That leaves Snetterton - I had been so confident that we would be out at Snetterton, the family made plans to be there for our first outing in the new team bus "Winnie". We followed our usual standard of preparation by not actually sleeping in it before hand, but we had the manual so what could go wrong!

So, we had the weekend free, we had the team camper, we organised a pet-sitter - shame we didn't have a car! Enter Tony Soper who graciously loaned the Alfa Romeo 164 for the weekend. No longer with the 3.3 litre V6 from last year - that is in Tony's new steed, the GTV - the 164 now came with a standard 3.0 V6 that had done a few miles, along with high geared road gearbox. OK, so I wasn't very likely to win Class A, but I would be out on track and I figured I should be able to mix it up a bit with some of the production class guys and get some good racing action in. A bonus would be the experience of driving something way bigger than I have raced before, with a big lazy engine and seeing how I could adapt my driving to suit.

Tony Soper's Alfa Romeo 164

The weekend came, a Saturday afternoon trip to Snetterton in Winnie with "Big Yeller" behind in dreadful conditions, if this rain was a portent for Sunday I was going to have an interesting time. But dawn broke and it was sunny - this soon changed and a pattern for the day was set where the weather would alternate rapidly between sunny and bright, and dark and threatening. Many times it looked like this time it would really rain, but mercifully it never got past the light spitting stage.

Scrutineering was a close run thing - but eventually we were passed with comments that maybe a new roll cage might be in order, I believe Tony has already ordered one. It wasn't long before qualifying began, I lined up near the front of the group so as to maximise my acclimatisation time. Again, the grid numbers were disappointing, just 13 of us spread across 5 classes with Class A (the 164) being the busiest with 4 of us - Ted Reddick in the Ferrari 355C, Nick Sismey's Alfa 33 and a welcome return for the Stratos Evoluzione replica driven this time by Glenn Cantello. It was the Stratos that I followed out on to track and we were away. I soon realised that the 164 is a heavy car to drive, but the steering lightened up with speed and once moving I didn't really notice. The gear change had a lot closer spacing than I am used too - my excuse for the occasional missed gear.

Tony had warned me that the tail was a bit loose until the rear tyres warmed up, but 2 or 3 steady laps showed no trace of this. Wary of the high gearing, I was using a gear lower than normal for me most of the way round the circuit, this would prove to not be the quickest way - but a 3.0 has a whole lot more torque than the 1500cc Suds I have raced for the past two years, even allowing for the 200+ extra kilos. As speed started to build up I started overtaking cars, at one point I outdragged 3 in a line down the Revett straight only to let Peter Woodard past on the next straight after missing a gear (and slotting 5th) coming out of the chicane. Then a lurid tailslide at Sear allowed the others by again - but confidence was growing, more so as I had caught the slide. The only other moment of note was a moment going into the Esses near the end of the session and as is the norm for me, I missed the chicane once and went straight across the grass. When I collected the times I didn't know whether to be pleased or not. On the good side, I had gone 6 seconds faster than ever before round this circuit - probably not a great surprise given I have only been here in the Suds and the Y10 back in her 1049cc days, but its always satisfying to beat a personal best regardless of how its done. On the down side, I was 11^th out of 13, not really colouring myself in glory. But I was tenths adrift of the next person and 1.5 seconds would have gained me 4 or 5 places so given this was my first time in the car, there was potential for a good race, even if I would have to catch up with the guys first - I would be at the very back of the grid.

The first race wasn't due to start until 15:05 but we were already 30 minutes late by the time we did. Just as we went out on track, spots of rain started to appear on the windscreen, but they never developed into anything more serious. Lining up on the grid at the back - but with just 13 of us, not so far from the front - I reminded myself of the last event here last season where there was an 8 car pile-up in the first corner. I imagine everyone else remembered too, because despite a bit of jostling for position, we all got round cleanly. Down the back straight I caught and passed Charles Cozens' Alfa 33 - it hadn't been running well all day. At the end of the second lap we came round into the chicane to see Ian Stapleton parked sideways across the exit, and lots of yellow flags waving. I found a route outside him and chased Peter Woodard up the straight, closed right on him round Sear and went passed him down the back straight, but as we entered the Esses, the race was red flagged to remove Ian's stricken Alfetta from the chicane. So we all lined up back on the grid, a lot of confusion about where we should be placed. The race was to be restarted from scratch but would be 12 minutes instead of 15. The Stratos was smoking rather badly as I came up behind it - the engine had expired and it took more time to remove this from the grid. This was handy for me as I had switched off the engine and then it wouldn't restart. Tony came over the pitwall to offer advice, but still it wouldn't fire up - so he removed the bonnet, waved his magic wand, and abracadabra, off she went, and I joined the grid ready for the restart.

