From The Cliffe Face...Anglesey

A little late (blame asst ed, Tristan sent it in weeks ago). Tristan Cliffe gives an insight into a couple of exciting races.

Very brief summary...

Practice 1 - fairly normal, but a wire in the fuel tank came away from the injection pump on what would have been my final timed lap.

Race 1 - fully manual start put me in 2nd (an improvement over 29th), and eventually I found a gap into Rocket. Jeremy didn't give up, but an off whilst lapping Lenny gave me a cushion I was happy to maintain to the end.

Practice 2 - terrible misfire, either caused by a failed plug, water in the plug wells, a dodgy coil, something in the ECU map or a flattened battery. Drove the F398 like a go kart and refused to slow down (my minimum corner speeds were about 10mph quicker, but I don't have the ability to do that for a race distance. Plus the tyres wouldn't have liked it!) which was enough to claim pole by the skin of my teeth in 2 flying laps.

Race 2 - misfire mostly cured by changing stuff and recharging battery but still suffereing a bit, especially after changing gear. That meant I couldn't attack at the end of the straights, as I lost too much speed in a straight line Same start left me in 2nd. Slowed for SC boards at Rocket, and about 10 people passed me before they saw the boards themselves on the downhill stretch to the Corkscrew. Got back to my position and spend circa 10 minutes trying not to overheat the car behind the safety car. Personally, I would have preferred it if the race had been red flagged and restarted. The remaining 3 (?) laps saw me glued to the gearbox of Jeremy Timms, but he didn't leave a big enough gap to squeeze through. I tried ever trick I know, but he was too good.

Fabulous race (the racing part), and I hope Jeremy enjoyed it as much as me.

Tristan Cliffe

The writer with Richard Purcell's also fuel injected Dallara Toyota

Tristan tackles the Corkscrew