Whisking the head off again after removal at Silverstone to find out what the problem was (obviously bent exhaust valve) I was praying that it had not trashed the head. I couldn't face having to do another race head so soon. Fortunately it had just dinged the edge of the seat in the head slightly – so a new valve, guide re-ream, and seat 'trim' got thing sorted.

With all the bits re-applied I took the car back down to genial Pete at Alwyn Kershaw's again for another run up now the engine had more time on it so the rings would have bedded in properly. A little fiddle-faffing with the needles got the fuelling sorted and the motor sounded really strong. Amazingly it would pull full throttle under load from 2,750rpm... and hauled through to 8,000 rpm very easily making wonderful A-series music as it went. Quite pleased and Graham (Genial was office bound for the day) was pretty impressed. So we were ready for battle once again. At least I didn't get drenched this time around during preparations.

At croft this time around we were scheduled for practise on Saturday and two races on Sunday. Cool. I wanted dry practise so I could further assess the cars handling and get used to the circuit again, then two soaking wet races on the Sunday so Steve (Young, my mate and opposition in my class in a Clubby too) and me had a good chance of beating all those big BHP cars. Saturday was blisteringly hot with a very strong wind – I got sunburnt/wind-burnt on my head (very thin thatch these days) and face/neck. Glowing like the proverbial beacon come Saturday night. That was after practise though. Practise went OK – I could identify where I was loosing heaps of time, and the car handled predictably although not 'fast'. After practise I took a decision to increase rear toe-out to get the car to turn faster so I could carry more speed through the corner. And I wasn't on the back of the grid, and immediately behind Steve. Sounds good but looking at the lap times I was nearly 3 seconds a lap off his time (I want some of whatever he's been eating for breakfast!). But I was confident I knew where this time was going and looked forward to the race and hoped the half-degree extra toe-out on the rear would help too.

Made my usual decent start, ploughed through a couple of rows, only to be engulfed by bigger, heavier machinery at the first corner. I decided to play it cool and back out of it a bit. Race results are important, but not as important as finishing the race and maximising track time at this point. Steve had started well too, so I opted for following him for a few laps. Well – trying to anyway. Things were going OK until I made a big mistake going in to the 'Sunny' complex out the back, out-braked myself, went way off line and caught in entirely the wrong gear. When you do this it is always astonishing just how fast and far the pack get away from you. Destined for a lonely race I set about concentrating on the track. Fourth lap in I came wailing up behind Steve to discover he was cruising and about to pull off the circuit. And there's me thinking I'd suddenly turned into Lewis Hamilton! I completed the race in 10th over-all, but lonely. At least the car was in one piece and the engine still singing along. The extra toe out didn't cause the car to be mentally uncontrollable and it was definitely turning in better than in practise. I was feeling comfortable with the car, and looking forward to the second race – especially as the clouds had started to move in and rain had been threatened by the weather bods. And I had taken two and a half seconds off my practise lap time.

Starting 10th obviously helps as it means I can get further into the front lot at the first corner and try to hang on for longer before the big BHP cars start over-hauling me on the long fast bits. Don't get me wrong, at Croft they don't just blast past, it's a bit of an 'eventual' endeavour that take a couple of laps. Re-assembling on the grid after the warm up lap I was delighted to see a few spots of rain appearing on my windscreen. Cool. Usual decent start, up into the middle of the front pack and a determination to hang on. Unfortunately the light rain had caused the track to be a little slippery, and the rear-wheel drive cars were all over the place coming out of the slow chicane bit after the first corner and into a long right hander that's a bit of a 'hurry up and wait' deal. A Dolomite Sprint damn near side-swiped me, avoiding action causing the usual 'fast-forward' for the folk in front and 'pause' for those behind. Having navigated my way through the mayhem, I actually wasn't so far behind the pack as I thought I would be – largely because of the Minis speed through the next chicane on to a long-ish straight. The rain didn't get much harder, but was making it increasingly more difficult for the big guns and I was smiling... I was catching them up. Then a couple of cars had a bit of a kerfuffle immediately in front of me, and again avoiding action caused the front lot to pull away again. So, head down, and with the car sliding a lot on the greasy surface I was having a ball. Especially as I was now in fast forward mode and catching the front crowd at a fair rate. COME ON THE RAIN. I wanted it wetter as I felt sure I could win if it did. So an exciting first 5 laps bled in to heartache... the rain quit, the track dried out and I was having to drive the wheels off my poor car to try and keep up. Unfortunately I was falling further behind with each lap. Not a lot, but enough to ensure I wasn't going to get any higher up. With grim determination I plugged away at the last few laps, still not all that far behind the few cars in front of me. Entering in to the hairpin – a real stop, trundle, nail it type hair pin – the 3.0 Capri and a Dolomite Sprint in front of me got it all horrible wrong as they vied for seventh place. I took advantage, shot up the inside of them and ran the motor hard to try and pip them to the post. I thought I'd got them both until Neil Bray (last years over-all and individual class champion) in the Capri glanced sideways, saw me and nailed it. My Clubby put up a valiant fight but got beat by a mere two tenths of a second at the line! So that was 8th then.

I was pretty pleased with the cars performance over-all. I definitely need more time in the saddle though. And I need to tweak the car more so it turns even quicker to again increase corner speed – the question is – which way do I do it? More toe out? Rear anti-roll bar? More pressure in rear tyres? What I don't want to do is make a host of changes and not know what has affected what. I may just go the anti-roll-bar route as this is easy to connect/disconnect during practise for direct comparisons.

Next race is Snetterton on the 11th and 12th of August – a circuit I really like and know pretty well so a good place to make a change and see what it does on the track. I have a load of changes in mind for next year, but for this year one at a time and ease performance along so I get as much time on the tarmac as possible.