This is my first meeting since February, so I had been looking forward to this weekend. I left home at 7am Friday morning, Bob followed as he is racing this weekend also. We arrived at the track at about 11am. I’m not goung out today but Bob needs to fine tune his car. I make sure I’m ready, buy some fuel and fuel up the car. Check tyre pressures and wheel nuts. Check the oil level and water. Make sure the strainer is clean. I take Billie to get targeted, she is due this meeting. We pass scrutineering ok and go back to the pits. Now is time to relax. I’ve forgotten my camera, I won’t have any pictures this weekend.
Practice. We are 2nd practice. I check it all again. During practice I can’t use all of my cornering speeds. I have huge understeer and can’t do anything about it. What is going on? I persevere and then the red flag comes out. A couple of guys have spun at turn 5. That’ll be the end of practice. We have completed 4 laps. My time? I don’t want to know. 2m 7secs. YUK! Why was I so slow? I rechecked my tyres, the back left has about 15psi in it. No wonder! I’ve got a flat! The flat was fixed, the car checked again then the long wait for our race.
Todays race is a relay. 25 laps. Each car has to do at least 10 laps. I’m teamed up with Bob in his Mustang. This should be good. I go out first with the others and go for it. What a difference some air in the tyre makes! I’m not quickest, but I can feel that Billie is enjoying this. Several casualties it seems, I can’t keep up with Phil or Bob but that’s ok. I run around amongst the Cortinas and Minis, having a ball. Woops! Off the track around turn 8, Dave gets past, he goes off at turn 9, I go past him. Love it! I’m watching the pits for the pit open sign. There it is, 2 more laps, hang on, I’m getting some fuel surge now. I’m glad I don’t have to go longer. Into the pits and change-over with Bob. That’s the end of my racing today. We came seventh overall, pretty good. I bettered my best lap here twice, I’m now down to 2m 2.8 secs. That’s .6 of a second. That’s good! And Billie is still going! And my diff is quiet! I pack up and leave things ready for the morning.
Sunday racing. I’m at the track at 7am. Pretty cold and foggy! Racing starts late. We are 2nd out this morning. I have a great time, dicing with Cortinas and Minis again. I’m watching my oil and water as much as I can. The oil never gets below 35psi. That’s good. The cooler weather helps this as well. I’m keeping in front of the blue Cortina, even pulling away. We have 5 laps, they shortened this race by a lap because of the delays caused by the mfog this morning. On the last lap I get fuel surge again, this lets the Cortina slip past over the line. Oh well, next race. I am getting more constant with my times, 2′s, 3′s and 4′s. Very good!
2nd Race. The ranks have thinned out quite a bit now. I start from grid spot 14, my best all weekend. 6 laps this time. Away we go! I’ve got no hope of keeping with Phil, his car is flying this weekend! It turns out he broke his own lap record twice in the last race. I keep up with the Morris and Cortina, dicing with them and having fun. Oops, off I go at turn 8 again. This lets those guys get away and lets Dave in his Imp catch up. That’s ok, I know we’ll have a good race. I pull away on the straights and he catches on the corners, Billie is handling better, I’m getting better. This is how we finish the race. We survive another weekend. My diff is still quiet, I have a split in my extractors and I improve my best time again. By another .2 of a second.I’m now down to a 2min 2.6 secs. Not as quick as some of the others, but I get quicker each time. That’s good.
