Castle Combe Endurance race - October 6th 

We did not expect to be racing at Castle Combe, as I was away for the weekend and Richard was working.

The plan was that Nik wanted to race at the FF festival to get his hand in ready for a proposed race in the USA in December, however, due to that clashing with another personal date he could not cancel he decided to enter the endurance. It was therefore with a late entry and no preparation that we entered the car for Combe.

The car was still in the trailer from Oulton Park and it was on the tyres Richard had used for qualifying and the race at Oulton. When Nik unloaded the car he found the tyre pressures were still all OK! He put some petrol in, checked the oil and went out for qualifying.

As he had not raced for nearly two seasons he said he felt a bit rusty. When Nik phoned me after qualifying to report his progress, I thought he should rest more often!

He had qualified on pole in thirteen laps, well inside the lap record and over a second and half in front of everyone. New tyres were not an option as George was not in attendance, so after qualifying Nik changed the fronts, fitting them on the opposite side!

The Race was by all accounts just a case of looking after the tyres and staying out of trouble. Thirty odd laps in a steady 1.09 area and then a refuel was planned and accomplished. After the refuel he came out behind John Finch in the new Lola.

A couple of laps later he passed John and as the race was nearing its end he said he just upped the pace for a couple of laps to get the official lap record, which he achieved with ease. Nik has been the main set-up person on the car since we first had a Van Diemen.

Throughout the last two years he has worked with Richard to improve what was a difficult car to drive with ease. What he said after the Combe race has made me make a few decisions.

Nik was delighted with the handling of the car, Combe being a problem circuit for us in the past. He thinks that with this new bodywork and a set of new tyres he could find a low 1.06 now with still more to come.

His set-up changes that have helped Richard in the wet so much have carried through onto our dry set-up. We now have a car that anyone can drive quickly, a car that has proved better, faster and more reliable than every new one out there.

I offered Nik's championship winning car for sale at a bargain price and had no takers. Van Diemen has made it clear that for the foreseeable future their interests lay elsewhere, and even if they wanted to build a car they would rely heavily on our developments and the price would be much higher.

So we no longer have a car for sale, we will over the winter months tidy up both cars and add one or two new performance enhancing parts, some already on order. The engine in Richards car is still sealed from the middle of last season and shows no sign of a problem so that will stay put.

I may take the other engine out as it has not done much in three years and I have another new one in the workshop. I fail to see a better car that one could buy at present and as no more Van Diemen's like this will be made I am going to hang on to those that I have.

Best regards, Les Johnson