I never made it to Tiverton myself due to starting a new Job, but the following report is courteously of Tom Yardy describing how his day went.

The new car wasn't ready in time for the 1st national, there had been the possibility that an X11 may have been ready for Tom to race but unfortunately it wasn’t so Tom raced his trusty X10 but it had a few X11 proto parts fitted. These were different wing mounts- (made from the new material that will be used on the X11), new prop shaft was fitted along with a prototype 1 way front unit.

After a successful day on the Saturday in 2wd where Tom qualified 2nd and finished 2nd he was confident he could do well on the Sunday in 4wd.

Practise:
Tom started practice with the prototype 1 way front diff fitted. The car took a little getting used to, a 1 way unit gives a lot of front end steering but also offers smoother cornering at high speeds. Once Tom got used to the car it was looking pretty sweet, cornering well and lapping on a par with the drivers in his heat.

For round 2 of practice the front camber was reduced slightly to make the front end a little more positive. Unfortunately, Tom managed just 2 laps of the 2nd practice when the car started pulling to right under power, unfortunately caused by the failure of the prototype 1 way front diff and rendering it unusable for the rest of the day.

For round 1 Tom would have to use a car with fixed 4wd which works perfectly well, but is not always effective on a low grip surface such as Tiverton's clay.

Round 1:
After the opening 2 minutes Tom was running in 4th only about 2 seconds behind Richard Taylor who led at this point. The car was working ok but was very slow through the hair pin sections where fixed 4wd doesn't allow for fast car rotation or pivoting, when braking on the apex of corners, the 4 wheels were locking up causing a slide rather than a fast rotation meaning slow cornering. After 5 minutes, with one small error Tom finished in 8th place in the heat and ended up 16th in the round overall. Not a good start, but not bad for a car that could obviously be improved. The car was struggling with forward traction and not cornering quick enough, however it held its line well around the sweepers. For round 2 it was decided to refit the standard prop shaft that had a centre 1 way and brake collet fitted, to allow the front end more freedom.

Round 2
The new owners of the Predator; Lewis and Yanina arrived just after round 1, and discussed a few things, looked at the problems with the 1 way and talked about issues the car was having around the track. Lewis had brought some more front end  prototype front end parts. The parts were an X11 front gearbox top with better mounting for the rocker pivots that also allowed for more caster on the front which could prove useful on the low grip clay. There was also bigger reshaped front wing for more downforce and a lower profile nose cone. However it was decided it would be best to use the car as it was for round 2 and then maybe look to using the new front end for round 3. Tom had another clean run in round 2 but again the car could not rotate well enough even though it was far better than in round 1. Traction was also remaining a big problem. Tom claimed a 12th in the round. The new front end was put on the car for round 3.

Round 3
So with an almost complete X11 front end, Tom went out for round 3. On the warm up lap Tom could immediately feel that the car was FAR better straight away. The increased caster meant the car was much stronger round the corners, it changed direction faster but also smoother than previously. All this was without the 1 way unit also. After a few laps Tom was running in 3rd in the heat, just a second off the lead and the car was working really well. Tom finished the heat with a solid time, about 8 seconds faster than he had managed before. In round 1 and 2 Tom’s fastest lap was just a 29.10... in round 3 he AVERAGED 29.06 with a best lap of 28.53! The car was far easier to drive fast and the run resulted in a 7th place finish for the round. A place in the A final was now possible.

Lewis suggested the following changes to the car for round 4: place the push rods under the rockers and increase the front oil weight up to 40wt oil to stop the front end dipping too much under braking and bottoming out causing understeer. This would give the car more droop and more pack in the front. With a new set of tyres Tom was ready for a crack at the A!

Round 4
The changes made to the car really helped Tom and he was catching 2nd place man Darren Bloomfield when his car stopped which allowed him to chase down Richard Taylor. Taylor and Tom were well matched and the gap of around 1 second held firm all through the run. Tom finished with another clean run, and a 4 second improvement from round 3. The run gave Tom another 7th in the round, 14 points and 9th on the A final grid! From nowhere in round 2 Tom had salvaged an A final place with just the subtle changes the new front end offered. What is intriguing is just how high the car would have qualified if Tom had the new front end and the 1 way unit.

A Final Leg 1
The way the track at Tiverton had become, meant that there was literally a groove in the clay about a car and a half's width wide. Overtaking was always going to be very tough, it had proved so in 2wd the day before and was going to be again. The train of cars left the grid with Tom in 9th place, there had been no changes in the order during the 1st 3 laps as the train of cars circulated, with about a quarter of a lap separating all 10. The car was certainly on pace, lapping on perfect terms with all cars there, and possibly quicker than many except Tom had nowhere to go, the cars just kept circulating, no one could pass unless a mistake was made. A mistake did come on lap 4, entering the straight, a small pile up meant that Tom negotiated put him up into 6th place before a mistake from Taylor put him into 5th, right on the tale of 2nd, 3rd and 4th but the leader Lee Martin had opened about a 3 second gap. Tom was now in the middle of 2 groups, and couldn't advance without a mistake being made by Sleigh in 4th. Unfortunately he got too anxious, and tried to pass him on the wooden 90deg corner at the back of the track, it led to Tom hitting the apex and getting stuck, dropping him from 5th to 10th in a blink. With no way of overtaking Tom finished leg 1 in 10th... the car was great though and with 2 legs to go points were still up for grabs.

A Final Leg 2
This leg got off to a messy start, a pile up on the 1st corner meant that Tom advanced to 6th straight away, sitting there all race as once again maneuvers were not really possible but this time Tom reaped rewards from staying clean as Ellis crashed 2 laps from home and Bloomfield stopped on the last lap meaning he bagged a 4th place finish. It meant that a top 5 position could be possible but coming from 9th lots of luck was necessary. 

A Final Leg 3 This leg wasn’t really a race, it was a procession, all cars started and finished in regulation order, nobody could pass and no-one crashed so we stayed where we were. However Darren Bloomfield had the same probs as in leg 2 and missed the start so Tom did advance 1 place to finish 8th. So an 8th combined with leg 2's 4th meant he finished 8th overall. Not as good as last years 2nd place, however what was achieved and proved was more important, everyone could see that the new innovations on the X11 led to the car performing fantastically compared to how it had been earlier in the day. The few changes had transformed the car into an A final designate, and the level of interest it generated from cameras and spectators was very impressive.