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July 2010

With our 4th win in a row out of 4 races in the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge, Ant and I are the winners of the series as there are only 2 more rounds left (at Oulton Park and Donington Park) so we cannot be beaten.

Throughout Ant has been a star - getting so far 3 pole positions, 2 fastest laps and showing excellent consistency and calmness when some others are losing their cool.

 

2010 Season

As we eagerly approach the start of the season I can only hope it is as good as 2009.  Pre-season testing did not go according to plan when I managed to leave the track and bend the E Type.  All is not lost as it will soon be mended - I hope.

The focus this year will be on:

a) AMOC - both the Classic Championship and Intermarque series, plus the new Aston Martin GT4 Challenge being run by Aston Martin Racing in conjunction with AMOC.  I will be racing with my son Ant which will be great. 

b) The Masters Series - hopefully I will also be able to fit in some other races such as Heritage and of course the Spa 6 Hour meeting.

 

2009 Round Up

Sunday 25th saw the last race of the year (at Mallory) and more importantly, the first race for the Broadspeed, which won!  Overall not a bad year with 27 podiums (73% of starts) including 14 wins.  This was my 5th year of racing.  The first year with the DBS V8 'starter car' I was not very competitive as can be seen from the table, but with more cars doing more races the podiums have come.

Results Table PDF

 

October 2009

Last Sunday (18th October) concluded the AMOC racing for 2009.  In the Classic Championship I entered the first 5 races in the in the V8 and won all of them scoring a maximum possible 500 points - - winning class C3, the Classic Championship, and a share of the overall AMOC Championship with David Reed. 

Sunday's 6th race in the N24 achieved 3rd place and some points in a different class (E2). 

In the Intermarque Championship I entered all 8 races, winning a maximum scorable 5, getting 150 points.  This won Class D2, and helped the V8 Aston Team to second place in the Team Challenge, but because of the peculiarities of the scoring system, the top 3 drivers in Class A scored more points! 

 

August 2009

At last, the Broadspeed Jaguar XJ12  Coupe is nearly ready to race. It looks absolutely fantastic.  Mike Wilkinson and his team have done a wonderful job restoring this famous car.  At its first test a few engine problems were identified, hopefully they can quickly be resolved and we can get a race in this season.

 

April 2009

The problems at Donington have caused two of our outings to be cancelled - the Heritage meeting on 25th/25th April and the AMOC meeting on 4th May.  However the Masters Festival on 9th/10th May has been confirmed.

 

February 2009

Frustrating February.  Snowy, horrible weather that definitely hides any signs of 'green shoots' in the economy or my garden!

Worse than that a seeming lack of progress in getting the XJ12C ready.   I find it difficult to understand how it can take nearly a year to re do the car or build an engine!! 

On the brighter side of life a blonde and beautiful lady driver wants to rent the N24 and as most of its likely dates clash with AMOC or Masters that may work out OK, especially if she needs a co-driver occasionally!

The Zagato may get an outing or 2 afterall, hopefully in the Le Mans Legends Race and at the Concours D'elegance at the Salon Prive event in July at Hurlingham.   Provisional Race Calender to be uploaded shortly!

 

January 2009

Whilst we await confirmation of race meeting dates in order to finalise our calendar, work is underway on the cars to ready them for racing which begins in March.

The 1973 Aston Martin V8 is having a birthday.  The aim is to renew many parts so that (hopefully) its speed will be matched by its reliability.  It will be campaigned in AMOC Classic and Intermarque Championships, some AMOC Super GT races and in the Heritage race series. 

The 2008 N24 will be out with its new 4.7 litre engine.  The choice of races for this car is quite wide, AMOC Championships and Super GT Cup, British GT, some Ferrari Owners Club races and some endurance races. 

The E Type will be in Masters/Top Hat Series (Gentleman Drivers & Cloth Cap) and of course a third attempt at a decent result in the Spa 6 hour race. 

The Mark II Jaguar may get some outings in pre 66 Top Hat Races, but as the rules make it impossible to be at the front of the grid I may try a run or two such as Tour Britannia. 

No events are yet planned for the Zagato, I am too scared of bending it!!  But a track day or two is likely.

Finally the new big cat, the XJ12 Coupe.  This race car will soon be ready for testing, the first time its been on a track for 33 years!  It will compete in Group II Touring Events with the Masters Series. 

 

December 2008 - End of Season Report

A busy season, 44 races entered in 4 cars, but whilst we had a reasonable number of podiums and a handful of wins, it was a disappointing season because we lost a significant number of excellent results (probably wins) due to unrelated mechanical failures that affected 3 out of 4 cars!   The winter break will be spent checking and renewing as appropriate in an endeavour to remove the unreliability - Roger and his team, especially Kevin will be busy! 

Also over the winter the renovation of the Jaguar XJ12 Coupe will be completed.  This famous and almost unique car will, I hope, have greater reliability than it did in period.  If it also has its period pace it will provide serious opposition for the BMW's and Capris in Group 2 Touring Cars run by Masters. 

The season ended with a couple of award.......in the Masters Series I won the Cloth Cap Driver of the Year award, and from AMOC a Trophy for the fastest lap at Brands.  Apparently I won this in 2007 as well but never got given the trophy!   Having now got it for a year I see it has some prestigious previous winners - G Marshall and Thurtle being named on it more than a few times!

Roll on the 2009 season! 

 

March 2008

New to the collection is a 1970's XJ12 Coupe, Group 2 Touring Car, Chassis No. 1 raced by Derek Bell and Andy Rouse amongst others.  This has now gone to Mike Wilkinson for preparation for the Masters 70's Touring Car Races and some Heritage racing and hopefully will be out before the end of the season.

 

February 2008

MK2 Jaguar had its inaugural run at Mallory and apart from problems with rear brakes that caused a big spin and quick heart stopping moment as the armco came close, it ran very well.

 

2007

After six months of retirement I couldn’t keep away from hotels, so bought The Spa Hotel in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

However I still managed to enter a few races…..

It was a great years racing in the Aston Martin V8.  In the AMOC UBS Championship we ended up in the V8 with:

• 1 pole position
• 1 x 1st
• 3 x 2nd
• 3 x 4th
• 7 x class wins
• 2 x 1st on handicap
• 2 x fastest laps
• 1 x class lap record

In the AMOC Intermarque Championship it was:

• 4 x pole position
• 1 x 1st
• 2 x 2nd
• 2 x 3rd
• 2 x DNF
• 5 x class wins
• 2 x fastest laps

In the AMOC Endurance Races it was:

• 1 x pole position
• 2 x 2nd
• 1 x 4th
• 1 x non start
• 1 x DNF

We ended up 2nd in the Classic Section of the UBS Championship and winners of 3 AMOC awards.

At Spa we won the BSSC 1 hour race and in Heritage races we had 2 x 4th, 1 x 8th and 1 x DNF in the V8.

The E Type started 9 races and finished 8 and had a reasonable first season.

The DB4 only came out once but what could be better than a visit to Le Mans. 

So a big thank you to all who helped with the cars, especially Ted and Paul who keep smiling nearly all the time!

The Spa Hotel

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