Given we’re testing, we have 4 days to turn around two cars. One with panel damage, one that needs the handling fixing.

Helen gets new front springs, and her attitude changes. She has been getting ever lower, her springs tired and her camber increasing. Whilst the geometry appeared to still be in the right range she was rolling hard and using tyres, so she gets two changes of note. First, new springs, and her nose comes back up. She used to sit this way in ’08 when she was at her dominant peak.

Next, stiffer in roll, and the only thing I can do here is stiffen the bushings. The class D rule was long ago clarified, there must be some rubber in the droplinks, but only one end, same as the radius arms. With a few simple purchases and a bit of welding, rose-joints appear at one end of the droplinks, halving the available compliance. It’s something we have spoken of doing for so long, but now appears a necessity. We’ve just never had the time to do it, and when the car was so right without this stuff there was never any need. She’s now still fast enough, but not fast enough for me. I make the new droplinks, but don’t fit them. Yet. See how Cadwell feels with just the springs first.

It is worth noting that none of this would have been necessary had the weight not gone up this year, something that has cost me dearly both in terms of money and enjoyment. I really do miss the wail of tortured T1R.

Finally, I need rubber, two more tyres deceased at Silverstone, the offside pair ate their inner edges, appearing to demonstrate too much camber. Hence the changes being made. But it means I need to order another two. I said no more, but I need the grip at Cadwell to be certain. That’s 13 R1Rs. 13! You do the maths about the cost of that and understand why I have started to feel that the game is no longer fun. One set of these fucking tyres was meant to last a season.

The car is starting to feel a bit like a battleship. Heavy as hell, armour plated to withstand assault, increasingly solid to survive her own stresses and strains on this tyre, it’s a behemoth lumbering into battle, rather than the (relatively!) agile beast that used to glide around on that T1R to upset the very best of them. I don’t like it, the shine has been taken from her. I cannot wait for the end of this season.

A general spanner check and out again, done. 4 days to turn around 2 race cars with extensive work to each, whilst holding down a day job. It’s at times like this that we half-envy Chris Palmer.