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Prescott Mini Fest
My dad was on holiday, and with an impending shoulder operation, this was my first of many solo events for the rest of the season. Trekked up to Prescott on the Friday, annoyingly some last minute changes to the paddock layout moved me off the nice tarmac onto the grass, but with decent weather, it wasn’t too bad.
First time to the hill there, done as much prep as I could, walked the hill a few times on the Friday night with a beer or two. A fantastic hill, kept very well (not exactly unexpected given the involvement of the Bugatti owners club).
Absolutely belting weather on Saturday, once we got going the paddock flowed well. No red flags until our championship batch, where one competitor took a liberal line around pardon and onto the gravel. First practice run was smooth and settled, greeted with a 51.92 as I came down the return road. Given the previous class record was 52.07, I assumed this was the Maguire in front of me. But it was my time, pretty happy with that, can only assume the previous record was a damp or wet time.
Checked tyres over (the return road is pretty loose) and decided to push a bit more on each of the key sections, mainly braking later for Ettores and Pardon. 2nd Practice and push I did, too much into Pardon and came up on two wheels, with the back then hopping round to catch up. Bit hairy, but the front did its job and pulled me out of trouble. It was a 50.40 but needed to be much cleaner.
The runs had gone cleanly, and we were well ahead of the schedule so after the non-competitive parade runs were complete, we were given another practice run. Braked a lot earlier and pulled through it this time, barely cost any time. 50.42. Strangely, the more runs I did, the harder I began to find the Esses, I guess ignorance only got me so far, but the last left before the approach to Semicircle seemed to be getting tighter each run!
First timed run was ok, again not the cleanest through the Esses, but banked a new class record with 50.62. Speaking to the locals, the hill was as good as it gets for condition and weather, so wanted to get nearer my PB in the morning. I got off the line quicker than my PB, faster through the speed trap at Bridge, quicker through Orchard and Pardon, up to midway time point I was still 3 tenths up on the PB, but a scrappy journey through the Esses cost me time. 50.43. I am very happy with this for my first visit, but I’m certain I can do a 49 run here. I guess I’ll need to come back and prove it.
Derek took first place in our championship running in the Maguire, actually claiming fastest time of the day too on 47.71. I came second in Downton with the Vtechbusa powered car chasing me for third. Looking at the other classes, two other Mod Prod cars beat me, both with 16v BMW heads, so 4th overall is quite an achievement.
Here’s the final run, 50.43
https://youtu.be/BCEjhg_SAUA
No events till June now, then a couple of weekends in Wales for Epynt Hillclimb and Llandow Sprint.
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