Yes, these were taken at Brands, but just in , thanks to the resident 750MC photographer Steve Jones.
Back to Mallory and first of all, Mike would like to thank all his supporters for turning up for this his local round. The weather look set to be fine and although he had a few problems to overcome to keep the scrutineers happy, he ventured out in timed qualifying with confidence.
Mike put in 10 laps below 57 second in his 15 lap qualifying spell, which was good enough to beat the old lap record and place him 17th out of 70 entrants, his best qualifying result so far. With the top 6 getting an automatic passage into the final at 4.30, Mike was 6th on the grid in heat 1 with plenty of the top drivers around him, but only needing a top 12 finish in order to make the final.
Thanks to a new technique of holding the car on the brake while holding down the accelerator and clutch at the same time, Mike shot into 3rd place, but was on the outside entering the first bend, which proved to be a mistake as he was surrounded by some top drivers. Carl Swan was just inside Mike and Jake Farndon just behind and in a typical racing incident, Mike somehow got tagged putting him into a spin ending up with him backing the car into the tyre wall.
Mike put in 10 laps below 57 second in his 15 lap qualifying spell, which was good enough to beat the old lap record and place him 17th out of 70 entrants, his best qualifying result so far. With the top 6 getting an automatic passage into the final at 4.30, Mike was 6th on the grid in heat 1 with plenty of the top drivers around him, but only needing a top 12 finish in order to make the final.
Thanks to a new technique of holding the car on the brake while holding down the accelerator and clutch at the same time, Mike shot into 3rd place, but was on the outside entering the first bend, which proved to be a mistake as he was surrounded by some top drivers. Carl Swan was just inside Mike and Jake Farndon just behind and in a typical racing incident, Mike somehow got tagged putting him into a spin ending up with him backing the car into the tyre wall.
Mike said afterwards" I was in the wrong place and after all these years in karting should not put myself at risk like I did going round the outside". So not the best start, and now Mike was 30th and half the back straight behind. Thanks to his determined approach, Mike then caught the back of the pack and lap by lap made his moves. One more lap and Mike would have got back to 12th and taken three before the first corner as he went over the line with enough momentum to have passes 12th, 13th and 14th who were nose to tail.
If it were a road car, it would now be a 'CAT C write off', but with help from Tony at City MOT, I am sure the car will be ready for Silverstone in a few weeks time. Unfortunately no video footage as the scrutineers banned Mike form using his miniature video camera, and no track maps as we also had to switch off the data logger. A strange day that started off on the wrong footing and just got worse!
The positive to take away were that Mike is now under 5/10th of a second off the fastest drivers and on his qualifying time and race time in the heat could have easily made the top 10. Mike now goes to Silverstone 'knowing' that circuit, so we have high hopes of another good qualifying result.
On another positive note, it would seem that as we were advised to use a Mk1 engine, Mike is running at a handicap to the others, who use a combination of parts from a MK1 and MK2 engine. Being a little naive at the start of the season, it would seem that we made some incorrect choices in car preparation. One of the front running teams have spotted Mikes potential considering his handicap and offered their help to correct matters for 2010. The changes will make a 10% power increase, which will place Mike on a par with the fastest. Mike is resigned to seeing out 2009 with his current set up and looks forward to some winter testing with three of the current top drivers in order to improve the chassis set up.
Hopefully Mike will retain his current level of sponsorship and benefit in 2010 from aid from some of his newer supporters. Mike intends to have a fully functioning workshop with a 2-post lift within the next month in order to develop his Motorsport business oportunities.
Hopefully spectator footage of today's events will be on here soon.
If it were a road car, it would now be a 'CAT C write off', but with help from Tony at City MOT, I am sure the car will be ready for Silverstone in a few weeks time. Unfortunately no video footage as the scrutineers banned Mike form using his miniature video camera, and no track maps as we also had to switch off the data logger. A strange day that started off on the wrong footing and just got worse!
The positive to take away were that Mike is now under 5/10th of a second off the fastest drivers and on his qualifying time and race time in the heat could have easily made the top 10. Mike now goes to Silverstone 'knowing' that circuit, so we have high hopes of another good qualifying result.
On another positive note, it would seem that as we were advised to use a Mk1 engine, Mike is running at a handicap to the others, who use a combination of parts from a MK1 and MK2 engine. Being a little naive at the start of the season, it would seem that we made some incorrect choices in car preparation. One of the front running teams have spotted Mikes potential considering his handicap and offered their help to correct matters for 2010. The changes will make a 10% power increase, which will place Mike on a par with the fastest. Mike is resigned to seeing out 2009 with his current set up and looks forward to some winter testing with three of the current top drivers in order to improve the chassis set up.
Hopefully Mike will retain his current level of sponsorship and benefit in 2010 from aid from some of his newer supporters. Mike intends to have a fully functioning workshop with a 2-post lift within the next month in order to develop his Motorsport business oportunities.
Hopefully spectator footage of today's events will be on here soon.
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