Sunday 10 August - Mallory Park

Mallory Park is a short track, but with a couple of real challenges.  The start is on a reasonably long straight, and runs into a long sweeping right hander, Gerards, that in the end is 180'.  However, it is taken almost flat out, and I dare say our leader, Tim Gray (11), did take it flat.  For the rest of us it was a slight lift, a big lift, or a dab of the brakes, as we saw fit.  The exit of Gerards has a slight bump in the road, just where many people stamp on the accelerator - often leaving people spinning down the the back straight.  A short dab on the brakes sees you into the right/left Esses before you head up the hill to the 2nd gear hairpin.  Desperately trying to control the power induced oversteer on the exit, you head around the left kink known as Devil's Elbow, and back down the hill on to the start-finish straight.

Practice was split into 2 sessions as there were 42 cars and drivers, and only 28 places on the track at any one time.  Qualifying was very hot, with those in session A probably having slightly better conditions as a result.  I was in session B, and managed to squeeze in 11 laps.  My best time was 59.38 seconds, averaging over 81 mph.  I was very pleased to break the 1 minute mark.  Tim Gray set the pace with a 57.07 sec time, and then 7th to 21st place were split by a little over a second - it was set to be a close race.  Worth mentioning Stuart James (99) who qualified 2nd with a time of 58.12 secs - his best position ever.

And then it rained.

Unfortunately the guys in the heat were already in the assembly area as it started, and it just got wetter.  The heat was stopped on lap 1 after a nasty accident on the back straight, which put 3 cars out, although 1 was not too bad.  Dan Stevens (69) had practiced out of session (B rather than A due to mechanical problems) and started from the back of the grid.  However in an inspired drive, in the re-started race, he led from about lap 6 to the chequered flag.  Danny Cassar (24) also went very well in appalling conditions to finish 2nd.

It continued to rain throughout the afternoon with the best lightning display I've seen in England!  In the end I made the decision to put on the wet tyres - although with hindsight I think that was the wrong decision! Typical.  I had never driven the car in the wet before, and never raced in the wet so it was going to be interesting.  As the conditions had changed so much since qualifying, we were given a "green flag" lap behind a pace car to get used to the situation.  The grid at Mallory is very tight, both in width, and from front to back.  I got a good start for the first 10 feet until I caught Colin Beckwith (39) who was immediately in front of me. I think he must have started in 2nd gear because of the wet, however I then got boxed in and lost about 8 places.  Taking things easy on my first lap, I lost another couple of places, and ended up about 22nd by the end of lap 1.  Not good. Still, I quickly got the hang of it, and began to take some places back - not least by keeping the car on the tarmac and going past a variety of spinners.  In the end I finished 17th - although not up to my "normal" top ten placing, I was pleased to finish my first ever outing in the wet, with no damage done to the car! Well done to Tim (11) for another fine win, and to Danny (24) in 2nd, and Dan (69) in 3rd who both came through from the heat and then final grid positions of 15th and 16th.  Roll on Silverstone on Sat 23 Aug.  See you there!