From my point of view the start was much the same as before, except we were now 10 having lost the Stratos and Ian Stapleton, and Nick Sismey having not made the first start. Coming into Sear I had already caught Charles Cozens' ailing Alfa 33 and elected to go round the outside even though that would mean running wide at Sear - Ron Davidson in the Class C GTV 3.0 went inside him and into the corner right in front of me. He pulled away slowly down the straight, guess I expected him to really but within a lap he had caught Peter Woodard's 33 and gone past him. I was now using the torque of the engine and taking most corners bar the chicane a gear higher than I had during qualifying - it was paying dividends as I was changing up into 5th down the straight, in qualifying I just reached 6000 rpm in 4th just as I braked for the Esses. I was gaining quickly and did the same the following lap - I was surprised to see that I was still in touch with Ron as he had been a lot quicker than me in qualifying. But I was getting to grips and a couple of laps later was right on Ron's tail through Sear and outdragged him down the back straight. Slowly I was picking off the slower cars - up front Ted Reddick was pulling away in the Ferrari 355C, Tim Lewis opening up a gap from Andy Thompson.

Leading Peter Woodard at Russell

Next in front of me was Roger Donnan, the championship leader. Surprisingly (for me) I caught up with him on the following lap, and although not right on his tail through Sear, finally started drawing him in about half way down the straight, and then once speed had built up I pulled alongside him as we passed the 300 metre board. Roger was on the inside but I figured I had enough speed to clear the front of his (lighter) car and brake in time for the Esses - well I nearly did! I made it into the Esses in front but got the exit all wrong and went onto the mud outside the track. I kept my foot in and managed to pull back on track still in front of Roger but as I entered the bombhole, the car twitched and then we span off backwards. I stood on the brakes and by the time I hit the tyre wall I wasn't travelling that fast. Instinct made me turn off the power, but then a couple of seconds later I switched it all back on and rejoined the race. Another wiggle into Coram left me unsure about how much damage I had done, whether the wheels were straight etc - this was my first ever off so didn't know what to expect. I built up speed again and all seemed OK - didn't see too much horror on Tony's face as I passed him standing on the pit wall, so I guessed it wasn't too bad. But I had lost enough time to ensure that everyone got past me again - and later I got lapped by Ted Reddick and Tim Lewis. Still, I finished 9^th overall, but second in Class A, and more pleasingly, the results showed that I had taken 2 seconds off my practice time and now had a fastest lap faster than more than half the field.

Tony Soper's Alfa Romeo 164 after Race 1

Back to the paddock, the damage wasn't as bad as I had expected - the boot and back panel pushed in about an inch and the rear bumper looking like it belonged on a touring car. Tony set to work quickly taping it and the boot lid securely in place and we prepared for the second race. It looked like the Stratos was out, so there was just Ted and I left in Class A - seemed silly not to play my joker under such circumstances, so I did. And so did Ted.

I was optimistic of another good race - but it was not to be. Part way round the parade lap I noticed that the bonnet appeared to be lifting more than it should. I manged to sit up just high enough to see that the front pin had come loose. There was no point racing down the straight at 100mph+ to see it ripped off, so as the grid came round for the rolling start, I peeled off into the pits. Tony locked the pin back in place but I had lost 30 seconds. With the red mist down, I charged back out on track only to spin at Sear through over-exuberance! After that, I drove round and round until the end of the race making a few observations as I did, but with no-one to do battle with, I was driving some 4 seconds off my earlier pace. Early on, I saw Bryn Griffiths 156 Sportwagen parked way over in the distance across the field to the left of Riches and Sear - later I saw him cruisng around the track slowly again. I also espied Andy Thompson's Minari pulling into the pits and then later trundling round equally slowly. I gathered the two of them had come together on the first lap and the end of the back straight.

A little later I saw Tim Lewis' Sud Sprint parked up (ran out of fuel) - the field was depleting fast. At the end of the race - won by a long way by Ted in the Ferrari, I admitted to him that with all these guys parked up, I had half hoped to find him on track having run out of fuel, and then I would have won! Apparently that notion wasn't so far fetched, near the end of the race the Ferrari suffered an electrical glitch and Ted was just about to park it up when it recovered and made it to the finish. Never mind, another second place, and this one with double points, but looking closely at the results, maybe I could have finished second or third overall without the bonnet pin problem.

I don't know yet what the rest of the season holds. Its possible we'll be out again, don't know what in - but you never can tell.

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.