The first heat of the February 27 race meeting got off to a confused start. We had been told that we would head out on a sighting lap, form up on the grid and then do a formation lap behind a pace vehicle, following which we would be racing. Heading out on that first lap, Blossom was misfiring badly, and would not rev above 5,000 rpm. Ever the optimist, I hoped that it was just fouled plugs after idling for several minutes in the holding paddock. That was the first thing I got wrong.
The second thing that I got wrong was that instead of forming up on the start grid, while I was slowing, looking for my grid position, pow! we were racing. Between being taken by surprise and the misfire, it didn’t take long for those gridded behind me to overtake me and within a lap or so I found myself at the back of the field. The old motoring saw has it that in order to finish first, first you must finish. True enough, and with Blossom running very slowly, I had lots of time to consider this piece of wisdom and realise that it also applies to finishing last, and indeed anywhere else. Knowing that my car was not going to die, I did what I could and figured that by finishing the race I would at least gain an advantage over those who failed to finish. At least two cars failed to finish the heat and as a bonus, I went past Gavin Gorman when he got a bit overenthusiastic in turn 1.
After the race a quick investigation revealed the source of the problem when one of the plug leads fell apart in my hands. With the culprit identified, the next thing was to source a new set of plug leads. With logistical help from Craig Harper I managed to track down a new set of leads and installed them with time to spare ahead of the second heat. One of the oddities of motor racing, and I am not the first person to comment on this, is that the same people who will happily squeeze you off the line, if not the track are the very same people who will move heaven and earth to help a stricken competitor get back on track. Mostly so that they can squeeze you off the track again, I suspect.
While we were forming up in the pre-race paddock for the second heat, I spotted a marshal walking around carrying a chalk board which read “1 lap”. I approached him and asked: “Is that one lap and then we’re racing, or one lap and then form up on the grid for a pace lap?”
“It’s one lap and then form up on the grid.” He informed me.
“Great,” I said, “’cause there was some confusion in the first heat, please ensure that the pole sitter knows.”
And with that we went off on our sighting lap. Once again I slowed as we approached the grid area and once again Lucy whipped the football away as Charlie Brown was about to kick it, and I was slowing down while the front of the field tore off. After the race Gavin, who was gridded behind me in his Birkin 7 said that he’d seen me slowing and spotted the leaders leaving and was sitting behind me yelling “Go James, go James, go James, go!” into his crash helmet.
When I realised the race was under way I accelerated as best I could. The misfire was dramatically better, but Blossom was still not running 100%. At least I was able to reel Martin Coward (Birkin 7) in, inch by inch. When I could hear his car’s exhaust note on the exit of Malmesbury I knew that I was getting closer, and from then it was just a question of time. I tried a look up the inside into Cape Town corner but Martin was having none of that, so I tucked back in behind him at the exit of the corner. As we cleared the kink on the main straight I was aware of the front runners coming up to lap us, and a great deal of smoke and dust at the end of the straight (which I would later learn was Hennie Trollip dealing with a stuck throttle in his Lotus 7 replica and using the run off area to avoid disaster).
I stayed off the racing line to let the duelling Nick Adcock (Tiga) and Steve “Stumble” Humble (Mallock) past just before turn 1, which was still clouded in dust. In the excitement, Martin ran wide and lost grip on the marbles, allowing me to nip past him. Arnold Lambert, in his Mercedes SLK 200 was several seconds up the road and with nobody to dice with was soft pedalling for the last few laps, and although I was closing the gap, by the time the checkered flag fell, I was still a long, long way behind him, but reasonably pleased with the outcome.
Drive of the day must go to my mate Craig Harper, who pedalled his Harper Type 5 (see http://www.harpersportscars.com)to a lap time in the 1:25’s. For a road legal car, on semi-slick tyres that is a remarkable achievement although, on a purely personal level, slightly depressing as I don’t know what I am going to need to do to get close to that.
The video on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4O8x2_dIkQ ) shows me chasing Martin Coward for a lap, followed by his spin. Look out for the expanding dust cloud at the end of the main straight, caused by Hennie’s moment of unwanted excitement.
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