Donnington Park: 5 August 2006

We have not visited Donington since the first race in the TVR Tuscan Challenge in 2004 and on that occasion the No 6 car ended up in the pit wall avoiding a spinning Darren Dowling. Not something we want to repeat!!

This meeting was something of a toe in the water as we are exploring options for 2007. The opposition was a wide range of V8 powered machinery - from a prototype silhouette XV8R with a Nicholson McLaren 650bhp engine (the rolling chassis costing £195,000 alone!!) piloted by an ex F1 test driver, the Rollcentre Mosler, two V8 Stars (one Jaguar, one Opel), a Marcos and 5 TVRs - two Sagaris and three Tuscans including ours. Unfortunately we were an engineer short this weekend, with Charlie Barnard working flat out at Grand Prix Masters in advance of the Silverstone event.

Unable to test prior to the weekend, we knew that qualifying would be as much about familiarisation as setting a fast time. The session was interrupted early on when Dean Cook in the No 20 Tuscan got it a little wrong and was beached in the gravel - he was hauled out during a safety car period and the session returned to normal. I took the opportunity to pit and check tyre pressures, but we had not completed enough fast laps to get the tyres fully up to temperature.

Finally after 11 laps I felt more comfortable and started to push harder and claimed a respectable 7th place on the grid of 14 cars with a 1.13.380, the third fastest TVR.

Race 1

At the rolling start we held position and inherited 6th place as the Opel did not start - then began what would become a race long battle with the Marcos of Mick Mercer. Mick darted through on Lap 4 as I ran wide on the exit to Coppice. On Lap 5 Tim Hood was forced to retire with overheating problems, so I was still in 6th place, right behind the Marcos. Mick locked up under braking into Macleans and I passed up the inside - although I was also suffering rear brake problems at the same corner. The new rear wider rims meant that the rear of the car was over-braked and despite the bias adjusted to full-front, the rear wheels were still locking. All I could do was ease off on the approach to Macleans and try to brake less aggressively, losing time.

Darren Dowling in 4th place had pushed hard in the early laps but this had taken its toll on his tyres and I started to close the gap by up to two seconds a lap, with the Marcos right behind me. By lap 10 Darren and I were right together and at the end of lap 13 I braked late and pulled alongside at Redgate. Darren fought back and we went through Crainers side by side - hairy stuff - but I had the inside line at the Old Hairpin and with Darren struggling with understeer, I was through with Mick hot on my heels to keep the pressure on. And the pressure was on, as two wheels on the grass a lap later led to wildly sideways moment and Mick was through again on lap 14!!

I followed close behind for several laps and had a couple of looks up the inside at Redgate, plotting my eventual overtake on lap 20. The theory was this: get a good exit from Coppice to put Mick under pressure down the Dunlop straight; I knew he would go defensive through the Esses but I would back off slightly to get a better exit and more speed down the start/finish straight to set up a good opportunity at Redgate. This was exactly how it panned out, but Mick left virtually no room on the approach to Redgate and I didn't fancy trying to drive round the outside. I feigned to the left and moved back to the inside where there was almost a Tuscan sized gap…. a deep breath and I went for it, braking very late and just keeping the car off the grass, I forced my way alongside. The cars were an inch apart, but there was no contact and I was through - a fantastic pass for 4th place which I was able to make safe in the one remaining lap.

It was a fantastic race and 4th place was hard fought and well deserved. Up front the race was won by the very powerful (and expensive) XV8R of former British F3 Champion and BTCC driver Kelvin Burt, followed by the Mosler of Kevin Riley and the Jaguar V8 Star of Steve Scott.

Race 2

Unfortunately the worsening vibration towards the end of the race had been caused by the diff overheating and ultimately seizing as soon as we stopped the car. With an engineer down it was left to Andy McLoughlin (from APM Automotive in Oulton) and me to swap to our spare between the races. We made it with minutes to spare - no mean feat as the faulty unit remained too hot to tough without gloves for over two hours! Due to the rush I had no time to eat, and also, unwisely, had not drunk enough water in the very hot weather.

At the race start the pole man Burt slowed the field right up, catching the second row out as we braked to avoid contact. In the meantime the cars behind saw an opportunity and Darren Dowling shot past to take second place and Tim Hood came through from the back to take 4th. I was down to 6th, having dived for the inside but got penned in. Darren held 2nd for an amazing 5 laps, but again suffered tyre graining problems which caused him to slip back. Kevin Riley span the Mosler on the opening lap but worked his way back to an eventual 2nd place. Darren slipped back to 4th where he battled with Tim Hood in the Sagaris. They collided on lap 10, damaging both cars and forcing Darren to retire with a bent steering arm. Tim was able to continue and with him always in sight, I set about trying to catch him, now suffering from severe dehydration, feeling sick and a little dizzy. The Marcos was not in touch in this one so Tim was my sole focus, but each time I reduced the gap, a big brake lock up at Macleans would cause me to slip back again. So 5th was the final reward in an exhausting race.

Overall we had a superb day's racing and were delighted to put up such a good showing for sponsors IMR who attended the race. We have now agreed a sponsorship package with IMR for 2007 which will enable us to complete the new Sagaris racer to a specification which will allow us to be more competitive - fantastic news for the team.

many thanks to mdh-photography.co.uk for the photography