Bristol Pegasus Sprint – Castle Combe circuit 21st Oct 2017
So my last event of 2017 – another year has flown by!
The weather is always a bit of a lottery at this time of year and 'Storm Brian' was hitting the UK on the day of the Bristol Pegasus sprint at Castle Combe. We arrived at 7.00 am at a cold, damp and very windy Castle Combe circuit – pitch black and you couldn't see where the class markers were for parking.... my track day and breakfast mate, Jim Faulkner, was already parked up in his Westfield and advised 'Plenty of room - just park close to the catering'. Ten minutes later Roger Brunt arrived in his Caterham 620R arrived and parked next to me – again too dark to see where the class parking was supposed to be and he aimed for a friendly face. Roger was happy as he had just won the ASWMC Sprint Championship for 2017 – he must have been happy because he offered to buy me a celebratory beer at the year-end ASWMC prize giving bash.
As dawn broke about 7-20 then the rest of the Class A3 started to arrive – 4 Clios in class, a very fast Mountune Fiesta ST, a gaggle of classic Volvos (!) and an ultra, ultra fast Lotus Elise 250 Cup Racer. A total of 13 cars in Class A3 which is a good healthy number for this time of year.
Breakfast at the 'Tavern' with Jim was next on the agenda – as he always says 'the “Big Boys full english” at Castle Combe always sets you up for a good days competition'. Scrutineering is usually a formality but this time the scrutineer picked up a problem with my car - one of the seat mounting bolts had come loose with vibration allowing the drivers seat to move a little bit. Quickly rectified with the nip of a spanner but well spotted by the scrutineer.
First practice was about 9-15. The track was still wet in places and ice cold semi slick VR2 tyres … I wasnt feeling confident. It was slippy as you will see in the video below with slides at Quarry, Esses and Camp Corner.
First Practice Run -
The gale force wind from 'Brian' was drying everything and by second practice there was a dry line all the way around the circuit. The weather forecast was not great for the afternoon so the first timed run in the afternoon was probably going to be the quickest ….
First Competition Run -
Time of 91. 62 seconds which was good enough for 4th place in class – the Lotus Elise 250 Cup Racer was the obvious class winner. With hindsight I could have pushed more but isn't that always the case? The final run in the late afternoon was a bit of a non event – everybody was slower as the track was now damp from a few showers and the temperature had dropped.
Overall though a great day's fun –
roll on March 2018 when it starts all over again.
Photos courtesy of
Alan Lines -
I think this is cornering hard at Quarry? Looks like I missed the apex ....
Again ... I don't know where this is on the circuit
When you are driving you focus on the track and never notice the scenery. Looks a good safety fence ...
