I’m always a little bit neutral about Silverstone. It’s not very exciting, it’s hard on the car, I don’t have the power to do anything impressive, but it does have Copse, which I do like sailing through at improbable speed, hanging on for dear life.

I’ve predicted the Bear to win this race, by a comfortable margin. Ambitious, given it is probably the power track of the year, and he’s against the car whose party piece is sheer godlike power, that dastardly 6 litre, but I think it’s on, the upgrades on that car, all the added lightness we found, it’s nimble and there are corners here that it is going to like.

Not so for poor Helen, who I know is going to struggle a bit. She’ll be OK in quali, but when we get to the race she’s going to be in trouble if we can’t stick to our precious lines to get that speed.

Testing, and it’s hot, dry, classic Silverstone weather, hot tarmac and GT-spec Astons, little bubble-wheeled winged things buzzing about, there’s a Mosler nosing about, and for some variety, some genuinely slow MGBs and a very old Volvo. I do love testing. I think I like testing more than racing.

Quickly apparent that Helen is back on form. For most of the day she can hang with the Bear, and she’s outpacing Beardy. Copse is a floaty delight, balance is good, it’s overall grip that isn’t, she’s drifting through that bend at what I would say isn’t enormous speed. It’s fast enough, Bear is no quicker, but it’s always been Helen’s strength to not just equal but out-do the mod squad on corner speed, it’s what she does, we disconnect the driver’s brain and she goes howling through the bend just that bit faster than anyone else, it makes up for the power deficit.

Today though, whilst she grips well enough on worn rubber, she’s not fast enough. I can’t complain of oversteer being particularly severe, she is better, but it’s there, notable at entry to the complex, she will hang the tail out without the power on, in fact applying throttle seems to help her a little. I’m on the classic lines drilled into me 4 years ago by the ARDS instructor here, and they work as well for an XJS as for that Exige. I do note with a sense of inevitability that the Bear has hooked onto my line, and that is a matter of time only until he gets his brakes right, tweaks that suspension, and applies the throttle to scorch past me like a bullet with an urgent appointment. Sigh.

Halfway into the test day, and it’s clear my pads aren’t going to last. Set number 4 of the year go in. Jesus. 4 sets of the old pad, or on the old tyre, would last more than a season. This is getting stupid. I’m not all that fierce on the brakes, as far as I know, I tend to go early and light, but that is hurting me quite a lot. I wonder if the insane late hard stab makes them last longer? Of course, we are trying to stop 1600kg from higher speeds than anyone else is trying, so maybe this is just how it is.

Mid afternoon, and the Bear has it together now, he comes past down the back straight, dragging with a Radical, again, pulls in front of me and hits the anchors. I’m not actually ready to brake yet, and the screen full of red is a bit of a worry. A hundred yards of black stripe later, and my nearside front is scrap, but I missed him, just. Interesting that it only locked the one tyre, and that I retained the ability to steer, but onto the pit straight and the vibration is incredible. I throw it at the track hard for a few laps, trying to stay with him, reasoning that enough lateral force and we might plane the tyre back into shape. No go.

Removal shows why, it’s very, very flat. Canvas is showing. Fortunately, I was on old rubber, the new tyres are ready to go and it was planned that these would be scrapped today, so nothing lost. But that is now my first complete set of 45s used, so that’s 2 complete sets gone for the year, I’m on the third. So much for these tyres lasting the season, we were clearly being fed complete and utter crap on that score.

Out to heat cycle new rubber, and I’m getting oil smoke in the cockpit. That worries me. Oil pressure isn’t great, but we are on very thin oil and it’s a hot day. Water temp is a little higher than normal, but it doesn’t climb any higher, there are no nasty noises, leaks etc, it’s just this bloody smoke.

An oil leak is dripping onto the exhaust. Bingo! Tighten the cam cover and hope for best.

As the day ends, the Bear is going ballistic, massively quick and chasing cars that cost many times the money, it’s all finally hooked up and he’s simply gone. Helen, conversely, has given her all, in fact she's starting to go backwards,and she’s been as good as she’s going to get, but it’s not blindingly quick. The times we’re doing aren’t stellar. Please give me back the T1R and take the weight back off.

To race day, and we ace quali as usual, in that we get there first. First out, the Bear passes immediately, but nobody else does all session, we nail it out of the box, and by the time we hit traffic the job is done, my fastest lap is lap 2, first real flying lap, before traffic. In fact as the car warms up she gets worse. I swear the tyres are best when cold. It is a peculiarity that they grip best at low pressure, but need higher pressure to carry the weight of the car.

