The race was a different story – Festa felt great and my starts seem to be improving.  Was having a great race, improving on my times from quail and defending well until on lap 6 I came out of old paddock and promptly spun into the in field.  I didn’t know how or why this had happened until I came back on track to find a very loud noise and an uncontrollable car which promptly spun on me again and I parked up at Tower’s in fields marshals post.  When I got out the car the marshals were already at the rear of my car looking to find my brake disc had sheered, so that was the end of my race! The marshals were great and to be able to be on there post to see there view was cool even a little scary, but I do hope I don’t get to visit them again, on a professional basis anyway! J  I had to be flat bedded back which wasn’t nice.  The team looked slightly shocked by this, and was relieved to find out what the situation was, I think they thought I had destroyed Festa!   Luckily The Fiesta championship were there this weekend, so they had a spares truck, so we were able to repair Festa and have her ready for Sunday’s race!

No quali on Sunday, just straight into a race!  As I didn’t finish the race yesterday I would be starting from the back of the grid.  I did have a few behind me, as they hadn’t finished either and retired earlier than me. 

Round 7 – What a start, not one I would like repeated!  Unfortunately the start was red flagged by the time I got to folly, due to someone on the roof on the start line and others further down the road, rolling and spinning across the track.  The rest of the field came back round and stopped on the grid just before camp.  We were told to get out of our cars as they were unsure how long we would be held, it depended on how easy it was to remove the vehicles involved in the incident.

Around 20 minutes later the race was under way again, unfortunately I didn’t make the best of starts and found the race very hard going.  My times weren’t great but I was just pleased to be able to go out and race and come back in one piece especially with the earlier events that happened!! 

Looking forward to the next race….

Met some lovely people and it felt great to do, this one was for you Carl!  Hope you enjoyed watching us from wherever you are!

So far online we have managed to raise £135.00 and money is still coming in on sponsorship forms

If you would still like to sponsor us please go to the “The Williams Sisters” page on this blog.

Race – DRY race, which was good!  Made a good start for once, the lights caught a few people out and for once not me  :-)  Had a great race with James Keepin.  He was pushing me from behind, lap after lap, unfortunately 2 laps from the end, I got to Avon Rise and I got into a very big spin, all you could see was the tyre smoke!  I did a 360 didn’t hit the wall, was facing the right way with the engine still running so straight away got back on track again.  James by this point was to far ahead to catch, and I ended up flat spotting 2 tyres, but I did finish the race and get another signature

Next weekend is the next race, and its a double header

I entered the Open Sports & Saloon race on the Saturday for a bit of extra time in the car, qualified 12^th out of 16 starters and managed a 1.27. in practice,  with a red flag in-between, so it was an ok to start the weekend off with.

As always I didn’t make the greatest of starts!  So spent the first couple of laps catching up but I did have a fantastic race with a guy in a GT Junior.  We fought for most of the race, such close racing and finally on the 8^th lap I managed to pass him on the inside of folly, a move I wasn’t sure would pull off and a father on the pit wall closing his eyes in panic!  I did pull it off and I managed a 1.26.9 on the last lap so another new time for me J 
The driver of the GT Junior even came over after the race to say it was one of the hardest but best races he has ever had, and he also improved on his time!

The Team and I decided to camp for this one on Saturday night, what an experience!  We managed to have a very cold, dribble of a shower, a Ferrari alarm went off at 3am and took over half an hour to stop and then the birds started at 4am!  By 6.30am it was time to get up and start another day!

Qualifying was a surprise for everyone, I only went and managed and 1.25.084 my best time yet!  I saw it come up on the dash and didn’t quite believe it until I saw it on the pit board the following lap – happy days J  As you can imagine I was jumping for joy, I was 18^th on the grid,  highest place yet and managed to be in the pack with again some new people I hadn’t been up against before and 2 seconds quicker!!!
It would seem everyone else also didn’t believe I could do a 1.25.0 as everyone asked which part of the track I cut off to get this time, including Dad! 

I was on the outer side of the circuit for the start again, but did manage to get a better start and stick with the pack but once at Quarry, I still managed to lose places.  It was a good race, I overtook and caught others up and managed 3 laps of  1.25’s, I even started to chase down the group  in front, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough laps in the race to really get behind them.

