After spending quite a while using hot water and washing-up liquid to remove all traces of Kevin Poole's gearbox oil from the car, I then gave it a good swilling with the hose before washing it again with car shampoo and polishing it.

Once that was done, it was time for the strategic placing of black tank tape to cover the dent on the wing inflicted by Chris Stewart. I'll repair the damage properly after this season, as well as some minor rust blemishes that are appearing on all the arches and on the bottom of the driver's door. Hopefully, some well placed sponsorship vinyl graphics will help hide any other blemishes.

I checked the oil and coolant levels and let the car run for a fair while, and I thought I'd finished until Karen asked the next day if I'd done anything about the oil on the tyres. That simply hadn't occurred to me! So sometime this weekend I'll be removing each wheel and giving each tyre a thorough scrub with some more washing-up liquid.

"Hands that do race tyres can be soft as your face, with mild blue(?) Fairy liquid..."