What a weekend. It started with a journey from Surrey to Oulton Park where nearly half of it was spent on the M25! And to make matters worse, it was a journey where I had to stop when i realized the back of the car seemed to be being lifted up over every undulation. A quick check revealed a lump of molten rubber where the jockey wheel had previously been. The clamp was still thoroughly done up so looks like equipment failure rather than operator error. (Honest!)

TomTom did a sterling job of getting between the hotel and the track, even though the main road was closed and on arrival I pulled in next to Charles and hurled myself into the usual tasks of getting the car off the trailer and ready for scrutineering. I also had to fit the wheels : I’d picked up a set from BAT and (not feeling like working on the car in the Easter snow) these needed to be fitted. It wasn’t until I had the last one bolted up that I realised I had 3 left wheels and 1 right one. A quick trip to George Polley to swap directions on one sorted that one out. Thanks George. (Thanks Jonny!)

The car sailed through scrutineering, and suddenly we were ready. The new cameras were fitted and ready to go. The timed practice session came and went quickly - a few laps with Damon where we tried to help each other out, but didn’t really do a good job of it, then I dropped back and found another pack to play with. Time was running out and I was still lapping in the 2:03’s. Last lap, and I worked through the pack, and managed to put in a 2:01:9 in spite of heavy traffic. A bit better, but done on half throttle a lot of the time. I must figure out how to make the most of Qualy - because I’m certainly not doing it well. Grid position : 14th.

Race time was more like bath time. I came off on the green flag lap braking for Cascades and managed to drag myself through the gravel trap and back onto the circuit - as I hadn’t fallen to the back, I was able to retake my place on the grid. At least one driver in front of me gave up and pulled into the pits to retire. I can’t say I blame them…

I was tempted to start from the pits, but decided that in 14th, enough of the pack was already behind me that I had as good a chance of avoiding an accident there as I would have from the back. The start was basically zero visibility. It was just a case of trying to drive in the spaces where other cars were not and hope that nobody did anything too stupid. I think I passed a couple of people on Lakeside, but again it was more a case of just trying to stay on the track and not hit things than any real competitive manoeuvres.

I soon decided that all I wanted to do was finish. If anyone really wanted to pass me they could. It was a good idea, but as pressure built from the guys behind I couldn’t help but defend. In the end I made a mistake under pressure - a combination of aquaplaning, and changing down too early for Old Hall saw me fishtail the car into a spin on the straight, and I ended up parked on the apex of Old Hall. Well done everyone for avoiding me! I rejoined quite a few places down.

A lap or so later the reds were being waved, and my countdown timer said 9:40 remaining. Which mean we were 20s into the second half of the race, and it was unlikely to be restarted. I must say my first though was Phew! I was a bit annoyed with myself for the spin and figured I had finished around 20th. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes and made tracks. I normally like to stay for prize-giving, but I was cold, wet and miserable.

Imagine my surprise when I checked the results sheets this morning and discovered I wasn’t 20th, but 10th. How did that happen ? Mostly it would be the count back- results were declared on the last completed lap, which must have been immediately before my spin. I had no idea I was running in 10th - I guess we had one retirement, probably at least one person off in front of me, and I must have passed a couple of people. My first ever top 10 finish, and I didn’t even notice. Well my next job is to fix my computer, then edit the video. I will post it here soon.