7th place - only 10 seconds behind the winner.  Best result ever, and now 8th in the championship.

The fuel problems of Mallory and Donington were finally put behind me.  The 3 weeks since the last race were put to good use.  A new fuel pump was ordered, and the old pump and pressure regulator removed.  With the new pump fitted, I booked a half day at Llandow to test it.  No joy - the problem was still as bad as before.  Whilst still at Llandow I tried changing the float levels (again), the HT leads, spark plugs, dizzy cap, rotor arm, and still no joy.  There was only 1 part left to change - the carburetor - and I didn't have a spare with me.  So in the week prior to Snetterton I changed the carburetor and hoped for the best - it worked, and what a difference it made.  It makes you wonder how much better I could have performed at Mallory and Donington....... 

Qualifying conditions were dry if a little cold, especially when you spent so much of the lap going down the UK's longest straight with your right foot firmly welded to the floor!  The conditions were great, the car handled like a dream, and I could accelerate onto the straights without misfiring.  It did seem to be a little down on absolute power, but then I had not had time to get the car onto a rolling road - I had merely taken the jets out of the old carb, and put them in the spare.  We had about 15 mins of qualifying, and I was one of the first out.  We eventually managed to spread ourselves out just as we started to catch the tail enders!  On my one flying lap without being held up, my in-car lap timer recorded 1 min 30.21 secs on lap 6 which was 1.8 secs quicker than my best lap last year.  Oh how I smiled.  I had qualified 9th, and even beaten local man Jez Clark - the winner of last year's Formula Vee championship, and hence running number 1 this year as Tim Gray (our champion from last year) had moved on.  Brett Townsend (41) was on pole with 1 min 28.47 secs (well done Brett!)

The weather had warmed up a lot by the time of the race, and the sun was beating down on us as we lined up on the grid - I was right up against the pit wall on the inside of the track.  My start procedure is still working, and I got cleanly off the line.  I quickly caught up Nick Lear (70) who had a bad start from 6th on the grid,  but he didn't leave me quite enough room up the inside so I backed off prior to the first corner.  At which point it all got a bit frantic up ahead.  There were a few minor clashes which left a couple of wings missing or damaged, and Kev Lucas (37) had his cycle wing bracket bent back onto his tyre which locked up.  Cars avoided him left and right but all seemed to make it.  Unfortunately further down the field, a spinner at the first corner was collected by 4 other cars, and the race was red flagged - no-one was hurt, but 4 cars did not make the re-start.

My second start went just as well, but I arrived at the 1st corner in a better position, although still tight up against the inside of the track.  Unfortunately Danny Cassar (24) then clipped my left rear wing whilst trying to go for the gap between me and Jez Clark to my left.  Danny then caught Jez and they both spun off, leaving me with a small breathing space to the guys behind, led by Chris James (32).  Danny apologized after the race, and admitted that it was all his fault!  I was now at the back of the leading group of about 8 cars, and a second or so ahead of Chris and a gaggle of cars tussling with him.  It stayed like this for 4 or 5 laps as I desperately tried to stay with the lead group.  From about lap 5, I started to drop back, and then was just too far to benefit from the slip-stream down the straight - although they were never far ahead.  So I had a race to myself for the remaining laps, as I was also slowly pulling away from Chris's group.  The race ended with another red flag - an unfortunate incident.  One of the lead group missed a gear, and as they were all driving so closely, the chap behind (Simon Read 7) was unable to move out of the way in time.  His front wheels were left pointing in opposite directions, and his car was stranded in the middle of the track, just after the exit of the chicane.  So in the end, I finished 7th, and only 10 secs behind the winner (well done Brendan Dudley 38).  7th place equaled my best from last year, but more importantly, I was very close behind the leading pack - much more so than ever before!  My fastest race lap was even better than qualifying - 1 min 29.84 secs. 2 1/4 secs quicker than last year.  Fastest lap went to Brian Mitcham (64) - a local - with 1 min 28.19 secs.  Well done Brian!

Next race - Sun 16 May - Donington - my favourite track again...........