With Dave working flat out on developing the business end of VehicleRepairs2U, Sandy accompanied me to Croft over what proved a glorious weekend of sun and warmth. What a difference it makes to have dry, bright weather especially at such a beautiful location as Croft. Robin Jones also made it on race day to man the pitboard, providing essential data during the event. Not least of this is where I am lying in class and how close I am to the car in front and behind. Once the pitstops start it is virtually impossible to gauge this information but it directly affects how hard I need to push.
Qualifying saw me 8th out of 12 Class C cars, 32nd out of 40 overall. Just 1 second quicker would have seen me in 4th so I was optimistic for a good race. In the end I managed to climb to 5th in Class, and ended up 19th overall. It was an action packed race, especially towards the end where I managed to catch and pass a Class C BMW but spent a few ‘at limit’ laps to try and pull away. Given the heat and the pace, the car was sliding all over the place as the tyres started to overheat and I had one excursion at Turn 1 which fortunately didn’t cost any time.
At the end of the race in Parc Ferme I was instructed by a marshall to report to the Clerk of the Course with my camera footage, which is never a good sign. In the event it was an investigation concerning an unsafe release of a car in front of me during the pitstop. The crew had pushed the car into my path as I was driving down the pitlane, requiring me to take evasive action. The driver of the other car was awarded 3 points on his race licence despite having no say in the matter. Apparently the driver is responsible for the pitcrew’s actions, something I was unaware of up until then!