The weekend of the 24th and 25th of March was the first 2 rounds of the Production BMW championship on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. The car was also being run in the Project 8 racing saloons series on the same weekend by Ben Woodcock.
23rd March 2012 - Test day
We took the opportunity to book into the test evening on the 23rd of March as this was the first chance to run the E30 since the Brands Hatch Trackday in December.
Since the trackday the suspension has been changed and the car set up by Jody Halse of Climax motorsport and the tyres changed from the old Toyo R888's to the Marangoni Zeta Linea sport semi slicks as required by the series regulations.
With only an hours running time between us there wasn't a great deal of time to get used to the car but a time of around 61s was looking a lot more positive than the times on the December trackday.
24th March 2012 - Qualifying
Having nervously watched Ben qualify the car in Project 8 Racing Saloons and complete 2 15 minute races without any issues it was now my turn behind the wheel.
For qualifying the total entry of 37 cars was split into 2 groups, I went out in the second group and immediately felt reasonably comfortable in the way the car drove, came in 15 minutes later with no real idea of how I'd got on but with a huge grin on my face.
Expecting to be near the back of the grid I was pleasantly surprised to see that my time of 1:00:887 had left me 11th out of 19 in my group and 22nd out of 37 overall. Pole position was set by Ben Winrow with a time of 58:436.
25th March 2012 - Race Day - Race 1
For the races the total entry was split into 3 groups and then each group ran in 2 of the three races, creating grids of 25 cars. I found myself starting in 15th position on the grid which left me fairly central in the road with far to many cars around me for my first racing start.
Sat on the grid I was starting to feel a bit nervous as first the 1 minute board was held up and then the 30 second board. Shortly after the red lights are lit up, and as they're turned off we all go for it. Far to many revs on my part meant for way to much wheel spin, looking in the mirrors lots of cars behind me are making a better job of getting of the line. Looking in my mirrors also took my attention way from changing into second gear and I hit the rev limiter in first for what felt like several seconds. So from 15th on the grid to what seamed like about 22 or 23 by the entry to Druids. It hadn't been an ideal start but I still has all my paint so it wasn't all bad.
In the first couple of laps had a great battle with another E30 whilst trying to get to grips with racing other cars rather than just the clock, eventually got passed and started to pull away. A mixture of other people spinning an the odd over take meant I was slowly moving up the field.
Over the last few laps had a great battle with Stephen Murphy in car number 144. I seamed to be quicker from druids through to the entry to paddock but he'd always out brake me into paddock and get the place back, Great fun, clean racing with no swapping of paint. I eventually came out in front finishing 18th, rather annoyingly being lapped on the final corner.
Post race I was promoted to 17th as a couple of competitors were disqualified. Best lap of 60.023 was a welcome improvement on the qualifying time.
25th March 2012 - Race Day - Race 2
For race 2 I again started in 15 place on the grid, got a slightly better start but still lost a place or 2 into paddock hill bend, a tentative approach to druids lost me a couple more places but I was expecting this being my first race, It really was quite daunting having so many cars all fighting for the corner.
The race went well, making up a few spaces in the early stages, eventually pulling clear of the two cars behind me. The middle of the race was quite quiet but in the last few laps I noticed I was starting to gain on Brian Jones in car 84 so pushed on a fast as possible, occasionally pushing a little too hard and battling the car to avoid spinning. Through out the last lap I was getting very close and had a run on him coming out of the last corner, a straight drag race down the main straight left me just 0.135s behind as the chequered flag was waved.
Best lap of 1:00:110 wasn't quite as quick as race 1 but on a positive note I finished without being lapped.
All in all had a great weekend, the club and other competitors were all very friendly and the results were better than I had expected.
