Round 7 of the Jaguar Classic Parts Saloon Championship took place over the weekend at the circuit originally built for motorbike racing. Gail was really looking forward to the meeting in part because it is effectively her home track and she has tested there many times but also because she was going to be racing her big V12 XJ-S as well as the Jaguar Classic parts sponsored XJ40 saloon.
The weather was just about perfect, dry and not too hot and with a nineteen-car grid it would not be too busy on the 1.1-mile track.
Gail loves the very fast and challenging circuit especially Gerards, which is close to a 100mph-sweeping, bend and it certainly showed as she began to post some quick times. Frustratingly Lewis was blocking her early on in the session, which was extremely frustrating as the tyres were at their best.
After five laps she was past and then posted her best time of 56.351 seconds. She felt quite confident that this would be somewhere near pole but it was not quite enough to pip championship rival Peter Dorlin, the man who beat her into second place here last season. He managed a 56.291, a mere 0.06 quicker!
‘I did manage to beat the current championship leader and second placed man so that is good as I am lying third but I was a little deflated to find myself on the second row. We had an invitation V12 saloon in the field and whilst he is not fighting for points he did take pole, which relegated me to the second row. It will be hard to pass Pete and to keep my hopes alive I could really do with a win today’ stated Gail in the paddock later.
Full of optimism she lined up later for the first race of the day. The red lights were on for what seemed an age and just as her car began creeping she dabbed the brake pedal just as the lights expired. ‘I got caught just at the wrong moment but didn’t want to get down for a jump-start. Sods law though and I got swamped in the fractions it took to get under way.’
As the field thundered into Gerards she and Butterfield rubbed doors pushing her wide and by the time the field got to Shaws hairpin for the first time she was back in 7th. The lead cars all piled into the very tight right hand corner and Pearce got out of shape going broadside towards the outer barrier. Richard Dorlin (championship leader) cut across Butterfield who virtually stopped catching Gail out as she braked too late and piled into the back of the Daimler.
The resultant front-end damage was not enough to stop Gail but she did loose another place to Lewis whom she then had a terrific race long battle with. Pearce ended up at the back of the field before he got going again but try as she might, and she was certainly driving on the ragged edge at times Lewis was a wily racer and blocked every attempt she made to get past. At times either car could have ended up on the grass or in the barrier but just at the last moment Gail would back out as Lewis cut across her bows.
It was either that or have another bump. Butterfield retired with over heating problems but Gail had to settle for 6th overall (5th in points order) as the Broadspeed look-alike V12 saloon of David Howard took the win.
Whilst the race with Lewis was fantastic to watch she was ultimately disappointed as both Dorlin and Bye were ahead and extended their lead over her in the title race. There are still five more rounds to go and anything could happen but Gail now needs a little luck in order to pull back some points.
However with the front requiring several new parts she is going to take the opportunity of loosing some weight from the car by fitting lightweight bumpers. ‘That’s the first time in nine years I have rear ended someone so I reckon I can risk putting on less sturdy bumpers now, it might just give me an edge when we go to Silverstone at the beginning of September’.
Lets hope so!
As for the V12 XJ-S Gail was racing in the saloon v sports car race giving her big 6-litre car a shake down after the head gasket blew last year.
The car did have a few problems not least the offside bank running lean, which is probably what did the gasket last year. The ECU requires re programming but by retarding the ignition and upping the fuel pressure the car was still fairly quick, registering similar lap times to her saloon.
She qualified 17th in the 27 car field and had a whale of a time keeping the rear end under control. The car has huge amounts of torque and even taking Shaws in third gear she had to be careful not to light up the back wheels and spin out.
In the race she got off to solid start and went round Gerards side by side with her fellow Cov Cats racer Chris Boon in his XJ-S. These two then scrapped with Brian Watson’s; tiny by comparison, Locoblade that Gail finally managed to pass after six laps.
She had made up several places at the start so when the race, which was foreshortened by the 6pm curfew came to an end after just 9 minutes she was quite pleased to finish 13th.
‘We know what we need to look at on the car and I reckon we lost around 50bhp by retarding the timing and not pushing too hard, so I think I might bring her out at Silverstone in six weeks and really see what she can do. I am pleased though that oil pressure and water temperature behaved and we actually finished as I was losing confidence with the car before this and it was costing me a fortune’.
Gail will get back to some instructing in the next few weeks to replenish the coffers and is still crossing fingers for that bit of luck she needs to make a real challenge for the saloon title.
