Lydden Hill near Dover was made famous by rallycross on BBC Grandstand in the 60s and 70s. The racing circuit is hardly any longer, a mile long, in a bowl, and delightful. As I have not yet got the skill to handle the high speed corners, a small circuit with tight corners is where I seem to do better at this stage in my learning curve. I had a good feeling about the track when I walked it with Richard and Sue Mallock before practice.

Practice
I got the yellow Wasp ready early and was first onto the track for qualifying. Part of getting my adrenaline flowing early in the process, which had been a problem in the past. I had never driven there before, but it all seemed to fit and I got on the pace very early. Richard, watching from the start line, told son Charlie to check the time on his stop watch again when I registered my first lap at 49 seconds! After 4 laps Ray Harper came through, going 1.2 seconds per lap faster, and I followed him for half a lap before he moved slowly away into the distance. The fast guys look so smooth that it's easy to think they are just cruising, but they go away nonetheless. I felt I had the car flying, and was overtaking a lot of other cars, maybe a dozen in the session of 14 laps. Good the for the morale. Even better was Vaughan Thomas who popped into the motor home afterwards and said "Where were you Marcus? Did you practice? I didn't see you!" Yes. I could have kissed him. No-one saw me for the rear wheels smoking

So I was almost disappointed with 9th place, 2.805 seconds slower than pole winner Mark Pierce. But it was nonetheless my best yet. Remember I had qualified 11th in the same car at Brands, but had then visited the greenery twice. So the objective this time was to take a steady start and keep it tidy until I could dice with one of my playmates like Vaughan Thomas or Tony Harman. When I see them I will think of a better word than playmate.

Race

Having made that high adrenaline start to qualifying I felt pretty good going up to the starting line. Richard had put a 4.2 differential ratio instead of the 3.9 as the circuit and its straights are so short. We also put a notch more downforce in the rear wing for the race; more adhesion at the rear. That all seemed to work pretty well.

At the start, with this short differential, the car felt very bright and I got away well. I went past 1 car before Pilgrims and one had gone by me. It felt like I must have taken another in Chessons Drift, a full throttle drifting corner I enjoyed a lot (although the photographic evidence shows I was still 9th at that stage), and we whizzed down to Devil's Elbow two abreast. We were being most gentlemanly and braking to keep station when Richard Marshall, from two rows behind me on the grid, flew through from behind us, a blur of black and chrome car and flailing blond hair. He must have outbraked himself badly and it was a miracle he did not take two or three of us out entirely. He missed David Gibson's right front (white and blue No.55) and he missed my left front  by an inch as he disappeared sideways into the tyre wall on the outside. Kerboom.

That had sorted out the men from the boys. By some extraordinary stroke of luck I was a man. I got past Reg Powell and David Gibson, who must have been more rattled by Marshall than me, and I was on Cliff Robertson's tail (green and yellow No.81) with hardly anyone in view behind me. Dave Facer (the orange  No.68) was only just ahead of him. All those friends of mine had to brake to avoid the Richard Marshall incident and were struggling to accelerate off again up to North Bend.

After another couple of laps I thought I was going to get past Cliff. Up the outside of Dover, up the inside down Hairy Hill. But he suddenly got his act together and slowly edged away. At that moment a Pink Panther appeared in the rear view mirror. It's the Reg Powell Gryphon No.23, 3rd in qualifying, who must have had some intermittent gremlin before roaring off again. I have to say Reg, you looked ragged in my mirrors and ragged when you got past. So I thought, let's follow him, no let's rather not. Good decision Marcus because a lap later Reg spun at Devil's Elbow and crunched into Dave Facer's car parked innocently on the grass verge with a mechanical breakdown. So I had won my place back.

The rest of my gains were by other drivers' misfortunes. Mark Pierce, Dave Facer and Graham Onion (very fast on his first outing in the car he has just bought from Dave Childs) all dropped out with technical problems. After 20 wonderful laps, with Cliff still in my sights, I crossed the finishing line. Only later did I find out I was fourth!

