My last MX5 race (?)

 

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Yesterday was the final round of this year’s HSA championship and it was a great finale to the year.  As with all championships, I guess, there is the great championship battle and then there are the lesser squabbles for class honours, personal vendettas and challenges.  Often times these are much more important to individual drivers than who will collect the big cup at the annual award ceremony.

In my class (HSA Class A2.1 Mazda MX5) Nick had it all sewn up but that left second place to be fought over and going into the final round it was between Tony Thomas and me. I was also anxious not to be embarrassed by Ken Morris, who was giving me a shared ride and who had beaten Tony in the wet at Curborough last time we went there.

In the end I came a dismal 6th in a class of eight and Tony came second. This had a knock on effect in the championship with Tony claiming second in class and third overall and I got third in the class and 5th in the championship which I was still quite happy with.  But these facts and figures don’t really convey the sense of drama in the MX5 class nor explain why we’ll all be back next year for more.

For Nick his challenge wasn’t beating us at all but to beat his dad, Alan, who sportingly enters their shared drive in class A2 (Roadgoing 1400-2000cc) and to beat the Curborough HSA class record so securing nine maximum scores – the equivalent of  a one-four-seven in snooker. And he managed both!

For me the challenge wasn’t to beat Tony (as explained in the last post) but to beat Ken in his own car and here we had a great little battle.

  • First Practice went to Ken with 46.32 (Me 47.74)
  • Second Practice – I won with a 43.92 (Ken 44.55)
  • Third Practice – Me 41.22 (Ken 41.59)
  • First Timed – Ken 41.08 (me 41.32)
  • Second Timed – Me 41.23 (Ken 41.26)

And so Ken won our little battle with a best time of 41.08.  For me it was a fisherman’s tale of the one that got away.  My last run was probably the best I’ve ever done at Curborough, but I crunched the gears on the final straight and lost time.  Everyone has a story, eh?

L-R : Me, Tony, Alan, Angela, Nick, Ken, Nigel, Mervyn.

While Ken and I were engrossed in all this, the others were absorbed in their own dramas, Angela Mugglestone improved by over ten seconds from first practice to final run to grab third in class and Nigel Hodson improved on every run to get his time down to 40.82 which he must be delighted with. Michael Tindale will probably be planning to do all the things he promised himself to do last winter (but I don’t think got round to) to get his car competitive and Mervyn did well to finish 6th in a class of nine in the championship.

Now I must get that Van Diemen out and learn how to drive it.  HSA Class J1 (Formula Ford Racing Cars up to 1600cc manufactured before Jan 1994) can’t be as exciting as the MX5 class but it will be a new challenge and I’ll still be able to battle with Tony and co in the overall championship. Roll on 2012!

Full Results from Curborough –
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/res-detail.asp?Year=2011

2011 HSA Championship final results – http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/results.asp?Year=2011

More Photos.
For more photos see my Facebook album here.

0 thoughts on “My last MX5 race (?)

  1. Bob, as much as I would thank you for the report bit about Nick being 4 tenths slower, he actualy did beat me for the first time this year, he was 4 tenths quicker!

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