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.

Lydden Hill 27/10/07 - SEMSEC

The last race of the year in the SEMSEC stockhatch championship was at Lydden Hill on 27 October. I achieved a qualifying session without an engine fire which made a welcome change from the last 2 races!

Started and ended 3rd in class (out of 3) but improved on my previous fastest lap at Lydden by around 1.2 seconds so ended the day happy and with a straight car. Managed to lap a competitor in the class above which makes for a nice end to the season.

It was usefull to have other people in my class for a change as a guage for my performance. My best lap time was approx .8 of a second off of that of the second place guy and 2.4 off of the class winners best lap time so a little improvement is still required.

Now just have to spend sometime sorting the car out over the next couple of months in Preparation for next year were i will hopefully be entering some local 750mc rounds as well as the SEMSEC races.

Brands Hatch 08/09/07 - SEMSEC

Race number two was at Brands hatch on 8th September another great day out with nice dry weather. As with the last round at tydden I managed to have an oil beather problem resulting in a breif pratise sesion. I therefore ended up qualifying at the back of the grid with slight worries about a possible head gasket probelms.

The race thankfully went much better than the pratice and although the only person in my class I managed to beat 1 other car in to padock hill before the race was red flagged due to a crash at druids.

In the restart i again just got past the same fiesta into padock and ended up lapping him before the end of the race which was a real confidence boost as he was in a class which allowed for more modifications.

Went away very happy having again qualified and finished, which allowed be to drive home rather than having to recruit a resue crew! Bring on the next round at Lydden can't wait.

Thanks to Colin and Garath for all the photos of the day, except the one you kindly put on facebook!