Motorsport News July and August

Here we are at round five at Castle Combe in Wiltshire, a stones throw away from where the film "Doctor Dolitte" was made.  The two local boys - Jonathon Loader and myself, qualified first and second. It was another hot sunny day and Jonathon and I traded places and fastest laps throughout the race.  On the last lap I was able to pass Jonathan when we tangled with a Dutchman, not Max Verstappen!In August for round six we were at the awesome old Formula 1 track - Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Despite a lot of work on the cooling system and stripping and rebuilding of the engine, the engine temperature was still worryingly high. I qualified a disappointing fourth which was partly due to a lack of pre-race testing in preparation for this demanding track.

The Grand Prix loop at Brands Hatch is very fast and not for the feint hearted. You need to commit the car to a number of blind corners most of which are fourth gear corners with entry speeds often in excess of 110mph.In the race I finished a lonely 3rd and was not able to stay on the pace of the first two cars - Chris Snowdon and Mike Dodds. I realised early in the race that we would need to change the suspension setting for the final two rounds of the championship which will be on the shorter Indy circuit.The last two rounds will be at Brands Hatch at a double header event that supports the UK's Formula Ford festival.  The Sports 2000 Pinto Historic championship is very much in the balance where I have a 5 point lead over Colin Feyeraband.