So like the flaky crust round a well formed pork pie our novice tale comes full circle back to edge of winter on the Norfolk broads. It?s been a fascinating summer of up downs and far too many all-arounds. I?ve met a whole cast of the weird, the wonderful and the downright holy, with just enough evil characters to keep the plotlines driven. Seriously though it?s statistically unlikely that with 65 separate drivers over the course of a 14 race calendar that you?d find so few cads and rotters. Says a lot about the formula and a lot about the Seven Fifty Motor Club (www.750mc.co.uk) who are in their 70th year this year and long may it continue. I?ve learned almost nothing about the oily, smelly bit at the front, other than Tony?s yer man. I?ve also learnt that practice does not make perfect it only makes permanent.
The seven point haul at Oulton left me with a slender 3 point lead in the highest placed novice competition over Max in the Pro-comp 91 car and coming into the final championship round of the season at Snet. I needed a good result to ensure my place. Friday testing was a glorious affair, a lovely late summer?s day in Norfolk and I was surprised that only the TMC guys (and Sian) showed up. Eager to get as much track time as possible but hampered by my own disorganisation in booking so late that only morning testing was available, it was only through a fine balance of cold hard cash and a willingness to prostrate myself on Dr Jonathan Palmer?s red carpet that got me the afternoon session as well.
Last time we were here my qualifying time was a geriatric 1:33.9 and the first session was starting to look good as my laptimes tumbled toward the 1:30.00 mark that was my goal. The noble little 74 car puts out a solid 90hp however today there was a true beast sharing the track with both a giant Mosler and a variety of other very quick and very large cars. Perhaps this was the inspiration as towards the end of the day I managed to sneak a 1:28.8, some 5 seconds faster than I could manage at the start of the season. Thanks for this should got to Matt at TMC and Mr Laconic himself (www.seanedwards.eu) . I was naturally cock-a-hoop at this however my calvanist genes prevented any distasteful continental style jubilation.
Sunday was race day and from high point of a decent low lap time on Friday it was easy to get nervous in the manic 10min qualifying. I was ready to radio back to the pits and call for the ?F**k?s Sake? board to be shown as rather than a bit of co-operation on putting down a decent lap, the natural untamed aggression of the average Locsost driver left us racing and it was not till I had a bit of breathing room in the dying minutes that I managed to secure 12th on the grid, pretty much equalling the best performance to date but still a good few tenths of my best in testing. Never mind though Max appeared to be having problems with an overheating car and he only managed a few laps and a grid slot well beneath him.
The low sun over the Norfolk countryside lent a dramatic cast to the final round. A season full of terrible starts would not get turned around here, as the mad dash to the 1st corner had me down a few places and by the back straight I had dropped to 15th with max 7 places back. By lap two I was out of the points in19th with Max making ground in 22nd. A spin, I think by Max on the third lap put him at the back of the field whilst I started a bit of go forward, passing David Morrow on lap 4 and then another five cars on the next lap up into 13th . I watched Tim Cheney spear off at Sear, shortly followed by an explosion of titanium, carbon fibre and other pricey parts as there was a coming together of cars. This was the last locost I saw in my rear view. Victoria Pickles was a few seconds up the road from me but she drove a faultless five laps to finish in 11th two seconds in front. I ended up where I started in 12th. Max DNFed and the championship was over for this season. I came in was 26th overall in the championship (out of 66 starters), highest placed novice for 2009 with my best results being 2 x 12th places and thankfully no longer a novice. C
