No new pictures from Pembrey sorry. If anyone took any digital pictures please email them to me. But a couple of prints from Silverstone by Colin Jackson (thanks Colin) which I have scanned in this evening.

No video either. On Saturday the shutter jammed and on Sunday I was so preoccupied with technical problems and set up that I forgot!

The racing is not just crowded at the top. Every single driver seems to have improved beyond recognition. My fastest lap last year was 1'02.918. This made my the 7th fastest driver in the race, although I admit I spun out at Honda a lap later. This year, that lap time would have made me the 24th quickest. Maybe the track was faster, but nothing had changed in the layout (except more concrete verge on the inside of Paddock and the inside of Esses (the right-hander before the Brooklands hairpin at the back). So I had to do personal bests a dozen times (ending up with 1'01.437) to keep in the frame. Standing still (in lap speed) is standing still when MG XPower Clubmans 2003 is concerned.

Nonetheless, the racing is punishingly close. Close behind, close ahead and close to the side. Given the amount of on-track action we were all delighted to go home after two races (and two quallies in the wet) without any major car damage (Jim's chassis is okay).

Welsh Race 1: Being a glutton for punishment (and having been unable to get a slot to test on the Friday) I had entered two rounds of the Welsh Sports and Saloon Car championship for fun. I thought a few other Clubmans cars would be running like last year... where were you guys? It was FUN. On Saturday I qualified at my best of the weekend (1'01.437) two seconds slower than the big boys and two seconds faster than the saloons so I was expecting a quiet race. Oh no! Richard Rozhon, Pembrey instructor with a newly acquired Radical, zoomed past me at the start and I latched on to his back. I was quicker in the corners of course, so all the way from the Hatchetts hairpin to the Brooklands hairpin at the back I was all over him. Then he would squirt away on the Speedway straight. I caught him round Honda and again at Hatchetts. Lap after lap. Then I started getting past him (at Brooklands each time) and he would get past on the straights. I was very close to him all the way. My nose cone splitter has his tyre mark right in the middle! Somehow I kept ahead of him on the last lap to make my weekend. Several jealous Clubmen were watching the race and enjoyed the spectacle, especially through the Dibeni and Paddock complex through to the Esses were we were always closest. Richard and I had a beer afterwards to talk through a memorable dice.
 

Welsh Race 2: On Sunday Richard and I repeated the whole experience. He had new slicks and I had more oil leak, so he kept ahead until a spinner at Hatchetts caused havoc. Richard nearly spun avoiding him and I was through, only to notice that the yellow flags had gone out within a microsecond. I got a bit of a rollocking here last year for a yellow flag infringement, so I lifted off and waved Richard through. I was addicted to the smell of his arse, which glowed yellow with the reflection of my yellow nose cone (honest). This time he stayed ahead to make it one all.

Race 1: Qualifying
Clouds and lifting rain. Who was on wet tyres then? We all skittled round for a bit on slicks and the grid was a lottery with people in roughly the right order! I was 12th.

Race 1
Such a great hairpin to have at the end of a start straight. I was behind Pete Richings when one of the three abreast cars in the hairpin gave him nowhere to go. Instead of trying grass cutting Pete had to slow and I dinked him in the botty. He kept going with a cracked venturi; we all kept going and careered round for 14 hilarious laps. Several cars came past me during this time (like Stefan Mumm, Dave Madgwick and Paul Freeman to name but a few...), to my annoyance but it was still great fun and close dicing. At about half way all four of us arrived at Hatchetts hairpin behind a backmarker. I got a dink from Stefan this time, again minimal damage, but he got past fairly. I ended 12th.

Brian Jordan and Mike Evans were among those that pointed out that I was giving a haze of smoke during my qualifying with the Welsh. Brian got back to me afterwards and said it was continuing into the 2nd Clubmans race, i.e. onto his helmet for a bit till he got past. Thanks for the info. Having changed the rear left brake seals before Silverstone there was still a leak. So Sue Mallock brought out a replacement calliper, complete. Ian Megson and I spent a happy afternoon rebuilding more of the brake system including the rear master cylinder (front was done at Silverstone). It was annoying to find at the end of Sunday at Pembrey that there was something still leaking from the rear left. So it's oil from the axle as well! I got new half shaft seals from the Mallocks and will investigate this week.

So my excuse for poor performance is "sliding round all weekend on my own oil".

I also have a curious noise at the beginning of each race. It sounds like a piece of wire or metal fouling something rotating at high speed... but the noise seems to come from the front. It goes away after two laps. We can't find the source yet, nor any scoring or remnants. Any ideas?

