Race day...

If being out of a race car for eight months can make a driver a little “rusty around the edges” then Gary didn’t show it today! He was back to winning ways from the very first lap of the first race!

When I arrived at the track this morning the M219 MG was already unloaded, had been through scrutineering and was all ready for the first race. Nothing has changed on the car since last season other than it having a couple of new front wings fitted and also a new front bumper and spoiler. Oh, and two new sets of side numbers! Other than that it’s a case of “if its not broken, don’t fix it!”

New wings, new numbers, same old dents!

In Gary’s first race of the day a very quick Citroen, which had travelled up from the Radford club, beat him away from the start line. Within ¾ of a lap Gary’s track knowledge had taken him past the Citroen and into a lead that he held comfortably until the chequered flag fell.

Getting a nose in front...

Pulling out a lead.

The second race saw the Citroen again go into the first bend in the lead, with Gary very close behind. This time, getting past the Radford car proved to be somewhat harder - it wasn’t until half way around the penultimate lap that Gary had what could be called a comfortable lead. From that point on it was foot to the floor and hang on!

The battle for the lead.

The third race started the same as the first two; the MG just wasn’t quite quick enough away from the start line and Gary went into the first corner 3 or 4 car lengths behind the leader. For the rest of the race Gary tried every trick he knew to get ahead - and a couple of times did manage to gain a half a car length advantage - but this time had to settle for second. It wasn’t until the MG returned to the pits that I was certain of the result; from where I was stood in the pits I couldn’t tell who had won! The cars crossed the line side-by-side and there must have only been a matter of inches between them.

By the time it came for Gary’s final race of the day, the weather had taken a turn for the worse, it was pouring with rain! The track had turned from super smooth, hard packed soil to what can only be described as a lake! The track was still hard packed underneath but a layer of very wet slime now covered it. The other drivers in Gary’s class chose to load their cars up and call it a day; Gary climbed into his car and headed for the start line! Hero, or fool?

As the MG was the only Class 6 car to make the grid the start marshalls sent the Stock Hatch cars out with it. Lap one was very slow as the cars struggled to find grip away from the start line. Lap two saw cars sliding all over the place as they had now built up speed but had very little grip, it also saw Gary pull off the track and head for the pits. He was the only Class 6 car on track and was basically racing himself. The car was also over-revving due to the lack of grip. Putting the car on the trailer was the wise thing to do - we had two race wins and a second place, why risk damaging the engine?

So, apart from the rain that hit the meeting late in the proceedings it was a pretty good afternoons racing. The car never missed a beat all day, it made it to the end of the meeting without any damage and we had some good close racing. Oh, and we also got a little bit wet too!

British Summer Time... it takes some beating! Even when you're in an MG!