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Donington ISC Race 3rd June |
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I was asked whether I would be interested in doing the first race in the new Interactive Series at Donington. There has been a great deal of controversy over the introduction of this Championship and how it has affected the Privilege grids - what better way of understanding the whole thing by doing a race or two!!
I would be driving alongside young James Pickford in my old black car which has performed so well in the past............or that was the plan. In qualifying we unfortunately experienced an uncharacteristic engine failure which left us with a problem. There was a solution in the shape of my Privilege car which had been prepped for its first outing at Rockingham - not an ideal solution granted bearing in mind the next Privilege race was so close. After much deliberation we decided to go for it. It obviously meant back of the grid but I'm getting used to that now! It was a shame aswell as James's lap of the previous day was good enough for pole. Still we had it all to do despite the small grid. We already had one casualty on the second parade lap which moved me up a place and I started moving through the field after the lights changed. I knew the Lotus and Porsche would prove interesting opposition and so it turned out to be. I managed to out brake the Lotus at the end of the straight and set about Neil Cunningham in the Porsche. I repeated the move on him only to be taken back again at Redgate. His superior horsepower was proving a major problem to me (we were on our smaller Privilege restrictors) and I very definitely did not want to jeopardise my car with a stupid manoeuvre.
Eventually I made a move stick and started to ease away from him - now in second place and with clear track to start to hunt down the Viper............unfortunately that was not going to be my privilege today. A good stop and James was on his way. A few bedding in laps and the gap started to come down. Had the Viper done the same thing to its tyres that we saw in the Privilege race? Most definitely! James hunted it down remorselessly and was on his tail with twenty minutes to go. A small blot on a very fine drive occurred on his first attempt to get past but he stormed back up again to better the American muscle car on the last tour of the Melbourne Loop. Contact was made at Goddards as the Viper tried to reassert itself but victory was ours. My conclusion from the weekend........there cannot be two Championships for these cars in the UK. It will not work as there are quite simply not enough quality cars available. Many things were good from the ISC although much confusion still remains. Some promises have been kept - others need to be to build credibility. The media coverage seemed out of place at a club meeting (and why can't anyone spell my name?) but there was very definitely a desire to make it work. The jury may still be out but the race actually happened........congratulations to CSG and I'm sure it's not the last you'll be hearing about James Pickford!
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