Aintree hosted the British Grand Prix five times during the fifties and sixties and this year it played host to another season opener for the Caterham Academy.

The far reach of Aintree circuit is a wonderful location to begin proceedings of the Academy season. The drivers get the opportunity to learn more about their cars and their limits in a safe, friendly and enjoyable environment. During the day the camaraderie around the paddock strengthens between the competitors along with the competitive streak within them. Tips and hints become more guarded as the lap times decrease and competition intensifies whilst they try to establish a pecking order for the forthcoming season. Satisfaction can be rewarded to all the drivers as they look back at the improvement throughout the day. During the practice runs both groups were split by about eight seconds although after the timed runs the majority of the field were within three seconds of the leaders.

Last year the more mature gentleman took an early lead whereas this year the flirty thirties were fighting back. Grp 1 started out how they meant to go on with Chris Hutchinson, 35 breaking into the 53 second mark on his first practice run. James Houston, 30, Nick Horton, 35 and Lawrence Barwick, 42 (ok not technically in his thirties but you would never know) all set times in the mid 54’s which is impressive for a first attempt.

Grp 2’s quickest drivers were even younger, Will Smith, 26, Lee Bristow, 20 (a Caterham technician based at the Dartford factory) and Dan Gore also 20 all started off by setting times within the 54 second mark.

The same names appeared at the top of the listings for the timed runs with the exception of Henry Heaton in Grp 1 who pushed his way in and Houston and Barwick out with a low 53 second time on his first timed run. Heaton, 22 from Leeds would have been much happier if the proceedings had stopped after three timed runs as he lay in third position. However as there was time for a fourth run we decided to count it and low and behold Hertford based Houston snatched third by one hundredth of a second from under Heaton’s nose. A driver who I am sure will have been delighted that we decided to count the last run is London based Frenchman, Alexis Dusserre, a 37 year old Banker. He improved his time by over 3.5 seconds between the first and last timed run jumping from 26th place up to 12th.

New Sprint record – Chris Hutchinson 53.13

Group 1

1st Chris Hutchinson 2nd Nick Horton 3rd James Houston

Group 2

1st Will Smith 2nd Dan Gore 3rd Lee Bristow