Not a bad start to the season ...

Hockenheim - Race Two

Once again courtesy of those very nice Mini racer chaps I acquired a new starter motor, which Iain fitted, having had to take both the new one and the old one to pieces to make one up to suit my car! Iain had also had yet another go at improving my brakes. All in all, the F2000 car and my FJ kept him busy pretty much all weekend...

Unusually I got an acceptable start! Not only holding my position but making up one on a slow-starting car ahead. Yellow flags waving at the hairpin, exitting which there was a failed car to one side and a slowing car, turned out to be my class competitor Charles Cook, I assumed he'd be back at me before long. I was then a bit lonely for a few laps, but the car was running well, brakes were better than at any point over the weekend, and I was sure I was knocking chunks off my best lap time. Charles never did reappear behind me, in fact I ended up with the whole straight empty behind, so considering I was having the odd difficulty selecting gears on the downshifts, I elected again to back off a touch and look after the car. The tightly packed leading group of four came past me at one point, being led at that time by John Fyda. I was saddened to see waved yellows on the final corner of the final lap, and to see John Fyda's car, lightly damaged - he admitted his own mistake, I'm not sure of details. So Urs Eberhardt got a double-win. Marc Amez-Droz was second this time, with Tommasso Gelmini taking third. John Delane cruised to an untroubled win to take the weekend in our class. I ended up second in class today, as Charles Cook had in fact retired, but I don't know the reason. That's unlucky for him, and it gives me second in class for the weekend - I'm sure 'normal service' will be resumed next time out, in fact I'd be amazed if I don't have a DNF in the series at some point to even things up.

So a good weekend for me, slightly flattered by the overall result, but great to finish two races with the car improved each time. Two trophies, one for each of the children's bedrooms! You know I said I was putting in some good lap times today ... I wasn't ... In fact my qualifying time was better by over a second, which amazed me - as well as being a slight disappointment, I shall be reviewing the videos this week to see if I can work out why, today certainly felt quicker, funny how it can be deceptive sometimes.

Thanks to Iain for all his hard work, and thanks to the Mini guys.

Just the small matter of 500 mile drive home ... Followed by a meeting in the office at 0900 tomorrow... And another at 1600, which they might struggle to keep me awake for!

Toys for Boys

Like most of these big 'festival' meetings, there is a big tented-pavilion area here, with displays and retail stalls. In the biggest of these here there is an area the size of a squash court set aside for a huge 6-lane slot car track, (big Scalextric), but this isn't for kids to play on ... Oh, no, this is a big deal! The entrants are split up into grids of like cars, they have 3 pages in the Programme (same as us!). It would appear that they all take it quite seriously, and they have certainly invested in a lot of kit ... I spent about two and a half minutes watching a great race between a Blue and Yellow Brabham driven by Man in Dodgy Leather Sleeveless Fishing Jacket, and a Lotus driven by Moustachioed Man in full Classic Team Lotus regalia. The former spun off in the end, and had this been your front room, his car would have been buried well under the sofa!

Hockenheim - Race One

I'm sure I mentioned earlier that these aren't always reliable little cars ... Well, we sorted the oil leak, now as good as you'll ever get out of a Mini engine. So this time it would be something else wouldn't it? At the start of the formation lap the starter motor decides that it's done its duty and will work no longer - 3 years it's always started on the button ... Why now!? Stress levels double, a kind marshal manages a push-start, but now I've dropped to the back of the pack, fortunately not behind the safety car, so I am permitted to regain my starting position, I work my way through the back of the pack, 'putting some nice moves' on a few competitors ... Shame it's the green flag lap!

Good start, then through the blind apex of the first corner I catch a glimpse of a car spinning, so backed off, along with a couple of other cars on my side of the track, but he's out of harm's way, back on the gas, only to be swallowed up at the next corner by those on the left, who'd never backed off! Lost 3 places... Gradually wound them back in, although it took 2-3 laps culminating in a very late dive up the inside in the stadium section, to get past the last one of them. Started to move away slowly, but it is getting slippery ... I wondered if it was my oil leak again, later proven not to be me! There are also spots of rain on my visor. Couple of big slides, and one near spin, so with 3rd in class seemingly secure, I backed off just a touch. Towards the end of the race I get caught at the hairpin by the leaders, give them an easy time of lapping me, compromising myself to the tune of a few seconds, only to find two of my earlier adversaries following them through ... Blast! With none of them being class competitors, and the ever-more-slippery track, I didn't make a huge effort to get back past. 3rd in class behind the much faster John Delane and Charles Cook is good enough. Good fun!

At the front the overall race was apparently very close, Urs Eberhardt winning in the Lotus 27 he's had for something like 30 years, from everyone's favourite scot John Fyda, then Italian pole-sitter Tommaso Gelmini.

Spice of Life

I mentioned earlier that there is an interesting variety of races on here. Well about an hour before needing to get ready myself, I popped up into the stands to watch, and to see what track conditions looked like. There was a race starting, at the front, Dodge Vipers, Le Mans spec Porsche, and some recent DTM cars, lots more DTM cars and 911s, BMWs etc. fill the grid. But in the mid grid is a brand new Ferrari 458 Challenge car ... giving him a great race, and eventually beating him was something I immediately recognised despite a proliferation of wings and bulges ... A Triumph Dolomite Sprint! I'm loving a Dolly beating a 458!

40% chance of rain...

It don't want it to rain...! Surely all the rain fell on the UK over the winter...

Colder this morning, grey skies, and definitely rain in the air, hope it holds off.

Friends of mine racing at HSCC Cadwell Park, VSCC Silverstone, and also at Nurburgring. Other friends have just finished the last day of Targa Tasmania. Hope everyone is having/had fun!

Battle of the Dwarves!

When I race in the UK it tends to be at HSCC meetings, with the same cars, and classes each time. One of the things I like about the Lurani series is that it puts us in big meetings with a wide variety of other classes, so we get to see a lot of cars that we'd never otherwise see.

Here there is a round of EuroBOSS, which is basically F1/Indy cars from the 90's which have then been further modified, bigger engines and such, huge trucks, big crews, and presumably massive chequebooks, all results in some properly quick machinery.

At the other end of the spectrum is 'Kampf der Zwerge', now I put that into an online translator and got 'Battle of the Dwarves', initially I assumed a mistranslation, but it's correct. A series for small-engined saloons, such as Minis, NSUs, Fiat Abarths, and so on, there was even a Fiat 500 Fiat van! Some on slicks. It was this series that had brought out the helpful UK Mini contingent I mentioned earlier. Looks like a fun race, and more my 'cup of tea' than the heroes in EuroBOSS.