The journey started Friday morning in a borrowed tow van from great friend and sponsor Marc Huxley after mine had a last minute breakdown. A couple of stops on the way and a tour of Edinburgh, we made it with no dramas. After the car was unloaded and a quick catch up with everyone it was back to the hotel for food and a chill ready for Saturday.
Saturday morning wasn’t the normal early start for briefings as the timetable was slightly different this weekend. Arriving at the track at around 9am, we gave the car a quick check over and a clean ready for practice in the afternoon. Before that though we had the briefing with the do’s and don’ts and what the judges wanted to see.
No big flick entries and a slightly different line down the hill with 6 clipping points through the course. Briefing done, it was time to get ready for our 1h15mins practice session which this weekend was run as a single session and not broke up into the normal 2 sessions. The weather was sunny and hot for the start of the practice, my first run over the hill was a steady run as last year my first run ended with me on the grass and the loss of the front bumper.
First run done it was now time to build the speed and try to get the lines asked for. I got into a comfortable rhythm pretty quick and was happy with how it was going. 20 minutes before the end of the session I headed to the pits for a tyre change and while I was doing this there was a light rain shower.
I headed back to the track with just enough time for another couple of runs. I nervously went for the first run after the change as a greasy track and new tyres made it very tricky. Whilst queuing for my final run the rain came down harder and a few drivers seemed to struggle and the end of the session was called. Back to the pits and just as we parked up the heavens really opened and the rain was bouncing and rivers were running across the pits.
I was going to watch the pro practice which was after our session but decided against getting wet and covered the car to keep it out the rain. The rain lasted the duration of the pro practice and the whole of the semi-pro qualifying session. I wasn’t qualifying till Sunday morning so with the car ready to go we headed back to the hotel for the night. Sunday morning started damp from the rain the night before but this was soon drying as the skies were pretty clear which was good for qualifying.
We headed to the track and watched the semi-pro practice on the hill and then the first round of runs of the pro qualifying. With the track all dried up it was time to line up for qualifying. With no sign of the rain I was looking forward to some fast smokey runs. My 1st run felt ok for a banker, I was a little off a couple of the clips but not bad. Run 2 was a lot better, closer to all the clips and I was happy with it. Run 3 was pretty much a mirror of my 2nd run.
With qualifying done it was time to find out the results so all the drivers gathered for the results. As the results were called, I was called in 10th place and I was happy that I had made it to the battles. The battles were called out and I was up against last years BDC champion again, Mike Marshall. This was becoming a regular occurrence. With a couple of hours before the super-pro battles were due to start I went down to the first corner to watch the semi-pro and then the pro battles. The weather was still holding up which was good as my car struggles in the wet a bit.
The time had come to get ready and warm the car up ready for battles, once ready it was on to the holding area before lining up on the track. Whilst sat waiting for my battle I could see the clouds rolling in and then down came the rain, I would of rather it stayed dry but I was still looking forward to the battle.
We set off for the practice run, the track was so slippery when wet but the practice run was good. The first judged run I straightened at the bottom of the hill which gave Marshall the advantage. The second run I initiated earlier than anytime in the dry and I still struggled to slow the car down enough and then it started to over rotate and my first thought was I’m going in the gravel but somehow the front of the car came back round and I was able to carry on the run.
From the judges point of view this caused me to slow to much so the advantage went again given to Marshall but as always its great to battle with Mike. With me done for the day we started the task of packing up ready for the long journey home but at least that wasn’t till Monday. Thanks to all of my sponsors for all their help and support.