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Donington - September 23, 2001

Andy Scott	Martin Dickson
Andy Lofthouse	Gary Scott
Phil Belcher	Will Scott
Alyn James
Transporter Driver:	Ken Sly

The penultimate meeting of the 2001 BTCC Championship saw a return to Silverstone in Northamptonshire on the 2.5-mile Grand Prix circuit.

Saturday, September 22
Saturday started cloudy, cold and damp. The track was still damp when Free Practice started at 11.00, even though the Touring 45-minute session had just ended. Dave Allan started the day well as for almost all of the 45-minute session he was hardly ever out of the top six with his best position being third. The track though was drying continually and the times were tumbling as the session progressed. Dave made three stops. The last was about five minutes from the end when he came back to the pits for an adjustment to the damper sessions. However there was insufficient time for Dave to get back out again and put in any more laps. During these last five minutes drivers continued to improve their times and Dave had dropped to twelfth by the end of the forty-five minutes. Nevertheless it was an encouraging start and hopefully would set the pattern for this afternoon's qualifying.

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Qualifying, over the usual 30 minutes, was slightly later in the day than normal with a 2.30 start. The weather had brightened and the scene was set for an interesting qualifying session. However, things did not work out at all for Dave. After two laps, he was in sixth place. At the exit to Redgate corner on his third, he was in the gravel, having pushed the car a little too hard too soon. His qualifying was over and he had to sit it out for the remaining 25 minutes and watch as every car bar one bettered his lap time. He finished up in fourteenth place of the fifteen cars competing. The Accord, though, was undamaged save for gravel hiding in all sorts of places in the car. The team set to work removing it in preparation for tomorrow.

Sunday, September 23
There was a second free practice for all the cars first thing in the morning. This was quite timely as both front tyres had been 'flat spotted' in the spin during qualifying and it allowed for two new tyres to be bedded in ready for the race. Dave had an excellent fifteen minute session finishing in second place in the Production class.

A one-minute silence in memory of the victims of the American terrorist atrocity preceded the Sprint Race. The race was over 15 laps and there was a twenty-second delay for the Production cars after the green flag for the Tourers. From the start Dave worked hard to overcome his disappointment of the qualifying session. By the end of lap 1 he was up to eighth place. However, reminiscent of the qualifying, he put a couple of wheels into the gravel at Redgate at the start of lap 2. Fortunately this time he kept going but lost three places and he dropped back to eleventh. He picked off one car a lap for the next two laps before misfortune struck him again at the Old Hairpin at the bottom of the Craner Curves. He was pushing hard to get by the Focus of Rick Kraemer when Rick spun in front of him. In an attempt to avoid the Focus he too spun which pushed him off the track. At the same time the engine of the Accord cut out and it was several seconds before he could get it started. By which time he had dropped right back down the order. He pitted at the end of that lap for the car to be checked before he went back into the race over one lap down. It was a deficit he was unable to overcome and he eventually finished up eleventh.

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The Feature Race was set for mid-afternoon at 3.30. It started thirteen minutes. Dave made a steadier start but again progressively move up the field. By the end of lap 7, he was in ninth position. However, it had started to drizzle and appeared to be getting heavier. By lap 10 he was eighth. It was still drizzling and conditions were starting to slowly deteriorate. On lap 11 Dave started to lose braking and decided to pit stop for a check. At the same time the safety car came out and stayed out for five laps. Once again Dave went a lap down whilst in the pits. It was felt that the track was still not damp enough so the slicks were left on the Accord although a number of cars had made the switch to wets. Unfortunately, when Dave returned to the race he exceeded the speed limit and was given a drive through penalty. On lap 23 the car developed a terminal problem when the gearbox failed and Dave had to pull the Accord off the track and his race was over. A disappointing end to an up and down meeting.

The last meeting of the year is in two weeks when the championship returns to the track where it started the year last April, Brands Hatch in Kent. It looked as if Silverstone would be Dave's last meeting of the year as he was due to fly to America on business again. However, it now seems very likely that Dave will be at Brands Hatch.

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