With our race on Sunday not until about midday I had the luxury of waiting until after daybreak before checking out of the hotel and heading for the track. Unfortunately two of our team of 5 FJs were now hors de combat, Iain's newly rebuilt engine has wavering oil pressure and he doesn't want to risk it, whilst Peter Anstiss found a loose gear tooth attached to the magnetic filler plug of his gearbox - investigation showed it to be a tooth off the crownwheel, so Peter was also out not wanting to risk further damage. Seemingly all was well with the remaining three of us....
Our start got delayed a bit and we were quite relaxed, but every now and again a spanner goes into the works ... We'd warmed the car up earlier on, but I actually strapped in quite late and now a little flustered (and nervous as always!) only to find the starter wouldn't work ... Why now? Why does it pick these moments ... Why not do it in free practice? Of course this had happened on the grid of Race One at Hockenheim, so this is a fairly new starter motor. The boys get a jumper battery, but
it makes no difference, as the cars pull out up the pitlane the boys have to give me a push start, and suggest that I don't stall it ...
Helped by an empty space in front of me on the grid following Iain's withdrawal I get a reasonable start again ... My aim is just to keep out of trouble, completing merely a couple of laps will be sufficient to be classified on aggregate, and the third place this weekend will practically guarantee third overall in the Championship. Things don't always work out like that though, and we are racing drivers after all, so I arrive at the first corner in a bunch, and we stay quite close together ducking and diving! Late on lap one Andrea Guarino spins in front of my gaggle, and some frantic avoidance has me bouncing wide out over the kerbs, in my mirrors I see Andrew Tart even wider out ... Must have been close to gravel ... Unfortunately a little further back, Gil Duffy is unlucky to lose the second of the two Bonds and spins backwards into the tyres all avoiding Andrea's Lotus. Andrea gets gong again, but the Bond has damaged bodywork and rear suspension. On the following lap I see a cloud of dust as I negotiate the climbing right-hander onto the back straight, and as I crest the rise I see Roberto Tonetti's Brabham, which had been second in Race 1, in the barriers too; he's climbing out so he's clearly ok.
The dice continues with Andrew Tart and Larry Kinch in particular, but after 2-3 laps I get past both of them and pull out a small gap, but there's no comfort zone, a couple of times I just eased back slightly only to find them filling my mirrors all over again. Later on the invitation F3 car, (the generation that followed the demise of FJ are sometimes invited to come out to play if we don't have an oversubscribed grid, this is a French Tecno), starts crawling all over my tail, and looking a touch wild, he's a invitation car, so I decide that if he wants it that much he can have the position, I don't want him taking me out! Then having got ahead he does it to himself, running very wide at Turn One and driving through the gravel, he gets out, but he's dropped back and recovers onto the track in the midst of the gaggle that we'd both pulled away from! At least he's going to cause me no further concern.
Despite being new just two events ago my tyres are now well past their best, and I'm quite enjoying drifting the car around, even if it isn't always the quickest way round.
As I cross the line with less than two minutes to go I see David Methley's wife hanging out his pitboard, so clearly the car that has hoved into view 150m back is Dave, that will mean that this is the last lap. Dave catches me on the back straight. He is awesome to watch, he really hangs it out with superb car control on the limit, unchallenged here I guess he's not trying 100%, so I reckon if I put in a special effort I can stay with him for the last half lap, enjoy the view and maybe learn something, although he eases away of course, I'm still in touch until the chicane - fun! So that just leaves the last corner ... And I turn from Graham Hill to Benny Hill .... I've been getting quite leery through this nearly 180degree corner on previous laps, with some lurid slides, now inspired by half a lap of Dave Methley's 'tuition' I reckon I can manage a bigger drift into the straight for a glamourous finish .... I can't ...I end up spinning, for a brief moment I'm heading for the start of the pitwall, but we come to rest just before it, partly off the track, and facing back into the pitlane entrance ... Oops! ... Not sure if the car will start, but it does, and faced with a precarious rejoin I elect to 'do a Schumacher' (who am I kidding?) and finish in the pitlane, this means I have a 30mph crawl to the finish line, waving embarrassedly at those people on the pitwall who've seen what happened, whilst confusing those who haven't. With the chequered flag now out the pitlane exit is closed, so a marshal with a big red flag tries to stop me, but before the finish line, after a couple of seconds of mad gesticulation another official appears and waves me on the 10m I need to cross the line. Comedy...!
Obviously I've lost a bunch of places in this race, but still third in class, that has most probably guaranteed my third place overall in the championship - delighted!
If you're looking at the results and see that I finished two laps down on my class competitors, the fact is that I got lapped late in each race this weekend, whereas they didn't, I wasn't as far behind them as it might look - no honestly!
Prize-giving (I get a trophy for 3rd in Class - at least they had the decency not to put 'Last' on it!), lunch, shower, thank yous and goodbyes, and it's into the hire car for the drive to Malaga airport. Having lived in Andalucia I love the scenery down here and decide not to take the autopista, but to go across country, taking a wrong turn near Ronda I trip over 40kms of spectacular road, climbing into a mountainous area and then a real switchback for mile after mile, Ronda to Marbella, highly recommended if you're in the region!
Flight delayed slightly, I am on the 0050 Gatwick Express, and bedding down in London at 0145, sadly the alarm is set for 0600 to get into the office...
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