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In the three years I have been racing, Castle Combe has always been a firm favourite of mine. Although it is warmly referred to as ‘Castle Doom’ to many drivers, I have always produced good racing results. On our side was the fact that the ‘Open Cars’ weren’t out with us for this round. The track is very bumpy and uneven, so thankfully we only had the ‘Club Cars’ to contend with.

After being forced to take the agricultural route at the start of last years race, (caused by the actions of a fellow driver), I was determined to not let history repeat itself in 2008. ‘So let the racing begin’

Qualification

Not one of the best qualifying times we have set especially as we were two rows off our nearest rival! This is what happens when you don’t get the chance to test the track beforehand. That’s racing driver excuse number 64! Once again, as always with racing - it’s all about the start!!

Race 1

With the lights out, we dug in and got off to a flying start. Straight off, we out-manoeuvred several competitors going up ‘Avon Rise’ and into ‘Quarry Corner’. Quickly, we clawed a couple of places back to get in close contention with our nearest rival. Showing excellent pace coming out of ‘Old Paddock Bend’ and down through ‘Hammerdown' as we turned into 'Tower Corner', Sarah’s 911 braked early. I moved to the outside to out-break her, but with that she closed the track to me. Naughty! On hitting the grass with two wheels, I had no alternative but to brake and was side swiped by Sarah’s pink left hand rear quarter panel, hitting my front wheel. This put me into a spin, with my right hand front bumper and wing hitting the tyre wall and then whipping me round for further annihilation by hitting the rear right hand quarter. With the rest of the field gone through, I rejoined the track but my front wing was rubbing the outside wall of the right tyre; shredding it. With the car billowing tyre smoke, we were forced to retire. “What is it with these 911's? They brake too early and they can't corner”. Here’s a tip – it helps if all mirrors are used!!

Race 2

With the car temporary repaired and looking slightly battle scarred we head out for race 2. Not for the first time, we had to start from the back of the grid. With nothing to lose, and with a similar start to the first race, we were able to make up several places going into ‘Quarry’. However, even with the best of starts, just in front of us on ‘Farm Straight’ Andy Duncan and Ian Oliver were found tussling for position. The next thing seen was Oliver exiting the track broad side, in a cloud of tyre smoke. I drove through the curtain of smoke only to miss him on the other side by just inches. Unfortunately, Sarah collected him side on, and lost her bonnet as a result. Neither driver was hurt. More ‘shaken than stirred’. Adrian Stock also had a lucky escape as Sarah’s bonnet bounced off his car, taking his wiper blade with it.

This calamity brought out the red flag, with the damaged cars hauled back to Parc Ferme. All cars were regrouped on the start line in our original grid position with a restarted 15 minute race to complete. Sadly, all the hard work and achievements of moving up the grid in the previous start was lost. We had to start all over and do it all again.

Under a restart we were off. But, it wasn’t Andy Duncan’s day. He took a hit from behind from Dave Botterill’s 964 C2, causing him to take to the grass – on the agricultural route, I had endured last year. With all this going on, drivers had to take lots of evasive action to avoid any contact with other cars. This inevitably gave those drivers who were in front of the ‘clatter’, a clear getaway. With a shortened race, we caught up with the front runners, but without sufficient time on our side, we had to settle for a clean but positive second place position. And once again, we took an extra point for fastest lap making up a little for the 1st race disaster.

Reflection

‘Castle Doom’ once again lives up to its name. But as we always say, motor racing is a learning curve. Even when you do a great job, something or someone can put a stop to things. So, not our best weekend. But Hey! Sh** happens. And when it does, you just have to pick yourself up and move on.