Mallory Race **** RACE WIN ****

As the day came to a close we lined up in front of the 60's style pit garages in qualifying order. Unfortunately I did not have my video camera with me for this round so the only pictures I have are some long shots from John. They do however show the order and the gap I had back to the rest of the pack later in the race. The run out to form on the grid at Mallory is almost a complete lap so it was a good opportunity for lots of tyre and brake warming, which I fun quite enjoyable!
I had a tense moment waiting for the lights, frantically trying to remember what revs to use for the start! I got a good start when the light went out but John C had a flying start, passing James and I on the inside whilst we were barely moving. The first corner is always fun in a race but for that corner to be Gerrards and will just a small lift after the drag from the standing start it was always going to be a time for a short intake of breath. The front end was nice and responsive so I drove around the outside of James into Gerrards, got a good run through the middle and end of the corner to slipstream John down the back straight and take 1st place in class (3rd place in the race) into turn2. As we exited the hairpin and powered through the Devils Elbow, I took a look back to see where John was and as I brought my attention back to the straight in front I saw there was a red flag, worse still Gordon and Rob had responded very quickly and were doing half my speed. The next few seconds were, how should I put this........ interesting is a little bit of an understatement. The car was a little squirmy as I tried to slow the car down and miss the two cars in front, which madly scanning the track for the reason for the red flag.

So we went around again and lined up for the second time. This time I got a better start (remembered what revs to use, well it has been 5 months!) and kept my place. Rob and James had a little contact as they both went for 2nd place and because of the distraction, I was able to go around the outside of James as we entered Gerrards. James was later to drop out because of the contact. From lap one I just concentrated on keeping in touch with Rob in the class A BDN and get some space between me and John in 4th overall. For the first 5 laps I managed to keep the gap to Rob down to 4 seconds and had a 3 second gap back to John. Keeping up with Rob was harder as the laps ticked by as well started to pass back markers, all of which were very well behaved but its hard to make up the time you loose following somebody though the slower corners. I did find I had more pace potential than I qualifying had shown, when I had to run a tight line into Gerrards to pass a back marker. I found I could run that line at the same speed I had been entering when I was on the racing line. Towards the end of the race I had a 4 to 5 second gap back to 2nd in class (4th overall) and tried to ensure I kept the lap times coming down slightly each time but without over pushing the car or taking too many risks. Its hard to judge gaps at Mallory, every time you go around the hairpin the following cars look really close and when you fire out of Gerrards and down the back straight they seem miles back. As the fuel came down I managed a couple of laps in the 50's even though I was running a very tight line out of Gerrards to minimise the risk, most of the improved lap time coming from a better entry speed at Gerrards which takes a little bit of practice to build up to. By this time I had completed 24 laps of the circuit (one of the benefits of a short lap) and had a good feel of the grip levels. The last two laps seemed to take quite a while and I must admit I was looking at the lap counter and trying to work out how many more to do when I saw the chequered flag and crossed the line for 3rd overall and 1st in class C. How come I always miss the last lap board?
So first outing of 2007, Pole in class, Race Win and Lap record for Class as well. Good start to the season :)

So I was going to leave this post at that, but I can't finish without some congratulations. Obviously the first needs to go to Gordon for the Class A win but maybe more importantly to Tim H who managed a complete Qualify and Race without bending his car, excellent show Tim! A good round of applause for all of the other racers who have complete major changes of the winter including those who have moved to Class B with complete engine transplants. 2007 should turn into a very interesting battle in Class B with the new cars, a challenge for you there Paul!. Finally congratulations and warm welcome to our many new competitors for this year, its a great series to race in and even more interesting when you have lots of new faces. Excellent!