I can’t remember the last time I contributed anything to Cats’ Whiskers, and hopefully this will also apply to the majority of readers. Those who know me will probably skip on at this point. Those who don’t – well, hello matie, pull up a stool, have a beer and be prepared for some mind-numbing trivia until you can get away again.

My dour chum, Keith Hampson, attacked me at a moment of extreme weakness and asked me to write an article on my racing season so far. This is it. Hate mail, complaints, corrections, or anything of that ilk forward to Keith. Cash, free samples, tickets, etc. should be carefully secreted in an innocent-looking book and addressed to me care of the Warden and Reggie Grisholm in Cell 12 (I am his bitch and general assistant).

My last season competing was 1996. Since then I have quit my job, travelled a good way around the world with various companions (also layabouts) including 21,000 miles and 28 States in North America courtesy of a 1966 Mustang Fastback GT called Harry.

On rejoining the real world (or to put it more accurately, staying in the U.K. for a while at least) it was no big decision to resume racing again. The car (hereafter referred to as Flipper) was raced occasionally during my absence by Chris Weeden (who built, prepared and maintains it at Barwell Motorsport in Bookham, Surrey – 01372 457788) , Ralph Avis (a friend who races a Shelby GT350 ) and Rod Birley (a damn good racer who lives near Brands Hatch). It was natural to go back to the Aston Martin Owners Club series - the Anglo-American Challenge – as I know a lot of the people competing in the series , and they are generally a good bunch. I tried the Flemings and HSCC championships a number of times in the past and, frankly, do not enjoy them much for various reasons.

Anglo has always been a competitive series, but on my return it didn’t take a long time to see that everybody had upped their game considerably in my absence. Times good enough for the top 10 in 1996 were barely good enough to get in the top 20 on the grid in 1999 – whoops!

One of the best rules of the series is that the cars must retain their standard outline. This means you get a great looking grid of recognisable cars (nearly all very well presented) but also restricts you on wheel width on a Tiger as flared arches are a no-no. Actually , the biggest problem , as always , is brakes. Non-ventilated discs are mandatory on all cars unless standard in period. I would just like to thank Rootes circa 1965 for not fitting these at the time, thereby ensuring that Chris Weeden and I have run well over 20 different braking systems over the years at vast expense and complication. It’s the perennial problem - the cars get quicker every year and render the brakes inadequate faster than you can say "large invoice". Anyway, the new Mark 24b system currently on Flipper is working brilliantly well – if you want to know more talk to Chris – I’m not squealing. His engines are a work of art also – 420+ bhp totally reliably from a 289 in a Tiger is impressive – more available in other cars that allow less restrictive headers (e.g., Mustang , Cougar , Cobra , etc). The series is sponsored by Yokohama, so A008R ‘s and 032’s are most commonly used.

Rolling starts are the order of the day – the first corner is always frantic as there are plenty of cars with over 400 bhp – you do the math.

There are 10 rounds in the Championship this season in total – 8 completed to date. Here’s a brief overview so far.

1. BRANDS HATCH – 2^nd/3^rd May. This is one of my very favourite tracks – great for driving and spectating and owned by the wonderful and engaging Nicola Foulston who we all adore in depth. Paddock Hill Bend is one of the most famous in motor racing and has to be driven to be believed. This year, Graham Hill Bend was remodelled at the request of the motorbike boys , so the left-hander comes later down the hill and is more of a right angle than previously. It’s a bit of a shame because it now spoils the flow of that part of the circuit, and has resulted in lap times 1 to 2 seconds slower than previously.

Part of the weekend itinerary was the Classic Sports Cars Endurance Race – a half-hour race on Saturday and the same on Sunday, times to be aggregated. Each car has 2 drivers who must change between the 10 and 20 minute marks of each half-hour race (this required endless practice with seat belts, cushions, seat position, etc with my co-driver Rod Birley to get us both happy, as 20 seconds lost in the pits is almost impossible to make back up on the track). Our Tiger team mates were Chris Weeden in his car with Ralph Avis as co driver, and Mark Pollard in his car with John Lyon as co-driver.

