FRIDAY
The race weekend started early for me. After brands hatch the weekend before, i had left my car at Kelvin's house. One of the exhaust hangers had gone awol, which snapped the exhaust flexi section and the heat from the exhaust had melted the inner CV joint. I flew down on friday morning, hitched a lift with walshy to pick up the car (thanks mate
), then called the AA 
The AA man dropped me off in the paddock at silverstone, and i got Tony from sinclaires to sort it all for me. Huge thanks to Tony. With the car back in one piece, i managed to get out for the last session of the test day that was on. The rain had came on, and the circuit was soaked. Decided that was a good thing as silverstone is as slippy as the nurburgring in the wet, so a little bit of knowledge of the wet line might help me if the weather stayed bad. As i headed out the pits, Andy Marsh blasted past in his touring car. I did what any one of us would have done and gave chase, only for him to lock up in front of me and slide off into the gravel.
lotus elise = 1 touring car = 0 The rest of the session went well, i got the hang of the track in the wet, and then it started to dry out. Whilst it was wet, i was matching walshy's times, so i secretly hoped it would be wet for qualifying tommorrow.
Went to the pub for a few beers and a healthy racing driver spec burger and chips
SATURDAY
Awoke at 7am, excited about getting back on track and seeing how my pace was compared to everyone else in my class. I am down on power, and up on weight compared to most in my class, so i never seem to be able to match other peoples laptimes. I only seem to get results through consistency and other people making mistakes. Of course the wet is a great leveller for unequal cars but alas, it was dry, so it looked like my dreams of a high position in qually was not to be.
I couldnt have been more wrong
After signing on, fitting new rear pads and passing scruitineering, we lined up for qually. I went out last, bedded in my pads, let them cool down, then went for it. 20 minutes leter, i pulled into parc ferme feeling good about my session, but thinking that i would be mid pack again. As the time sheets got handed round i could barely believe that i was fastest in my class, and 7th overall. In fact, the top 6 cars were all SC honda's and there was me in 7th, ahead of another few SC cars. Fantastic. I took this opportunity to wind up Steve Williams (who normally has me gubbed for pace) as i was sure it wouldnt last long. Talk about riling the beast. It might have had something to do with me asking if his reduced pace was because his car was still damaged after his crash the weekend before, or if it was because he had got scared.
That was it for saturday, so we hit the pub early again. Another healthy serving of burger and chips and a few more isotonic beers and i was all set for the 2 races on sunday.
SUNDAY
Awoke early again, met the guys for breakfast (athlete spec bacon, sausage, eggs and beans) and got ourselves down to the circuit for 11am. First race was 1pm, and i had nothing to do. Besides all that, i still found myself running around at the last minute when we were called.
Heading out onto the circuit, i was relaxed and ready to go. This was my highest starting position so far, i wasnt used to being able to see clear air to the front of the pack.
Start went well, but i lost a place to Chris in his SC car behind me, who just outdragged me down to the first corner. By the end of the first lap, i had a healthy lead over the other class B cars behind. I didnt see what happened to give me the gap, but i wasnt complaining. I was being held up by the chris in front. He had me beat on straight line pace, but was obviously suffering with brakes and i was able to gain on him on braking and turn in.
After a few attempts i eventually got passed, when i carried so much speed into copse, that i was about to hit his rear, so i let the car run wide over the exit kerb, which gave me just enough momentum to stay side by side until beckets, where i managed to outbrake him. The move stuck, and i pulled a gap quite quickly. Looking in my mirrors, and steve williams had cleared chris very quickly and was giving chase. The race was back on. It took him a few laps to catch me, with me helping a few times when i couldnt select 5th.
We had a good battle until Andrew Kell span on the apex of maggots (due to mechanical failure), which brought out the yellow flag and the safety car, so we all bunched up again.
The previous weekend at brands hatch, i had made 2 great restarts after the safety car periods, but Steve is an old hand at this racing malarky, so i knew this would be were he was most likely to pounce. Another feature of the elise trophy races is the 3 class system. Around a short circuit like silverstone national, this means that the quicker cars are lapping the slower ones twice, and this made the restart even more exciting.
I went through a pack of class A cars, literally, with steve following. As i cleared my way through, he was able to just follow. I lost my momentum on the apex of maggots, as i dived up the inside of Tess, and steve managed to get a clear run, so was within easy reach of a slipstream. Sods law that i couldnt get 5th again, and he easily pulled alongside me on the back straight. As we headed for the braking zone for brooklands, i could see a class A car about to turn in. I left it as long as i could, but sure enough, the class A car turned in, and i had to concede the corner to steve. I tucked in behind him as we powered round woodcote, and i was starting to think where to have a go back at him as the red flag came out.
arse. I was gutted that i hadnt managed to hold him off for 3 more corners, but even more gutted that i hadnt had the chance to fight back and have a good race.
As we stood in Parc ferme again, i shook steve's hand, thanked him for a clean race, and congratulated him. I thought i was 2nd, but he reckoned i might have still won, as they might count back due to the red flag, and i would have won. Turns out he was right, and they gave me the win, althought i didnt deserve it, and it was really Steve's win.
Race 2 was back to the usual handicap system. I started very near the back, 45 seconds down on the pole sitter. I was in the same group as steve again, so was looking forward to a rematch for the earlier race. I held him off for a few laps again, but he got past when i couldnt get 5th again.
I then followed him for a good bit, dropping back every time i couldnt get 5th. Had a fantastic race, had no idea where i was position wise, but really enjoying the chase.
I went to outbrake christian in the other NA honda car, but i locked a rear wheel and spun 180 degrees. Managed to flick the car back straight again, get 2nd gear, and drive off without stopping, but i had lost 6 or so places. Went side by side with gavin through luffield but as we rounded woodcote, the chequred flag was out. I was kicking myself, and punching the wheel, cursing myself for making a mistake. It was only afterwards that i found what caused the spin.
Had to fix the car before i went home, thanks again to skeggsy for lending me a brake disc
So, overall, not a bad weekend. Another class win in the first race (although it was gifted) and managed to recover to 10th in the second, despite having a mechanical failure.
HUGE THANKS AGAIN TO ROBIN. Above all else, without him, i would be seriously more stressed out about race weekends, but he takes care of all the niggly things for me and lets me concentrate on driving. Cheers mate.
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