Mallory Park 27th April 2008

Greetings race fans!

Despite the weather forecast from a certain website, the sun shone gloriously on the Peter Besters and the rain held off until after the race! Testimony to this fact was the appearance of James Darby without his trademark hat as he sauntered around the pits casting a knowing eye over any engine that was on view.

Following the first race of the season it was good to get back to a good sized grid all together again without the incursion of any other competitors.

Practice was a relatively painless affair despite the spin of Alan (I’m not that quick) Brooke and a slight overheating problem for Simon Tinkler in car 18 there was little to report.

There followed the usual spate of excuses, Blaine Neaves: steering column fell off, Alan (INTF) Brooke flat spotted tyre, S. Tinkler overheating car. JW (15) speck of dust on offside wing…

A major bid was made for “Buffoon of the Series” by none other than my idiot brother Alan. Sadly I can no longer conceal that it is he who has purchased the TWR prepared Montego Station Wagon (45) with a view to taking up as much track space as possible for his money.

Deciding to send in his entry at the eleventh hour he gave no thought to how the car would actually be transported to the track, instead he swanned off to watch Chelsea boot a ball about leaving his hard pressed brother and many others to try and resolve his transport issues for him.

He then turned up late at the track on race day and borrowed both a trailer and a tow car and merrily bimbled off to get his car from a nearby lockup.

Much to the consternation of the Aston Martin Owners he dained to qualify out of session considerably lowering the tone of proceedings.

It later transpired that his car had no water and little fuel and two flat tyres, but still turned in a respectable one minute lap time. There is no justice in this world!

The Race

Having listened to the various excuses and tales of woe from several drivers about the problems they were having with their cars I realised as soon as the race began that miraculously all their problems had been resolved during the lunch break, or a bit of sand bagging had occurred.

A good start was made by all and a clean race ensued. Paul Rayment (21) wound up his clockwork Orange Roadster and gave it some juice. He zapped past me round Gerards having resolved his (alleged) misfire problem and pipped me at the finish line to take 3rd in class A and squashing me into 4th position. (That’s enough of the orange jokes for one report.)

I enjoyed a good tussle with (13) the Loony Racing car driven by Peter Burchill as we swapped places at various points around the track. The ZS was quick in a straight line but my trusty B just had the edge in the corners.

John Binczyk (71) in his gleaming MGF played a tactical game seeing my unpredictable racing lines and chose his moment to pass me carefully before scampering off into the distance. (A theme developing here I think).

Simon Tinkler’s overheating problem restricted his performance as he nursed the car round, but  then if you go for 15:1 compression what can you expect? (Sorry Peter!).

JW with his usual alacrity turned in a faultless race and consistently lapped in the 57 second mark to stroll to an easy class A victory in his 14th year in the championship. Is there anyone out there who can stop him???

It was good to see the surprise appearance of Dale the scrutineer at the meeting. Apparently he was the cause of several drivers attending the medical centre with heart palpitations.

As many of us know Dale puts in an awful lot of time scrutineering several other championships and has been looking after this series in all its various guises for more years than anyone can remember.

The good news is son of Dale is in training to take on some of the workload and it is hoped that soon he will be able to attend every meeting of the PBIC. Bookings at the scales are expected to increase tenfold!!!

Footnote

 I have spent two years  getting my MGB to this level  and my brother buys a clapped out Montego for next to nothing and turns in lap times a few hundredth of a second less than me……where did I go wrong…. ?

Sadly my hope of moving up the grid is soon to be dashed as I understand Lew (lap record holder) Bergonzi is rebuilding his engine and will be racing later this year.

Eyes down for a full house at Oulton Park!

Jonesey