NEW VIDEO Did you enjoy the video of Croix-en-Ternois? I have processed another one, available on office intranet or high speed modem only (>150 kbps) at a bigger frame size. It's lap 6 and 7, Marcus trying to get past Dave Madgwick (unsuccessfully). Comments by email please (marcus@bicknell.com).

PICTURE 1    Lap 1 leaders at Luffield... but Dan Eagling has already disappeared off to the left. He finished the first lap 1.734 seconds ahead of Peter Clark (followed here by Alan Webb (red), Peter Richings, Mike Evans (blue), Guy Woodward (green), Mike Luck, John Palmer (red) and Neil Bevan (orange).

PICTURE 2    Lap 1 still, the second half of the field. 32 cars on the grid don't forget. Tim Covill (21) has got ahead of Arf Dickens (purple) alongside Adrian Brown, followed closely by Howard Payne, Paul Freeman, Brian Jordan, Richard Mallock (yellow EBX), Jamie Champkin, and Nick Bailey (orange EBX) hiding Marcus. And then some.

PICTURE 3    Lap 1 a few seconds later. Marcus has gone wide and Des Andrews (white and green) is trying to get by on the inside. John Kelly (white and blue) qualified poorly and is about to pounce. More photos below.

PICTURE 4    Wow, is that Mike Luck belching smoke? This is lap 2 when he had snagged Guy Woodward with his nose cone, so maybe that's a tyre burning. Mike made a pit stop then got back into the race. Take a look back at Brooklands where the middle markers are still two abreast and nose-to-tail.

PICTURE 5    Lap 2 a few seconds later, the smoke clearing. Paul Freeman is attacking Brian Jordan who stays ahead for another 5 laps. Marcus (third of the yellow cars) has got past Jamie Champkin (red/blue). John Kelly (white/blue) gets through here as well

PICTURE 6     Probably lap 4. Marcus has got 0.7 seconds ahead of Dick Mallock (yellow EBX) while Nick Bailey in the other yellow EBX has got ahead out of the picture. Look back at Brooklands; is that Chris Karn or another dark red or purple car having a jolly spin?

PICTURE 7    Lap 8 at Luffield: Marcus tries (unsuccessfully)  to get up the inside of Brian Jordan (green). John Kelly is still just ahead of us. Nick Bailey (yellow) and Paul Freeman (red) are ahead.

PICTURE 8    Lap 9: John Kelly has eased ahead. Marcus goes wide to get past Brian and nearly gets taken by Dick Mallock (yellow). Ian Crombie (white/black) is now lurking, as is Stuart McNally in the black Phantom.

PICTURE 9    Lap 10: Marcus tries on the inside this time. Ian Crombie (white/black) has a moment braking behind Marcus and Dick at Brooklands on the next lap and loses 10 seconds or so.

PICTURE 10    Is this lap 11? On the left of the picture Ian Crombie is at an odd angle at Brooklands so maybe that's his incipient spin. Stuart McNally manages to miss him? On the right of the picture, Nick Bailey is holding off Paul Freeman and John  Kelly still.

 
 

View from the back: my report...

This was a homecoming. I first tested a Mallock here, first drove competitively here in March 2001, and have driven here more than any other circuit. So it was all the more rewarding to improve by personal best lap by 3 seconds and to gain 9 places in the race.

Practice

As part of concentrating on attacking more in qualification (I always seem to be faster in the race) I spontaneously increased the front damper stiffness by one click each side as we waited in the assembly area for qualifying. The fast boys drive stiffer cars! It was more of an adrenalin-getter than scientific. It was difficult to find space with 32 cars out practising, K Sports biggest for years, so I was pleased with 1'05.561, two seconds faster than my personal best last year in Ian's car. Not so pleased with 23rd on the grid, but then the other guys were so QUICK.

The car felt the best ever. I have been adjusting cold tyre pressures to get them up to a uniform pressure all round when hot. I was able at Becketts and Luffield to alternate between understeer and oversteer with small control inputs, trying to get maximum power down. This turned out to be very effective in the race.

Race

From the 12th row of the grid you could hardly see the front. It was fantastic. We were well strung out too, well round the corner before the pit straight, so at the green lights there was more space than normal. Copse has changed. They have replaced the gravel trap on the outside with high-abrasive tarmac which would normally slow an errant K Sports car down without destroying it. So there is less reluctance to take Copse at the high speed it deserves. So all the way down the field we were streaming through Copse two or three abreast. I made an okay start, but as I approached Copse, down the pit wall on the right, there were cars on the left slowing a bit and a long gap ahead of me. So I kept driving, Moses-like. Becketts and Luffield similarly.

By the end of the first lap I had got past four cars (according to the MST lap charts available the same evening on the internet) and John Kelly had got past me. I was latched on to Richard Mallock, ex-champion and manufacturer extraordinaire, driving Adrian Lester's Mallock 30 PR EBX. We had quite a dice for five laps or so. He had the speed on the straights by getting the power down earlier, but I could catch him on the corners. I eventually got him at Luffield, my favourite. Then Ian Crombie started attacking him from behind before spinning, and Richard kept on attacking me. Pretty busy.
 

Statistics: Qualifying
 

Circuit	Silverstone National	Fastest test lap	no testing
Conditions	Dry 20°	Previous personal best	1'07.661 in Ian Megson's Mallock 18BW 3 Mar 01
Fastest qualifying lap	1'05.561 (89.99 mph)	Qualified in position	23 out of 32

Statistics: Race
 

Finishing position	14	Number of cars at start	32
Average speed	88.21 mph	Number of cars finished	30
Conditions	Dry 23°	Fastest race lap	1'04.685
Number of laps behind	same lap		Good dice with Richard Mallock

Paddock chat

My brother Julian and his wife Treld came to watch and loved it. Julian's pictures are excellent and I hope you enjoy the action shots at Luffield above.

The continued influx of drivers into K Sports is a matter of great satisfaction to all of us, to be so desirable? Today we saw Alan Webb ( ex-champion on a one-off comeback), Jordan-clad Stuart McNally (who has bought Mick Taylor's black Phantom), Glenn Cantello (renting off Glenn Eagling) and our friend Sheila Marshall who can lap in 1'09 with a lit cigarette in her mouth (just kidding). Brilliant stuff.