Palmersport 2007

Wednesday saw me and a load of friends/friends of friends/workmates head of to the Palmersport driving day at Bedford Autodrome. Last year there were 20 of us, but somehow, this year there were 37 of us, which presented various problems for me, not least being getting the cash from everybody. The other big issue was figuring out how to split us into a team of 20 and one of 17. So I ended up going with the Glasgow v Edinburgh approach, just for some added spice even though the 21 Scots were joined by 11 English, 3 Irish, an Italian, and a very fiery Spanish lady. (pictured below)
A few years ago my nephew, then 12, asked me if I’d take him to Bedford when he was older, to which I said yes. Given that he’s spent the last 5 years living in North Carolina, I’d forgotten all about it, but he hadn’t, so I had one non paying guest – His father/my brother also decided to join us, but I wasn’t paying for him!

The day was fantastic, with even the weather smiling upon us. Team Glasgow (Piquet) were lucky enough to start with the karts and the JP1.This meant that at least everybody would have been out on the west circuit with an instructor prior to being let loose in the FPA single seater.

I only stopped taking my medication last week, so because I’m due to do my first car race for a few years in September, I had decided that I was not going to hold back and I pushed really hard all morning – so much so that I was quickest in all of the mornings circuit events – Kart, Jaguar JP1, FPA, Renault Clio Cup and Porsche JP3. Rightly so, Palmersport only allow one trophy per person to stop smart arses like me winning everything, but even so I was getting a bit of flak for keeping on beating everyone. However, as is usual, I was really poor in the off road event, so that put paid to any thoughts of winning the overall trophy.

After a tasty lunch it was off to the last 2 events where I didn’t push quite as hard, but still managed 2nd in the Caterhams and 7th in the Jaguar XKR. The XKR is new this year and it really is a great piece of kit – the whine of the supercharger announces it’s iminant arrival, quickly followed by the bark of it’s glorious V8 as it accelerates away – awesome! Back on the east circuit, I even managed to blag an extra 3 laps in the Caterham and took 8/10ths off of my recorded time, just for fun.

I’ve visited Palmersport 12 times in its’ various guises over the last 8 years and I’ve always really enjoyed it, but this was without doubt the best yet. Perhaps it was seeing my nephew beat his dad on points, although head to head the result was reversed, or just seeing the inane grins on everyone’s faces as the helmets were removed after each event – It just made for a great day. And it looks like next year will be even busier!

So at the end of the day, the team prize went to the Glaswegians with the Edinburgers a distant second. There was a third team there, but they were way out of the running and only won the Off Road event.

Paul Healy, (Team Glasgow/Piquet but really Irish) was the overall winner with Craig Alsop (E’Burger/Schumacher) a close second.
Prize Winners.

FPA – Me (G)
Jaguar JP1 – Chris McMahon (G)
Karts – Michael McGuigan (G)
Caterham 7 – Jason Lundy (G)
Jaguar XKR – Craig Alsop (E)
Porsche JP3 – Chris Viggars (E)
Renault Clio Cup – Paul Healy (G)
Landrover Off Road - Some other bloke from team Senna

Overall Driver of the Day - Paul Healy (G)
Team Prize – Piquet (The official name for the weegies)

Special mentions go to rookies Chris Viggars and Jeff Johnston who were both very quick, and to Stevie Marchetti who put in a great lap in the FPA single seater.


There's a chance that a few of us will be returning before the year end - the more the merrier :-)