It’s about time I updated this blog as my posts fizzled out after MIRA.  So here’s the first of several updates.

Castle Combe should have been my sort of track, being not dissimilar to Goodwood where I tend to go quite well.  I was, therefore looking forward to an enjoyable day of competition but without huge expectations as quite a few of the competition had been to a track day there a week or so earlier.  I had never seen the place before.

I arrived nice and early having decided to do the 100 mile journey on the morning of the event.  The only problem was that I thought I’d forgotten my boots but I later managed to find them in my helmet!

/Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/168/WLW-CastleCombe_108D2-Combe3.jpg Enjoying the sunshine

Practice went well and it turned out that Combe is very much my sort of track – wide and fast.  I finished practice not as far behind as I had anticipated and was helped by being given a re-run, as were several others, when the timing gear failed to work on the 2nd practice run.  The biggest problem we all faced was trying to find shelter.  Not from the usual wind and rain but from the sun.  It was absolutely boiling hot.  Not that I’m complaining, mind.  The food of choice was very much ice cream, so I had several.

/Portals/14/Blog/Files/11/168/WLW-CastleCombe_108D2-Combe13.jpg Feel the width – there must be an apex somewhere

Amazingly, after the first timed run I was leading Class 3 but with both Graeme Wardall and Michael Calvert hot on my heals with Jeff Smith just behind.  For the final run I managed to find a bit more time again and, after waiting some considerable period for the times to be published on the notice board, I found out that I had just edged the win from Michael with a run of 70.90 seconds.  I was over the moon with the result – it more than made up for my disappointing performance at MIRA last time out.  It was just a shame that we weren’t given another run as there was plenty of time left – we were easily finished by 3 o’clock.  However, if there was another run I may not have done so well so I shouldn’t complain too much.

See the video of my quickest run below.  There is still more time to be found in 2011.

My 2nd timed run – 70.90 seconds

I then had a break before my next event at Harewood at the beginning of August which was the first event of 4 in the space of a hectic 5 weeks.