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What a great weekend/circuit to make my belated 2017 Season Debut! Almost inclined to retire from the rest of the season, because it will be hard to better ...
Went okay in the Front Engined FJ. Pretty average quali, having not sat in any racecar since October, I was gradually getting quicker, despite some brake issues, but the session end came round somewhat quicker than I'd expected! Nett result 11th on grid for my first run Cadwell in the Gemini. Saturday's race was great, confidence slowly came back, and I was eventually able to work my way up to 4th overall, (but first in Division B - my own unofficial designation to denote cars without Ford engines!) - I was delighted and very pleased with a best lap of 1.48.9. Sunday's race wasn't quite so 'heroic' ... having to lift off at the start and take to the grass to get around a car that failed to get away, putting me practically to the back, and I took too long to get back past them with the car slightly missing at the top end, I eventually ending up 5th (2nd in Div B!), with my best lap a tad slower than Saturday's best.
Unfortunately not so good in the Triumph TR5 ... first time out since Oulton, after much work by Delta and crew, clutch issues seem to be solved, and engine much cleaner through the rev-range, but then missing above 5000rpm, where much of the performance should be of course, despite a torquey spec. But with it having been on the dyno at 6pm on Friday night (yes, really!), I was delighted to be out at all and I finally had some brand new Yokos to play with. Quali was fun, if not a great performance ... Saturday's race unfortunately resulted in a DNF though ... I'd seen tyre smoke in the mirrors after left-handers, but a touch of rubbing is not unusual in this car with brand new tyres, this however developed a bit more so despite the car handling normally I had just slowed to a 'let's just get to the finish' pace, when I got "black and oranged" ... and on that 'in' lap the tyre finally cried enough. Thanks to the marshals and recovery crew for bringing me back in, guess I should have given it up a bit earlier - sorry! It transpired that we've managed to pull one mounting for the rear trailing arm from the chassis ... must have been all the grip from those new tyres ... (!) ... it's an unheard of failure, especially given that TR chassis are made from girders left over after they finished the Forth Bridge! Delta are investigating ...
Great to be back on track though, lovely weekend, great to catch up with so many people - what a lovely place in weather like that! Same again next year, but 2-3 degrees cooler please!
See you at Brands!
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