So yeah, I blinked, and just like that, I realised it's race week again, and wow, what a feeling that is! So as far as MINI Challenge JCW racing goes this year, I believe the Knockhill to Snetterton turnaround is one of the shortest of all season, or at least it's the shortest we've had so far. With just a ten-ish day turnaround window between the last time out at Knockhill and this weekend at Snetterton, many teams in the paddock feel the pinch regarding race car prep time. I know that with the seven-car strong team we're in, it's...

So Knockhill, round 4 of the 2022 Quaife MINI Challenge UK JCW Championship is now complete, and over the weekend, I think I clocked just shy of 1100 miles, which is the most I've ever driven in a single weekend, and that's not including the racing miles too, but, the fortunate thing is, I like driving, so we're all good! :) Being an eight-ish hour drive, with a couple of planned pit stops on the way, we decided to make our way up to Scotland early Thursday morning, so we could arrive at our hotel, check in and still have...

So, that's the BTCC summer break over, and by the time we get to our Knockhill race weekend this coming weekend, that'll have been a total of 7 weeks away from the track; it's flown by! Albeit my third full season of car racing, this is the first summer break I've ever had because my last two racing seasons have been during the pandemic, thus causing a very compacted calendar, leaving no time for any big breaks. Having a little time away from the track has been great; it's not only allowed me the opportunity to catch up on a...

So Oulton Park, as you know, it just happened, and wow, did we have another blinding weekend of MINI Challenge racing. Having now fully recovered from the frustrations of our DNF in the final race of the weekend at Brands Hatch a couple of weeks back, I went into Oulton Park with precisely the same positivity as I did at the start of the previous two rounds and boy, did it pay dividends. As Oulton Park is around 180 miles away, we decided early last week that it would be best to get ourselves up and into the Oulton Park,...

So it's race week for round three of the MINI Challenge, and this time we'll be heading on up north to the Cheshire based circuit, Oulton Park, which, as you may already know, is my favourite track on the British Touring Car calendar. Oulton Park is absolutely stunning and by far one of the best-kept circuits I've ever visited. Of course, you only really fully appreciate all its glory when on a track walk and not doing 100mph, but I'd describe the track as top-end golf course beauty, with perfectly cut grass, hundreds of stunningly mature trees and actual flowing...

So round 2 at Brands Hatch Indy of the Quaife MINI Challenge UK JCW series is complete, and what a rollercoaster of highs, lows and everything in between it was, not just for me but for everyone. Unlike Donington last month, Brands Hatch works to a regular timetable, and by this, I mean Friday testing is actually on Friday and not on Thursday like it was at Donington. It's far nicer to have the race weekend actually as a weekend without a day's break in the middle, although, to be fair, the Friday break last time out at Donington gave...

With the racing season very much underway, we find ourselves once again in race week, but this time for round two of the MINI Challenge JCW series. I'd be fibbing if I didn't start by saying that I'm still floating up on cloud nine. I mean, it's nearly been three weeks since Donington, and you'd have thought the excitement and appreciation for what we achieved would have worn off by now, but it just hasn't. To be honest, my initial reaction in the week following Donington was more on a disbelief level, I mean, I couldn't believe how well I...

So the first round of the 2022 MINI Challenge JCW series at Donington Park is done and dusted, and wow, wow, WOW, did we have an epic weekend! As I've mentioned many times in the past, Donington Park, which is attached to the East Midlands Airport, has a Friday noise curfew. This is to manage noise for all the locals who purchased houses next to a race track and a busy airport, so our Friday testing for Donington is always on Thursday. So, we arrived early Thursday morning, as our first test session was at 9:50 am, the second overall...

Well, here we are, race week to the first round of the British Touring Cars championship. I genuinely cannot believe how quickly time has flown by; it only felt like two weeks ago we were packing up at Brands Hatch at the last round of the season last year. But despite how quickly it's felt, we've been incredibly busy behind the scenes planning for 2022 and making it all happen. Since we last spoke after the official Goodyear tyre test at Silverstone back in mid-March, Graves Motorsport has been very busy stripping and preparing my MINI ready for this season....

As I usually do, I thought I'd let you know we got on from yesterday's MINI Challenge Goodyear tyre test at Silverstone, which was a very positive day that bodes incredibly well for this year's season. So, as with any 'race car' day, the morning started pretty early, and I got to the circuit at about 7am so I could make some adjustments to a couple of stickers, which in my naivety, I thought was a '2-second' job, turns out it wasn't, and it took about an hour and a half with a bit of help. Nevertheless, all the changes...

Wow, I can't believe how quickly the offseason has flown by; I mean, the last time you received one of my seventeen and a half (A4) page reports was just after the last round at Brands Hatch GP, which was at the end of October, almost five months ago, crazy how time flys! How does that saying go? "Time flies when you're..." anyway... I've got to be honest; it's been a very busy offseason for myself and the immediate team working behind the scenes at Gravett Racing; we've been working hard, pretty much non-stop, to secure the funding and support...

So that's it, my first year of MINI Challenge JCW racing is complete, and wow, has it been an exciting season for the trio that's Gravett, Coates and Graves. So Brands Hatch GP, yep, it's incredible, and there's nothing more to say... okay, maybe there's a bit more, but I just thought that right off the bat, I'd start by saying it's an absolutely brilliant circuit and a real privilege and honour to have finally raced the famous long GP loop. Visiting any new circuit is always challenging, especially when you're up against many other drivers who have lapped that...