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After several long days in the workshop, the new 106 was ready to race less than 2 weeks after it had been a derelict writeoff. The car had not been driven anywhere, so this would really be a big testing session rather than any attempt to do anything too spectacular.
Qualifying started slowly. The new brake pads seemed to be taking an age to bed into the old discs, but towards the end the lap times started to drop at about a second a lap, with the last one being the quickest. I also noticed a couple of problems with the car that would need to be sorted, and so our mechanic was left with plenty to do.
A respectable mid-field start beckoned, but the rain had other ideas. Even before we left the assembly area I was misted up, and by the end of the green flag lap I could not see a thing. I loosened the seatbelt briefly to wipe the window with my glove, but it really did not help.
As the lights went green, I just hung on. Mallory is a circuit I know fairly well, but I hadn't planned on having to drive it from memory. I really could not see anything. There was even spray from the rear wheels entering the car and covering the inside of the windscreen. On more than one occasion I found myself heading straight towards a spinning Gareth Wright at the Devils elbow, and I had very little time to react, as I had not seen any yellow flags. I was just hanging on for the chequered flag. When it came, I did not see that either, but I had kept it all in one piece, started 20th and
finished 19th.
I had the worst visibility that I can ever remember in a race, and I failed to see flags even though I was looking specifically for them, so I can understand why my team mate Charles managed to miss a black and orange flag, for which he subsequently got excluded.
The next race would be an entirely different experience. It was dry now. My lap times when I could not see where I was going had left me way down the order, and feeling confident of making amends in better conditions. As the lights went green the car moved off the line well, and as we approached Gerrards I went round a Fiesta that was trying to block Dan Neil in, but then I was faced with a 205 that was already sideways. I did not want to hit it, as I was in a new car, (and not mine either), so I lifted briefly, but lost control immediately and went into the kitty litter and rolled it over. Some have said that I was hit from behind, but if I was it cannot have been very hard. The last thing I saw was Gareth Wrights car coming for me as I went over, and he managed to sneak underneath as I turned over, so my car was resting against his when the dust settled.
A slowly forming pool of petrol next to me made me rather anxious to get out, but the marshalls seemed keen that I not rush anything. Hmmm, no chance - so I struggled to get out of the side window across the bonnet of Gareth's car, and Gareth rushed back to give me a hand.
The car is only lightly damaged, and will be repaired in plenty of time for the next race.
My team mate, Charles had an equally torrid time. Having been excluded from the first race, his car would not start for the restart of the second race, and although it was started in the pits, he was not allowed to take a pit lane start. Two no scores there.
Several other people managed to get heavily damaged cars too, Martin Boon, Paul Macmillan, Gordon Mcmillan., Craig Shepherd, Steve Powlesland, Terry Roughton to name but a few.
The races themselves did not disappoint. The 106 Rallye (ex Pete Featherstone, now driven by Pete Felix) proved it has plenty in the bag as it stormed its way through to the front for a double. Some of the other front runners
must now be wondering what they have to do to be able to brake as late as that! Tony Scarlett, Glenn Stokes and Pete Morgan proved consistent and remain right at the sharp end of the championship table as they all head off to Lydden in a few weeks time.
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