On the mixed grid I’m way down, 13^th. That’s 6^th of the XJS, and clear of the D cars by 3 seconds per lap. That’s a healthy margin, it’s what we’re used to. In fact here, at a short track that’s mostly about power, that’s quite a lot. But it’s not quick. A mid 1.12 is not a fast time. I’d planned to be in the 1.10s before we actually got here. Yes, Copse is a balancing act on the throttle, and the complex is a tightrope of under v oversteer, I’ve given the car all she can have, but it’s not fast.

Bear has pole as expected, but by a lot. That is a surprise, to be over a second clear of the big power cars is impressive. Just as impressive, Lezzer is in p2, having out-done Coppock despite bald T1Rs and a now very-tired 5.3. Team Kutuka with three class poles then. We’re doing something right.

The race is all about lap 1. I’m out for points. There are modified XJ40s astern, modified XJ6s in front, a modified Beard alongside. I’m not racing any of them, and they all have much more horsepower than me, so I just need to get through Copse alive, avoid any contact, let the nutters through and pace it to the flag. It’s not going to be fast or exciting or impressive, it’s just about the perfect score today, and we’ve pace in hand.

Lights out, and I rather mess up the start, wheelspin. I nailed it on the green flag lap, and balls it up now, I drop a little ground, and survive the melee at Copse, then in traditional style make loads back at Becketts by sailing down the outside of the traffic jam at Becketts, I retake Roger. Who then engages the engine that sounds like a wasp on steroids, and is last seen launching towards Ramm.

I’ve got saloons everywhere, and I just want to be left alone thanks, I’m trying not to ram Butterfield or Pete Dorlin, but Slater and Drewery in the mirror are scrapping and I need to be out of their way, but I can still see Comer and until he’s a speck I can’t be that kind.

Takes a couple of laps to sort itself out, I don’t fight either XJ40, Comer is falling back fast, and by lap 5 I have already lifted, braking early, not maxing the engine, saving the tyres. But now that XJ40 looks a bit weak, my lines are better, my grip is better, his tyres have gone off already. I give idle chase, just out of curiosity. And catch it. Now what? Well, we’re not racing, so I let it go again. I’m watching all the dials, temp is a tad high but OK, oil pressure is poor, 40lb hot, but with 5W40 in that’s about right, the smoke in the cockpit is that oil leak again, time to kick back and relax.

Butterfield is recovering from the grass with a dent in the door, he closes in slowly until I indicate and pull over, I’m not bothered or involved, I’m phoning this one in, and wishing the bloody flag would come out because I’m bored. I just have nobody to race. I keep looking at the big display as we come into the complex, trying to see who’s winning, but it’s always on Ramm in 5^th when I come into sight, I can’t tell if Bear’s still got it.

Eventually see that black and white marvel euthanatize this eternal torment and we can slow down even more, tour in, and with the electric windows down I can hear the commentary, as I get to the complex they are about to talk to the winner, Bear did it! A celebratory blast of air horns to the marshalls, and an evil plan forms. As I trundle past Bear’s interview I give him the opening bars of the Dixie horn, hopefully the mic will pick it up and broadcast it around the track. Little things amuse.

Bear wins, Lez didn’t hold of Coppock, but his points damage is very little today because of his superb pole lap, I get class win, we had a good day. The Bear’s car has damage, which is annoying, because we only have a week til Cadwell.

Helen was slow today. Yes, we phoned it in, really not trying at all, but she’s not right yet. Her pace was no better than T1R times in 2007. Yes, less weight back then, but she should be capable of 1.11s on this rubber. I couldn’t get below 1.12. I don’t actually think the track was there today, it was a little off, but I was further off still.

It’s time to address what we think is the problem, because the diff has helped but it’s not a complete cure, and she’s not a lot of fun this way if I can’t engage nutter mode and chase faster cars, I want to be top three at Cadwell, and that means sort the handling. 7^th at Sillystone is where a D should be, but I’ve dropped behind Ramm and Webster, and that’s not where I would usually be even here, I’d expect to be faster than both.

Cadwell is something special, but I’m weak there on lap 1, I have to be top 3 in quali or I’ll get held up by faster cars and backed into the D class pack. I don’t want to have to race Skeletor, I want clean air and streak into the distance for once after someone much faster. Never had clear air at Cadwell before, I just want some space to show what she can do. I want that team 1,2, 3.