After a long winter working on the newly-acquired car, itís time to test it, and me, against the K Sports compatriots. I got tremendous pleasure in getting the car prepared and to the assembly area for our qualifying after all the workÖ Richard Mallockís initial set-up in October, Paul Freeman's engine overhaul, Ian Megsonís suspension, fuel system, electrics rebuild and metalwork, Dave Riddleís painting. The car has had about 250 hours work including my maintenance, fibre-glass repairs and rear end rebuild (after the Castle Combe biff).

Once in the assembly area, all thoughts of my own car were replaced by the sight of 24 immaculate and colourful K Sports cars. Firstly, there were more cars than on any grid of ours last year (and regulars like Alan Avery, Guy Woodward and Adrian Brown still to come). Secondly, there were five drivers making their first K Sports appearanceÖ Marc Weyer, Ian Crombie, Kevin Burnham, Des Andrews and Adrian LesterÖ so our efforts to get new drivers into the formula have been successful. Thirdly, the preparation and colourful finish of all of the cars were stunning. Kathy Covill said the line-up looked like a packet of M&Ms. Of special note were the four matching cars prepared by Eagling Motorsport, Covillís Duoscan orange EBXs with stock car painted lettering, Mike Luck and Jamie Champkinís 24/7 matching paint jobs, Paul Freemanís makeover with polished aluminium undernose and a total of 6 EBX bodies (just one last year).

Adrian Lester had come off during testing on Friday at the left hander after the paddock crossing and bust his EBX fibre glass body. Having worked all day with Russ he got the car to the line, but not looking totally immaculate. An ìoffî does detune a driver, so it was not surprising he qualified last.

Qualifying

I keep telling myself and others that the more I try, the slower I go. But I fail to listen when I get into the middle of qualifying and start pushing. The problem is that a car driven to the limit of braking at the entry to a slow corner gets increased washout at the front (understeer) and delays the moment that power can be applied. So the entry speed into the straights is slower. The result in my case is that my fastest lap (1í2.918) was on my 7th lap out of 20. What a drag. There would have been some improvement if I could have kept it smooth and tidy. Actually I also came up behind 5 medium paced cars and then was swallowed up by Dan Eagling, James Lindley and Peter Clark (who managed to get extraordinary speed out of Chris Hartís venerable Mallock Mk 16). But my time was under 4 seconds slower than Daniel, and gave me 13th place, one of my best qualifying performances.

Click here for qualifying times: http://www.mst-group.co.uk/newsinglesessionpage.asp?table=21911qu1k16&round=pembrey

Dave Madgwick had engine overheating problems which culminated in his blowing oil out of the exhaust. This is a pretty sight for the spectators only. Chris Burnhamís engine overheated as usual. The new bugs all did well, Marc Weyer ending up only one tenth of a second behind me.

We are all a bit nervous this evening about the first corner of the race, the right hand hairpin. The only solace for me is that I am behind Paul Freeman and Ian Mitchell on the grid, with Brian Jordan and Jamie Champkin behind me. Surrounded by maturity and sagesse. The wide boys (Covill, Weyer and Crombie) are on the other side Ö but not for long I bet.

Race

Into the hairpin from the start. From left to right: Ian Mitchell (red wing) Adrian Lester (distant yellow nose) Brian Jordan (blue and green No.10) Simon Kelly (white with light green wing tabs) Jamie Champkin (Black helmet) Chris Burnham (black helmet 16) Howard Payne (5) Marcus (11) Ian Crombie (65) and Mark Weyer (24). Busy!

My start turned out well. I got to the hairpin on the outside and turned in quite late and was able to accelerate past a couple of cars. I was past Ian Mitchell and Howard Payne, maybe a couple of others, and was in ninth place or so for 6 laps, chasing Paul Freeman, Neil Bevan, Tony Pouyanne and Tim Covill I think. Fun. The real thing. Up there with drivers I respect and keeping up with the pace. This year, there is prize money for the top ten finishers, not just the joy of championship points, so I was consciously suffering the temptation of cooling it a bit to be certain of finishing. I should have given in.

Marc Weyer, impressive in his first meeting, had a look at me from behind and then dropped back. From time to time we saw Peter Clark on the grass, then in our mirrors, then a blue speck in the distance as he attempted again and again to catch Dan Eagling.

Then Howard Payne got his EBX together and started coming back at me. At the end of our 7th lap Howard made a dive down the inside at Hatchetts, the famous hairpin, and locked up the brakes. I let him go and darted back up the inside to take the place back. The smile on my face was fatal. I think I thought I could stay ahead of him. History and the MST lap charts (we all carry transponders for timekeeping this year) records that I set the seventh fastest lap time of the race, over seven tenths faster than my qualifying. But clearly it was a fluke. You can go round and round faster and faster till you come off.

The Top Ten fastest race lap times by each driver (www.MSTworld.com):
 

Race Finish	Car	Driver	Fastest race lap
1	2	Dan Eagling	59.346
2	69	James Lindley	59.922
3	1	Peter Clark	60.630
4	3	Peter Richings	60.898
DNF	77	Mike Luck	61.718
DNF	5	Howard Payne	62.184
DNF	11	Marcus Bicknell	62.198
5	21	Tim Covill	62.213
7	7	Paul Freeman	62.324
6	19	Neil Bevan	62.341

At  the fast right hander before the pits, nearly a lap later, I was just too fast and lost it. My car spun, on the track. As I came to a standstill at right angles to the track, Howard came round the same corner and could not avoid me. The centre of his front hit my right front pretty hard. It was enough to put us both out of the race, to bend his chassis and to bend my wheel, suspension arms and steering rack. Disaster. I was my fault to have spun, but the consequences were costly in repairs. Luckily neither driver was hurt.  I was tasting humble pie and the acrid smoke of zeal which exceeds talent. I apologised to Howard and the trucks came to get our carcasses back to the paddock.

I find out on Monday that my chassis is bent too. The inertia of the engine was enough to bend the chassis members in the opposite direction to the impact, where the engine mount is bolted on. Expensive and maybe more than two weeks work (see reports at the top of this page).

Click here for race results:
http://www.mst-group.co.uk/newresultpage.asp?table=21911rc1k16&round=pembrey

Statistics
 

Circuit	Pembrey, South West Wales	Fastest test lap	no testing
Fastest qualifying lap	1:02.918	Qualified in position	13
Conditions	Dry, hazy sun	Number of cars qualified	24
Fastest race lap	1.02.198	Number of cars at start	24
Finishing position	dnf	Number of cars finished	19
Number of laps behind	n/a	Average speed	80.65 mph