by Maureen Gibbins

The Spa meeting was held over three days from 26-28 June at the iconic Formula 1 track in Belgium. Travelling there with the car in a race trailer was made a little more challenging by the French Dockers in Calais, who chose the middle of that week to go on strike. Michael took part in a joint practice session on Thursday with Formula 3 cars – an interesting experience as it allowed a direct comparison of performance between our car and Formula 3 single seaters. Qualifying was held on Friday, and Michael was reasonably happy with third. The starter motor and a gear change cable both failed, and were replaced on Friday evening. The technical difficulties continued on Saturday, with fuel pressure regularly dropping from the second lap of the race, leaving Michael relieved to cross the finish line in third place, and to enjoy a podium celebration. The high pressure fuel pump was replaced on Saturday evening, as were the gear ratios, as the car had not been reaching the optimum rev range during the race. As both changes should have resulted in quicker lap times, we all approached Sunday’s race with optimism. However, it was not to be, as the unreliability gremlins struck again. Unbeknown to us, the alternator has stopped charging sometime during Saturday’s race, and the small on-board race battery lasted part way round the warm up lap, when the car’s electrical systems began shutting down, leaving Michael coasting to a standstill, and watching the race from a marshal post.