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Pics: Jonathan Rackowe

Bank Holiday saw another race at Castle Combe with the 928 GTS Cup car making its first outing on its new engine. As the engine has only 500 miles on it and is trialling many new developments, I was somewhat nervous how it would perform/survive. Also on a first time race test was John Speakes SuperMAF in line with the hoped for extra power (thanks John)

Plan for the race was to just put the car through its paces, as more of a test session in the Intermarque - competition came from an early 911RSR and an Aston V8 Vantage in my class. The rest of the field of about 24 cars had 6 355 Ferrari Challenge cars, the usual Aston with 550BHP +, and Aston N24.

I had also entered the "Porsche v Ferrari challenge race". This was a sprint race, but I had subsequently found out that of the 11 Ferraris entered, all were on slicks, as were most of the Porsches. The only ones not, were some Porsche 993's RS's etc, but driven by the top drivers and also a front running 968 from the Club championship. This race was therefore more of a further test than any hopes of a high finish.

Looking at the timetable, it was going to be the busiest race day ever for us - scrutineering, two separate qualifying and then two races all in the same day - no room for screw ups. So when we managed to snap the rear spoiler off after a pushing incident, the pressure was on! In addition when I looked at the front pads just before bring the car, they were quite low on thickness, and nobody had any stock - a nice thought to savour approaching Quarry.

Anyway, spoiler fixed temporarily I was ready for Qualifying 1 Lining up for qualifying I saw many familiar faces come to support - Chris Clark, Noel and Richard "Strosek" all in attendance. I started off amongst the group and the car seemed OK, but not quite right on the handling front. Got 3 laps in at a modest pace to secure qualifying and then put a relatively quick 1.21 in, with clearly much more to come - then the rain came. Realising that there was no way I would get a quicker wet time than 1.21, I cut the session short and came in. As luck would have it, the rain had caught most people out and I qualified 8th on the overall grid (top of my class) and my best qualifying position ever.

Next came qualifying for the 2nd race. By this time it was dryer but I was in a field full of 355/360's on slicks. As I started 2nd, I overtook the first 355 quickly before his tyres got up to temp and then had a clear track for many laps. With me and the car settled in I started to focus more on lap times and put in a 1.19.6, but then I was overtaken by a 911 GT2 with huge flames coming out the back - and not just from the exhaust!!!. initially the driver didnt realise it, but burning pieces of his car littered the track and he quickly stopped with marshalls out with the fire extinguishers. Session over after only 8 laps, but I was happy with my time in the circumstances.

Now we were ready to prepare for the Intermarque race. Both races were a rolling start and we were given details of how it would work, how the safety car would come in, the cars would bunch up, and when happy the flag would be dropped etc etc.

As we went round on the warm up lap I was amazed at the large crowds at Combe, especially at Quarry where it seemed some people had been camping out to watch the action! first half of the warm up lap seemed as usual, then about half way round then the pace picked up a lot. Expecting the usual bunching, the field held back, but the leading group of 5 or so cars didnt - they went flat out surprising everyone and as the starter didnt stop them they were off with a substantial gap. I got away well, but could only maintain the distance at best, then on about lap 2, one of the Ferraris in front spun and I had to stake avoiding action to miss him in the Esses. At that stage there was no way I could catch the leading group, and now I had on my tail an Aston N24. As the laps went by he tried to attack me under braking and the slow corners, but I kept my defensive line and let the 928 grunt do its work on the straight. It was tough, but I just kept my nerve and eventually he made a mistake, this let a fast 355 behind him through. I immediately recognised the car, it was the infamous red 355 from the Silverstone race who had nearly taken me out there and he was gunning for me very aggressively.

With 2 laps to go I knew what was needed and kept the same plan. His car could turn in much better at Quarry and through the Esses, but I held him off with 928 torque and keeping my nerve I just held him off by 0.5 secs at the line to secure my 3rd successive Intermarque class with and I was 6th overall (best ever for me). Both N24 driver and the 355, came and spoke to me afterwards saying how well and fair I had driven which was sporting of them. Looking at the lap times of the cars ahead of me, the winner did a 1.17.7 and second place was a 1.19.2. I know the car is capable of more and certainly at tracks like Combe it is now up with the more modern machinery.

Race 2 was not as succesful, but still the car did well and finished 4th of the non-slick cars (first was a 911 3.8RSR who did a 1.16!), I should however have been 3rd, but made a mistake into the Esses on the penultimate lap, and had to take the escape road, letting a 968 past. Agh, you cant win them all though. Oil was on the circuit with cement over it, which hindered me putting the power down just before "Hammer down". Despite this, my best lap was 1.19.2, and I would have got into the 1.18's had it not have been for this.

So an exhausting day - many thanks to Jonathan for his invaluable support, and Chris, Noel and Richard for cheering me on. Also to John Speake for the SuperMaf set up etc, certainly did the job and is now race proven. I now lead the championship for my class, and raised a few eyebrows at Combe - I dont think it went unoticed that I beat many of the cars in the higher classes. Not sure when the next race will be, as the bank account has taken a beating, but watch this space!