I was pretty slow at the start, but the track conditions improved and suited the setup, so all my best laps were near the end.

Danny was lucky. He'd pitted 7s too late, so received a 60s penalty, however I had lapped Crilly on the final corner of the final lap, meaning he still kept 1st position!

The position chart shows that Ryan had managed to get up to 5th before his actuator issues.

The fastest lap exchanged hands many times during this race, as would be expected with it drying out. I set it on the last lap before Crowhurst stole it 25s later! Gutted.

The same happened in Class B!

Fastest Laps

Our fastest race laps are below:

Josh Lawtons's 2023 Lap Record, a 1:40.40 was safe with the conditions as they were. Maybe another 10 minutes of running would have had him sweating! It did mean that my Class B record still stands!

Another mixed bag for us. Yes I'd won the race but we were off the pace in the damp conditions. Ryan's was as quick but not reliable enough to finish! We were hoping for a better day as we still needed to seal 2nd in Class A for Ryan and Dylan, plus 2nd overall for me.

ClubEnduro Qualifying

Conditions were much better today, fully dry with the sun trying to poke it's way through the clouds. We weren't first out in Quali, everyone seeming to have the same idea and getting to assembly mega early. I struggled to find decent space at the start, so only ended up with a 1:40.17 as I'd negotiated a load of traffic towards the end. The lap put me on pole, but I had a feeling 1:39s were looming, and it was confirmed a lap later when Ball put in a mental 1:39.671.
​R​yan had gone out first to put in a banker before Dylan jumped in the car for the first time this weekend​.​ The fuel pressure fault we had the previous day wasn't just low fuel surge like we expected,​ a​nd the battles with the gear cable and the actuator were more important at the time. ​H​e went out and did ​h​is 3 laps with what seemed like a periodic miss fire that was harsher than the "surge" we had fixed on ​m​y car with the new swirl pot. ​He said the car felt really good so it was a shame not to at least put in a good lap. ​I​n the pits, a quick look at the loom from the rail pressure regulator proved what we suspected, the wiring had been damaged when the sensor was removed to inspect the fuel system at some point. A bit of tape was applied and Dylan strapped in, hopefully ​Ryan's hastily given orders of what gears worked best in each corner compared to what we had reviewed earlier would help.
I dropped my pressures and went again, this time hitting a 1:39.40 which put me back on top. I'd lost a fair bit of time at the start of my lap when looking at the delta, so was convinced there was more time to be had. I really wanted a 1:38!
Dylan was immediately on fire, he stuck in a 1:39.9 on his first flying lap, and bettered it a few laps later, posting their fastest time of 1:39.864. Mega to say he'd only done 3 laps in the car! He said the TT just gave him the confidence to push immediately.
I sat in the pits waiting for someone to get close, and Jones in the #117 Compact got dangerously close, so I headed out. I did a full attack lap and saw 1:38.79 on my VBOX. For some reason the time never appeared on TSL, so no one knew the real potential of the TT in Quali!
Dylan struggled for space on the last few laps, so settled for P5, 0.2s would have bumped him up a couple of spots. It was tight at the top, less than 0.5s separating the top 5!

This time once I got to the top in the 39s, I stayed there for almost 15 minutes!

Qualifying Laps

Our fastest Quali laps are shown below:

ClubEnduro Race

The whole race was Live Streamed by the guys at AlphaLive which you can see below:

Just like at Silverstone in the Roadsports Race, the Gadsby / Jones BMW was not going to make the start. Ian's trip on the grass burst the radiator, which was fixed, however the Oil cooler hose had split internally, and eventually burst during qualifying, so I would be alone on the front row.
Dylan would be starting this time, surrounded by TCRs!

My start was decent and I did not really have to worry about the guys behind, they were pushing and shoving each other around, so I could get my head down.
Dylan held 5th for a few laps, having a good battle with Gillespie in the #15 Golf.
My car felt great, the extra fuel removed now we could run lower had meant it didn't feel fat at the start of the race like it normally did. on my 1st flying lap I did a 1:39.87 - this was only 0.12 off the lap record from 2021. It felt easy and I knew I could do more! 2nd lap was a 1:39.377, comfortably under the record, then 3rd lap a 1:39.310 and 4th lap 1:39.354 before I hit traffic. Had I got a clear track in front of me, it felt like I could have done those laps forever.
Gillespie seemed to have an issue on Lap 4 and dropped back a bit, leaving Dylan to chase the #18 TCR of Mauger for quite a while.
By this point, I had pulled out a lead of almost 10s on the pack behind, then they started swapping places, with Ball dropping behind Mauger and Dylan, who managed to get into 2nd by lap 19.
On Lap 21 I had some more clear air, and stuck in a 1:39.146 which remained the fastest lap of the race until the end. I had always planned to pit early, and as soon as I got to the more difficult traffic, I pitted on lap 26. A lap later, the Safety car boards were out. I sat at the end of the pitlane waiting for it to go out, while everyone was driving at more or less full speed. I knew this was going to hurt us. To add insult to injury, this also mean Dylan lost his 6s lead to Mauger as the pack bunched up.
I was eventually let out, the analysis shows I was in the pits for over 2 minutes longer than everyone else, plus my 30s success penalty. I figured my race would be ruined, but we never give up!

