I met up witn Steve in the afternoon and after checking everything over, it was off out on track for a couple of installation laps. A quick squirt down the pit lane showed first that full boost was operative, and secondly, and more importantly, that the suspension work had paid off - the torque steer had been dramatically tamed. The two laps went by quite quickly, the one full lap was timed in the 1:18s with no effort at all, only 1.5 seconds off my practice time in the Sud and 3 seconds off the time managed in the heat of battle. She didn't feel very fast down the straight, once I got up into 4th and especially 5th, acceleration was disappointing. I came into the pits and Steve soon realised that the throttle pedal was hitting the wheelarch long before the throttle was fully opening. This was soon fixed and back out I went - but exiting Becketts I saw that water temperature had gone right up so I lifyed off, by the time I reached the pits it had returned to normal. Steve checked her out and everything seemed OK so back out again. Once again the lack of an alternator proved to be a problem, I went out again, boost pressure seemed low and then the battery cut so I rolled back into the pit lane before the Y10 resumed her more normal trip back home on the end of a tow rope!

A new battery was fitted and we waited for the nexts ession to start. Straight off down the pit lane and full boost was back again, but exiting Becketts boost dropped so once again I limped back into the pits. As I came into the pits it was plain that the exhaust was smoking a lot on the overrun, and when we switched off the engine the death rattle of the turbo was plainly heard - another one gone! There had been a few small problems on top of this had already got me thinking that maybe the Y10 wasn't quite race ready and it would be more sensible to iron out those problems first - it seems obvious enough, but while we can't get her to keep running for very long, we don't get a chance to find out what else is going on. She is now shut away with Motorsport Engineering with a brief to have her race ready early in the new year so some pre-season testing can be done.

I had resolved not to race the Sud at Snetterton, last year I had taken the Sud Sprint there and even though in her death throws, that was hardly excuse for being 5 seconds slower than anyone else. I didn't fancy a lonely race like that again, and my chances of scoring many points seemed slim, my chances of 3rd place in Class B looked even slimmer. But then I thought about it and realised that Andy Thompson was only 4 points in front of me, his Minari has proved a bt fraigile in some races (but still a paragon of reliability when compared to the Y10) and although I wouldn't wish any bad fortune on my fellow competitors, it is a fact of racing life that things don't always go to plan. I reckoned that if I stayed at home and then Andy ran into problems, I would be gutted at having wasted the chance to overhaul his points tally - so the Sud was picked up and dragged off to Snetterton.

Because there had been no plans to race it again, indeed it has been advertised for sale, I hadn't got round to fixing a problem I found when swapping the y10s wheels back, where the new hub bearing had been fitted, the locating nut hadn't been tightened up properly so the whole hub moved around! Didn't think this would be a big deal to fix so was planning to do it at the circuit in the morning. And then I found out that merely tightening the front bolt wasn't the answer, the hub had to come off and the nut on the inside tightened up. Thanks to the guys from RARE who offered assistance and then did the job, I was able to race. Practice showed that as expected most cars just disappeared down the long straights and that the brakes on the Sud were having an off day again, at the end of Revett straight I never really knew which way the Sud was going to pull, and once at Russell I just didn't stop so ran across the chicane, this was to be a pattern for the weekend. With 5 of us present in Class B, I scored the single solitary point with the full 10 going to Andy much as I had expected.

The Saturday race was quite late in the day, but just as we went out on track the clouds lifted and the sun came out. I was on the outside on the track for the rolling start but the first corner here is very wide so I didn't expect that to be a problem. Hmm! As we left the chicane and approached the start line, I was already accelerating flat out in attempt to stay with the faster guys, but as the lights went green, so predicatbly they started to pull away. Behind, the Class A fast guys (Scott, Birley and Reddick) had blasted their way past and Mark Pollard was doing his bit to entertain me again, not spinning this time, but overtaking the traffic on the grass. As I turned into the corner, it all went wrong. I saw Mark Connell's Alfa 33 spinning sideways towards the outside of the track and then cars started piling into each other. I saw Emma's Alfasud sideways with Andy's Minari on the inside of the track, there was just enough space the thread the Sud through the gap and come through unscathed. Predictably the red flags were out before we got half way down the straight, there had been bits of car everywhere, but it wasn't until those remaining of us lined back up on the grid that we realised just how many cars we had lost. Mike Watson had already pulled out of the race due to low oil pressure in the Powermods Alfa series, but I could only count 14 of us on the grid from the 23 that had practised. 8 cars wiped out including the Alfas on Connell and Karwacki already mentioned, along with both Scott and Birley, and from Class B both Andy Thompson and Russ Yates. Other cars had sustained visually-lesser damage which would become evident as the race got on the way. And in Class B just Mark Pollard were able to restart.

