mycaterham

After a slow in lap we all stopped in Parc ferme behind our pits whilst the results were sorted out, everyone chatting excitedly about the race. Joachim won Class one with a best race lap of 02.38.07. My fastest lap was 03.03 in the race, which was good enough for 4th in class. I was a little disappointed with this - I had hoped for a class win, but it was the Kemmel Straight that did me - the cars above all had more power and I am sure were better through traffic than me, perhaps through more experience, or perhaps because I was over cautious, preferring to let someone through than have then in my boot!... but in fact any disappointment soon vanished - it had been huge fun and I had survived unscathed and with a working car. I was pleased that my qualification time was still the fastest in class, unbeaten in the race.

Parc Ferme

I am pleased to report that this detached wing was actually the result of a poor fixing, rather then any contact in the Race!

Parc Ferme

Tessa, Adil and Sven in Parc Ferme.

Parc Ferme

An award ceremony after the race saw me receive a cup, with 4th, Spa-Francorchamps 04.04.04 on it - not bad for my first ever race. We (myself, Tessa, Tony and Adil) also got an extra loud cheer for coming all the way from the UK, which was a really nice touch. We also got something from Ibis (I think a free room, but I need to translate the German!) and a little bottle of Seven Mania branded Champagne! In spirit to the whole weekend, all the cups were the same, and it really was an event where the cliche 'we were all winners' was true.

The prizes - all the cups were the same - a nice touch!

Mattius thanks everyone for a great weekend before Marius read out the results and the prizegiving began.

Me receiving my cup! I was 4th in Class - a little disapointed with that, but pleased that my fastest-in-class qualifying time was not beaten in the race.

Any disapointment I had was very short lived - I had had such fun that in the end the final position did not matter. My cup, a bottle of Champagne and some Hotel tickets from one of the sponsors, Ibis.

Prize giving

The winning car! Joachim's Caterham JPE scooped the honours in Class 1

After getting soaked in Champagne, Joachim tries to open his bottle to get his attackers back!

Incidentally something else to mention, we had thought that in the race we might get 'run over' during the race by the really fast guys who were fighting for the outright win. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. As they came through the field, they had an agreement that as they approached slower traffic they would stop racing, hold station, pass the slower cars safely, then get back to racing - which they clearly were as Joachim's fastest lap time shows. I saw this happen in front of me, and it just added to the overall friendly manner of the whole weekend.

MOG racing were our hosts this weekend - a MASSIVE thanks to them for being so welcoming and looking after us all weekend.

As soon as the cups had been presented we quickly packed up our cars and set off for Calais, where we just about made the 10.45pm ferry - we were the last car on!

The team just before departure. As we got in the car Joachim dashed off, returning with a crate of Hatz which he threw into Tony's car as a gift!

A very proud me next to the car.

Our car did us proud this weekend - it drove a couple of hundred miles to Spa, round the track for over 5 hours at high speed, and then a high speed thrash to catch a ferry on Sunday evening, and as usual did not miss a beat.

HUGE thanks to Adil, Tony, Tessa and Sven for their support - such an event shared with friends makes it even more special.

So - will we be back? - of course we will!! Of course I minded not doing better in the race - now I have a target to beat ;)

So - would I do it again - of course I would. I think the next Seven Mania event may be too far as it is at Dijon, but I really want to go to Hockenheim and back to Spa in the winter. I really hope some more UK entrants will join us - I know Adil is hoping to. Joachim was very proud of the fact that it was a true international race, with cars from Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, Holland and the UK (and even a few more I think) and he was disappointed that there were not more from the UK. I think next time there will be.

Once again, a massive thanks to Seven Mania, Pistonclub Germany, Spa-Francorchamps and ALL the other drivers and supporters for helping to make the whole weekend a massive success and an excellent example of what a fun weekend of amateur motorsport should be like. Thank you for having us and for making all of us feel very very welcome.

And of course an extra special thanks to Tony and Adil who came over to offer much appreciated support, Sven who came from Antwerp to do the same, and most importantly Tessa, who allowed me to race our car and who, as always, supported me in every way!