Lots of problems and a lot of fun!

A very full weekend, with testing on Friday and races Saturday and Sunday. It was a lot of fun but Neil had a lot of technical problems, retiring in the first race and coming second in class to Ian Clark in the second. All this means Neil has slipped to second place in the championship behind Stephen Primett.

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 Race 1 – Saturday 1st July 2006

The real excitement was the race long battle for fourth place. Neil had a good start, holding onto his grid position for the first lap. Next time round a hard charging Ian Clark slipped by. The two were really on the limit, hanging their tails out on the sharp hairpins. They were pretty much together until lap five when Neil had a moment and dropped back. Neil fought back until by lap eleven he was on Ian’s boot lid again.

Ian had been getting increasingly ragged, running wide almost every corner. Neil choose his moment and slipped by. Ian fought back and they were side by side down the pit straight. At the end Neil was braver, braked later and maintained his lead. Then Ian had a mega-moment, spinning off round the back of the circuit, performing a donut to regain the black stuff which upset the marshals. This put Neil more than ten seconds ahead as he crossed the line on his 13th lap, but he was slowing as the engine had cut out and he pulled off.

Tony Crudgington came by, and then Ian who was shown the black and white diagonal flag as the Clerk of the Course wasn’t happy with his driving. Initially Ian thought the race had finished and he pulled off the circuit behind Neil. Mark Aistrup (Escort RS2000), James Christie (Avenger) and Keith Calver (Mini) all went by before Ian regained the circuit a lap down.

David Howard took the chequered flag, followed by Stephen Primett a few seconds later. Then Jason Christie with Tony Crudgington only two seconds behind, although Tony’s engine was suffering and he pulled off immediately after crossing the line.

Race 2 – Sunday 2nd July 2006

The grid for the second race was determined by the results of the first, so Neil and Ian were at the back of the grid. Stephen Primett got the jump on David Howard at the start and this time he maintained his lead. Both Ian and Neil passed James Christie and Keith Calver at the start and got by Mark Aistrup half way round the first lap, although Neil tapped Mark up the back in the process, breaking the rain light on the Escort.

There was chaos at the end of the first lap. Ian went round the outside of Tony Crudgington who slowed in the process. Neil touched Tony up the back causing him to spin and Neil hit the front of the car as well. For a moment, they were all in the gravel. Ian and Neil got away, followed by Keith Calver and Mark Aistrup but James Christie and Tony Crudgington couldn’t get going very quickly and for a few moments it looked like there might be a red flag. They got out of the kitty litter in time and Tony pulled into the pits for a quick check over before continuing a lap and a bit down.

So at the end of the second lap it was Primett – Howard – Jason Christie – Clark – Bray – Calver – Aistrup – James Christie with Tony Crudgington a lap behind. Stephen Primett started to pull away from David Howard for the first few laps before David started to close the gap and got by into the lead on lap eight. Steve hung on in his slipstream and finished a second behind..

Meanwhile Keith Calver pulled off with mechanical problems a few laps from the end. The Mini had been very fast down the straights but didn’t handle to well in the complex. Try as he may Neil couldn’t get by Ian Clarks Capri which got wider and wider as the race went on and Ian took his second class win of the weekend.

Championship Position:-

Stephen Primett 47 + 11 + 11 = 69 Points
Neil Bray 56 + 1 + (1+6-1+1) = 64 Points
James Christie 45 + 8 + 8 = 61 Points***
James Christie 45 + 9 + 9 = 63 Points
David Howard 45 + 8 + 8 = 61 points***
David Howard 45 + 9 + 9 = 63 points

*** Both James and David broke the lap record in both of their races. Thus they get an extra point for each (If you are the only starter in a class you don't get a point for fastest lap, but you do if you break the lap record).

FRENCH FROLICS - The Inside Story

What a super time. OK we didn't get the results we wanted but apart from that it was great.   We went on the Thursday to be there in good time for testing on the Friday.   The journey was eventful. Neil had managed to book the recovery truck and caravan on a tourist rate, but when we got to Dover P&O weren't having that and wanted more than £600 to travel as a commercial vehicle. It took a while, and we missed our booked ferry, but Neil got them to back down!

Shopping in Calais for booze took a while and we got to the circuit about 8 in the evening.   Neil had booked for testing and you could use the track as much as you wanted between 14.00 and 16.00. Good job we signed up for that as we discovered water and oil leaks that we managed to fix.
Towards the end of the first race Mike and I were signalling Neil to slow down as he was well ahead of Ian Clark when the engine cut out. It took quite a while to get the car back to our place in the paddock as the b****y French recovery driver would only tow him off the circuit. We started by changing everything electrical before discovering that a connection between the distributor and Luminition box hadn’t been made properly when playing musical engines the week before.

Needless to say we went over everything very thoroughly, even repositioning the Luminition box in front of the radiator so it would stay cool. Neil and Alistair went off to the town with a big group to watch the football in a bar, the one when England lost! As good football haters Mike and I stayed back at base having a barbeque and drinking beer.

The second race was just as dramatic with Neil making contact on the first lap and we came away with very few points from the weekend, loosing the championship lead. Most people made a dash for the ferry immediately after the race but not us. We had a proper meal and left around 22.30 because as we had a truck we weren’t allowed on the French roads until 23.00.

We made the 1 am ferry OK and had no trouble with P&O this time. However, on the way home from Dover the lights in the truck became dimmer and dimmer until we had none at all. Fortunately the sun had just about come up by this time.
What a fantastic weekend, shame about the results!

Page added 3 July 2006, updated 7 July 2005, 10 July 2006, 28 August 2006 (French Frolics added).

 
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