A full complement of 24 drivers turned out for our annual trackday. We were again this year at Lincolnshire’s Blyton Park but with a twist this time in that we had the use of two very contrasting track formats, the long sweeping outer circuit in the morning and the twistier and fiendishly technical Eastern layout in the afternoon.
But first ten on us met for dinner the prior day (Sunday 8th July). The Old Bishop’s Palace in Lincoln’s historic Cathedral precincts provided an unusual and luxurious B & B base but did not provide dinner so we took the short walk up Steep Hill (put it this way…had it been snowing it would have been classified a black run!) to a private room in The Bishop’s Mitre public house. Once again we are indebted to David and Angie Daw for the social arrangements for the event.
Monday dawned cloudy and cooler of late which turned out to be a blessing given the impending exertions of the day. There was the usual eclectic collection of vehicles, Maserati being represented by a brace of GranTurismo, two Ghibli Cups, two identical 4200 Spyders, a Gransport and Michael Quinlan on the third year of trying finally brought his magnificent Kamsin. Circuit manager, Richard Usher attended to officiate specifically just to see this car, and he wasn’t disappointed. We also had another first in Alex Sutton’s Ghibli Diesel which sounded great and was remarkably fleet of foot. He probably had the most economical day although that is hardly the point!
It was excellent to see so many members returning having taken part in a previous event and in some cases all of the current series of annual trackdays. One member (I will preserve his anonymity) in particular showed considerable progress since last year and finally admitted to having taken private lessons from our top ARDS instructer, Mark Hales in the interim. I certainly couldn’t catch him!
A great day was had by all and everyone behaved impeccably as is usual for the Maseratisti. Attention has already turned to next year’s event with negotiations in progress with a new circuit. No doubt David and Angie will enjoy themselves sampling and selecting suitable hotels and restaurants!