Normally at the hillclimbs and sprints I find myself peering through a camera lens, thinking about such things as image composition, position of the sun, reflections, backgrounds, unusual angles, general lighting conditions, shutter speed, panning and depth of field….and not getting my feet wet in the long, damp grass.  As photography is banned here, for a photographer MIRA is a holiday, a chance to sit back, relax, watch the action, take notice of the times and talk to the drivers. So, when Chris Butler e-mailed me to say he had a vacant passenger seat, I was only too happy to fill the position.  Apart from anything else, it’s not every day I get to ride in a Ferrari, so how could I refuse?

I had a spirited drive to Chris and Ali Butler’s in my feisty Abarth 500, zooming along the great bendy roads of the North Pennines on a Friday evening and passing the sheep on the moors.  On MIRA morning when I woke up, the sky was clear and the sun was just about rising.  I had a splendid view over the reservoir from Chris and Ali’s spare bedroom window.  It was a relaxed start to the day; a bit of muesli, some fruit juice and a gathering of the essentials for the trip.  Chris gave the 355 a well deserved quick wash; we packed the gear and set off. 

He had roughly calculated that we could afford to arrive an hour later than the scheduled start time of 9:30, so we pootled through the gates and along to the track in time to see Morgan No. 90 cross the line.  He was number 126, which, in Chris’s words, was ‘perfect’. 

I headed off towards Tower Bend, where most of the hangers on congregate to watch the action, and I left the 16 Ferrari drivers searching the paddock for a scrutineer to give Chris’s F355 GTB the once-over.  First up in the practice run was Colin Campbell in his Dino 246GT.  It’s great to see Colin still participating in motorsport at his stage of life.  I hope I’ll still have the ‘get up and go’ that he has when I reach his age. 

The end of the first practice run signalled a mass exodus to the breakfast buttie wagon.  The sun was shining bright and the temperature was rising, so everyone was in good spirits and very relaxed. After a catch-up on the week’s activities, it was quickly time for the second practice runs.  At the end of practice it was Andrew Holman in the lead in his giallo 355 on 54.69, ahead of Jon Goodwin on 54.85, the course giving him the opportunity to open up the 550’s V12.  Chris Butler was third with his first run time of 54.92.

The MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) sprint takes place on part of the the 1704m handling and stability circuit, which has a special surface (Delugrip R.S.M.) and drivers are often surprised (or forgetful) how grippy this material can be.  The fast single seaters do this course in just over 40 seconds with speeds of 160mph through the speed trap.  The Ferrari Class record is currently 53.26s, set last year by Jon Goodwin in his F430.  It would have been very interesting to see what the 430 Scud would have done.

Lunch was very relaxed.  The sun was still shining and the Ferraristi were cheerful and chatty.  An interesting lunchtime meeting was taking place between Nick Taylor, Chris Butler, Mike Spicer and Richard Prior who have entered as a team in an endurance kart race around Monaco in a couple of months.  It will certainly be interesting to see how they get on with their training, preparations and the race itself.  We wish them well of course. It was the first time I’d not seen Nick have a nap at lunchtime and I wondered how it would affect his performance in the afternoon.

The first of the two official timed runs began with Colin Campbell safely around the course in 75.81s, which would turn out to be the faster of his two runs.  Sean Doyle was disappointed to have a slower run than his practices, but was determined to do better in R2; having said that, he still recorded a PB of 62.06s.  Sergio continued to improve and moved in front of Sean with a new best of 61.50s, but didn’t make the magic 100mph he’d wished for.  Tracey posted a PB of 64.44s and Pauline Goodwin (‘PG’) found her form with 101mph and 58.90s.

Four of the serious competitors for top spot were next and it didn’t help the spectators that some of the digits on the timing clock weren’t working properly and were giving misleading times.  Jon Goodwin was steady through Tower curves and set a mark of 54.78s.  Richard Prior couldn’t repeat the PB he did in practice , but still did very well with 56.18s (slightly slower than Jon on PEP).  Next was Andrew, running almost on slick tyres, who seemed to be going very well with 111mph through the speed trap.  Bearing in mind the MIRA Ferrari class record is 53.26s.  Everyone was eagerly watching the clock…..47, 48, 49, 50, 51, at this stage it must be pointed out that Angela Preece was standing on the wire going to the clock…….51.30!  Yes, 51.30s.

