Karen’s husband Richard had already followed advice from Kevin Poole and Steve Vince, by cutting the bottom coil off one of the PI springs on the race car (Driver’s side front spring). However, what they hadn’t mentioned is that the spring is then so short, that jacking up the car can cause the top of the spring to fall out of place. Not something the pit crew wanted to worry about when replacing brake-pads or wheels.

Richard and his friend David spent a good deal of time at the weekend trying to sort out a solution. In the end this involved using cable-ties to secure the spring to the strut top, and a small jubilee-clip to keep the spring attached to the bottom of the strut. Once sorted, the other front spring was cut down and fixed in a similar manner. The front ARB droplinks were also replaced with uprated items from www.twosrus.co.uk

The new lighter alloy wheels wearing the Falken ZE512 tyres were fitted and the car was gently lowered to the ground. The difference in the ride height was dramatic, and the car now more closely resembles the cars that were winning races in 2006.

The rear springs now need the same attention. Further to this will be the fitment of new rear toe arms and some polybushes. There's still so much to do before Karen can hopefully give the car a shakedown sometime before the first race meeting at Snetterton in Easter.