The Alfasud had been sat in my garage since Mallory Park some 2 months ago. Back then it was noticed that the brakes had lost all their efficiency since Lydden Hill. It was found that the rears and one front caliper had seized - and on fixing all this, we found that a front wheel bearing was also in need of replacement, this caused us to missed the Oulton Park race. But now it was ready for combat again, or so we thought.

We were first race of the day, great if you are one of the number who stay at the circuit overnight, but I have yet to join the motorhome set (we hope to do so shortly) so a very early start indeed was called for, leaving home at 5:20am. Sign-on was set for 7:45 with scrutineering to follow from 8:00am, then practice to start at 9:00am. Everything was running nice and smooth, I had arrived in plenty of time to unload and wind down from the journey before signing on. One downer which would have repercussions was that James who usually helps out was unable to reach the track early in the morning. Normally he will take the car down to scrutineering while I sign on so he is well placed in the queue. Another problem today was the confusion with when engines could be started - the signs all said not before 9am! Many of us pushed our cars down to scrutineering, not easy on your own. Although I was in the queue for scrutineering shortly after 8am, the queue did not move too well. Scrutineering has always been painfully slow at Donington, other people aware of this has joined in the queue early even though they were doing later races. Once we finally reached the scruitineering area, we were segrated into two lines. Most of my fellow racers were placed in the line that took you through the scrutineering bay, I was outside, despite my protestations that I was due out in race 1 and time was rapidly moving on. The car in front of me seemed to be done in a very leisurely fashion, then there were no scrutineers about. After a couple of minutes I went inside the bay to ask what was going on only to be told brusquely that there were two scrutineers outside. One was pointed out to me - so he was - only he was doing the car behind me! Finally someone turned up, did a very cursory job and let us go. Great, it was 8:58am! A quick stop at the toilets followed by going straight into the assembly area - luckily I was actually wearing the suit and had my boots on. The cars were in the process of entering the track from the assembly area when the marshalls stopped the car in front of me and told us we were too late and had to enter from the pit lane. The only reason we were too late was due to lousy organisation on the part of the circuit people.

The entrance to the pit lane is on the other side of the paddock to the assembly area. Having never used it before despite this being my third time here, I wasn't exactly sure where it was. When you are fully strapped into your car, which of course has no horn, its not that easy to attract attention to ask directions. By the time I found the entrance and got out onto the track, I could see that my old Alfasud Sprint was neatly parked in the gravel trap at Redgate, I later found that it had completed 3 laps already by then, so I had missed at least that much of the session. I was still annoyed and a bit flustered, certainly didn't have my race head on or anything so did the first couple of laps just trying to get into the swing of things. Then I noticed that although the brake pedal was nice and solid when first being hit, it was gradually sinking down if I pushed it for long enough. A couple of corners later I realised that I wasn't imagining this, it really was happening. I decided to complete my three laps (actually I did 4 but I always lose count) slowly, braking well in advance of corners just in case they disappeared completely and then came into the pits. As I slowed for the pit entrance I could see smoke comeing from under the bonnet - this was not looking like my day, and I wasn't even in the Y10!

Although I had cut short my own practice due to brake problems, clearly I had lost about a third of the session. Some other drivers in the paddock had got out even later than me and were equally angry - if you couldn't even get your tyres fully warm, it effects your lap times, can affect your qualifying position, thus points and even possibly championship placings. Some had complained to the Clerk of the Course - normally I would have just shrugged things off and used this site to vent my disappointment, but I agreed that this should be done. What a waste of time, he was totally disinterested, his attitude being that I had managed to complete my required 3 laps and so could race, so what was my beef? Well, for starters, race entry fees are not exactly cheap and we get about even time in practice and race, so that practice session cost me £80 in fees alone - and a third of it was lost due to the usual Donington inefficiency. Shame, I love the track, but the organisation does its best to ruin your day.

Shortly after I arrived back in the paddock, so did the other competitors. Julian Brown was racing his X1/9 again and came over to help. He instantly diagnosed that the flare in the brake pipe had split and was leaking fluid straight onto the exhaust, hence the smoke. A quick scrounge of a brake pipe flaring too from the SRIS team soon had Julian, and by now Brian Wood, working on the pipe and bringing the brakes back into action. One brake bleeding session later and a nice solid pedal was present again. At this point we noiced that Julian's left front tyre was looking a little flat so we pumped it up, only to notice a short while later that it was flat again. Time was running out, more so when we found that the race had been pulled forwards - more great organisation, this news seemed to travel by word of mouth and even as we were being called out, some of us were not ready and didn't know. Julian was still running around trying to borrow a wheel and tyre that would fit the X1/9 - with a pit full of a Fiat/Alfa/Lancias all of which use the same bolt pattern, you would think this an easy task - but virtually everyone else is front wheel drive and the offsets of the wheels caused them to foul on the suspension of the exxy. Neil Smith came up with a wheel and a spacer, I suggested Julian switch over his fronts so the borrowed one was on the right, on the basis that most bends as Donington are right hand, which load up the left front wheel. He just made it to the assembly area as we moved out onto the track.

