We all went out pretty gingerly. Adrian tippy-toed past and I started getting the feel of the car, which is heavy at 1194 lbs or 541 kgs (against 450 kgs for my Mallock Mk26/27 with the 1600 cc K Sports engine). After four or five laps getting down to 1'35 I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to put any more petrol in since the testing. Knowing that I might run out of juice soon I thought I'd put in one quick lap. So I did and nailed 1'32.705, 3 seconds quicker. Adrian Lester, who loves Snetterton and goes well there, was only a tadge slower at 1'33.905 with 50 hp less... the K Sports 1600 engine. So he's quick.

Race
We went out to race in a downpour, with standing water on many parts of the circuit. We were briefed in writing for a rolling start, my first. 15 cars followed the pace round for a green flag lap, the pace car peeled off into the pits, and the lights went green. Two Global GT Lights and a TVR Tuscan did not even make it past the start line, but deposited most of their fibre glass up the pit straight on the starting grid. They suffered the ignominy of not being mentioned in the results as DNF (did not finish) because they had not even started! Had any others fallen off? The yellow and black quartered flags came out, although the No.27 Caterham of Dominic Paul had not seen them and made three spirited attempts to overtake me when it was illegal. He failed.

After five laps of boredom following the leaders round we got the greens again and we were off. The spray made it impossible to see the road ahead, let alone the other cars. On the standing water the rear wheels lost adhesion and spun wildly in each gear. The Caterham went past me. Then a couple of laps later No.24 Ferrari 360 Challenge of new racer Phil Burton (who had qualified 3rd but who had spun earlier) came screaming past, oblivious to the dangers of the standing water. Sure enough as I came round Russell I saw him floor the throttle through the river on the track opposite the exit from the assembly area. As he spun he hit the beginning of the pit wall and was flung as high as a truck in the air, with the tyres from the barrier following him. Mercifully his car landed on the track not on the pits side of the wall. He rolled twice and ended up on his roof with the track entirely blocked by debris, uninjured. He was dubbed Phil "Gone for a" Burton by the wags in the paddock.

The red flags came out as I approached, the first on the track after Phil. Knowing that my biggest danger now was being hit from behind by someone who was not looking at flags, and having missed the entrance to the pits, I went at walking pace past the upturned Ferrari, on the grass, to get out of the way. The race was stopped of course. The Ferrari was a write-off.

Of the two cars in the 2 litre car I was the only finisher so I got a pleasantly solid trophy from the BRSCC as class winner. But a hollow victory as we really had not got racing at all. My average speed was 55 mph, hardly more than the proscribed speed under the yellow and black quartered flags... 50 mph.

We were to have a second race, but with accidents in most of the races the programme was running late. We went out on the grid at 4 and prepared to do battle again in much better weather. The front had passed on leaving a drying track and a dozen guys hoping to do some proper racing for the first time in the day. We were led off by the pace car as before and I thought that we were preparing for a rolling start. Lucky we were all alert, because at the end of the lap the yellow flags were out and we were ushered off the track and into the paddock. They had decided the light was too bad and had cancelled the race. They had omitted to tell us.

So not a great day all in all.

Statistics: Qualifying
 

Circuit	Snetterton	Fastest test lap	no testing
Conditions	Raining 13°	Previous personal best	1'19.785
Fastest qualifying lap	1'32.705 (75.80 mph)	Qualified in position	8th out of 16

Statistics: Race
 

Finishing position	5th (1st in 2 litre class)	Number of cars at start	16
Average speed	55 mph	Number of cars finished	10
Conditions	Downpour 13°	Fastest race lap	1'48.607
Number of laps behind	same lap		Kept out of trouble

Paddock chat
Glenn Cantello had tested well on Friday but overslept on Saturday and missed the qualifying. They let him race though. His support team, Glenn and Dan Eagling, were full of laughs all day and were a good antidote to the rain. Even better was Adrian Lester's heated camper van in which he fed me and dried me out between sessions. Roll on Brands next Sunday.