Ouch......

Tuesday May 10th 2011 - after 12 years of visits to Bedford Autodrome, I crashed:-(

It all started so well…….

A couple of months ago, Dave Morgan asked me to investigate the availability of a day in early May as he wouldn't be able to join us on Aug 3rd.

I couldn't let him go alone, so we settled on May 10th, booked our flights/hotel and off we went.

We were blessed with clear skies and pleasant temps as we arrived at the circuit and joined the Lauda team.

Our first event was the off road, which I've never been a fan of, but I was pleasantly surprised by the changes that made it much more challenging.

We then had the Caterham head-to-head (3-0 to DJ) on a half wet circuit (they have sprinklers to keep it that way)

We then headed off to the North circuit for the Porsche 911 and Clio cup racer.

I've always been reasonably quick in the Porker, and was again, posting the best time of the day with a 57.38.

The Clio was a revelation , which was entirely due to the instructor, Tony, who quickly spotted a very simple error which once eliminated, gained me nearly a second, giving me the fastest time of the day at 56.41.

Then it was the Caterhams - I love these cars and was immediately on the pace posting 4 laps in the 48 second bracket in the first 6 laps. I was catching another car and for some reason he slowed (lifted or braked ) on the way out of a corner when I was right behind him - broken nose cone and oil cooler for me and game over for that event, (nobody went below 49.36 all day - I had done a 48.33)

Then it was off the the South circuit for the M3 - a really fast car, but too heavy for a circuit (IMHO) - still great fun, but given the Caterham event, I didn't go flat out, still managing 6th fastest of the day.

Lunch was next and as usual, it would have put most restaurants to shame.

Then it was the Formula Jaguar :-) I always feel at home in this car as you are on your own in a custom built race car. There were some *really* slow folk in my group taking over double my lap time, and most laps were compromised in some way by a car 'parked' on an apex, but it was still awesome fun - I won the trophy for best lap (closest to the instructor lap) which was surprising as there were a number of current GT4 race drivers in another team.

Then it was the new JP1-LM which was great, if very physical - My instructor reckoned that a new set of tyres would have gained me 1.5-2.0 seconds, but even on knackered rubber, I was 4th quickest (0.6s down).

And we finished with karts , where I got good one, and another fastest lap of the day.

So it looked good for overall driver of the day, but they took me aside to say that for the Caterhams I'd be listed last, along with the guy I hit as any collision voids times for those involved :-( So that lost me 85 points (there were 86 in attendance - first gets 86 - last gets 1).

Even so I was first in 5 events, plus quickest in the Caterham, and despite the 85 point loss, I still managed 6th place:-)

I was nice to be attend Palmersport without having to worry about the 20 or so folk who are in your group, and also fun to be able to go flat out, most of the time - for anybody thinking about doing track day in your own car - why bother? You'll go through a set of tyres, front pads and discs, an oil and brake fluid change plus the wear and tear on your car and a lot of fuel - makes Palmersport looks cheap!

So next is the Colin McRae charity kart race at Scotkart, Cambuslang on June 9th which is quickly followed by a four hour ProKart endure at Rye House on June 11th. Then a VLN race at the 'Ring in July with the annual Palmersport visit on Aug 3rd.