The Y10 had been at Scheldt & Pettet all week having the electrics sorted, didn't want a repeat of the Oulton Park problem. The fuse had blown because everything was wired through the ignition, so it was simply a case of re-wiring all the lights and wiper to work on a non-ignition circuit. This way, if anything fails in the future, I just lose that item. Brake pads were changed and just in time too! The existing pads were down to the very end, a couple of good stops and metal would have been hitting metal. Demon Tweeks came to the rescue with a set of EBC Green pads, all I could get hold of. They should last to the end of the season, and braking hasn't been a problem this season anyway, probably due to the lack of weight. During the close season I hope to upgrade the brakes somewhat. I am already braking later than most of my competitors - partly because the Y10 is lighter, partly because I am going slower! Hope to be a lot quicker next season so I'll need better brakes to be able to carry on braking later - if all goes to plan I expect to see a set of 4 pot Willwood brakes on the front and discs on the rear too!

Yokohama let me down, most unlike them. Decided I needed some true wet weather tyres and was recommended A021s by Barry. Demon Tweeks were called but they only had 2 in stock - scary just thinking about it! A check at Yokohama revealed they had none either - it is a pain running 14" wheels but 13s would be too small and 15s too tight a fit. A couple of phone calls later and Yokohama were back in the game - they had located a set of 4 A021s in the appropriate 185/60x14 size at one of their stockists. They would get them back in, then send them out to me. Alas they didn't arrive in time.

As luck would have it, the weather remained fine this time. It was cool and dull, but dry, so slicks were the order of the day. Practice was a crowded affair, seemed to spend most of my time getting out of the way of faster cars, but when you're not too sure about some of the lines, sometimes its better to let them go by and watch theirs! One bonus I had was that my playing of the joker at Oulton Park had been declined due to notifying the organisers too late. That was a stroke of luck seeing as I just got the solitary point from practice! So it was joker time again although there were 6 entries in Class B for this race (I later got told that one of those had failed scrutineering). Didn't come last in practice, having overtaken John Artis and Bruce Kennedy I hadn't expected to, but was not surprised to be behind everyone else. And Neil got 2 seconds on me - that was going to take some getting back. Still, 1 point in the bag (doubled) so I was off to a good start.

The race started late due to the Porsches in the previous race crashing a lot - they restarted the race at least once and there were a lot of very poorly looking Porsches strewn around the paddock later. As we came round on the parade lap the sun came out - could hardly see as we rounded Coppice onto the main straight. As if it wasn't bad enough that Coppice is blind!

The race started quite well for me considering. The other Class B cars present were all a lot faster than me but John Artis and Bruce soon fell back into my clutches and I got past them down the straight coming into the chicane. Bruce was braking even later than me into Redgate and nearly caught me going in, but once I powered away I didn't see him again. Suddenly I saw Neil's Uno in front - a surprise so soon as he had been a lot faster than me and had started on the second row of the grid (I started back around the 12^th row). I found out after the race that he had tangled with one of the Alfas going into Redgate which had resulted in the Alfa spinning across the grass into one of the polystyrene number boards and into last place, and Neil onto the grass which had lost him time (and damaged the other side of his freshly repaired car). It was like a red flag to a bull - I had to give chase. Spent a lap chasing after him, reckon I was slowly (very slowly) gaining but had no idea how I was going to get past him if I caught him. I took Craner Curves flat in 5^th giving chase - probably doing 105-110 at that point and the car felt comfortable doing so. The following lap, the Alfa, now recovered from the spin at the first corner, came barrelling past as I went into Old Hairpin and I had to brake a bit more than normal to avoid turning into him - so Neil got away a bit. Set back out on the chase, but on the next lap I had a big slide coming into the Craner Curves - some kind soul had dropped oil right on the line through Redgate, Hollywood and into the Craner Curves and bizzarely at Coppice! Didn't see the tell-tale streak anywhere else on the track. Nor did the marshalls, who took about three laps before showing the red/yellow (oil) flag on the approach to Redgate.

I just couldn't get it together after that. Craner is not a great place to fall off - especially on the outside, and that was the way I had been heading. I tried to use different lines to avoid the oil but I still had to go across it and it was throwing me everytime - it must have been the same for everyone else so maybe they just coped better. I had no choice but to slow down - I was only in 4^th through Craner Curves now, although after 2 or 3 laps I at least had enough confidence to drive the non-oily parts of the circuit a bit quicker. Than goodness there was no oil at the end of the straight. In common with most circuits I have been at this year, the Y10 is over-revving down the straights. The engine is peaking at 5700rpm but once again I was hitting 6100rpm before braking for the chicane - I really do have to resolve the gearing problem for next year so the car can go faster.

The end of the race came up with me just being lapped again by the two leaders coming down towards the chicane. The Ferrari 355 and Stratos flew by me almost together and I had a great view of them heading towards the chicane with a bunch of 4 cars in the way - they went by one either side, the Stratos belching flames to such an extent I nearly missed my braking point. Check out the race result, 4^th in Class means 14 points, doubled up gives 28 for the race, 30 for the meet. Not exactly a championship contender, but I have a respectable points tally for half a season.

That's the season over, I have had some good times (Silverstone) and some bad (Oulton Park) and made a few pals along the way. I'll do as much of the Winter Series as the car will stand up to (its one DNF was hardly the car's fault) and then plan a major rebuild for next season. Evolution Engineering have offered to build me an engine for next season - we are hoping to build a hybrid 1300GTie turbo injection engine which should up the power stakes to something a little more competitive. Plan to see to the brakes although this part of the car has been fine this season, but if I'm going to reach the corners quicker, I'm going to need to slow down quicker. Pretty happy with the suspension in principle, it could (should) be lower (one day the Leda springs will arrive. Anything else will depend on money - that old chestnut. Any volunteers for sponsorship reading this please get in touch! It would be nice to get some fibre-glass panels (not a great weight saving, but there's not much left to come off now) and maybe even go for some wider wheels and hence wider arches (maybe take moulds off the Yntegrale - check it out at my Lancia Y10 site - potential sponsors take note!). Shame I can't just throw money at the driver to make him quicker too - but that will come with experience.

Visit the Le Mans Motorsport site for details of the Le Mans Auto-Italia championship and standings so far.

Check out the race report for this race.