Castle Combe Race - 4th May 2009

With the Donington Park Super GT race cancelled we decided to press on with the LMA Eurosaloons single race at Castle Combe on the bank holiday Monday. On the road at 4 am, arriving at the circuit at 8 am .... snore.

Qualifying

It's not a track I know that well and with the weather dry we had a fairly standard setup. The bumps around Camp corner we're a bit more than I'd I've liked and I'll confess that my lines need a fair bit of refining especially at Quarry. Still the lap times came down to 1:14.464 which meant 4th on the grid. But Mark Funnel in his Lotus Exige did one fast lap and got 1:09:500 to claim pole position and the 2nd placed contender was 4.7 seconds behind the Lotus.

I ran out of fuel on the last qualifying lap which was a bit of a worry at the time.

The supension was softened a bit to cope with the bumps at Camp corner for the race.

Mal Davison's Noble unfortunately had a repeat of engine problems and only managed 4 laps before retiring.

Race

The rolling start was fairly uneventful; a bit crowded but able to get past Ilsa Cox to get into 3rd position by Folly with Mark Harrison's Evo just in front. That was pretty much the last glimpse of Funnel's Exige who woud finish 25 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

On Lap 2 I had a chance of getting past the Evo into Folly but backed off at the last minute to save my nose from being chopped off (as the Evo had the corner) and at around 130 mph it's not a good place to exchange bodywork. At the end of that lap the Evo went protective at Camp corner, I got a better line and exit speed and by Folly I was fully alongside. Job done, at least for the Evo, who dropped back.

Laps 1 and 2



Doug Elwood in his Marcos had the bit between his teeth and decided to "keep me honest" by harrying me for the rest of the race until breaking down 2 laps before the end. All in all a good clean race, a supportive crowd of specatators and for a bank holiday, not bad weather!

Best Lap




Result: 2nd overall, 2nd in Class A - 18 points

My best lap: 1.11.626
Current position: 1st in Class A, 5th in the Championship.
Race Report
Timings