North Weald - 14th March 2010

The first event of the year took place at North Weald airfield in Essex. I was my first event at an airfield and the first in the S2000.

Arrived on a cold March morning to find a good turnout of 10 competitors in my class.

Fairly pleased to finish 5th out of ten although two competitors who beat me were in a clio 172 and an Integra type R (the same as my previous cars) so I left the event wondering if the change to the S2000 was such a wise move.

Also the first chance at running the S2000 made me realise I wasn't going to get very far running on the old crusty bridgestone tyres which had come on it.

The regulations concerning tyres had been amended for 2010, they now allowed the road going classes to run on list 1B tyres, so once home the credit card was dusted off , a new set of Toyo R888's were ordered and the ebay hunt for a spare set of wheels started.

New car / new class for 2010

Having enjoyed the 2009 season I was looking for a new challenge for 2010 and a change from front to rear wheel drive. The car of choice was a 2003 Honda S2000

Unfortunately the MSA have done away with the standard production class and therefore I will be running in the road going production class which allows for a number of modifications although I will for the time being leave the S2000 standard.

Also for this year I've decided to enter 3 championships

The Tunbridge Wells MC all circuits - http://twmc.org.uk/

The Sevenoaks & district motor clubs speed league - http://www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com/

The association of central southern motor clubs speed championship & speed challenge - http://www.acsmc.com/

Brands Hatch 12.09.2009

Having missed rounds 5 and 6 due to a long trip to SPA, The Nurburgring and the mountain passes in italy, austria and switzerland I was ready for Round 7

Round 7 took place at Brands Hatch, It's been a while since I last drove brands hatch and would also be my first time on track with the Clio's replacement, A honda Integra Type R

The car performed brilliantly and although I was the only one in my class (another easy class win!) I was very please to finish 34th overall out of in the region of 60 competitors beating amongst others a V6 clio, Civic Type R, MR2 Turbo, Lotus Elise and a number of porsche 924 race cars. Left Brands Hatch very happy and some what disappointed at the length of time until the next round.

The result meant I finished first in class in the Tunbridge wells motor club's all circuits championship 

Lydden Hill 06.06.2009

The fourth round of the year was back at lydden hill, In my class there was myself a clio 172 cup and a honda Integra type R. My practice run started off strong and although the other two closed the gap during the two timed runs I managed to win the event by just 0.25s

It was a huge sense of achievement to gain my first class win.

Lydden Hill 09.05.2009

The third round at Lydden Hill was fairly unadventurous as I was the only one in my class and therefore a class win was a given, but it's all points towards the championship!

Goodwood 25.04.2009

The second round took place at Goodwood on the 25h April, Having never been to goodwood before the lack of run off was fairly daunting. The torrential rain on the way to the circuit didn't help either.

The competition in my class consisted of 4 fiat Punto Arbath's being run by Arbath for a number of motoring journalists. Practice took place on a very tamp Goodwood and the Clios lack of any traction control or ESP really gave the Punto's an advantage.

Luckily by the time we were ready for the timed runs the track had dried out an my times improved until I'd managed to finish just in front of one of the Punto's so I left Goodwood happy.

Lydden Hill 04.04.2009

After a year off from racing I had a go a sprinting, First of all joined a the Tunbridge Wells Motor Club (http://www.twmc.org.uk ) and decided on the A1 production cars up to 2.0l class of their all circuit sprint championship.

Next job was to find a car which came in the form of a 2001 Renault Clio 172, The clio seamed like a good choice as it's light weight, quite powerful for a 2.0l and cheap to buy and run

Having found a car I had to complete a few minor tasks in order to be allowed to race it, This only involved making a timing strut, adding yellow tape to the -ve battery wire and indicating off on the standard ignition.

The car itself had to be standard so the only cost was a set of Yokohama Prada's which came just £136 for all four.

The day itself went really well apart from having to get up at 5.30am! The sprinting consists of a 2.75 lap pratice, 2 timed runs of 1.75 laps and as there was time a third timed run which doesn't count towards the championship.

Although I was beaten by the other Clio 172 (only because it was the lightweight cup version I'm sure!) I was pleased to see my times drop through out the day starting at around 97.7S with a best time of around 95.3 seconds for a lap and three quaters of Lydden from a standing start.

Now looking forward to round two at Goodwood.