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As I rolled the car onto the trailer for the “Diamond Rock” race weekend, I knew it would be another mammoth effort. As the TVRCC Trackday Organiser, I had to sort the Saturday Trackday, with over 100 cars, a practice session for the Racers plus briefings signing on etc. Add to that the fact that I had a track layout to learn it was going to be busy. On top of that, my sponsors tvrcarparts and Dulford Automotive had a Trade stand so it was all hands to the pumps for the set up. Anyway, enough whingeing, what was going on?

My opposition in the Series is still Johnny Wilson in his Cerbera. He is currently third in Group B by a handful of points and with the biggest grid of 30 cars around to complicate things…it would be close. Other weekend stars were Mark Callahan and Andy Holden in their race Tuscans (Andy in Lee Caroline’s Championship winning car) and you’ll see that it was going to be quick out there.

The Trackday went well, though very busy, and thanks to a great support team (Bernie Hartnett and his mates) I was able to get out there in the afternoon to “find the track”. Taking sponsors out between sessions meant I was out most of the afternoon. Tiring but great fun. I think Andy the “Moosehunter” managed to stay with the Monster Griff for about 10 minutes or so in traffic…well done Andy, well driven!

More Corporate stuff followed over the Evening Do. There were 6-700 people in the Marquee and the beer and buffet were moving quickly. I was made nominated driver to keep me off the beer. No bad thing judging by some of the dancing that was going on later…the joint was definitely jumping!

Sunday…Race day. Scrutineering was done in the Garages. No problemo, thanks again to Dulford Autos, then out for “Qualy”. As we are new to all this and its basically just Me and “Big Col”, we don’t use pit boards and the like. I just go as quick as I can. The session went well and I didn’t catch too much traffic. Mickey Holden was running well in front of me and wouldn’t let me pass so I dropped back. It’s easy to fall into the trap of “racing” the guy in front, and that slows you down. I’ve watched enough F1 to know you should back off. We qualified well, ahead of our slot so onto the race.

Race 1 went well. A good start saw us up to 6th by the hairpin, but with half a dozen Tuscans behind were pushing hard, I gave too much ground at Turn three and ended up doing some off-roading. Luckily, I held on losing a only couple of places to Ben Wright and Tim Hood. Yes, I was in front of Tim’s awesome Black Sagaris for Two corners!!! Over the next few laps, the rest came through. In a road-going Griff, you just can’t keep AJP Tuscan’s behind you. Trust me on that. But there was some re-taking under brakes and very close dicing through the chicane with no contact. Its great to be racing with those guys after watching them for so many years. We finished Third in Class and Twelth overall, not bad for a Griff.

Tim (Hood) finished first with Darren (Dowling) in second and Deano (Cook) a near third. The pace was fast and furious and Deano is right up there with the big boys now. A quick mention here for Cliff Jobson in his new T350. A great looking car with tremendous pace, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of him in 2008, probably the back!

Second Qualy didn’t go to plan. We had used our tyres up and the Track didn’t have any of mine aboard. We were two seconds slower than race 1. A bad “Qualy” meant we were further back behind some of the Group C cars. I didn’t start well and Mickey (Holden) managed to keep me boxed in for the first couple of corners, where Johnny’s cerbera span across the front of us forcing Howard (Bryan) into the Kitty Litter. The race was stopped to recover…they got away with it and made it back to the grid. My second start was better clearing the group c cars, but this time I couldn’t stay with the front pack as my tyres were causing HUGE understeer as they were down to the canvas. After a frantic two or three laps I was just trying to keep pace…I made it to fourth and 11th overall due to some DNFs. Much better than I had thought.

All in all a great weekend. Sam (Head) continued his dominance with another double win in Class C, keeping him 40 or so points clear and still favourite for the overal title. Young Mickey Holden still keeping him under pressure with a strong car and performances. Andy Holden put in a strong performance in his only outing this year and Hui (Humacher) Marshall has remained consistantly on the pace all season. Also at the front the GTFs put in solid performances, their speed is obvious and they look fantastic on the track too.

So now it’s off to Oulton Park on the 18th of August. A lot will be decided there. If Sam maintains his 100% record he could put the Championship out of reach (along with GpC), and Tony (Abrams) could secure Group B honours too. Group A could fall to Deano if he has a good weekend making it very difficult to catch him. But in racing…it ain’t over ‘till it’s over.

Andy
Tvrcc TDO
TVRCC Tuscan Challenger.