'Drivers Perspective' Report by Roger Newman:

From a hospital bed on the Tuesday prior to the carnival I was mulling over the fact that my quest to complete a full season had been well and truly stuffed. I had already missed the double header at Snetterton due to being laid up and now Combe was fast approaching and I was still feeling crap. For those of you who have been unfortunate enough to experience Kidney Stones you will know that the pain caused by said condition is equal to someone stabbing a rusty kitchen knife into your side and relentlessly twisting it for good measure. Some say that it is equal to the pain our better halves experience in labour but that is usually scoffed at by the ladies, it certainly didn't gain me much sympathy... Anyway the result of all this pain was a steady course of morphine and three trips to the operating theatre. The first of these trips was on the Thursday before Snetterton. As you are not meant to drive for 48 hours after a general anaesthetic I didn't hold out much hope for my doctors approval for getting into a race car on Saturday. As it happened the surgery didn't go to plan and I was in no fit state to get out of bed let alone go anywhere near a bumpy race track. My initial aim at the start of the season was to finish in the top 5, an achievable objective I assumed as I had finished 3 out of the 4 races I contested last time out on the podium. However as the season progressed I realised that the competition was a little stiffer than I remembered and 7th to 9th seemed the order of most days at the track. What was more annoying was that as a few people dropped out near the end of the season I had a real chance of improving my championship position to get to my target. Anything seems possible when you are on morphine...

As it happened I was let out of hospital on the Tuesday afternoon and my thoughts turned to the possibility of making it to Combe after all. In my head I was working out the best possible championship position a good finish would give me. I was currently in 10th spot after my two missed appearances at Snett, I calculated that the best I could do in the championship was 7th. That was if Rory Farell didn't show (and I scored at least 4 points) and finished in front of Joe Walton (who I was tied on points with). Additionally there were 4 other drivers chasing me within 4 points who I would also have to finish in front of. I decided not to withdraw my entry just yet and see how I felt later in the week.

Friday was the first day I felt mildly normal again and I ventured out into the garage to change the ratios to suit Combe. After a few hours of successful tinkering I was still feeling OK - The race was on!

Qualifying...
I had been monitoring the weather forecast all week (in between daytime TV) with the hope of dry weather. I remembered the last rain swept race I completed at Combe and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Luckily the forecast was good and correct, the sun was shining setting the scene for a good days racing. I dug out my best previous laptime (that had resulted in a 3rd place) and noted it on my lap timer as a target to beat. Qualifying was fairly uneventful with one stoppage due to a car spinning and becoming beached on the kerb at Bobbies.

My times were not looking good however as I could only get to within 1.0 second of my best previous lap time for dry conditions. For most of the second part of the session I was running with Dave Lowe behind me. Dave seemed quicker through Tower, Bobbies and through to Camp and caught me every lap but on the run down the straight we were equally matched with me slightly quicker through Quarry, The Esses and Old Paddock. After a few laps Dave duly dispensed with me after a better exit from Camp and I settled in behind him to try and improve my performance through Tower. I couldn't seem to get that corner right and with the barriers looming close to the left I was too aware of the cost of an error. Afterwards in the assembly area Dave confirmed that I was slow through this corner and that a bigger pair of 'two veg' was required.

The result of my efforts was 7th on the grid, but more importantly a couple of places in front of Joe Walton and my other championship position rivals. As I got out of the car and tried to push it onto the weighbridge I suddenly realised that three visits to surgery in as many weeks was a little harder to get over than I had imagined. A trip to the camper was in order for a lie down.

The Race...
Prior to the race I was still feeling tired and had trouble getting focussed on the job in hand. I was fairly happy with my qualifying position, considering my condition, and with a 0.8s difference to my rivals behind I was fairly confident in my ability to stay ahead. Unfortunately for me a particular young gun had taken some starting tuition from a certain champion and was to spring a spectacular surprise.

