Karen didn’t have the benefit of any practice at Cadwell before race day, and the clouds were hanging dark and heavy. Chances for decent finishing positions were therefore considered bleak.

However, Karen was toward the front of the cars going into the qualifying session and this ensured she got a fair amount of clear track. She found the track extremely slippy in the Gooseneck and Hall Bends, but we subsequently discovered that so did everyone else. Karen had trouble turning into the left-hander before the Mountain, with the front of the car hopping, causing a fair amount of understeer. This behaviour left her pit-crew scratching their heads. She qualified in 15th place for Race 1 and in 14th place for Race 2. Not fantastic, but not too bad either.

Photographs copyright Martin Goldsack, reproduced with kind permission.

At the start of Race 1, Karen actually had difficulty in seeing the starting lights past the car in front! She did manage a decent start though, and better than John Wilson #17 who she passed along the straight and into Coppice. Within a couple of laps, she was exiting the Hairpin under full power when Roger Pullan #13 struck her on the rear ¾ and sent her spinning wildly. During this melee she ended up crushing the passenger door of #13 thus damaging the nose of her car. Having spun to a halt she span again on the grass trying to rejoin and was dead last. She was soon chasing down the next car, Tony Kiss #5 and within a couple of laps she was past him and a lap later had overtaken two more cars. At was at this point that she noticed real difficulty in trying to turn left. The usual problem of the left-hander before Mountain became magnified and massive understeer saw her thrown onto the in-field. She was carrying a lot of speed and as she reached the circuit at the Mountain her front passenger tyre blew. As she recovered, all her previous work was undone as the cars raced by her. Karen was unaware of how bad the problem was with the front wheel, and soldiered on to drive another two laps and finish in last place!

Photograph copyright Martin Goldsack, reproduced with kind permission.

Just for a change, her pit-crew actually had something to do! Darren got stuck in straight away and he and Richard dismantled the bumper and began to remove the dents in the front wing. The front bumper alignment was out which caused problems with the lights. After a couple of hours and help from various people including spectators, fellow racers and MR2MK1 club officials the car was ready for the next race. Karen would like to take this opportunity to thank them again for all their help.

Karen seemed to get another decent start in Race 2, which saw her just ahead of fellow Worcester dweller #17 John Wilson. After a couple of laps for things to settle down, he spotted a gap and flew by going down Mansfield. On the next lap Karen fluffed a down-change at the Gooseneck and was forced to brake whilst still turning in. The resulting spin caused no damage, but allowed Ross Stoner #22 through in his tango-coloured racer. A recovery drive saw her overtake George Stoddard #3 and catch Ivan Thomas #59. That was as far as she would get though, as Ivan made sure she couldn’t get by him thanks to behaving less than gentlemanly and weaving along Park Straight, not letting her past on either side. The end of the race saw everyone having to be vigilant in avoiding the stricken car of Rob Howes #7, as they drove out of Barn before crossing the line. Karen finished 17th, but was later promoted to 16th due to a disqualification higher up the field.

Karen was philosophical about things, but still disappointed with the results. That’s the second meeting this year and the second time her races have been spoiled by the actions of a novice driver. Despite this and the apparent suspension problems, she managed to finish both races and still leads the Women’s Championship!