Gurston Down Hill Climb 20th July

For the first time this season we had a complete meeting without any wet weather. With the usual suspects in the class it was promising to be a good days hill climbing. We had secured the help of a lad who had been around the paddock for the last couple of meetings and had helped us at a meeting before getting the car ready and he proved to be a real asset during the driver changeover and prepping the car.
Dee took the car out for her first practice run and stormed off the line like a thing possessed, clocking 77mph in the speed trap in hollow and then 78 over the finish line posting a time of 44.39. She followed that with another 44 second run in 2nd practice. This was showing signs of being a good day for her.
My practice times were not what I wanted as I lost the mind games with myself over whether I needed to brake for the entry into hollow. I was really struggling to get down to the 35 second runs that I should be clocking and could not fathom out the reason. The second run was not much of an improvement and I spent the lunch break trying to find out what was wrong with me. The car was performing well.

Dee’s first timed run produced her best post accident time of 43 seconds and the quickest speed trap speeds she had ever recorded. 78mph in hollow and 80mph over the finish line. She is now closing up on the MGB again. Her second timed run was slightly spoilt by a missed gear on the way down to hollow and then another one up towards the finish. Trying to hard was the verdict but what a good day she had.

My first timed run was another battle of wits over trying not to brake into hollow. As I was approaching hollow bend I was telling myself not to brake and then realised that my left foot had gone over to the brake pedal and the right foot was still on the throttle.
All things considered I was pleased to post a 37 second run but Steve in the TVR had just pipped me.
The second run was somewhat scrappy with for reasons best known to itself the drivers door swinging open as I entered Hollow bend. Letting go of the steering wheel with one hand to shut the door at that point was exciting to say the least. I then locked up the rear wheels again on the approach to Karousel and the rest of the run was headless chicken mode trying to make up time. Needles to say it did not work and I had to settle for second place.
This has left me some work to do at the final round in September but we will have to see what happens then.