Renaultsport Clio 172 Cup
Having arrived at Curborough Richard and I got set for the day. Practice went well with my Clio easily into the 39's and Richard not far behind. Class SB was again shaping up to be closely fought. 1st timed run was before lunch and the Clio dipped into the 38's, Richards' Golf was running just outside at 39.17secs. Peter King, in his 106 GTi was up there as well and his son Jonathan was going really well for his first event (39.35, 4th in class). Second timed run. I was convinced that I could take the first corner flat in 3rd gear. Wrong! While turning in at the top of the slope leading to the Mole hill complex, the back end of the Clio let go, I tried to correct it, by which time I was on the grass and heading for the barrier. Brakes all locked up I hung on and waited for the bang. After the impact I imagined the state of the front of the car. I crawled back to the paddock to inspect the damage. It was a right off....the timing strut that is. The front of the car looked badly scratched and the front grills were pushed in. I pulled the grills back into place and re adjusted the front wing which had moved back slightly on its mountings. It looked a lot better. I then borrowed some Autoglym polish from another competitor and all but a couple of very small marks polished out. I couldn't believe my luck! The next 2 runs were a bit nervous and I matched, but didn't better, my 38.85 which netted 2nd in class. Peter was flying in the Peugeot and finished with a 38.24 and 1st in class, which was going some. Richard managed 3rd in class with 39.17, which eclipsed my 8v Golfs previous best time of 39.20 at Curborough. It seems the 16v is the way to go! Congratulations to Bob Smith in his Tipo who managed to break the elusive 40 sec barrier with 39.72 in his 16v Tipo. Thanks to everybody who checked in on me after the accident and to Glyn for the polish. All I need now is a new timing strut! What a weekend. We now have a month off until Harewood in June. Thank goodness.
