My first time at the Circuit de Catalunya and my first race in the SR8. In a perfect world, what's the best preparation for such an event? Yep. Loads of pre-season testing and a day or two at the circuit before official testing and qualifying. In real-life? Four days in a kart, 18 laps at Estoril and, erm, well, that's it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. How many people get to race such a great car at such a stonking track? What I will complain about however, is racing under number 22. What's all THAT about? It doesn't bide well.

Arriving on Thursday in time only to go to bed, Friday morning was fairly relaxed as we weren't due to start official testing until the afternoon. Needless to say, the time of reckoning approached quickly and Phil jumped in the car to start the session. He did only five laps before someone fell off and the session was red-flagged. Those laps had reminded him that it's a tricky circuit and although he'd raced there before, the layout had changed since his previous visit. Nevertheless, it was important to get me in the car to learn where the track went. I had about nine laps to sort myself out before it was time to swap again and Phil saw out the remaining time with five more laps. I managed a 1.52 and Phil a 1.53

So what IS it like? I wouldn't normally bore you with the details of a lap, but writing it out will give you an idea of how involved the lap is. A very long fast start/finish straight is followed by a short, tight right and left that leads into a sweeping right-hander. The short straight that follows leads into another right-hander and down the hill into a second-gear tight left. A flat-out left curve allows time to get the positioning for a horrible tight uphill left and more open right. Another short straight before a tricky blind-crested right-hander. Down the hill on another straight where you can get into top gear again before a late brake into a hairpin left-hander. Another tight left and opening right before a quick squirt down to a right hander leading downhill to the left-right chicane. The high kerbs of this chicane mean accuracy is key (and for me, largely absent) and then you have a hard fast flat-out right hander opening onto the start-finish straight. That's sixteen bends and I'd say that none is easy.

The circuit map

Saturday morning saw qualifying. Phil did the first ten laps on new rubber, bringing the tyres gently up to temperature. Late in his stint, he did a 1.50. I jumped in with two new tyres on the left-hand side and put in a 1.49 in my seven laps. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken sufficient care in warming the tyres gently and as a result the new ones which were "just being scrubbed in" were knackered. Ooops. Phil had qualified us in P8 for Race 1 grid, I'd got us to P7 for Race 2. The car was very good although I felt the gear shift was a little harsh.

Race time was at 2.00 pm in the afternoon. My Pete had come along to watch and I'd taken him on the back of the quad bike to a sun-drenched spot in the grandstand where he had an ace view, a book and a cup of coffee. That's him happy then. Phil was driving the first stint of the race and by the end of lap 2, we were up into fifth. By the time he pitted on lap 10, we'd dropped back to seventh, but I was hopeful of picking up a few places. We have a compulsory two minute pit stop where we change drivers and I was so eager to get in, I think we were ready to rock after about 20 seconds. Belted in and raring to go, I watched in dismay as the rear body was removed and people began peering into the engine bay. The seconds ticked by and turned into minutes until eventually Woody came to the front of the car and gave the signal of doom. You know the one; you kind of sweep your hand backwards and forwards in front of your throat a few times. Our race (or more specifically MY race) was at an end before it had started. The front engine mounting had fractured in a dim deep recess of the engine bay. THAT was the cause of the harsh gear shift I'd complained about; quite literally the engine and gearbox were rocking up and down on each shift. Should we have noticed? Well, it's one of those. Yes we should have, but it's quite understandable we didn't.

Race 1 start - Were third from the left, number 22

Woody and Matty needed some work to do for the rest of the day and seeing as replacing the front mount necessitates almost taking the engine out, they were happy as Larry. You know I think I'll deliberately break things on the car, just to keep them happy. Now you know if I fall off or some component gives out, it'll be for their own good, no other reason.
Sunday came and I was fairly confident of a few laps as this time I was starting the race. I'd picked up Josh and Michael beforehand from the roundabout just outside and got them into the circuit but there was no sign of Pete. I'd had a total of 17 laps at a tricky circuit that was new to me, and it was probably that more than anything that made me pretty nervous. Soon enough we were heading off on the rolling lap and a couple of minutes later the lights went out and we were off.

I managed a good start but didn't pick up any places. I made a dreadful mistake going into the right-hander before the chicane at the end of lap 1 that lost me a place, but it was gifted back when the LM car of Swift/Stanley went wide coming onto the home straight on lap 2. On lap 7 we lost the Patterson LM gifting me fifth place and then Berg-Nielsen's SR8 dropped a drive shaft and was up into fourth. What this misses though was a great tussle between myself and Derek Johnson just in front. A couple of the Radical mechanics had a small wager on which of us would go quicker and although I couldn't actually pass him, I did manage to outpace him by a few tenths. Yeehah. Josh and Michael have just sent me these two photos. Thanks guys.

Race 2 - This is the leading group, im at the back of it.

Race 2 - A little later, Right up on Derek Johnston

Reluctantly pitting at the end of lap 14, I really didn't want to get out of the car, I was enjoying myself that much. Rules is rules and Phil jumped in. He had a fairly lonesome time with a 14 second gap in front and ten seconds behind. That's presumably why he decided to spin on lap 17 and go from fourth to ninth! Ah Phil. It gave him something to do though and by the end of the race on lap 24, we were back up to fifth overall, second-in-class, 1m 10s behind the leader.
The meeting was over for our first European Masters in an SR8. Although we'd had the bad luck of the engine mounting in the first race, we were very pleased with the overall result. The car was back in one piece and we had a nice trophy to show for our endeavours. A fantastic trip that just sets a great tone for the rest of the season. Bring it on. The next Euro round is at Spa Francorchamps between the 8th and 10th of May. There's a link for it
here and here .
The next time I'm out is on 17/18th April where I'll be racing the SR8 again, this time with Rob at Rockingham. Here's the link for the timetable. Note that we are only doing ONE race and it's on the Saturday. As usual, let me know if you're coming.