After quite a long safety car period, we were back racing for less than a lap before it was out again due to a broken down Lotus (strange as they are so reliable!). Dylan and Mauger came into view as we were getting towards the end of the lap. The #18 TCR actually overtook Dylan under safety car, but then gives the place back. We didn't report the incident.
Another recovery job finished, we were back racing. Dylan was defending hard into Turn 1, as the Sequential TCRs have the legs on the TTs on the straights. Hugging the inside line, Mauger jumped to the outside, but then decided to try to make the apex, with Dylan clearly in his way. The bashed wheels and sent Dylan onto the grass.
A pretty poorly judged move and critical for them, as they looked to have the pace for the race win at this stage. Luckily Ryan was ready in the pits so they decided to box that lap to survey the damage.
Their stop stayed within the time limit, and no major damage was found, so Ryan needed to get his head down and put in some decent laps.
I chased down the TCR, but he let me through pretty easily, probably not wanting to make contact with both TTs in the same lap! I then got my head down, I'd stayed on the lead lap but only by around 10 seconds, so I was praying for another safety car to bring me back into the mix.
Eventually my prayers were answered with around 20 minutes left. I hoped it would be a quick recovery so we had plenty of time to catch the pack up. It was a nasty crash, Ball had been battling with the green TCR of Browes, and as they came up to a Caterham, Ball collided into both of them, smashing the Browes car to pieces. Ball had been able to carry on. The #444 TCR had somehow got into the lead, with Ball 2nd and Dylan 3rd, all pretty close together.
I then had about 12 lapped cars to get through which was going to be tough. Mauger was technically in the lead, but he'd not pitted and couldn't under safety car, with the window guaranteed to close before the safety car came in, meaning penalties were coming his way.
The job was then made impossible as the safety car let the 444 TCR past and stopped at Ball. This gave them a lap on us all.

There was no chance of us catching them on the road, but in the pitlane the guys had heard whispers of a penalty coming Ball's way, for causing the collision near the end. This was confirmed when the results were published, promoting us to 2nd and 3rd. A good result for us both considering the safety car screwing us twice! But not how we wanted to win it.

Our TTs were the only cars to get into the 1:39s during the race. As I said before, I think I could have done them all race with clear air! I'd also done a 1:39.332 right near the end as well, on tyres that were over an hour into the race!

The position chart shows how far down I dropped in the pits, all the way into 20th! Like I've said before, never give up!

The lapchart shows the gaps, but they are skewed with Mauger not pitting until right near the end, we are all 2 or 3 laps down!

3 safety car interventions was a record for this year, where we have had very few compared to previous years. The fastest lap was set by me early on and not troubled.

Fastest Laps

Our fastest race laps are below:

As I have already mentioned, the 2021 Lap Record set by Adam Howarth and Chris Boardman fell pretty early.
The Class B record also went to Will Puttergill and Chris Nylan in the Civic!

Even with the 2nd position, Ryan and Dylan were able to seal 2nd for Class A in the Championship standings. My 3rd with Fastest lap also secured 2nd overall!
A massive thanks to the team again for this weekend. We had our issues again but they managed to make sure the cars survived for the race that counted.

That is it for the 2024 season, it has gone so fast! All we have left now is the Birkett Relay at the end of October, which should be fun! Both TTs are coming out, along with Michael and Lewis in the Golf.
We will also be doing the Hot Hatch Races on Sunday again with the cars from the Swift Sport Challenge that will be starting next season. We are also running a team of them in the Birkett with a few star drivers (plus me and Ryan!)! Our lads are building a car for the occasion, ready to race next season!
We are also taking the #1 TT to the RoR at Anglesey as some guys from the RAF are having a drive with Ryan. It is going to be an interesting race!

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Elsey Motorsport Photography, Rob F @ Racelogic and 750MC

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All the details and dates for future races we are entering can be found on the Darkside Motorsport Page.

01 11 2024

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