Guy Higgs from Gloucester, driving the Ajec Racing BMW E36 M3, finished second overall in the penultimate round of the Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship on August 31st, securing his 4th class victory in a row, and second successive runner-up spot. Meanwhile his team-mate Laurie Kilby had skidded off the track in his Evo IX while leading the race!

Qualifying for the race went well for 27-year old Higgs and he started the race from 5th on the grid, second in Class B. However he did suffer some bodywork damage during the practice session when he braked too late for one corner and used the rear bumper of a rival car to help slow him down - sending the innocent rival spinning across the grass. "I suppose I was a bit too close for comfort and I did brake a bit late," admitted Guy, who is still in his first season of racing. The damage to the BMW was quickly patched up in time for the race.

"On the warm-up lap for the race I broke one of the bolts for the diff while I was warming up the tyres," explained Guy. "From then on there was an almighty bang every time I accelerated; it got worse every lap - there was smoke inside the car and the driveshafts were banging against the sub-frame. I'm surprised the car lasted the whole race." The transmission banging is clearly heard on the in-car video, almost drowning out the driver's swearing!

However this problem didn't seem to slow him down and he raced on to secure his 4th class win in a row and finish the race second overall. "I had one very big moment when I was going sideways across the grass in 4th gear and I don't know how I managed to get back on the track," he admitted. "During that off-road moment I smashed my elbow on the roll cage and my whole arm went numb. I'm over the moon with another great result; I didn't sleep well the night before because I didn't know if I could continue with my run of success."

Laurie qualified his Ajec Racing Mitsubishi Evo IX on pole position for the race, setting a time which was faster than the current Castle Combe lap record - set by Kilby last year - and over 2 seconds faster than his closest rival. " After all the problems we have had this year it's virtually a perfect car now," said the owner of Gloucester-based Ajec Racing.

Unfortunately Laurie was unable to convert the pole into a race win and he lost two places on the opening lap; "I'd forgotten than on pole position the car actually rolls forward and you have to keep a foot on the brake to prevent a jump start. I still had my foot on the brake when I should have been accelerating!"

For the opening half dozen laps the three evenly matched GpA Evos circulated nose-to-tail, and occasionally side-by-side, with all the cars taking to the grass on more than one occasion in an attempt to head the pack. Laurie squeezed up into second place and then took the lead from Barry Squibb on lap 6 and started to open up an impressive lead as he headed for the chequered flag.

"Barry was about 6 car lengths behind me and I thought I had victory in the bag when I hit a patch of oil left by a car which had crashed on the previous lap and I slid off the track at 60 mph and ended up in the tyre barriers," Kilby explained. He reckons it was his hardest impact to date, and the accident was severe enough to cause the race to be stopped. Laurie emerged from the crashed car shaken and annoyed but with no serious damage, which is more than can be said for his Mitsubishi Evo which will be needing several thousand pounds worth of body repairs before it is fit to race again.

Ajec Racing return to Castle Combe for the final race of the season on October 3rd.