Ten of the Best 5- full report (dial up warning)
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:59 pm
Made the trip up to Elvington, just short of the Outer Hebrides 
, yesterday! Seems like miles and yet it's only 180 ish. Anyway, Dave (GT4 Dave) and I met at 6am in the Shire and exchanged pleasantries, both of us half a sleep. The near four hour journey consisted of avoiding the temptation to boot it and race every car we met and falling asleep as the A1 is one seriously boring road in my eyes. Mile after mile of featureless concrete (sounds like Essex) only interrupted by the songs of highly tuned cars migrating to the little village in North Yorkshire. The trip was worth it, well worth it. When we got within 3 miles of the venue (according to my trusty sat-nav) we chanced upon a smorgasbord of interesting cars. We approached a level crossing to be greeted by the sights of an Escort Cosworth, Mini Cooper, Lamborghini Murcielago and an Aston Martin Vanquish S 
We all waited for the crossing to raise and the approaching multiple bikers in the oncoming traffic told me that we had a fun packed road ahead. We thankfully cleared the 30 mile an hour area and to my delight, all of the cars politely stayed in convoy. Well, I've already had a play with a yellow Gallardo so I wanted to see what it's bigger brother was like. I don't think the chances of meeting a 'Murcie' on roads like these will be too regular so I snicked down two gears and despatched the Escort and Mini in one smooth lunge. Now I would like to have thought that the Aston and Lambo looked back and fearing an overtake from my old Datsun pressed on harder, but in actuality they probably couldn't see out of the back of their cars, so any increase in pace was more down to us all enjoying the roads. The tempo quickened as a passed another car that had gotten in the way, and then, there she was
The one thing about true supercars, that you have to hear and feel to appreciate, is the drama. The sheer wall of noise as the revs fell and rose was so impressive, the width of the thing staggering. We all love our cars but in terms of presence, I had to feel humbled by this monster. Ironic then that this same car ran twice up the quarter mile and the driver couldn't get near my quarter mile PB.
Dave and I arrived to see the car park filling and the crowds anticipation growing as the competitors started to prepare for qualifying. I had arranged to meet some of the guys up there and found some of them in the stand. With only one spare seat and my ass still sore after a four hour drive, I declined the chair and wandered around the pits. Now I've done most of the shows at Santa Pod, I've done the D1 thing and countless race meets at my beloved Snetterton as well as many other UK circuits. In all these 'meets' I have never experienced such intimacy. You could really get amongst the tuners, the drivers, have a look under the bonnets of the monster cars and generally access things that you just don't get to see. This was probably the biggest single difference bwteen TOTB and the other events.
The basic format is to find the best overall car in terms of handling, quarter mile and top speed. Keith Cowie, one of this years favourites with his 1200+bhp R32, managed 213mph on Saturday but broke his water pump in the process!
That seemed to be a theme for this year. Several tuners are producing glimpses of pure magic in terms of results but consistency is an issue. Perhaps we haven't closed the gap on the Japanese and Southern Hemisphere wizards after all?
RCM's Impreza wasn't running properly all day but it was very clean!
Ron Kiddell managed one pretty good run from what I could tell and didn't come back out. Dragons RX7 was quick but eventually had an 'issue', the Duke Skyline managed a couple of pretty good runs and the potential that car has is becoming clear. Our flat four loving friends looked like upsetting those with proper engines (read straight sixes) as they had a host of Imprezas doing really well. Andy Forrest ran a 9 with a terminal of 169mph, which frankly I don't beleive, Pablo ran well for Zen, Team Ice were very consistent, Lateral Performance were quick all day and Mikee Singh of Scoobyclinic was also doing very well. Traction seemed to be an issue for the rear wheel drive cars with many struggling to launch.
The Supras dominated the class to start with. A strong field included Dee Ireland in the 1400bhp CRD machine, Envy with an estimated 1050bhp and some blue and silver thing that looked like a Halfords special with over 800 There was also an extraordinary chrome effect Supra!
The Mitsubishi Lancer register were understandably confident with a fine array of 500+bhp go karts, the handling circuit was a likely walkover. With cars such as the Norris Designs Evo and the Drag Monster they were the team to beat.
Skylines normally do pretty well at these here shindigs, and this happily continued to be the case. Rocket Ronnie and his R33 GTR won TOTB1, 2 and 3. He took last year off and returned this year with a vengeance. Mick Begleys rapidly improving Jun car was a sight to behold as it lit up the start line and produced several easy 10 second runs. John Bradshaw, owner and driver of the worlds quickest 2.5 R33 gtst didn't get quite the times he would have been after but I'm sure he'll be delighted with a more consistent set of results. Well done John. Geoff Boston and his 500 rwd R34 struggled with traction and bogging down, but when he did hook it up it went like an F15.
There was a great assortment of alternative muscle. Vipers, a Corvette, Integrale, Sapphire and original 3 door Cosworths. There were also some of those sorts of cars that you won't see on this site. Whilst I understand the merits of taking a Corsa and running a 12 second quarter, I wouldn't want to do it myself. Personal preference I suppose.
Official results
Top cars overall on points
Si Norris Evo 30
Rocket Ronnie GTR 19
Andy Forrest Subaru 15
Gulli Halldorson Subaru 13
Paul Blamire Subaru 11
Duncan Cowper Dax Rush 11
Joel English Dodge Viper 9
Gavin Renshaw Evo 8points
Jason Hulbert Evo 7points
Adrian Smith Fensport Celica 6points
Andrew Mercer Evo 6points
Jeffo Stokes Evo 6points
Team Points
MLR 54
Team Subaru 53
GTR 33
200+ Club 16
A good day out, just remind me to charter the BP jet next year!
