North Weald Sprint 21-Sep-03

The start line at North Weald   [photo David Alderslade]

After walking the course I was worried that it was too straight to suit the BMW and the corners not tight enough to make it interesting. I was very wrong!

3000rpm and a quickly slipped clutch made for quite an effective start and the rest of the course was good fun. Power oversteer on the exit of the 'roundabout' was encouraging It had quite a respectable pace all-in-all.

My best time was a 1:11.88 - about 2 seconds slower than the few Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 in our class. We were also lumped in with mental Ford Escort Mk2/Mk3 on full slicks which were doing 1:05's!

Jez also brought his BMW for his first sprint. His is the more powerful (but heavier) 320i so I was glad to be a couple of seconds faster than him. It was a great day but also frustrating. After initially deciding that a deep line would be best for the roundabout hairpin I realised I was wrong and took the conventional line for my final run. It felt much faster and I was convinced I had improved on my previous time. So I was a little bemused to find that I actually went a few tenths slower and couldn't figure out why. It put a downer on the end of the day but it was still a good meeting. That's sprinting... you're only really competing against yourself!

fourwheels racing © 26-Oct-2003