The Lancia Motor Club held their annual track day at Goodwood on the Saturday after Snetterton and seemed a good opportunity to finally get in some track time. The rear spoiler was re-fitted in the hope of being able to test whether its effect was positive or negative, and the long early morning trek down south was underway. Unbelievably, down at Goodwood, the Y10 ran very poorly when attempting to start her up - at least this time I recognised the symptoms - the distributor had moved again. A few more problems, like having to change the plugs as they had fouled, ensued before finally she was up and running, sounding very crisp. I had even installed passenger seat and harness so rides could be given to those friends who had been helpful over time. Scrutineering was a breeze, passed the noise test easily and lined up in the queue to go out on track. Finally it was time, I was still doing up my harness when the pit lane light went green and we were off. I didn't think I pulled away THAT quickly, but apparently those watching thought otherwise and were impressed. This was the first chance I had to drive the car - initial thoughts were that the suspension may be too hard, and that torque steer was rife - I zigzagged up the track towards Madgwick and picking the line to go round was interesting as the car moved around depending on the throttle. Exitting Madgwick I opened her up to find a misfire! Speed picked up gradually but all was not right - then it happened. On changing up to 5th for Fordwater, all drive was lost, couldn't find any gears and there was nothing left to do except park her up on the grass at St. Marys.

Back to Scheldt & Pettet to diagnose the problems. Before the end of the day, Terry had reported back that the same driveshaft had again snapped, but at the inside end - this was fixed straight away. The timing problem was down to the distributor still moving - we had replaced the holding nut with a locknut but this clearly was not enough. There was a bush inside the distributor which had seized and thus the engine was rotating the distributor - this was also fixed. The extent of damage to the gearbox had to wait until Monday when Terry removed the unit to find that internal parts were smashed and had pushed a hole in the casing! It is hoped that this is unspotted damage from the Snetterton tow starting attempts.

And so to race 2 - a replacement gearbox could not be installed in time, so reluctantly I pulled out of the Le Mans Auto-Italia race. A decision as to the way ahead will be taken during the week - it may be possible to use the Uno Turbo gearbox which is stronger, and has the added advantage of coming with equal length driveshafts!

My missing the Le Mans Auto-Italia race was not the end of the day. My pal Peter Dietsch was making his debut here and would be racing the Alfasud Ti under the Nyssa Racing banner. I would be making my debut in the same car in the Powermods Alfa Romeo Championship (Class F - production up to 1750cc). Sunday was amazing from a weather point of view - all week long the forecast had been for rain, but come Sunday we got sun, sun and more sun - great racing weather and great for the spectators of which aside from the usual, Julie and Geri came to support me and Peter brought along his whole entourage, big thanks to Margaret &: Norbert who laid on enough food to feed the 5000.

Trevor about to be lapped by Andy Thompson in the Alfa race

Peter Dietsch and I are vastly different in stature, he is about 9 inches taller than me and weighs an extra 35-40kgs! This was not without its problems. not least of which was the time taken to unbolt the seat and move it - took 2 guys best part of 15 minutes to carry out this seemingly small duty. Anyway, it was my turn first - out with the Alfas for the first time, out in the Sud for the first time - at least I knew my way round the circuit. Practice went well despite the Alfa obviously being much slower than most cars out there - the majority of class F are 1700cc cars, the Sud has but a standard 1500cc engine with no additional preparation. Surprisingly, I overtook one chap on my second lap and he stayed behind after that until he pulled in after but a few laps. So I was a little disappointed to see that somehow he had still out-qualified me and that I was to be second-last on the grid, although strangely I was closer to pole (5.2 seconds behind) than to the car behind me (7.9 seconds ahead!). The Powermods Alfa Romeo championship differs from the Le Mans Auto-Italia in that it runs a conventional grid (fastest at the front) and there is a standing start. It has been a while since I had to do one of these and although not perfect (a little wheelspin), I thought I started quite well. Not well enough to force my way through any gaps in front (what gaps!) and although I tried to hold an inside line round Paddock I could not get through past anyone. The same happened at Druids, I kept a very tight inside line but still had to concede the corner. After that, the race got kind of lonely - I had already left the other Alfasud in the race well behind - after only 2 corners - but slowly and surely the other cars began to edge away and although I could see them ahead, plainly I was never going to trouble them again. I found myself running in free space for most of the race with nothing else to do but race myself, try and improve my lines, my cornering speed, my gear change and braking points and the like. Sometimes I got it a bit wrong, like trying to take Graham Hill in 4th, or braking too late into Clearways, but on the whole I was lapping pretty consistently. Finally around lap 10 the leaders caught up - at Brands you can see all round the track while you are out there so I knew they were coming. But I could also see the Sud of Melanie Healey ahead in my sights ever getting closer. I might be being lapped, but clearly I had the opportunity to lap someone myself. With a couple of laps to go, I caught her exiting Clearways - but I had a faster car right on my tail and the marshalls were waving their blue flags big time. Melanie stayed out wide so I hugged the inside line and decided I was going through first, the guy behind would have to hold on. This led to him going through between us so we came onto the main straight three abreast. The race ended with me in second to last place but at least I had finished a race for the first time since last August.

