It felt great to be racing again. Since the World Final things haven’t really been going my way and I’d started to feel a little despondent, and had forgotten how much I really do love it. There really isn’t a better feeling than blasting a National round Foxhall on a dry Saturday night under the floodlights - something I was quickly reminded of during my first lap of the night!
After rebuilding the car it’s always great to get back out and drive it but this time after 6 weeks it was something a bit special. It instantly felt as if I’d never had a break and the car felt the best it’s ever been. I wasn’t in the first heat so I watched it and straight away you could see it was going to be a fast paced meeting.
My first race saw me starting third row on the outside. The first few laps were going brilliantly with me getting past a few cars and making good progress but after the pace car came out following an accident I seemed to lose my way a little bit crossing the line in ninth – still it was a finish and a few points too!
The second race was pretty much the same story all over again except I started on the fourth row. This time the car was absolutely brilliant doing everything I could ever possibly want it to do. The race started well and I made good progress . . . I even nearly got up the inside of Mr Kew at one point. I think that would have been the highlight of my year if I could just have made it stick! The pace car came out again and just like the first race I saw myself go backwards again from that point. With some other drivers receiving penalties I collected another ninth at the end of the race.
If the rest of the meeting had been anything to go by the final was always going to be fast and close and sure enough it didn’t disappoint. It was going well enough to begin with and I was having a good race until I got involved in a little tangle exiting the scoreboard bend . . . unfortunately it was just one of those racing incidents that ended up with me parked on the infield.
I finished the night happy - it was the first meeting since July where I hadn’t got a load of damage, the car had been brilliant and I’d managed to collect a few points in the process. I’d seen all my friends and had a good laugh. A perfect Saturday night really.
As we’d been up since the crack of dawn on Saturday rather than drive home after the meeting dad and I decided to stay in the truck stop and head home next morning. We had a beer and something to eat . . . and suffered the worst singer in history doing karaoke in the back ground! We slept in the lorry and then had breakfast next morning before setting off for home.
All in all I had an absolutely brilliant night, it was really great to see everyone and be back doing what I love. We have the car in the workshop and preparations are well under way ready for Northampton Devon for a week on Saturday for a bit of “R&R” and to do some fishing, so we want the car finished so Dad can have a week off from the workshop too!
On a completely different note before I sign off I came across the Spedeworth Champions video that was shown at the NEC again this week. It still manages to send a shiver down my spine every time I watch it and I think the song has pretty much become an anthem for National Hot Rods now. It certainly means something special to me. For any of you who haven’t seen it for a while or - heaven forbid - not at all, here’s the link from the Spedeworth website. http://www.spedeworth.co.uk/videoplayer.php?id=14 Enjoy!
Thanks to everyone who has read this, helped me, supported me, given up their time for me and taken time to say “Hello.”
See you all at Northampton
Mikey
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