05 May 2003

LUCK'S STILL OUT AT BRANDS HATCH

With the season jinx still apparently prevailing the race at Brands was again one of mixed fortunes. Disaster was to strike in qualifying when, after only two laps, the driveshaft broke. In a qualifying session that would cover 22 laps I had only just warmed the tyres and was preparing for the first flying lap when, coming through Graham Hill Bend, the car lost drive and I just managed to crawl back to the pits. A quick inspection confirmed the worst and the immediate concern was that I had completed only two timed laps. With the rules stating that three must be completed before I could race, the threat of non-qualification was a stark and real possibility.

After much discussion with race officials it was agreed that I could count my initial green flag lap and add it to the two timed ones, thus allowing me at least to start the race, albeit at the back, stone last…

Race day saw the warmest conditions we had ever experienced when running the Clio, extremely pleasant for the large crowd present. Despite an average start, some hard racing in the early laps put me into a good 10th position. Unfortunately the tyre pressures were not ideally set for the warmer track temperatures and this resulted in excessive understeer in the second half of the race.

Unable to attack those in front I lost a place to the recovering Mark Davies in the closing stages and finished 11th.

So, although we were handicapped by qualifying, I enjoyed the race and dicing with those ahead. It’s off to the super-fast Thruxton circuit next time out; I was a winner there last time in the Beetle RSi, and am planning to complete both the qualifying session and the race for the first time this season!