The Pegasus sprint was yesterday at 'Combe. Unlike the previous events that I've entered the classes were split into sports cars and saloon cars, which meant that some of my usual competitors like the civics and lancer, were in other classes, or not in attendance. Most of the cars in the 1800-2600cc were from either the MG or Triumph clubs, but a combination of Porsche 944's, MR2's, Scimitar turbo and a 90's Lotus Elan, amongst others, meant that there was a good variety in the class. It may sound like a 60's or 70's MG, Triumph or Scimitar Sabre might not be that comperable with the Vx in performance, but the modifications made to them, trackday 1B tyres etc. mean that they are more than a match for my largely standard car. Still, at the start of the day I felt confident in the car and my chances, but had labelled the 944 and the MR2's as likely to be closest to my car's times.

 

My confidence was further inspired by the morning being wet and slippery, which hands the advantage back to my standard tyres over the semi-slick 1b's worn by others, which are difficult in the wet. I was second in class after practice, with a 111second run, the Porsche 944 managed a 109sec on his second drivers run, but I felt there was a lot more to come as I was hindered by huge wheelspin at the start and just trying to feel the grip in.

 

There was a big time gap between practice and the T1 run, and it was pretty much dry by the time we lined up again. As you'd expect, everyone improved, but I was quickest with a 96sec run. A couple of guys were close, and in fact there were 5 cars within 2 seconds, including both drivers in the 944 and the Scimitar, so it was all very open. My lap was conservative, and there was certainly a bit more to come - the only adjustment I needed to put in on the lap was on the final corner, where the car snapped into oversteer mid-corner, although I managed to catch it quite neatly and I don't think it cost me that much time. My friend who was spectating said that there was a patch of damp at the apex of the corner, which was the reason for the slide - I made a mental note to keep an eye out for it in T2.

 

For a while the skies looked a bit ominous so I was hoping for rain, meaning that people wouldn't improve further in T2, but it never came, and by the time my class was called again, the track was completely dry, even off line. It was obvious people would improve further so I just had to go for it. I got a little over enthusiatic on the line and had too much wheel spin, but I was away. After being at 'Combe on the hot day back in June, I knew I could manage to just lift for avon rise, without the brake, so my first braking was for camp...and it didn't work! The brakes were stone cold as it was the first stop of the lap (I guess back in June with the warmer temperatures the Brakes were staying hotter between runs or something), so I ran a little deep, but managed to get the car roughly into the apex and ran wide over the exit curbs - a little messy but not too bad time-wise. The rest of the lap was tidy, although I ran deep at the second chicane, over the curbs and onto the exit curb, grasscrete and a little bit of dirt too! The end result was a 92.90sec, which was the class lead at the time I got to the results board with about 6 cars still to go. Then heartbreak...the Scimitar put in 92.71, pipping me by 0.19 seconds! Everyone else came in behind, so I came second.

 

I was a bit gutted to be pipped right at the end by such a small margin, it was so close that anything could have made the difference, the bit of wheelspin at the start, or just the fact that as I had to drive back I had 15litres of fuel on board I didn't need! After a bit though I took stock, it was great to finish second, and win a bit of crystal. I was happy that I could be in the top couple of cars for all the runs of the day, and hopefully I can take this on to next season. Over the winter break I'm going to look at some upgrades for the car to get it up the front in the full class, not just in the sports cars.

After the awful weather at Llandow it was great to turn up to Castle Combe on a dry and mostly sunny day. I really felt that the VX would be at home here, with a pretty good power to weight ratio and handling balance, despite not having driven the circuit before, but knew that realistically I’d be held up by tyres and general lack of experience, especially given the unforgiving nature of ‘Combe and the dry weather. Added to this some entrants were from far and wide and in very serious looking cars, 18 entrants in my class in all, so anywhere in the top 10 was looking ambitious.

 

Timing problems on the practice run made this even worse, as I had no practice times until late on, and so had no idea how I was doing. When I later got my results I was around 83.44 seconds for my first timed run, which put me about 5^th or 6^th, it’s hard to tell for certain as some times were not recorded. After P2 I had reduced this time to 79.90secs, having had a laps experience and getting settling in a little bit, but the ABS system on the car was being a problem, particularly when the car was unbalanced going over Avon Rise and into Quarry, which is not the best place to be having braking troubles. Still, I was around 8^th place, although again I didn’t know it at the time, but the car felt good and it seemed ok to try a little harder, particularly braking into the chicanes and into quarry.

 

T1 was the first time I got back, so I was very happy with 78.43, putting me 8^th. This was the first run without ABS and the difference was incredible, allowing me to brake 20yds further into corners than on the previous run. The car’s handling in the dry is excellent and the current set up allows for plenty of trail braking if you’re careful, which is really useful for getting the nose into the chicanes. We decided not to make any changes to the cars set up before T2, and just to brake a little later and carry a little more speed. It worked, and T2 was better a 77.09sec run at an average 86.4mph, meaning I climbed ahead of a Mazda turbo to 7^th in class, and 6.35secs quicker than my first practice time. Unfortunately in P3 I was unable to improve posting 77.83sec, and the Mazda got back past me, meaning I ended in 8^th in class. I’m still pretty happy with this though, and on closer inspection it’s worked out very well for my championship standings.

 

As I said, many of the contenders were from outside championships, and 8^th in class got me 20.20 points in the Bristol scoring system, putting me 3^rd in class and, unbelievable, 5^th overall for all the Bristol Contenders, of about 40 runners, based on class index. This has put me up to 8^th place in the Bristol standings, which is a great result, even though I’m not going to be able to complete this season, I have one more event, at Colerne in August, to try and push myself up as high as possible. However, this is a very good sign for next year, when I’ll compete a full season, with (hopefully) some upgrades and more circuit knowledge which should mean I can be competitive for the overall championship.

 

I’ve uploaded some results and Bristol Speed Championship standings on the top left of the page. Unfortunately there were no photo’s from ‘Combe, as my usual “mate with camera” was at Glastonbury!