Friday 16th March saw Karen, Richard and a group of friends attend a trackday at Hullavington airfield with Motorsport-Events (www.motorsport-events.co.uk). This was to be used as a shakedown session for the car to see if the suspension changes had made any improvements and whether the clutch was ok.

Initially, the car felt extrememly stiff. It was also quite loose at the rear exiting some of the corners. We were concerned that perhaps the suspension was now too stiff and/or the Falken tyres were lacking grip. It seems high tyre pressures were to blame and some adjustments sorted everything out to our satisfaction.

We were very surprised when Sam Maher-Loughnan appeared as if by magic. He's the reigning MR2C champion, and an experienced ARDS instructor and racing driver. He was attending to test a BMW 3-Series Britcar. We all chatted happily and asked him to drive Karen's car for a few laps just to give some feedback...

What a display! Sam seemed to be enjoying himself. His corner speeds were immense and some of the drift angles he produced were worthy of the Japanese D1 Drift champions! His verdict on the car was that it was very good and that it simply required another couple of psi out of the front tyres to remove a trace of understeer. Obviously we were very grateful and pleased with the result. Thanks Sam!

Unfortunately for Sam, the Britcar he was supposed to test had thermostat problems and blew out all its coolant just as he was due to jump aboard and trial it. Hopefully the problems will be resolved soon and Sam will find himself with a seat in the Britcar championship this year, as well as being able to defend his championship where possible.

Meanwhile, Karen continued to get a feel for the new setup, Lance drove his Mini Cooper S, and Seth had great fun driving well against some much more expensive machinery in his track/drift oriented Nissan 200SX. A great day was had by all, and it bodes well for improved performance from Karen in the MR2C for 2007.

Pictures available for viewing here: Hullavington 16th March