Back to Curborough.  I had a rubbish day there in May and was determined to have a better one in the new, quicker, car this time around.  The day didn’t start well when the car wouldn’t start.  The problem was traced to a melted (literally) ECU fuse.  At least once the problem was diagnosed it was easily solved.

I had a bit of sneaky practice in the week leading up to the event so I had now got comfortable with the car.  Practice went very well and I finished it with a time of 61.83, five and a half seconds better than my previous best.  I like power and grip!!  I didn’t go quite as quickly in the one and only dry timed run but I was thrilled with 5th out of 16, about 1.75 seconds off the pace.

On to Anglesey and another attempt at putting the tent up.  I had Mel with me this time and even though it started to rain at just the wrong moment we got set up nicely for the weekend.  Thanks Mel.  A tent on Anglesey in October may seem like a daft idea but we actually enjoyed the whole camping experience.  And the facilities were actually very good.

The Saturday sprint was on the shorter National Circuit and started wet, then damp and then, finally, dry.  Not great conditions for learning a track.  I had a lot of fun but never really got to grips with everything.  I was still improving by the end of the day and my last run was my fastest - 1.5 seconds better than I had achieved earlier in the day even though I had a very lurid moment that can be seen in the photo below and cost a chunk of time.  There was much more still to come.  I ended the day a slightly disappointed 7th out of 13, 3 seconds off the pace over a fairly short (60 second) run.

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After a lovely evening meal and a couple of pints of Guiness in the circuit’s bar we retired to the tent for the night and got ready for another day’s competition. 

We woke to find another wet morning and conditions very similar to the previous day.  This was the longer circuit and I was very comfortable in the wet practice runs.  We then got 2 timed runs in on the damp track before lunch.  I wished that I had a video recording my second run as everything felt fantastic.  I ended up in 2nd place, just a few tenths away from Mike Sankey.  I was a very happy bunny over lunch time.  And I prayed for rain.  But it didn’t come.  We got a further 3 timed runs in the afternoon and I never managed to get Church Corner right.  It should be flat out but I never was.  In fact I was never even close to flat and that cost a lot of time down the long straight that followed.  I ended the day in 5th place and 3 seconds off the winner again.

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So the season was over and I am really pleased with how it went.  The new car is fantastic and great fun to drive.  It will be getting tidied up over the winter with new powdercoating and, maybe, some paintwork.  I just need to save some pennies for a ported head and some vernier pulleys and it will then be the ideal Class 3 specification.  As it is though, at least I have some excuses ready for 2010.  Hopefully I won’t need them….