dbRacing - NSSCC Croft Race Report 13th May 2001

NSSCC Race Report - 13th May 2001

Practice

This was the first NSSCC practice of the year, the earlier rounds being cancelled due to the foot & mouth epidemic. I qualified in 6th place overall, but with a number of cars very close to me on times.

Race

Without a gaggle of 911s around me I found out that the GT actually does get off the line pretty well. Not as good as Steven Fergusson in his 4wd Nissan Pulsar though. He leapt off the line and into 7th place overall. There was a train of cars, Ferguson, Craig Swales in his escort, much modified and faster that last year, a huge Ford Mustang and myself , all being help up by John Wilkes in his Lister Jaguar, which was quick in a straight line, but held us all up round the bends. I had less power that the other cars, and noticebly lost ground on the start/finish straight, but the car was quick at the top of the circuit so there was hope. After picking off the cars of Craig Swales and Butterfield a couple of times only to lose those places on the straight I decided I would need to take all of them in one (brave) move. Tower seemed the ideal place !

We approached the corner, people took their normal lines and I dived down the inside and drew level with the Jag. My presence at the bend was obviously a surprise to him, as he turned in on me. I took to the grass and still expected to retain track position coming out of the bend. This was not to be the case as the back end broke away and I spun losing the places I had just gained plus some more.

With about 3 laps to go I set about regaining my position. My lap times improved by 1 1/2 seconds per lap, and I managed to overtake a few cars including my old rival in class D David Cox in his Rover 220 Turbo. The race was too short though, I was pulling the Mustang in at over one second per lap when the race ended, finishing 4th in class.