North Weald - 11th September 2011

Last trip to North Weald of the year took place on the 11th of september, the weather forecast promised lots of rain so I arrived with full wet weather gear to be greeted by bright sunshine.

Luckily the issue with the GT3 in my class the day before at Brands hatch hadn't been too serious and the car was back out , although this effectively stopped any chance of a class win.

As predicted I left North Weald with the 2nd, 2nd in class of the weekend, a win would have been nice but 2 2nd places adds lots of valuable points for the various championships

Brands hatch - 10th September 2011

The one and only visit to Brands Hatch of the year was for the Tunbridge Wells motor clubs annual sprint.

Arrived not expecting to do all that well as there were 2 911 Gt3's another CSL and a BMW Z3m coupe all in my class as well as several other potentially quick cars.

The practice run consisted of of 2.5 laps of which the first 1.5 laps were timed. Hoping to be 3rd of 4th after practice so was very please to see I was 1st with a time of 95.76 with the modified 996 GT3 2nd with a time of 97.07 and the 997 GT3 RS in third with a time of 98.14. everyone else in the class was over 100s.

Unfortunately after the practice run in it became apparent that the the 996 GT3 was having some issue and wasn't going to be able to take part in the timed runs, real shame but did relieve some pressure.

After the first timed run all was still looking good, I'd gone slightly faster with a time of 94.53 with the closest rival in the 997 GT3 RS a couple of seconds behind on 96.23 so all was looking good.

Going into the last run with a 1.7s advantage must have given me a false sense of security as not only did I fail to better my time but the 997 GT3 RS found just over two seconds to snatch the win. Still left happy as I turned a possible 3rd place into a second (all be it at the expense of the 996 GT3)

The result leaves me with a score of 107 in the Tunbridge wells motor club all circuits championship with the second placed car on 98 so this championships looking very positive

North Weald - 28th August 2011

Arriving at North Weald at the end of August I had no idea what competition I'd face as I'd entered very late and therefore not seen the entry list. Arriving at the venue the two usual 911 GT3' s in the class had been joined by a third.

After the two practice runs I was lying 2nd in class which was a very positive result consid

ering the competition.

This good form unfortunately didn't last, noting that the GT3's were very close behind I tried too hard in the first timed run, leaving braking for the roundabout far too late meaning the time was slightly slower and I was now lying 4th in class although slightly annoyingly my practice time would have given me third.

All was not lost though will still had two timed runs left but very heavy rain 5 minutes before the 2nd timed run would effectively ruin any chance of bettering our first times. one of the most positive results of the

day was that on the wet surface I was in second place just 0.22 seconds off of the leader.

Lining up for the third timed run I had accepted that 4th place was as good as I was going to do as the track still looked slightly damp. I was the last to run in my class so was slightly confused when the first of the gt3's came over the line in a very similar time to the previous dry runs, the 2nd of the GT3's was then not far off of the first timed runs so when the last of the GT3's posted it's best time of the day I thought I had a chance of snatching either 2nd or 3rd.

The run went well, getting a much better braking point for the roundabout and therefore getting better drive out of it, as I cam through the second to last corner everything felt good (and apparently the times were looking equally good) how ever it wasn't to be. Push a bit to hard into the last corner resulting in quite a lot of understeer, tried to correct it with lots of throttle but just ended up spinning. Oh well 4th in class, my first spin in the CSL and a lot of fun.

Goodwood - 6th August 2011

3rd trip of the year to Goodwood was on the 6th of August for the Brighton and Hove motor club's Eagle sprint. As with the previous Goodwood events the course was a single lap of the Goodwood circuit.

The first practice run is 2 laps of the circuit, The first went well giving a time of 95.67 which was around a second faster than I previously managed at Goodwood, however the second lap didn't go quite so well as I ran out of tarmac on the Lavant corner and briefly took to the grass, no damage but didn't help the times or confidence.

On to the timed runs and having run off the circuit in practice and seeing a few drops of rain in the air I went for a slightly less aggressive approach with a time of 96.43 which was still a respectable time.

Second run in the afternoon was a bit better at 95.43s, good enough to take the class win by over 6 seconds and 10th overall very pleased to finish so high up the overall result and always a pleasure to come in front of a Porsche 997 GT3 RS.

Only July and already looking forward to next year

Well it's only July and I'm already been looking at options for next year, the sprinting is good fun but in the back of my mind I've always had some circuit racing as a goal so I've bought a BMW E30 320i to use in the production BMW championship.

The car is a 1986 320i and has almost ready for racing with just a few minor details to get it finished.

Can't wait to get it on a trackday.

Debden - 10th July 2011

After a disappointing class turn out for the event at Lydden hill the day before a total of 16 competitors in my class for the Borough 19 motor clubs sprint at Debden was very reassuring. The event took place on a revised circuit layout which made an interesting change to the standard layout used in the past.

Arriving at the event the two cars to beat were likely to be the two porsche 911 GT3's, one a modified 996 and the second a 997 GT3 RS.

By the end of the event I was in third in class which was the best I'd really expected, a respectable 0.49s behind the 997 GT3 RS and just over 2s behind the 996.

a video of the event is here youtube

Lydden Hill - 9th July 2011

The SEMSEC 2 3/4 lap sprint at Lydden took place on the 9th June. A fairly poor turn out meant we had a class of just 4, which was very unfortunately reduced to 3 when a competitor snapped the key off in the ignition on the way to the first practice.

The two remaining competitors in my class were in much older less powerful cars so the class win was quiet inevitable, still good fun and all track time is worth while. The championship points were also very welcome!