Graeme's bit

We turned the race weekend into a holiday, stopping the night before in Castle Combe village.  Its very picturesque - strange how the prettiest village in Britain is a couple of hundred yards from one of the fastest race circuits in the country.  Caters for all tastes, I guess...

I was glad to see my intact car when I arrived in the paddock.  Derek and the guys at Classic Carriage had done a marvellous job repairing the damage from my previous weeks shunt at Goodwood.  It was nice to see how well a Caterham stands up to what I thought was quite a big accident (but I don't want to see it happen again!). 

The convey run was more a high speed thrash to catch the convey car (which we didn't manage).  I followed the Triumph in front who obviously knew the circuit quite well (but not the new chicanes - he disappeared down Bobbies escape road.  I nearly wet myself laughing as he sat there wondering where the track had gone!). 

My first timed run run was fairly uneventful until I got to Bobbies to find gravel and a bollard in the middle of the track.  Bollards!!! (I said "bollards").   I don't think it actually slowed me down - as soon as I'd seen it, I'd hit it.   Luckily there was no damage done but it could have done with a few more marshals around the track.  I guess its difficult to find volunteers on Grand Prix weekend.   I think about a dozen of us hit the debris, but there were to be no re-runs.   In hindsight, I guess this was the right way to go as the second runs wouldn't have been finished by the curfew, and everyone would have just had one run to count. 

I was fifth after the first run, but after gong into the circuit office and seeing the trophies, I decided that I need fourth and trophy that goes with it.  Instead of the usual glass or cup, these were large scale models of classic cars mounted on a plinth.   I needed one of those.  A chat with some of the quick guys revealed that Avon Rise could be taken flat.  I'd guessed this before but was somewhat lacking in bravado after my incident the weekend before.  It was time for one of my banzi runs..

On my final timed run I was screaming at myself not to lift for Avon Rise - it worked!!   Buoyed on by this I braked ten to twenty yards later for the chicanes and Tower than I had on previous runs.  It was a rather sideways and scrappy run but it worked.   I was so exhilarated/scared, I was shaking and had to be helped out of the car.   My time that had been going down by tenths all day fell by two seconds, and I moved up to ... fifth.  Damn you all for going faster!  I stayed on for the prize giving to give my support to the trophy winners (they deserve it - I can't imagine where you find a second over my best), only to find the trophies went down to fifth!  That explains why I was delighted, Kim.  My Merc 300SL now takes pride of place on the mantelpiece, dwarfing my fourth at Harewood and powerboating third trophies!