Brands Hatch - First win of 2023

With John having retired (probably) from racing and Rich having sold his modsports car, Rich will be campaigning the class E Sebring for 2023.

Despite no testing and only having driven the car once at cadwell last year we arrived at the first race of the season with a positive attitude and no pressure as this season is 'just for fun'.

Qualifying was a bit damp and greasy so Rich was surprised by having qualified well including a front row start for race 2. James Hughes was ahead for race 1 but current champion Pippa Cow had to start from the back after spinning in the slippery pit lane exit.

Race 1 was very competitive. James and Rich battled closely for the first 3 laps before Pippa joined in after a great run through the field. The places changed every lap but as Rich got settled in to the car the lap times started to drop and he managed to gap the other two and start closing on Steve Watkins in the class A car in front. While Steve's tyres left him struggling, the zzrs on the class E were in the window and Rich managed to get alongside a couple of times but couldn't quite get the overtake done as the lower weight and bigger engine of the class A dragged away out of clearways each lap. With 2 minutes on the clock Rich was all over the back of Steve but then the race was Red flagged. 

Class Win!

It wasn't all good news though... as the engine cooled on the way back to the paddock, the cylinder head cracked and water started to pour into the exhaust giving a sterling impression of a steam engine. Despite a valiant effort from John, the car wasn't repairable before Race 2 which we watched from the stands. Unconfirmed rumours suggest Rich may have muttered 'I would have won that too' 😂.

Edit: Engine is fixed and we'll be back out at Oulton 😀.