The new engine had been installed (nice and shiny looking) and was having a few bits and pieces done to it when I arrived. Indeed, with a couple of other things being discovered later in the day I've never seen it having more work done.
Went out for the familiarisation session with the rain easing a bit but the track still awash. This was my first fully wet go at the track coupled with me not wanting to thrash the new engine too hard until the races so I kept it steady and got a feel for the conditions. Times.
When the time came for the first race, I was glad to have decided to not go into the main draw for the race start positions as the rain was back and the track was even worse than before. Starting from the back was an experience in conditions like that, the ball of spray ahead of you is just immense. A couple of cars touched on the first lap with one of them going off while a few laps later Jason (who drew the front row with fellow rookie Gordon - rather them than me!) spun at the chicane and I also passed him. At this point something strange happened - I seemed to discover that I LOVE conditions like this. Right ahead of me Gordon (who had also had a spin) and Ali Thom were clearly having problems with the conditions while I could see the two cars behind me gaining a little but not by much. It was looking like I was on for what to me would have been a mega result until the last lap when I completely noobed it up into the very last corner, snatched second gear at too high revs and spun it on the entry... Thankfully the cars behind me managed to get by without hitting the car but I lost about 40 seconds and what would probably have been the result of my career. (granted only 13th at best but that would have been big news for me!) Couldn't help but be disappointed at throwing it away like that but had the time of my life up to that point. Add to that, I was only about 2.5 seconds a lap off the quickest guys and on the same pace as the lower midfield - more monsoons in future, please! Race 1 result.
Race 2 was a tough one with the track not as wet as before and entering the dreaded category of "greasy". The car went out sounding like a bit of a tractor but didn't seem to lose much pace, started at the back again with Gordon and pretty much shadowed him all the way to the end. He was suffering with monster understeer and went off the track a few times but he had usually pulled a small gap to me every time he did it so the best I could do was to latch onto the back of him. Had a couple of goes at the hairpin to get by but the inside line at the corner was obviously far wetter and the second time I tried I got a bit sideways under braking, got no gear and half spun it. Got going again pretty quickly but ended up six seconds behind him at the end. Race 2 result.
The final was a disaster from the off for me. Wondered if I was going to get out at all when Aly and the team traced the tractor noises to the fact the exhaust had blown and they did what they could to patch it up temporarily in the small time between the second and final races. The track was at it's driest so far, but it was the worst sort of condition - half wet, half dry, all slidy. The race started with Gordon back on pole again and he was helped into a spin at the top of the hill, taking three other cars off with him. One of them (Ali Thom) came back on beside me and I stupidly tried to stay with him through the chicane, touched the wet stuff on acceleration and spun it into the bog on the inside of the track. Thinking everyone was by I tried to keep it rolling backwards with the clutch in so I didn't get stuck and managed to regain the track, Gordon screaming by having got going again. By the time I got going again I was a mile behind and the car was really twitchy so I just concentrated on finishing, getting lapped by the top three at the end. Final result.
So the final result is three 17th places. Results probably should have been better but I've continued my 100% finishing record at least which is my main goal for the season - maximum track time. Still beating myself up about the race 1 spin a little but the day was a lot of fun and has confirmed to me that I really like very wet conditions! Many thanks have to go to Aly and all his guys for putting so much work into this backmarkers car over the weekend and making it raceworthy for all three races even given the mechanical issues it had!
Quick mention also to Rory Bryant - one of my fellow scholarship drivers. He finished fifth in two of the races along with setting the fastest lap in race 1 so was given the Driver Of The Day trophy - amazing stuff.
