“The final round of the 2023 season brought us to a typically grey and wet Brands Hatch in Kent, to be expected in late October! With the championship still in contention (although an outside chance) we readied ourselves for what would be a difficult round. We don’t think we’ve ever driven a circuit that delivered so little grip in these conditions in my last 14 years of racing.

“Qualifying was held early in the morning with the track wet and sun low, so tricky conditions. With a full grid on a small circuit, simply getting a lap time felt like quite an achievement. Pedal feel and ability to modulate the brakes well was superb as usual from the RP-X/Bluestuff pad combo we’ve come to trust without question. A lot of cars were left stranded in the gravel and off in the grass without the same level performance! A brisk and safe performance secured second in class which was a good result for us, with the main championship contender just behind.

“The race was looking to be a slightly drier affair as Henry sat in the holder area. However, as he sat on the grid for the green flag lap, the heavens opened, so any hope of a dry race/line disappeared! As the red lights went out, Henry opted for the safer inside line through the first few corners with a long race ahead. Damage limitation and the strategic approach of ‘it’s a long race’ view enabled us to get through the first important laps unscathed, although in 3^rd place in class right behind 1^st and 2^nd – a good starting point.”

“After a few laps, the first-place Mazda, under increasing pressure, disappeared off into the barriers on the exit of Druids allowing us up to 2^nd. With a few other cars in the gravel, a safety car was inevitable. We opted to pit a lap later than everyone else queueing into the pits, allowing a nearly-clear lap of flat-out catching up with the safety car before pitting. With the pit stop completed, Kev came out in first place in class moving us up without the risk of having to make the moves out on track. Perfect!

“With the conditions consistently dreadful it, was a case of managing the race to the finish and staying out of trouble, which Kev did perfectly, climbing a few positions from higher-class cars. Testament to being able to push on the brakes in such conditions.

“Crossing the line P1 in class and 10^th overall is a huge achievement in multi-class racing in the lowest class! With the other Mazda in contention for the championship crossing the line in 2^nd, the championship didn’t go our way this year. But runner up is certainly something to be proud of given the trials and tribulations of club racing, not to mention the somewhat odd championship points structure. And on top of that, a consistent first or second championship finish for the last four years – we go again next year!�

“Round 4 took us to Kent’s Brands Hatch GP circuit to support the Super Touring Power weekend. A historic track that we have been lucky enough to visit twice before with the Trackday Championship.

“With the weather looking warm and dry all weekend, we set out to qualify with the capacity grid of nearly 40 cars! The traffic unfortunately played havoc with our attempts to get a fast lap in, scuppered by people going slowly learning the track in the back section. With the delta showing a lap good enough for P2 (-0.6s up on our previous best), a stray Caterham going at 20mph blocked the apex through Clearways resulting in us having to abort any chance of improving. Then a safety car put a firm stop to any chance after that. Frustrating, but still P3 out of 16 class entrants – plenty of work to do in the race!

“The car was readied for the race after a quick brake fluid bleed all round and check-over of the EBC RP-X pads in the front and Bluestuff pads in the back – showing zero signs of crumbling or pad wedging as we have come to expect now. The Ultimax grooved discs doing their job perfectly, clearing the pad and keeping things nicely in the operating window, still showing very limited wear characteristics.”

“Henry lined up on the grid six places behind the class leader on the inside, ready for the race start. With a Banzai start firing it straight past some higher-class cars, and round the outside of the class polesitter exiting Druids, we set about catching the rapid-starting MX-5 of Miller Motorsports who had found some space through from his P2 starting slot.  

“With a couple of laps of hard defending a mixture of class C and B cars, things settled down and Henry started setting about catching the class leader, with the gap coming down 2-3 tenths a lap. Unfortunately, a safety car caused by a Lotus buried in the gravel prompted the normal dash for the mandatory pit stop.

“With Kev now in the car, and straight up to speed, some of the higher-class cars that were out of position on the grid had started to come through after the safety car and interfere with our progress up the order. The gap between the top three chopping and changing every lap as the traffic and lapping cars materialised! A consistent and controlled drive brought the car home in P2 with the top three in the class only separated by a few seconds after the 45 minutes of racing.

“A great finish for us on what is traditionally a track that’s very advantageous to have a RWD setup on! With our fastest lap times nearly half a second improved from last year’s race in similar conditions, it shows our positive development rate.

“Onto Round 5 at Oulton Park – the penultimate round!