Because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak a number of race venues were cancelled this year. Not only is the Championship now only five meetings but the cancellation of the Welsh round meant a long gap between Claydon Hall and this race meeting back in Southampton for the second time this year. Despite being back in Southampton and in the suburb of Fawley, it is a different track known as Bilcombes Lakes. Unlike the other track which had little water this track has much more and full power round the island was possible. Nevertheless the course has several tight corners and steep transitions. Some corners were so tight that they were difficult to negotiate at any speed.

The dummy grid sloped down hill and it was difficult to have the lift on without creeping, so getting a quick clean start was not easy. From the grid it was a short straight and then a steep drop onto the water of about five feet. A gentle curving S bend got the craft behind a small island where full power could be used across the lake to the land transition which was very steep and had an immediate sharp left turn after it. It was very easy to get the craft thoroughly air borne as the transition was just like a launch ramp. All the craft took this part of the course very steadily. From this slow corner the speed could be built up again and full power could be used on the drag down to a sharp left hander being the third section of the roughly lozenge shaped course. The final section was a series of right and left bends back to the start and finish point and another sharp left hand bend back on to the water via the steep transition.

Practise for Ken and I was uneventful. Because Ken had to do a corporate entertainment day (he has a fleet of Hovercraft that are used for events) on the Sunday, he elected to race first and also do the AAC heat at the end of the day. The major news was that Tony Goldney was not racing the Honda 4 stroke after it self destructed at a European Meeting the weekend before. The story goes that he was hit in the back by number three conrod!! This was significant as Tony was 1 point behind us in the championship and this took some of the pressure off.

Ken had a good race with Daniel Newton(9) and Colin Horne(7) who were going well. Luke Sedzikowski(27) despite having a damaged rudder (cracked down one side so that it bent in the air pressure affecting steering)) managed to keep ahead of Ken. To stay ahead though, Luke was having to go at it quite hard and got the craft out of shape on several occasions. Ken was able to keep Colin Horne and Daniel at bay by driving a tight and tidy line, as always. Our craft and Daniels machine use the same engine but different hulls. Our Eagle is slightly lighter than Daniels, but we think that he is revving a 100 rpm or so more. During all this Robin Brickles(1) walked away in the lead.

In the second race Daniel got a flyer of a start and barged through, getting ahead of me and Luke in the first transition. Then slammed the door firmly on Dave Linney who ploughed in avoiding Daniel and then did a 360 immediately in front of me. I missed him, how I don't know, as we were very close together before his plough in. Actually, I think we did make contact but there was no damage.  So the order on lap one was Robin Brickles, Daniel Newton, me and then Luke. We raced like that through to the chequered flag. I think we all had a fairly good scrap that race.

Ken drove the ACC at the end of the day. He was going well, leading for several laps, until the low evening sun unsighted him going into the land transition which he misjudged and rammed the craft straight into the bank. The craft pitched up and ejected Ken but landed the right way up. He was able to restart the craft and carried on racing despite having substantial damage to the planing surfaces with six air feed holes split and damaged.

The Sunday for me was a disaster. I was the only member of Team Eagle present! Both Ken and my Father were working so I was driver, mechanic and bottle washer. In morning practise the craft dropped on to two cylinders. It took me some time to diagnose the problem. I then had the hassle of repairing the internally broken earth wire to the rear coil without any tools as Ken had to take his equipment away and I hadn't time to get my set to the track. We had forgotten to pack the gazebo, too so I had to make repairs in the rain...lovely. In the end I just bared some wires and trapped them under a convenient bolt. Despite my efforts, I missed the first race.

Robin Brickles had problems too, He missed the start and joined a lap down and fought his way up the field until he came across Daniel Newton. They scrapped for position for the rest of the race allowing Colin Horne(7) and Sean O'Callaghan(23) the honours respectively.

The second race of the day saw me down the grid having no points from the previous start. Despite getting off the grid well the second gremlin of the day struck. For lap after lap every time I got close to Sean the lift engine would die and I would plough in. The resultant spin into the weeds/rushes would cost me some distance so that when the lift motor picked up again I would go hareing off and catch Sean again at pretty much the same point on the next lap only to have the lift motor fail again....... Sean must have wondered what on earth was going on.

The last spin saw me half up the bank and had to be helped back onto the course so that I could stagger back to the start/finish line to complete the race, I think in eighth, despite the spins.

Looking back on the race I think that the big transition had an effect on the fuel system and caused the power loss after a few seconds. This would also explain the problem at Rother Valley when I ploughed in after the craft crashed back down after being vertical.

So third overall for the season. Not bad for the first year in F1 for the team and with a new craft design. The learning curve has been quite steep and the year very eventful. We will see what next year brings.

Luke had to push hard to keep ahead of Ken in the first race. The transition was steeper than this photo suggests and was like a launch pad.

Ken and Luke. I am trying to think of how many drivers wear racing overalls as Luke does..not many, as most prefer motorcycle waterproofs. Both Luke and I now wear a fair amount of body armour to the knees and back. Luke also uses shoulder and elbow protection.

The weather on Saturday was better than the forecast. On Sunday it rained all day with a gusting wind. Not ideal camping weather. In the background is the island, we have just made the transition onto the lake. I got to know the rushes at this point of the course very well in the last race when I spun out four times into them as a result of plough in's after lift engine power loss.

After the shots of the last race meeting of Dave Linney exiting his craft I thought you might want to see him the right way up......well, nearly.

Robin Brickles won the F1 title again this year....you can see he is happy about it!