I had not gone faster in the race, in fact a bit slower.  And three finishers behind me had driven faster laps. But I had come through the Marshall incident unscathed and had held it together. My laps had been consistent. The car worked nicely and was reliable. I had even lapped three competitors! My previous best had been 11th place (at Croft and at Cadwell Park), so the 4th was beyond my unspoken dreams.

Statistics
 

Circuit	Lydden Hill, Kent	Fastest test lap	No testing
Fastest qualifying lap	45.370 (79.34 mph)	Qualified in position	9
Conditions	Dry and warm	Number of cars qualified	17
Fastest race lap	45.483 seconds	Number of cars at start	17
Finishing position	4th	Number of cars finished	10
Number of laps behind	same lap, 20 laps completed,  12.982 seconds behind the winner	Average speed	77.59 mph

Paddock chat

Paragraph J 12.3 of the Motor Sports Association regulations says "On any car driven by a person who has not received ten car race signatures on his National "B" Licence, there shall be on the back of the car a yellow square, 7in x 7in, with a black diagonal cross, with strokes six inches long and one inch wide".  This is the L plate for a racer. A beginner. Someone to avoid. You get a signature on your licence from the Clerk of the Course at each meeting if you have finished the race and not picked up any fines or reprimands. So it is with immense pleasure that I managed to finish all of my ten first races, and have not been naughty enough to fail to get signatures. So after this race at Lydden Hill, Richard Mallock and I removed the black cross from the rear of the car and celebrated the coming of age.

On hearing of my result, Martin Covill, who was the first of the great clubmen that I met, put his tongue firmly in his cheek and sent me the following, unforgettable, e-mail:

Hello Marcus,

I have just found out that you came 4th on Sunday. Whilst I am very pleased that you did so well, I feel that you have now reached a stage of competency that might threaten the very fabric of the K Sports organisation. You see, it is like this; Pete Richings comes 4th in K Sports when Daniel is racing and 3rd when he is not. I that case Howard or Tim is allowed to come 4th unless Jim Lindley has managed not to crash. 5th and 6th are also reserved for Howard and Tim. Peter Clark is allowed to come 1st when Daniel is not racing and 2nd when he is. Olive Woodward is always 3rd.

I do hope you understand, but there is no room for newcomers in 4th place. Brian Jordan and Arf Dickens are on the 4th place waiting list.

The 2002 race results commitee is sitting on 16th August to decide the next championship and I suggest you write to them with any claim you may have.

as usual

Martin

By the way, we had an amusing day with Martin Covill at Oakington airfield near Cambridge in July, in our quest for a great cheap circuit for the Clubmans Track Day. We needed to check the track before committing to taking lots of other cars there. Marcus was there early, brushing rally drivers' gravel off the racing line. Martin drove their Mallock EBX over in the company of Tim and Barry Foley, track and racing expert for the day. Oh, you won't see it till Donington so I should spill the beans: the 88 car is newly painted in the "vivid stripe down the middle" style introduced by one Marcus Bicknell on the No.39 Mallock. Tim and Martin say it's the Gulf Le Mans colours backwards. I have to say it's stunning. Just look at these pictures will you?

Anyway. we went round the track towing a trailer stacked with orange cones to mark the potholes. Then Tim let rip.

Oakington is just a perimeter circuit of an ex-RAF airfield, but it's over 3 mile long. A good speed is perfectly feasible. The back straight has a lovely negative-G hump which grabs your attention. Then a series of turns and a chicane before... a fifteen foot wide gap between two concrete posts! The site is also the holding camp for immigrants without papers and is often all locked up! The track goes through the perimeter fence. Oh yes, then there are telegraph poles on the run-off of turn 1, a farmer's tractor that pops up on the back straight, some unprotected earth banks and a lake like Mallory but possible to drive in to. The track is certainly suitable for Caterham jet jocks and rally cars, but we had to turn it down for our purposes.

The Covills were kind enough to let Barry Foley and me drive the EBX for a few laps. Smashing! Thanks guys.

You probably know by now that the Clubmans Track Day will be on 23rd September 2001 at Wroughton airfield near Swindon. A good opportunity to let friends and other new drivers have a go even if they have not got a license. Details on http://www.ksports1600.org.uk/ or from me on 07748 111444.