by eastlmark » Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:50 pm
Well, it started badly.....
Arrived at Lydden Hiil ,after some god early start, in pitch darkness, pouring rain and a freezing gale, somehow found the paddock in the murk and began to unload. half hour later with the some sort of daylight dawning we were already soaked through and fed up.
and then it got even worse.....
lined up for my first ever Lydden practice lap and from the start it didnt feel right, the engine spluttered along the first part and around the first bend and conked out altogether on the hill up to the hairpin, not a great start to the day. Seems to have been some kind of fuel supply problem caused by a lack of fuel in the tank,although it was the usual amount I sprint with. The fuel cap was pressurised when I released it which is something I have never noticed before....anyway a top up of fuel and it seemed to be runing fine although I wouldnt know for sure until I got out there. I pleaded with the clerk of the course that it was my first time here and I had got no practice laps in at all and was kindly given a re run and steadily learnt the track while checking out if the motor was going to run properly. It did and I was surpised with the time 107 seconds (timed on the first 1.75 laps of the 3 lap practice). So then on to first timed run.....
and then it got even worse! I spun while turning in to Devils Elbow and although got going again and completed my run I found myself 10 seconds slower than my class competitors XR2 who posted a time of 107 secs about that of my learning/practice time.
So the second and final timed run...things then got better!
On a drying track I took the start and after the first bend I got red flagged, the XR2 had spun in front of me! All I had to do on my re -run was to beat his 107 seconds time for a class win, pressure was off as I knew if I just keep it on line and not loose, it a tidy lap will easily win. I continued around after the red, getting heat in to the tyres and made my way back to the start for my re run. Kept a cool head, no pressure, and put in a tidy lap, result? 96 secs! So a class win and a good overall result, a great finish to the day and the season!
Thanks to all who came to watch and help out, John for his super quality race (rocket?) fuel he gave me, and Tony, Stephen and Simon for help with packing up.