Its been a fantastic weekend, two races, two signatures and two seconds off my best time J  Can’t wait for the next round!!

All was fixed over the week and Festa was ready for race day!

Qualifying didn’t go well.  I went out practically last and spend most of the session looking in my mirrors waiting for the quicker guys to come through.   I only managed a 1.30.6 which is 3 seconds off my last quail time, so I came back to a very unhappy team (well Mum, Dad and Dan anyway).  I knew I had to pull my finger out for the race as the time I did put me back to 27^th on the grid out of 31 starters.  This did mean I would start on the inside of the grid this time.
I was slightly concerned about the start as I didn’t have a great start last time.  This time when the lights went out I was away and straight away made sure I wasn’t going to pushed or bullied out of my place and stuck to the inside and made up a few places.  Festa felt a lot better in the race and we seems to have a great first few laps before everything started settling down and I was started to chase down Matt Smith.  We had a great race fighting with eventually taking him round the outside of folly (in front of all the family and friends) on around lap 7.  Once I’d passed it took a lap or so before I managed to get a little space between us which gave me some breathing space.  It was nice to see the chequered flag, as it was getting rather warm and sticky in the car.  It was a great race and I cam out with another 19^th overall, 7^th in class out of 31 starters.  Even the team were happy!!!  Even managed a 1.27.9 in the race too!!!!  Roll on the next round …..�

Will keep you posted….

What a week and a bit it has been!  First track day went very well, had Dave Allen from the Honda team in Swindon come down and give me some tuition which was fantastic and he also helped set the car up for me to able to handle Festa a bit better.  The experience of having him drive Festa to was great!  He even managed to spin her, so even the best can make a mistake J  The speed got better throughout the day and I felt a lot more confident with myself and Festa by the end of it all.

The second track day didn’t go as smoothly in the morning, with a problem with the wheel hub but all sorted by the afternoon and we managed to get out for the afternoon sessions and by the end of it, I was getting to grips with being in the car on my own and building on the speed and technique around the corners. 

Race day came … 

As you can imagine I was a little nervous about race day as I had a few people coming and being my first race in the car, anything could happen! 
Practice was at 8.45am, I decided to go out last and hopefully stay out of everyone’s way.  The times came down and I finally managed a 1.27.5!!   After seeing this on the dash I decided maybe it was time to try and hang on to anyone that passed me, to see there braking points etc, this was a mistake!!!  After 2 spins in 2 laps I decided to go back to learning the circuit and my braking points at my speed!  Chequered flag appeared and was time to come in.  It was great to see everyone waving at camp when I came in and mum looked very relieved! 
Within 30 minutes the qualifying sheets were out and to my amazement I wasn’t last!  I managed to be 24^th out of 31 not bad for the first time out!  It seemed everyone else was in just as much amazement as me especially Dad. 
A very much relaxed morning for me, while Gary, Dan, Steve & Nick all worked on the car, 
I was still on a high from not being last and not really being any use!
11.45 came and it was time to start lining up in the collecting area ready to go on track for the grid walk about. 
Within 20 minutes later the grid walk about was cleared, and Bron was left to sort me out ready for the first race!  The look in her eyes must have been a mirror image of mine – full of terror!  All belted in, helmet on and Bron allowed to leave the gird!  
It felt a long time before the warm up lap happened and the fear just started to kick in.
Lights out and off we go, not a great start but started to pass people up to Quarry until we got to Quarry and I managed to get hung out to dry and by the time we got to the Esses I was last!  All I could do now was try and catch up and have a race with a few people, which I did.  The race passed so quickly with most of the time having a race with Dawn Boyd in her Peugoet, the way she puts it into corners is fantastic to watch!  With 2 laps to go I managed a way round her, and then the flag was out!  My first race in Festa over with, and all in one piece and not last.  Final position 19^th.  Dawn came over after and mentioned the little bit of white paint on my bummer was hers, I thought she had got close, but not as close as she told me!  Everyone happy and its been a safe, fun days racing!  Back on 31^st May ….

Will keep you posted on how it goes…