Day one of the double header at the revived Ingliston sprint venue went very well. The track, which was last used for MSA sprinting in 1995, is a real challenge being fast and intimidating in equal measure. There is a very long straight which allows 4th gear - this is quite unusual in sprinting - and unique in Scotland, I think.
As this was a round of the British Sprint Championship, the usual classes were split based on the grade of licence of the driver. As I upgraded this year (still not sure why!), I was in the National A class A8 along with fellow Wigton Club member Stephen Hemmingway in his lovely Porsche 911. The National B class A8 consisted of Jamie MacDonald (on his first ever sprint) in a nice S1 Lotus Elise and Dave 'the Destroyer' Exton in a new (to him) MR2.
Practice was wet but was drying by the third run. I clocked just under 57 secs on my third practice and was within reach of Stephen's porsche. Jamie in the Elise was flying and was down to 54 secs but I was reasonably happy because I knew there was more to come.
First timed run was a bit of a nightmare for me - I overcooked the hairpin entry and understeered very wide before getting some rotation to bring me back on line. So, despite havin gone much quicker over the rest of the course, I still only managed a 56sec run. Jamie by this time was in the low 53secs.
Final run and I nearly had a complete disaster! I went to the toilet, came back and was just chatting to Dave Exton when I spotted the other drivers in my class with their helmets on. I rushed over to my car only to discover they were returning from their last run! A quick grovel to the Clerk and I was allowed to take my last run.
I still couldn't get to grips with the hairpin - again I went in way too fast and understeered wide. But I must have been going faster elsewhere because this time I posted 54.63sec - fast enough to beat the Porsche and claim the class win. Jamie in the Elise didn't quite better his earlier time of 53.15ses but it sets a good record to chase tomorrow.
Overall, it was a great day and if tomorrow is half as good, it will be fabulous....
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