Well spotted Roy. That would be because we had the bonnet come up at 80mph during testing! Those bonnet straps sure do a fine job of holding it down when you're at speed
Not a pleasant experience to suddenly be blind at speed
- Mark Sumpter, who raced with us at Snetterton, said there wasn't a race team that hadn't had that happen to them, so I feel I'm in good company but it sure made a mess of the bonnet hinges! It also slightly bowed the bonnet, which is why the straps no longer close it that last half inch. Given how bloody heavy the thing is I can see an ally bonnet coming on the development list
!! Fortunately it didn't damage the roof or anything else.
Ian had done five 13 hour days to get the car repaired after the pounding it took at Snetterton: re-lined brake shoes all round, fix for the accelerator to stop it sticking open, fitting bigger chokes to make it breath better and fit larger idle and main jets to richen the mixture appropriately, pull the engine and gearbox to send the gearbox away for rebuilding and then refitting them. plus a miriad of minor things. Pete at Cogbox pulled out all the stops to rebuild the box which was basically knackered: we had to put new syncro's and bearings throughout. Unfortunately Pete ran out of time to fit the LSD so that will have to wait until winter. But the car now feels tight as a drum and better than it did before the last race, so every time out we're making it a better race car.
Ian and I decided (with hindsight wrongly) that we would forgo the testing day on Friday - both of us were too knackered to contemplate a big day Friday and then another big day on race day. We both knew the Indy circuit so thought we would be okay. Wrong! Boy, the additions to make it the GP circuit makes it fast! There's nothing quite like a 80mph full-on slide to keep you awake, which is what I had through Clark curve just as you come onto the main straight because I carried way more speed in than I had previously done when doing track days on the shorter Indy circuit. Won't make that mistake again because it's not pleasant learning a circuit in the heat of competition
Unsurprisingly we qualified last. But it gave me the spectacle of seeing a standing start from a great vantage point - previously they've all been rolling starts, so that made it interesting. Now imagine 46 cars going over Paddock Hill bend four abreast.... For those who don't know Brands this is one of the scarier bends in the UK: blind, off-camber, 80mph with the car unloaded because you've just had it hard on the anchors at the end of the pit straight, with an absolutely HUGE descent with a big bump in the middle. In a 60 year old, rear-engined, swing-axle car. Niiiiice. The MGB in front of me got off to a decidely shabby start but I held back as I figured under-taking him on the first bend, and Paddock at that, to be beyond brave. But at the Druids hairpin he braked early and I snook up the inside. We then had a fantastic ding dong of a race for two laps before being lapped by the front runners. He snook through when I inadvertantly left the door open through Graham Hill but by then we had reeled in a lovely coloured Corvette Stingray struggling with the tight and twisty circuit and we both got through. Next time at Graham Hill I had my closest "moment" so far when two Chevrons (they hunt in packs these things) came round the outside. I'd seen the first one... but not the second one. Obviously we were all aiming for the same turning in point but they were travelling a lot faster, so the first one went through and then I aimed the car squarely for the same point on the track, effectively shutting the door on the second Chevron. I had what I think is a brief flash of developing racecraft, sensing there was a car to my right, glanced over and realised the nose of a Chevron was now level with my door. The rest of it was on the grass... so I twitched the car in tighter than I dared, it held the line through the bend, and we went round two abreast through what should've been a single car space. I then remembered to breathe and he accelerated off into the distance. Ian and I swapped in a shortened race and came home about fourth from last as a couple of cars had expired I think - we were the last race of the day so haven't seen the race results yet.
Irrespective Brands was always going to be a bit of a laugh. My son has started early on with racing although we will have to sort blocks if he's to reach the pedals...
and the the pit girls did a fantastic job of cleaning the car. Noticeably more blokes came over to admire the car at this race than previously too, can't think why...
The next outing for the car is Classic Le Mans next weekend - no, we're not racing but just driving the car down along with the bus, so if you see us do come over and have a chat. It would be nice to put a few more faces to names
. Cheers, Steve
) and keep it going!
