16th October 2006

At last a return to some form after some pretty disastrous encounters at Donington and Brands Hatch where the car was written off in a first lap incident that was no fault of my own leaving me as a commentator for Motors TV for the race I should have been taking part in.

Silverstone is a circuit that suits us for some reason, in testing we were right on the pace and it was all pretty effortless, at other circuits you can find yourself driving the doors off the car to be sixth yet this weekend the pace was there from the off.

That said qualifying was not going well in the colder conditions, which was an omen for things to come and I managed to bag a front row start for both races during my last two tours, up to that point the times were not there.

Race one was held in sunny conditions late Saturday afternoon and although I got a good start I promptly lost two places by Brooklands having lost momentum trying to avoid hitting Tom OC under braking for Becketts and subsequently losing pace down the back straight. I could then see Paul Rivett closing me down and didn't want him chewing off my rear bumper and started putting Stephen Colbert under some pressure. A line of oil had been handily laid by Mark Spellers’ detonating engine on the overtaking line into Brooklands and this was making overtaking opportunities very limited. After several attempts I managed to get a better exit from Becketts, the preceding corner and drove around the outside of Colbert placing him onto the oil knowing this would make it very difficult for him to brake, thus the place was made up leaving me in third. By now the car was flying and I closed down on Byford for second but he defended well leaving me on the podium, which felt like a win given our recent troubles.

Sundays race was a difficult affair and in no exaggeration of drama left me lucky to be alive. The cold temperatures caused me to struggle inordinately probably in hindsight the new body shell affecting the handling characteristics in a different way to my teammates who did not experience the same problem. From the off I knew I was in trouble as I simply couldn't keep up with everybody else, try as I might the car didn't have sufficient grip to keep pace with the front runners and I was slipping further and further back. Notwithstanding the incompetence of Robert Lawson, who had written my car off at the previous meeting, he managed forget to brake at Becketts and used the rear of my car instead. At one point I was seventh and was getting ever more frustrated, then as the temperature of the tyres reached a certain point the cars handling was transformed and I could put the car anywhere I wanted and it was a pleasure to drive, too little to late though as I closed up on the leading group just three laps from home.

I had noticed that Paul Rivett had made a mistake and had had an off course excursion and was pumping his brakes going down the back straight as I passed him. Turning into Brooklands, the left hand corner he was nowhere to be seen and I assumed he had pulled off. This was not the case, in fact he had experienced brake failure, had spun the car off the track and was now travelling at 100mph backwards and was just about to rejoin the circuit collecting me through the drivers door in the process. The first I knew was a flash of white in my peripheral vision as his car hurtled toward me at terrific speed, its amazing what goes through your mind at times like that as I initially thought "no, another shell" as the car had just been sold, then that I was being robbed of another finish as I instinctively threw the car off the circuit and endured a wild ride off piste as I braced for impact. I could actually hear the crowds collective intake of breath as Paul's car missed me by fractions and yet I lived to fight another day, someone was smiling on me on Sunday and even though I could then only finish fifth I had set the fastest lap of the race and therefore took some consolation that I could still actually do it!

So that’s it for now, I'm hanging up my Clio hat after four seasons and have to thank my sponsors Raw Media and SBXL.com for their support, all the team at TCR for giving me such a good car and loads of confidence time after time and to my family for putting up with me.

In all it wasn't a bad season even if I didn't win a race, I led two of them, enjoyed seven podiums, was on pole once, set two fastest laps and still hold the outright lap record for a Renault Clio around Silverstone, not to shabby for the old man...

Off course I'll be back, I'm actually testing another race car this week and I'll let you have more details as I know myself how the 2007 campaign in coming along. Indeed we already have support from advertising giant McCann Erickson for the 2007 season so we are going to make an impact somewhere, somehow.

In the meantime, my friends, race fans and officianado’s my best to you all.

PS If anyone wants a free NickAdcock.net cap please email me your address details as we have some going spare.