, yesterday! Seems like miles and yet it's only 180 ish. Anyway, Dave (GT4 Dave) and I met at 6am in the Shire and exchanged pleasantries, both of us half a sleep. The near four hour journey consisted of avoiding the temptation to boot it and race every car we met and falling asleep as the A1 is one seriously boring road in my eyes. Mile after mile of featureless concrete (sounds like Essex) only interrupted by the songs of highly tuned cars migrating to the little village in North Yorkshire. The trip was worth it, well worth it. When we got within 3 miles of the venue (according to my trusty sat-nav) we chanced upon a smorgasbord of interesting cars. We approached a level crossing to be greeted by the sights of an Escort Cosworth, Mini Cooper, Lamborghini Murcielago and an Aston Martin Vanquish S We all waited for the crossing to raise and the approaching multiple bikers in the oncoming traffic told me that we had a fun packed road ahead. We thankfully cleared the 30 mile an hour area and to my delight, all of the cars politely stayed in convoy. Well, I've already had a play with a yellow Gallardo so I wanted to see what it's bigger brother was like. I don't think the chances of meeting a 'Murcie' on roads like these will be too regular so I snicked down two gears and despatched the Escort and Mini in one smooth lunge. Now I would like to have thought that the Aston and Lambo looked back and fearing an overtake from my old Datsun pressed on harder, but in actuality they probably couldn't see out of the back of their cars, so any increase in pace was more down to us all enjoying the roads. The tempo quickened as a passed another car that had gotten in the way, and then, there she wasThe one thing about true supercars, that you have to hear and feel to appreciate, is the drama. The sheer wall of noise as the revs fell and rose was so impressive, the width of the thing staggering. We all love our cars but in terms of presence, I had to feel humbled by this monster. Ironic then that this same car ran twice up the quarter mile and the driver couldn't get near my quarter mile PB.
Dave and I arrived to see the car park filling and the crowds anticipation growing as the competitors started to prepare for qualifying. I had arranged to meet some of the guys up there and found some of them in the stand. With only one spare seat and my ass still sore after a four hour drive, I declined the chair and wandered around the pits. Now I've done most of the shows at Santa Pod, I've done the D1 thing and countless race meets at my beloved Snetterton as well as many other UK circuits. In all these 'meets' I have never experienced such intimacy. You could really get amongst the tuners, the drivers, have a look under the bonnets of the monster cars and generally access things that you just don't get to see. This was probably the biggest single difference bwteen TOTB and the other events.
The basic format is to find the best overall car in terms of handling, quarter mile and top speed. Keith Cowie, one of this years favourites with his 1200+bhp R32, managed 213mph on Saturday but broke his water pump in the process!
That seemed to be a theme for this year. Several tuners are producing glimpses of pure magic in terms of results but consistency is an issue. Perhaps we haven't closed the gap on the Japanese and Southern Hemisphere wizards after all?
RCM's Impreza wasn't running properly all day but it was very clean!
Ron Kiddell managed one pretty good run from what I could tell and didn't come back out. Dragons RX7 was quick but eventually had an 'issue', the Duke Skyline managed a couple of pretty good runs and the potential that car has is becoming clear. Our flat four loving friends looked like upsetting those with proper engines (read straight sixes) as they had a host of Imprezas doing really well. Andy Forrest ran a 9 with a terminal of 169mph, which frankly I don't beleive, Pablo ran well for Zen, Team Ice were very consistent, Lateral Performance were quick all day and Mikee Singh of Scoobyclinic was also doing very well. Traction seemed to be an issue for the rear wheel drive cars with many struggling to launch.
The Supras dominated the class to start with. A strong field included Dee Ireland in the 1400bhp CRD machine, Envy with an estimated 1050bhp and some blue and silver thing that looked like a Halfords special with over 800
There was also an extraordinary chrome effect Supra!The Mitsubishi Lancer register were understandably confident with a fine array of 500+bhp go karts, the handling circuit was a likely walkover. With cars such as the Norris Designs Evo and the Drag Monster they were the team to beat.
Skylines normally do pretty well at these here shindigs, and this happily continued to be the case. Rocket Ronnie and his R33 GTR won TOTB1, 2 and 3. He took last year off and returned this year with a vengeance. Mick Begleys rapidly improving Jun car was a sight to behold as it lit up the start line and produced several easy 10 second runs. John Bradshaw, owner and driver of the worlds quickest 2.5 R33 gtst didn't get quite the times he would have been after but I'm sure he'll be delighted with a more consistent set of results. Well done John. Geoff Boston and his 500 rwd R34 struggled with traction and bogging down, but when he did hook it up it went like an F15.
There was a great assortment of alternative muscle. Vipers, a Corvette, Integrale, Sapphire and original 3 door Cosworths. There were also some of those sorts of cars that you won't see on this site. Whilst I understand the merits of taking a Corsa and running a 12 second quarter, I wouldn't want to do it myself. Personal preference I suppose.
Official results
Top cars overall on points
Si Norris Evo 30
Rocket Ronnie GTR 19
Andy Forrest Subaru 15
Gulli Halldorson Subaru 13
Paul Blamire Subaru 11
Duncan Cowper Dax Rush 11
Joel English Dodge Viper 9
Gavin Renshaw Evo 8points
Jason Hulbert Evo 7points
Adrian Smith Fensport Celica 6points
Andrew Mercer Evo 6points
Jeffo Stokes Evo 6points
Team Points
MLR 54
Team Subaru 53
GTR 33
200+ Club 16
A good day out, just remind me to charter the BP jet next year!
........but those that did made up for it. I was certain we were going to see an 8 sec pass in a road car but the hunt is still on.