ for all of about 2 seconds then his power came in and he just roared away, about a second later I have most of the B and C cars which where behind me flashing past either side like I was not moving… The only thing I could do was just hold a straight line and hope non of them collected me on the way past, as it was everyone managed to get around the first corner and the order started to settled down.
Looking back in the rear view I still have a couple of the class b+c cars still behind with Andy Gordon coming up on there tails. Plan now was to keep a buffer between me and Andy so a bit of defensive driving to keep Jamie and Malcolm Snders in between was employed to good effect.
Jamie managed to get by after about 4-5 laps and Malcolm just manged to use his power on the last corner to get past me and take 12th with me finishing 13th (lucky for some) and 1st in Class ‘A’ again… Job done!
Well done Andy for his 2nd place (you will be wanting a class win now no doubt) and Mick Edwards bringing home 3rd.
Onto the Handicap race.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot… The Handicap was set off the qualifying times and with my good lap I was put into the last drop with most of the B cars, not a problem but the track is now dry and Andy gordon is in the drop 30 odd seconds infront on the same credit lap and he got faster times than me in the dry… Great
All was not lost though as a big accident in one of the races before our handicap shut the track down for over an hour as they did repairs to the barriers. Subsequently all of the later races got put back and shortened in length. As our handicap race was to unfold over 20 minutes and we now only had 15 minutes the decision to do a sealed handicap was taken. Basically it was a scratch race from the original qualifying times/positions with the handicap being applied afterwards.
6.00pm was our start time and at about 5.45 the heavens opened back up and wet the track down nicely… You should have seen the smile on my face.
Wet track and back on the 6th grid spot… Time to give some of the bigger boys a run for their money!!
My start was absolutely crap as I just sat there spinning up the wheels… Ok lets try 2nd and see if we can start moving please and away she went albeit rather slowly. Scuffers, Evosal and Ben pitch all manged to get past but I re-took Ben on the way into Quarry for the first time and started to hunt down Chris. I got by Chris at Tower and held him at bay for a lap until we got back round to Tower again and the yellows were out for a spinner around the corner at Bobbies chicane. Chris took little or no notice of them and re-took me going into Bobbies… Not really that impressed to be honest, flags are there for the safety of everyone and should not simply be ignore. Missing one flag is possible (I have done it myself) but to miss them when there are being waved on 3 seperate marshalls posts, no excuses!!
Right ya bugger I aint havin this so back around to Tower again and I retake him going into the corner and latch onto the back of Scuffers who Russ has just past. I managed to keep on Scuffers tail for a few laps and was even eyeballing a move around the ouside of Avon Rise into Quarry at one point but just didnt have the balls tbh…
Chris eventually managed to get past fair and square later in the race and started to pull away while I came under ever more pressure from Behnd in the form of Andy Kells s/c honda. A few laps later and a still holding off Andy the chequerd flag dropped and I finish overall in 8th place.
Obviously I was really pleased with the end result and could not have asked for anything better. Of course the Handicap then got applied which brought 3 winners up from class A which was nice to see for a change. In my eyes though it will always be the scratch race we should have had earlier in the day…
Gav
P.s Well done Russ for finally seeing a chequred flag… Sweet
(quote)
I got by Chris at Tower and held him at bay for a lap until we got back round to Tower again and the yellows were out for a spinner around the corner at Bobbies chicane. Chris took little or no notice of them and re-took me going into Bobbies… Not really that impressed to be honest, flags are there for the safety of everyone and should not simply be ignore. Missing one flag is possible (I have done it myself) but to miss them when there are being waved on 3 seperate marshalls posts, no excuses!! (quote)
I genunely did’nt see any yellow flags as i took you Gav and to be honest i think if i had and passed 3 marshalls posts as you said i would have been hauled up to race control.
having said that i was struggling with a severely misted screen, for most of the race i was looking through a 6 inch patch i coud reach to wipe with my glove.
Its ok for you with your climate control, ABS, and electric windows but some of us have to rough it
Well done to Gav - if they ever did a race at Cadwell and it was wet I know who my money would be on Amazing how wide you make that Exige
I think everyone on the grid had great battles going on and had big but some what relieved looking grins on their faces after the 2nd race
It was great to finally be out racing with Sean and his black beast, had a great tussle with him in both races. Saw more than I wanted to of the back of his car in the first race but reversed it in the 2nd Although I think I was more sideways so he is probably sick of the sight of my doors
I genunely did’nt see any yellow flags as i took you Gav and to be honest i think if i had and passed 3 marshalls posts as you said i would have been hauled up to race control.
Stationary yellow at Tower.
Waved yellows on both entry and exit of bobbies chicane.
Green flags were not out until on the straight approaching the last corner
Dont worry about it Chris, I just wrote my diary as I was feeling at the time…If I were really that bothered about it I would have gone to race control myself but it is all for fun at the end of the day and not worth getting wound up about in the long run. Just sometimes it can be very annoying wehn you stick to the rules and others dont…
Just you wait though til it rains again boyo and i can come get you again!!
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Great write-up again Gav
Im really going to have to make good on my threats to get to one of the races, they seem like a top day out.
One of you from race 2 Gav
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