Rhubarb Racing - Competing in the Mighty Minis Championship - Snetterton Race Report

Snetterton Race Report - 13th/14th October 2007

Monday, 15 October 2007

Date: 13th/14th October 2007
Location: Snetterton
Qualifying position: 21st
Race position: 16th and DNF
Repairs needed: Front wing repair, rear light cluster, possible steering rack or steering arm
Best moment: Pushing Mark Burnett down Revett Straight
Worst moment: Sunday morning hangover.
Lessons learnt: An 8-wheeled Mini is faster than a 4-wheeled one.
Most useful tool: AA membership card.
Overall smile rating:

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!

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