Well survived! Sounds a bit like our Donington....our Future Classics 80s race was yesterday - although rain was threatening, qualy stayed dry and we got our usual back of the grid position - having had a slightly quicker lap disallowed for track limits (smack my wrist - but I was giving a quicker car room so got offline, honest, guv!).
Come the race it was again threatening to rain but held off, then halfway through, just as we'd signalled my partner to pit, there was an almight bang, and a Morgan blew his engine on the pit-straight, pulled up on the grass by the marshals post across from the pits with flame billowing from underneath, and the driver doing an olympic qualifying evacuation and clearance of all the circuit barriers........cue Safety Car as my mate pitted and I climbed in - so sat in a queue of 5 at pit exit for the Safety Car "snake", did two laps behind it, then they red-flagged the race.
I was a bit grumpy but then they announced they'd give us a 20 minute single driver race at the end of the programme (don't know whether they'd asked the marshals! ) so I got my first experience of a rolling start at about 6.30 - by which time the rain had set in, soaked the track for the preceding Swinging Sixties race, and then eased a little for us. We did a quick change to the Avon "wets" which we haven't used before - but I was pleasantly surprised that I had some grip.......managed to pass a couple of Porsches as proper racing passes, and by the end of the race several others who'd ended up off the track - the last a Tuscan in the kitty litter at McLeans, prompting the Clerk to throw a slightly early Chequered - tho by this time I could hardly see it as the sun had come out low in the sky and I was driving down exhibition straight and the pit straight with one hand shielding my eyes from the glare.........
One of the cars I'd passed came blasting past me down the Craners as I cruised round waving thanks to the Marshals - and came up to me afterwards to apologise for passing under yellow - he thought I had a problem. I explained that I'd slowed after the Chequered and the look of surprise was priceless........"I never saw a chequered flag - I just thought they'd stopped the race again......" Turns out it was only his second race
Good fun this racing lark........
