Well we are back after the last meeting of the FIA Championship and unfortunately we have left feeling a little diappointed that we weren’t able to perform to our normal standards. The weather wasn’t brilliant and on the Friday (which was supposed to be our clearest day) we suffered a heavy rainstorm during the morning, which delayed the racing. We were scheduled to be the first class of the pro session and with the track  being cold and missing rubber from previous classs, we knew this was going to be a difficult qualifier.
 
Eventually the weather cleared and we finally lined up in the staging lanes in the afternoon for our first session where we were paired with Adam Flamholc.
During the burnout the revs were pulled down, and not enough fuel pumped into the engine, therefore the engine leaned out and the burst panel popped. We pushed the car back and hoped that the weather would hold so we would have another qualifying session that day. At this point the weather forecast for Saturday was looking even worse so we needed to get a good pass under our belts, otherwise we’d be looking at a DNQ.

Unfortunately, as we were in the pairing lanes for our second session, another small rain shower came down and soon the officials said there would not be enough time to start another pro session and we were instructed to return to the pits.  Many big names weren’t qualified at this point such as Mats, Johan and even Melanie Troxel from America. We were worried that this would have been our only chance at qualifying.

When Saturday morning arrived we were all surprised that there was no rain…and the sun was out! Thank god, as our second qualifying pass went just as bad as the first. Another burst panel popped this time during the pass and with only a 12 second ET on the board we were entering the last qualifying session in 24th qualifying spot… not where we wanted to be!

There have been very few events where we haven’t qualified so for us not to be in the field on our last session was not a good feeling. Andy dealt with it like a legend and was determined not to let this phase him. Our final qualifying pass was not pretty, bad tyre shake, the car was getting loose, but Andy drove through it to clock a 6.26. Although there was oil and smoke at the top end which needed to be addressed back into the pits, we had made the field. We ended up in the number 8 spot for eliminations and although this is not our normal performance at least we were in the pack.

After inspecting the car it seems that the oil was just a leak and no damage to worry about, the engine all back together and we were able to joke around the dinner table and enjoy the rest of the evening knowing we were in the field for eliminations.

Our American visitors from the R2B2 race team dropped round beer and ‘Melanie Troxel’ Tshirt’s for all the teams in Pro Mod, which was really nice of them. It’s been interesting and fun having them over this year for our races. We’ve had the opportunity to see how they work and try to learn from the knowledge they hold.

We hope they’ve enjoyed the FIA tour, I personally believe all the teams take the racing very seriously and work extremely hard to race (especially in such a competitive class). But at the end of the day we do this for a hobby, its fun and we enjoy the social aspect of the season also – Everyone no matter what nationality is very friendly and will go out of their way to help other teams, that’s just what it’s about here! 

So race day approachs, and we have Urban in the first round who was only 2 hundredths slower than us (again a top competitor who wasn’t able to perform to his usual standard). This was going to be a tough race for both of us and what made it even harder is that we were the first cars out of the track for the day. We had lane choice so while the no.1 qualifier presentations were going ahead in the background the crew assessed the lanes to see which one to choose. The lanes looked pretty similar and were both ok, but the boys chose the right as this has been the better of the two all weekend, and it seems they were right.

Although Urban red lit and gave away the win, Andy still went for the run, we needed a good pass! But we again suffered from some pretty spectacular tireshake, clocking a 6.27. We made it through the first round and we now face no.1 qualifier, Melanie Troxel, not the easiest match up! We knew it would be tough but what round isn’t in European Pro Mod?! We had no other choice than to try something as Melanie was bracket racing 6.0’s consistently and we were 2 tenths off!

We pulled round onto the start line but during the burnout the engine started to sound a bit fluffy, Luke started directing Andy back but the smoke out of the left header was getting worse and worse and the crew decided to shut the car down as the engine was clearly hurt. The race against Melanie would have been hard admittedly but we would have given her a good (and hopefully close) race where the better person would have won. Loosing because you’ve done damage and aren’t able to run is a real shame and very disheartening. But that’s racing, and you have to take it on the chin.

On the positive side by getting through the first round, it means we have gained extra points in the MSA championship and although not confirmed we believe to be either un-catchable for the no1 position in the championship or at least have improved our strong lead over Graham Ellis.

We would like to congratulate Johan Lindberg (and crew) who won the championship, the whole team really deserved the gold and we have had a great time racing against them this year! We look forward to giving them stronger competition in 2011. Another well done must go out to Adam Flamholc, another great racer and team who stormed into the 5’s this weekend and took the European record. Well deserved again! – Enjoy it for the winter as we’ll be fighting you for it next year!

Its probably safe to say that we’re dealing with a few gremlins since our fire, however this is basically a brand new car, it may not look it but everything has been taken apart and rebuilt, with many of the parts replaced. Some of the issues we are dealing with is because the car is not reacting the same as the old car, this isn’t wrong this is just because its not the same and with some more passes we’ll be back to where we were before.
So we have one more race left the National finals in 2 weeks time at Santa Pod. As mentioned we believe we have at least a comfortable lead in the championship, which will give us the opportunity where we can use the passes trying to iron out a few problems. If possible it would be a good opportunity to test a few new things for next year as the track will still be good from the Finals, but we will have to see what happens. We did do a bit of damage this weekend and are on limited parts however we have enough to complete the year which is what we aim to do.

In the mean time we will post some photos and videos including some which Matt Woods one of our good friends and freelance photographer took during a photo shoot at the top end of the track on Thursday Evening. Please check out his website also at http://www.mwoods.co.uk

Thank you to everyone who wished us well and supported us, we will see you in a few weeks at the track!!