Well if ever there was a weekend of highs and lows this was it.
Having never raced the Silverstone National circuit before we used the test day for Callum to find his way round and get an idea of the track, personally I love the National as its about braking and picking your over taking points. The test day went well, Callum went from 1.19’s to 1.16’s and our track walk on the Friday showed a few issues on lines so we were confident for the races.
The Saturday races were again for the Toyo Saloons and we had a great day, only two competitors for Callums class sadly but qualifying got him down to the low 1.15’s so great progress on a short track.
Race 1 was great fun, Callum had an early door to door battle with the other PBMW car and it was great to watch but as the race progressed he slowly pulled away to socre his first class win of the year, excellent driver under massive pressure, great to watch.
Sadly race 2 was short, lap two a Peugeot span right in front of Callum and he got speared right accross the front. Both drivers ok so thats good but the damage was severe, the steering rack was bent as was the subframe and the whole front crash panel was destroyed, even cracked the windscreen. Bugger.
Well, the team got to work, we cut the front section off, re-welded on a new one, replaced the subframe, hammered the rear bodywork and cobbled it back together finally finishing at 2am Sunday morning. The guys did a stunning job, although we apologise for the loud music in the garage whilst they worked!
Next day the proof of the repair would be in qualifying and Callum put in his best times of the weekend – testimony both to the crew who fixed the car but also Callum for getting back on the horse with no hang ups, well done all
Race 1 was a busy affair, Callum qualified 19th which wasnt too great but as usual he picked his way through the crowd to finish 14th overall – 5 over takes on the short National circuit is impressive, well done. Car was great (albeit looking a bit battered) and well into the 1.14’s on times – great improvement.
Race 2 sadly was a carbon copy of race 2 the previous day, a car span right in front of Callum and he got collected again, such a kick in the teeth for all of us after all the hard work.
We cant be too unhappy with the weekend really, the crew worked amazingly, Tom, Tom and Josh worked well into the night with both good humour and also good effect, proud of them for that and Callum took the bad luck as he always does, right on the chin and with a smile on his face. Well done all.
All we need now is a little luck and top tens are ours for the taking.
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