It feels like a long time since my idea to try and do the ERC was first thought of, but at the same time sitting here having just finished the second season in which I have raced somehow doesn’t seem real.

Its amazing where life takes you, and although we are still yet to score an ERC point, I certainly don’t have any regrets about the route we are taking. Its not just the racing in the ERC, its the adventure and experience. Myself and my tiny team have had some money can’t buy experiences over the last couple of years. The stories that come with these are for the most part unprintable, and for some uncanny reason usually involve a Scandinavian or two, or indeed a Celt.

But, of course the reason for doing the ERC is to race, and although more progress is made at some events than others, we have yet to go to an event where we haven’t been able to take massive positives away from it. It must be easy to look at the final finishing order from events and believe that we have made very little progress from day one of our European campaign, but the reality is that when we started we were almost days off the pace, and now we are knocking on the door of a chance at C finals.

We have some significant changes to make, but we have only learnt these from doing the events we have done. They say racing is the best form of testing after all. We are still struggling in two areas, the main one being power. We are giving away over 50bhp to many of our rivals, which is huge. This is being addressed over the winter months, new camshafts are on their way to try and extract more power. Again this is a juggling act, cams are not cheap, so I have had to sell my current ones in order to afford a new set. Of course we are not going to be able to get the same sort of power a the front runners, but if we can make a good improvement on what we have it will certainly help.

We have found that the faster we are making the car go, the more different issues are highlighted. Grip and traction seem to have become more of an issue the further down the development road we have come. Working with what we have I think we have come as far as we can in terms of improving the set up. Don’t get me wrong what we have is good, and cheap, but i feel we are at the point to need better. The dampers on the Clio cost less in total than just one corner of the dampers on a car like Julian Godfreys. Using this suspension has been great, and brilliant for the money, but to make progress we need to be using something better. As usual this is all down to money, and I am putting huge amount of effort into finding the money to improve the car ready for 2012.

I was hoping to race at the Grand Prix at Croft next week, but the Clio’s gearbox developed a problem during the event in Czech so it is back with Gripper being repaired and won’t be back in time. The cost of running a car of this type is apparent at this stage, as the clutch needs a refresh, the clutch release bearing is badly worn etc. All problems that need addressing, and all more expense.

The Czech event itself went well for us, although the pace in Super1600 was mega! The lower-midfield pack are normally those who we race with, and with nobody like that in attendance we were left trying to punch well above our weight. Its the little things you notice progress wise,aside from time of course. A year ago we wouldn’t have even been able to even see the likes of Kalny after half a lap, and this is no longer the case.

The one massive issue in Czech was the way the track was prepared, and the dust that was caused as a result. On Saturday the second free practice was cancelled and the timed practice and first heat were both late, so the dust was soon coupled with low sun. I was in the first race of the first heat, and at the back found the dust horrendous. I had to stop to see where the joker lap was, which in my eyes wasn’t safe. I made my point to Kenneth Hansen, who in turn spoke to the organisers. It was decided that all the races would take place on the Sunday. I was a little taken aback by the decision, based on my assessment of the conditions. I was encouraged that Guttorm Lindefjell and Ludvig Husbedt, a pair renowned for their carefree driving, thanked me for making a judgement on the conditions for the benefit of others, and that it was the correct thing to do. After all, safety HAS to come first. This has become more apparent over the last couple of weeks in motorsport, with the high profile deaths of Dan Whelden and Marco Simoncelli. Its easy to forget that even in Rallycross, we are not invincible.

On a lighter note, the ERC calendar for next season looks good, and for the money-no-object teams it looks great. If I can get the money together I will try and do seven events, I don’t think I will entertain trying to get to the three Scandinavian rounds and this should help with costs massively.

I had hoped that the off seasons might get quieter the more experienced we become at the ERC, and there would be less to do. It is in fact the polar opposite, we are learning more, trying to implement what have learnt and the hunger to succeed grows more and more. It looks like we are going to be busy then…!