Racing Lydden Sat 7th

I will be racing my Clio at Lydden on Saturday 7th April. First race at 12.00. 3 races in all last at 15.00. Qualifying from 11.00. looks like might have a couple of guest tickets if anyone interested.

Wish I could, Lydden is a great venuw, but will be setting up an event at Abingdon.
Good luck and I hope the new team manager treats you well, provides encouragement and buys you a proper breakfast to get the day off to a great start.

What a great day to slide gently back into racing without 20 would be Jos Verstappens on the grid.
A small entry for this first of a new series of racing with Lydden Hill Motor Club who are trying very hard to attract cars and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. A lot of familiar faces there from SEMSEC days.
Day was not without issues though..... although I welcomed the rain in the morning I wasn't so happy at the car failing to start for practice after all the years running the car for Riku without a hitch as soon as I was strapped in and ready for qualifying would the thing start? We didn't really get to the bottom of it but as luck would have it, it fired up with about 5 minutes of qualifying to go so I raced on to the track and had to be on it straight away in order to get enough laps done and set a reasonable time. Luckily as I had some practice here last week I was able to do just that and rewarded with 5th place on the grid.
1st of 3 races about to go and guess what? engine died again. was pushed back to the paddock and had to concede not starting the race while we sorted it. Turned out that changing the flywheel sensor in desperation did the trick ( I have carried 2 big heavy boxes of spares around with me for 2 years and barely needed anything but it was all worthwhile today as I had the part) and all was well for race 2.
Have to admit I found these races a bit too long, at 20 minutes around here- hard on the car as well- and spent most of it willing the chequered flag out. 4th place then which meant 2nd row start for the final race. Now on slicks as the track dried had dried out. Got a good start and cut the 3rd place car off at the first turn and got in a good scrap with a couple of cars for a lap or so before finding myself alone with no one catchable in front and no one challenging behind so set about trying to set a decent fast lap to compare with my previous laps from 4 years ago. Again though as the race wore on it all seemed a bit pointless and I could feel the car "going off" as the tyres wore and all sorts of vibrations started. decided to go for the finish rather than retire but slowed right down for what seemed like an eternality and got lapped by the leaders and the car behind caught and passed me. Was a good decision though as my front RH tyre was completely destroyed! As for my lap time? 49.70 pretty much where I was all those years back in the Spider although did dip into the 48's in the older Clio. Whatever- I was pleased with it.

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An enjoyable day then and what fantastic value for money! £185 entry fee for 3 20 minute races, a 30 minute qualifying session and a 30 minute untimed practice! Believe me that is unheard of value!
They will be doing it all again in October for the same money, (although the races will be shorted due to us all complaining about the race lengths). Cannot say If I will be there or not but would encourage anyone with a race car and licence and who are sitting on the fence that this could be the ideal starting place for racing.

Thanks for the report Mark. Glad you had a good day and the car is in one piece
What's next will you be doing Prescott at the end of May?

Glad it worked out in the end Mark, sounds like it was a little stressfull at times too.
What other cars were out racing?

Abingdon had it's moments for us...., even as organiser. We turned up to find that the station commander was makeing some extra cash by allowing a local farmer to graze his sheep. An Airfield circuit with a couple of hundred sheep wandering about seemed dangerous however they kept away and to them selves.

Good stuff old fella

Sounds like that event could be just the ticket for me to dip my toe and the timescale suits well.... Might have to bin the track-days and concentrate on getting my licence instead.

Glad it worked out in the end Mark, sounds like it was a little stressfull at times too.
What other cars were out racing?

Abingdon had it's moments for us...., even as organiser. We turned up to find that the station commander was makeing some extra cash by allowing a local farmer to graze his sheep. An Airfield circuit with a couple of hundred sheep wandering about seemed dangerous however they kept away and to them selves.

Not stressful Simon, enjoyed every minute of it!

Other cars were Lydden instructer Bill Richards in his Min and his spaceframe metro thing for one of the races, an Imp Special saloon, A Clio like mine but turbo'd that we knew from last year in Quafie, a couple of BMW Minis, a Maquire Mini spaceframe, and a heap of Fiestas, many with novice drivers having their first go.

Often we arrive at Debden on a Saturday to find the army have dumped a huge pile of aggregate on our proposed and MSA agreed finish line.... and once a container just off the racing line!