Everyone stared at each other in disbelief for a while, then Andrew came running across…..”what was it?”, he enquired excitedly.  Well, being the joker that he is, he already knew his time and also knew that we all thought he’d smashed the record.  It turns out the faulty display had shown a one instead of a five.  It was 55.30s, which was still a very good time, putting him into third spot…..but not for long.  Nick Taylor was a man on a mission, having already beaten his PB in practice it was time to see if he could repeat such a run, and indeed he did.  With the fastest mid-section time (timed unofficially by hand between two set points on the track), he romped past the line in a fabulous 54.07s, over a second faster than his previous best, which is an amazing improvement for such a quick and consistent driver.

Charles and Julian both continued to improve their times, then Mike Spicer’s time came up a mystifying 3.5s slower than his practice time.  His start time of 4.76s (which wasn’t discovered until the start of Round 2) explained the situation – he had rolled through the timing beam at the start without realising it and had lost 2.5 seconds. Chris Butler had a big task on his hands to match Nick Taylor’s time.  It would require a PB.  A reasonable start and 108mph through the trap gave him 54.33s, yes, a personal best, not good enough to beat Taylor, but good enough to put him ahead of Richard Prior by 0.6s on PEP; vital in the fight for second and third places in the Championship.

A decent run by Richard Preece, gave him a new best of just under 57 seconds.  Phil Whitehead chipped a fraction off too, with 56.1s, but Jeff Cooper was slow through the mid-section and could only manage a 59.47s run.

So, onto Run 2.  Having just discovered Mike Spicer’s times from the first run Angela Preece sprinted in her sandals from Tower to the start line (I don’t think Usain Bolt has anything to worry about) to warn some of the drivers about the dangers of the car rolling forward at the line.  Three personal bests were set early on by Sean Doyle (60.50s), Sergio Ransford (61.12s) and Tracey Haynes (62.76s) - all massive improvements on their previous bests, especially Sean - 4 seconds faster.  Pauline Goodwin was a bit under the weather and couldn’t improve on her 58.90s, which was quite close to her best too.  This may have been something to do with the mouse under her brake pedal, although Mike Spicer thought the squeaking noise was more likely to come from a dry bush rather than a stowaway rodent.

After deep strategic contemplation (a nap) Jon Goodwin’s cunning plan was to go faster into Tower, which indeed he did with 108mph compared to 102mph.  However, this extra speed unsettled the car and he ended up with a very similar time to his first run. Richard Prior was up next.  He was unusually slow through the trap at 96mph, then he coasted to a stop….What was going on?  He knows this track well, surely he wasn’t asking for directions?  Perhaps he’d done a ‘Doyley’ and his mind had become confused by the cones?  No, it was much better than that…whilst on the fastest part of the track he had yanked his gear knob so hard that it had come off in his hand! 

‘Mild Dog’ Holman raced through the trap at 111mph again, but on the exit from ‘Tower Curves’ he turned into ‘Mad Dog’ again for a brief moment, stepped on the gas too quickly and spun.  Having thought he’d rescued the spin, he once again pedalled too quickly.  It was like watching Dancing on Ice.  Nick Taylor proved that his new PB hadn’t been a fluke, or a timing error!  With a very quick mid-section, he was just 0.12s slower with 54.19s.

Next up was Charles Haynes who improved once again with 65.90s and Julian Playford was even more consistent than Nick, with only one hundredth between his two run times.  Mike Spicer, with a proper start (!) recorded 56.39s, another PB.  Chris Butler, with his first run time, had already beaten Richard Prior to move into overall second place in the championship, but his sights were on Nick Taylor’s time of 54.07s.  His mid-section time was 0.1s faster than his previous run, but he was 0.5s slower with 54.87s giving Nick the win and the points. 

Richard Preece chipped another 0.08s off his PB with 56.89s and a good speed of 109mph.  Worried about tripping the beam, like Mike Spicer had done, this included a bit of reversing before the start and a wiggle after the Tower Curves which resulted in him clicking open his safety harness!  “Dark Horse” Whitehead, also 109mph through the trap, roared home with 55.08s, a whole second better than his first run time and yet another personal best .  Last up was Jeff Cooper, also with his fastest time, and the 11th PB of the day, a nice 56.44s.

Click here for the (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for the (unofficial) Championship positions.

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