During the two day pre-season test at Rockingham last week, Team Catchpole's Phil Weaver (Southampton) had a narrow escape, when the steering column of his of his car broke in the pitlane. "It was just after lunch when I was warming the engine up, I noticed the angle of the steering wheel seemed different. As  I pushed on top of the wheel it bent upwards, then I pulled it down and it sheared off," he said. It had suffered metal fatigue around a weld.

"Talk about lucky, if I had gone onto the track the chances of completing a lap were nil. It could have gone head on into the wall and the consequences don't bear thinking about," he added.

The ex Ben Collins car had been rebuilt over the winter by the Corby based team, adding to the Team Catchpole car run by Phil last season. The old car had been straight back onto last years lap times with little adjusment, despite running on old tyres. But the initial shakedown of the ex Collins car brought an engine temperature problem and trouble with the rear axle.

"We start testing again next Saturday the day before the first rounds of the Championship. We want some good results in the opening rounds and it would be nice to get a podium, so long as we can get it round the corners," joked Phil.