As with last year there was only one lone car & driver making the long trek up to Liverpool for the F24+ race. The forecast was for showers, our batteries were very much down on capacity & with Brian & Zebedee both entered, we very nearly stayed at home. As it was Alex's last season, the Aintree track is superb & everyone seems very friendly up there, in the end, we decided it was worth the journey.
The race started slightly early and despite both Brian & Zebedee jumping the start, 4 cars were all in line as they entered the first corner, as they went up the hill, Brian & Zebedee were slipstreaming each other & pulling away. Alex thought he wouldn't see them again for a while but as Y-Pod?! rounded the last corner before the main straight, he found Brian & Zebedee only just in front & Y-Pod?! gaining. As they all came back into view from the paddock, we were astounded to see that Y-Pod?! was in front with all three cars almost nose to tail. Zebedee soon re- took the lead, followed closely by Brian, with Y-Pod?! hot on their tails. That was the last we saw of Zebedee for a while as they suffered battery connection problems, so for the next few laps, Brian & Y-Pod?! swapped the lead as the two cars were faster on different parts of the circuit. Alex decided that given the poor state of the batteries, he had better throttle back & accept a likely second place, so it looked like becoming a fairly dull race after the early excitement. Just as we were putting the lap board out to mark the half way point, Brian came off the circuit into the paddock - Y-Pod?! was not far behind so we were now in the lead…! After a lap & a half, Brian rejoined the race & slowly started to haul in our lead, Zebedee was back out & storming around but had lost too much time to be a threat to our position. With 5 minutes left to go, Brian had almost caught up but was going almost as slowly as us. As the cars came back into view for what we hoped would be the last lap, Brian had crept past & Alex was faced with a choice between conserving the batteries & to allow another lap or going for it & re-taking the lead. Alex decided on a final push, so as he rounded the last corner he was in the lead but the batteries were almost finished, the person finishing the race was still consulting with the timekeepers so disappointment set in, as we were sure Brian would take the lead if the race went for another lap. At the last moment the time ran out & the chap ran to the track side & waved the chequered flag - we had won our first F24+ race of the season & made it two wins at Aintree in a row… well & truly astounding!
