My report:

An eagerly anticipated weekend - the start of the second half of the season, another track I hadn't yet visited in a single seater and a part of the country I have always enjoyed visiting. Friday dawned bright, so the roof came down, tunes on and after a traffic-free drive all was good. Unfortunately the clouds had returned by Sunday afternoon and my mood had similarly darkened - but not enough to spoil what was another great weekend's racing.

Testing

Friday testing went well although it did take time to get used to some of the super-quick turns on this Norfolk track. It was great to have the data analysis working properly and car (& driver) behaviour was under further scrutiny from the newly installed on-board video system. However the greatest difference was made by putting on some new tyres for the afternoon sessions. At last I had some grip and immediately got down to reasonable times.

Qualifying 1

Saturday was warm and bright so no excuses. In qualifying within 'club' class Ian Pearson was in his normal position, comfortably heading the field - but the next 3 or 4 of us were pretty close. I was running in 2nd or 3rd for most of the session but some timing gremlins elevated one of my competitors and pushed me back to 4th in class.

Race 1

As we toured round to grid up for Race 1 we watched as Ian Pearson pulled over to the side with electrical problems and then noticed another club class competitor, Steve Durrant, similarly sidelined. As the lights went green I made my best start of the season - some of the slower 'carbon' cars tried to block my path but by the first corner I had taken top slot in class. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hold this for too long as Rob Tirone drafted past me at the end of the long Revitt straight. This wasn't to last for long as the red flags came and the race was stopped.

At the restart I made another good getaway although I had to make do for second this time, tucking in behind Rob. We started to pull clear of the rest of our class, helped by Bob Pearson's spin which backed up several cars. However we didn't enjoy this for very long as the red flags came once again.

Yet another good start but this time 'the Heff', James Hefferman, kept pace with Rob and me. In fact he eventually made it passed in a drag race out of the Russell Chicane. After the race I complained bitterly to my team of lack of power but they simply berated me for running over the curbs too aggressively and therefore getting a much sower exit!! Hmm… anyway, third it was and stayed that way until the line, despite several attempts to reclaim my place. I was pleased and relieved to get another podium finish especially after so many incidents and red flags and my pace augured well for the next day when we would do it all again.

Qualifying 2

Sunday started bright and dry again. Qualifying took on a fairly similar pattern although we had altered several settings on the car which took me a few laps to get fully comfortable with. However once I did it certainly helped me better the times I'd set the day before. However everyone was going a bit quicker too so the club class order remained as for the first race - I would line up 4th in class (23rd overall) on the grid.

Race 2

As the lights went green I again made good progress but it's a long way up the pit straight to the first corner at Snetterton - some of the inexperienced drivers in the carbon cars had clearly got more confident from all the start practice yesterday and didn't leave the same gaps. This preventing me from making up any places and I had to settle behind Heff' - he was struggling on cold tyres and backed us both up into the sights of Steve Durrant. I made a good exit from the chicane and tried to pass Heff' as we started lap 2 but ran out of road before getting by.

Half way round the lap one of the carbon cars had run wide and slowed Heff' down - this gave me a chance to close the gap but as I turned into the flat-out 'bomb-hole' kink I felt a heavy bang on my rear wheel. Durrant had made contact and pitched me into a violent spin. Unfortunately I only came to rest after backing into the tyre wall, further damaging the car and ensuring my race was over. It was all rather reminiscent of Croft when the same driver had made a very ambitious move at a part of the track where there really is only room for one car... well plenty of time to reflect on that during the drive home!

In conclusion...

As we were packing up to leave for the weekend the clouds returned and a torrential soaked us all  but overall this didn't dampen the spirits from what had been another successful weekend. So thanks again to Muzz and the boys of Muzzrace for all the assistance they provided over the three days - working tirelessly to ensure we were all on track in fully functioning cars. Particular mention to Errol & Paul who did a great job with the data and video - giving us all something else to watch and providing Steff some hard evidence to provide some helpful driving tips! And of course some laughs at the spills... Thanks guys!