Race Report - 750 Motor Club - Silverstone

Date: 19 August, 2024

The day every boy dreams of!

Well, every boy in the UK that has been a lifelong motorsport fan anyway.

Silverstone, international circuit.

Living only a few miles down the road I have frequented this hallowed tarmac many a time over the years but this is only the third time actually being on the tarmac.

The first time was with my uncle after the Formula 1 race one year, a gate was open and we ran onto the track and touched it! Childish I know but a core memory of mine.

The second time was only recently, the day of my ARDS license, driving round the full GP circuit in a BMW M2 competition.

This was the big one though. I was actually racing for real using the new pit straight and padock area that only a few weeks previous the worlds best dirvers had been.

This time we were called to scrutineering which was somewhat nerver wracking to say the least as I hadn't had this experience so far!

Considering I had done the majority of the work on this car myself to get it ready to race I was crossing everything in the hope it would pass.

Thankfully they passed it with only a couple of advisories.

The first one was my race gloves. Although they were in date they were a fairly old style so needed to be replaced which they were happy for me to do in time for next season. The second was my harness, it needs to be secured a bit tighter on the roll cage so it doesn't slide from side to side which is another easy fix.

Scrutineering passed!!!

With that out of the way it was time to get ready for qualifying. Nothing to be done really, just some standard nut and bolt checks and get to assembly in plenty of time.

Qualifying was actually pretty enjoyable, I seemed to get quicker and quicker and only ad a couple of moments trying to push a bit too hard so I knew I had found the limit which was a good sign!

Time for race 1.

I got to the assembly area in plenty of time and then started the engine, put my foot on the throttle and nothing, apart from feeling something drop onto my leg...

Not good!

The nipple at the end of the throttle cable had slipped off and therefore I had no throttle.I tried my hardest to fix it in the assembly area with the help of some of the marshals and scrutineers but to no avail.

Gutted

I limped back to my pit area and proceeded to get it fixed.

Result! I got it fixed and ready to go out just as my race had finished and my competitors were coming back into the pit area.

Oh well, lesson learned. I need to check more of the nuts and bolts it seems!

Race 2

WOW! What a race.

I might have finished last but what a race. I was battling with another driver for the entire race, swapping positions every other lap it seemed.

Great clean racing. This is what it's all about!

For the first time this season I was on the same bit of tarmac as another car and having a great race long battle!

He had the power on the straights but I was a lot quicker through the corners. Sadly I wasn't thinking far enough ahead to plan when the best time to hold back and the best time to overtake was to finish the race ahead of him.

I came around the final corenr of the final lap almost alongside him but he just pipped me for that place sadly. So much fun though and even though it was battling at the back of the grid it was still a battle and I came out of the race grinning from ear to ear!

Pulling back into the pit area I got out of the car to see my wife and parents walking up to me with almost as big of a smile as I had having watched me battle all race!

I finally felt like it was all worth it, this is what racing is about!

Sadly only one signature on my license though due to the problems before race 1 which means there aren't enough races left this season to get rid of the rookie cross from the back of the car.

Next up Mallory Park...

Here is the video from the great fun race I had here.