Mick Wade driver of the DCY drag car arrived at 6am Saturday morning with Andrew Swan (Swanny) DCY apprentice/pit crew. It wasn't long before the cars were lined up in the pits and all checks had been carried out the the cars were ready roll. All drivers had been to a briefing and had signed on, including late arrival, Sweeps!!

Barrie missed the first warm up session on saturday morning but joined the rest the rest of the club class for the second session. Barrie had never driven on Donnington Park before so it was a whole new experience for him, he'd never had the EVO7 on track either so it was pretty much a shake down run for him. Barrie put in 2 laps on this session with the best time of 129.256 averaging a speed of  127.05 kph. A few issues had arisen with the car and Barrie wasn't happy with the setup.

In the second session of Saturday Barrie completed 8 laps and improving his time slightly ran a 128.595 with an average speed of 128.00kph. Once back in the pits Barrie summarized the experience as "bad car setup" he was struggling to keep the car straight round the corners and had a spin at Redgate. The Toyo R888's seemed to go of quickly so grip was an issue.

The start of Sunday morning and first inspections around the EVO 7 were looking good with Barrie determined to put in some good times but he then noticed a crack in the inlet manifold. This would explain the the higher tick over revs Barrie had noticed yesterday. Unfortunately there were no welders to hand this ended the weekend for Barrie as he had to retire the car.

A whole new set up is already been planned for the next round at Silverstone including a new suspension.

George Beavers went out on track for the first session on Saturday which was an untimmed run.  Like Barrie George had never been on Donnington before and since some last minute development with the R32 hadn't had chance to drive the car to get a feel of what it would be like.  The car was set to run low boost to give George a better feel for the track but straight after pulling out of the pits he felt the back end slide out and a 4wheel drive light on the dash light up. The GTR had put itself  into rear wheel drive only and on a track you never driven was a daunting thought for George. He decided after the first corner to stay out and run the full session. After a couple of laps he started to push the car more and while going under Dunlop bridge noticed that he couldn't get 5th gear. (the car has just had a new box fitted)  A few more steady laps and George decided to come in and sort out the GTR's problems.

All problems sorted and George returned onto track for the second session (classification practice 1)  With the 4 wheel drive system working as it should George felt much happier with the car and started to push it harder. George completed 9 laps of Dinnington on this session and on his last lap managed to get his fastest time of 1.26.102 averaging a speed of 131.70 putting him into 21st place overall and 11th in the Club Class.

The last practice session of the day saw George up the boost slightly to see how the car would feel and perform. Unfortunately he never managed to get a clear run as there were another 30 cars on the track but he did managed to improve his time and did 8 laps with a personal best of 1.25.532 with an average speed of 132.58kph, putting him into 17th overall and 8th in the club class. This left George felling happy and making predictions for Sunday "I can see a low 1.20 coming"

Sunday morning saw Barrie retire the EVO, adding the pressure to George to perform well in the club class. George's first outing on low boost saw him another personal best of  1.21.985 an average speed of 1.38.32kph putting him into 11 overall and into 2nd behind Ron Kiddell in the club class. With an increase of boost for the final practice of the weekend George ran another personal best of 1.120.80 with an average speed of 140.29 putting him into 1st place just under 1 second faster than Ron Kiddell.

George had great confidence at this point, he's only ever had one track day before and this was a whole new experience for him and he was ahead of the pack. He had to keep his feet on the floor though as the final run he had coming up was so important. It doesn't matter what has happened in the practice laps, his first place didn't mean anything. The finalists now had 3 left to complete the days racing. 1st lap a warm up, 2nd lap the all important timed lap, 3rd lap a cooling off lap.

Nerves were slightly getting to George before he left the pits but once in the car he was fine and ready. The first warm up lap saw George slinging the car from side to side desperate to warm up the Yokohamma AO48's which normally need a good couple of laps. Then he was away into his timed lap, once back into the pits waiting for the results George knew he hadn't pushed hard enough and was disappointed. He finished in 4th place with a time of  1.20.928 with an average speed of 140.34kph. 4th place out of 25 cars is a very good achievement for George as a total novice but he still isn't happy as he didn't push hard enough and in his words "there was an 1min 18second lap there"

Mick Wade driver of the DCY drag car was in at the deep end really, he'd never had the car on a track before. Unless you count the handling circuit at TOTB. With 800+ bhp under your right foot, driving the GTR around a track is not a job some of the experienced and regular circuit racer would like. Mick has had plenty of experience in racing, when younger he raced in quite a few different championships and since done plenty of developing work with touring cars. Driving the DCY R32 around the track did not phase Mick one little bit

One finale check around the car and Mick was ready to run in the first session of the Pro Time Attack. He wasn't expecting anything, he just to go out learn the track again (it's been a few years since he was here last) but most importantly get a feel for the car. The DCY Drag/track car was on it's shake down.

Like the club class the first session was un timed and like George Mick had problems. No power steering and a severe lack of brakes. Bad combination in an 800 bhp car. Once in the pit's it become apparent that the pads that were fitted in the Trust Grex calipers that run on the Skyline were more of a road pad than a track (or competition pad) The pads had plenty of wear taken of them and they must of created so much heat as they had grooved into the disc's. A new set of pads & disc's are required but we had no spares to hand so Mick was just going to have to brave it.

The second session of the day saw Mick complete  only one lap before the Oz Giken 6speed sequential box decided to stick in 6th gear. Mick had to coast the car round 90% of the track and back into the pit's stuck in 6th. This was a huge worry as the box is less than one year old and has only done a few drag strip runs. With Mick retired for the day it was time for him to take of race suit and step into his overalls and pull the Oz Giken gearbox out.

Mick decided it would be best to take the box back to the workshop and split it to find out the problem. 9pm Saturday night Mick left the workshop with a fully rebuilt box (a circlip had dropped of a selector pin, but didn't cause anymore damage)

6am Sunday morning and Mick was in his overalls putting the gearbox back into the GTR (now that's dedication for you) Mick just missed out on the first session due to sorting the car out. But he was set to go on the second session.

The second session saw Mick still struggling with the brakes but he decided he would go all out and push the car and run a fast time. Unfortunately half way round the car lost all boost and this saw an end to racing for Mick and the DCY R32. Mick's fastest time of the weekend was a 1.21.899 with an average speed of 128.46 but in Mick's words "I didn't push it I was just out getting a feel"

Like the EVO 7 and the DCY silver 32 The DCY pro entry R32 GTR is now work in progress for round 2 of Time Attack at Silverstone.