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August 3/6 SPA 24 HOUR (Page 3)

Saturday started with a twenty-minute warm up session. This was underway at 9.50 and lasted twenty minutes. In bright sunshine Kevin drove the six laps. He reported, though, that the car was still misfiring slightly but it was put down to the rich mixture. The fan belt had also started to fray again and this would need addressing before the race started later that day, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

The day's proceedings and razzmatazz commenced at one o'clock. All the cars were lined up along the pit straight and the public were allowed on the straight to view the cars. At the same time, all the drivers were paraded on the back of limousines. After about an hour the circuit was cleared in readiness for the start of the race.

Kevin, once again, would start the race for the Synchro team. It would be a rolling start and at exactly four o'clock the race was on. As normal, Kevin drove cautiously at the start, staying out of trouble and gradually settling into a rhythm. He had dropped to fiftieth place by the fourth lap but at the end of his session, which lasted two hours, he had gained twenty-six places to move up to twenty-fourth place overall!

Dave Allan was next out and drove for almost 3 and a half hours. He pitted after 90 minutes for a routine tyre change and refuel. The pit stop was quick, taking just 2 minutes. By now, the Civic was up to nineteenth place and ninth in its class (Superproduction). However, one lap later, Dave was back into the pits for a drive shaft change. This took twelve minutes and had dropped the Synchro team back to forty-sixth place.

Dave continued to press on and at 9.30 in the evening pitted again for a routine changeover to Bill Stilwell. The car was back up to thirty-first and seemed to be bedding down well.

Bill had a trouble free session, which lasted just under the two hours. He had moved the Civic up to twenty-sixth place.

Kevin took over thirty minutes before midnight and would be driving the first full night time session. Seven laps of his two-hour stint were lost when the safety car came out to enable the marshalls to clear the track after a number of incidents, none of which, fortunately, involved the Civic. He pitted at 1.20 in the morning to hand over to Dave Allan. This pit stop took over four minutes after the adjustment to the driver's seat had stuck. The Civic, after Kevin's session, was now twenty-fifth overall.