I arrived at Thruxton with very little knowledge of the track and having never driven the Ginetta there before.  I was also aware of other drivers taking advantage of track day the day before – I had some catching up to do then!

The morning of the test day came and I went out on what is regarded as the fastest and most exciting track in the country.  It became apparent very quickly that the car needed to inspire confidence in the driver to get the best times – we all had some work to do as I felt that the car was extremely close to the edge for the first session.  Liam, my ever improving race mechanic, made some changes to the car for session two and I went closer to the quick guys’ times but we still had lots of time to find.

Saturday practice came and I went quicker again and got even closer to the front guys so my improvement was still evident – I just needed to pull something off for the qualifying if I was to get nearer to the sharp end.  Qualifying came and the car felt better and I had more confidence on some of the fastest parts of the circuit – this was borne out by my qualifying – P6 for race one and P6 for race 2 – the best of the season so far and I still felt I had more in me and the car……

Race one was on the Saturday was the last race so I had some time to examine the data and the on board video with my race mechanic and driver coach – I knew that I had some time still in me and the car and were looking for ways to find it.  The race finally arrived and I lined up 6^th on the grid – a good slot if I could manage to get off the line well as I would be in prime position for turn 3 – the lights went out and sure enough, I managed to get another good start and went round the outside of the guys in front of me – by turn three I was in third position behind Seb Morris and George Gamble!!

Unfortunately, Niall Murray was sent spinning off the track by another driver which brought out the safety car – I was driving around for 3 laps in third place wondering how to make the most of the restart as an ever improving Max Coates was clearly wondering how to get past me!!!

The restart came and I managed to keep Max behind me for a couple of laps but he was slightly quicker than me as I was as busy defending from him as I was trying to attack the front runners.  Max eventually made the move at Church by moving out of my slipstream and down the inside (whilst we were both flat-out!). This cost me momentum but I managed to tag along for a lap or so but unfortunately, the guys behind reeled us in and I was then taken by three of them (a la Super 1 karting move) – I stayed in 7th for the rest of the race – 11 laps is not long to get a place back when the times are so close – despite being in a battle for most of the race, I posted the 4th quickest time overall so I was really happy with that – moving forwards again.

Sunday came and we were out at lunch – some minor changes to set up were made which would allow the car to stay on longer – again I had a great start and despite maintaining only 6th place, the top 6 were very close from the off.  It became apparent very quickly that I was quicker than the two guys in front of me – a potential podium crossed my mind.  I soon saw that the front three of Seb, George and Max were pulling away from Struan and Brad in front of me so I decided to make an early move by switching Struan Moore – unfortunately, he defended his position robustly. I had a choice of taking the car or the kerb and decided that the kerb was the better (and cheaper!) choice – unfortunately, my OSR tyre thought otherwise and I spun – the lock on a Ginetta G40J is non-existent too, so no chance of catching it which was a real disappointment. 

I managed to keep the car facing the right direction and caught 1st gear so didn’t go all the way to the back but 16th from 6th was bad enough!  I then decided to get my head down and try to pass as many people as I could in order to ensure that the damage was minimised.  In the next 6 laps I overtook 5 cars to get back up to 11th and was on the tail of making it 6 cars and 10th place – unfortunately, the flag came out – 11th place it was – not a total disaster but certainly not reflective of where I thought I could have been.

Lessons were learned for sure, but overall looking at all elements of the weekend, my best yet – I have grown in confidence, proved I can qualify at a track I don’t really know and also, find ways past other cars without making any contact – something which is not always evident with some other drivers in the series.

Without any dropped rounds, I am up to 9th in the Championship table now and feeling much more confident in myself and the car – the next round is at Oulton Park on the first weekend in June, and I will be working hard in the gym between now and then as I determined to continue to improve and show my friends, family and sponsors what I am really capable of.

Phew – what a weekend and nice to see the car be loaded back into the transporter without a scratch – my Dad was certainly pleased about that too!

Thanks and see you at Oulton Park!

Myles Collins.