Silverstone May 31st

Race 3 of the Dunlop Motorsport News Championship on the 31st May was to be held at Silverstone, the most prestigious circuit on the calendar.

The decision was made for team Westlake to perfect car setup by running a test day the day before the race, which proved to be very worthwhile.

The weather forecast for race day was to expect rain but fortunately we had a perfectly dry day. With 37 cars lined up on the grid for qualifying, Nick and Cris were both determined to get good results. Nick took a slight detour at copse with a bit of a spin but they both came in with good qualifying times, bettering their previous practice sessions achieving 1st and 2nd in class.

Race 1 saw Nick starting in 5th position on the grid and Cris starting 8th. As the rolling start took off Cris was caught out napping and lost a few places but he soon pulled them back and found himself tussling with Castle Coombe race instructor, Richard Brent, in his extremely fast Peugeot 205. The race concluded with Cris taking 3rd place in class.

Nick had an even better result with a great battle between Ray Barrow in a Cosworth powered Escort and Andy Wickens in a Sierra Cosworth. Nick became victorious in the pack in the later stages of the race and claimed 5th place on track and 1st place in class ‘B’.

However, race 2 was even better, the best of the year so far, although Cris had a bit of work to do. Nick started 5th on track and Cris 9th, but as the first part of the race unfolded Cris was moving up the pack and within 3 laps found himself on the bumper of Nick who was once again battling with Ray Barrow in the Cosworth. After a couple of laps Cris decided to make a move and passed Nick, Nick wasn’t giving up without a fight though and made sure that he filled Cris’ mirrors completely. After them continually overtaking each other throughout the rest of the race, on the last lap when in front of Nick, Cris made a very brave move on Ray Barrow at Copse, he went round the outside of him and took 6th place on track, however it was short lived as Cris missed a gear coming out of the corner and Nick was very quick to make the most of the opportunity. The spectators were on the edge of their seats as they came flying across the finishing line with Nick pipping Cris to the line by 0.7 of a second. However with them taking 1st and 2nd in class, although a little bruised, they both felt extremely triumphant.

The concluding story of the day has to be Cris’ car breaking down in the pits after the race! On bringing the cars back to the pits and loading them on the trailers after the race, a power steering hose on Cris’ car burst…there goes another one of Cris’ 9 lives!