Spa 7/8^th July 2006

Our friend Spawney Whippet aka Andy Dickens joined our team this year for a one off Monoposto appearance at Spa Francochamps. The two of us decided to drive to Belgium and stay over after the race to enjoy the 25 hour Fun Cup race and at the same time enjoy some of the local Belgian beverages.

We arrived at the circuit on Thursday afternoon to find our team had already grabbed the best (and biggest) spot in what was thankfully an expanded paddock area. Jeremy and Paul were joined by Paul’s dad Rod and Jeremy’s nephew Evan to help with support over the weekend. After setting up the truck and awning, and making sure the race cars were ready to qualify early the next day, we all headed off to our hotel in Stavalot.

Friday dawned to mixed weather and it started to rain on parts of the track for our first qualifying session. I decided not to use our best tyres as these would be wasted on a slippery track and instead qualified on used slicks. The track was dry at one end of the circuit but from Malmady through to the Bus Stop chicane it was quite wet, the joys of a 7km circuit in the middle of the Ardennes. My qualifying was hampered by the changing track conditions which I failed to dominate and slower traffic that always seemed to ruin my best laps. Final result was a 9^th for me and an impressive 4^th for the Whippet.

My prayers were answered (more like bribery than religion in my case) and the weather improved for second qualifying in the afternoon. I decided to go with the new tyres and this paid immediate dividends as the car felt much better in the faster corners. I was able to take both Eau Rouge and Blanchimont flat and had the car in P2 for the entire first half of the session. Not wishing to waste the tyres in traffic I sat out the next 10 mins of qualifying in pit lane waiting to see if anyone went faster. Then Jeremy Timms posted a time half a second quicker (than his already pole position) so I re-joined the track. Luck didn’t play any further part for me as I hit traffic at the same time as Mark Harrison found a clean lap, Mark went 2^nd quickest behind Jeremy Timms and I ended the session in P3. Spawney was back in 8^th.

We finished the day in pretty good spirits. I was philosophical about my first qualifying but pleased with the performance of both the car and myself in qualifying two. Spawney, now re-christened Stavros Whippet (in difference to his new life spent in the Greek part of Melbourne) was also happy having qualified so well not having driven a single seater race car for the previous twelve months.

Race day dawned and it was thankfully sunny. For race 1 I decided to use the old tyres again and lined up next to Alan Everitt on the Grid. Jeremy Timms was on pole with Mark Harrison beside him in P2. Behind this came Geoff Fern and Stavros. Richard Purcell (also doing a cameo) and Jeremy Goodman were also ahead along with a pair of Jedi motorcycle engined cars.

I had a good start and both Alan and I went through Eau Rouge without incident, meanwhile at the top of the hill Geoff Fern, recovering from a poor start tried a late brake into Les Combes which took out the whippet and himself (both recovered back to the track) whilst Jeremy Timms and Mark Harrison made a clean break (they stayed in that order for the duration of the race).

Behind them Richard Purcell and the recovered Geoff Fern were fighting with a Jedi and I made a move past Alan Everitt and a Jedi up the hill, going through Eau Rouge almost flat. I couldn’t get past the Purcell/Fern/Jedi fight and then I caught back marker traffic entering the esses. Alan Everitt went back past me as I came across a mono 1600, mid corner of Blanchemont which forced me onto the curbs.

On lap 8 I came across the inevitable coming together of Geoff Fern, Richard Purcell and the Jedi at La Source....smiling to myself, I thought, if I try a bit harder I might make something of this...so I shutting my eyes, I went through Eau Rouge without lifting and shot past Alan up the hill. Then on the approach to Pouhon I didn’t brake and went past Jeremy Goodman’s RT3 on the inside to take third. Unfortunately the race was red flagged and abandoned due to the carnage at La Source which meant that the race results were based on the previous lap, this dropped me back to seventh, behind Jeremy Timms, Mark Harrison, Richard Purcell who were classed 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd.

The whippet finished 22^nd having fallen foul of some back markers and was out at the Bus Stop. Having recovered from the Fern incident he tried to overtake 2 Jedi’s by going between them under braking for Bus Stop...Sydney drivers!!!

Race two was due to start 60 minutes later which actually meant we had half an hour to turn the cars around and go back out on the grid. The team worked overtime to repair the front of Stavros’s car which needed a new nose cone, front suspension, and steering arm. He only just made it onto the grid.

It obviously felt much nicer to start the second race from P3 and as the lights went green I had a good start to hold off Geoff Ferns attack into Eau Rouge. Ahead Mark had overtaken Jeremy Timms although this was reversed under braking at the top of the hill. On lap 2 I had a much faster exit of Eau Rouge and I overtook Mark Harrison exiting Kemmel. I had a quick glance at Mark as I went by and I’m pretty sure I could lip read his words, even through his dark visor. A lap later I did the same move on Jeremy Timms to take the lead, shortly followed by Mark who also overtook a fading Timms.

Further down the field Stavros was fighting an ill handling car but doing a great job through the traffic. He was now up to 5th having overtaken three cars.The red flag came out on lap six, exactly half way through the race. This caused some confusion as to what would happen next. Our team was obviously keen for the race to be declared over but we were 1 lap short of the distance required to call the race completed and therefore we had to re-grid to our lap 5 race positions in the pit lane. I was therefore on pole for the restart which worked well for me. I had an unimpeded run through Eau Rouge and had pulled out a small lead by the end of the lap. Mark seemed to be quicker than me in the slower corners and had found some speed in Eau Rouge, fortunately not enough as although he showed me his cars nose in both Eau Rouge and Blanchimont, he never had the speed to overtake. On the penultimate lap Mark got passed me into the Esses, we came across some back markers and he had a better run. Marks glory was short lived however as on the next lap I overtook him again exiting the Bus Stop chicane. At the time I thought he had missed a gear but I later found out he had run out of petrol. Apparently the green flag lap to restart the race was a lap too far for Marks fuel load.

I finished in P1 with Jeremy Timms in 2^nd and Geoff Fern 3^rd. Stavros was a very credible 4^th and Alan Everitt just behind in 5^th. Mark was classified 16^th, a lap down as he coasted over the line. I also had fastest lap of the race (and the weekend) of 2.31.6 so everyone was very happy.

My many thanks to the team, especially Paul and to all the people that have supported me over the years.