Silverstone
27th July 2003
Round 8
Fastest Practice Lap: 1:08.448 - 86.20 MPH
Early scrutineering passed ok, rear light and all. A large field of entries(40), all qualifying at the same time for 36 places. On a dry track qualifying passed without incident. This was the first time the car had run on a dry track since the Pembrey accident rebuild and setting up and the handling felt good. I have never broken the 1:10 barrier at silverstone so was pleased with a 1:08.448 - another improvement and the margin to pole reduced to a reasonable 3 second with Poleman - Jeremy Clark an amazing 1 second quicker than everyone else. So with no Clark I would be 2 seconds to pole. Still some room for improvement.
Final: Grid Position: 19
Final: Race Result: 16
Final: Fastest Lap: 1:08.250
Only one race today so I have to make a good start. It was a good start passed one car before we reached Copse Corner and settled into a competitive race in the middle of the field. There six or seven running in a group all the time. I was told later that it was quite a sight to see the group come round Woodcote and tear down the Start/Finish straight weaving from side to side looking for an overtaking position. On the last lap we came out of Becketts on to Prioty straight, each slipstreaming each other. I was 4th in the pack of 5 with Richard Harris in front of me. As we passed under the bridge, Richard surprised me and went right and I went left to get the inside for Brooklands. I braked late and with practically 4 cars abreast I had a tight line but I could see free space but Adam Wilkinson was just ahead and came across. I tucked in behind him expecting to see some to the right of me to get the inside for Luddfield. Nobody. So I followed Adam through Luffields and concentrated on getting the power on but not too early. I knew unless I made a mess of it that no one would be able to overtake me on the short sprint to the line. Neat and tidy and we all went over the line. There were 5 cars passed the post with 1 second covering 16th to 20th places. Not bad eh!
Even though we raced together for a large part of the race I still managed to improve my lap time. Fastest lap of the meeting was set by Neale Blunden - 1:06.209. Again 2 seconds gap between me and the fastest. At the same race last year my fastest lap was 4 seconds slower. Roll on next year - I'll be on pole.