Peter's turn! We actually qualified and raced alternately so there was much to-ing and fro-ing with the seat. There appeared to be plenty of time on the schedule for this to not be a problem, but having never raced with the Powermods Alfa guys before, I didn't realise that they have to hang around at the end of practice to be weighed! The Alfasud has a minimum weight of 870kgs with driver on board - at least now I know it weighs in at 840kgs without me, a good 30kgs over and above any requirement.

Peter lined up for practice near the back of the pack which at least gave him a chance to get his bearings before the fast guys came round and lapped him. He was a little tentative, but this was his first time in a race and a little apprehension is only to be expected. As expected he did qualify last, but even this earned Nyssa Racing their first 2 points of the 2002 season. Alas Peter also earned himself a trip to the Clerk of the Course. He was a little unlucky that practice ended with the chequered flag being waved just as he crossed the line - he didn't see the flag and so went round on another lap rather than come into the pits - an easy mistake to make in your first ever race.

The race - due to the novel starting arrangements for the Le Mans Auto-Italia championship, despite Peter having qualified last, he would actually be starting 4th on the grid. I had impressed upon him that finishing is all in your first race and there is nothing to be gained by crashing at the first corner, He took this to heart and came into Paddock maybe back in 10th or 12th, when all the fun started. Cars touched, a couple of them spun out leaving one sideways covering the inside half of the track - just where Peter was headed. A baptism of fire, but he passed with flying colours managing to both negotiate a way past the stricken cars and also not collect any of the others doing the same. Mike Watson was not so lucky - he hit one of the cars and damaged his oil cooler. He circulated for three laps with smoke pouring out of his car in the belief that bodywork was rubbing, only for his engine to expire on the main straight. Come back soon Mike - I need the inspiration to beat you! A pattern to the race started to develop. Graham Scott had got out in front in his Alfa-engined Corse Stratos, although Neil Smith had once again taken the first lap honours - but closing fast through the pack was newcomer Andy Neate in the Evo Stratos, a wicked looking kit drawing inspiration from the Group 5 Lancia Stratos Turbo cars. Closer and closer they got, although once the back markers had been caught, Scott was always favourite to make his way through the traffic that much quicker. The spectacle was ended on lap 10 when the engine in the Evo Stratos expired in plumes of smoke and flames and parked up next to Mike Watson. The race was turning into a race of attrition - 3 guys lost on the first lap, with damage from that lap losing us Mike Watson 3 laps later. Then it was Jackie Osborne's turn to pull over just as her partner lapped her in the Stratos. Then the Paddock crowd were treated to Nino Piccoli spinning into the gravel trap at almost exactly the same place as he did in practice - but hey, I couldn't even drive at 16 let alone race at his speed.

And so to the results - well, provisional at this moment as apparently there was a post race protest! The race (on the road) was won by Graham Scott with Julian Birley not his usual self (I suspect the Alfa must have had a problem as it was much quicker in the morning practice session for the Powermods Alfa race) in second place some 25 seconds behind. Class B appears to have been won by Simon Griffiths driving the Sud campigned by his brother last season, with Russ Yates close behind. Keith Fawdington took a lonely Class C win for the second time this year, but not without cost to his Pantera's beautiful paint job. Richard Connell had already won the Class F Powermods Alfa Romeo race earlier in the day (the race I was in) and now backed that up with a Class D win here and superb 3rd overall. Neil Smith got the better of Graham Warner this time out finishing a more comfortable 7 seconds ahead of his foe. Peter brought up the rear of the race but still finished 4th in class and earned more valuable points for Nyssa Racing, and more importantly, that all important first race licence signature. He was unfortunate that Graham Scott caught him just before the finish line costing him an extra lap. He also improved his lap time by 3/10s during the race, kept out of trouble and everyone's way and acquitted himself just fine. Hopefully Peter will race under the Nyssa Racing banner again this season.

I'm not sure if we can get the Y10 ready for the next race at Mallory in 2 weeks, clearly if I go the standard Y10 gearbox route then it should be there, but we will take a view on how feasible the Uno Turbo gearbox solution is and make a decision then. If she isn't ready, then I will race the Sud in Class B in an attempt to get on the scoreboard. I finished 9 races last year with 5 3rd places - that was just enough to sneak 3rd place in the class. With 12 races still to go this season, there is still ample time to accumulate some points and hopefully emulate, if not better, last season's achievement.

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 current points standing