Club Lotus - Cambridgeshire

We were only scheduled to have 12 minutes of qualifying time on a track which requires under a minute to negotiate at speed, so with a gallon and a half of Shell Optimax in the Seven's tank I made sure I was at the head of the queue to get on track . the second car to appear was Andrew Marler's Elan, then Martin Halliday's Seven S3, then five more Elans! Seemingly when you choose to race in a Lotus you are keen...or else some day a chimpanzee types out Macbeth, and this was the day!

The other marques did not appear to be as suited to the circuit as the Loti, the first six slots on the grid being taken by Chapman's creations - Andrew Marler on pole with 54.9, then me on 56.2, Martin on 56.3, Alan Harper on 57.6, Paul Tooms 57.9 and Frazer Gibney 58.1.

I was a trifle slow reacting to the Red lights going out, but managed the clutch slip well and made my way to the right to defend my line into Paddock bend, staying in touch with Andrew's Elan and noticing Paul Tooms' fast starting Elan on my left. So a defensive line into Druids and a mid track entry into Graham Hill, too, to discourage any inside dives. Staying slightly left on Cooper straight for the same reason I was confident of my Seven's speed through McLaren into Clearways and hoped to pull a small gap on Paul before the blast down the pit straight. This defensiveness helped to give Andrew's Elan an eight tenths lead at the start of the second lap, but now Martin had deposed Paul, and with less need for defence I closed to 0.6s off Andrew as we began lap three. I was right on Andrew's bumper as we flew into the McLaren left-right high speed swerve to the braking area for Clearways - but which side of him should I lunge? Normally I'd want to go inside him, But Andrew was blocking that line, so I decided to go wide left and deep, in the hope of cutting back with a faster exit onto the straight.

Unfortunately I hadn't tried that line in qualifying and this was a very poor moment to explore low grip levels off line... Before I could blink I was deep in the Clearways gravel and a voice in my head was saying 'Game Over'.

But then I heard another voice - Martin Halliday's, carefully explaining how to escape gravel traps using skills he'd gained from trialling up muddy slopes. 'Engage a lower gear,' he'd told me, 'and keep a steady application of power to maintain some forward momentum, then steer very gently back towards the grass and tarmac.'
Miraculously, the Seven gradually dug its way through and out, and slowly regaining the tarmac I was back in the race, albeit now in seventh place, rather than fighting for the lead. Around seven seconds driving through the pebbles and a further loss of time down the straight meant the leaders were now nine seconds in front.

I passed a 1300cc Ginetta G4 on the exit of Paddock, and took Alan Harper's Elan at the end of Cooper Straight, following a very good exit from Graham Hill - a corner that I seemed at last to be getting to grips with. It has a tricky-to-find turn-in point if you're going to make the apex and get the power on early for a fast exit without wasting time on the fierce rumble-strip.

My next target was Frazer Gibney, a couple of seconds ahead, and two laps later we crossed the line only fractions apart, allowing me to take my tight Paddock line and pass him, while still getting back across to the right in time to defend at Druids. This was another corner that was working well for me - the transition from hard braking to second gear winding round the hairpin and accelerating down towards Graham Hill was beginning to flow smoothly - it felt good.

Passing the start line on the start of the seventh lap I could see from the electronic signs on the control towere that I was up to fourth place, but Paul Tooms was out of sight ahead of me. I couldn't hope to win from here but there was a chance I could make the podium, so that was my goal. A back marker cost me a couple of tenths on that lap, and on the next I could only match Paul's lap time - the race's end was getting closer and I needed a string of good laps to stand a chance.

If I'd known the size of the gap, (8 seconds), and the fact that I only pulled back a tenth of a second on Paul on laps nine and ten I might have given up, but then everything started to come together. For the next eight laps I was posting 56s, while Paul was doing 57s, and on lap eighteen I clocked the fastest lap of the race, (56.0), crossing the line just six tenths behind the red Elan.

I was ready to try a Paddock pass when I saw waved yellows - it seems that someone had visited the gravel trap briefly just ahead of us - so at the end of lap nineteen the gap was still six tenths, thanks to this and a fair amount of back marker lappery. At the end of lap twenty the gap was only two tenths and it was the moment for another Paddock move. Graciously anticipating this, Paul left room on the apex of Paddock for me, but I couldn't get close enough, and his wide sweeping line gave him better speed up the hill to Druids. But I late braked and was delighted to see Paul missing his Druids apex and getting a bit ragged on the exit. So I was on his tail going into Graham Hill, but not so close that I couldn't pick my line and come out at maximum speed...

We were side by side on Cooper straight, my exit speed making up for his power and I was on the left so I could command the apex of McLaren. This time I made no mistake at Clearways and took a tight line on the apex kerb, trying to apply power without wheelspin onto the straight as Paul hurtled after me towards the chequered flag. I made third place by under four tenths of a second after nearly twenty-one minutes of racing. Seeing a very dusty green just Elan ahead of me on the slowing down lap I realised that it was Andrew who had been in the gravel and that Martin must therefore have won a race for the very first time, in his Seven; I was doubly thrilled that I could share the celebrations with him on the podium.

Great fun - I've rarely seen so many happy faces after a race.
Everyone was thrilled for Martin, who really deserved a win the way he's been driving this year, and everyone on track and beside it had enjoyed participating in and watching the race in this wonderful racing bowl...