The red lights went out after a short wait and the 2005 season was underway. I held position and went early on the attack,

It seems remarkable, but a winter break of over six months is never enough time to prepare a racing car! The truth is, at long last I've completely refurbished the hall, stairs and landing at home. That concludes a 7 and a half year project, so I'm delighted. I spent the three weeks running up to the season opening race at Silverstone finishing the car!

There's actually plenty of progress to report, although I can't claim to have done much myself. After the final race of 2004 I needed a new front end, two new door skins and a set of wheel arches. Additionally the rear end had plenty of knocks and scrapes, so in thruth more than half the car was going to be repainted. Well I fancied a change, and wanted it to be completely different.

You can see the results for yourself - I reckon it's pretty stunning, but only the Altered Image Coachworks team can tell you the full story. I think they were up for it at the planning stage - but once the reality of the masking up started... well! But they did it. Duncan Edwards was on the paint gun and in the masking up team which involved input from everyone at Altered Image! A paint job won't make the car any faster but simulataneous efforts were made to pare some weight off the car and add some stiffness to the chassis. We tipped the scales at silverstone 1 Kg over the 660 limt for car and driver, and the thing feels as tight as a really tight thing!

We went in search of improved performance from the dampers - this being an area likely to yield small improvements. I have long been a fan of Koni dampers and have used their double adjustable, gas pressurised units on the front for some time. I wanted similar kit on the rear. Paul Drake has long been the man to speak to on all matters Koni, and he works at Sportsline Suspension. After a chat and having dyno'd the existing dampers Paul agreed to shorten and re-valve the units I had been using on the front so thast they could be used on the rear. For the front we would have new units of the very latest spec.

On the engine front Peter Vickers went to work. My existing Vickers engine was rebuilt with the new mandatory camshaft, but the real effort was ploughed into an all new engine. Peter had some radical ideas - and I'm sworn to secrecy on most of these! I have great faith in Peter and I'm sure we will soon reap results.

The running gear was completely stripped, inspected and rebuilt. We have new Tarox 40 groove discs, ball joints, wheel bearings and CVs. Upon inspection I discovered that my harness had reached it's expiry date, and I've got a brand new Luke 5 point FIA spec example in red to replace it.

We tested before the first race, chosing Mallory as the realistically priced alternative to Silverstone GP circuit that was way beyond the budget. Now Mallory provides a great challenge and good mix of corners so I reckoned it would be ideal to set up the dampers and find a baseline for the start of the campaign. That was until it rained - and rain it did! Result - we have a good wet set up, but it would be an educated guess for the dry conditions that prevailed at Silverstone

With qualifying limited to 15 minutes we could only expect to do 7 or maybe 8 laps, and I needed to get my eye in as well as recall all the subtleties of the Grand Prix circuit. Hopefully along the way I'd also get a time worthy of a good grid position. I was first to the assembly area and duly had a clear view of the road ahead once the session started. I was never affected by traffic, although I didn't get a tow. I did give one to Max Hunter - but at least he had the courtesy to ask before we started!

I was delighted to qualify 4th and I duly lined up on the outside of the second row. One place ahead of me was Max Hunter... The front row of the grid was eclipsed by Kelly Rogers and Peter Baldwin (who had both tested all day on the Friday).

The red lights went out after a short wait and the 2005 season was underway. I held position and went

early on the attack, passing Max before Abbey and feeling that I would be with the leaders and able to challenge throughout the race. This very fact was on my mind when Max re-passed me at Club and there ensued a battle royal. It later transpired that we were both frustrated to then loose touch with the leading pair, but battling side by side round virtually every corner was never going to be the quickest way to the finish line! It was however a mega battle, made all the more memorable by a complete lack of contact. It threatened to be a 4 way fight for 3rd as Colin Peacock and Tim Sims towed up behind. Finally Max fell victim to the understeer that had been getting worse as the race (and his tyres) wore on. He understeered clean off at Stowe and I was released from mirror watching duty. The gap that appeared in an instant held for the remaining lap and a half whilst Max eventually prevailed in the battle over 4th.

So, not a winning start but valuable points and vital knowledge on the performance of the new dampers. Next is Castle Combe on 30th May. There's no better place to watch Mini racing live - except from the driver's seat!