I’ve been woefully poor at keeping this blog up to date but really there was nothing to report last year after the already well reported season cancellations and truncation. We spent the last part of 2019 and all of last year chasing an unfathomable misfire that left us not competing in a single race last year despite qualifying in 3.
On the last meeting of 2020 at a very wet Castle Combe we at last found the cause of the misfire as being a broken connector on an injector. This sent us storming into qualifying and climbing all the way up to third before the gearbox broke, thus rounding out the non existent season in typical fashion.
We have started 2021 on a far more positive note, with a fresh gearbox and a raft of upgrades on the car leading all the way up to our first race of the season at Thruxton on 2nd May.
Thruxton May 2nd 2021
Saturday morning began with packing the van before hitching up the trailer and loading the car. Feels like an age since I last did this!
I set of for the 2.5hour drive at about 11.30 with a planned stop in to see my parents on the way before arriving at the track at about 3pm. first things first was to have a new set of AO52s fitted to my TD 1.2s ready for either Brands or Donington depending on how my current set looked after this weekend.
Within half an hour of that I had sold the part worn AO50s to a fellow competitor so I didn't need to bring them home.
Towards the end of the day the paddock began to thin out as the day's racing came to an end so I staked a claim in the designated Tin Top area for Sunday and set about setting up.
Just minutes after I had the car under the gazebo the mother of all hail storms hit and I began to pray that this wasn't a sign of weather to come tomorrow.
all set up. Quick Jack earning it's keep
SUNDAY -
After another pleasant stay at The Holiday Inn at Stone Henge I arrived back at the circuit for 8.30 and Jon arrived soon after from his hotel near Bristol. We had plenty of time to catch up, go over the changes to the car, set tyre pressures and discuss strategy before qualifying at 12.30.
Everything felt good but it was with some trepidation that I took the car to the assembly area trying the gearbox for the first time since the rebuild and then on to the track to test the whole package for the first time...
Assembly area, ready for qualifying
2019 was the last time I raced here so it took a couple of laps to start settling in begin turning up the wick. The car felt great and I could tell there was plenty of potential that I was still to find. Sadly after 10 minutes a safety car was deployed for a stranded car so I opted to pit and let Jon out to complete qualifying. He had never raced at Thruxton before and as he's a paying driver I needed to let him have as much time as possible.
We had already decided that after last season, the aim was to get to the end of the race and not worry about position but of course we are both racers... And fortunately for me Jon is a talented driver despite having far less experience than me. He set our fastest time and put us P6 on the grid of 27 cars. We were happy with that!
It is clear that the car is much more lively with the weight loss and an absolute joy to drive on the limit. For Thruxton though you really need a whole bottle of Brave Pills to get the most out of it and clearly Jon was half way through his bottle already!
Interestingly, in a demonstration of the constant march of progress in racing, my P5 qualifying position in 2019 was a whole second off our P6 time this year!
Anyway, we spent most of the afternoon feeling quietly confident and maybe a little smug that we had nothing to do to the car other than top up fuel, reduce tyre pressures, (fronts were 34psi and rears at 32 after quali) and carry out a precautionary bleed of the brakes (which were awesome by the way). All was calm in Camp Lord Motorsport. Until we were called to the assembly area before the race at 4pm.
Suited up, I jumped into the car while Jon started to walk over to assembly and I pressed the start button.. nothing!
I guessed straight away that the signal lead must have come off the starter so we made a frantic attempt to jack the car up and get under to reconnect it but all to no avail. We ditched the idea called for help to push and I reached the assembly area with 30 seconds to go before were were sent out on to track.
My head was all over the place... Not my normal Zen state before a race start and also in the panic the cameras had not been turned on either.
I reached the grid and before long the red lights came on. And then off very quickly and of course I lit up the tyres getting mugged by 4 or 5 cars into the 1st corner.
It's been a while since I've started a race right in the middle of the pack and I was quickly reminded that it gets the juices flowing very quickly!
I managed to keep it clean through the complex, passing a couple of cars before heading out onto the back part of the circuit where the speeds build quickly. On lap 1 this is where the drama happens when tyres are cold and blood is hot. But again all went well and continued the chase to recover my position.
By the end of the first lap I was back up to P7 and tucked up behind a quick little Fiesta where I stayed, briefly changing places with him for the next few laps until I finally made a move stick on lap 6 which brought us up behind an altogether trickier competitor in a Proton and with a reputation for aggressive defending. But within 1 lap I forced a mistake from them, using the newly found awesome stopping power and got past hoping that he may hold up the fiesta who was still hot on my heels.
This strategy worked for a couple of corners but then the Fez was behind me again.
This is where I should have finished the last of the brave pills and taken Church flat but I must have left them back in the paddock because I just couldn't quite get there and consequently, each lap the Fiesta would be on me again by the end of the lap.
During this battle we managed to reel in a couple more cars ahead until I was up to 4th. And it nearly all ended when our Fiesta friend decided to go for a gap on the inside into turn 1 that really wasn't there and punted me in the rear quarter sending me into a 100mph drift. In my mirrors he was also taking the corner sideways but we both held it and continued our battle.
By lap 11 I was in 3rd when the safety car was deployed again so I dived into the pit to hand over to Jon.
Our mandatory 2 minute pit stop got elongated by another 22 seconds when he was held at the pit exit while the Safety Car came past and we rejoined the race in 8th. However, there were still a few cars ahead still to stop so we were comfortable with the position.
And sure enough, although Jon had a much quieter race than me, he constantly banked some great lap times even though again the tyres overheated towards the end and he brought the car home in 4th, 7 seconds behind 3rd but not a gap he would have closed. Had there been no safety car it might have been different but then the whole race might have been different.
More important than our 4th place was our 1st in class and over a lap ahead of 2nd. We really couldn't have asked for more.
So, some damage to repair to add to the list before Brands on the 22nd but nothing major. Just how I like a weekend's racing to end.
