Neil experienced very different weather conditions during this two day meeting. Saturday was dry and saw Neil take an overal win in Pre 2005 with the MGZR. It was wet all day Sunday and Neil had hopes of wins in both cars. He achieved that in the Mini but spun off in the MG XR.
Pre05 in the MG ZR
Neil had done a lot of work on the MGZR since Lydden in an attempt to rectify the power loss that had occurred since the first race of the season at Rockingham. Despite having much of the top end apart neither he, nor any of the experts he had called in to look at the car, could find anything significantly wrong. Never less the Rolling Road showed an improvement but the car still didn’t have the same power as the start of the season.
There were two Alfa Romeo 145’s entered in Neil’s class but Ken Adlard had his engine fail when testing at the circuit earlier in the week, leaving Neil to contend with ex Formula Ford driver and professional race instructor Will Arif. There were a further eight pre 05’s in the grid of 31 cars. Neil qualified 11th just after half a second slower than Will Arif.
Race 1 in the Dry on Saturday
Neil made a good start, getting in front of Will Arif and keeping his advantage for the entire race. The gap varied but never reached more than a second. The cars were quite evenly matched in a straight line but Neil had a decided advantage in the corners, crossing the finishing line ahead and taking the Pre 05 win.
Race 2 in the wet on Sunday
It started to rain on Sunday morning and continued all day so the track was pretty wet for Sundays race.
Neil got a good start and was comfortably ahead of the Pre 05 field at the end of the first lap. It wasn’t to last as the MG ZR got out of shape round the back of the circuit and Nwas amongst the Smart Cars when he regained the circuit some 20 seconds behind. He set a string of fastest laps, overtaking all but the first two cars in Pre 05 to finish third, three seconds behind Marcus Lambert (Peugeot 205) and eight seconds behind Will Arif.
Pre 66 in the Mini Cooper S
Race 1 in the Dry on Saturday
After racing on their own at Lydden Pre 66 were back to sharing a grid with Pre 83 at Thruxton. This and the tyre issues that are plaguing the series reduced the entry and Neil was in the only Mini on the grid. With all the MG ZR issues the Mini was untouched since the last race.
Neil had a lonely and undramatic race to finish third behind Alan Greenhalgh’s Ford Falcon and Richard Batemans Lotus Cortina in Pre 66. The Pre 83’s provided him some entertainment though, especially dicing with Tony Crates in his familiar Mk2 Lotus Cortina.
Race 2 in the wet on Sunday
Neither Alan Greenhalgh or Richard Bateman braved the flooded track on Sunday afternoon so Neil was in with a chance of a Pre 66 win on Sunday.
Neil was home with FWD in the wet conditions and managed to lap all the Pre66 field, finishing well up amongst the Pre 83’s.
Classical Gas 