When qualifying time did arrive, so did the surprise of the MaX5's having their qualifying sessions shared with the Caterham Classics. My first few laps were hampered by a couple of Caterhams, but after that the circuit flowed well with the two classes. Unfortunately I never managed to get a tow to work for my lap times, and ended up qualifying 10th on the grid. Timesheets show the Caterhams & MaX5's were very comparable in performance around Castle Combe http://www.tsl-timing.com/ccrc/2008/81968.pdf
DL1 & DASH2 information was reliable, with sector times and lap information all being displayed & recorded. My own measured lap time was within 0.01 seconds of the published time. Differences can be easily seen if the circuit is using a different datum for timing the lap, so maybe I was just lucky on where I put my sectors?
Start of the race was good, with everyone making it around turn 1; which is impressive given we were probably 5+ abreast at the time. I managed to keep with the pack in front for a few laps before needing to take more defensive lines with Jon Halliwell right on my rear bumper. On lap 7 or 8 Nick Wright managed to get a good tow, and flew past both Jon and myself. Paul Sheard then managed to get past Jon, and myself a lap later. Nick, under pressure from Paul, ended up spinning on the exit of Bobbies chicane which forced Paul to make a slight lift. This was sufficient to enable me to get a better run down to tower, and I moved to the inside line to get past Paul. Space ended up being tighter than we were both expecting, and the subsequent slides almost caused us to loose a place to Jon, but we managed to keep going and retain our positions. Sadly, Paul had engine problems shortly afterwards, and ended up retiring. Jon didn't let up any pressure for the remaining laps, and at the end of the race I finished 7th, with a lead on Jon of just 0.143 seconds.
I'm happy that my performance on the day was as good as I'd achieved on the Friday, but don't feel that I have mastered Castle Combe. More track time is definitely required for me to find the best lines for the MaX5.