Race 2: Qualifying

Same thing on Sunday: damp qualifying and dry race. Adrian Lester and Alex Osborne, son of a champ and a future winner, both qualified quicker than me this time. I was fifteenth.

Race 2
Same business on the first laps. Crazy. Skilful. Trusting. Understeer. Over steer. Over here.

At Honda on lap 1 we were all coming up to speed when Mike Evans and Tim Covill spun gracefully in sync, Tim on the grass and Mike on the track. This is where I had spun last year to be T-boned by Howard Payne, and as I hurtled towards Mike from the apex of Honda I saw a repetition of last year in the making, from the other viewpoint. Mercifully, Mike released the brakes at the end of the spin and continued backwards off the track. I missed him by an inch. Within a couple of laps Mike was among those who overtook me. Ian Crombie got past me for the first time... nice one.

Statistics: Qualifying 1
 

Circuit	Pembrey	Fastest test lap	no testing
Conditions	Damp 15°	Previous personal best	1'02.198
Fastest qualifying lap	1'09.625 = 75.28 mph	Qualified in position	12 out of 26

Statistics: Race 1
 

Finishing position	13	Number of cars at start	26
Average speed	82.91 mph	Number of cars finished	22
Conditions	Dry 18°	Fastest race lap	1'01.754
Number of laps behind	same lap		Great dices with Stefan Mumm, Dave Madgwick and Paul Freeman. Lost

Statistics: Qualifying 2
 

Circuit	Pembrey	Fastest test lap	no testing
Conditions	Damp 15°	Previous personal best	1'02.198
Fastest qualifying lap	1'08.98 = 75.98 mph	Qualified in position	15 out of 26

Statistics: Race 2
 

Finishing position	16	Number of cars at start	26
Average speed	82.91 mph	Number of cars finished	23
Conditions	Dry 18°	Fastest race lap	1'01.925
Number of laps behind	same lap		Great dices with everybody including Ian Crombie. Lost

Paddock Chat

Race Report

James Lindley and Barry Webb made it three different winners from three races in the MG XPOWER Clubmans Cup during a double-header weekend at Pembrey (May 10/11). Throughout a capacity field, there was tremendous battling all the way down the order in the series that enjoys support from Powertrain Ltd and Ricardo Plc.

Saturday's opening race was a stormer as both Lindley and Matthew Slinn battled ahead of pole-sitter Howard Payne. With the wrong diff in his Mallock Mk20B, Payne was powerless to keep them back as he hit the rev limiter on the main straight. Over the second half of the race, Lindley and Slinn enacted a mighty battle with Slinn diving briefly ahead on lap 13. But Lindley knew that his first championship race win was within reach and tigered back ahead to score a famous victory.

"That's a long-awaited win," said a jubilant Lindley, who has worked hard for five years to reach the top step of the podium. "I was a bit quicker through the twisty bits," he reckoned, having lost out to Slinn in the faster sections of the Welsh track. Throughout, it was a truly sporting contest and the two drivers were quick to congratulate each other after the race. "It looked great from where I was," reckoned third-placed Barry Webb who had led the chase of the two leaders, while Payne held on for fourth from the charging John Kelly.

In the second race, it was Slinn and Webb at the head of the action, but a moment for Slinn at Brooklands allowed Swedish racer Stefan Mumm through to second. Mumm then hounded Webb to the flag, while Peter Richings overcame a retirement in Saturday's race to complete the podium party. For Webb, it was a first win since returning to racing after a four-year break. Slinn salvaged fourth as Mike Luck took fifth in his Dart having been sidelined by a broken throttle cable on Saturday.

Results

Race one: 1 James Lindley (Mallock 29H) 14m13.225s (85.95mph); 2 Matthew Slinn (Mallock Mk30); 3 Barry Webb (Mallock Mk23/91); 4 Howard Payne (Mallock Mk20B); 5 John Kelly (Mallock Mk27/28); 6 Guy Woodward (Mallock Mk27). Fastest lap: Webb 59.539s (88.03mph).

Race two: 1 Webb 14m11.779s (86.15mph); 2 Stefan Mumm (Mallock Mk28/30); 3 Peter Richings (Mallock Mk27SG-EBX); 4 Slinn; 5 Mike Luck (Dart S16); 6 Woodward. Fastest lap: Webb 59.019s (88.61mph).

Next round: Rockingham, May 24/25.

Issued on behalf of the Clubmans Register by Paul Lawrence (01952 510382).    12 May 2003