A beautiful sunny Saturday again saw a total of 14 e30s front up for the combined Improved Production / e30racing qualifying session at 11:15am.  The field included Stan Karatzis in his non-regulation car (not eligible for championship points) plus Neil Anderson in his 2.9litre car (racing only in Improved Production).

Qualifying
Matt again set the fastest qualifying time at 1:56.5002 to take pole, followed closely by Anton, Andrew, Geoff  and Oliver, with only 0.8 of a second between first and fourth. 
Geoff broke a rocker in Qualifying and had to hunt around for a spare, and while lots of people almost had one, some had one back at home, and some people usually have one in their toolbox, no one actually had one at the track!
Graeme was able to bring one down from Hastings, but it turned out to be one with a smaller diameter suitable for the 4-cylinder engine! Lockie was kind enough to offer the use of a rocker from his spare engine at Cowes, but before this could be organised a suitable spare materialised at the track!  With a lot of help from Chris, Anton and Graeme the rocker was replaced with seconds to spare before Race 1.

Race One – 8 laps
Race one started in perfect conditions, and after negotiating a huge jam at the end of the main straight where a couple of RX7s had a coming together where Anton managed to get past, we then followed a pace car until lap 4. Anton then held managed to hold Matt off until Lap 7, when Matt got past and held the lead til the finish.
Heading to Turn 1 on the first lap, Geoff managed to run over some debris from the IPRA carnage and dislodge the splitter from his front bar. This proceeded to flap around during the safety car laps and finally released itself at full speed down the front straight on the first fast lap, much to Geoff and Andrew's surprise.
After the pace car dropped off, Geoff and Andrew had a great tussle, with Andrew getting past on lap 4, only to be re-passed on lap 7. 
Brian managed to pass Oliver under a yellow flag just after the Southern Loop on lap one, to be re-passed by Oliver on Lap 6 and then by Gary on lap 7 and Simon on Lap 8 (gotta watch them flags, Brian – I hope the stewards left some skin on your back after the whipping…). There was, as usual, a great deal of pushing and shoving with the Improved Production cars, which all seem to be fast in the straights, and then dreadful in the corners.
Final placings were: Matt by 0.5 seconds from Anton, then a 14 second gap to Geoff then a 0.3 second gap to Andrew with Oliver another second behind. Gary held off Simon by 0.5 seconds, then Brian, Stan and Lockie within a second and a bit of each other, followed by David and Alan.

Race Two – 7 laps
Race Two on Sunday morning was again held in perfect conditions. Matt led from start to finish, with Anton following in second all the way. Geoff held third right through, with Andrew in fourth all the way, although all four of the front runners had the usual fun and games with various IPRA cars.
Oliver started in fifth and manage to lose a place to Gary, and another five IPRA cars on Lap 1, passed two of them on Lap 2, and then threw it all away again twice on the final lap – once in Honda after hitting some oil while trying an inside move on Gary (who drove very well; to avoid the T-Bone) and then again in Siberia (the next corner), where he really screwed up to let half a dozen cars past.  The others all drove consistent races, with Steve managing to pass David on Lap 5.
Only 11 cars finished, with final positions being: Matt by 3 seconds from Anton, Geoff, Andrew, Gary, Simon, Stan by under a second from Brian, Steve by 0.2 seconds from Oliver and David, with Lockie and Alan both classed as DNF

Race Three – 10 laps
The weather stayed perfect for Sunday afternoon’s Race 3.  Unfortunately, Andrew retired with a cracked head after Race 2, and didn’t start.
Matt again led from start to finish, with Anton following in second all the way. Geoff got a good start in Race 3, but was black-flagged on Lap 4 for having fuel blowing back out of the filler and was happy to pack up and forget about a disappointing weekend!
Gary and Simon had a great tussle until Lap 8, when Gary made a mistake to let Simon through.
Oliver started almost at the rear of the field, but managed to pick up six places by the end to finish third.  Brian had an uneventful race, being passed by Oliver on Lap 2, and Gary on the last lap. Steve drove well to hold his place til the end after Oliver passed him, and Alan did well to pass David on Lap 3, and then Stan on Lap 5, with David also getting past Stan on that lap (what happened on laps 1 and 6, Stan?)
Only 10 cars finished, with final positions being: Matt by 2 seconds from Anton, then Oliver by a second from Simon, then Gary, Brian and Steve within 1.5 seconds, followed by Lockie half a second ahead of David, with Stan a further 0.04 seconds behind.

Final placings for Round 2 of the BMW Drivers Cup were:
Matt, Anton, Oliver, Gary and Simon tied for 4th, Brian, Geoff, Steve, Andrew, David, Lockie and Alan.

The BMW Drivers Cup overall standings after Round 2 are:
Matt, Simon, Brian, Anton and Oliver tied in 4th, Gary, Alan and Steve tied for 7th, Sean Bell, Geoff, Paul, Andrew, Serge and David tied for 13th, and Lockie.

Race Report by The Mobile Chicane