A break of about 30 minutes followed while the track was cleared and then we were off again. I guess we were all mindful of not having a repeat, but also the grid was a lot smaller this time. I ran up the outside of the track and was surprised at the end of the straight to be marginally in front of a Ferrari 328GTB guesting with us. I was chasing Alan bates in the Strada Abarth and we were both taking the outside line round Riches, the Ferrari had enough of the inside line to prevent me from cutting across it. Between Riches and Sears the Ferrari went past the Strada and I had planned to make a similar move round the next corner, but as went into Sears the Strada spun round and off I went. Already the Ferrari was long gone and a very lonely race ensued. I wasn't happy with the brakes, rain spots were falling and oil had been dropped at many places round the circuit - the Sud was not happy and nor was the driver. I finished the race fully expecting that my lap times were 3 or 4 seconds off my qualifying times and the results showed just that. But I had finished and collected 18 points for second place which lifted me above Andy and Giovanni into 3rd in class. A trip round the paddock showed some very sorry looking cars. Emma's Alfasud must have been hit in 3 different places, and Russ's Sud Sprint had suffered heavy frontal damage that probably spells the end for these two cars. I didn't see Andy's Minari, it was already on the trailer and covered up - on Sunday morning it had gone.

Sunday morning did present some miracles though, Messrs Scott and Birley had got their cars fit and ready to go again, The Monza Sport Alfa 156 was showing some interesting rear camber angles and patched up cars were everywhere. The loss of the Minari confirmed my 3rd place in class for the season completely against the odds and probably not deserved as it was as much due to other people's problems as to my own performance. But I've not exactly had a trouble free year either.

The Sunday race showed 15 starters, the Ferrari 328 had elected not to run. Alan had fixed the Strada overnight, the oil cooler had been punctured and had dumped the oil over the front wheel so he bypassed it. I was hoping for a bit of a dice with Alan sure I could out corner him but equally worried about his straight line speed. This time I was positioned on the inside of the grid, I planned to hug the inside white line and hopefully sneak around the inside of Riches while everyone went outside. I didn't quite manage to get past Alan but as we turned into Riches I saw that Mark's Minari and Graham's Stratos had collided and were spinning off to the outside of the track. While chasing Alan down the straight I was also watching in my mirror to see if Mark regained the track and just as I was pulling out of site I saw the yellow car moving off. My lead would be short lived, but for the first time I ever I lead the class at the end of the first lap, Mark taking things cautiously until he was confident his bonnet was not going to fly off. But normal service was soon resumed as he came flying past. I wasn't staying as close to Alan as I had hoped, I had two quite lurid slides on the first lap which had put me off my stride but slowly I realised I was getting close at the chicane. race head back on and the chase was on. Down the two straights, Alan just pulled away but I was faster round Riches and right on his tail exiting Sears only for Alan to disappear down the straight. This went on for a while, I got right on Alan's tail at the chicane, once I got too close and realised that I would hit him if I turned in so went across the grass right across the front of him hoping he wouldn't hit me! Of course while I was straightening out the Sud, off Alan went again. With three laps to go I finally got it eight. I managed to stay close enough to Alan at the bomb hole such that I coukd stay in touch through Coram, drifting very wide as I came round towards the chicane and close enough to dive down the inside. I made it through and went off down the straight waiting to see how long I could stay in front - long enough to surprise those watching from the pit wall as after many laps of following about a second behind the Strada, this time I was in front. Alan pulled alongside as we approached Riches but I stayed on the inside and braked that much later to maintain my lead. It was all to no available, Alan passed me down the straight and took about 50 yards off me before he braked. Again I braked later and was close through the bomb hole. I knew I was faster through Coram, but this time he knew what I was going to try. I made it happen again, managed to get through under braking for the chicane, Alan told me later he couldn't believe how fast I was taking it. This time he was a lot closer and as we crossed the finish line, with me hoping to no avail that it was the last lap, I was about a bonnet length in front. Needless to say, he got past before Riches and again I gave chase, I was going to have to do it all again.

This turned out to be the final lap. but as I chased Alan down the straight I saw Birley's Alfa 75 approaching fast - too fast as he caught me just as I wanted to turn into the Esses. It was enough to keep me a car behind Alan at the bomb hole and despite my best efforts I couldn't get close enough to outbrake him again. We almost touched at the chicane, but he outdragged me to the line, the results show that he beat me by less than a second. Its the best dice I have had so far, I was struggling to concentrate for the laughter, I think it was much the same for Alan. After the disappointment of not being able to beat him, I could console myself with another 2nd place thus consolidating my 3rd place in class and 8th equal in the overall championship. I had hoped for better things this year, but the Y10 only scored 2 points all season in its 3 attempts, and had caused me to miss 2 other races completely. Maybe next year!

Read the official race report.

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

Check out the final points standing