Round 3 - Brands Hatch

This weekend is Round 3 of the Championship, the sole UK round, held on the wonderful Brands Hatch GP circuit, not too far from home. As I look out now at torrential rain, I really want to believe the latest BBC weather forecast when it says that Sunday and Monday will be dry ... it's still single digit- temperature over here, and the central heating is still on ... where has spring got to??

I say Brands is a wonderful circuit, it is great to drive, but it hasn't been a happy hunting ground for me in this car, I've had troubles of one sort or another the last 3 times I've been there. We've done a good deal of work on the car since of course, so I'm really hoping that the good fortune that I've been blessed with at the first two rounds continues this weekend. Dry weather would certainly be good for a start!

Talking of the work that has gone into the car ... Iain has been winding me up this week ... we both use a Motorsport Internet Forum called 'Ten-Tenths', well a couple of days ago he posted a photo of my car in his workshop in what we might call a significant state of disassembly ... engine on one trolley, gearbox on another, rear suspension hanging off like broken limbs ... something of a surprise to see the car undergoing such major surgery between Pau and Brands, but I've been busy at work and the few times I've had a chance to call I've not managed to catch him ... this afternoon he posted another shot, in the latest the engine is back in, but the gearbox is still sitting beside the car, and Iain's sitting in a chair behind the car having a cup of tea ... I'm pleased to see he's relaxed about it! Iain has 2 other FJs he's running this weekend too...

We've got other things to concern ourselves with anyway, it's our son, Freddie's 3rd birthday party tomorrow morning, 20+ youngsters at the local soft play centre. Should be fun, will definitely be exhausting! Back home for lunch but essentially just family only, then I need to head off to Brands with the motorhome mid-afternoon, to meet Iain and my re-assembled (?!) car for signing-on and scrutineering tomorrow evening ... it can be done Sunday morning if anything's gone at all haywire.