With the new 5th gear in and ready to go George was getting very excited about Brands Hatch. After earlier problems in the season  he couldn't get a top three position overall. His aim was to go out and try to get a podium finish  for the brands round though.

Having never driven Brands hatch before he took full advantage of the warm up session to learn his lines and get a feel for the car, how it feels under braking at certain points of the track etc.

The first warm up saw George running a time of 58.081, putting him into 11 place but the field was very close and there wasn't much in it at all.

After the first warm up George mad a few adjustments to the car giving some much needed rear traction as he found the GTR was very rear happy on Brands Hatch.

In the first practice session (classification 1) he improved on his earlier time with a 56.266. George was struggling with the track and in this session span the car at cooper when he carried to much speed into the corner and the rear locked up and span him round.

George was struggling to hook up with the circuit and he wished he'd taken advantage of the track day there earlier in the week as some of the times posted showed experience of the circuit was helping.

In his final session George went out and after about 3 laps everything fell into place. He was much smoother and the car felt so much better. He improved on the times yet again putting in a 55.432 putting him into 8th place. George knew there was more to come now and nearing to the end of the session he pulled into the pits to allow the tyres to cool before he went out for a fast flying lap.

Once the tyres had cooled enough he pulled up to the end of the pit lane ready to join the track, once he set off he instantly realised something was wrong and had to abort the run. The gear had jumped from 1st to 3rd and was now stuck in 5th, without an inspection it's unsure what's got wrong but it put an end to Georges run and was unable to enter into the final. with 2 1st places and a 2nd place and mechanical break down causing troubles and now the early retirement hopefully George will have a trouble free run next year!Hopeful

Mick and the DCY Skyline ran all and didn't have breakdowns. Mick raced at Brands in his 16 Alfa in the 90's but driving a 850hp Skyline round is a total different story. Mick still hadn't had enough time in the car to get a good feel of how it handles. Under steer,  over steer etc. So all day he mainly just learned the car and didn't even try to put any times in.

He was running quicker times than George in the silver 32 on warm up though with a time of 55.895. With that time put in on a steady it looked like Brands could be an eventful day for Mick and the 32.

The week prior to the final Mick had been working on the brakes and trying hard to resolve the problem we have with the rears locking up first. He wasn't very happy with them at Brands but they were the best they'd felt all year.

Mick made a few choice suspension setup changes before the first classification run which he felt improved the car, he put in a slower time of 56.615 than the earlier in the warm up. It wasn't down to the changes he'd made as he still hadn't pushed the car and was still getting to grips with brands and the 32.

For the first time this year was able to to enter the Superrbattle Qualifying which means the top 10 cars go through to the final Superbattle. Mick went out and put in a few nice steady pace laps to warm the car and tyres up. Mick put in a couple of fast laps and pushed the car more than he had all year. Then returned to the pits for a tyre cooling down. We had no idea of the times he had posted at this point. 

Mick said "I can go faster, i was a little unsure how the car would feel that time when i pushed, but it felt good and there's more left" So he went back out to go for the one fastest flying lap. He went out of the pit lane on to the circuit we knew he would be flying through the start/finish in order to put in a good time.

It was an interesting time for George and Barrie as they know the car is quick but never really been pushed hard on the track, they never doubted Micks driving either and knew he was upto the job. Now was the final judgment time though as they watched Mick flying out of Clearways onto the finish straight they noticed the black flag come out.

Mick returned to the pits as that was the session over, later to find out the flag was for the Serria Cosworth of Dan Lewis from Redline. Mick put in a time of 55.086 which put him in 13th place, not good enough for the Superbattle. It would of been interesting to see the time if he hadn't of been flagged.

Barrie was looking forward to Brands Hatch, after the last round at Knockhill when he final had the car set up as he liked and got to grips with the car. His confidence in the car was back and he was out to put in some really good times.

Barrie started the day similar to George and as both drivers hadn't been round Brands before the first warm up was a huge learning curve.

Barrie ran a quicker time than George in warm up with a 57.770. Putting in a faster time than George gave him another boost as George had proved good times all years.

Both guys knew they had a long way to go and were struggling with the track.

The first classification saw both driver improve on there times, Barrie put in a 57.364 not a great improvement but the experience gained from the 5 laps he had in the second session were to prove valuable.

The second classification saw Barrie improve on his times again putting in a 56.624 placing him in 13th place. Like George Barrie seemed to get it right in the last session and got to grips with the car and track. Both drivers said they are supervised the times aren't quicker.

Similar to Mick this would be the first time Baz had run in the final. In the club class things are slightly different. You get 3 laps, one warm up lap, the timed flying lap and then a cool down lap.

George and Barrie had been working on Paddock Hill bend all day and getting the braking points later and later and carrying much more speed round the corner. This might have had some bearing on the outcome.

The only problem with the flying lap is yo don't get enough heat into the tyres so when you on a flying lap the tyres are not up to temperature.

As Barrie come flying down the finish straight and turned in it was looking good, he was very late onto the brakes and carried plenty of speed round Paddock. But then problems struck and the back end slid out and Barrie went out into the gravel and buried the car deep.

That's it with Time Attack, you only get the one chance so it was a DNF for Barrie and no time recorded. This year has been great experience for George & Barrie as they had only ever done one track day before the Season start. Roll on next year.