It was an early start for the first meeting of the season. 4:45 on a crisp late winter morning and it was time to leave.
I was feeling quite confident, and raring to go. The car was ready after the winter break, and so was I.
Dawn had broken by the time I arrived at Blyton for the first round of the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship. I found a space and unloaded the car. Once I had signed on it was time to be scrutineered, always the most nerve-racking time of the day for me. I need not have worried though - there were no problems and the car sailed through.
As it was the first meeting of the season the obligatory championship stickers were to put on. Luckily, a couple of friends had stopped off to see if I needed a hand, and as I had to go to the drivers briefing I left it in their hands. Thanks very much Robert Adcock and Paul Hodgson.
With the formalities over it was time for noise check, and practice. I joined the queue and started moving down the line. Why was this taking so much time, what was that noise, is the clutch slipping a bit, the engine is starting to get hot, do I switch it off, if I do will it start again. For goodness sake people, hurry up. These are the thoughts that go through my head every time I join the practice queue. Normally they all disappear as soon as I get on the track, but this morning something was different.
I moved out onto the circuit and accelerated away but something felt wrong, it didn’t pull away as it should. When I went for a gear change it was definite, the clutch was slipping. I decided to carry on and see if the problem cleared. After a lap and a half it was definitely worse, and as a new clutch would relieve me of £500 I decided to go back to the paddock and investigate before I did any damage.
Once back to the paddock Paul and Rob were there immediately. Paul never goes anywhere without his overalls, and before you could blink he was in them and under the car. Unfortunately all his efforts were to avail. The more we tried the worse it got. Eventually we had to admit defeat. My first meeting of the year was over before it had begun.
I was feeling quite confident, and raring to go. The car was ready after the winter break, and so was I.
Dawn had broken by the time I arrived at Blyton for the first round of the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship. I found a space and unloaded the car. Once I had signed on it was time to be scrutineered, always the most nerve-racking time of the day for me. I need not have worried though - there were no problems and the car sailed through.
As it was the first meeting of the season the obligatory championship stickers were to put on. Luckily, a couple of friends had stopped off to see if I needed a hand, and as I had to go to the drivers briefing I left it in their hands. Thanks very much Robert Adcock and Paul Hodgson.
With the formalities over it was time for noise check, and practice. I joined the queue and started moving down the line. Why was this taking so much time, what was that noise, is the clutch slipping a bit, the engine is starting to get hot, do I switch it off, if I do will it start again. For goodness sake people, hurry up. These are the thoughts that go through my head every time I join the practice queue. Normally they all disappear as soon as I get on the track, but this morning something was different.
I moved out onto the circuit and accelerated away but something felt wrong, it didn’t pull away as it should. When I went for a gear change it was definite, the clutch was slipping. I decided to carry on and see if the problem cleared. After a lap and a half it was definitely worse, and as a new clutch would relieve me of £500 I decided to go back to the paddock and investigate before I did any damage.
Once back to the paddock Paul and Rob were there immediately. Paul never goes anywhere without his overalls, and before you could blink he was in them and under the car. Unfortunately all his efforts were to avail. The more we tried the worse it got. Eventually we had to admit defeat. My first meeting of the year was over before it had begun.