Just when I thought the season was all wrapped up with a stunning return to the Trackday Championship finale after repairing the car, an email comes in. 750 Motor Club is organising the traditional Plum Pudding meeting at Mallory Park on Boxing Day.
Well, it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it, especially when your good friend and regular racer Iain Thornton has just taken a job at the club! It appealed to both of us enormously that Iain should race at the first ever meeting he helped organise, and so it was that December 26th saw us in the paddock once again.
It was only after qualifying – which he managed with aplomb – that I realised this was the first time Iain had driven on a circuit all year! I knew he was nervous but his steady, unassuming demeanour left none of us worried as he went out to race on the soaking circuit of the Allcomers Saloons field.
It was really easy putting together a highlights reel of this one – watching from the Esses, we barely saw the car straight all race! Iain handled the famously tail-happy car with confidence belying his worries, and even when a mega moment struck him with two wheels on the grass early in the race, he didn’t back away. In fact, next lap he came around two seconds faster! It was a delight to watch him scrap with competitors of all shapes and sizes. Race rust doesn’t grow on this one, it seems, and despite his own race car nearing completion for 2022 I hope it’s not the last time I’ll see my baby sideways in his hands!