This was a highly serious event containing drivers of the calibre of Gerry Marshall, Ronnie Farmer, Bill Goodall (all in rocketship megabuck Aston DB4s’), Joe Ward (TVR Griffith) and a host of other excellent, hard drivers. Realistically, our chance of a decent individual result in this company was slim but finally Chris and Ralph took 7^th with a best lap of 57.36 seconds, Rod and I took 8^th with a best lap of 56.79 seconds (by Rod). This was enough to take the 2^nd overall team prize – a good result which could have been a lot better if I hadn’t been consistently 2 seconds or more off the pace together with a stupid spin at Clearways in my first stint. Mark Pollard and John Lyon struggled with overheating in the first stint, finishing 18^th with a best lap of 59.21 seconds. They didn’t make the 2^nd stint so were unclassified.

In the Anglo race Chris Beighton qualified 10^th with 57.96 seconds, Mark Pollard 16^th with 59.85 seconds and me 17^th with 60.14 seconds! Ouch! Final results – Beighton 8^th (best lap 58.21) , Harrison 12^th (best lap 58.35) with one spin in the race (doh!) and Pollard 15^th (best lap 60.05).Unfortunately Mark slid off on oil on the last lap at Paddock Hill Bend and was heavily T-boned by a Mustang-he was unhurt but the car was badly damaged.As he and his crew struggled to get the car fit to race in the second Endurance stint his mechanic suffered some brain fade and unscrewed the radiator cap,and burnt his forearms very badly.This was the weekend from hell for Mark,and he finally had to drive his mechanic and the tow truck home which was not in the plan.

Well , all I can say to most of that is I could only get better , but the Team prize was an unexpected bonus. Nice to see Steve Smith out in his Alpine (best lap 61.36). To give you a feel for the series the grid included 3 Mustangs, 3 Camaros, 3 E-types, 1 Corvette, 1 DBS-V8, 2 Reliant Sabre Sixes and more – nice, eh?

2. DONINGTON PARK – 5^th June. A very nice track, good facilities and a museum – shame about the driver. Qualified 15^th on a lap time of 1min 34.24 seconds – pathetic. I just can’t remember where the tracks goes. The increasingly impressive Chris Beighton qualified 7^th at 1 min 27.19 seconds, and the welcome relative newcomer of Simon James 22^nd on 2 min 15.05 seconds due to massive overheating and oiling problems. In the race Beighton finished a very impressive 6^th (best lap 1 min 26.27seconds) , Harrison 15^th (best lap 1 min 28.92 seconds) and James had to retire after 2 laps due to a repeat of his earlier problems.

3. SNETTERTON – 20^th June. A nice fast track that I know well from pounding round in a number of endurance races like the 750 Motor Club 6-Hour Relay (a hoot – try and view it if you can for the sheer disparity of racing machines from Austin 7s to state of the art TVR Tuscans on slicks – a top speed differential between the two of 100+ m.p.h. Yes,it is a handicap race and I can’t think of a bigger handicap than racing an Austin 7!).

Unfortunately, clutch problems in my stablemate Ralphs’ GT350 prompt a totally uncharacteristic parts donation from me to him so I can’t race. The only reason for this is that he is leading the championship . Our mechanic Bob spent his 49^th birthday taking out my clutch and exchanging it with Ralphs’ broken item , ably assisted by Tony and Graham. We’ve got something really special planned for his 50^th!

Chris Beighton qualified 3^rd (!!!) in 1 min 22.59 seconds and Keith Hampson 16^th in 1 min 31.74 seconds (not pleased but well out of practice). In the race Chris actually finished 2^nd on the track behind the GT350 , but unfortunately the results were backdated 2 laps due to an accident and he was finally classified 4^th (best lap 1 min 21.57 seconds). This lad is good! Keith finished 14^th (best lap 1 min 32.64 seconds).

