Just a reminder that Silverstone Future Classic’s with the Rover Crowthorne.com Tuscan is at Silverstone next weekend the 26th May.40 Cars on the grid should be an epic battle against the XJS Jaguars and the Tuscan.

The provisional schedule for the race weekend at Brands Hatch is out.These may change but usually do not.

Saturday  9th June                           Qualifying 12.10 am                  Race nine 6pm

Sunday 10th June                              Race 17   3.50 pm

Not a bad set of times for the supporters as you will get a fair amount of viewing of the other races on the ticket.see you there.

CROWTHORNE.COM FIRST RACE

It was a cold and wet start to the bank holiday Monday 7^th may at Castle Combe for the first race meeting for the new car and team personnel ,we were all very excited to kick off the 2012 race season with our new car and supporter Crowthorne Telecommunications.

The Meeting was chosen because it was shown live on Sky TV and Virgin Media which I thought would be a good way to say thank you for Stewart’s help from Crowthorne in getting the team and car to the grid.

Qualifying started off very wet with rain bouncing off the tarmac. I had on a new set of wet tyres and a bucket full of determination to make a good showing whilst up against very stiff and proven competition,we were the only car that did not have aero pushing the car into the track so hopes were high as I set off on the first lap. It was really very tricky getting all the power or should I say some of the power down from the chevrolet. On lap two I had a fairly big trip to the scenery which included ploughing into the in field corn field not what I wanted. The car just has a lot to learn,not putting me off is the first lesson. We got back onto the track with no issues fortunately so started out to get more heat into the tyres and above all stay on the track. This is what happened and on lap 7 of 8 we got a time of 1:32.99 at a speed of 71.61mph good enough to put us on row 8. 15^th on the grid of 22 cars.we were very pleased indeed , for the conditions, that was a good result and put us in the middle of the grid amongst all the action.

Race One.

Again the race started on a very greasy track and we chose to go on wets again as it was just too wet for slix. We had a fantastic start from the lights going out and jinked right only to be blocked so went left passed the exige Lotus in front and a gap opened up in the middle that I filled with Tuscan and as we entered the first corner we were up to 10^th place a dream start. It was great to be up front and have the car featured on the live broadcast so prominently for Stewart. We were not however going to stay there against the aero cars and after lap 5 as the track was drying into a dry line we couldn’t help but let some quicker cars through and it was tricky letting the leaders through while keeping the Jertona 85 of Jeremy Irwin behind as he was trying to sneak through on the back of the lead cars. We had a race long tussle with the Jertona which eventually got passed me on the last lap. We crossed the line in 15^th place with a best lap of 1:24.67 and 76.78mph.Well up on qually.

Race Two.

This was not going to be as successful as it turned out. The lead up to the race was blowing hard wind and the sun came out. This had dried the track all the way round and we put our dry set up on and a used set of slix. As we sat in the holding area before the race start the wind blew in some rain and the track was soaked again and as we lined up for the start I had to put my wipers on. The lights went out and we had to avoid a three car incident right in front of me and the slix were just not getting any temperature into them to make them work and we could only tour round trying to keep the car on the track which was no mean feat.It was more important to bring the car back in one piece. We ended up in 15^th place again with a best time which tells you how I struggled, of 1:41.79.

We had a really good first outing in the car and we are really pleased with the way it went. It was all good for Stewart at Crowthorne.com and we now have some race data we can use to improve the car before the next race which will be the Tuscan Challenge at Brands Hatch on 9^th and 10^th June.