It was off to Brands Hatch in Kent for a single header race, we arrived sat eve and had a few cold beers after checking everything on the car was ok, a good nights sleep in the camper and time to “get on it” for qually.  Having been away in China on business for most of the prev week I had got home with “long haul flu” perhaps better described as a nasty head cold.  I really had’nt realised how much this had steaded me up, the first few laps were spent warming the tyres, brakes and getting used to the new geometry setup that Topcats Racing had put in to the car, hen time to push.  I managed a couple of ok laps without any real traffic, but nothing I was happy with, a run thru the pit lane gave me the few seconds I needed to concentrate and back out, but, back out into traffic, too many other cars on different cycles, some warming up, others cooling down, so I decided I had done enough.

 Turnes out that we had only done enough for 5th with a 51.256 lap, but the top 5 were separated by only 0.716 of a sec. ”Think its gonna be a good race” 

 After a 1 min silence in memory of the late Trevor Wilkinson (TVR) the green flag waved, business time, warmed tyres, brakes etc, lined up in 3rd row (5th on grid), 5sec board, lights on, lights out and off, oh sh**, with all the going on I had left the car in second,m stupid stupid stupid, I do like to make it hard for myself.  Having given a few more places away my mind was somewhat concentrated, instantly getting back to 6th before the second corner, after about 4 laps looking for a way past Howard in car 13 I managed to complete a move on the inside of druids, a quick check in the mirror after the next corner and Howard was no longer a problem, on to Hugh in car 3 who had 3rd spot and a podium.  Hugh has been racing for nearly 30 yrs and knows exactly where to put the car so as to leave no room, a very good person to follow for a few laps, but easy to get stuck there.  After perhaps 5/6 laps looking for a way round i finally got the run i needed out of Graham Hill bend, Hugh missed a gear on the exit and we very nearly had a pretty big contact, but managed to get past unhurt.  I soon managed to pass the injured car of Marc Hockin and so had secured 2nd, telling myself “settle, stay cool”  its very easy to become carried away and then make a stupid mistake and loose it all, first was held by Deano in car 20, and although we were drawing closer there was not enough time to catch him, I was gaining on him between 1 and 0.5 seconds a lap now, then out came the flag, race over, 2nd in the bag after qually 5th, a bad start and a weeks worth of snotty nose, all involved were very happy.

 A massive thanks to Clive for helping with the car whilst i was in China, without that we would never have even been at brands, and to all who came to support especially Sam and Rob from Provide Design, Tim and Anne of TJF Transport, my amazing mother, who loves the races as much as me, and ofcourse my wonderfull fiancee Karen.  Last but not least, all those who cheared us on, you know who you are, THANKYOU.

In car video should be in the gallery from Brands 08 this week, check it out.

We are off to Brands Hatch this weekend for a single header race meeting, qually will be around 11am sunday morning, with race start around 3pm. The car is now prepared by the Topcatsracing Team, who have altered the car to a new setup, this will be the first race with this setup and we hope for good things. Fingers crossed, providing there is no downpour of rain I hope to run in car video which will be put on the site a.s.a.p

Having just returned from a test drive in Tims very smart T350t i thought I would share some of the photo’s.

Tim is a supporter of our racing and can be found at most of the race meetings, his company TJF Transport Ltd are a sponsor of ours, helping in the transportation of the engine etc.

Many thanks to Tim and all at TJF Transport for the support this season.

We arrived at snett, managed to get a 50 min test session booked for that afternoon prior to race day, and got out on track, the engine felt very strong, however tha car was not turning in to corners well, with a fair bit of understeer!!  During that test I managed to “cook” the brakes, a pad was binding in the left front caliper and caused it to overheat, thus boiling the fluid.  Then an air lock in the radiator caused a cooling hose to blow, depositing the coolant on the paddock floor, what else can go wrong??

Having fixed these little problems, it was day 2 and out for qually, we managed 3rd on the grid and were very happy indeed.

Race day.  After 6 laps having some fantastic racing and holding on to third, with the very fast Mark Hockin just behind me, and Howard Bryan well behind him, i suffered brake fail whilst trying to brake for Russell Esses, travelling at about 125mph and finding that your brakes have become somewhat spongey is not a feeling I recomend. (video to follow)  After “kissing” the armco and watching the remaining laps from behind the armco, we found that the steering rack had been completely bent, enter Richard Wright of TEAM WRIGHT RACING, who lent us a new rack, Clive and I fitted, used a few cable ties to hold the bonnet down, and we were looking ready for race 2.

Starting at the back of the grid because of a DNF race 1 expectations were not high, however, we had a trouble free race and managed to secure a podium with a 3rd place.  Happy Days.

Having collected “THE  NEW CAR” from Holden Racing, and been out at a very cold Brands and silverstone for a few sessions behind the wheel, I began to look forward to the season ahead with regards to car prep.  So, the car went to Moore Racing just before christmas to have the engine and gear box removed, this done, i collected an “empty” car, the box went to Drenth to be measured so the sequential could be fitted correctly, and the engine went to Grantura Engineering in Blackpool to be refreshed!!!

 This is where it started to go wrong, Drenth, based in holland are a fantastic company, however, like all succesfull motorsport companys there is a bit of a delay around Jan/feb as everyone wants work done, I am told 75%of motorsport income for engineering companys is generated in the first three months of the year!!! Things were starting to get a little tight for time, the engine was back from Grantura, bright red paint job and looking great, we were still waiting for the sequential from Drenth, who also had our H pattern box.  Eventually, the box returned from holland, the car was returned to moore and all looked good for testing prior to Cadwell.  Just when we seemed to getting somewhere moore racing wrote off the Dodge Viper they run in testing at silverstone, this meant they unable to do any other work on our car. 

 The car went to Owen Developments of Oxford, to be run in on the rolling road and the ECU mapped, this took a little longer than expected.  When finally finished “on the rollers” it was ready for setup and testing, however, moore were having issues with “the viper” and our car could not be seen……………  This resulted in missing Cadwell Park (rounds 1&2) but fingers crossed for snetterton (rounds 3& 4).  Viper issues continued with moore and I began to wonder what was going on.  To cut a long story a little short, I collected our unfinished car, and with a lot of help from some very kind people, left the next day for Snetterton with a car that was un tested and not totally ready.  The theory being, use snett as a test, take it easy………