So a Class B eligible car was first choice, a quick phone call to Mike Watson secured me the loan of the Alfasud Sprint 1700 that I raced last year at Zolder. Road legal with road brakes (rear drums!) and road - thus soft and higher than ideal - suspension. But it was eligible for Class B.

Saturday was a long day - at Zolder last year under the auspices of the Classic Car Club of Belgium, I had driven the Sprint using 4 pillows and cushions for support as the seat was a little too far back for me. Plainly under more strict MSA control this would be unsatisfactory. So first job for Saturday was to move the seat - plan A was to install my own much newer seat complete with frames but it became plain I was going need some major welding at the very least, so moving the existing seat became plan B. That should have been simple enough, but the mounts were not the adjustable type, the bolts screwed into the bottom of the seat rather than the side, and the bolt heads fouled the floor crossmember when I placed the seat as far forward as I could fit it - not quite far enough forward, but just about driveable with straight arms and a stretch to opearte the clutch. Beggars can't be choosers so I had to make do as best as possible. The starter was proving a little lazy, jump starting being the order of the day. I found that the earth lead was very frayed and changed that although it made little difference - and then I really got it wrong when I connected up the jump starter back to front. That was goodbye to any hope of starting the engine - hitting the starter button blew the fuse instantly every time. Couldn't see anything obvious and after a couple of hours and auto electrician was called out. He found that I had melted the starter wire between the solenoid and the button on the dashboard, the only sensible solution was to put in a new cable.

Finally at 8pm the car was ready to load up on the trailer ready for the adventure ahead.

An early morning start saw me arrive at Snetterton at 7:15am, all was very quiet as most people were still asleep. After the trails of Saturday I had expected scrutineering to be a more stressful process than usual, but aside from a request to tape up the headlights and the battery terminals, the Sprint got a clean bill of health.

Despite weather forecasts to the contrary, even at this early hour, it was bright and sunny and already getting warm. We would be first out on track this morning and were lined up in the assembly area by 8:45am

9:00 came and the gates were opened up, we were off. I took things steady for the opening lap in an attempt to warm up the tyres (and the driver) before building up speed. On the second lap - the first full one, Andy Thompson came by in the Minari down the Revett straight. I was accelerating flat out and he seemed to be struggling to get by, to the extent that I lifted at the end of the straight to ensure he did - this was to prove to be a false measure, the Sprint was nothing like as quick as the Minari down the straight in reality.

A couple of laps of sliding around led to me that all was not right - possibly with the Sprint, possibly with the driver! A big slide exiting the Russell chicane reinforced that view - as I had done the required 3 qualifying laps and was unlikely to trouble either Andy or Tim Lewis and gain more points, I took the decision to end my qualifying session and return to the paddock to check over the car. The practice times show that despite setting my slowest ever qualifying times in the dry, I was still not last. Keith Fawdington's De Tomaso Pantera - with yet another new paint scheme, sure that's the 4th one I've seen in as many seasons - succumbed to problems that would prevent it from racing, and Emma Karwacki was half a second behind me having spent qualifying spinning here, there and everywhere. At least I found that everyone was sliding around, the track was very slippery from all the oil dumped during the previous day's racing.

Keith and Emma were not the only ones with problems, Neil Smith was complaining of a misfire down the Revett stright which he diagnosed as a faulty TDC sensor. Eventually he located a replacement - fitted to Stuart Cumming's (MD of Le Mans Motorsport) new road Alfa 156! This proved to be a sucvcess but of course Stuart would need it back at the end of the race.

Early start means early race - we were scheduled as the second race after lunch, a good thing as any schedule slips in the morning can be made up over lunch. I had hoped to be able to play a joker in Class B thinking that one would be available for any class in which you entered, but found that is was strictly one joker per season regardless of how many classes you enter. And so it was that I lined up in my more normal place at the back of the Class B grid with just the two Ferraris of Ted Reddick (355) and Terence Coleman (360) behind me. The 360 had proved some 3 seconds quicker during practice and so looked to be the favorite for Class A and race honours.

Snetterton probably has the fastest first corner of any circuit we race at, so nay mistake is going to be amplified by the speed. Those of us present for the final meeting of 2002 will remember eight cars caught up in a first corner accident, very untypical of our series it has to be said, and I guess we were still being a bit circumspect here. Needless to say the two Ferraris got passed me almost instantly, I stayed over by the pit wall to give them the room they would need rather than risk being embroiled in their battle. Coming into the first corner still in touch with the pack I noticed Charles Cozens' Alfa 33 spinning off on the outside of the corner and other cars taking the necessary avoiding action. This enabled me to get past a couple of them, although by the end of Revett straight they had gone by again.

Three or four laps into the race and the rejoining Charles Cozens, gaining fast, caught up. Nothing I could do. I didn't seem to have my race head on - I was braking way too early, my confidence in the road brakes on the Sprint not being high enough, and I couldn't get my usual Snetterton rhythm round the corners either. Exiting Coram I knew Charles was right behind me and thought it a bit strange that the marshalls were waving blue flags - this was a battle for position despite his superior speed, but then I realised the 360 was tight on the inside of Coram, right on my bootlid. Charles went through and I moved over to allow the 360 through as well. The Ferrari caught Charles as he moved aside on the entry to Russell, I hoped to take advantage and closed up only to be outdragged up the start-finish straight and then he was gone. Ted Reddick in the Ferrari 355 followed a while late and Tim Lewis was hanging in not far behind.

On the sixth lap coming down the Revett straight I culd see Ian Stapleton's green Alfetta GTV gaining very fast, he was going to have no problem catching me down the straight so I stayed wide right as he passed me going into the Esses. Neil Smith was chasing Ian hard, I didn't want to affect their battle so moved right over left and indicated to Neil so as to not baulk his progress. Following him round Coram, all of a sudden his engine dumped all the oil! There was a large thick cloud of smoke, couldn't see through it at all, but luckily for me I was on the outside of the track so missed the oil. Westley Evans behind kept his foot in through the smoke and hit the oil - I watched the ensuing sliding exhibition in my rear view mirror with some concern that I may get collected. We did another lap, this time at Coram the marshalls were showing the oil flag, knowing where the oil was again I styed very wide and got through trouble free but exiting Russell I saw that the race had been red flagged and we parked up temporarily by the start-finsih line before being directed off track back the wrong way down pit lane. I found later that the Ferrari 360 of Terence Coleman had spun on the oil into the tyre wall - luckily just minor-looking damage, and I believe Andy's Minari also span there.

The results presumably were taken from the end of the previous lap meaning that the 360 won the race with the 355 second close behind. Both championship protagonists Lewis (finally playing his joker) and Donnan left Snetterton with full points taking their battle all the way to the end, the final Le Mans Auto-Italia race, to be held at Oulton Park on the 11th October. My entry here in Class B finsihed with 3rd in class for both qualifying and the race giving me 20 points - this moves me up into 3rd place in class with one race left to go. This is where not being able to play another joker could hurt me - if any new entrant races in Class B at Oulton, they automatically play their joker (as last race of the season) and unless I can beat them, they will overtake my points score - watch this space in 5 weeks to see what happened.

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.