Unlike most races this year, this race was fully subscribed with the full 32 starters - there had actually been 33 cars in practice but presumably Ron Davidson had a problem as he did not start the race. Probably due to the Italian theme of the day, there was an unusally large entry in Class A, 10 of them which meant far more cars behind me on the grid that is the norm. Or, far more cars flying past into the first corner from the rolling start. The start was a busy affair, I got away well but of course with no power, didnn't actually gain anything. Julian was alongside me and although I probably got a few yards on him due to greater experience of the rolling start, he had a little more power and soon got back alongside. Watching the cars behind, I had sat right over on the left kerb to leave a big gap - 10 cars coming through much faster was a recipe for trouble. Ted Reddick right behind me in a Ferrari 355 looked like he had got it all wrong as he suddenly came rushing up behind straight at me but managed to find a way through without contact. I got the better of Julian into Redgate, with Phil Tompson in the Panda tucked in close behind. A lot of dust was being thrown up, I could see Lindsay Ward in the Thema running down the Craner Curves on the infield - the first lap also lost us Graham Scott in the Stratos who retired with a very bent back wheel. All round the first lap we managed to maintain reasonable contact with the pack until the main straight where they started to pull away. The first two or 3 laps saw Julian and I running virtually side by side - I would take the corner coming onto the straight and the chicane in front of Julian but otherwise we were running side by side. Eventually on what was probably lap 4 he held position down the inside at Redgate and got in front, but at the bottom of Craner Curves while no more than a car length or two in front of me, he suddenly spun backwards into the infield! I was pleased to see he didn't hit anything and rejoined the race, but some way behind. Now I had to focus on Phil who was sitting close enough that I couldn't afford a mistake. We had qualified 3/100ths apart but both had problems so were looking forward to a good dice. A couple of times I saw Phil kicking up dust exting Redgate, so hard was he giving chase. A couple of laps later, Nino Piccoli's car was parked in the gravel at Old Hairpin causing the yellow flags to be waved. I slowed, a little too much as Phil caught right up with me and got almost alongside. The following lap the yellows were still being waved and were spotted just in time by Ted Reddick as he came through to lap me.

Once the lapping started Phil started to fall backwards. This is good progress, after Castle Combe where I was giving too much space to lappers, I have now got the right balance of maintaining good progress while still moving over. A couple of laps later, with Phil falling further back (turns out he got a puncture and was forced to retire) Mark Pollard was closing fast down the straight towards the chicane. I stayed over to the left figuring he should just get passed before the chicane - I was stunned by just how much faster he was going as he shot past, then locked up the back brakes and spun off backwards down the escape road! On my next lap I was pleased to see he wasn't parked up there. And sure enough a lap later I was going down Craner Curves when I saw Lindsay Ward and Mark Pollard bearing down fast. There was nowhere to go until the bottom of the hill at which point I stayed over to the left to allow Lindsay through only for Mark to go past the pair of us on the inside. I was just about close enough to them coming down to the chicane to see Mark repeating his pirouetting exactly as before, again with the same result.

And then it was all over, I crossed the finish line just behind the Alfa Giulia Super which I would be about to lap, but the flag was out. Probably the closest racing I have had so far. Looking at the results I am at a loss to understand how Andy Thompson got past the Ferraris to win the race overall, he was still third when he lapped me, but all congratulations to him. Predictably the Ferraris had their own way in Class A, especially with the first lap demise of the Scott Racing Stratos, Class D and E won once more by John Griffiths and Neil Smith. Due partially to the size of the grid and partially due to her recently found extra power, I didn't even see Emma's Alfasud even though she finished one place ahead of me. A good race for me, but from a championship point of view, bad. I ahve fallen down to 5th with 3 races to go Mark Pollard is 2nd and has finished for the season, but far enough ahead that I am very unlikely to catch him - Russ is way out front and looking like a worthy Class B champion, but Andy Thompson has yet to play his joker and can catch him mathematically. Unless by some miracle the Y10 can be repaired I will probably not do the last races at Snetterton - so Silverstone in 2 weeks could be the end of our season.

Read the official race report.

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