Emma chasing the Sud into Quarry

Needless to say, the Y10 is still not back together - we are awaiting a shipment of head gaskets (and with the way I am going through them this year I am going to need a whole shipment to myself!) from Spesso. The planned rolling road session with Dave Walker had to be postponed and is now scheduled for mid-July, just in time for the race up at Oulton Park - so long as the car is actually running this time. So the Alfasud was called upon again to do sterling service.

Because the Alfasud is running to Alfa Romeo series Class F rules, it runs on the Dunlop D98 control tyres. This has the advantage that I didn't need to carry wet tyres down to the circuit, didn't need to worry about what to use for a wet track with intermittent rain - many of the other competitors made a late decision to run with slicks for practice. The downside would come later in the race where clearly the control tyres don't have the same grip as slicks either. I had thought about picking up the slicks from the Y10 which is still sitting over at Evolution Engineering but decided against it on the basis that the 15" wheels probably wouldn't fit the Sud. By the next race at Lydden Hill, I will see if they do or don't fit!

As inferred above, practice was run on a wet track, there was light rain throughout the session but no standing water on the line. It was still very slippery out there and a concern to get in 3 qualifying laps before falling off meant I took the first 3 laps very circumspectly before gradually trying to build up speed. It also meant that some of that time was lost moving over to let the more ambitious through - Mark Pollard came flying past going into the Esses leading me to think I had badly underestimated grip available - but then he spun in front of me on the exit to the Esses. I was also concerned at the total lack of feel through the brakes, EBC Green Stuff were fitted between testing and practice at the last race at Croix and I hadn't felt they were as confidence inspiring as the previous (unknown brand) pads that came with the Sud. A shame because the Y10 has felt very good in the past on these pads. I was pleased to end the session without binning it, unfortunately Graham Warner was not so fortunate and hit the wall by the start/finish line ending his day's involvment. Russ Yates attempted to take the kink past the start/finish line flat out on his last lap and didn't notice the chequered flag was out, in his ensuing incident he ended up well infield in the vegetation, damage limited luckily only to his front splitter and bumper.

All through the afternoon the rain went and came back again, but finally things started to brighten up, the sun even came out around the time for race 5 and 6 (we were race 9). Very bizarrely the schedule had been running pretty smoothly during the wet part of the day, but once the sun came out and the track dried out, people started crashing more meaning delays while the rescue trucks brought back the cars. By the time we went out onto the grid we were already running some 20 minutes late, and for some reason we must have spent 10 minutes sat on the grid - sitting so far back, you have no idea what is going on, and even when the 2 and 1 minute boards were shown at the front, all I could see was someone lifting his arms. I could see some Jokers being played by Lindsay Ward, Roger Donnan and Ian Connell.

Finally the race started, well, we were off on the rolling lap. This was the busiest race we had for a while, after the low turnouts at Mallory and Croix, it was nice to see a pretty full grid. We were a couple of cars down on practice - Graham Warner's 33 was unable to continue and Keith Fawdington retired his Pantera after practice due to a list of problems with the brakes. But we were bolstered by no less than 5 Ferraris, mainly due to the Pirelli Ferrari championship race being held that day, and also to Graham Scott electing to race his Ferrari 355 rather than his usual mount, the Stratos. The view behind me on the grid was amazing with these 5 Ferraris all ready to pounce once the lights went green. The pole man bunched us up nicely as we came down from Bobbies towards Camp and we rounded Camp appropriately slowly and in line. For once I got away pretty well, flooring the throttle as the lights went green. With the Sud's blatant lack of power I was never going to out-accelerate anyone down the long straight, my main hope for the race was to catch Emma Karwacki's similar (but slick-shod) Sud which was starting near the front of the grid. As it happened, she got swamped in the melee down Avon Rise and I managed to get through before Quarry, right on the tail of the pack. The Ferraris had not had things all their own way, the F512M has driven down the outside of me down the straight (on the grass!) and was forced to take an inside grass-line round Quarry too - at this point I was within a car length of it. Things remained very crowded all the way round to Bobbies where I was still in touch with the main pack, with Emma right behind. But as we exitted Bobbies and went down the straight towards Camp to complete the first lap, things suddenly opened out and everyone in front disappeared leaving Emma and I to our own private race.

For most of the early laps we were pretty close, but slowly I started to edge away, aided by a flying chicane post! We came round into the Esses and one of the plastic chicane posts was about twenty feet up in the air. I was studying where it might land but managed to get through the chicane without slowing, but Emma lost a little concentration and allowed me to eke a small gap which I then was able to maintain for a few laps. On lap 6 Ian Stapleton's Alfetta GTV engine let go going into Bobbies, I was still on the staright before Tower when I could see the trail of smoke looking across the infield. This left a lovely oil streak through Bobbies and all the way down to Camp. Things were already not helped from earlier races meaning a big cement line through Camp (on a wide line) and on the braking area into Quarry. I was a little more circumspect on the oily area, one lap I used too much of the oily line and had a small slide. My problems came when the leader (Graham Scott - no surprise there) caught up with me as I approached Bobbies. Normally he does not hesitate to go for a gap and I assumed he would come through as I moved over to the left, but either I misjudged how far away he was, or he was a little more careful in the 355 compared to the Stratos, but he took an age to come through, meaning Emma was right back on my tail.

The following lap, the next two Ferraris came through at Quarry, then Mark Pollard's Minari caught me coming into Camp. I ran wide to let him through but ended up on the cement and had a big slide. Emma came through on the inside and we raced side by side waving at each other up the straight. I just had enough advantage to outbrake her into Quarry and remain in front, but clearly the bit was between her teeth now. The following lap I got caught by a lapper again at Camp, ran just as wide and this time Emma was close enough to take advantage - again we were side by side up the straight but her better exit speed got her past me as we came into Quarry. My turn to chase, but she drove an excellent last lap (as it turned out to be) and in my haste to catch her I ran wide at Camp all on my own this time.

Despite coming last, this race was the most fun I have had for ages, there were never more than a second or two between Emma and myself all the way through the race. I learned another valuable lesson about giving too much room to lappers - must make them wait if I am coming into a corner. I hope that when the Y10 finally runs, I won't be getting lapped, but the Sud still has at least the double header at Lydden in two weeks to do.

The results show a bit of a Ferrari benefit, Ferraris taking the first three places and fifth. They also show that points in Class B are going to get harder to obtain. Even with Mike Watson missing, we now have the new threat of Andy Thompson moving up from Class D in the ex-Jim Price Minari, and Giovanni says he will bring out the Fiat 128 for more races this season. I'm going to have to raise my game considerably if I want to maintain at least 3rd in class for this year.

Read the official race report.

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