Aldershot National

Last weekend I was down South in a sunny Aldershot for the third round of the 2010 BRCA 10th Touring Car National series. Unfortunately the sun wasn't really shinning on me, certainly wasn't my best weekend to date...

My preparation for the weekend was much like my pit table throughout the weekend; minimal. When we rocked up Saturday morning I arrived knowing I needed to change the setup back to the one which had given partial success at the BTCC meeting a few weeks prior, rebuild the shocks, rebuild the diff and ideally strip out the rest of the car if I'm brutally honest. On top of that I could have done with cutting and mounting a new shell - mine was a little past its sell-by date. Yeah I know its a long list, you don't need to point that out.

After quickly sorting the setup items I went out for the first two of the three practices before calling my track learning done and setting about doing the rebuild work I needed to, all of which is handily visible in the image below!

Paying lip service to our shelter for the weekend, the Bosomworth Residence was dominating the pits once again although we had ditched the canopy section in favour of the gazebo.

We also now have four pit tables with near enough as dammit the same dimensions, resulting in a delightfully symmetrical and equal feeling pit space.

I'll just give monsieur a quick tour of our little pit area, you've seen my minimalistic pit space already so I'll move right ahead with...

Mark Jordan - "if it looks really busy, they'll all think I'm fast..."

Adam Whittam - "that's right; I can cut AND measure stuff on my mat"

Chris 'Buzz' Bossomworth - "I won't conform and sit in the gazebo with you scruffy lot"

finally Andy Murray - "gingers don't photograph well, look, here's my best side"

Anyway, I proceeded to make my way through qualifying on both the Saturday and Sunday and only put in one run with a mistake which saw me sailing away from the tarmac, grass-bound. I'd like to make my excuses using the car, which wasn't in the best shape of its life, but realistically I could be driving the best car in the world but its not worth a damn if I can't keep it on the track. So, for Halifax next time I'm intending to sort both the car and my act out. Time will tell what sort of job I do with all that malarkey...

A crucial corner for a quick lap time and surprisingly difficult to set the car up for to boot

Its not the biggest track in the calendar, it may even be the smallest, but I'm a fan of Aldershot, in spite of the way it treated me during the course of the weekend

When all was said and done I had qualified 3rd in the E final, officially making it my worst result to date this year (albeit not by much). Unfortunately I simply went backwards from there, finishing either 8th or 9th in the first two rounds of finals I believe. About halfway through the second final I took a short haul flight off the end of the straight and into the fence at the top end (for the second time that weekend I might add); I discovered afterwards that had left me with some funky rear toe and sketchy wishbone play - thanks to another bent wishbone mounting block.

As I was already using my spare that was when I called my racing weekend a day and packed up a little early. I hung around to finish watching the racing as there was a nail biter of a final for the last round of A final Mod. But then headed off to the London Comedy Store to drown my sorrows with laughter. Apparently its supposed to be some sort of recognised medicine?

This picture sums up my weekend really... I was there, but wasn't quite giving it 100%

Finally, on a bit of a side note, I would like to wish Mr and Mrs Bosomworth a very Happy (and belated) Anniversary. Congratulations to the both of you. It must be true love, they spent the weekend apart...

Until next time...