Reports > A PLANT LUX RACEDAY CASTLE COMBE 29th AUGUST
A 2nd for Guy Parr and 3rd for Steve Bracegirdle
Guy Parr kicked off the penultimate meeting of the season at Castle Combe in the ever popular saloon Car Championship race with a strong qualifyIng performance to line up only a tenth behind the similar but faster Mini Cooper of Chris Fryer. A good start saw Guy follow Fryer closely in the opening laps until he was forced into retirement on Lap 5.
Thnigs went better for Guy in the GT race after qualifying a good secend in his Nemesis albeit some way off the pace of Simon Tilling's dominant Radical SR3. A poor start by Tilling allowed Guy to lead the race early on until a recovering Tilling got past and these positions continued until the end. The story of qualifying, however, was Des Andrews' excellent performance in his Megar Hart with a 1m 7.28s, a PB and only just shy of Guy's time for third place on the grid. From the start Des was running with a group of cars disputing third place until a spin on to the grass filled the radiators with grass and retirement followed to avoid engine damaging overheating. Still, the recent gearbox woes have been overcome and a promising performance bodes well for the future.
Steve Bracegirdle and Pete Diccox were out in their Van Diemen RF89s for the Formula Ford race. Steve was trying a different gear ratio strategy in practice and having to adjust his driving style to suit. Pete felt his engine lacked its 'usual bark' but admitted his slightly disappointing performance could have been down to a combination of things. Anyway, both drivers made good starts which saw them ahead of some Class A and B cars in the early laps as they ran 2nd and 3rd in Class. A recovering Iain Houston quickly got past Pete and closed on Steve, passing him on Lap 4 for second place. However, he didn't pull away and as the race entered its closing stages Steve closed right up almost to the point of challenging for second on the final corners. It wasn't to be though and Steve had to settle for third. Pete ran reliably to the finish as usual.
