When I look back at these reports from my retirement armchair I will wonder why I entered these non-championship races for 6 litre high-speed Le Mans cars! My car has 120 hp in a sealed engine against the 350 hp of a dozen of the runners. Glutton for punishment? Desire to improve? Well it's mostly fun.

This was my second Castle Combe of the year. My decision to go was influenced by the presence of the Classic Clubmans crew, racing ex-championship at the HSCC's invitation. A good opportunity to watch, as the photos below will testify. Their driving was exemplary (and fast) compared to the idiots in FF1600.

I was on my own during qualifying, no-one to follow. No incidents, just not very fast. 19th out of 22 qualifiers.

The Race

Dave Green alongside me on the grid disappeared like a rocket in his Mazda rotary powered Daren; he must have had problem in qualifying because he went on to win the race after the big guns incurred penalties. I was hanging on to the Tuscan of Pete Osborne and the Bowlby Clubmans of Ginger Marshall (who qualified ahead of me by 1 second and 2 seconds respectively), with the incentive of catching them hand over fist into Quarry and through the twisty bits. But on the three straights they inexorably pulled away. That is, until Mike Roberts spun on lap 3 at  Quarry and stalled apparently (maybe a mechanical failure), with the car partly on the track at the exit. So the Mountbattens came out (or are they Battenburgs, the yellow and black quartered flags?) Anyway, they mean "the race leader must slow down sufficiently ( to around 50 mph maximum) and all competing cars must line up in order behind the race leader who will act as the pace setter. No overtaking is permitted. The field will remain in close formation, at reduced speed, for as long as it takes to clear the obstruction or remove the hazard, whatever its nature. Competitors who fail to slow down sufficiently or who overtake under the Yellow/Black flag, thereby gaining advantage, may be excluded or otherwise penalised." (MSA Blue Book 16.1.p.)

So, Bob Light in the N°1 6.1 litre Jade, should have slowed to his walking pace. Instead, having failed to see the Yellow/Black flags first time round, he came screaming past to lap me for the first time. The second and third place men had seen the flags and slowed behind me. Then Bob saw them and "slowed" as well, although as I soon found out his "idling along in sixth" on those long Castle Combe straights, was the speed of me with 120 hp flat out in fourth, which is top gear! As I was piggy in the middle with Bob's pursuers behind me and keen to close up, I did my best to close on Bob to get the bit right where it says "The field will remain in close formation". The rest of the field were pottering along at 50 mph (or less maybe) as the regs say, so a lap and a half after Bob "slowed" I could see the field ahead of us as we approached Camp Corner just before the start finish line. At the back of the group were of course the Tuscan and the Bowlby that I had been chasing. What a gift. As the green flags were waved to Bob I nailed the throttle, waving the two pursuers past at the same time, and screamed off after my sparring partners. We got to Quarry in a frightful mêlée with the backmarkers (including me) trying to sort out their order, two abreast, and Bob and the pursuers carving through the field to make it three abreast. I got alongside the Tuscan but again he stretched out down the field and order was indeed restored. Fun.

All this excitement was too much for some of the front-runners, and three more cars tangled and were out of the race. Bob Light was, I think, penalised for the Battenburg infraction, and possibly Sam Allpass in the works Jade... but forgive me if I'm wrong when the reports appear on Thursday. Actually, I have just checked on the MST timing page and I see the note "Cars 1 & 33 Penalised 60 Seconds Ref J.16.1(m)". Sub paragraph (m) describes the black flag with white number, which calls the car into the pits. Sub-paragraph (p) describes the yellow and black quartered flag. Maybe their "offence" was not going in when called. Anyway, I got the numbers right.

So whereas last time I felt like the coconut in the coconut shy, the big boys were the coconuts today... either flouting the regs or falling off.

The winner was Dave Green in the Daren Mazda and I got 14th out of 16 finishers. I lapped the two behind me twice which was satisfying.

My laps times were not quite so satisfying. In April I had qualified at 1'16.115 with a best race lap of 1'16.09. Today I qualified at 1'16.152, slower than my first time out here. Maybe it's a second a lap slower  running on the K-Sports-obligatory Avon tyres instead of the Dunlops I had then. But in the race, when chasing the Tuscan, I got down to 1'15.482, half a second better. So I need the incentive of someone else on the road to compete against.

Statistics: Qualifying
 

Circuit	Castle Combe	Fastest test lap	no testing
Conditions	Dry 20°	Previous personal best	1'16.09 1st April 2002
Fastest qualifying lap	1'16.152	Qualified in position	19 out of 22

Statistics: Race
 

Finishing position	14	Number of cars at start	22
Average speed	82.42 mph	Number of cars finished	16
Conditions	Dry 20°	Fastest race lap	1'15.482
Number of laps behind	1

Paddock Chat

They did however drive much better than some, as the pictures of Quarry Corner on the first lap of the FF1600 and of the Classic Clubmans, above, will testify. I would have loved to have raced with them, but my K Sports engine is recent, and is not in the criteria set for being a Classic Clubmans car.

Qualifying Times    Race Results