Rhubarb Racing - Competing in the Mighty Minis Championship

Another belated race report, due in part to it not being a very successful weekend resulting in me having nothing to shout about, and in part due to me finally getting a much-needed holiday!

On the way to Snetterton on Friday night the trailer suffered it's 2nd DNF of the season, this time a wheel bearing disintegrating on the A14 resulting in the nearside trailer wheel disappearing into the undergrowth never to be found. Fortunately the Universal Toolkit (ie AA card and mobile phone) resolved the issue and the team arrived at the circuit at 2:30am, with the race car arriving 30 mins or so later on the back of a low loader.

Saturday morning dawned cool but dry, so I went out to qualify feeling sleepy but prepared. As with the meet earlier in the year, the car wasn't quick down the back straight regardless of how I exited Sear corner and I knew I wasn't going to qualify well. Hence I wasn't surprised when the results sheet showed me as 21st on the grid. Ah well, at least the car was straight and I kept out of the way of Mr Bonas.

The first race pretty-much went as I expected it to. I got a good start (as usual), and took several places on the first lap moving up to the mid-teens. Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for Steve Wheeler, there was a nasty (an apparently avoidable) coming-together on the pit straight a couple of laps into the race which caused the race to be red-flagged. Hence I got a 2nd chance to make up some places off the grid, which I gladly did. The rest of the race was pretty close and involving by Snetterton standards, and I had a good battle with Mark Burnett, Nikki Welsby, Matthew Fleming and Jon Crabtree, eventually losing out to all of them as I got utterly mugged through the Esses and Bomb Hole on the last lap. My DNF at Brands Hatch had already severely damaged my chances of a 2nd place in the novice championship, so only coming home 16th (6 places behind my rival David Holmes) condemned me to 3rd in the standings. Realistically I wasn't going to regain 2nd place unless David failed to finish on Sunday, so the 2nd race was going to be "just for fun".

And what fun it was! I woke up with a banging head from severe over-indulgence at the end of season BBQ the night before. I'd pretty much decided that I wasn't going to race next season, but a couple of fellow competitors were out to persuade me to change my mind by plying me with alcohol. OK, so maybe I didn't need much plying! That, combined with celebrating England's rugby world cup win, meant it was a throughly enjoyable but rather punishing evening. By the time we got to the grid I was feeling a little better, but probably not as well prepared as I could have been. Despite that I got a good start, hopping up to 12th place in the space of 2 corners. The next few laps continued as per race 1, with plenty of places being exchanged. By lap 4 things had settled down a bit and I was back to defending against the onslaught from behind. Keen not to get obliterated down the Revett Straight again I teamed up with Mark Burnett to form an 8-wheel, twin engine Mini, taking it in turns to literally push each other down the straight to minimise drag and maximise top end speed. It seemed to work too, as the quicker boys (and girls) were no longer driving straight past us. Sadly on lap 10 the scheme worked a little too well. I carried more speed into the Esses than I was used to, messed up the braking, got the line wrong, lost the back end of the car and rather than powering out of it, I performed a classic "tank-slapper" into the tyres. Game over. And season over for that matter. I retired to the paddock to watch the last couple of laps and reflect upon the season.

Despite a fairly poor end to the season in terms of results, I wasn't even slightly downhearted. Whether you're in second, 12th or 22nd place, Mighty Mini's is all about competing and enjoying yourself, and the racing at Snetterton was as close and involving as any of the other races this season. God I love racing!

The final instructions for Mallory on 9th April are now up on the BRSCC website. Very exciting! My name is on the list of 18 entrants which is good news - it means I must have filled the forms in correctly. We've got a late practice and race slot which will be good for the spectators, and means I'll have plenty of time to get everything in order and get my head round the order of events. We've got the usual crappy paddock position, but I'm sure we'll cope.
Sign-on: 10:25
Scrutineering: 10:30-11:00
Qualifying: 12:00-12:15
Race: 15:35-15:55
As a point of note, if you happen to look at the entry list for the Super Mighty Minis on the final instructions, have a quick look at the name of David Kirkpatrick's sponsor.

It's a mere 12 days til the first race at Mallory Park and there's a LOT of work to do, but I'm optimistic that we'll still make it.

My original engine is out of the car and partially stripped. I picked up Tim Harber's old engine this morning, so Nick, Ant and I can crack on this weekend with building one good engine from the two. Hopefully that will go smoothly and I can get it back in the car in time for a quick test session at Mallory on Wednesday. Fingers crossed!

I've nearly finished refurbishing 6 of my 10 wheels. I got them shot blasted a couple of weeks ago, and have now primed them and given them a couple of coats of black paint. They look pretty cool actually. The finish is a bit odd because of the textured surface left by the blasting, but I think it looks good so I might not bother lacquering them. I definitely need to get the other 4 done now, as they look a bit tatty by comparison.

It struck me yesterday that my timing transponder still hadn't arrived from MST, despite me ordering it over a month ago. I gave them a quick call and apparently the order form never reached them, so I rapidly faxed through another one. Hopefully they'll be getting some stock in today so it should be with my by the weekend. Good job I thought of it now.

I also got a bit of a bargain on eBay yesterday. I've been after a 2nd seat for a while so I can take passengers out, and hopefully get an instructor in the car with me a couple of times too. Due to the width of my drivers seats I'm a bit limited in terms of what seat I can physically fit on the passenger side of the car. I spotted a brand new Cobra Clubman for sale, in the same colours as my drivers seat, complete with rails that I can probably sell on for a few quid, with a reserve of £70. The bonus was that the chap selling it was only in Worcester too so I persuaded him to close the auction early, and popped up there last evening with cash in hand. So that's another nice little saving over RRP.