Thruxton - Sat 27 May 06

Firstly a few thanks - to Blatman and Magnum for helping me get the car back together.  I'd been doing a "bit" of tinkering since the disasters at Brands and Cadwell, and they both worked with me late on Thu and Fri night to get it sorted.

In fact, we were still tinkering on Saturday morning which was dull and suffering from heavy mist (or rain if you like).  Despite arriving at the Assembly Area over half an hour early for my session, I was the last Locost in - the 750MC was ahead of itself. Very disappointed, but it got worse. By the time I got onto the track and got past 3 very slow cars, the main pack had shot off into the distance. I had no-one to follow or to chase me, and no cars in front to use as reference points - ie see where the corners were - and perhaps worst of all, no tow (slipstreaming) from the car in front. So I tried hard to learn the track - which is very featureless - even spun in the Complex (which generated applause from the Marshalls), but qualifying was still a bit of a disaster.  I came 26th, and was therefore on the grid next to my old car (again) as Vicky was in 25th.

By the time the race came after 5pm, it had been raining hard, and those who had them, had put wet tyres on.  This included me, although my tyres were brand new - I even had to remove the stickers, so they had not been scrubbed in at all.  I managed my usual excellent start, but as normal that only gets me about 10 yards until I catch the car in front and run out of space.  I did manage to make better progress this time though, and gained a few places at least .  I followed Mark Glover into the first right hander.  He was hugging the inside of the track so closely that he went through a large puddle and I got soaked, losing all visibility for a second or so!  The highlight of the race for me was in one of the early laps where I was following 2 cars up the back straight towards the chicane.  One pulled out to try and take the other and they both went for the inside of the track, perhaps braking a little early as it was so wet.  So I just sailed around the outside and took them both!  I managed to overtake a couple of others and then was stuck in a gaggle with Paul Bryant who had fuel problems. Every now and then he would slow down just long enough for you to think you could get passed, then he'd speed up again.  Very frustrating, but I finally got past him on what turned out to be the last lap - I hadn't even seen the last lap board.  So, from a starting position of 26th, I finished a very respectable 15th.  More to come, but the recovery continues.  Stand by for Brands on Sun 11 Jun.