Once the adrenalin kicked in on the green flag lap I felt much better and got down to the task of warming the tyres and brakes up. I have heard various theories on the practice of warming up tyres, some from established racers, some from Avon technical guys, and some from F1 commentators. I have never really made my mind up if the weaving about does any good but as soon as the guys in front start it always feels better to give the steering wheel some stick. According to a specialist from Avon that spoke at a lecture I once attended the weaving doesn't do much at all as there is not enough speed to create the tread deflection and hence the heat. He recommended trying to exert maximum force through the corners by carrying as much speed in as possible (on a green flag lap) and turning sharper than is needed. This combined with the acceleration and braking (more braking for a 1600cc car) will do the most for tyre temperature. I was surprised to see the Royale in front of me (Mac Mckillop) using the entire width of the track in an effort to get heat into his tyres, something which I think may be against the regulations. Time to keep my distance to avoid any chance of a silly accident.

After an incredibly long red light delay the lights went out and I got masses of wheel spin. Not a good start. Immediately the cars from behind were upon me with Andy Powell and Joe Walton (oh no!) getting past. Mac Mckillop span at the Esses and luckily I think everybody managed to clear him, obviously your tyres were not fully up to temperature Mac! Things settled down into line with me up behind Andy Powell and Dave Lowe in front of Andy. A small gap developed to the chasing cars behind which allowed me to fully focus on challenging for the positions in front. I managed to stay with Andy and Dave who were having a bit of a dice, I thought an opportunity may come to slip past them both whilst they were fighting it out. Unfortunately for Andy that chance arose at Camp a few laps in when Andy dived to the inside on the approach and slipped through. The angle was then too tight for the RP26 which was carrying a lot of speed into the corner and a rear wheel dropped onto the grass on the outside. Andy caught the slide but the car whipped its tail to the right and slid across the track now out of control and came dangerously close to taking out the Lotus which was now re-passing on the right. The pink-panther came to rest heavily against the barrier right under the noses of the watching pit-wall crews.

The drama had slowed Dave's entry to the straight and I had the opportunity to get a good slipstream and pass the Lotus before we got to Quarry. There followed a repeat of the earlier qualifying with Dave catching me after tower and me managing to just stay ahead and pull back a bit of time through Quarry. I needed to get my act together through my problem corner to keep the Lotus behind. Things were looking good, I managed to increase my 'two veg' enough to be able to keep Dave far enough behind to avoid a successful challenge for my position and we were even reeling in Dave Penlington's Royale RP26. Dave had a couple of runs at me down to folly but I managed to keep to the right and have the inside line to fend off the attack through Quarry.

Then things started to take a downward turn. Heading down the straight at full throttle my car developed a worrying vibration and miss-fire. This problem then started to occur at slower speeds in all the  other parts of the circuit where high revs were required. I needed to change gear at just under 6,000 to keep the car from 'missing' but with the vibration I was also experiencing I began to fear the worst for my engine. We had noticed a rub mark on the fly wheel ring gear after qualifying, but had put it down to a stone that had possibly got stuck in the adaptor plate. My fear now was that I had a rear bearing problem or even worse a crank problem. Having experienced a crank breaking before I really did not want a repeat of the experience or the resultant expense. I didn't want to pull off the track because I really needed the points but it was senseless to continue to thrash the engine to defend from Dave, who after all isn't even in my class. So the inevitable happened and the Lotus slipped by on the straight. I was busy checking my mirrors and was glad to see that there was a substantial gap to the following cars. All that was to be done then was to will on the chequered flag and hope it was produced before the contents of my engine was spilled onto the track through the side of the block.

Luckily the engine made it to the finish with no further loss of position, 6th overall 5th in class A. It would have been enough save the brilliant performance of Walton junior, bringing his Crossle home in 3rd overall. This performance was good enough to steal 7th in the championship leaving me 8th. Joe's improvement over the season has been fantastic and to finish off the year with a podium is a great achievement.

Elsewhere in the race Steve Hare brought his championship winning season to a fine close with another win, however he seemed disappointed when the podium car turned up on the grid without the scantily clad Carnival support girls. At the weigh bridge a grinning marshal confessed to having driven the podium car earlier in the day and discovered at 45mph the wind played an interesting game with the girls skirts!

My keenness to jump out of the hospital bed to get back to the championship was recognised at the prize giving by being awarded the Driver Of The Day Award, a case of Cobra. I graciously accepted the case of lager and promptly dropped it on the floor for good measure... luckily there was only one casualty which was quickly supped by Steve Hare's spanner man Nick.

RN