Another lovely venue – this time Loton Park in Alberbury, Shropshire, and this was my third time competing there.

Janice and I arrived on Friday afternoon night. The organisers, Hagley and District Light Car Club, were doing signing on between 5.00 and 7.00 pm for those who arrived early. After unloading the Seven we walked the course. It was sunny and warm and the deer park which the course wends its way through looked beautiful. At the top we saw six of Sir Michael Leighton’s deer enjoying the peace before the weekend’s competitions.

We stayed at the Old Hand and Diamond just a mile down the road in Coedway, just over the Welsh border – a good pub with great food, and really handy for Loton.

In the morning we went to Loton early. Matthew had already arrived with his replacement car – a former Caterham Roadsport A race car in which he was competing for the first time. He’d had it checked over by McMillan Motorsport and knew it was safe, but was quite nervous never having driven it in anger before. Fellow members of the Lotus Seven Club, who knew about his change of steed from Blatchat, came in a steady procession throughout the day to view the new beast. There was much peering and prodding from fellow club members, but the unanimous impression was that he’d made a canny purchase. It still had to prove itself, though.

First practice went really well for me. I felt confident to throw the car in and at the finish line looked forward to getting my time. It was 64.08 – almost a complete second better than my personal best from last year, and three seconds quicker than the next quickest Class 1 car.

Practice 2 was fractionally slower (64.36), but worryingly Alan Johnson (the man with the magic goggles) was snapping at my heels and had reduced my advantage to a second.

Timed run 1 was a bit disappointing. Everyone else was improving their times, and I couldn’t seem to get down to the time I’d set at the start of the day, managing only a 64.32. More of a concern was that Alan was continuing his assault and was now well within a second of me with a 65.05.

I gave myself a stern talking to and was determined to really go for it in the second timed run. It felt faster, and for the first time I managed to hold my nerve at Fallow, not braking until the 50 yard board. The time was 63.40 – almost two seconds better than my personal best from last year. Alan improved again, getting into the 64s with an excellent 64.90.

Matthew’s car proved its mettle, despite a small overheating problem at the start of the day, and he finished his Class 3 debut with an impressive 60.79.

I’m delighted to have got the class win, but the championship is moving towards its climax. It’s still all to play for, and Messrs Chan, Gibbins, Johnson, Keen et al are all close to the top spot. I think I’m looking forward to my last two events, Curborough and Aintree, though my spies inform me that Mr Chan has been having some rather intensive practice at Curborough. I’m praying for a dry day on Sunday – watch this space.