North Weald - 4th April 2010

Having watched through the video footage from the previous event at North Weald I left for the second event of the year. I was positive about improving on the previous efforts in round 2 which was back at North Weald and looking forward to the event which had attracted 20 competitors in my class.

However all was to go slightly wrong just a mile from the venue when I managed to hit a deer damaging the front bumper, Thankfully no other damage, or so I thought.

So the pre practise preparation involved lots of gaffer tape and bumper repairs rather than the normal thinking about the task in hand and walking the course, but as I was there I may as well carry on, all be it in a slightly worse mood than normal.

The two practise runs went to plan although when returning to the paddock after the second I noticed that the engine management light was on.

With no way of telling why the engine management light had come on and not wanting to cause any unnecessary damage I was left with a difficult decision to make as to wether to carry on with the timed runs on not.

Rightly or wrongly I though having traveled this far I'd better at least put 1 timed run in which despite having visions of exploding engines in the back of my mind was good enough for 10th out of 20 in class, and points towards the SDMC speed league, so the day wasn't a complete loss.

On arriving home and plugging the car into a diagnostics computer in became apparent that the secondary air pump which pumps warm air into air the inlet when the engine's cold had got damaged in the earlier accident, So in hindsight I could have carried on.

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.