A very silly view from the Back at Brands Indy

[petebee]

The weekend has come to a close and all that is left now is the rather long drive home with a sunburnt wife and very tired eyes. But as this was always going to a tongue in cheek look at the mono 1600/1800/moto class for the Brands races, here is part two.

J & P managed to get all set up in nice time on the Friday evening, finally getting the paddock assembled in the dark. Apologies to the Timms crew if we woke you guys, we did try to be quiet neighbours.

Q1 on the Saturday was a weird affair. Somehow there was a big bright burney thing in the sky. First we thought it may have been Mary's dragon from last race but then it was apparent that there was no rain. This required a hasty dust off of the slicks which had not seen daylight since the end of last year. At first we thought Joe might have forgotten his, but they were in the boot. It was early in the day that we thought a little trouble making might be fun, so we snuck out to the assembly area early just to be ahead. Well, a little clean air for 10 seconds might be fun.. or not... So back to serious land, Q1 was fun with a personal best set by myself and Joe so with much to live up to we headed back to the paddock for tea.

Race 1 was terrible. There was no other way to put it. Joe lost a wing mirror at some point so spent the race "being careful" and trying to make sure he stayed out of everyones way. That explained why Joe vanished from my mirrors. I managed to hook onto the world famous Mr Parkinson and sit behind him for a few laps. At one point I swear he might have broken into a sweat at the though I might get past. Now I would directly blame him, but about the time I attempted to duck around him I started to develop a fuel problem. I nursed the car back strongly suspecting I was running out of fuel only to loose oil pressure on the last lap. I then take 10 litres of fuel out when I was back in the paddock and noticed the oil pressure sender was somehow come loose. Weird. Must check that Blue car for a Kill JP button.

Q2 on the Sunday was amazing. Beautiful sunshine, a nice breeze, everything was set for an excellent day. Nothing much to write about in the qualifying, only I managed to set another personal best as did Joe. It is scarey to think we are getting faster, look out Eddie & David, here we come.

Race 2, oh, what a race. The start was brilliant with both Joe and myself skipping past Eddie and putting the pressure on Mr Parkinson. Joe reports Eddie put a strong challenge for the position and past him like he was standing still. I managed to keep up with Mr Parkinson managing to get into a great overtaking position before Druids only to be denied by faster cars. Next time I was in place for a good pass, the engine dies only to burst back into life. It did this each time I got close to the back of his car. (ok, we think it is a fuel pump issue, but still, this isnt serious...)

All in it was a great weekends racing, the back of the grid is closing up with only a couple of seconds seperating them and J&P are getting quicker. Could this be the start of a campaign of terror? Could J&P finally pull past Eddie and David and move towards the middle of the field? Could bacon prices inflate when pigs start flying? More to be revealed at Oulton Park......

[foggy]

Peter,
Thanks for the loan of the gear ratio for Luke's car, will get it back to you next time.
I see you were a second a lap quicker in the afternoon
Tony.
ps Just watched the onboard of Joe and Luke around Druids!!!

[petebee]

No worries, how did Luke do?

Would have loved to see the last race but time pressures meant we had to get back up north.

[foggy]

He had a great time, lost his nose cone on about the 3rd lap round druids after contact with one of the cliff dempsey cars, after that he dropped 3 secs a lap without it and his size 11 feet acting as an air brake down the straight! he finished 14th but really would have been a lot higher, loved being in a big grid again and banging wheels, (Joe nearly found that out) lol and I'm sure he will be at the next one.