The first race weekend of the season and it’s looking good. The updates I made to the car have made a real difference to the handling. It now goes where I tell it to! My best lap was 55.90 seconds – over 2 seconds quicker than the last time I was at Brands Hatch – and earned me first in class and eighth on the grid. I didn’t even feel that I was pushing the car hard. It’s the final corner that seems to be what’s costing time now, I can’t get good drive out of there, but I’m still happy.

It’s not all good news though, as during the in-lap I heard a seized bearing kind of sound and the car ground to halt at the entrance to the pits. I couldn’t race the car as I didn’t want to damage it any further, so I reported that I wouldn’t be attending the grid.

The engine is now out of the car and it looks as if it was the release bearing making all the noise. I haven’t worked out why it was so hard to start after it stalled though. I think the release bearing was half engaged during practice though as I do remember smelling the clutch half way through practice and a fellow competitor said he saw a little smoke coming out the back of the car. Everything else seems fine, so the best I can do is replace the worn clutch components.

I am looking forward to some more of this kind of pace and a good race result at Cadwell Park now.

Huw