Southend, Sun and Success - 01 / 09 / 06

With the travelling faithful now on route to Southend for the 7th round of the BTCC we all were worried about the "Car Killing" tag that this track had been given. Justin and his better half made the trip Friday as to avoid Saturday morning traffic but hit Friday afternoon traffic on the south side of the M25; I've been there and got the T-shirt. NOT NICE. We travelled half way on Friday night as to give my engine a bit of a test after work done by myself and Mike (mostly Mike). After leaving my house I soon realised that the car needed a little more work doing but that was done Saturday morning. With new plugs and leads now fitted we were gone like a rocket, until we hit the Saturday morning traffic on the south side of the M25. NOT NICE.

On arriving at the track we were greeted by Justin, Susan, Paul H, Paul R, James B, James M, Maria and Dan and Kirsty. I think none of them actually thought we were going to make it. 1st impressions of the track were "OH MY GOD" have I brought enough spares and "OH MY GOD" I don’t think they have made enough spares for James B. After going out to practise I hated this track with a vengeance. Watching Justin go round made it clear to me that getting there early Saturday was the right thing to do as he made the track look easy. Jason was to go out and hit the track fast and furious and looked like he had been racing here for weeks. Paul R and Paul H were up to pace from the start with Paul H making sure the "under achiever" tag was in the distance and wasn’t keen on having it back. Les was now armed with Spektrum and was to have a 10th car hit him in the side which resulted in his brushless speedo being smashed. Problem was that he had blown his other brushless speedo Friday night as he wired up his receiver wrong. DOOOOH!

James M went out to practice and was very inconsistent with some very quick laps mixed in with some hard hits. Anybody who has raced this track will know that 1 hit you might get away with but you wont get away with 2 , the track will break you every time. James B went out to practise and the track won very quickly, then again and again.

By the end of Saturday I had put in a couple of very quick times and was now quite confident as My MSX was in the frame. Jason was relentless with only very small adjustments being made. Justin as usual was looking fast, clean and showed no concerns of the danger of this track. Both Paul’s were looking very quick and Les was now booked into 19t and was looking as good as I have ever seen him drive. James M struggled with his Cyclone which was to be retired and to be replaced with my trusted Evo 4. James B didn’t practise much further as I don’t think he had many more spares.

Back at the camp later after a quick game of football and a shower we were off to the restaurant for a steak and a beer and to have our ear drums hammered by the local singer. As usual the night went on and the noise got louder especially as we were joined by Jeremy from team scream who had a lovely sleeping partner in the shape of a trolley in his tent.

Sunday morning was soon to come and we were all trackside by 7:30. With a good forecast and good grip this was always going to be a driver’s track which I know we all can be on a good day.

After the 1st round of qualifiers it was obvious that a lot of big names weren’t present in the top standings which was purely down to breakages and there was a lot of frustration amongst the pits. Justin was sat in 3rd place, myself in 11th and Jason lower down the field due to not finishing. 19t saw both Paul’s in the top 10 after the 1st round with James B and James M joined in the mid 20's by Les.

Things didn’t change through the day for Justin as he secured 3rd place on the grid with faster 2nd and then faster 3rd qualifiers. I dropped my fastest time in the 3rd qualifier due to a rear diff slipping and Jason pushed himself within touching distance of the "A"s with a 2nd spot on the grid in the "B"s . I was pleased to see that I had still done a fast enough time to hold my "B" spot but only a 7th place.
Paul R had done enough to earn an "A" position but right at the back of the grid, Paul H was more than unlucky as he was only .5 of a second behind and lined up pole in the "B"s which was to reward him with the "Team Scream" big pants which seemed to suit him.
Les was 2nd in the C final joined by James M on 6th and James B on 9th.

The finals were fast, furious but surprisingly fairly clean. I managed to get through to 2nd place after a couple of laps only for the rear diff to let go on me again and be pipped to the finish by 2 others 1 of which was Jason to finish 4th and demote me to 5th. Justin was out next and was away in 3rd place following Rob West and Adrian Bidwell who were all flawless and that was the order the finished.
Les, James and James were out next with les stripping a spur on the 1st lap and both James's not letting each other go and hitting each other seemingly on every corner. Then came probably the drive of Paul H's life as he shot off the grid in 1st place never to look back at the car in 2nd place and to go on and win the "B" final with ease ahead of Tristan Yeomans who had suffered all weekend with problems with his car and speed which he didn’t have.Paul R was then out in the "A" final and gained a couple of places due to crashes in front of him. He went on to take 7th place.

2nd round of finals saw me and Jason out 1st with me again getting a flying start only to hit a car on its roof while I was full throttle down the straight. This was to result in me going backwards for the rest of the race with Jason going forwards.
Justin was to be confused in his final with a call by the race director for a false start by Andy Carter. I was under the same impression that the race was going to a re-start but after a couple of seconds seemed to call a 10 second penalty for Andy instead which meant Justin had the hard work of passing all cars he had just let pass. After the 5 minutes were up he had pulled himself up to 4th place which was to be his final position followed by Jason in 11th winning the "B" final followed by myself in 17th overall. Les got a better start in his 2nd final and finished in 2nd place but due to his 1st round failure was to drop him to 5th overall. James M was to retire with a breakage with James B closely following him. Paul H then showed he could again drive the wheels off his MI2 EC with another start to finish win and to go on and win the "B" final. Paul R again pulled up a couple of places in the start of his final and went on to finish 7th overall.

Another great weekend with the SW drivers pulling some great results. Next on the calendar is the BRCA juniors at Ashby. Good luck to our 3 youngsters.

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