It’s busy as I have 3 races that weekend. A sportscar v saloon challenge which is really an all comers race, eventually won by a serious Modsports Elan on slicks. I qualified 13^th on 1 minute 45.74 seconds out of 28 highly assorted cars. The race was a blinder and I finished 8^th after race-long dices with various assorted cars, most notably a Porsche 968CS which finished 9^th. The Porsches’ mechanic came up afterwards and asked "what the hell we had under the bonnet of that thing?" It’s amazing the number of people that come round the paddock at a meeting and admire the Tigers and acknowledge what a good car it was (and still is). My best race lap was 1 min 46.263 seconds – slower than qualifying. This often happens as other cars often take your ideal line, but position is what counts at the finish, not time. This gave me 2^nd in class after a DB4 so a trophy was in order.

In the Anglo I qualified 9^th on 1 min 46.422 seconds, Keith Hampson an unhappy 13^th on 1min 48.857 seconds (but still not bad as there is a grid of 29 as we are combined with the Historic Saloons). This is also a great race resulting in 3^rd overall (1min 42.830 seconds) , so a trophy was in order. This is also the highest finish for a Tiger to date in this series. Keith also has a good race, finishing 10^th (1 min 47.343 seconds).

The third race is a Classic Sportscar Team Race – half an hour, 2 drivers per car, 2 cars per team. We are arbitrarily teamed up with a TR7 V8 to form the "British V8" team – yes, I know, letters to the Editor. I am sharing the car with Chris Weeden who qualifies it 9^th on 1 min 40.339 seconds (which is 2-1/2 seconds faster than my best lap all weekend and severely pisses me off). Our TR7 chum qualifies 7^th on 1 min 39.898 seconds. We change drivers from me to Chris as early as possible in the race, as he is quicker, which nets us 8^th overall, the TR7 is 6^th and our team result is 3^rd overall , so a trophy was in order.

A great track and 3 trophies from 3 races so no complaints (except I am still far too slow).

7. CASTLE COMBE – 11^th September. Oh my God! Can’t remember the way round – drive very badly indeed – disaster.

Qualify 16^th out of 17 (1 min 29.065 seconds), Simon James 12^th (1 min 26.026 seconds).

Race – finish 12^th (1 min 26.416 seconds) , Simon James 10^th (1 min 25.451 seconds).

I have no intention of discussing this any further. I am an idiot.

8. OULTON PARK – 18^th September. This is a lovely track set in a beautiful forest,

fast, challenging and dangerous. Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.

As the only Tiger I qualified 7^th (2 min 07.34 secs) which is a remarkably high grid position for that kind of time (slow). In the race I also finished 7^th, but the figures don’t tell the story. There was a race long battle for 4^th between a Corvette, a Lotus Elan 26R,

an Aston DB4 Vantage and your truly with all sorts of spins , outbraking , side-by-side

type stuff that got me to love racing in the first place. The bad memories fade away when you have a great battle of a race like this, and all 4 protagonists found each other in the paddock afterwards to swap stories and handshakes – true racing and sport. Ironically I

was the quickest of the four (2 min 02.907 seconds) but straightlined a couple of chicanes because of brain fade/excess speed and lost places after overtaking I should have kept.

Oh well.

Well, that’s it to date. No doubt by the time you read this the final 2 rounds at Brands on 2^nd/3^rd October and Donington on 10^th October will be history, but rest assured the writer will not be a dark horse champion. Ralph in the Shelby GT350 has taken 5 or 6 wins this Season but he won’t be champ either!!! The guy in the Lotus Elan 26R always wins his class, sets class pole and fastest lap, so I’m afraid he looks a shoe-in.

This season has been a bit of a wake-up call for me. Chris Weeden has given me a really good car but I’m just not driving it properly. Chris Beighton is very quick indeed, and I think will be a major player in the Championship next year. Simon James has showed very well so far. I’m sure you’ll read of Keith Hampsons’ exploits elsewhere. No word from Mark Pollard since his black day at Brands-hopefully he’ll be back out with us next year.

Why not come along and see if you like it? Of course there are no guarantees, but I have had brilliant, exciting times and made some really good friends in this racing game. All rich people especially welcome as sponsors.

(photos to be inserted)